Jonah. It may be 1o.ken fnr granted that soldiera. The Vulgate (sepia tcmpli) line U10 teeLimony was put into his hands (Dent. understood them to mean the precincts ot xvii. 18-20; xxxi. 24-29). If something the temple. The indications of the remark- now and so out of the we,y as resting the able but not uncommon prepositional ex- testimony (i.e. the book of the Law) on the pression, n•.:;ir,r-',\'l ( enjoying the analogy of hee,d were purported, it is likely that e, other compounded prepositional expressions, distincter point would he,ve been made of ae l}J~-',t:l; y1ni;i-',!J) favours the idea that it. God save the king 1 Hebrew, '!J7?C1 '17.'..:. Jehoiada said, Ha.ve her forth from insido "Let the king live I" (1 Sam. x. 24; 2 8am. "the house of the Lord" (ver. 12), to within xvi. 16; 1 Kings i. 25, 31, 34, 39). your ranks, and there take care to make a Ver. 12.-WhenAthaliah heard the noise. way for her, no one with immature zeal The parallel (2 Kings xi. 13-16) shows following to slay her there, at the jeopardy only two differences of any noteworthiness, of hie own life, for under no case let her be and these will come under notice next verse. slain in the house of the Lord. The noise; Hebrew, the voice; i.e. no doubt Ver. 16.-Between him. The Revised the voices of the, people. Praising. The Version reads "himself," which is the evi- Hebrew is the piel participle; our corre- dent meaning. The parallel leaves out, sponding phrase would be, "singing out the however, mention of Jehoiada. as party to praises of the king," i.e. not any personal the covenant, viewing him rather as the pmises, but such as the cries of "Long live promoter of it. the king I" or, as Olll' Authorized Version has Ver. 17.-The house of Baal. It becomes it, "God save the king I" plain that some building had been actually Ver. 13.-At his pillar (see note on ver. reared alongside, so to say, of the very temple 10). At the entering in. The parallel itself, for Bao.I. Slew Mattan (Deut. xiii. 6, (2 Kings xi. 14) hos "as the manner we,s" 9). Brake . . . hisimo.ges; Hebrew, 1•~7~; (tl!)~lf~ tJice Ni:lp~). The reading in the this is the more pronounced word, dis- parallel is quite explainable by such refer- tinguished from ni:i'¥~- ences as 2 Kings xxiii. 3; eh. xxxiv. 31). Ver. 18.-J'ehoiada. appointed; i.e. re- Suoh as taught. Piel participle of v:i~; the appointed or restored. The offices; ni,R_!:l. meaning here probably being not literally Numb. iii. 32, 36: iv. 16; xvL 2!); 1 Chroii. the teaching confraternity as such, but the xxiii. 11; xxiv. 3, 19; xxvi. 30; eh. xvii. leaders, and in particular those who were 14; xxiii. 18; xxiv. 11 ; xxvi 11 ; see also appointed on this occasion to lead. Treason! Ps. cix. 8; Isa. x. 3 ( comp. Job x. 12). 1tili:>; interesting references are 2 Sam. xv. The priests. There should, no doubt, be 12 ;' 1 Kings xvi. 20; Isa. viii. 12; J er. xi. found the conjunction "and" after this word 9; Ezek. xxii. 25. The idea of the word and before " the Levites," whom David had is conspiracy, and Athaliah's eye read this distributed (so 1 Chrou. niv. 1-19; xxv. at once, and not less promptly, that it 8-31). In the to.w of Moses (Numb. xviii. amounted to treason to her. 1-7; xxxviii. 2). Withrejoioing . .. sing- Ver. 14.-Brought out, NJ;i•~, for "com- ing . . . David (1 Chron. x.xiii. 5; xxv. 1, manded" in the parallel, ,~;!; and this is 2, 5-7; and our eh. xxix. 25-30). probably right, the Hebrew in our text Ver. 19.-The porters (1 Chron. xxvi. I probably a clerical or copyist's error. The -12). ranges; niiJ~. This word is found only in Ver. 20.-The high gate. There is some three other piaces, viz. twice in the parallel doubt as to what this gate was, whether the (its vers. 8, 15), Revised Version "ranks," temple gate of eh. xxvii. 3, the chief gate of and in 1 Kings vi. 9, where it is rendered the outer court, or whether it was merely o. in the Authorized Version "the boards," but palace gate, and not identified also with the in the Revised Version "the planks," and precincts of the temple. It is called in the margin "rows." The ranges are commonly parallel " the gate of the guard." supposed to mee.n the ranks or rows of
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-25.-71ie time of action, after sire years' waiting. In the _first. ve~e of_ t_his chapter, so full of the indications of the ruling providence of_ God, ali_ke m his ra1sm~ up 11. priest like Jehoie.de., e.nd in the marrfage alliance which Jehoia~ had formed with the sister of the king, we a.re told that this priest "stre:1gthened _himself,''. or tool~ courage, e.nd proceeded also therewith to te.ke measures to bnng the hidden heir to the throne to light, and to place on his hee.u the crown. It is not ne~essary to understa1:-d tr.is to imply that courage had been lacking to him before. for this work, bu~ the.t, till the time we.s ripe, he had not girded himself to the enterprise. We rQ.ay notlce- u. CllBONIOLllS, 'l' 27-1 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [on. xxm. 1-21.