The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 337

parted rwt. Yet we reo.d in 2 Chron. xiv. we.a not until the 36th year of Asa's reign 8, the.t Ase. "took away the high places (of. that it :Ii.nit broke out. But these numbers ver. 6). But it is clear, even from 2 Chron. have clearly not escaped corruption (see note xv. 17, that all of them were not re- there), aa at the date last mentioned Baasho. moved, and the discrepe.ncy a.rises from the must ho.ve been dead (cf. ver. 33 below). well-known Eastern idiom of putting the It is probable that war is to be taken here, whole for the part, of which we have in- e.s elsewhere (cf. xiv. 30), in the sense of sto.nces in Gen. vii. 19; Exod. ix. 25, &c. hostility, and in any case we have here Cf. ver. 32; 2 Kings xi:x. 35, and see below. another instance of the hyperbolicu.l ha.bit Asa probably aimed at removing e.ll, and he of the Eastern mind.] me.y he.ve removed all out of the cities (2 Ver. 17.-And Baa.she., king of Israel, Chron. xiv. 6), but some remained in the went up aga.lnst Judah [This statement country districts or in remote places. Or probably refers to the reconquest of the he me.y have swept them a.way for a short three cities which Abijah had taken from time, and they may have been stealthily .Jeroboam (2 Chron. xiii. 19), as Rama.:1 and gre.dually re-introduced. It may be could hardly he.ve been rebuilt whilst Bethel interesting to remark here the.t down to the reme.ined in the he.nds of Judah), and present day the cultus of the high places built Ra.mah [Heh. the Re.mah, i.e., " the exists-under a modified form, it is true-in elevation," or "high place.'' Now er Ram Palestine. Every traveller will remember ( =the height), in Benjamin (Josh. xviii. the Mukams which crown almost every hill. 25; Judg. xix. 13, 14), five miles distant The religion of the Fellahin, though nomi- from Jeruse.lem, near the frontier of the nally Mohe.mmedan, is rea.Ily, like that of two territories, and e.lso then, as now, China, a worship of the dead. '' In· almost on the great north road. It was the key, every village of the country e. small build- consequently, to both kingdoms. Hence ing, surmounted by a whitewashed dome, is the struggles to possess it, vers. 21, 22; observable, being the sacred chapel of the 2 Chron. xvi. 1, &c.), that he might not ple.ce; it is variously called Kubbeh, "dome," eufl'er a.ny to go out [Heh. rwt to give any Milzor, " shrine," or Muk§.m, "station," going out, &c.] or come 1n to Asa, king of the le.tter being a. Hebrew word, used in the Judah. [The object of Ba.a.sha in fortifying Bible for the ple.ces of the Cane.e.nites this place is evident. It was not merely to (Dent. xii. 2) . . . . Just as in the time of he.ve an e.dve.nced post a.so. menace to Jeru- Moses, so now the position ohosen for the ee.lem (Rawlinson), but primarily, by its Mnkam is generally conspicuous. . . . This command of the high road, to prevent his Mukdm represents the real religion of the subjects from fe.lling awe.y to the kingdom of pee.se.nt" (Conder, pp. 304 sqq.)J: never- Jude.h, or even from going up to Jerusalem theless Asa's heart was perfect with the to worship; in fe.ot, to isolate Judah and to LOi'd all his days. [We he.ve here a note.hie blocke.de ite capital. That there wo.s e. great instance of the Oriental exaggeration just defection to Asa. e.t this time we know from referred to. For the very same expression 2 Chron. xv. 9. This was an exodns which is used by the chronicler (2 Chron. xv. 17), Be.o.sha felt must be checked. Blunt who in the next che.pter (eh. xvi. 7-12) tells ('· Coincidences," pp. 176--8) has happily us of Aso.'s unfaithfulness in his old e.ge.J shown from 2 Chron. xvi. 6, &c., how the Ver. 16.-And he brought 1n the things primary object must ho.ve been to "stop the which his father had dedicated [Heh. the sle.rming drainage of e.11 that was virtuous holy things of his father. These were prob- out of their borders." Ra.wlinson sees in ably the spoils Abijah he.d taken in his the fortification of this place " the first we.r with Jeroboam (2 Cbron. xiii. 18)], and step towards a conquest of the southern the things which himself had dedicated kingdom." But e.s to this the text is silent, [These were probably the spoils of the or rather it assigns e.n entirely different; Ethiopians (2 Chron. xiv. 16 ; cf. xv. 11)], reason.) into [the Hebrew omits this word. Keil says Ver. 18.-Then Asa took all the silver that " house " is an accusative governed a.nd the gold that were left [LXX. ro by "brought"], the houso of the Lord, EVpEOiv, which Ro.wlinson thinks points to silver, and gold, and vessels. a corruption of our text. He says, "The Ver. 16.