were excepted because for themselves and ,;i~t;i of ver. 16, nud connects vers. 15 and their little ones, their de.ily present temple 17. (On the words, from twenty years old, l!ervire brought their de,ily maintenance as comp. l Chron. xxiii, 27. Bee also Numb, of course. The •• unto every one" of our iv. 8; viii. 24-.) verRion is misleading. Keil translates per- Ver. 18.-(0omp. our eh. xx. 18.) spicuously, "of all those who entered the Ver. 19.-Themnch more mnnifestme1m- house of the Lord, to the daily portion for ing of this verse confirms the interpretation their service," etc. The glimpse of the favoured just above for vers. 15, 17, 18. picture of the little children fed for the sake The men that were expressed by name ; of their fathers' sanctuary service, so true translate, tnen t0e1·e expressed . . • to gifle. to the true religion even of nature, is a The purport of this verse is to say that please.nt glimpse to catch. all priests and Levites of full age were Ver. 17.-It is ho.rd to feel certain se to sacredly remembered and similarly care- the exact oonstructiou of this and the follow- fully provided for, viz. those also who lived ing verse. Keil would translate here," And in the fields of the suburbs of the oities concerning the catalogue of the priests, it (Lev. xxv. 32-84; Numb. xxxv. 2-5). wm aooording, eto. ; and the Levites, they Ver. 20.-This verse, when rendered with .,,ere from twenty years," etc. And arrived literal exactness, is a fine instance of the o.t ver. 18, o.nd unable to proceed in like force and brevity of the Hebrew style iu manner with it, he reverts to the " to Old Testament history: And thus did Heze- give" of ver. 15, a.s what is to stand before kiah in all Judah, and he did the good and the words," to the genealogy [or,• catalogue'] the right and the truth in the sight of of all their little ones." He thus trco.ts both J'ehovah his God. vers. 16 and 17 as parenthetical. It seems Ver. 21.-In every work; translate, and quite as probable that the "to give" should in all t0ork. The " all work" being in the be shown before ver. 17 as well as ver. 18. following clause triply described as pertain- On the whole, this seems to suit best the ing to the service of the house of God, the entire passage. The significant nt!), at the observance of the sacred Law, and of any beginning of ver. 17, neutralizes then the individual commandments flowing from it.
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-21.-17le works that came of faith. This chapter discloses to our view the perfection of activity. The rest of the Sunday, so to say, is followed by most laudable industry, and" the fervent in spirit" are "diligent in business" worthy of them. The picture is, indeed, of a living, moving scene. .An army of volunteers issues forth from the recently purged city of Jerusalem to engage in worthy warfare, extir- pating "images," "groves," "high places," "altars," and utterly exterminating them from "Judah and Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh." They do not stay their hand till 1;he work is done. The" camp" (ver, 2) also at home, the sacred camp of the temple, is once more set in array, that shall make it answer to its name, and in higher sense show forth that Church, wherein all should be "decent and in order." King and people, priests, chief priest, and Levites, work with one surprising consent. The destruction of images and all the other signs of idolatry is followed by the restoration of David's arrangement of the courses, dishonoured so grievously by the neglect of worship in the temple, even to the closing of that temple, and by the re-ordaining of tithes and firstfruits, the king himself setting the example. Everywhere the work glows, everywhere there is plenty; the work of God is no more starved, and sacred "barns" and storehouses have to be "prepared" for tithes, which in their "heaps" were so plentiful that they take the name-auspicious omen-of " free-will offerings" (ver. 14). In this busy, happy, holy sce?e, it is not difficult !O J?ick out, ev~n i~ ~he human elements of it, four features which embody noble prmc1ples, offer rnspmng example, and lend dignity to our faith in the possibilities of human nature when once divinely set on the pursuit of the right. We notice- I. THE THOUGHT, DESIRE, DEVOTION TO GOOD, OJ!' ONE MAN BEOOME THE ADOPTED EXAMPLE, THE CREED, AND THE HEARTY PHACTIOE OF A VERY ARMY, THAT SEEMS THERE• uPON TO NEED NO OTHER TRAINING. (Vers. 20, 21, 1, 2, 8.) !L THE DEEPEST SOUNDINGS OJI' RELIGIOUS MEMOB.IEB, AND BELIGIOUB FEELINGS FITTED TO PRODUCE, AND ACTUALLY PRODUCING, THE TRUE PRACTIOAL LIFE, Every grateful work of this chapter was the outcome of the religious heart-stirrings recorded in the former. Ott, ::tu:r. 1-21.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE cnnoNICLES. in
III. IN OUR MORAL AND SPIRITUAL LIFE (WHETHER AS INDIVIDUAT,S OR AS COM- MUNITIES OF PEOPLE), WHEN YEARR HAVE ACCUMULATED UPON US, WITH ALI, TCTEIR MIXED CONTENTS, A ll'EROILESS DESTRUCTION OF THF, OLD WRONG IS THE WA y TO I.A Y RURE FOUNDATIONS OF coNSTIIUCTION. Hezekiah had found "good and right and truth" nothing less than cholced up of evil wheu he entered on his reign. B11t the key-note of his reformation was its thoroughness and completeness, and his own heartiness of work, in the " service of the house of God, and in the Law, and in the commandments" (vcrs. 20, 21, 2, 4, and passim). IV. UPON ALL THE RIGllTEST AND HARDEST WORK IT IS THAT THERE FOLLOWS THE GOING HOME IN PEACE AND BENEDICTION. (Vers. 1, 21.)