Exposition of the Whole Bible

dated thereby, it was the more eafily done: and tock away allo much fpoil from them; wealth and riches out of their cities, and even from Feru/alem; for by the preceding verfe, it feems as if they came thither: and brought the fpoils to Samaria; or rather towards Samaria“, as fome render the word; for they were not as yet come to it, nor did they bring it, and their captives thither, fee ¥. ix. 15.

¥. 9. But a prophet of the Lord was there, whofe name was Oded, &c.| Not the fame that was in the time of A/a, ch. xv. 1, 8. and he went out before the hoft that came to Samaria; that was coming thither; he went out of Samaria to meet them: and faid unto them, bebold, becaufe the Lord God of your fathers was wroth with fudab, he hath delivered them into your hand; he let them know it was not owing to their wifdom and -conduct, their prowefs and courage, that they had got the victory over them, but becaufe the Lord was difpleafed with them for their fins, and therefore gave them up into their hands: aud ye have flain them in a rage that reaches up unto beaven; that is, with an exceeding gieat rage and fury, and the cry of which reached to heaven alfo, and was difpleafing to God; he fuggefts to them, that they had exceeded all bounds, and had not fhown that compaffion to their brethren, when fallen into their hands, they ought to have done, and which therefore was refented by the God of heaven, fee Zech; m-*

¥. 10. And now ye purpofe to keep under the children of fudab and Ferufalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you, &c.| As feemed by taking and bringing captive fuch a number of them, contrary to the law, Lev. xxv. 39—46. but are there not with you, even with you, fins againft the Lord your God? for which they deferved to be chaftized as well as their brethren the men of Judah, and might expect it, and efpecially if they ufed them in a bar barous manner, and contrary to the will of God.

y¥. 11. Now bear me therefore, &c.] And not only hear, but beobedient: and deliver the captives again, which ye have taken of your brethren, their women, fons and daughters, even all of them, the whole, 200,000: for the fierce wrath of God is upon you; hangs over your heads, and will fall upon you, unlefs you do this.

y.12. Then certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, &c.] Of the principal: men of the ten tribes, whofe names follow: Azariah the fon of Fobanan, Berechiah the fon of Mefbillemoth, and ‘febizkiah the fon of Shallum, and Amafa the fon of Hadlai, flood up againft them that came from the war; who were bringing the captives and fpoils to Samaria; but thefe princes being influenced by what the prophet faid, hindered their proceeding any farther.

y.13. And faid unto them, ye fhall not bring in the captives hither, 8cc.| Thatis, into Samaria, near which it-feems they now were; for whereas we have offended againft the Lord already; by exceeding in their cruelty againft their brethren of Fudab, as well as by worfhipping the calves: ye intend to add more to our fins, and to our trefpafs; by oat flaves of thofe they had taken captives, which was againft the exprefs law of God: for your tre/pa/s is great, which they had committed already, by their idolatrous practices: and there is fierce wrath againft Ifrael, which they perceived by. what,the

Solomon his anceftors were; though the VuleateLas tin, Septuagint, and Syriac verfions read, king of © Judah, and fo the Targum: for he made Fudab - naked; flript them of their religion, and the wor= fhip of God, and fo of the divine protection, whereby they were expofed to their enemies, fee Eads a

y.14. So the armed men left the captives and the - Spoil, before the princes and the congregation. Which

were come out of Samaria to meet them; fuch an effect. had the words of the prophet, and the princes, upon them, that they not only left the captives with them, but the fpoil, to difpofe of, as they thought fit.

¥.15. And the men that were expreffed by name, rofe up, &c.] Either thofe: before named, ¥. 12. as Farchi, and fo the Vulgate Latin verfion; or fuch as they pitched upon, nominated and appointed: and took the captives, and with the {poil clothed all that were naked among them, and arayed them, and fhod them; put clothes on their backs, and fhoes on their feet, who either were taken or carried away before they could put on their garments, or had been ftripped of. them: and gave them to eat, and drink, and anointed them; not only fed them, being hungry and thirfty, but anointed them for refrefhment after travelling; the Targum is, wafbed them, from dirt and filth contracted by travelling: and carried all the feeble of them on affes; women and children that were not able to walk afoot fo far back again: and brought them to Fericho, the city of palm-trees, to their brethren, a city on the borders both of Fudab and J/rael, and famous for the number of palm-trees near it, fee Fudg. i. 16. in all which thefe inhabitants of Samaria acted the part of the good Samaritan, Luke x. 33, 34. then they returned to Samaria, the prophet, with the princes, and the army, and the whole congregation.

