su.yt, "In the first p1ut Huldah has only the 1 Ver. 19.-Because thine heart was tender snbjecL-matter iu mind, while in ver. 18, in --0r,faint, timirl (comp. Deut. x.x. 3; lea. the quieter flow of her words, she takes vii. 4)-and thou hast humbled thyself before notice of the state of mind of the particular the Lord. Rending the garments (vcr. 11) person who sent to make tho inquiry." was an outward act of humiliation. Josiah Ver. 16.-Thus aaith the Lord, :Behold, I ho.d accompanied it by inwad repentance will bring evil upon this place----i.e. J eruae- and self-abasement. He ho.,l even been lcm -and upon the inhabitants thereof, even moved to tears (see the last clo.use bnt one e.11 the words of the book whioh the King of of this verse). When thou heardeat wha.t I ludah bath read. In the parallel passage S})ake against this place. The book was, of Chronicles (2 Chron. x.xxiv. 24) the ex- therefore, a record of what God had really pression used is stronger, viz. "Behold, I spoken, not a fraud imposed on the king will bring evil upon this place, and upon the by the high priest, or on the high priest inhl\bitan ta thereof, even all the curses that (Ewald, 'History of Israel,' vol. iv. p. 235) by are written in the book which they have an unknown Egyptian exile. And e.gainst read before the King of Judah." The paa- the inhabitants thereof, that they should be- snge which most strongly affected Josiah was come a deaole.tion and a cu...--se. This is not probably that, alreacly mentioned, in Dent. a direct quotation from the Law, but a sum- xxviii., which began with a series of curses. mary, in pregnant languo.ge, of the general Ver. 17.-:Because they have forsaken me. effect of such pasaages as Lev. xxvi. 31-35 This was the gist of their offence, the thing ancl Dent. x.xviii. 15-20. The lnnguo.);e that was unpanlono.blc. Against this were is like that of Jt,remiah in xxvi. 6: xii. all the chief warnings in the Law (Dent. 18; xliv. 22. And ha.st rent thy clothas xii. 19; xxix. 25-28; xxxi.16, 17; xxxii. (see vcr. 11), and wept before me. This 15, etc.) and the prophets (Judg. x. 13; 1 hod not been previously afo.tecl, but might Snm. viii. 8; xii. 9; 1 Kings ix. 9; xi. 33; have been gathered from J osiah's evident xviii. 18; Isa. i. 4; lxv. 11 ; Jer. i. 16; ii. sincerity, and from the ordinary habit, of 13, etc.). H woe not merely that they broke Orientals (comp. eh. viii. 11 ; xiii. 14; xx. the commandments, but they turned from 3). I also have heard thee, aaith the Lord God o.ltogether, o.nd "cast him behiud their The general sense of vers. 18, 19 is, o.s Biihr back." And have bUIDed incenso unto ether notes, "Because thou hast heard me aad goda ( comp. eh. xxiii. 5; o.ucl see also J er. taken heed to my threats, I also hnve heard i. 18; vii. 9: xi. 13; xliv. 19, etc.), that thee, l\nd will delay their fulfilment." they might provoke me to anger with all Ver. 20.-:Behcld therefore, I wm gather the works cf their hands; i.e." with the idols thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be that they hnve made for themselves" (Keil) gathered into thy grave in peace. There is (comp. 1 Kings xvi. 7). Therefore my a seeming contrudictiou between these wor,ls wrath shall be kindled against this plaoe and tile fact of Josiah's violent death in --i.e. ago.inst Jerusalem-and shall not be battle ago.inst Phnrnoh-Nechoh (eh. xxiii. qnenchod. Here lice the whole point of the 29). But the contradiction is not a real nnewer. God's threateuings against nations one. Huldo.h was commissioned to usslll'e are for the most part conditional, aud may Josiah that, though tho destruction of his be e£caped, or nt least their fulfilment may kingdom encl the desolation of Judma a □ d be deferred indefinitely, by repentance, as Jerusalem, threatened in the Le.w, were at we learn from the exo.mple of Nineveh hancl, yet they would not come in his day. (Jono.h iii. 1-10). But if a nation persists He would not see the evil time. Before• it long in evil-doing, there comes n time when rnme he would bo "gathered to his foth0:·,;"- tho sentence can be no longer averted. A buried, i.e., in Jen1snlem, as hi, predecessors reo.l repentance has become impossible, l\nd ho.d been (eh. xxiii. 30), &nd not hurried off e. mock one does but provoke God the more. into captivity, to die in a foreign ltmd, or For such a state of things there is "no given "the burial of au a.ss, drawn and cust remedy" (2 Chron. xxxvi. 16), l\lld this was fortli before the gates of Jerusalem" (J0r. tho state of things rco.ohctl. by the Jews. xxii. 19). The promise given Lim wn.s fuJ. Gocl'e anger ago.inst them could not be fille,l. Ho died in battle; but he was baricd quenched. in peace (2 Chron. xxxv. 2-!, 25) ; and the Ver. 18.-:Bnt to the King of ludah which fated enemy who wos to destroy Jeruealetn, se::it you to inquire of the Lord, thus sho.11 nu,l cnrry the Jewish nation into capth-ity, ye say to him (see the comment on ver. 15), did not make any uttnck upon the htnd Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, As touch- until three yenrs foter, when he was cleparte,1 ing the word.a whioh thou hast heard; i.e. to his rest, nnd the throne wus occupied by the worcla tl1At were rend to thee by Slmphan Jehoinkim (see eh. xxiv. 1). And thine (ver. 10)-th~ awful threats which causecl eyes shall not see all the evil whioh I will thee to rend thy olothee and to make in- bring upon this plaoe ; i.e. the three sieges quiry of me. of Nebuchaduezwr, the destruction of tha THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. [on. xxn.1-20,
temple and city by Nebnzar-ada,n (oh. xxv. evil to oome." And the:, brought the king 9, 10), the deportation of the bulk of the word ag∈ i.e. Hilkiah, Shaphan, and inhabitants (eh. xxv. ll), and the oal&mi- their companions (ver.14) reported to Josiah ties which happened to the remnimt left the message whioh Huldah h11,d sent bJ (eh. xxv. 22-26). Josiah did not witness them. an; of this. He was" taken away from the