Exposition of the Whole Bible

from hence to the end of the with 2 Kings xxi. 18—26, fee

verfion: and the groves, and the carved images, and

be brake in pieces; ordered them 3 the groves were ftatues, or images and firewed it upon the graves

¥. 5. And he burnt the bones of the priefs upon their altars, &c.| On which they facrificed, in deteftation of their idolatry, and to deter from it;

and this he did according to the prophecy of him, above 350 years before: and cleanfed Fudab and Ferufalem, from idolatry, and all the monuments

¥. 6. And fo did he ix the cities of Manaffeh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtah, &c.] Which though they belonged to the 10 tribes, yet thefe being carried captive by the king of Affria, they that were left became fubjeé to the kings of Judah, {ee the note on 2 Kings xxiii. 1 g. with their mattocks. round about; or hammers or mauls, as Kimchi, or pick-axes, fuch fort of inftruments as were ufed in demolifhing altars and images: the Targum is, “ in the houfe of their defolation;” and fo other verfions, in their defolate places*, which were become fuch, the inhabitants being carried captive, and few left.behind.

We 73\ And when be bad broken down the altars and thevgroves, &c.] The ftatues or images in them: and bad beaten the graven images into pow= der; and ftrewed it on the eraves of the idolaters: and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Jfrael; the fun-images, as in y. 4? be returned to Ferufalem; this tour of his throughout the whole land, and the things done by him, which are reprefented as done before the repairs of the temple were made, and the book’ of the law found and read, and the covenant he and his people made with the Lord, are’ fpoken of in 2 Kings xxiii.

4-20. as if, done after. ¥.8. Now in the 18th year of bis reign, when he had purged the land and the boufe,&c.] The temple; this was in the 26th year of his age, fix years this work had been doing before it was finifhed: be fent.Shapban the fon of Azaliab; who only is mentioned in 2 Kings xxii. 3. two more are added here; as follow: and Maafeiah the governor of the city; the city of Feru/alem, a deputy-governor under the king, a fort of mayor or provoft: ond Joab the fon of Foahaz the recorder; who was over the book of memorials, as the 7: argum, the word may be rendered the remembrancer, and, according to Jarchi, as every king of Fudab had a feribe to - write down the memorable things that happened in his reign, “good or bad, fo the fcribe had one by him, to put-him in mind of every tranfa@tion, from whom he wrote it down: fo repair the houfe of the Lord his God; that is, to give orders for the doing of it, to’ prepare for it, provide workmen, and wy eo: appoint

FESVHAW A in defolatis locis fuis, vel corum, appoint overfeers of them: it had not been repair~ ed fince the times of Joa/h, which, according to the Fewi/h chronology ’, was a fpace of 218 years,

¥.9. And when they came to Hilkiab the bightheir werk, to keep them conftant to it, ai that they did it well: Levi that could fkill of inftruments of mufick, thele they were not employed in finging in the tem-

and other of tbe Tet ie when * ans prieft, &c.] To whom they were fent to advife with about the repair of the temple: sey delivered the money that was brought into the.houfe of God; that is, the high-prieft, and the Levites the doorkeepers, gave it to the king’s minifters,; ple, attended this fervice, to look after the workmen at the repairs of it; and perhaps they might play,.as fome think, on their inftruments of mulick, whilft the men were at work, that they might yo which mo-jon in it the more pleafantly and chearfully, __ ney was either brought to the temple voluntarily, y.13. Alfo they were over the bearers of bur- as the free-gifts of the people, for the repairs; or rather what was collected by the Levites, fent throughout the land for that purpofe, or it may be both: which the Levites that keep the doors; of the temple, and received the money as the people brought it: and alfo bad gathered, of the band of Manaffeb and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Ifrael, and of all Fudab, and Benjamin; they went throughout all the land of J/rael and Fudab, and colleéted money for the above purpofe: and they| returned to Ferufalem; with it, which the high- «ens, &c.] Who carried the timber and ftones to the workmen, to look after them, thje*they were not dilatory, and that the workmen might not ftand ftill for want of materials being brought to them to work with: and were overfeers over all that wrought in any manner of fervice; whether in the way of mafonry, or in that of carpenters, or of fuch that. ferved them, or in whatfoever way: and of the Levites there were fcribes, and officers, ama porters y: ome to take the account of the money carried in and paid, who were the /crides, according to ar- prieft took the fum of, fee 2 Kings xxii. 4. of whom the king’s minifters ‘now received it.

