The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 376

had upheld during the earlier portion of his of the land. And served the idols that hia reign; and (2) hie untimely deo.th, in con- father served-as Baal, A.shtoroth, Moloch, eequenoe of a conspiracy which was formed the Asherah, and others-and worshipped ngninet him nmong the officers of his court. them. Ver. 22.-And he fonook the Lord God of The writer of Kings is therefore e.hle to hie fathers. Other kings, 11s Ahaz, had deepatoh his history in eight verses, made a sort of compromise between the worship of Jehovah and idolatry (eh. xvi. Ver. 19.-Amon was twenty and two years 10-15). Manasseh and Amon forsook the old when he began to reign. So Josephus worship of Jehovah e.lt.ogether. And walked (' Ant. Jud.,' x. 4, § 1), e.nd the author of not in the we.:, of the Lord; i.e. did not Ohronicles (2 Chron. xxxiii. 21). He must even maintain e.n outward observance of the have been horn in B.c. 664, early in tho reign Le.w of Moses, but set it wholly a.side. of Asshur-bani-pal, probably in the year ofthe.t Ver. 23.-And the servants of Amon--i.e. monarch's expedition against Tyre, And his attendants, the officers of his oourt-ilon- he reigned two years in Jerusalem. The spired against him, and slew the king in his " twelve years " assigned to Amon by the own hollBe. Conspiracies in the pale.ce, Duke of Manchester (' Times of Daniel ') frequent in Israel (see I Kings xvi. 9; eh. are wholly devoid of foundation, and ix. 32-37;. xi. 10, 25, 30), were not unknown would throw the entire chronology into con- in Judah (see eh. xii. 21). 'fhey nature.Uy fusion. Ae it is, there is e. very exact ac- arose from various causes, as insults, injuries, cordance in this part of the history between hopes of advantage, ambition, etc. Where, the profane and the scripture.I dates. And as in the present case, no clue is given, hie mother's name we.a l!l[eshullemeth, the it is idle to conjecture the motives by daughter of Xaruz of Jotbah, Jotbe.h is which the oonspirat.ors were e.ctue.ted. Re- probably the se.me city e.s the "Jot bath " ligious motives ce.n scarcely he.ve come into of Deut. x. 7, and the" Jotbe.the.h" of Numb. play. xxxiii. 33, which was in the neighbourhood Ver, 24.-And the people of the land Blew of Ezion-geher, and therefore probably in the a.11 them that had oonspired against King Arabah. Josephus, however, says the.t Jot- Amon. We certainly, therefore, cannot at- be.h we.a "a city of Judah." tribute Amon's murder to a popular reaction Ver. 20.-And he did that which was against his idolatries. Everything unites evil in the sight of the Lord, as hie father to prove that the foreign worships were in Manasseh did (comp. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 22, favour with the people at this period, and aud Josephus,• Ant. Jud.,' x. 4. § 1). the.t the kings who patronized them were Ver. 21.-And he walked in all the way more generally popular than those who that hie father walked in. There was not pursued the opposite course. And the people a single one among the early wickednesses of the land me.de Josiah his son king in his of Me.ne.sseh which Amon did not imitatti. stead, The prestige of the house of David The deto.ils of J osi11h's reformation (eh. xxiii. was still strong. 'fhe conspirators may have 4-24) show that under Amon (1) the Ashernh intended a change of dynasty ; bnt the mass or "grovu" maintained its ple.ce in the of the people could not contemplate with temple building; (2) the two idolatrous equanimity the occupation of the throne by altnrs stood in the two courts ; (3) the a stranger-one not of David's house. Tuey temple was the scene of the worship of Be.al, there, in e. tamultue.ry manner, having Ashtoreth, and the host of heaven; (4) the punished the conspirators with death, sought unchaste priestesses of the Syrian goddess, out the true heir, and, having found him, with the male partners in their guilt, were though he was a boy of but eight years of lodged in houses close by the house of the age, plnced him upon his father's throne Lor,l; (5) chnriots e.ud horses dedicated to (comp. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 25). the suu were me.inte.ined a.tone of the temple Ver. 25.-Now the rest of the aots of Amon gates; (6) the fire of Tophet burnt con- which he did, are they not written in the tinuo.lly in the valley ofHinnom, e.nd children book of the ohronioles of the kings of wero there " passed through the fire to Judah 1 No other acts of Amon have come l\foloch ; " (7) an idolatrous worship held down to us. He wns probably, during his possession of all the high places all over short reign of two yee.rs, a submissive tribu- Judma. e.nd Snmo.ria, e.nd idolutrous priests, tary of Asshur-bani-pal. deriving their e.ppointment from the king, Ver. 26.-And he was buried in his burnt incense in the high ple.ces to Da.nl, to se::,ulchre in the garden of Uzza-,.e. in the the sun, the moon, the pie.nets, and nil the so.me pince 11s his father (see ver. 18)-and host of heaven; nnd (8) magio and nccro- J oaiah his son reigned in his stead. S > muucy were prnctised openly under royal the writer of Chronicles (2 Cbron. miii. Bunctiou throughout the length and breo.dth 25), and ,Tosepbus (I.,. o.).  426 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. [OH, XXI. 1-26,