The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 267

In many lands, has the house of God been a BIJ/Tl,ctuary, a. place where men ha.ve taken refuge o.nd he.ve bidden themselves from the wre.th of the pursuer. But there is a better wo.y in which God's house may be to us a sanctuary. We may go there to hide ourselves in him whose house it is. We may go there with our troubled or our sio- burdoned heart, and wo mo.y bide in him who is the God of all grace and co □ solation, in him who is o.bundant in mercy and truth (see Ps. xxvii. 4, 5). When we cherish a living faith in God our Saviour and our Friend, we "hide ourselves under the shadow of his wings " (Ps. xvii. 8).-C. Vers. 1-12.-A chapter of tragedies. I. THE SLAUGHTER OF JEHORAM's BONB. (Ver. 1.) An illustration of three things. 1. The perils attending high station. Jehora.m's sons were among the captives taken by the Philistines and Arabians (eh. xxi. 17). Had they been common soldiers, their lives might ha.ve been spared; being princes of the blood, they were put to death. A man's social elevation attracts towards him the arrows of bate, envy, malice, and other secret foes; an obscure po~ition tends to protect him. Therefore let none murmurtbe.t the Arbiter of destinies bas not made them kings or great ones; neither let any rejoice that their places on earth are not low. 2. The mischances accompanying war. It was probably their duty to take the field against the combined hordes of the Philistines and Arabians; nevertheless, they who go to war even for defence, a.nd much more for aggression, must not be surprised if they a.re killed. In the case of Jeboram's sons, the camp of Judah had been surprised by a. reconnoitring party who had come with the Arabians (Keil), or by" a band of wild men who served in the army of the Arabians, possibly against the will of the leaders" (Bertheau); and J ehora.m's sons, having first been carried off as prisoners, were afterwards put to death. In ancient times, when prisoners became troublesome or proved dangerous, this wa.s the customary wa.y in which they were disposed of. 3. The retributions wrought by Providence. Even if Jehoram's sons were not as wicked as himself, it was a signal illustration of the lex talionis, a conspicuous demonstration of the truth that with what measure one metes it shall be measured to him again (Ma.tt. vii. 2). J ebora.m had assassinated all his brothers on ascending the throne; before he descended from it, Jehovah suffered him to see all his sons (except the youngest) cut off by invading marauders. "Are not my ways equal? saith the Lord" (Ezek. xviii. 29). II. 'l'HE EXTERMINATION OF AHAB'S HOUSE. (Ver. 7.) Incidentally referred to by the Chronicler, it is more fully detailed in 2 Kings ix. and L, and may here be briefly narrated. 1. The thing determined by God. (1) When? As far back as the time of Elijah, in the days of Ahab himself (1 Kings xix. 16, 17). Divine foreordi□ ation interferes not with the freedom of human action. If the destruction of Ahab's house was carried out in fulfilment of a previously formed Divine decree, it was, nevertheless, effected by a political revolution. (2) Why? On account of the incurable apostasy, outrageous irreligion, a.nd flagrant blood-guiltiness of Ahab and bis successors on the throne of Israel. Besides being an idolater of the most debasing type, .Ahab had been a. murderer of extreme ferocity, and his successors had walked in his ways. There was, therefore, no remedy remaining but one-complete extirpation. Under the Divine government, redemption or destruction a.re the two alternatives that stand before all evil-doers (Ise.. i. 19, 20). Souls tha.t cannot be recovered must be cut off (Ps. xxxvii. 9), When the prediluvian world had sunk below the line of possible restoration, it wae submerged beneath the waters of a flood (Gen. vi. 7). When Sodom and Gomorrah ha.d become too filthy to be renovated, they were burnt up from off the face of the earth (Gen. xviii. 21; xix. 24, 25; 2 Pet. ii. 6; Jude 7). 2. The instrument selected by God. (1) His na.me. Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. This first revealed to Elijah at Horeb (1 Kings xix. 16). In the Assyrian inscriptions Jehu is twice mentioned, and each time as ",Jehu the son of Omri," the foreign scribe being unacquainted with his history as recorded in Scripture, and regarding him as a prince of the dynasty• of Omri. .An obelisk of black marble, five feet in height, found at Nimroud and now in the British Museum, represents the tribute brought to Shal• maneser n.' by vassal princes, among whom appear" Yahna, son of Kbumri," giving "silver, gold, bowls of gold, vessels of gold, goblets of gold, pitc?ers of gold, lead, sceptres for the king's hand, and staves" (' Records,' etc., Y, 41); while a fragment from  268 'l'HE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES, [err. xxn. 1-12,