¥.10. And they putit, &c.] The king’s minifters did: in the band of the workmen that had the overfight of the houfe of the Lord, whofe bufinefs it was to infpeét the temple, and fee what repairs were neceffary, and to overlook the workmen in making thofe repairs; the’ names of thefe overfeers are in y. 12. and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the boufe of the Lord, to repair and mend the boufe; that is, the overfeers gave the meney they received to the labourers, as the hire of their labour, and the reward of their work, and to buy materials with, as follows.

¥. t1. Even to the artificers and builders gave they it, 8cc.] Lo the mafons and carpenters: so buy hewn fiene,; to put in the room of that which was decayed or fallen down: andetimber for couplings; of boards, beams, and rafters: and to floor the houfes; the chambers, the apartments:in the temple, which belonged to the priefts and Levites: which the kings of Fudab had deftroyed; the ido- Jatrous ones, who had let them go to decay and ruin, taking no care of them. P y¥. 12. And thé men did that work faithfully, 8c | The labouring men, as alfo their infpectors, fee 2 Kings xxii. 7. and the overfeers of them were Fahath, and Obadiah, the Levites, of the fons of Mevari; the third fon of Levi: and Zechariah, and Mefhullam, of the fons of the Kobathites; who had chi; and others who looked after the men, and kept them to work, who were the officers; and others that let them in and out, called porters.’

y.14. And when they brought out the money that was brought into the houfe of the Lord, &c.\ The Levites, who brought it out of the country into the temple, and from thence brought it tothe highprieft, who delivering it to the king’s minifters, and they to the overfeers, the repairs were begun: and then Hilkich the high-prieft found a book of the law of the Lord given by Mofes, fee the note on 2 Kings xxii. 8. From hence, to the end of y, 28. is the fame as 2 Kings xxii. 8—20. fee the notes there.

y. 29. Then the king fent and gathered, 8c. } From hence, to the end of y. 32. the fame account is given of the reading of the law to the people, and of the covenant the king and ‘they made te ferve the Lord, as in 2 Kings xxiii. is 25 3:

¥. 33. And Fofiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the cbildren of Ifrael, &c.|. All their idols, as related in 2 Kings xxiii. 4, 8cc. and madé all that were prefent in Ifrael to* ferve, even to serve the Lord their God; by his ediéts, and by hisexample: and all bis days they departed not from following the Lord God’ of their fathers; not publickly and univerfally; otherwife there were great declenfions and corruptions among them, as the prophecies of Jeremiah and their name from Kobath, the fecond fon of Levi: Zephaniah thew.

do fet it forward; to urge and animate the men to

N this chapter we have an account of the keeping of the paflover and its preparation, for which the priefts and Levites were ordered to prepare, —and to which ¥efah, and his princes, gave liberally, and fuch an one was kept as had not been for ages paft, ¥. t—19. and of Fofah’s rath engageof the jir/t month, the month Nijan, as tl g¢m, which was the exact time of killing over-lamb, according to the law of MZ xii. 6. in the Vulgate Latin verfion o 1. it is called the 14th moon of the fi phrafe often -ufed in ecclefiaftical 1 ment in battle with the king of Egypt, in which he {peaking of the time of the asp ay: 7 > Ww was flain, ¥.20—23. and of the great lamentanow call one of the days o the tions that were made for him, ¥. 24—27.

y. 1. Moreover, Fofiah kept a paffover unto the Lord in Ferufalem, &c.| Where only it was to be kept: and they killed the paffover on the 14th day In their offices, and in their prope ecute them: and encouraged them the boufe of the Lord; to attend it v