¥.16. At that time did king Abaz fend to the kings of Affyria to help him.) To Tiglath Philefer, and his fon, fee 2 Kings xvi. 7. and the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac and Arabic yerfions, read in the fingular, and fo the Targum.

y.17. For again the Edomites had come, &c.] As in the days of Febofhaphat, ch. xx. 10. and fmitten Fudah, and carried away captives; taking the advantage of the weak and low condition dbaz was in, and which was the reafon of his fending to the king of Afyria.

¥. 18. The Philiftines alfo had invaded the cities of the low country, &c.| Which lay neareft to them, as Sharon, Lydda, Foppa, &c. in revenge of xxxii, 25. the Targum is, * for the houfe of Fudab ceafed from the worfhip of the Lord’:” trazj= grefjed fore againft the Lord; by committing grofs® idolatry; the fame Targum is, ‘ they dealt ‘dltely 4 with the Word of ‘the Lord.” Nn eee

¥.20. And re king of Affyria came unto him, &c.] ot to Ferufalem, but to Damafcus, where he made a diverfion in his favour, and took that city, and where 4baz met him, 2 Kings xvi. 9. and diftreffed him, but-firengthened him nct;) exhaufted his treafures, and laid a tribute upon him, but did not help him againft the Edomitesand Philjtines, or recover for him the cities they. had taken from him; and in taking Damajfcus, he ferved himfelf more than 4baz, and paved the way for feizing upon the ten tribes.

y. 21. For Abaz took away a portion out of the boufe of the Lord, and out of the houfe of the king, and of the princes, &c.] A part,out of the treafures of the temple, and a part out of his own treafures, and another which he [evied upon his nobles: and gave it upto the king of Afyria; fent it to him as a prefent, to engage him on his fide, and affift him againft his enemies, 2 Kings xvi, 8. but he helped him not; See the note on the preced= ing verfe.

¥.22. And in the time of his diftrefs did he trefpafs yet more againft the Lord, &c.\ By increafing.

his idolatries, as appears by what he did, in imitation of what he faw at Dama/fcus, where he had an interview with the king of -Afyria, 2 Kings xvi. 10—16. this is that king Abaz; that monfter of iniquity, than whom there was none worfey nor, any fo bad, of all the kings of Fudab, “4 y¥. 23. For be facrificed unto the gods of Damaf= cus which fmote bim, &c.] As he foolifhly ima- ‘gined, that they might do him no more hurt; ag it is faid of the Indians, that they worfhip the devil, that he may not hurt them; but that a king * of Fudab fhould do this, is monftrous ftupidity; rather therefore the meaning may be, that he wor” fhipped the gods of thofe that fmote him, thofe of the men or foldiers of Damajcus™, fee ¥. 5. for the Spirit of God would never afcribe the fmiting of him to idols, though he himfelf might: and he what Uzziab had done to them, ch. xxvi. 6, 7. and faid,. becaufe the gods of the kings of. Syria belp of the fouth of Fudab, they penetrated as far as} that, from the weft to the fouth of the land: and had taken Bethfbemefh, and Ajalon, and Gederoth, and Shocho with the villages thereof, and Timnab with the villages thereof; of which fee Fo. xv. 10, 35,41, 57. and xix. 42. and Gimzo alfo, and the villages thereof; which though no where elfe mentioned in fcripture, yet we frequently read in Fewi h writings ' of Nahum, a man of Gamza, which perhaps is the fame place with this: and they dwelt theres- kept them in their hands, and inhabited

¥. 19. For the Lord brought Fudab low becanfe of Abaz king of Ifrael, &c.] Becaufe of his impieties and idolatries, which the people by his example went into; he is called king of J/raed, becaufe he walked in the ways of the kings of J/rae/, and becaufe he ruled over two of the tribes of J/rael, and of right was king over all //rae/, as David and them; which looks as if this-was before Dama/cus

