The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 193

Ver. 4.-Benhnde.rl wns nppnrently not This was Gebo. of' Benjamin, M cleBdy very Jong in me.king up either his mind or stated in the parallel. H was a position his method. The bribe that tempted him, north of Re.mah, whether opposite Michmaah drawn from "the treasures" described, well and the modern Jeba is not certain, a3 some replenished (oh. xv.18; e.nd parallel, 1 Kings think this answers to Gibee.h of Saul (I Sam. xv. 15), was probably le.rge. His method xiv. 2, 5). Mizpah (see Jer. xii. 2, 3, 9, l 0). WM to create a diversion in fe.vour of his This Mizpe.h is not that of the Shefelah new ally, by'' smiting" certain picked e.nd (Josh. xv. 38), but was situate about two highly important cities of Israel, mostly in hours, or e. short six miles, nortl1-weat of northern Galilee, by no.me "Ijon, Da.n, Jeruse.lem, on the Se.maria route, and is Abel-maim, and nil the store-cities of Naph- probably the modern Neby Samwil (see also tali." Ijon. In N aphte.li, mentioned only 2 Kings xxv. 22-26; Jer. xl. 5-xli. 18). now, in the parallel, and when n second time Vers. 7, 8.-The very impressive episode taken (2 Kings xv. 29) by Tiglath-Pileser. of four verses begun by the seventh verse is Dan. The colonizing of this city is given in not found in the parallel. The fact furnishes J ndg. xviii. 1, 2, 29-31 ; it was originally clear indication that our compiler was not called Laish, and became the northern la.ncl- indebted to the writer of Kings for material. ma.rk of the whole country, as in the ex- And the moral aspects of the matter here pression, "from Dan even to Beersheba" preserved by the compiler of Chronicles (Judg. xviii. 29; xx. 1). Abel-maim. This show the pare.mount reasons why he would place was situate at the foot of the Lebanon; not miss bringing it to the front for the in the paro.llel (1 Kings xv. 20) it is called returned people's better religious education. Abel-beth-maa.chah. It is again mentioned Presumably Hanani the seer is the father of as attacked by Tigle.th-Pileser, who wrested that other faithful seer and prophet Jehu, it from Peke.h (2 Kings xv. 29). In 2 Sam. who appeared to Be.asha. (I Kings xvi. l, 7) xx. 18, 14, 15 it is called Abel by itself, but and to Jehoshaphat (eh. xiL 1, 2). There- iu the last two of these verses Beth-maachah fore is the host of the King of Syria escaped is mentioned in close connection with it. out of thy haI!.d. It is plain that, reading After this name the parallel gives also "all the lines only, this expression (remarkable Ciuneroth " (Septnagint, " all the land of considering its following close upon success- Cinnereth "). The name is the original of ful help given by Benhe.dad, and help un- the New Testament Gennesaret. It was a. accompanied, so far as we are told, by any city (Josh. xix. 35) that gave its no.me to infidelity or untoward circnmstance), sug- the sea and western region of the lake, gests option of explanation, and would en- sometimes called so (Numb. xxxiv. 11; gender the supposition that something very Josh. xi. 2 ; xii. 3). If there were a. little threatening was on the horizon, at any rate. more external evidence of it, we shonld in- But reading between the lines, and giving cline to the opinion of Movers, that the due weight to the significance of the illll.'l- " all Cinneroth" of the parallel is the tration adduced of the combined Ethiopians nii~i;,,;i-~~ (" all the store-cities") of onr and Lubim (eh. xiv. 9-15), we may war- pre.sent verse. But at present we may take re.ntably judge that Ha.ne.ni's inspired lan- it that the two records supplement one guage went a cut deeper, and meant that if another. All the store-oities of N aphtali the alliance had been not broken between ( see eh. xxxii. 28 ; viii. 6 and its parallel, Benhade.d and Bae.she., both would snrely l Kings ix. 19). have been taken in one net (Ps. clliv. 7), Ver. 5.-And let his work oease. The as they would have entered into the conflict parallel has not this, but follows the exact in alliance. A decisive victory over the previous sentence with this, "e.nd dwelt in King of Syria. would have been any way Tirzah." It is the happy suggestion of one e. grand day in the history of Judah; but commentator (Professor James G. Murphy, such a victory over the Kings of Syria and •Handbook: Chrnnicles ') that this sentence of the northern schismatic kingdom would may betray that it had been Be.nsha's inten- have been more than a. doubly grand day; tion to reside in Bamah, it would have been e. tenfold demonstration Ver. 6.-The affair ~eems thus to have come of God's judgment, that "though hand join to an unbloody termination. The parallel in hand, yet shall not the wicked go un- (1 Kings xv. 22) is so much the more graphic punished" (see pe.dicula.rly same Hebrew that it contains the two additions that Asa verb used of a. bird escaped in Ps. cxxiv. 7). "made a proclamation throughout allJ uda.h," Ver. 9.-Thou ehalt have wars. Although and one that" exempted none" from joining this language a.t first seems to be intended in the duty of moving all the stones and all for very specific application to Asa, yet e.s the timber from Re.me.h, and diverting' them we do not read of individual wars occurring to the use of building Geba. and Mizpah. after this in bis own time, it is quite within This greatly contributed to command the a just interpret_atioi:i, of it if we_ read it as road from tho north to Jerufalem. Gebo.. referring to the lllentable expenence of the 11, OHRONIOLE9, 0  194 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICL~S. (on. xvi. 1-lD.