Monday. ne ¥.2. And he fet the priefts in i nefs and conftancy, and do it according» to the will of God, promifing his favour and protecder of. 30,000; that is, 30,000 laitbs or kids, which would ferve 30,000 families: and 3000 tion. sis bullocks thefe were for the chagigah or feaft, kept

¥. 3. And faid unto the Levites that taught Tfrael, &c.| Whofe bufinefs it was to go through _ the feveral tribes, and inftruct them in the knowledge of God, his word and worfhip, ftatutes and ordinances. In an ancient MS. mentioned by 7wnius, itis read, who prepared for all Ifrael the holy things, &c. which were holy unto the Lord; who were confecrated to the name of the Lord, as the Targum, dedicated to his worfhip and fervice; or it may fignify the holy things they taught or pared: thefe put the holy ark in the boufe which Solomon the fon of David king of Ifrael did build; alljon the. day following the paflover: thee were of the king’s /ubjlance, taken out of his flocks and herds, or bought with his money, and liberally given to the people, to fuch poor families as could not afford well to be at the expence of fuch a fe- {tival.

y. 8. And bis princes gave willingly to the people, to the priefts, and the Levites, &c.] Befides, to fome other families, they gave alfo to poor priefts pre-and Levites, which the king’s bounty did not extend to; and thefe princes were not fecular, but whichjecclefiattical princes, as follows: Hilkiah, and Ze- fome think was removed from thence by 4mon, and an idol put in its room, which is the greater trefpafs he is faid to be guilty of, ch. xxxiii. 23. others, that it was privately removed by the highprieft in idolatrous times, and laid up in fome fe- chariah, and ‘Febiel, rulers of the houfe; of the temple; Hilkiah was high-prieft, and the other two were chief-priefts, the one of the line of Eleazar, and the‘other of the line of Ithamar: thefe gave unto the priefts for the paffover-lambs 2600 {mall cret place for the prefervation of it; but rather the truth ‘is, that it had been removed by the order of Fofiah, for the fake of the repairs of moft holy place; and this being done, he orders it to be replaced; and though the Levites might not go into the holy of holies, yet they could carry it to the entrance of the holy place, and the priefts from thence to the door of the moft holy place, where the high-prieft could receive it, and fix itin its proper place: it fhall wot be a burden upon your /houlders; it was not now to be carried from place to place, having a fixed abode in the moft holy place, and therefore they were at leifure to attend other fervice: ferve now the Lord your God, and bis people Ifrael; by finging the praifes of God, and flaying the paffover-lambs for the people.

¥. 4. And prepare yourfelves, &c.] Todo work in this fervice of the fanctuary, the paffover; that they be ready to do it, and diligent in it, perform it according to the law of God: dy the boufes of your fathers, after your courfes; fuch of them whofe turn in courfe it was to officiate: according to the writing of David king of Ifrael, and according to the writing of Solomon his fon; who had given in writing directions in what manner their courfes fhould be obferved, fee 1 Chron. xxiii, cattle; which were lambs, or kids, or both: and 300 oxen; for peace-offerings on the feven days of the(unleavened bread, to feaft upon.

¥. 9. Cononiah alfo, and Shemaiab, and Nathanee/, bis brethren, &c. | See ch. xxxi. 12. and Hafbabiah, and Ffebiel, and Fozabad, chief of the Levites; men of confiderable fubftance, and in good pofts and offices: gave unto the Levites; their poor brethren of that order: for paffover-of ferings 5000 {mall cattle; lambs, or kids, or both:* and 300 oxen; for the feaft that followed the paffover.

y. 10. So the fervice was prepared, &c.] Every thing was got ready both for the paffover and the feaft of unleavened bread, for all forts of people, rich and poor: and the priefts food in their place; in theirjtheir court near the altar, to fprinkle the blood of the facrifices about it, as in the following verfe: andjand the Levites in their courfes; whofe turn it was to officiate: according to the king’s commandment, y¥. 4.

y.11. And they killed the paffover, &c.] The \ambs for the paffover, which was done by the Levites: and the priefts fprinkled the blood from their hands; which they received from the Levites, fee ch xxx. 16. and the Levites flayed them; the

XXiv. paffover-lambs, took off their fkins.