I facrifice to them, that they may help me; againft

was taken by the king of Afjria, and when Rezin » king of Syria prevailed over Abaz: therefore will the Edomites and Philiftines; wherefore rather to’ - this his idolatry, -refpect is had in ¥.22. dut they ©

were the ruin of him, and of all Ifrael, the worfhip

of them was the caufe of all the calamities tl came upon that part of J/rael, of which king.

houfe o of ke &cc.] And converted them to his”

of Ferufalem; that the priefts might facrifice there, and not in the temple. — _ _|vent their coming to

¥.25. dud in every city of Judah he made bigh places to burn incenje unto the gods, &c.| The gods of Dama/cus, and other idols; this he did to pre- Ferufalem to worthip. ©

Y. 26,27. Now the reft of bis ads, &c.] Of thefe two verfes, fee the notes on 2 Kings xvi.t 9, 20.

hit HIS chap er begins with the good reign of Hezekiah, who upon his acceffion to the-throne}&c. opened the doors of the temple, ¥.1—3. fummoned the priefts and Levites, and exhorted them/ to purge the temple, and reftore the worthip it, ¥. 4-11. who accordingly fet abou. the work immediately, and cleanfed the temple, and when they had done, reported it to the king, y. r2—19. upon which he, with the princes, went into the temple and offered facrifices, ¥. 20—24. and ordered fingers to fing at the offering of burnt- offerings, ¥. 25——30. when he and his people offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings in great abundance, ¥. 31~36. Judab and Ferufalem, &c.

y. 7. Al/o they have fout up the doors of the porch, So that there was no entering into the temple, ch. xxviii. 24. and put out the lamps, for the priefts not being able to go in morning and evenoffing to light them, and drefs them, they in courfe went out; the Fews fay ", that on the i8th of 4, which anfwers to part of July and Auguf, the weftern lamp was extinét in the days of Abad, for which a faft was kept on that day: and have not burnt.incenfe, nor offered burnt-offerings in the holy place wuto the God of Ifrael; but had done’ thefe in the high places to idols, ch. xxviii. 35 4, 24, 25.

y. 8. Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was upon As appeared, by fuffering the Syrians, and Ifraelites, and Edomites, and yu, 2. Hezekiah began to reign, &c.) OF thefe two verfes, fee the notes on 2 Kings xviii. 2, 3.

y. 4. And. he brought in the priefts and Levites, &c.] The perfons that officiated in the fervice of the temple: and gathered them together into the eaft-freet; which led to the eaftern gate of the Philifiines, to come upon them, and diftrefs them, as the hiftory of the preceding chapter fhews: and he hath delivered them to trouble, to aftonifbment, onjand to biffing, as ye fee with your eyes; fuch defola-" tion and deftruction were made among them, as not only threw them into a ftupor, that they knew, | not what to do, but were amazing to all their neighbours, and caufed them to hiis at them, which they could not but be fenfible of.

¥. 3. He in the-firft year of bis reign, in the Jirft month, &c.) Andas appears from y¥. 17. the firft day of the month: opened the doors of the boufe of the Lord; which his father had fhut, ch. XXvilil. 24. and repaired them; or ftrengthened them, the hinges, and other parts of them, being loofened and weakened; and ornamented them by overlaying them with gold, the plates of which very probably his father had taken off; for, certain it is, Hezekiah overlaid them, and very probably at this time, fee 2 Kings xviii. 16.

y.9. For lo, our fathers bave fallen by the fword, &c.] Of the kings of Syria and J/rael, even great numbers of them, ch. xxviii. 5, 6. and our fous, and our daughters, and our wives are in captivity for this; for this idolatry; er they were, though afterwards difmiffed, ch. xxviii. 8, 15. and fome of them were ftill in captivity, perhaps fuch as /were carried captive by the Edomites, ch. xxviii.

