Chixv.t9—t9. IL.
“good men; befides the images and ftatues he had broken before, he removed other idols that remained, being animated and emboldened by the fpeech of the prophet: ad out of the cities which he bad taken froin mount Ephraim, the fame which his father ddijab had taken from Feroboam, ch. xiii. 19. and which perhaps, upon the approach of the Ethiopians, revolted from A/a, or were reftored by them to Ferebcam, and which A/a retook upon his conqueft. of them: and renewed the altar of the Lord before the porch of the Lord: the altar of burnt-offering, which had never been repaired fince it was made by Solomon; perhaps he anew overlaid it with brafs, that being worn out, or become very thin in fome:places.
y. g. And. he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the ftrangers with them, &c | The profelytes of the gate: out of Ephraim and Manaffeb, and out of Simeon; out of all the places in thofe tribes
¥. 12. And they entered into a covenant, &c.] Aja and all his people; that is, as Pi/cator remarks, they went between the pieces of the calf cut afunder, for the confirmation of the covenant, fee ‘er. xxxiv. 18. to feek the Lord God of their fathers, with all their heart, and with all their foul; to ferve and worship him moft truly, fincerely and cordially.
¥. 13. That whofoever would not feek the Lord God of Lrael, foould be put to death, &c.] That obftinately refufed to worfhip him, and ferved other Gods, which by the law was'deferving of death, Deut, xvii. 2—6. whether fmall or great, whether man or woman, without any regard to rank or dignity, age or fex.
¥. 14. And they fware unto the Lord with a loud voice, &c.] As not being afhamed of the oath they took, and that there might be witnefles of it, and that it might be clear they did not equivocate in it, but exprefléd themfelves in plain words: and with that had come off to him, or had been taken by| houting, and with trumpets, and with cornets;
him; for otherwife thefe belonged to the ten tribes under the government of Feroboam, and his fucceflors, and thenext claufe explains it: for they fell to bim out of Irael in abundance, when they faw that the Lord bis God was with him; as was clear by the victory he gave him over the Ethiopians; after that time many in the above tribes came over to him; the Targum is, ‘© when they faw the Word of the Lord his God was his help.”
¥..10. So they gathered themfelves together at Ferujalem, &c.J By the order of Ha, ¥. g. in the third month, of the ecclefiaftical year, the month Sivan, in which month was the day of Pentecoft; and that very probably was. the time of their gathering: 2 the.15th year of the reign of Afa, and which feems to.be the year in which he*fought the Ethiopians.
fhewing that the oath was not extorted from them unwillingly, but that they took it with the utmoft chearfulnefs, and with all the demonftrations of Joy and gladnefs imaginable.
¥. 15. And all Fudab rejoiced at the oath, &c.} The greater part of them; for fome there might be who were diffemblers: for they bad /worn with ail their beart 5 in the fincerity and uprightnefs of their fouls: and fought him with their whole defire; none being more or {o defirable as he: and he was found of them; and favoured them with his prefence: and the Lord gave them reft round about; from all their enemies.
y.16, 17,18. And alfo concerning Maachab the. mother of Afa the king, &c.] Or rather his
}grandmother, 1 Kings xv. 10. be removed her from being queen; the Septuagint verfion is, that fhe yur. And they offered unto the Lord the fame foould not minifier to Aftarte,; which was the god- time, &c.] The Targum adds, on the feaft of weeks, or Pentecoft: of the /poil which they bad brought; from the camp of the E¢hiopians, and the cities of the Philiftines: 700 oxen and 7000 fheep; partly for burnt-offerings, and partly for peace-offerings, by way of thankfulnefs to the Lord, for the victory he had given them, and for a feaft at the making of the following covenant with him,.
¥. 19. And there was no more war unto the 35th year of the reign of Afa.| That is, from the Eth:- opian war tothat time; after that there was no war with any foreign enemy; there were animofities and difcords, bickerings and hoftilities of fome fort continually between A/a and Baajba king of L/rael, as long as he lived, fee 1 Kings xv. 16. 32.
