The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 301

theroforc, ie open to no chargo of moral "Thorefore Jehoaeh ... went up." Our oowordioe ond uaprophet-like infidolity. own verse, in the use of the pi ural prononn Vor. 17.-Took advioe; i.e. took counsel• them, e.ad again they, te.kes some slight as iu forogoing vorso, "Art thou mado Icing'~ amount of the weight of guilt in tho matter couneollor? " and ae in eome verse, " coun- of the idolatry from the shoulders of the eolled" should ro0.<I instead of"dctermined." king, that it m3:y be aha.red by the people, 'l'!Jo verb (fl/:), in kal, niph., e.nd once only and no doubt cL1efly again by the" princes" in hithp., occurs just eighty times, always in ( eh. xxiv. 17). thie eenee, ond olmoet always eo rendered Ver. 21.-Beth-ehemeeh. The Beth-sho- in tho Authorized Voreion, Let ua see one mesh of J'ude.h, on the borders of Judah Dan another in the faoe. A refined analogy to and the Philistines, ie to be distin~ished this expression, with all its speaking eigni- from that on the boundary of Issacha.r (Josh. fioance, occurs in 2 Sam. ii. 13 ; and, per- xix. 22), and "the fenced city of N aphte.li" haps yet more remarkably, a strange sew- (Josh. xix. 38). blance between vers. 14, 15, 17 of that Ver. 23.-J'oaah . . . took; Hebrew, tnr., chapter and our vere. 21, 22 may be noticed. "seized" (as Gen. xxxix. 12), or "caught Ver. 18.-The thistle . . . sent to the up" (~.. Deut. ix. 17), or "capture" (att cedar. While other history shows frequently Josh. vm. 8). The gate of Ephraim (see the abounding Ea.stern delight in th.i;i exact Conder's 'Handbook to the Bible,' p. 343). kind of composition, it will be remembered It led out on the north or north-west side of that it ie not e.bsent from Scripture, and the city. 'l'here ie very little to identify it that this is not the first recorded instance of with the high gate of Benjamin (see ditto, it by three hundred and fifty years, for eee p. 346). The corner gate. This is not the Judg. ix. 7-15. The thistle; Hebrew, n~ni}. translation of our Hebrew text (;ip,;i ,v.;, The word occurs, beside the four times here which, see margin, means" that lo.oketh "), and in the parallel, eight other times: 1 Sam. but of the Hebrew text of the pa.ml lei (,1?9ri); xiii. 6; eh. xxxiii. 11; Job xx.xi. 40; xii. 2; see pp. 343-346 of Conder's 'Handbook to Prov. xxvi. 9; Ca.at. ii. 2 ; lea.. xxxiv. 13 ; the Bible,' and map facing p. 334, 2nd edit. Hos. ix. 6. Although, then, the word we Four hundred cubits. Probably a.boot a have here ie not the "bramble" (1\?t$) of hundred and eighty yards. Judg. ix. 15, whioh also ie brought before Ver. 24.-No mention is made in the ue in its contra.et with Lebanon's cedar, yet parallel of that custodian of treasures in the the bramble bush, chiefly in virtue of its house of God, here called Obed-Edom, and characteristic thorn, best answers to the who possibly was a descendant of the Obed- average suggestions of e.11 the twelve in- Edom of David's time (2 Sam. vi. 10; 1 stances of the use of our word. Chron. xiii. 13); or an Obed-Edom "a Ver. 19.-lf the contents of this verse do porter" (1 Chron. xv. 18 ; xvi. 38 ; xxvi. 4, not fail to impress with a persuasion of the 8), The present verse is an interesting one keen mental gift of Joash, they do not fall for pointing out the exact differences, even far short of warranting some persuasion of e. to the minutest of them, in what tbe two certain moral sense and goodness about him "'.filers (of Kings and Chronicles) respec- also. He knows hums.a ne.ture well, and t! vely took from e. common original ; e.g. the Amnziah'e particular variety therein per- writer of Kings has "he took;" leaves out fectly well. And many would have snapped " Obed-Edom; " has not the preposition at the opportunity of humbling such e. man. " in " before " the house ; " has " Jehovah " But not so Joash; he enjoys, indeed, the instead of "God ; " has the preposition "in,. opportunity of satisfying his own sa.rcaBm before " treasures ; " and has " Samarie.- e.nd pe.tronizingness, but would still spare ward" (i.e. to Samaria.) instead of only Amaziah's people e.ad save him from him- " Samaria; " the writer of Chronicles differ- 1elf. Thie does not resemble, at any rate, ing in ench of these respects. All the gold the commonest, poorest, hungriest style of . . . in the house of God. See 2 Kings xii. eoul. To boo.et. Our text gi vee us here 17, 18, from which we must conclmle that hiph. infinitive construct, where the parallel H11za.el had nlready had the pick both for has niph. imperative. This lends the more quantity and for quality. The hostages also; effective she.ft to the invective of Joash, the phrase runs in the Hebrew text, "and though without material difference to the eons [or,' the sous 'J of the hostages" (')~ n~)'-- sense. n\:i::,V,~;"J); the literal rendering of which is Ver. 20.-The whole of the religious re- " cliiidren or sons of pledges," i.e. hostages. flection, with ite special poet-CRptivity si«- The word (and iudeed the practice so preve.- nifico.noe of this verse, is wanting in the lent elsewhere) is found only here and in pe.rallel, and finds no suggestion either the pare.He!. thence or from common authorities. The Ver. 25.-Amazia.h ... lived e.fter the parnllel shows the sto.tement, But Amazia.h dee.th of J'oaeh. The composition of the would not hear, follower! up immediately by previous two ver$es dismis~es delica.tely th11  802 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [ou. xxv. 1-28.