i 5. And faid unto them, hear me, ye Levites,) fanétify yourfelves, 8cc.| By wathing their bodies and their garments, that no pollution might attend them in their fervice, fee Jf lii. 11. and fanétify the houfe of the Lord God of your fathers, by carrying out of it all manner of uncleannefs, as they did, y. 16. and carry forth the filthine/s out of the holy place; or the abomination; the altar, like that at Dama/cus, which Abaz, removing the altar of the Lord, had placed in the court of the priefts; or, as Kimchi thinks, an idol, which he had fet y.10. Now it is in mine heart to make a covevant with the Lord God of Ifrael, &c.] To renew one, as 4/a and Feboiada had done, promifing to {erve the Lord, and worfhip him according. to his will: that bis fierce wrath might be turned from uss under the tokens of which they ftill continued, and might expect it to break forth in other inftances, unlefs a reformation was made.

’ y. 11. My fons, &c.] Soas the father of his. people, he befpeaks them in the moft tender and affectionate manner: be not now negligent; back- upon that altar. ward to this good work, flothful, fluggifh and re- y. 6. For our fathers have tran{greffed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, &c.] Meaning their more immediate anceftors, his father and theirs, who had committed idolatry; which is a great trefpafs, and than which there is not a greater evil in the fight of God, nor more provoking to him: and have forfaken him his _ word, worfhip, and ordinances: amd have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord; the temple, by neglecting that, and the fervice of it, and attending the high places: and turned their backs; upon it; though fome-think this refers to a rite or cuftom, introduced by Abaz before he fhut up the temple, that inftead of looking to the welt, when they worfhipped, where was the-ark of the Lord, he ordered them to turn their faces the eaft, where his altar ftood.

mils in it; according to Yarchi and Kimchi, the word has the fignification of error, and the fenfe may be, don’t continue in the’ error in which you have been, in neglecting the fervice of God: for the Lord bath chofen you to fiand before him, to ferve him, and that ye foould minifter unto him, and burn incenfe, on the altar of incenfe, which was the work of the priefts, and for which they were felected from the reft of their brethren; and Hezekiah’s difcourfe was directed to them, as well as to the Levites, ¥. 4, 5. { y. 12—14. Then the Levites arofe, &c.| Whole names are mentioned; of the Kobathites two, Maath the fon of Amajhai, and Foel the fon of Azariab; of the Mercrites two, Kifh the fon of Abdi, tojand dzariab the fon of Febalele!, of the Ger/honites |two, Joab the fon of Zimmab, and Eden the bg

Joab; anid of the family of Elizaphan, a Kohatbite, bebold, they es

Skimri, and Febiel; and of the family of | had cleaned two,- Afeph, one of the chief fingers in the times of David, two, Zechariah and Mattaniah, and of the family of Heman, another principal ‘finger in the fame times, two, Febiel, and Shimei; and of the family of ‘feduthun, the third principal finger, the fame with sith, two, Shemaiah, and Uzziel, in all 14.

¥. 14. And they gathered their brethren, and fanétified themfelves, &cc.| As they were bid, fee ¥. 5. and came, according to the comutandment of the king, by the word of the Lord, to cleanfe the boufe of the Lord; for this, which the king commanded, was by the Lord, and they came to do this work, in obedience to both.

¥.16. And the priefts went into the inner part of the houfe of the Lord, to cleanfe it, &c.| Into the holy place, where the candlefticks and fhew-breadtables ftood, into which none but priefts might enter, but not into the moft holy place, the innermott ofall; for none but the high-prieft might go into that, and only on the day of atonement; tho’ in cafe se neceffity,.as for repairs, others might go into it, and fo perhaps now to cleanfe it, if any pollution was there: and brought out all ‘the uncleanne/s that they found in the temple of the Lord, into the court of the houfe of the Lord; into the court of the priefts, where the Levites might be, and were: and the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron, which ran through the valley of the fon of Hinnom, into which all unclean things, and the filth of the temple and facrifices, were ufually carried and caft, fee 2 Kings XXill. 12.

