Exposition of the Whole Bible

note on 1 Kings xxii. 48. and though it is there faid, ¥. 49. that Yebofhaphat refuled letting the fervants of Abaziah go with his, that was after he had been reproved for joining with him, and after the fhips were broken: and they made the fhips in Ezion-geber; of which fee the note on 1 Kings ix. 26.

¥. 37. Then Eliezer the fon of Dodavab of Marofoab, &c.| A city in the tribe of Fudab, Fob. xv. _ 44. prophefied againft Febofoaphat, faying, becaufe thou baji joined thyfelf with Akaziab; an idolatrous ponte chapter relates Feboram’s fucceffion to the throne of Fudah, and the murders and ‘idolatries committed by him, ¥. 1—¥. the revolt of the Edomites from him, and fome of his own people, ¥. 8 — 11. a writing of Ekjab to him, threatening a great plague to him and his family, ¥. 12—-15. the raifing up of feveral enemies againft him, ¥. 16,17. his ficknefs, death and burial, y 18, 19, 20.

¥.1. Now Febofhapbat flept with bis fathers, &c.] See the note on 1 Kings xxii. 50.

¥.2. And he bad brethren, the fons of Febofraphat, &c.| That is, Feboram had, who fuceceded him: their names follow, Azariah, and Febiel, and Zechariah, and Azariab, and Michael, and Shephatiak; two of them were of the fame name; though it may be obferved, that in the Hebrew text they aré fomewhat diftinguifhed, the latter is called Azariabu, Febiel is faid, by the Fews *, to be the fame with Aie/ that rebuilt Jericho; indeed it was rebuilt in the times of Febofhaphat, and was a city of the tribe of Benjamin, Fob. xviii. 21. which was under his jurifdi@tion; but it can never be thought, that he would ever fuffer a fon of his to rebuild its befides, he is exprefsly faid to be a Bethelite, 1 Kings xvi. 34. all thefe were the fons of Febofoaphat king of I/rael; which generally, fince the divifion of the kingdom, defigns the ten tribes, but cannot be the meaning here, becaufe Fehbofhaphat was.only king of two tribes, Fudabh and Benjamin; they were tribes of [/rael indeed, and fo he was king of a part of Jrael;, and befides, many out of the ten tribes came and fettled in his kingdom, and were under his government; though fome think he is fo called, becaufe he concerned himfelf fo much for the kingdom of Jrael, and more than for his own; but the Vulgate Latin, Septuagint, Syriac and Arabic verfions, all read king of Fudab;. wherefore fome are of opinion, that J - rael isa miftake of the tranfcriber; but this need not be fuppofed, fince he was of right king of J/- rael, and was in fact king of two tribes that belonged to J/rael.:

¥. 3. And their father gave them great gifts of

filver, and of gold, and of precious things, &c. As

jewels and precious ftones; or precious garments, as the Targum, in like manner as dbrabam gave to prince, with whom he ought to have had no fellowfhip, even in civil things, it being both a countenancing him, and expoling himfelf and people to danger: the Lord bath broken thy works; the fhips built at the joint expence of the two kings, that is, the Lord had determined to break them, and now foretold that he would; the T. argum is, ** the Word of the Lord hath deftroyed thy works:” and the hips were broken that they were not able to go to Tarfoifo; fee the note on 1 Kings Xxli. 48. vib law in Devt. xxi. 16, 17. which was not always done; though it was reckoned. by the heathens contrary to the law of nations, to give the kingdom to the younger ”,

¥. 4. Now when Feboram was rifen up to the kingdom of bis father, &e.} Succeeded him in it, and. reigned alone, for he had reigned with his father fome years before his death; fee the note on 2 Kings viii. 16. be ftrengthened bimfelf; in the kingdom, by fome means or another clofely attaching the greater part of the princes, and people of the land, unto him, when he thought himfelf well fertled and eftablifhed on the throne; though fome underftand it.of making ftrong, or hardening his heart to do what is next mentioned: and flew all bis brethren with the fword; either to get their riches into his hands, or lett, being religious princes, they fhould oppofe his reftoring idolatry, and for that reafon the people fhould depofe him, and fet up one of them; and therefore he difpatched them out of the way to fecure himfeif, and carry: his point: and divers alfo of the princes of Irael; fach who had removed out of the ten tribes, for the fake of religion, and therefore would never agree to the introduction of idolatry among them, for which reafon Yeboram flew them; and perhaps they might exprefs their difapprobation and abhorrence of his murder of his brethren.

