The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 330

Ver. G.---{Sec foregoing note.) An hundred reminds us of that of the sentence of for and twenty thou&and. The number is Jnrge, greater antiquity, l\nd from the sacred lip of but, the un<'e_rtainty ':'f very many of these the Inspirer of e.11 prophets, "The voice or fiirures notWithstandmg, it is impossible thy brother s blood orieth un!o me from the absolutely to pronounce it inorediblo. Be- ground." The re.ge had not bean that on oaue they had forsaken. The now frequent which the sun did not go down: it he.d been refrnin of the writer. so fieroo that upon it the sun ought novor Ver. 7.-The king's ■on. Thie ean scarcely to have been required to look. Seo for mean the obild of Abaz, considering Ahe.z's interesting pe.rtioule.rs e.nd then moro general age; some think a brother of the present references, Jer. li. 9; Ezra ix. 6; Ps. x:xxviii. king, son of Jothe.m, me.y be intended. We 4; Gen. xviii. 21; xxviii. 12; Job xx. 6, be.ve e.lso to fall be.ok upon the use of the The expression of the text, however, "reaoh- phrase," king's eon," for eome specie.I offici&l eth," or " toucheth," cannot be understood of the king or conrt (see note on cb. to reproduce o.s a perfect equivalent the xviii. 25 ; e.nd its pa.re.lie!, 1 Kings nii. 26). older ahove-quoted one of "crieth." In The governor of the house ; Revised Ver- other words, the magnitude of the rage is sion, ruler. We have probably a sufficient the first thing set forth, o.nd the particular clue to this designation in I Kings iv. 6; langue.ge in which it is set forth well postu- and the desigue.tion itself, oh. xviii. 3; 2 lates the inference of its e.bominableness in Kings xviii. 18; cb. xix. 11. Next to the God's sight. king; Hebrew, 1½::i :,_icil:); literally, there- Ver. 10.-For bondmen and bondwomen fore, the ne:i:t of the king; the general mean- nnto you. The denunciation of Deut. :u:viii. ing of which expression ce.nnot be doubtful 68 may be instructively compared with the (corup. 1 Chron. xvi. 5; Esth. x. 3; Neh. emphe.tio prohibition of Lev. :xxv. 46. The xi. 9), hut the exacter scope e.nd functions more.I thread of ordine.nce that runs every- of the person under the kings of the divided where through the divinely established kingdom thus designe.ted is less certe.in. It economy of the Old Testament Judaism is naturally to be supposed bis place may should be devoutly observed. The verse, in have been king's deputy in councils in his the position of its words, furnishes an ex- absence, or in o.nd ovor the city itself, when ample of almost classical pattern: .tlnd now he was at a distance with an army. persons who are children of Judah. and Jeru- Ver. 8.-To Se.maria. While the Syrian salem, ye are reBolving within yourselves king carried bis captives to Dame.sons (ver. (litero.lly, saying) to subdue into bondmen 5), the Israel king carried his to Samaria. and bondwomen for yourselves. The nurubers in this verse, with the added Ver. 11.-The fierce wrath; i.e. not nn- hundred and twenty thousand whom Pekah e.nnounced, for Oded means to say," You are slew (ver. 6), m.e.y be compared with the doing contrary to the Law and the Prophet military strength of the kingdom in Uzziah'11 Mesi,s," as just quoted. time, as given in eh. x:xvi. 13. Ver. 12.-Oded's appeal, and forcible but Ver. 9.-The very interesting content.& of most temperate aud pertinent argument of thi• and the following six verses are not the previous verses, was addressed to those found in the parallel. A prophet of the who Jed the returning e.rmy, flushed with Lord . . . Oded. We do not know aoy par- victory and haughty with their captives led ticulars of this prophet; for his ne.me and in triumph, e.nd, as ver. 15 shows, cruelly, its possible identity with the name Iddo, and with every deprivation of clothes and see notes on eh. ix. 29; :xv. 1, 8. The grow- of shoes, etc. It now, however, fortunately ingly frequent references to the interposition meets with most welcome practical support of the prophets is much to be noticed, and from those ( oerte.in of the heads of the their dignity, courage, fidelity, a.re brought children of Ephraim) who had not had a hand into grand relief. They are very typical of in whe.t had been done, and now stood by, the more.I presence of which no national in 110me measure like umpires. They, at hilltory, as centuries eolemnly flow on, gives e.ny rate, are convinced, partly perhaps in the slightest symptom of a slackening need. that their blood was not bot with the battles The very 11ame may be &aid alike of the that had been. We do not know particulars truth and those qualified and commisijioned of the6e four worthier men, whose name&, to Lt:ar it, of the message and the messenger. with their fathers', are here "expressed" :Before the hOllt ; i.e. in very face of the (ver. 15). They were evidently conscious of host, somewhat too mildly rendered "to their past sins, had fear toward God, were meet " the host, in eh. xv. 2, etc. In a rage not of those who, 11inning, haatened to sin that ree.cheth up nnto 1:.eaveu. To the won• yet more; but they wished to flee from the derful life of this figure, that must strike wrath to come, the "fierce wrath," already every reader, mUBt be added the force that impending. Ephraim (see note on eh, x:xv. 7). comes of its moral rather than merely Ver. 13.-Rither. The returning army 11111,terial 11uggestion-f& moral suggestion that was, no doubt, on the outskirts of Se.maria. cm. xxvm. 1-27.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 333