BAASHA coming up againft Fudeb, and building Ramah, A/a made a league with the king of Syria, and hired him to make a diverfion in his favour, and caufe Baa/ba to leave off building, which fucceeded, ¥. 1—6. for which he was’ reproved by a-prophet of the Lord, with whom he was fo angry for it as to put him in prifon, and opprefs others, ¥. 7, 10, and the chapter is clofed with an account of his difeafe and conduct under it, and of his death and burial, ¥. 11:—14.
y.1. In the 36th year of the reign of Afa, Baafba hing of rael came up againft Fudab, &c.\_ tow this is to be reconciled with the reign of Baajha, which was but 24 years, and was begun in the 3d of A/a, and therefore muft have been dead near 10 years before this year of A/a’s reign, fee the note on « Kings xv. 17. where, and in the following verfes, arethe fame things related as here, to the end of the 6th verfe; for the explanation of which the reader is referred thither.
¥. 7. And at that time Hanani:ihe feer came to Afa king of Fudabh, &c.| Being fent by the Lord to reprove him: and faid unto him, Becaufe thou haft relied on the king of Syria; on the covenant he made with him, on the promifes the Syrian king made to him upon receiving his money, and fo truf{ted to-an arm of flefh, and even an heathen king: and not relied on the Lord thy God; his promifes, power, and providence, which he had reafon to believe would have been engaged on his be- rhalf, had he placed his confidence in him as he ought to have done; the Zargum is,‘‘ and not relied on the Word of the Lord thy God;” therefore is ° the hoft of the king of Syria efcaped out of thine hand; which otherwife would have fallen into it, had he left him ta continue in league with the king of J/rael, and not follicited him to break it; for then he would have come with him againft 4a, and the Lord would have delivered him to him.
¥. 8. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim an buge hoft, with very many chariots and rides
&c.] They were no lefs than 1,0c0,000 men, of his and 300 chariots, ch. xiv. 9. the Lubim were the Lybians, a people near Egypt, that dwelt in Africa 5 according to an Arabic writer ', they were the Nwbians: yet becaufe thou didft rely on the Lard, he delivered them into thine hand, and with equal eafe could and would have delivered the Syrian army unto him; had he as then trufted in the Lord.
¥. 12. And Afa in the 39th year of bis reign was difeafed in his feet, &c.| “This was about two years before: his death, and his difeafe is generally thought to be the gout in his feet, and a juft retaliation for putting the prophet’s feet into the ftocks: util bis difeafe was exceeding great; it increafed upon him, and became very fevere and intolerable, and the fits were frequent, as well as the pain fharper; though the fenfe of the Hedrew™ phrafe may be, that his difeafe got upwards, into a fuperior part body, head, or ftomach, which, when the | gout does, it is dangerous. A. very learned phyfician * is of opinion, that not the gout, but what; he calls an oedematous {welling of the feet is meant, which infenfibly gets up into the bowels, and is fucceflively attended with greater inconveniences; a tenfion of the abdomen, difficulty of breathing, | very troublefome to the patient, and iffues in a _ droply, and death itfelf: yet in bis difeaje be fought not to the Lord; his fecking to phyficians for help in his difeale, perhaps, would not have been obferved to his reproach, had he alfo fought unto the Lord, whom he ought to have fought in the firft place,; and when he applied'to the phyficians, he f{hould have implored the bleffing of God on their prefcriptions; but he fo much forgot himfelf as to forget the Lord: this is the firft time we read of phyficians among the Yews, and fome, think thefe were heathens, and a fort of enchanters; the ews un-jentertained a very ill opinion of phyficians, the beft fromjof them, they fay °, deferve hell, and they advife? men not to live in a city where the chief man is a phyfician; but the author of the book of, Eccle- /iafticus gives a great encomium of them, and exhorts to honour and efteem them, ch, xxxviii. 1—8. Yuan‘ the emperor greatly honoured them, asjand obierves, that it is juflly faid by the philofophers, that the art of medicine fell from heaven.
¥. 9. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, &c.| The eyes of his omnilcience are every-where, and the eyes Of his mercy and goodnefs, of his care and providence, are here and there, and in every place throughout the whole world at once, fee Zech. iv. 10. to fhew himfelf ftrong in the bebalf of them whofe heart is perfe# towards him; or, as in the margin, frengly to bold with fuch, to be on their fide, take their part, ftrengthen them, fupport and fupply them, and to proteét and defend them who are fincere and /upright in heart; whofe graces are fincere and feigned, though not compleat, nor they free fin, and who, with the heart, fincerely believe in God, in which A/a at this time failed, though otherwife his heart is faid to be perfect, 1 Kings xv. 4. it was fo in the general bent of it, and efpecially with refpect to the worthip of God, though there was fomething lacking in his faith at this time, there often is in the beft of men: herein thou haft done foolifbly; to truft in man, and notin the Lord, to part with his money, and lofe the opportunity of having the whole Syrian army fall into his hands: therefore from henceforth thou fhalt have wars;, which, though we read not of, was doubtlefs his cafe; fome interpret it of his pofterity. &c.
