though the exact eite or this interesting wh~nce probe.blyall might most eBsily wend scene is not ,vritten. For wheree.a we have their we.ye to their own diRtrict and town. offended againgt the Lord; Hebrew, •:., Jericho lay on the border of Benjamin. See ll'~~ ,n)n; ni~pt:!7· 'frnnslo.te, F0'1' to the j,1st Bte.nley's most interestin"'0 account (' Sinai cause of offence on the part of Jehovah with and Palestine,' p. 305). us, ye propose to add to our sins and to the . Ver.16.-At ~hat time did King Ahaz, . , offence existing already with us;' for great is kings of AHyna. The vagueness of thi11 that o_(!ence, etc. The genius of the word common formula, "at that time," would hero ronclered "offence," seems, from careful d~u?tless not have been apparent in the comparison of the eighteen times of its ongrnnl sources. In the present instance S)cOurrcnce, to point to "guilt," "sin," or we may fall be.ck on our vers. 5 6 to e-ive "trespass,'' ns the co.uses awoken in"' offence it distinctness; but see vers. 5, '6, 7 or''the in nay one ngo.inst those who clothe~. The parallel, which involve their own formula. repentant temper of these "heads of the and the present in some little uncertainty. children of Ephraim" was nclmiro.ble, and The kings of Assyria. The Septuagint and indicated their distance from many, many other versions show the singular number. others of their people and day, and of Judah ~ur plural may pe~~aps find an explanation who were either callous or reckless. ' ID eh, XXX. 6 ; XXXll. 4.
Ver. 14.-Before the princes and all the Ver. 17.-The Edomites. So the work of oongrege.tion; i.e. the four and those who Amaziah (eh. xxv. 11, 14; 2 Kings xi,·. 7) were now congregated round them. in reducing Edom was again undone (see also 2 Kings xvi. 7, where "Edom" should Ver. 15.-The men whioh were expressed be read for "Aram "). by name; Revised Version, which have been Ver.18.-The :Philistines. These also had expressed by name. This is the probable, yet been subjugated again and again, and of hardly certaiu, meaning of the clause. By late by Uzzi!lh (eh. xxvi. 6, 7), work that name should be "by names." And t!;e was now undone. The exultant relief to meaning may be that "the men who were ~be Philistines, short-liveu though it was, now specified by names for tl1e work rose 1s referred to elsewhere, as in the Book of up," etc. Under any aspect, it was likely faaiah (xiv. 29, 31), the Psalms (Ix. 8)_ enough these would embrace the four who Beth-shemesh. On the border of Juduh (eh. had already spoken so piously and season- xxv. 23, and our note there; l Chron. vi. ably ( eh. xxxi. 19; 1 Chron. xii 31 ; xvi. 44). Ajalon. This was also on the boru.er 41). The oaptives; Hebrew, ;i:;i~; lite- (1 Chron. vi. 54; eh. xi. 10). Gederoth, rally, the captivity; i.e. of course,' the body This was in the Shefelah (Josh. xv. 41). of captives (Deut. xxi. 11 ; xxxii. 42). Shocho; or, Socho, one of Rehoboam's cities, Clothed . . , arrayed. These two render- near the Philistines, a.ad therefore selected ings ore both the same verb (l:i:??), and even for fortification ( eh. xi. 7). T!Jnnah. This the snme (hiph.) conjugation. The undis- bordered on Dan (Josh. xv. 10). Gimzo. guised, apparent repetition in the Hebrew Not elsewhere mentioned, bnt well known text, yeilc<l ancl disguised in both the Autho• in the modem village Jimzu, its site on rized ancl Revised Versions, may perhaps what would have been the border of Dt1n. be owing to the intentness of the narrative They dwelt there. This expression is, of on saying, fir•t, that all who were literally course, designed to indicate that the Phil.i.s- naked were clothed from their own captive tines obtained successfully some foothold. spoil; and then, secondly, that ull wbosoever Ver. 19.-Ahe.z King of Israel. S,, Jeho- (dusty, dirty, tired, footsore) were clothed, shaphat was called in eh. xxi. 2 "King of in the sense of being fresh dressed. 'l'he Israel." If these two occasions are not merely eleven particulars of this verse are unoom- cases of the writer's or of a copyist'~ easily monly grapbio in the Hebrew text brevity imaginable mistake, they must be regarded of description. The verse mny read thus: ns naming the king of the chief divided And the men appointed by their names rose kingdom by the title of tile whole kingdom up, and toolc the captives by the hand, and or people. He made Judah naked; Re,·ised all of the naked of them they dressed from the V ersiou, had dealt wantonly in Judah ; or TJe1'y spoil, and dressed them (all), and shod mo.rgin, Revised Version, had cast away re- the,,.,, and fed them, and gave them di-ink, straint in Judah; Hebrew, Jl'7E);,, and anointed them, and carried upon asses Ver. 20.-Tilga.th-l'ilneser-·(s~e I Chron. all the feeble ones, and brought them to v. 6, 26; 2 Kings xv. 29; xvi. 10, our Jericho, city of palms, to tl1e very side of pnrallel. See our notes in full on 1 Chron. their bi·ethren, and , .. returned to Samaria, v. 6, 26). Gesenius dates his reign as King These made their own so for the blessedness of Assyria as B.O. 753-734; others ns about of them of l\fott. xxv. 34-36. J'erioho; i.e. u.o. 747-728. Diatressed him, but strength- well within their own land, to a fertile and ened him not. This is in our writer's usual shadccl s11ot of it, with plenty of water, and deeper moral aud religious vein, and was 334 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [cm, xxvm. 1-27.