the extraordinary behaviour of the Syrians RB little short of a providential miracle-as a merciful interposition of Jehovah on his behalf, 11.8 indeed it was. Jehovah helped JchoshRphat; moved the charioteers and warriors to tum a.,ide, not by any supernatural influence upon them, but by so ordering the succession of events, that they understood Jehoshaphat's cry !\nd recognized his features in time to let them see he WM not the object of their pursuit. IY. JEHOVAH's ARROW. (Yer. 33.) 1. Whence it flew. From the bow of an un- known warrior, most likely an obscure common soldier, who shot either aimlessly into the ranks oft-he Israelitish army, or with deliberate aim, but at no one he knew, at the first man that came into his field of vision. Either explanation satisfies the phraseology- " a certain man drew a bow at a venture." That the man's name was Naaman (Josephus) is a groundless tradition. 2. Whither it sped. To the person of Ahab. All events are under God's control He directcth the flights of arrows as of fowls, the careers of javelins as the courses of stars, according to the counsel of bis will. Nothing happens by accident. In a world governed by infinite wisdom and power chance is impossible. The Syrian archer drew his bow at a venture; not so did Jehovah draw his. The Syrian sharpshooter knew not at whom he aimed; Jehovah understood well who was his target. "Every bullet has its billet," not because the gunner but because God directs its path through the air. Not a sparrow can fall to the ground without our heavenly Father's permission (Matt. x. 29), nor shaft can hit till he pleases. 3. To what ii led. To the death of Ahab. It smote him" between the joints of the harness;" rather between the lower armour and the breastplate (Revised Version), between the· corselet and the tunic (Luther), between the joints and the harness (Keil). It found the spot where the parts of Ahab's armour fitted least closely, and there it entered the lower region of his body. Had it penetrated as far as did the arrow with which Jehu shot Jchoram (1 Kings ix. 24), it must have proved instantaneously fatal. That it did not seems a natural inference from the fact that he was able to remain upon t-he field. Learn : 1. The folly of attempting to outwit God. 2. The certainty that no disguise can hide a wicked man from God. 3. The impossibility of evading death when the appointed hour has come. 4. The clemency of God to his erring people. 6. The reality of God's interference with the affairs of time.-W.
EXPOSITION. chapter. The only peaC8 in which it conld CHAPTER XIX. be reasonably supposed Jehoshaphat re- The matter of this chapter is preserved turned to his house and the metropolis was for us by the writer of Chronicles alone, that of freedom from wa.r, and of present "e.ssnrance of his life." and is of much significance. After glancing Ver. 2.-And Jehu the son of B:IIIl&Di the e.t the moment's outward "peace" (ver. 1), seer went out to meet him. For Hanani, the which Jehoshaphat had on his return to faithful father of a faithful son, see eh. xvi. Jerusalem, the narrative, leaving in deep 7-10, where we read that he '' came to Asa oblivion ell he must have tllonght and felt King of Judah," etc. Also for Jehu, see 1 Kings xvi. 1-4, where we read of his and may have BpOken of the end of his coromi8sion at the word of the Lord to re- brother-king, and of his own late privat.e buke Baasha the King of Israel, at a date intimacy and public alliance with him, tells upwards of thirty years before the presAnt; how he was reined up by Jehu, the son of and see eh. xx. 34, which would lead us to Hanani the seer (vers. 2, 3); and thereupon infer, though not with certainty, that he outlived Jehoshaphat. The book called by how he wisely revisited his kingdom, e.s it his name, however, we.s not necessarily were throngh ita length and breadth, finished by him. It is evident that neithel' sought to " bring them back to the Lord the word of the Lord nor the messengers God of their fathers," remodelling and re- and prophets of the Lord were bound by filling the ve.rioUB offices of the judges, the orthodox limits of the divided kingdom. priests, and Levites (vers. 4-11), and The powerful character and tlrn moro.l force of the true prophet ill again seen (comp. ee.rnetrtly exhorted them. eh. xv. 1-8) in the wny in which l,e was Ver. 1.-ln peace. Compare the use of wont to go out to meet the evil-doer, though iL-.- phraae in vers. 16 e.nd 2(j, 27 of htat he were a king. We arc accuob111-·,l lo set <lll. xtx. 1-11.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 231