The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 408

In the land of J'ndah and in J'erusalem. of the covenAnt (ver. 3), l\nd rovivo.1 of dis- Not, apparently, in the cities of SRmaria, used ceremonies (vers. 21-23) I Jeremiah where such a rigid inquisition wonld per- senrched in vain through the streets of haps have provoked a stubborn resistance. Jerusalem to find a ml\n tho.t executed judg- Did J'oaiah pnt away, that he might perform ment, or sought the truth (Jer. v. 1). The the wonh of the Law; rather, that he might people ho.d "n revolting and rebellious &tabluh the ,rords of tk Lau,. Laws agninst heart ; they were revolted cmd gone " ( J er. such practices as Josiah now put down will v. 23). Not only idolatry, but proftignoy be found in Exod. xxii. 18; Lev. xix. 31 ; (Jcr. v. S) and injustice nnd oppressioi: u. 27; Deut. xviii. 10-12. Which were everywhere prevailed (Jer. ,-, 25-28), written in the book that llilkiah the priest •• From the least to the greatest of them, found in. the ho'll8e of the Lord (see eh. xxii. every one was given to covetousness" (Jer. 8). vi. 13); even the prophets and the priests Ver. 25.-And like unto him was there "dcnlt falsely" (Jer. vi. 13). The state of no king before him (see the comment on eh. thin~ was one which neceEs:i.rily brought xviii. 5). The writer of Kings cannot be down the Divine judgment, and all that said to place Josiah above Hezekiah, or Josiah's efforts could do was a little to delay Hezekiah above Josiah. He nccords them it. Wherewith his anger was kindled against the same degree of praise, but, in Heze- J'udah, beoanse of all the provocation.s that kiah's case, dwells upon his trust in God; Manasseh had provoked him witbal. Ma- in Josiah's, upon his exact obedience to the nasseh's provocations lived in their conse- Law. On the whole, his judgment accords quences. God's judgment upon Israel was very closely with that of the son of Sirach not mere vengeance for the sins that Ma- (Ecclus. xlix. 4). "All, except David and nasseh had committed, or even for the mul- Ezekie..s and Josias, were defective: for they titudinous iniquities into which he had led forsook the Law of the Most High." That the nation (eh. xxi. 9). It was punishment turned to the Lord with all his heart, and rendered necessary by the actual condition with all his soul, a.nd with all his might. of the nation-the condition whereto it had This triple enumeration is intended to in- been reduced by Manasseh's evil doings. clude the whole moral and mental nature of Ver. 27.-And the Lord said-God said man, all the energies of his understanding, in his secret counsels, came to the determi- his will, and h.is physical vitality (see the nation, and pronounced the sentence in hfs comment on Dent. vi. 5-a passage which is thoughts-I will remove J'udah also out of in the writer's mind). Accordin.g to all the my sight, as I have removed Israel (comp. Law of Moses. This i.;; an indication that, eh. xvii. 18, "Therefore the Lord was very in the writer's view, the u,hole Law was con- angry with Israel, and rem(J'l)ed them out of tained in the book found by Hil.kiah. his Bight"). The sins of Judah were now Neither after him a.rose there any like him. as great as those of Israel had been ; there- This is bnt moderate praise, since the fo1ll' fore her punishment must be the same, as kings who reigned a~er him-Jeboahaz, God is no respecter of persons. And I will Jehoie.k:im, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiab - cast off this oity Jerusalem whioh I have wne, one and aJI, wicked princes. chosen (comp. 1 Kings viii. 44, 48; xi. 13, Yer. 26. - Notwithsta.nding the Lord 32, 36, etc.). God "chose" Jerusalem when turned. not from the fierceness of his great he put it into the heart of David to bring wrath. It was too late, not for God to for- np the ark thither (2 Sam. vi. 1-17). And give upon repentance, but for the nation to the house of whioh I said, llty Name shall repent sincerely and heartily. Sin had be there (see Dent. xii. 11; 1 Kings viii. become engn..ined in the national character. 29, etc.). A visible confirmation was given Vo.in were the warnings of Jeremiah, vain to all that David and Solomon had done in were his exhortations to repentance (iii. 12 establishing the temple o.t J crusalem as the -14, 22; iv. 1-8; vii. 3-7, etc.), vain head-quarters of the nationo.l religion, when his promises that, if they would turn to God, "fire came down from heaven, and con- they would be forgiven antl spared. Thirty sumed the burnt offering o.nd the so.crifices" vears of irreligion and idolatry under Ma- ruade there, and "tl1e glory of the Lord nasseh had sapped the national vigour, and filled the house" (2 Chron. vii. I ; comp. made true repentance an impossibility. How 2 Chron. v. 13, 14). weak and half-hearted must have been the return to God towards the close of Ma- Vere. 28-30.-The events of Josiah's nasseh's reign, that it should have had no reigu from his eighteenth tu his thirty-first strength to resist Amon, a youth of twenty- year are left a blank, both here nntl in two, but should have disappeared wholly on his &ecel!Bion I And how far from sincere Chronicles, Politically, the time was a must have been the present conformity to stirring one. The great in vnsion of W cstern Ui.e wiahe8 of Josiah, the professed renewal Asia by the Scythio hordes (Herod., i. 103 err. um. 1-37.J THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 4:59