¥. 13. And Afa flept with his fathers, and died in t#be 41ff year of bis reigu.| See 1 Kings xv. 10. 24.;
¥. 14. And they buried him in bis own fepulcbres which be had made for himfelf in the city of David, Where was the burying-place of the kings of Judah; here Afa had ordered a vault to be made for himfelf and his family, and therefore called Jepulchres, becaufe of the feveral cells therehelin to put feparate bodies in: and laid him in the bed; not only laid him out, as we exprefs it, but laid. him on a bed of ftate, where he lay in great pomp; or the funeral bed, which, with other nations,*, ufed to be ftrowed with fmeet-fwelling flowers and berbs, as follows: which was filled with fweet odours, and divers kinds of {pices prepared’ by the apothecaries art, or rather, confectioner or druggift; for it is a queftion whether there were then any fuch we call apothecaries; this bed was ftrowed* with fpices, myrrh, aloes, cafia, cinnamon, &c. » {and which perhaps might be made up into a liquid, which was fprinkled over the bed and fhroud in which he lay: and they made a very great burning for bim; not that they made a’ great fire, and burned his body for burning was not ufed with the Fews; but they burnt dpices and other things in great quantity, in honour of him; © fee the note on Yer. xxxiv. 5. and this cuftom con- ~ tinued to the times of Herod, at whole funeral there were 400 of his domeftics and freed-men bearin {pices *. tr Tot VE ae
¥. 10. Then Afa was wroth with thé feer, &c.\ For this faithful reproof of him, which was another inftance of his fin and folly; ad put bim in a prifon-boufe; in a very {trait place, in which could not turn himfelf, what we call Atle eafe; fome fay it was the f{tocks, others a pillory he put him into: for he was in a rage with him, becaufe of this thing; his paffion rofe very high, and to which he gave way, and was his infirmity: and Afa oppreffed fome of the people the fame time; by fines and imprifonments, fuch as perhaps exprefled their difapprobation of his league with the king of Syria, and of his ill ufage of the prophet.
v.11. And bebold, the acts of Afa, firft and laf, é&c.] See the note on 1 Kings xv. 23.
T FIIS chapter relates the acceffion of Febofha- & phat to the throne, his fettlement on it, his piety, and reformation in religion, ¥..1—6. his care to inftruét the people in the law of God, y. 7, 8, 9. the refpect fhown him by 1 tions, ». 10, rr. the fortified’ p dom, his numerous forces, and mis head of them, ¥. r2—19.
. yn. And Jehoshaphat bis fon reigned in bis fread,
&c.] In the ftead of d/ahis father > and fireng thened bimfelf againjt Irael, the.ten tribes, by fortitying his cities, building caftles, raifing and keeping a large ftanding army, as the latter part of this chapter fhews, and the next verfe.
¥. 2. dnd he placed forces in all the fenced cities of Judah, &c.) A confiderable ndmber of foldiers, to defend them fhould they be attacked: and fet garrifons in the land of Fudab; on the frontiers and borders of it, to protectit: and in the cities of Ephraim;. foldiers to keep garrifon there: which Aa his father bad taken; fee eh. xv. 8.
