own order8 (so our rendering is not incon- us to compare one Scripture with anolher, sistent with tlmt in the p11,rnllel ''wa88tayed" nnrl bnlance one part ago.inst anothN--a (I Kings xxii. 35) ;n the cbe.riot till he thing easy to do in me.ttera of fact, but too died in the evening, Although tho spirit often forgotten in the weightier matter of of Ahrib, a.nd his fidelity to his own army, doctrine. Here our eighteenth chapter kingdom, a.ml self, cannot but e.ppea.r to closes, less the mention of the proclamation nclva.ut11,go in theso Inst incidents of bis un- for the self-disbanding of Ahab's army (ver. wortliy life, yet it is probable that they find 36 of the parallel chapter) which ahonJ,J their rocord here for tho sake of giving clear fulfil the prophecy c,f our ver. 16, and less statement to the fact, that in the cha.riot his any mention of Ahab's burial, of the wash- life-blood collected a.ccording to the saying ing of his cha.riot in the pool of Samaria, of of the pa.re.llel (ver. 35 compared with the dogs licking up of the blood there, and ver. 38). Note, therefore, particularly the of his ivory house, etc. (vers. 37-40 of the truncated history of the writer of Chronicles parallel chapter). All of which omitlinga in this instance. He, no doubt, consciously accord wP-11 with the one clear ecclesiastical omitted, and with a. purpose, his own UBllal and religious intent of the Chronicles, in purpose; but light is lost, and the cross light place of the pursuit of matters of general tends rather to misleading, except for that and merely graphic historic interest, however only correct user of Scripture, which teaches charged with instruction they too might be.
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-34.-The second chapter in Jehoshaphat's career. This chapter opens with the statement of a fact that portends no good-the "affinity" which Jehoshaphat "joined with Ahab," the King of Israel. This came to pass in the incident of the marriage of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, with Athaliah, daughter of Ahab. Eight years, or a little more, and it seems to bear no evil fruit; but, if so, it was only that it was taking its time to form and ripen, and now too surely is found. Clu.~ters of lessons in this chapter gather round the names of- I. JEHOSHAPHAT. They now, unfortunately, all depend from that one false position in wl:ich he had involved himself and his family with Ahab and his family. l. J eho- shaphat has become undoubtedly the leading man, and is proportionately exposed to the dangers inherent in, inseparably inherent in, being courted-courted by attentions, by flattery, by luxurious entertainment, by being appealed to for his opinion on great questions, and tacitly treated as arbiter in high questions of state. 2. He must repay these, if possible, in somewhat similar coin, and must use large language, speak after the manner of an entangling generosity (ver. 3), and, before he knows what he means, commit himself to something dangerously near a promise. 3. .After this promise, instead of before it, he admonishes the man who is in fact a rival king to inquire "the wo1d of the Lord," and has to wince under the notorious humiliation of listening to the report of four hundred men, well known for false prophets I 4. He bas to save, if not, his credit, the bare necessities of the truth, by asking for a true prophet, "a prophet of the Lord," without, as it would appear, one word of blank and flat denunciation of .Ahab's troop of prophets, and with only the mildest deprecation (ver. 7) of Ahab's unqualified assertion that be "hates" the true man, and with utter ignoring and neglect of the favourable opportunity of asking bow it may be supposed to have come to pass that the true man "never has prophesied good, but always evil unto" Ahab. Yes, but the inconvenience was that he was a guest in his house, and a guest sumptu- ously entertained and most deferentially treated. 5. He has a long sitting's humilia- tion, when, clothed in his royal robes, he sat, throne by throne, with Ahab, to see "the prophet of the Lord," Micaiah; to hear his parables, every word of which he knew to be truth; to witness the horror of that true prophet being "smitten on the cheek" of the false, and the royal honour of the Lord God proportionately disparaged; to observe the meek forbearance of Micaiah in his reply; and, to crown all, his sentence and relegation to a bread-and-water imprisonment by Ahab. It ought to have _be_en_a long tlay of torture for the king of the true line of David! 6. Lastly, though it 1s impos- sible to doubt that he was in possession of the true state of the whole case, Jehoshaphat has to go on to the end. He does the thin er that is wrong (eh. xix. 2); be seems, at last, to be obeying Ahab rather than to lead hi~-croincr into battle and, at his suggestion, clothed for a target for the archers-till the u~dig~i.6.ed cry to be spared is wrung from 218 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [on. xvm. 1-34,