viz. in_ t~e house of Asuppim! or, "house of collections_ or prov~sions" (Neh. xii. 26)- " a bmldmg used for the storing of the temple goods, situated m the neighbourhood of the southern door of the temple in the external court" (Keil). The plundering of tho latter does not appear to have boen restrained. All tho treasures of the king's house fell a prey to the royal spoliator. 5. The taking of hostages. These wero required in consequence of Amaziah's liberation, as a security for his good behaviour, and wero most likely drawn from the principal families. 6. The return to Samaria. Joash acted with becoming moderation. '!'hough he might have killed, he spared Amaziah, and even restored him to his throne. Whereas he might have broken down the entire city wall, he overthrew only a part of it. Instead of plundering the whole temple, he ravaged merely one of its external buildings. Judah and Jerusalem he might have annexed to his empire, but he forbore. Having properly chastised his royal_ brother, he returned to Samaria. LEssoNs. 1. A man may wear a crown and yet be a fool-witness Amaziah. 2. " Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." 3. " He that girdeth on his armour should not boast as he that putteth it off." 4. The hand that lets slip the dogs of war deserves to be devoured by them, 5. Clemency becomes a conqueror, and is an ornament of kings.-W. Vers. 25-28.-The last of Amaziah. I. SPARED BY ms CONQUEROR, (Ver. 25.) Instead of being put to death, he was restored to his crown and capital, where he actually survived Joash for fifteen years. This treatment he hardly deserved, con- sidering he had aimed at Joash's life and crown. Yet was tbe mercy of it nothing to that of God's treatment of sinful men, whom, though they have raised against him the standard of revolt, he nevertheless spares, forgives, and will eventually exalt to a place upon the throne with Christ his Son. II. PtJN"ISHED FOR BIB APOSTASY. (Ver. 27.) This apostasy was committed in the earlier part of his reign (ver. 14), and soon began to bear bitter fruit, first in the defeat he sustained at the hand of Joash, probably next in the disaffection of his people, and finally in the formation of a conspiracy for his overthrow, which ea.me to a head in the fifteenth year after Joash's death. One never knows when the evil fruits and penal consequences of sin are exhausted. The safe plan is to "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness" (Eph. v. 11). IIL DRIVEN FROM HIS CAPITAL. (Ver. 27.) Probably the disaffection began after the defeat by Joash and the dismantling of Jerusalem. There is no reason to suppose that Amaziah was obliged to flee until towards the end of the fifteen years referred to in the text. The immediate occasion of this flight was the discovery of a plot against his life. So David had been obliged to flee from Jerusalem when his own son Absalom conspired against him (2 Sam. xv. 16). IV. SLAIN llY ms SUBJECTS. (Ver. 27.) Lachish, where he sought refuge, was an old Canaanitish royal city (Josh. L 3-31; xii. 11), south-west of Jerusalem, in thn lowlands of Judah (Josh. xv. 39). According to Micah (i. 13), it was the first Jewish town to be affected by Isra.elitish idolatry, which :,pread from it towards the capita.I. It would seem also to have been one of Solomon's chariot cities (1 Kings ix. 19; x, 26-29). It had been fortified by Rehoboa.m ( eh. xi. 9), and was subsequently captured by Sennacherib (eh. ::uxi.i. 9) after a long siege (Jer. x.xxiv. 7). It should probably be identified with the modem Um-Lakis, a few miles west-south-west of the Eleutheropolis. Arrested here, the fallen monarch was despatched by the daggers of assassins, as his father before him had been ( eh. xxi v. 25). As conspiracy had set the crown on Amazia.h's head, so conspiracy now took it off. V. BURIED WITH HIS FATHERS, (Ver. 28.) Brought to Jerusalem in his own royal chariot, he was entombed beside his ancestors in the city of Judah, or of David, thus receiving an honour which was not paid to his father. He got a better funeral than he deserved, though it is well to forget men's faults at the grave's mouth. Nihil nisi bonnm de 'Tnortuis. VI. SuccEEDED llY HIS soN. {Ch. x.xvi. 1.) The conspirators did not attempt to seize ibe crown for either themselves or any of their faction. They adhered to the le;ritimate succession of the house of David. As it were, this was a posthumous mercy coi1ferred on Amazia.h. OR. :xxv1. 1-23.J THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLE3.
LEBBONB. 1. Beware of incurring the Divine anger. 2. Envy not kings or great men. 3. Prepare for the day of death. 4. Think with kindness on the dead. 5. Practiae mercy towards the living.-W.