y¥.17. Now they began on the firft day of the fief month to fanézify, &e. ] Either of the reign of king Hezekiah, or rather of the year; the month Ab or Nifan, as the Targum exprefles it: and on the eighth of the month came they to the porch of ft the Lord; they feem to have begun cleanfing the inner part of the temple firft, and fo came forward until they came to the porch which led into it; $o they fantiified the houfe of the Lord in eight days; the holy place, and it may be the moft holy place, and the court of the priefts: and on the 16th day of the firft month they made an end; it took them eight days more to cleanfe the outward porch, and the buildings and chambers belonging to the temples according to Farchi, it required io much time, becaufe Abaz had framed pictures of idols upon },

re before the altar of the. Lord p they them, and fitted them for fervice, had put them, where they were ready for ufe; tho the argum is, ‘* we have laid them afide, | and “en them, and prepared others in their room,” as fit for divine fervice; and which is the fenfe of other Fewi/h writers °

¥. 20. Then Hezekiah the king role early, &c.] Tcok the firft opportunity to attend the worfhip of God, and fet an example to his people? aud gathered the rulers of the city; the elders of the people, the chief magiftrates in Yerufalem: and went up to the boufe’ of the Lord;; the temple; to worfhip there.,

¥.21. and they brought feven bullocks, and joven rams, and feven lambs, and {even be-goats, for a finoffering for the kingdom, and for the fantiuary, and for Fudab, &c.] To make atonement in a typical way, having refpect to the facrifice of the Meffiah, for the fins of the king, ‘his family and court, among whom idolatry had prevailed in the times of his father; and for the cleanfing of the temple, which had been polluted by the idolatries of 4baz; and for the extirpation of the whole land; feven of each fort are ordered, though only one goat was required for a fin-offering by* the law, ‘becauf of the multitude of tranfgreffions that had been conymitted, and becaufe of the length of time in which facrifices had been negleéted: and he commanded the pricfis the fons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the Lord; the altar of burntofferings, whofe bufinefs it was to do it.

¥.22. So they killed the bullocks, 8c.| The feven bullocks, that is, the priefts killed them: and the priefis received the blood, into bafons provided’ for that purpofe: and Jprinkled it on the altar according to the law of Mo/es, Lev. i. 5. and fo shey did with the rams and lambs.

y. 23. And they brought forth the he-goats for, thé fin- offering, before the king and the congregation, &c.} Which were to make atonement for the fins of both: and they laid their hands on them, fignifying thereby, that they were vicarious facrifices to be offered up in their own room and ftead, and that they deferved to die, as thefe creatures would; transferring as it were hereby their fins unto them, for which they were to be facrificed, and to make atonement, as an emblem of the imputation of the fins of the Lord’s people to Chrift, facrificed in their {tead. ¥. 24. And the pricfts killed them, &e.1 The the walls of the temple, which could not.be defaced fooner.

feven he-goats; tor of the killing of the bullocks, rams and lambs mention is made before, ¥. 2.

¥. 18. Then they went in to Hezekiah the king, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the

&c.] In his palace: all the boufe of the Lord; and apartments belonging to it:

and faid, we have cleanjed altar, to make atonement for ali Ifrael; typical of the feveral parts of it, | the reconciliation and atonement made for the whole’ and the altar of fpiritual [/rael of God by the facrifice of Chrift burnt-offering, with ai ibe veffels thereof 5 3 which for the king commanded that the burnt-offering, and — they cleanfed and fcoured, and put in their proper place, and which 4haz had removed: and the Joew-bread-table, with all the veffels thereof 3 which had lain neglected and prophaned, but were now put in order. ¥. 19. Moreover, all the veffels which king Abaz in bis reign did caft away in bis tranfgreffion, &c.

Not that he threw them away, being valuable, as made of gold and filver; but, as Kimchi interprets it, he removed them, and converted them ‘to ido- Jatrous ufes; or, as the Zargum, he defiled or prohaned them, and made them abominable by ftrange idols:

have we prepared and fanfified, and\ Abaz: according to the commandment of the fin-offering, thould be made for all Ijraels not only for the tribes of Fudeb and Benjamin, and for as many of the reft of the tribes as were come over to them, and dwelt among them; but even for the ten tribes alfo, fadly guilty of idolatry, and ~ for whofe reformation and good this pom es: was concerned, fee ch. xxx. 1.

