The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 252

bodies of the other kings, bnt In another we must enppose that the act of viol,mce pa.rt of the field wherein the sepulchre was was done openly, like Jebu's murder of eitua.ted. '1'his was quite consonant with Jehors.m. A11d slew him, ard reigned in his Jewish feelin~ with respect to the unclean- stead ( comp. ver. 13). ness of the leper. And Jotham his son Ver. 11.-And the rest of the aots of reigned in his stead. Jolhnm, already for Zachariah, behold, they are written in the some years prince regent, became king as a book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel matter of course on his fo.tl10r's demise. Ver. 12.-Thia was the word of the Lord which he apake unto lehu (comp-. eh. x. Vers. 8-12.-REIGN OB' ZAOHARIAII OVER 30), saying, Thy sons shall ait on the throne lsn!EL, FULFILMENT OF Till!l PROMISl!l MADE of Israel unto the fourth generation. The TO JEHU, The writer has nothing to record direct promise was," Thy house shall hold the throne ao long;" the implied prophecy, of Zncho.riah but his murder by Shallum " They shall not bold it longer." There after a reign of six months. Vera. 8, 9, and had not been wanting other indications of 11 contain the usual formula. Ver. 10 the coming troubles. Hosea bad declared gives the only event that needed record. that God would avenge the blood of Jezreel Ver. 12 recalls to the reo.der's attention a upon the house of Jehu (Hos. i. 4). Amos had gono further, and had openly proclaimed previous passage, in which a prophecy had that God would "rise against the house of been mentioned, whereof Zachariah's reign Jeroboam with the 1u:ord" (Amos vii. 9). was the fulfilment. The threat had been understood o.s a threat against Jeroboam himself (Amos vii. 11), Ver. 8.-In the thirty and eighth year ot but this was a misinterpretation. The Azarieh King of Judah did Zachariah the son words plainly pointed to a revolution in the of Jeroboam reign over Israel in· Samaria. time of his son. And so it came to pass. If Aze.riah began to reign in the twenty- The house of Jehu ceased to reign in the seventh year of Jeroboam (ver. l), and fourth generation of the descendants or its Jeroboam died in his forty-first or forty- founder, No considerations or prudence or second year (eh. xiv. 23), Zacharie.h must of gratitude could keep the nation faithful have ascended the throne in the fifteenth or to any dynasty for a longer time than this. sixteenth year of Azo.riah. Even if Azariah In breaking off from the divinely chosen became king in the fifteenth of Jeroboam, house of David, and choosing to themselves as has been shown to be probable (see the 11, king, the Israelites had sown the seeds of comment on ver. l), Zachario.h's e.ccession inste.bility in their state, o.nd put themselves cannot have been earlier than Aza.rie.h's at the mercy of any BJllbitions pretender. tweuty-sixth year. An interregnum be- Five dynasties ho.d already borne rule in tween the death of Jeroboam and the the two lnmured years that the kingdom accession of Zachnriah is not to be thought bad lasted; four more were about to hold of. Six months. So also Josephus (see the throne in the remaining fifty years of • Ant. Jud,,' ix. 11, § 1). its existence. '' Unstable as we.ter, thou Ver. 9.-And he did the.t which was evil shn.It not excel," though said of Reuben in the sight of the Lord, as his fathers had only (Gen. xlix. 4), fnirly expressed the done : he departed not from the sins of character of the entire kingdom, with which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel Reuben cast in its lot at the time of the to sin. The customary formula, with nothing separation, to emphasize it. In the short space of barely six months, Zachariah could uot do either Vers. 13-15.-SHORT AND UNIMPORTANT much good or much evil. RsIGN OF SnALLUM. Three verses suffice Ver. 10.-And Shallum the son of 1abesh for the reign of Shallum, the son of Jabesh, conspired against him. Josephus calls Shallum'Zo.chariah's "friend," but otherwise who held the throne for only thirty days. adds nothing to the present no.rrative. And Hearing of his conspiracy, Mena.hem, the smote him before the people, The phrase sou ofGa.di-"the genera.I," as Josephus calls elllplr,yed is very unusual, and has justly him(' Ant. Jud.,' x. 11. § 1)-me.rched from excite<! suspicion. It was not understood Tirzah to Samo.ria, got Shallum into his by tl10 LXX., who tl'anslate lrcha!av a.uTOV K•llAaclµ., which gives no sense. Ewald power, and put him to death (ver. 14). The sought to solve the difficulty by inventing writer concludes with the usual formult1 11, king, "Zobolam," but othel' Cl'itics have (ver. 15). found this expedient too bold. The reuder- iag of our trnnHlntors is generally occeptod, Ver. rn.-She.llum the son of Jabcsh th011 c;h qobal, . "before," only _occurs ~ere began to reign in the nine and thirtieth 11,nu iu Do.niel. If we aocept this reudenng, ye:Lr of Uzziah King of Judah. This dale  298 THE SECOND BOOK OF nm KINGS. [oa. xv. 1--38.