Y. 5—t0. Feboram was 32 years old, &c.| Of thefe verfes, fee the notes on 2 Kings viii. 17-22.

¥. 11, Moreover, be made high places in the mountains of ‘fudab, &c.] Temples and altars for idols, which being built on mountains, had the name of high places; and thefe Feboram made or rebuilt; were thofé which had been pulled down by 4/a and Jebofoaphat: and caufed the inhabitants of Ferufalem to commit. fornication;- that is, idolatry, drawing them by his own example to worthip Baa/, for he did what Abad and his family did, ¥, 6. and compelled Fudab thereto; the inhabitants of Feru alem falling into the fame idolatrous practice with him, he forced the inhabitants of the cities, and in the country, to do the fame, who its feems were not fo willing and ready to comply therewith, °

¥. 12. And there came a writing to bim from Eijab the prophet, &c.J| Not what was written by him after his afcenfion to heaven, and from thence came to Feboram, even feven years after that, as his fons, when he fent them from aac: with fay fome Fewi/h writers*; nor was it a writing from - fenced cities in Fudab, not as their own property, but he appointed them governors in them, to defend them againft an enemy, and as a mark of honour to them: but the kingdom gave he to Fehoram, P becaufe be was the firfi-born; fbriétly obferving the called; but this was a writing of Elijeb’s before another perfon of the fame name in thofe times, » fince of fuch an one we no where read; nor from Elifoa bearing the name of Elijah, having a double portion of his fpirit on him, fince he is never fo his afcenfion, who forefecing’ by a fpirit of prophecy what Yeboram would be guilty of, wrote

. of to the king’s palace, and the fpoil of that ‘oa i fo directed by the providence ‘of God, who had this, and gave it to one of the prophets, as Azmchi {uggefts, and moft probably to Elifha, to communicate it to him at a proper time; and who might, as the above writer intimates, think it came immediately from heaven: faying, thus faith theLord God of David thy father; and from whofe God he had departed, and to which anceftor of his he was fo much unlike: Lecaufe thou haft not walked in\ tirred them up to do this as a punifhment of Feboram: and his fons alfo, and bis wives; thefe. alfo carried away, all but 4thaliab, who hid herfelf; he through his difeafe not being able to miake any oppofition, or to get any forces together to withftand them: fo shat there was never a Jon left him, Jave ‘feboabaz the youngeft of his fons; the ame that is called Abaziah and Azariab, ch. xxii.

the ways of Febofhaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Afa king of Judah, neither trod in the fteps of his father nor grandfather.

¥.13. And baft walked in the way of the kings of Ifrael, &c.| Worthipping the calves, and even Baal, with other idols, as they did: and haft made Fudah and the inbabitants of Ferufalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Abad; meaning fpiritual whoredoms or idolatries: and haft alfo flain thy brethren of thy father’s houfe, which were better than thy/elf; more religious, more human, more prudent, and fitter for government.

¥. 14. Bebold, with a great plague will the Lord Smite thy people, &c.] They going into the fame idolatry with himéelf willingly, at leaft great part of them, and therefore deferved to be {mitten, and which would be a punifhment to him: and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods; which fhould be carried captive, as the event fhews.

y.15. And thou fhalt bave great ficknefs by difease of thy bowels, &c.] Which was a juft retaliation to him, for having no bowels of compaffion on his brethren whom he flew:. until thy bowels fall out, by reafon of the ficknefs day by day; that continuing day after day, and even year after year, the {pace of two years, as appears from y. 19.

y.16. Moreover, the Lord flirred up againft Fehoram the fpirit of the Philiftines, &c.] Which had been deprefied in the times of Yebofhaphat,to whom they brought their prefents and tribute willingly, ch. xvii. 11. and of the Arabians that were near the Ethiopians; not the Ethiopians of Africa, as the Zergum, for the Arabians were not near them, but the Chufean Arabs or Midianites, fee Numb. xii. 1.. The Targum is, the Word. of the Lord did this. ~

¥.17. And they came up into Fudah, and brake into it, &c.] In an hoftile manner: and carried away all the fubftance. that was found in the king’s bouje; his gold, filver, and precious things, the rich furniture of his palace; no mention is made, of any other plunder in the city, or the country; fo that they feem to have had their principal eye

N this chapter we have an account of the wicked reign of Abaziah the fon of Fehoram, y. 1—4. of his death, the occafion and manner of it, ¥. 5—g. and of his mother Athaliah deftroying all the feed royal, excepting one who was hid by the king’s fifter, and affuming the government to herfelf,.¥. 1o—12.

