Midianit~s ";eighe~ seventeen hundred shekels of gold (Judg. viii. 26); that obtained by Hanmbo.l e soldiers at the bo.ttle of Cannm was eo great" ut tree modios aureorum o.nnulorum Carthaginem mitteret, quos e mRnibus equitum Romanorum, senatorurn ot militum detraxerat" (' Eutropii Historia Romana,' xii.). IV. 'l'HE MUSTERING AT IlERAOHAH, (Ver. 26.) 1. The place. The valley, after- wards named from the incident of which it was the scene, must have adjoined the battle- field. A trace of it has been recovered in the Wddy Bereikut, to the west of Tekoa, near the road from Hebron to Jerusalem (Robinson, vol. ii. p. 189). There is no !rrountl for identifying it (Thenius) with the upper part of the valley of Kidron, afte~ards called the valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel. iii. 2, 12). 2. The time. On the fourth day after their arrival at Tekoa, the three intervening days having been employed in collect- ing the spoil. 3. The business. (1) To render thanks to Jehovah. National mercies should receive national acknowledgment, just as national sins require national confession. Full of gratitude for the marvellous deliverance they bad experienced, Jehoshaphat and his people blessed Jehovah on the spot he bad consecrated by so wondrous an inter- position on their behalf. From this circumstance the valley afterwards came to be designated Emek-Beracbah, or "the valley of blessing." (2) To prepare for returning to Jerusalem, which they forthwith did. V. THE RETURN TO JERUSALEM. (Vers. 27, 28.) 1. Without delay. After causing the wilderness to echo with anthems to him who had smitten great and famous kings (Ps. cxxxvi. 17, 18), they bad nothing to detain them from their homes. 2. Without loss. Though they had gained a glorious victory, not one of their company was left upon the battle-field. "Every man of J udab and Jerusalem" that marched to Tekoa returned to the capital. 3. Without disorder. The same solemn and orderly proces- sion that bad characterized their going forth now distinguished their coming back. 4. Without sorrow. Few returns from the battle-field are without saddening recollec- tions; theirs was marked by unmixed joy, to which they gave formal expression with psalteries and harps and trumpets in the house of the Lord. Learn: 1. The best evidence of faith-prompt and cheerful obedience. 2. The true secret of national as of individual prosperity-belief in God and in God's Word. 3. The value of sacred song as a means of exciting religious feeling and sustaining religious fortitude. 4. The necessity of holiness in them who would command or lead the Lord's host. 5. The ease with which God could make the enemies of bis people annihilate one another. 6. The rich spoil that belongs to faith. 7. The joyous home-coming of all God's spiritual warriors.-W.
Vera. 31-37.-The biography of Jehoshaphat. I. JEHOSIIAPIIAT's PAREl-<""TaGE. 1. His father. Asa, a good king who enjoyed a long and honoured reign. Though good fathers have sometimes bad sons, as in the case of Jehoshaphat himself, yet there is a presumption in favour of a parent's piety being reproduced in the son. "Lord! I find the genealogy of my Saviour strangely checkered with four remarkable changes in four immediate generations. (1) Roboam begat Abia; i.e. a bad father begat a bad son. (2) Ahia begat Asa; i.e. a bad father a good son. (3) Asa begat J osapbat; i.e. a good father a good son. (4) Josapbat begat Joram; i.e. a ~ood father a bad son. I see, Lord. from hence that my father's piety cannot be entailed: that is bad news for me. But I see also that actual impiety is not always hereditary: that is good news for my son" ('l'homas Fuller, 'Good Thoughts in Bad Times,' p. 43). 2. His mother. Azubab, the daughter of Shilhi. Otherwise unknown, she was, nevertbeles~, the wife of a good man, the consort of a pious king-alas! also the mother of a wicked son. She was probably herself a woman of worth, and to her credit her name bas been transmitted to posterity rather as her father's daughter and her husband's spouse than as her son's mother. In her case the band of Providence bas drawn a veil over her misfortune. II. JEHOSHAPHAT's REIGN. 1. When it began. When be WAS thirty-five years old. There was no room in this case for the royal preacher's woe (Eccle~. x. 16). ~- How long it continued. Twenty-five years-a quarter of a century; durrng which time he and bis people experienced much of the Divine favour and blessing. 3. When it ended. When be was sixty yearH of age; i.e. before he reached the allotted space_ of three scoro years and ten (Ps. xc. 10), and after a shorter life than was nfterwards enJoycd .?Y some of his less worthy successors, e.g. Uzziah (eh. xxvi. 3) and Manas~eh (eh. xxxm. 1)-a. THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CRilONICLES. [on. xx, 1-31.