The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 153

Hittites and Amorites (Gen. x. 18: 1 Ohron. true that some of the ancient indications i. 16), descendants of Canaan: there a.re e.~d tleR?riptions of friendship e.nd close some fn.int traces of their having wandered ~nentlsh1p_e tu~e~ on phrases (simile.r ones, from their northern settlements into mid rndeed, st11l ex1stmg) into which the word and south Palestine. 'fhe Septuagint render ''ea.It" entered, but that these phrases a.rose Zemaraim by the eame Greek as Samaria, from .the fact that salt was so general a 'loµ&p0111, constituent of human food seems insufficient Vars. 5-12.-The 'idea of Abijah in this explanation, where we can find one of a more dixect and more directly religions or religious harangue, addressed or eupposed to as the case might be (e.g. with hea.the~ be addressed to the kingdom of the ten tribes, sacrifices), snperstitioue birth. Religion a.nd wae good, and the execution was spixited. snperetition between them have been the While, however, he prea.ohes well to others, most world-wide, incalculable, and untrace- there e.re not wanting signs the.t he can able originators and disseminatore of ha.If the possible phrases of human language I blind himself a.a to some failure of practice Ver. 6.-The servant of Solomon. 1 Kin!n! on his own pa.rt. The points of the argu- xi. 28 is evidently the apter reference f~r ment running through his harangue are this verse, rather than 26, as genera.Uy given. correct, skilfully chosen, and well and re- Ver. 7.-Are gathered . , . have strength- ligiously thrust home on the heart of his ened themselves. The aorist tense is supposed audience. The practical trust of needed for the rendering in both these cases • himself and his army are testified to in vers. e.g. "And vain men gathered to him, and strengthened themselves against him." 14, 15, and abundantly rewarded. This Ve.in men; Hebrew, o•pJ. This word, and sequel-practioal trust is the best credential one very slightly different in form, and their of the sincerity of his foregoing appeal a.nd adverb, occur in e.11 forty-one times; ren- he.re.ague. d~red in t~e Antho~ed yersion "empty" nmeteen times, " va.m" eighteen times, and Ver. 5.-Gave the kingdom . . . to David "withont ca.nse," '' to no purpose,'' and for ever. With the thrice-repeated " for 11 void" the remaining four times. It is the ever" of what we call 2 Sam. vii. 13-16, word that is used of the "empty" pit of e.nd the very emphatic language of the Joseph (Gen. xxxvii. 24); of the "empty fifteenth verse in that passage, in the memory ears" of corn (Gen. xli. 27) ; of " empty" of Abijah, no one can se.y he was not justified pitchers and other vessels (Judg. vii. 16 • by the letter e.nd to the letter in what he 2 Kings iv. 3; Jer. xiv. 3; li. 3!; Ezek: now says. At the so.me time, how is it that xxiv. 11). And in all the other cases Abije.h does not in e.11 fairness qnote the expresses metaphorically the emptiness of matter of eh. vi. 16 lcut clause, e.nd of its head, of heart, or of reason, with the same pare.lie!, 1 Kings viii. 25 lcut clause, e.nd simple force of language appropriate, it ap- of Ps. lxxxix. 28-37: cxxxii.12? Covenant pears, then e.s now. Children of Belie.I ; of se.lt (see Lev. ii. 13; Numb. xviii. 19; Ezek. xliii. 24; Me.rk ix. 49). The use of Hebrew, ~l!~~r· This word is found twenty- salt wae ordered first for the meal offerings, seven times, and, inclnding seven marginal which, consisting me.inly of flour, did not options, is rendered in the Authorized Version need it as e.n e.ntiseptio: afterwards it was "Belia.I" twenty-three times; the fonr ex- ordered for "e.ll" offerings, including the ceptions being " wicked " three times, e.nd '' burnt offering:" as surely as leaven we.s 11 naughty" once. The derivation of it. proscribed, salt was prescribed (Lev. ii. 11). marks the one expressive meaning of" with- "The covenant of salt" meant the imperfah- out profit." Young and tender-hearted. ableness e.nd irrevocableness of the engage- Hard as it is to put these objections to the ment ma.de between the two parties to the credit of a man forty-one years of age (see covenant. The widespread and deeply sig- our note, eh. x. 8 ; xii. 13) at all, yet, if so, nificant use of it among other a.nd heathen they can only be explained e.s some do ex- nations is remarkable indeed, and is attested plain them, of a blamable ignorance, inex- by Pliny ('Hist.Nat.,' xxxi. 41) in forcible perience, and instability. words: 11 Nulle. (sacra) conficiuntur sine Vera. 8, 9.-The five succeeding thrnsts mole. salsa." (Hor., 2 Sat. iii. 200: Virgil, of these two verses, prefaced by the some- • lEn.,' ii. 133: Hom., 'Iliad,' i. 449). Some what self-conscious but, nevertheless, validly think it a sufficient explanation of the text, pleaded orthodoxy of his own position, are "covenant of ea.It," that, especially in the well delivered by Abija.h. Jeroboam is Ea.st, solemn engagements and vows were eoa.thed (1) for his confidence in a. great. often recognized and etr~ngthened by hospi- multitude; (2) for his golden oalves for talities, as shown to guests, and of these gods; (3) for what amounted necessarily to ■alt was an indispensable element. It is the excommunication and repudiation of  154 THE SEOONl) BOOK OP THE CHRONICLES. [oH. xm. 1-22,