¥. 3. dnd the Lord was with Fehofaphat, &c.] Guiding and directing, profpering and fucceeding him in all things; he had, no doubt, his gracious prefence in fpiricual things, as well as his powerful and directing prefence in things civil; the Targum is, ‘¢ the Word.of the Lord was for his help:?” decafe be walked in the firft ways of his father David; which were his beft; fome of his laft ways not being good, asin the affair of Uriah and Bath heba, and his numbering of the people;. febo/baphat fol- Jowed him in the one, but not.in the other: or, iz the ways of David and. bis father, the firft; the firft of them both; for the latter ways of his father 4 were not fo good-as his. firft, as the preceding chapter fhews; and the Septuagint verfion leaves out the word David, and fo reftrains it to his own father: and fought not unto Baalim; as did~Abab king of J/rael, who now, reigned there; 1 Kings XV. 24. and Xvi. 32;
¥. 4, But fought tothe Lord God of his fathers, &c.]__ Prayed to him, worfhipped and ferved him: and walked in his commandments; obferved and kept them, moral, ceremonial, and judicial: and not after the doings of Iracl;, who worbhipped the golden calves at Daz and Bethel.; ‘
¥.5. Lherefore the Lord. fiablifoed the kingdom in his hand, &c.]. Piety is the beft prop of government; the throne is beft fupported and eftablithed by truth, righteoufnefs, and merey; by the exercife of thefe Fehofbaphat was fettled in his kingdom, and had a place in the hearts of his people: and all Judah brought. to Febofoaphat prefents,. being well affected to him, as well as it was ufual fo to do at a ptince’s acceffion to the throne, fee 1 Sam. x. 27. and be had riches and bénour-in abundance; through the prefents his, fubjects brought him, and the re- {pect they. fhewed him. |
¥. 6. And bis heart was lift up in the ways of the Lord, &c.], It was engaged in them, was bent and fet upon them; he walked in them. with great pleafure and chearfulnefs, being infpired with zeal and courage; he was fearlefs and intrepid, and regarded not any oppofition he might have, or expect to have, in the work of reformation in which he was concerned: moreover, be took away the high places; tach as were dedicated to idols, but not thofe in. which the true God was worfhipped, ch. XX. 33, and groves out of Judah; where idols were placed; for though thefe had been removed. by Aja, yet had been renewed in the latter part of his days, when more negligent of religion.
¥. 7. Alfo ta the third year of his reign, he fent to bis princes, &c.] That dwelt.in the feveral parts of the kingdom; or he fent them, being with him, fome of the principal mén of his court; for 5 may be a fign of the accufative cafe, as it fometimes is: ven to, Ben-hail, andto Obadiab, and to Zecha- _ rah, and. to Nethaneel, and to Michaiah, to teach
. in the cities. of Fudeh, ro fee.that they were taught,
OF and oblige them to’ atéerid’ to ‘the inftru@ions that fhould be given. them, and'nor miutiny“and rebel againft their teachers; and to let them’ know what was the king’s pleafure on this head, and “ta back with their authority the priefts and Levites, whofe proper work it was to inftrué,° and who therefore were fent with them, as féllows.. ‘
¥.8. And with them he fent Levites, &c.V With the five princes he fent nine Levites: even Shemaiab, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiab, and Afabel, and Shemjramoth, and Febonathan, and Adonijab, and Tobijah, and Tob-adonijab, Levites; of whom we no where elfe read; no doubt they were principal perfons, and fitfor the work they were fent about: and with them Elifhama, and’ Fehoram, priefts; whole lips were to keep knowledge, and at whof@ mouth the law was ‘to be fought, Mal. ii. 7
¥.9. And they taught in Fudah, &c.] The people their duty to God and man: and had the book of the law of theLord with them; as the rule of their inftruction, and the people’s obedience; out of this they taught them, and by it corifirmed what they taught, and enforced it with the divine authority: amd went about throughout all the cities of Fudab 5 not only their own cities,’ the Levitical ones, but all others: and taught the people; the law of the Lord, the fear and worfhip of God.
¥.10. And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Fudab,
&c.] Upon the ten tribes, and on foreign nations about them, as Moabites, Edomites, Syrians, Egyptians, Arabs and Philiftines; this fear, as it came from the Lord, fo might be raifed and increafed by obferving, that religion was revived in’ them; for they might perceive by former’ obférvations - made, that the more religious thefe people were, the more profperous and formidable they were: /o that they made no war againft febofhapbat’; to in~ terrupt him in the work of retormation he was fo intent upon.
¥. 11. Alfo fome of the Philiftines brought Feho- Joaphat prefents and tribute-filver, &c.]- Perhaps thofe of Gerar, and the parts adjacent, A/a took and fpoiled, and made tributary, ch. xiv. 14. and the Arabians brought him flocks, 7700 rams, and 7700 be-goats; with which their country abounded; and thefe might be the Scenize drabs, who fearing left Fehofbapbat thould fall upon them, and take away their flocks as his father had done, ch. xiv. 15. brought thefe prefents to him.