~ y.1. And the inhabitants of Ferufalem made Abaziab bis youngef? fen king in his ftead, &c.| He being the only furviving one of the fons of Feboram, the fame. with Feboabaz, ch. xxi. 17..who was faved when the reft were taken captive and

1, 6. fo the prophecy in ¥. 14. was fulfilled.”

y¥. 18. After all this the Lord {mote him in bis bowels with an incurable difeafe.| \ What it was is not agreed upon; fome take it to be an 4ernia, or rupture; others, the falling of the anus, or a fiftula in it; others, the cholic, or iliac paffion; but generally it is thought to be a dyfentery, or bloody flux; the Targum is, ‘the Word of the Lord broke him.” gk

¥.19. And it came to pafs that in procefs of time, after the end of two years, &c.] So long he was affiied and tortured with the above difeafe: bis bowels fell out by reafon of bis fickne}s;, either in like manner as Fudas’s did, Adis i. 18. or as in the - manner the bowels of Arius are faid to do, whilft - fitting on the feat of the vault*; or perhaps only what was contained in the bowels, is meant, if. it was the cholic: fo he died of fore difeafes; he feems to have had a complication of them, and thefe ~ very painful and diftreffing: and the people made no burning for him, like the burnings of his fatheps; as they did for his grandfather A/a, ch. xvi. 14. they did not burn fpices or odoriferous wood, as the Targum; though his body, becaufe of the ftench of it, needed it, as Farchi obferves.

¥. 20. Thirty-two years old was be when he began to reign, and he reigned in Ferufalem eight years, &c.] See 2 Kings viii. 17. and departed without being defired; to live, either by himfelf, being weary _ of life through the pain he endured; or by his people, he being fo wicked a prince, and fo ill-beloved by them, that no body wifhed to have him live but were glad to hear of his death; the meaning. is, he died unlamented; his death is exprefiéd by a departing out of this world into another, a phratfe more than once ufed for death in the New Teftament, fee ‘Yobn, xiii. 1. Phil. i. 23. howbeit, they buried him in the city of David, but not in the Jepulchres of the kings; they fhewed him fome refpect for the fake of his father, by burying him in the city of David, but denied him the honour of lying in the royal fepulchres, fee 2 Kings viii. 24, flain, by -his mother Athaliah, and he made his efcape, and that fhe alfo efcaped is clear from ¥. go for bei band of men that came with the Ara- - ians to the camp; that is, of the Philiftines, nes, ch. - xxi. 16. which band feems to be a’ eg pany of thieves and robbers, as the & erie! fer barbarous, as the action aferibed to the ows: for they had flain all the 5 fons | Fehoram, the Philiftines and Prades Fé them away captives, but thofe flew them in col blood: fo Ahaziah the fon of Feboram king of Fudab reigned; being declared his fucceffor by the inhabitants of Feru/alem. ae

¥. 2. Forty-two years old was Abaziah when be began to reign, &c.} In 2 Kings viii. 26. ‘he is faid #0 be but 22 years old at his acceffion to the throne, which is undoubtedly righteft; for this makes him to be two years older than his father when he died, who was 32 when he began to reign, and reigned eight years, ch. xxi. 20. different ways are taken to folve this difficulty; fome refer this to Feboram,:

-that he was 42 when Abaziah began.to reign, but he was but 40 when he died; others to the age of Athaliah his mother, as if he was the fon of one that was 42, when he himfelf was but 223 but no inftance is given of any fuch way of writing, nor any juft reafon for it; others make thefe. 42 years reach to the 2oth of his fon Foa/b, his age 22, his reign 1, Athaliah 6, and Foafh 13; but the two principal folutions which feem moft to fatisfy learned men are, the one, that he was. 22 when he began to reign in his father’s life-time, and 42 when he began to reign in his own right;

but then he muft*reign 20 years with his father, whereas his father reigned but eight years: to make this clear they obferve ®. as Kimchi and Abarbinel, from whom this folution is taken, that he reigned eight years very happily when his fon was 22, and taken on the throne with him, after which he reigned 20 more inglorioufly, and died, when his fon was 425 this has been greedily received by many, but without any proof > the other is, that thefe 42 years are not the date of the age of dbaziab, but of the reign of the family of Omri king of Jjrael; fo the Fewifh chronology *; but how impertinent muft the ufe of fuch a date be in the account of the reign of a king of Judah? all that can be faid is, his mother was of that family,

Old Teftament, Dr. Oesen " obferves, God hasfuftered chis leffer variety to fall out, in or among the copies we have, for the quickening and exercifing of our diligence into our fearch of his word: he reigned one year in Ferufalem, bis mother’s name alfo was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri, fee 2 Kings Vili. 26. By

¥.3. He alfo walked in the ways of the boufe of Abab, &c.) As his father Feboram had, ch. xxi. 6. fee 2 Kings viii. 27. for his mother was bis counfellor to do wickedly; to commit idolatry, who was of that idolatrous houfe.