¥. 25. And he fet the Levites in ake Pay Lord with cymbals, with pfalteries, and with &c.] To’ play upon, which were the three principal inftruments of mufick ufed in religious fhip, and what had been difufed in the times of Gad the king’s feer, and Nathan the prophet; this fort of mufic was not commanded by the law of “Mofes, but was directed to by David under a divine influence, and was approved of by the prophets of the Lord here mentioned: for fo was the commandment of the Lord by bis prophets; the Targum is, ** for by the Word’ of the Lord was the commandment by the hand of the prophets.”

¥. 26. And the Levites flood with the inftruments of David, &c.} Which were invented, directed, and ordered to’be ufed by him, and are the fame as in the preceding verfe: and the priefts with the trumpets; which were made by the direétion of Mofes, according to the order of God, Numd. x2t

¥. 27. And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burntoffering upon the altar, &c.) Which was wholly devoted to the Lord, and was an acknowledgment of his fovereignty over them, and of his goodnels to them: and.when the burnt-offering began, the Jong of the Lord began allo with trumpets, and with the infiruments ordained by David king of Ifrael, ' and this was done at the time of the pouring out of the drink-offering, which always attended the burnt-offering; for this is a rule with the Yews, that they don’t fay the fong but over the drinkoffering °.;

¥. 28. And all the congregation worfbipped, &c.] Bowed their heads as a token of divine adoration: and the fingers fang; both with vocal and inftrumental mufic, who were the Levites: and the trumpeters founded; their filver: trumpets; thefe -were the priefts: and a// this continued until the burntoffering was finifoed; with all appertaining to it, the meat and drink-offerings.

¥. 29. And when they had made an end of offering, &c.] Both the fin-offering and the burnt-offering: the king and all that were with him, bowed them- Selves and worfbipped; towards the place where the ark was, giving thanks for the purging of the temple, andreftoring the worfhip of it.

¥. 30. Moreover, Hezekiah the king, and the princes commanded the Levites to fing praife unto the Lord, with the words of David, and of Afaph the feer, &c.] Making ufe of pfalms compofed by the one and the other; Farchi takes it to be the 104th pfalm, which begins, O give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, as in 1 Chron. xvi. 7, 8. and they fang praifes. with gladnefs, the king and all the people: and they bowed their heads and worfeipped; made another adoration of the divine being, as deeply impreffed with a fenfe of his greatnefs and goodaneis.

¥. 31. Then Hezekiah anfwered and faid, &c.] Or proceeded to fay, as follows: now ye have confecrated yourselves unto the Lord; having entered anew on the performance of their office, filling their hands with facrifices, as the words fignify: come near, and bring facrifices, and thank-offerings into the houfe of the Lord; which the people were to put into their hands to offer for them: and the congregation brought in facrifices and thank-offerings;

Si peate-offerings, part of which the offerers had to feaft on with their friends, fo expreffing their joy and thankfulnefs on this occafion: and as many as were of a free heart, burnt-offerings; of which they had no fhare, but were wholly the Lord’s; and which was a greater proof of their liberality, and fo of their fincere and cordial thankfulnefs.

¥. 32. And the number of the burnt-offerings which the congregation brought, were 70 bullocks, 100 rams, and 200 lambs, all thefe were for a burnt-offering to the Lord.| ‘Of which they had no part to feait on, but were wholly devoted to the Lord, by way of thankfulnefs to him.

¥. 33. And the confecrated things, &c.] Which were devoted - for peace-offerings,.of which the owners had a part: were 6co oxen, and 3000 fheep which was a much leffer number than what were offered upon occafion in the times of David and Solomon, the nation being poorer; and befides, thefe were only the oblation of two tribes, they of all Trael.

¥. 34. But the priefts were too few, fo that they could not flay all the burnt-offerings, &c. Take off

the fkins of them, which ufed to be done by the priefts, Lev. i. 6.: wherefore their brethren the Levites did help them till the work was ended, affilted in the flaying of the facrifices, until they had gone through the fervice of this time, ard the fkins of all the facrifices were flayed off: and until the other prichs had fanéified themfélves; who had beeh negligent of it, or had defiled themfelves by idolatry: for the Levites were more upright in heart to fanétify themfelyes, than the priefts; were more ready to do it, and did it with greater chearfulnefs and good-~ will; were not backward to do it, but did it at once.