-And there was war between Jewish treasuries should now have been Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. tolerably full," because (1) of tho long peace [Th.is statement must be compared with 2 (2 Chron. xiv. 1-6), anJ (2) the " very Chron. xiv. 1, 6, from which we gather that much spoil" they he.d tu.ken from the during the first ten yea.re of Aso.'s reign Ethiopians (ib., ver. 13). Compare ver. 15 there cannot have been war, properly so above. But the historian hu.s in min,l the oalled, beLw~en them. Indeed, it would depletion of the treasury by Shiahe.k (eh. aeem from 2 Ohren, xv. 19, xvi. 1, that it xiv. 26). It is true there was noth.ini  842 TB:E FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. [oH. XV, 1-24, ----~-----------------------~ " left'' on that oooasion, but the treasures Jordan. The Tell, apparently an extinoi since accumulated are referred to under this orater, is covered with ruins, Stanley, S. term. It may be the phrase ie not strictly and P., p. 395-11. Thomson," La.nd and aconrnte, but the LXX. reading looks Book," i. p. 820. Van de Velde, ii. p. 420. suspiciously like e.n emendation] In the The situation is described as superb, nnd treasures of the house of the Lord, a.nd the the country as extremely fertile. This is treasures of the king's house, a.nd delivered the last mention of the place in So1·iptnre. them into the ha.nd of h11I servants : a.nd Retribution has soon fa.Hen on one of the king Asa sent them [cf. 2 Kings xvi. 8. centres of Jeroboam·s sohism], and Abel• For this a-Ot of faithlessness he was reproved beth-maachah [now known as .A.bil el Kamh by Hanani the seer (2 Chron. xvi. 7) : " 0 (Robinson, iii. p. 372 ; but see Stanley, Asa, where was thy piety, while thou robbedsi S. and P., p. 390, note 6; Thomson,i. p. 324. God to corrupt an infidel for the slaughter Rawlinson argues from 2 Sam. n:. 14 that of the I sraclites?" (Hall)] to Ben-hadad there were originally two towns, but ver. 16 [" the son of the sun" (see note on eh. leads us to question the present text of ver. xi 23). Three kings of Damascus at least 14. Ver. 19 shows it to have been e. place bore this name, viz., this king, his son of considerable importance. In 2 Chron. (eh.=. 1), and the son of Hazael (2 Kings xvi. 4. it is called .A.bel Maim, " the meadow xiii. 24)], the son of Tabrimon [the name of the waters," not only, it is probable, be- means, Good i.s Rim11Wn, as to which deity cause of the lake, but of the huge marsh, see note on 2 Kings v. 18], the son of the .A.rd el Huleh, which drains into it (see Hezion [by some identified with Rezin (eh. Stanley, l.c.) All these towns are in the ri. 23), but on insufficient grounds] king neighbourhood of Lake Huleh (Merom), and of Syria, that dwelt at D=cus [" The all being in the extreme north, bore the centre of the Axa.maean power west of the brnnt of the invasion. The name Maachah is Euphrates" (Ewe.Id)], saying, to be noticed in connection with ver. 2], Ver. 19.-There 1s a league [Rawlinson and all Cinneroth [in Nnm. uxiv. 11; would render, "Let there be a league . . . Deut. iii. 17, Cinriereth; in the New Testa- as there was," but the A. V. is equally good. ment, Gennesaret." " The expression 'all Asa claims tha.t a league does exist, and, Cinneroth' is unusual, and may be com- in fact, has never been broken] between me pared with 'all Bithron,' probably like and thee, a.!ld between my father and thy this, a district and not a town" (Grove, Diet. father [Syria would seem to have been Bib., i. p. 330). It is the district on the the first of the possessions of Solomon to western shore of the lake of Galilee, north of regain its inclependence (eh. :ri. 24). Its Tiberias, which gave ite name to the adjoin- friendship would naturally be sought by ing sheet of water. A city Chinnereth, per. Judah, as a counterpoise, perhaps, to the haps the capital of the district,_is mentioned alliance between Israel and Egypt (Ewald)]: behold, I have sent unto thee a present Josh. xix. 85], with (';,17 not uncommonly [elsewhere a bribe. Psa. xv. 5; xxn. 10; has this meaning. Cf. Gen. xxxii. 12 (Heb.), 1 Sam. viii. 3] of silver and gold; come "the mother with the children;" Exod. xxxv, and break [Heb. come, break now, i1 cohorta- 22, "men with women,''] all the land of tive J thy league with Baa.aha king of Israel, Naphtali [Not only were the fortresses of that he may depart from me. [Heb. go up Naphtali just mentioned smitten by the from upon me.] Syrians, but they laid waste oJl the surround- ing district.] Ver. 20.-So [Heb. and] Ben-ha.dad ll.ea.rkened unto k1ng Asa., and sent the Ver. 21.-And lt came to pass, when captains [or princes; same word aa in eh. Baasha heard thereof, that he left oir ::xii. 31 ; cf. xx. 24] of the hosts which he buJld!ng of Ra.mah [He could not prosecute had against the cities of Israel, and smote it when he had enemies on every side. He Ijon [now represented by 1'ell Dibbin, a at once assumes the defensive], and dwelt mound near the north end of the /Jlerj In Tirzah. [Ch. xiv. 17. He retired to 'Ayun (which probably preserves the name), his capital. It is not implied that he had a "meadow of fountains," a few miles north- entertained the idea of dwelling at Ilamah.] west of Dan. This hill would offer a com- Ver. 22.-Then king Asa. made a. pro- man din" site for a stronghold, and traces are clamation [Heb. made all to hear] through- found there of a large and ancient city (Robin- out all Judah; none was exempted [Heb. son, iii. p. 375; Diet. Bib., i. p. 8G3J, and none free], and they took away [Heb. took Dan, [near the northern extremity of Palesiine up] the stones of Re.mah, and. the ~Imber (eh. iv. 25; I Sam. iii. 20, &c.) Now cer- thereof, wherewith Baasha [It 1s noticeable tainly identified with Tell el Kadi the" hill that 1t is generally "king Asa," but never <'f the Judge" (which preserves the 111.eaning 11 king Bae.aha "] had bullded ; and klDg of the name), nea.r the ma.in source of the Asa built with them Geba of Be!IJamla Cll. XV. 1-24.] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 813