‘W.12. And Febofhaphat waxed great exceedingly, &c.] In wealth and riches, power and authority, in his forces and fortifications: and be built in Fudah, caftles, and cities of ftores; caftles for the defence’ of his kingdom, and ftore-cities to lay up corn, and wine, and all provifions, in cafe of an invafion, or againft a time of war.
¥.13. And he had much bufinefs in the cities of. Judah, &c.\ Partly in fortifying them, and partly in reforming the inhabitants of them: and the men of war, mighty men of valour, were in Ferufalem; or by or near unto it, fo the particle is rendered, Fofb. v.13. they encamped in places adjacent to it; for fuch a number of men as follows, even 1,160,000, could never be contained in Ferufalem, but muft be difpofed of in the territories of it; nor did they wait on the king together, but in courfe, fee ¥. 19. by which it appears there is no need to fuppofe any miftake of the tranfcriber, in any or all of the following fums, as has been fug-
¥.14. And thefe are the numbers of them according to the boufe of their fathers, 8&c.] Both of the tribe of Judab, and of Benjamin: and firft of Fudab, the captains of thoufands; fome had 1000 men under them, and fome 100: Adnab the chief, he was the principal commander or general of them:
valour, &c.] Was the chief commander: and with armed men with bow and foield, 200,000; which were the armour of the tribe of Benjamin they were beft fkilled in, ch. xiv. 8.; f y. 18. And next to him was Fehozabad, &c.] According to the Targum he encamped next him: and and with bim mighty men of valour, 300,000; fuch with bim 180,000 ready prepared for war; being
2 number was under his command.
able-bodied men, well difciplined, valiant and well y.15. And next to him was Febobanan the caparmed; thefe numbers of fudab and Beyjamin put — tain, &c.] Being of the fame rank as to office, but having a leffer number of men under him;jonly brought into the field 580,000; but it fhould dnd it may refpect not any kind of fubordination, be confidered, there had been a long time of peace, only nearnefs of place, as the Targum, ‘he thatjmany had come off from the ten tribes to Fudab, encamped next to him:” and with bim 280,000;Jand the promife of multiplying the feed of Abrawhich number was but 20,000 lefs than the for-|ham was eminently fulfilled.
chri, &c.] He encamped next to him, as the Zargum: who willingly offered bimfelf unto the Lord, to fight the Lord’s battles, and without any fti-
¥.19. Thefe waited on the king, &c.| Not this
¥.16. And next bim was Amafiah the fon of Zivait number of men at one time, but in courfe, as David’s military men waited on him, 1 Chron. XXVil. 1—15. or thefe feveral captains, with a proper number of men under them detached from the pend, as fome think; or, as Kimcbi, he gold and filver to the treafures of the houfe of the Lord: and with bim 200,000 mighty men of valour; the number was 80,000 Jefs than the former; the offeredjbody; and they were all ready to obey the king’s orders whenever he fhould have occafion for them: befides thofe whom the king put into the fenced cities, sbroughout Fudab; and all together, the militia of whole of ¥udab amounted to 780,000 men. ¥.17. nd of Benjamin, Eliada, a mighty man of the kingdom was very numerous and formidable..
in abundance, &c.| Still more and more, fee ch. xvii. 5. and which moved bab to defire friendfhip and affinity with him, to which Febo baphat agreed: and joined affinity with Abab, king of Jjracl, married his fon Joram to Atbaliab, a daughter of Abab by Fezebel of Zidon, which mar-
W Febofhaphat bad riches, and bonour|the third year after the affinity was contracted, fee
1 Kings xxii. 2. be went down to Abab to Samaria; to pay him a vifit upon the alliance, civil and matrimonial,, contracted between them: and Abab killed fheep and oxen for bim in abundance, and for the people that be had with bim; entertained him and his retinue in a very grand and liberal man- riage proved of bad confequence to Febofbaphat and ner: and perfuaded him to go up with bim to Ra- his family. moth-gilead; from hence, to the end of the chap- y. 2. And after certain years, &c.| Two years, according to the Syriac and Arabic verfions, or in ter, it is the fame with x Kings xxii. 4—37. fee the notes there.