The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 295

•• buried him in the city of David among the kings "-as it were reco!mizin" 0 0 in him a sovereign greater than many, and equal to the best. IV. JEHOIADA'B El'ITAPH, 1. Short. One sentence of three clauses: "He did good in Israel, both toward God, and towards his house." Nothing'.more offensive to good taste and refined feeling, not to say more untrue to fact, than the fulsome and extra- vagant pamgmphs which often appear on tombstones. 2. Simple. All who read might understand, and, understanding, might verify from their own experience, assisted (if need were) by the recollections of others. The last place at which to make a dis- play of eloquence and rhetoric is the grave's mouth. What is here recorded of this uncrowned King of Judah stands in startling contrast with the magniloquence of Egyptian and Assyrian kings. 3. Sufficient. What more or better could be testified of any man than that in his lifetime he had done good, lived a life of piety towards God and of philanthropy towards man, promoted God's glory and advanced man's good, furthered God's kingdom and increased man's happiness ? Learn: 1. The possibility of combining statesmanship and piety. 2. The command- ing influence of religion when associated with talent and rank. 3. The advisability of looking beyond man in both Church and state, since statesmen and priests are not suffered to continue by reason of death. 4. The certainty that a life of philanthropy and piety will sooner or later :find recognition. 5. The :fitness of rewarding with becoming honour in death those who sincerely and successfully serve their generation when in life.-W. Vers. 17-22.-The downward career of a king. I. JoAsn's TEMPTATION. (Ver. 17.) 1. When it came. "After Jehoiada's death,". when the weakling king, having lost his counsellor, was left to the guidance of his own vain heart and foolish under- standing. Temptations mostly assail men in their moments of weakness. Eve was probably assaulted in the absence of Adam (Gen. iii. 1); David, certainly, in the absence of Nathan (2 Sam. :ti. 2); Job, when enfeebled through affliction (ii. 9); Peter, when deprived of strength through over-confidence (John xiii. 27). The devil is too wary a warrior to besiege a heart when at its strongest. 2. How it looked. (1) Extremely pleasing; flattering to his vanity and satisfying to his pride. "The princes of Judah came, and made obeisance to him." (2) Perfectly harmless. What they asked may be assumed to have been liberty to worship the Asherim and the idols (ver. 18); not that the king should do so, though secretly they may have hoped he would, but merely that toleration should be granted to them. Tempters seldom show all their hands at once; if they did, their temptations would fail (Prov. i. 17). To the tempted also evil courses commonly appear safe when first embarked upon; thoul!h afterwards their true characters are discovered, when too late. 3. How it fared. It prospered. ,Toash, poor fool! swallowed the bait. "He hearkened unto them," because either he wanted courage to refuse, or desired, in return for their flattery, to please them (Dan. xi. 32). II. JuDAH's DECLENSION. (Ver. 18.) 1. The princes. These" left the house of the Lord God of their fathers," i.e. abandoned the worship of Jehovah, of which the temple was the centre, and embraced the abominable superstitions of the northern kingdom and of the preceding reigns in Judah. On the worship of the Asherim and idols, see eh. xiv. 3 (homily). 2. The people. The language of the Chronicler (ver. 18), as well as of Zechariah (ver. 20), implies that Judah and Jerusalem, in their people as well as princes, had transgressed ; and, indeed, it is hardly likely that the princes would have ventured upon this step had they not been able to count upon the sympathy, if not the direct support, of the community. 3. The king. Though "not stated that Joash himself worshipped idols" (Bertheau), and though, perhaps, at first be did not, it is too apparent, from the moral deterioration he suffered, as well as from the judgment he endured, that his offence was more than "not strictly maintaining the worship of Jehovah" (Bertheau). III. JEHOVAH's CORRECTION. (Ver. 19.) 1. Its instruments. The prophets; in particular, Zachariah the son-perhaps grandson (Eadie, Ebrard, Lange, Morison)-of Jehoiada (ver. 20), called a)so Barachias (Matt. x~iii. 35). ~)ie ~rophets, of wh?m many have appeared in this book-Nathan (eh. 1x. 29), Ah11ah (eh. x. 15), Azanah (eh. xv. 1), Hanani (oh. xvi. 7), Micaiah (oh, xviii. 8), Jehu (eh. xix, 2), Jahaziel (eh.  296 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [on. xxrv. 1-27.