The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 256

nnd the Loke Merom, ns a still more pro- aomewhat scanty, and requires to be supple- bable Pituation. And Gilead. "Gilead" in mented from Chronicles (2 Chron. xxvii.). this connection, Ol\n aca.rcely be "the whole of tho land to the east of the Jordan" (Keil, Ver. 32.-In the second year of Pekah Dabr)-the territory of Ga.d, Reuben, a.nd the son of Remaliah King of Iernel be ga.n l\,fona.sseh, not of Naphtali. It is more Jotham the son of Uzziah King of Judah to likely to be a. small district near Merom, reign. In the eecond yenr of Pekah, Aza- perha.ps the ea.stem coo.at of the lake (Ge- ria.h died, and Jotham becam:i actual king; eenius), which was afterwards n part of but his joint reign with his father com- Gaulonitis. The LXX., instead of ro:/\o:a:6, menced very much earlier. His sole reign have ro:/\o:clv. And Galilee ; Hebrew r,',,Sin was probably a short one. (see the oomment on 1 Kings ix. 11, p. 190)~ Ver. 33.-Five and twenty years old wa.11 '.fhe inscription of Tiglath-pilescr, whioh he when he began to reign, a.nd he reigned appears to allude to this expedition, men- sixteen years in Jerusalem - i.e. sixteen tions "Galhi," and "Abel" (probably Abel- years from his appointment to be regent, beth-mo.achah) as conquered a.t this time, ns appears plainly from 2 Chron. xxvi. 23 and "addeci to Assyria." The pla.ces were, and xxvii. 1 (comp. Josephus, 'Ant. Jud.,' it so.ye, on tl1e border of the lo.nd of Beth- ix. 10. § 4; 12. § 1)-e.nd his mother's Omri (So.maria) (see the 'Eponym Canon,' name was J'erusha, the daughter of Zadok. p.123, lines 6, 7). And oa.rried them captive So the author of Chronicles (2 Chron. xxvii. to Assyria. Deportation of captives was I); Josephus(' Ant. Jud.,' ix. 11. § 2) calls largely practised by Tiglath-pileser, as ap- his mother " J erasa." pears from the • Eponym Canon,' pp. 118- Ver. 34.-And he did that which was 120, and 122. right in the Bight of the Lord : he did ao- Ver. 30.-And :e:oshea the 10n of Elo.h oording to all that his father Uzziah had me.de a conspiraoy against Pekah the son of done. The author of Chronicles says the Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, same, but adds, very pertinently, "How- and reigned in his stead. By o. mutilated beit he entered not into the temple of the notice in the records of Tiglath-pileser, it Lord "-i.e. he did not repeat his father's appears that the revolution here related act of impiety. ,Tosephus is still warmer in was the result of another invasion of the his praises. "This king," he says (l. •· a.), Israelite territory by that monarch. "The "was deficient in no manner of virtue; but land of Betb-Omri," he says, " ... the tribe was at once pious in things pertaining to . . . the goods of its people and their fur- God, and just in those pertaining to men . niture I seut to Assyria. Pekah their He we.s careful and watchful o,er the city; king [I cause1l to be put to death?] and whatever needed repo.ration or adornment, Hoshea I appointed to the kingdom over he laboured to snpply strenuously, as the them; their tribute I received, and (their porticoes in the temple and the gates thereof; treasures ?] to Assyria I sent" (' Eponym and where any part of the wall had gone to Conon,' pp. 123, 124, lines 15-19). It is ruin, he raised it up ago.in, e.nd built towers probably this invasion of which the writer of ,ast size a.nd difficult to capture. And of Chronicles speaks (1 Chron. v. 26) as re- in all other matters pertaining to the king- sulting in the deportation of the Reubenites, dom, where there had been neglect, he 11,p. the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. plied great cnre and attention." In the twentieth year of J'otham the son of Ver. 35.-Howbeit the high places were Uzziah. This date stands in contradiction not removed : the people saorifioed and with ver. 33, where Jotho.m's entire reign burned inoense still in the high places. is reckoned at sixteen years, and opparently B:e built the higher gate of the house of the must be a corrupt reading. Lord. The "higher go.ta" is thought to be Ver. 31.-And the rest of the aots of the.t towards the north, o.nd its fortification Pekah, and all that he did (see the comment implied a fear of attack from thot quarter. on vers. 27-31), behold, they are written in It must have become amply evident to the the book of the ohronioles of the kings of kings of Judah, at any rate from the time of Israel the attack on Meunhem (ver. 19), that the in- dependence of both kingdoms was menaced by Assyria, and that it wo.sof great importance Vera. 82-38.-REIGN OP JOTBAII[. Once that their principal fortresses should be placed more the writor turns from Israel to Judah in a sto.te of efficient defence. Azaria.h had and proceeds to give an o.ooount of the rei~ paid great o.ttontion to the fortifying and of Jotho.m the son of Azo.riah, or Uzzia.h, arming of Jerusalem (2 Chron. :nvi. 9, 15) and his son now followed in his footstep~ who was appointed regent in his father's From 2 Chron. xxvii. 3 we lel\rn that he not place, when Uzziah was struck with leprosy only built tho high gate of the temi,le, but (ver. 5). 'fhe e.ooount given of the reign is also "on the Wt\11 of Ophel built much."  302 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. [on. xv. 1-38,