¥. 35. And alfo the burnt-offerings were in abundance with ihe fat of the peace offerings, and the drink-offerings for every burnt-offering, &c.] Befides the abundance of burnt-offerings,. whofe fkins were to be taken off, there were meat-offerings and drink-offerings to each, which required many hands to prepare them; and alfo the fat.of the peace-offerings was to be burnt; which, all together, occafioned a great deal of bufinefS: the fervice of the houfe of the Lord was fet in order 3 both for facrifice and finging; a good beginhing was made, and there was a good foundation laid to’ proceed on. _ ¥. 36. And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, &c.] To fee things go on fo well, which foreboded good unto them: and particularly, that God had prepared the people; difpofed and directed their hearts in fuch a manner, as to yield fuch a chearful obedience to the will of God, and fhew fuch a hearty regard to his worfhip and fervice, and the reftoration of it: for the thing was done fuddenly; whereby it the more appeared, that they were under a divine influence; which fo quickly and powerfully wrought upon them to engage in this work, and needed not arguments and perluafions to bring them to it.

ZFJEZEKIAH having confulted his nobles about ~ keeping the paffover the fecond month, and determined upon it, fent meffengers throughout J/rae and Fudab to acquaint them with it, at which fome mocked, and otHers ferioufly attended toit, fo it was celebrated in a folemn manner, though fome were not qualified for it according to the law, and for whofe pardon Hezekiah prayed, and it was | granted, y. 13—20. alfo. the feaft of unleavened bread was kept feven days, and a fettival of feven

¥.1—12. days more was likewife obferved with great joy and gladnefs, ¥. 21—27. ¥. 1, y.1. And Hezekiah fent to all Ifrael and Fudab, &c.] Sent meffengers to them, not only to the fubjeéts of his own kingdom, Judah, but to all the J/raelites that dwelt in it, who were come ther for the fake of religion, and the worfhip of God: and wrote letters alfo to Ephraim and Manaffeb; which are put for all the ten tribes, as appears from ¥. 10, 11. and are diftinguifhed from Lfrael in the preceding claufe: that they fhould come to the houfe of the Lord at Ferufalem; not that he jaid his commands upon them to come, they notjor being his fubjects, namely, thofe of the ten tribes; but he hereby admonifhed them of their duty, andj gave them a kind invitation, fignifying the doors of the temple were open for them, and they were welcome to come thither: zo keep the paffover unto the Lord God of I/rael; to the glory of his name, who was the common Lord of them all, and whofe command it was to keep the paflover, and that at Ferufalem, and no where elle, fee Deut. xvi. 1—6, y. 2. For the king had taken counfel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Ferufalem, &c. He and his nobles, and the great fanhedrim or fenate of the nation, had confulted together: to keep the paffover in the fecond month; in the month jar, as the Targum, becaufe they could not keep it in the firft month, as it fhould have been kept, according to the law of God, for the reafons followmonth Jjar, and which is the fenfe of fome Ta/- mudic writers ®, but has no foundation in the text. ~ y. 6. So the pofls went with the letters from the thi- king and bis princes, throughout all I[rael and Fudab, &c.] Both through the kingdom of the ten tribes of I/rael, and the kingdom of the two tribes of Fudab and Benjamin: and according to the commandment of the king, faying; fo they were ordered by the king to fay, when they delivered the letters which by the king’s commandment they ‘carried s, this was the purport of them, as follows, efpecially of thofe that were fent to the ten tribes: 2% children of Irael, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Ifaac, and Ijrael; from whom they had revolted, and from whofe worfhip they had de- - parted, by fetting up and ferving the calves at Dan and Bethel: and he will return to the remnant of you shat are efcaped out of the hand of the king of Afprias - Pu/ and Yiglath-pilefer, who had both invaded their land, and the latter had taken many of their cities, and carried the inhabitants captive, 2 Kings xv. 19, |29. oi _ ¥. 7. And be not ye like your fathers, and like your ° drethren, which tre/paffed againft the Lord God of their fathers, &c] By worthipping the calves, and neglecting the fervice of God in the temple at Ferufalem, the Targum is, ** which aéted deceitfully with the Word of the Lord their God:” who

