apparent misnomers of our writer, e.e illue- Tarabieh. This clause, even if the text ie tmted by eh. xii. 6; xxi. 2, 4) very possibly not corrupt, yet cannot mean what it seems l,o ona with tha pare.llel, '' book of the to ae.y; but in tho word "to go" (HebrBW, chroniclos of the kings of Jude.h" (see our n?~~) muat mean, of the sort the.t were wont 'lutroduotion,' 1 Chroniolee, pp. vii., viii.). to go to Tarshiah, i.e. the.t were used for the Of this larger collected cyclopmdie. of roye.l Tarehiah trade. We a.re guided to some biography, Jehu's account ('J?'J) of Jeho- such explanation by 1 Kings xxii. 48, where ehnphnt we.e one component pa.rt. Though it is ea.id the ships were" ships of Tarshish J ehu's ('.J;i')) bool, ie not mentioned else- to go to Ophir" (l Kings x. 22; eh. viii. 18). where, he l1imself ie p11rticul1uly in 1 Kings That the ships could not be to go to Te.rshish xvi. 1, ne well ae in our eh. xix. 2. ie plain from the fact of the place, Ezion- Ver. 35.-And after this. The hietorice.l geber (eh. viii. 17, 18; 1 Kings ix. 26), on episode of these three verses (35-37) ie the Red Sea, where they were built. Some, evidently misplaced, Ae Ahe.zie.h succeeded however, have snggeeted that some other his father Ahe.b in Jehoshe.phat'e seven- Tarshish (e.g. in the Gulf of Persia) than teenth year, we of course are at no loss to that of Spain (Tartesam) may conceivably be fix the time of Jehoehaphat'e "joining him- meant. The clear statement of the parallel 1 self with Ahazie.h." He had "joined him- saves the necessity of any such supposition, self" with Ahal,, and had smarted for it, however. and yet "e.fter" the.t, he "joined himself" Ver. 37.-Eliezer the son of Dodave.h of with his son Ahaziah. We do not donbt Mareshah. Nothing beside is known of that the "who" of this verse refers to Aha- this prophet. For Mareeho.h, see eh. xi. B, ziab, not, as some think, to Jehoshaphat. and note there. The ships were broken; i.e .. Ver. 36.-This verse tells us the object presumably by some storm. One general with which Jehoshaphat had joined him- remark maybe made upon these verses (34- self with Ahaziah, e.nd 1 Kings xxii. 49 37), together with vers. 45-50 of 1 Kings tells us how at last, by e. point-ble.nk re- xxii, viz. that the dislocation of both manner fueal to Ahazie.h, he withdrew from the and matter, observable in both of them, pro- very brief commercial alliance after he had bably betrays something out of order for not merely been witneSBed against by the whatever reason or accident, in the mor& Prophet Eliezer spoken of in our next original source, from which both drew, the verse, but more decisively witnessed against apparently disjointed mixture of matter in by the shattering of his ships. To go to the parallel being the more patent of the two-
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-37.-The last chapter in Jehoshaphat's career. The aspects in which the character of Jehoshaphat offers itself to our view, in the last seen of him, are now to be considered. Few men there Rre who bear themselves well in prosperity, especially if the prosperity be great; and many there are who fail to submit well to the discipline of adversity. Of this latter weakness of human nature it can scarcely be said that Jehoshaphat was an illustration. The punishment that had been foretold, that solemn consequence, at any rate, of "helping the ungodly, and loving them that hate tbe Lord; therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord" (eh. xix. 2), now impended; and almost the entirety of what remains to be recorded respecting Jehoshaphat is occupied with the subject in this chapter, of the manner in which Jehoshaphat met his evil days, He did not defy them, he did not aggravate them, he did not make them a. case of hopeless repining; he met them in a calm, brave, religious spirit. 'l'he indica- tions and the proofs of this are noticeable as follows. l. THE ALARM OF WHAT WAS COMING IS ATTENDED TO AT ONCE, AND IS AT O~CE PREPARED FOR, (Vers. 1-4.) II. THE Ill[MEDIATE FIRST PREPARATION IS THE RESORT TO PRAYER. In the presence of all "the congregation of Judah and Benjamin, in the house of tbe Lord," when "all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and tbeir cliildren" (vers. 5, 13), prayer is made to God-prayer that recounts his great attributes; that claims his Fatherhood as vouchsafed by promise and covenant of old; that rehearses his mighty works; that lays faith's clinging hold upon the comparatively recently built and consecrated and dedicated temple, with all that it involved; that finds an argument, even, in the specially ungrateful turpitude of tho foe, who now is the attacking party; and that closes with an unreserved aud a beautiful cxpre&sion of confidence in God and utter self-distrust (vers, 5-12), n. CllRONICLEa, 24-2 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [oH. xx. 1-37.