¥.4. Wherefore he did evil in the fight of the Lord, like the boufe of Abab, &c.] See 2 Kings viii. 27. for they were bis counfellors after the death of his father, to bis defiruiion, both of foul and body; for they gave him bad advice, both in religious and civil things; thefe were fome of the family or court of the king of J/rael, that his mother fent for after his father’s death to be of his council.

¥. 5,6. He walked alfo after their counfel, &c.] Did as they advited him, as in matters of religion, fo in political things, of which there is an inftance in this, and the next verfe; of which fee the notes on 2 Kings viii. 28, 29.

¥.7. And the deftruttion of Abaziah was of God by coming to Yoram, &c.} Of his appointing;- ite was according to his purpofe ‘and decree, and was brought ‘about by his over-ruling providence, ordering the occafion and manner of it very juftly for his fins: for when he was come, be went out with Fehoram againft fehu the fon of Nimfbi; fee 2 Kings ix. 21. whom the Lord had anointed to cut of the houfe of Abab; railed up to be king of J/- rael for that purpofe, 2 Kings ix. 6, 7, 8. the Tar- which is a trifling reafon for fuch an unufual megam is, ** whom Elyab anointed by the command thod of reckoning: it feems beft to acknowledge of the Word’of the Lord;”? but it was not Eii- a miftake of the copyer, which might eafily be j2+, but a prophet by the order of Eli/ba, that made through a fimilarity of the numeral letters, 5D 42, for 3D 22%; and the rather, fince forme copies of the Septuagint, and the Syriac and Ara- ' pic verfions read 22, as in Kings; particularly the Syriac verfion, ufed in the church of Antioch from the moft early times; a copy of which bifhop Ujber obtained at a very great price, and in which the number is 22, as he affures us; and that the difficulty here is owing to the careleffnefs of the tran- {cribers, is owned by Glaffus*, a warm advocate for the integrity of the Hebrew text, and fo by Vitringa ‘: of the facred {criptures, to acknowledge here and there a miftake in the copyers, efpecially in the hiftorical books, where there is fometimes a ftrange difference of names and numbers, than to give in to wild and diftorted interpretations of them, in order to reconcile them, where thére is no danger with refpeét to any article of faith or manners; and as a learned man £ has obferved of the New

. Teftament, *¢ it is an invincible reafon for the fcripture’s part, that other efcapes fhould be fo purpofely and infinitely let pafs, and yet no faving or fubftantial part at all fcarce moved out of its place; to fay the truth, thefe varieties of readings in a few bye places, do the fame office to the main fcriptures, as the variation of the compafs to the

whole magnet of the earth, the mariner knows fo,

much the better for thefe, how to fteer his courfe;”

and with refpect to fome various readings in the and indeed it is more to the‘ honour!

anointed him, 2 Kings ix. 1,2. and this being done by the direction of the Lord, is afcribed to him. -¥.8. And it came to pafs, that when Febu was executing judgment on the boufe of Abab, &c.}, On Joram, his fon, and 70 more’ fons, his kinsfolks, courtiers, and prielts: and found the princes of Fudah, and ‘or even ihe fons of the brethren of Abaziab; whofe number’was 42: that miniftred to Abaziah; had offices in his court, or in obedience to his will, went to vifit the children of the king and queen of J/racl: and he flew them; Febu did; of the occafion, time and place of his meeting with them, and flaying them, fee 2 Kings x. 12—14.. ¥. 9. And he fought Abaziah, &c.] » Who fled on Yoram’s being wounded by Jehu: and they caught him; the foldiers of Yebu, who were fent after him, and bid to {mite him: for be: was: bid in Samaria; either in fome part of the kingdom of Samaria, or in the city itfelf, whither he fed: and brought kim to Febu, who was at Fezreel, fee the note on 2 Kings ix. 27. and when they bad flain him, they buried him, not at Fezreel, but delivered him to his fervants to carry him to feru/alem, and there bury him in the fepulchres of his fathers, 2 Kings ix. 28. becauje, faid they, be is the fon of Febofoaphat, who fought the Lord with all bis heart; a grandfon of his, and therefore out of refpect to the memory of his name, thefe ‘being religious men, ordered his burial there: /o the boufe of Abaziab had no power to keep fill the kingdom; his is | ~ brethren and their fons being flain, and his children being young fell into the hands of Athaliah, who murdered them all, but one, hid by his own hands, as may be obferved in the following verfes, oh 10, 11, 12. of which, fee the notes on 2 Kings Xi.” 1, 2, 3« re i F aunt, and fo got the government into her own 13 ae sil

HE contents of this chapter are the fame explanation than what may be found in the. notes with 2 Kings xi. 4—20. and need no other there, to which the reader is referred,