Digae therefore gave them up to defclation, as ye fee; fome

¥. 3. For they could not keep it at the time, &c. In the month Nifan, as the Targum adds, on the 14th day of the month, as the law enjoined, becaufe the cleanfing of the temple was not finifhed until the 16th day, fee ch, xxix. 17. and befides this, two other reafons follow: decaufe the prie not fantified themfélves Jufficiently, that is, cient number of them were not fanctified, to flay all the paffover-lambs the people that came to the feaft would want: neither had the people gathered themfelves together to Ferufalem; they had no notice of it, nor fummons for it; and it was required that, at fuch a time, all the males:in the fhould appear at Feru/alem; but this cuftom having been long difufed, it required time to acquaint them of the revival of it. that the fiercenc

{part-of the land of J/rae/ being already made defolate by the kings of Afjria, which was very wifible.

y. 8. Now be ye not fiff-necked, as your fathers were, @e.] Obftinate and refra@tory, like heifers ts bad\ unaccuftomed to the yeke, which draw back from a fuffi-jit, and will not fubmit to it: but yield your/elves unto the Lord; be fubject unto him, or give the hand % to him, as a token of fubjection and homage, or of entering into covenant with him, promifing — for the future to ferve and obey him: and enter into bis fanéluary, which he hath /anftified for ever; fet landjapart for worfhip and fervice, until the Meffiah fhould come: and ferve the Lord your God; there, in the-temple, according to his prefcribed will; s of his wrath may turn away from you, which had already broke out, in fuffering the — Afyrians to invade their land, and diftrefs them. For if ye turn again unto the Lord, 8c.) Tothe fear or worthip of the Lord, as the Targum: your brethren and your children thall find compaffion before them that lead them captive, fo that they hall come again into this land; who had been carried away by Tiglath-pilefer, fee Pf. cvi. 46. for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, fo he had:|proclaimed his name, as they muft know, Exod. xxxiv. 6. and will not turn away his face from you 5. properjin wrath and anger; or withdraw his Shekinab for they had not done from you, as the Targum; his gracious and glorious prefence: if ye return unto him; his fear and worfhip, as the fame paraphrafe. * ygi ae y. 4. And the thing pleafed the king, and ail the congregation.) They all unanimoufly agreed to it, and determined it fhould be done. | ¥. 9. y¥. 5. So they eftablifhed a decree, to make prociamation throughout all Ifrael, &c.| Pafled a vote, that heralds fhould be appointed: and fent to proclaim it throughout the land, that all might know it, and none plead ignorance: from Beer-/heba even to Dan; the one being the fouthern and the other the northern boundary of the whole land of //rae that they foould come to keep the paffover unto the Lord God of Ifrael at Ferufalem the only place where it was to be kept:

it of a long time in fuch fort as it was written; as prefcribed in the law; thofe of the ten tribes had not obferved it from the time of the fchifm of Feyoboam, and many in the kingdom of Judah had neglected it, at leaft had not kept it as the law reguired; for the phrafe which we render of a /ong time, rather refpects a multitude of perfons than length of time, who had been very deficient in obfervance of this ordinance; the Targum is, that «* many had not done it in its time, in Nifan,” and fuggefts, that it was kept twice this year, in Nifan by a few, and now again in the fecond?.T. Bab, Sanhedrin, fol. 12. 2.

y. 10. So the po/ts paffed from city to city, through, the country of Ephraim and Manafeb, even unto Ze- 2u/un, &c.] Through all the ten tribes, not bein hindered or forbid by Hoea king of Jrael, who was one of the beft of their kings, and was very their willing his people fhould go and worthip at Feru- ——" /alem if they thought fic; fo that they had no excufe to make as before, that they were forbid by firft;their king going thither; and which it is very a bable Hezekiah knew, and therefore took the free- @ “I 49$) date manum, Pagninus, Montanus, ke, BY ’