¥.5. And fiand in the holy place, &c.] The court of the priefts, where their miniftrations according to the divifions of -the families of your brethren ibe people; of the other tribes, who were according to their families to provide a lamb for y.12. And they removed the burnt-offerings, &c.] were: Either fuch of the lambs and kids as were de— » figned for burnt-offerings’ for the people; thefe they feparated from thofe that were for the paffthejover; or they removed from them what was to pafiover: and after the divifion of the families of the ' Levites; who were obliged to obferve the fame ordinance in their refpective families, and for whom, as well as for the other families of J/rac/, they were to flay the lamb. y.6. So kill the paffover, &c.] In the manner, time and place, and for the perfons it fhould be be burnt, the fat of the inwards, of the kidneys and the caul on the liver: shat they might give; the reft for the paflover: according to the divifions of the families of the people, to offer unto the Lord; according to the number of them: as 7 is written in the book of Mofes; fee Levi ili. 3, 4,5. and fo did they with the oxen; fuch of them as were ap- killed: and fandify yourfelves; by wathing themfelves and garments, that they might be fic for this fervice: and prepare your brethren prepare a lamb for your brethren, or inftruét them how to their office that needed initruétion: that they may do according to the word of the Lord by the band Mofes; celebrate the ordinance of the paffover in all its rites, according to the law of Mo/es, at leaft ‘jnvevery rite, in which they were more peculiarly pointed for burnt-offerings were fet apart by themfelves, and fuch as were for peace-offerings; what of them were to be burnt, as thofe before mentionperformjed, were taken from them.

y. 13. And they roafted the paffover with fire, acof cording to the ordinance, &c.| Of the Lord by Mo/es, Exod. xii. 8. but the other boly offerings; which were the peace-offerings: fod they in pots, and in cauldrons, and pans; which was forbid to concerned. _ be done with. the’ paffover-lamb, but might with

¥.7. And Fofiah gave to the people, of the flock Tombs and kids, all for the paffover-offerings, &c. Which might be either lambs or kids of the Exed. xii. 5. for all that were prefent, to the numthe other facrifices, which were to be eaten, Excd. }xii. 9. and divided them /peedily among all the peogoat,'ple; the parts which belonged to the offerer, who Wwas the king; but he gave his part to the people, and therefore the Levites delivered them to them as foon as they could. him, and he had no y¥.14. And afterwards they made ready for themfelves, and for the priefts, &c.] The pafloverlambs, and fuch parts of the peace-offerings that belonged to them: decaufe the priefts the fons of Aaron were bufied in offering burnt-offerings; fuch as are before faid to be removed or feparated for that purpofe: and the fat; of the peace-offerings that was to be burnt; and this employed them w#- no quarrel with him, he did not come to fight with bufinefs to intermeddle between him and another prince: I come not again/t thee ¢his day; in an hoftile manner: dut againft the oufe wherewith I have war; the king of Afpria; for God commanded me to make bafle,; and oppofe his enemy: according to the Targum, it was his idol; and which is the fenfe of other fewi/h writers”’,; but thé true God might have appeared to him in a-dream, or fent a prophet to him; or at til night, fo that they could not prepare the paffover for themfelves:. and therefore the Levites prepared, not only for themfelves, but and alfo for the prichs the fons of Aaron, who were otherwife en- leaft he might pretend this, that it might have the greater effect on Fofiah; and indeed it feems to be real from the following verfe: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he de- gaged in the fervice of the day. | firey thee not;

y. 15. And the fingers, the fons of Afaph were in their place, &c.] In the court of the priefts, fingingand playing on their inftruments whilft the facrifices were offering: according to the commandment of David, and Afaph, and Heman, and Feduthun the king’s feer; the fame with Ezhan, and every one were feers, as Jarchi interprets it, that is, the three laft: and the porters waited at every gate; fuch of the Levites as he concluded God was with him, and would fucceed him, becaufe he had put him upon this enterprize, and haftened him to it; therefore Jofab in oppofing him, might expect to \be refitted by him, and fall.

y. 22. Neverthelefs, Fofah would not turn his face from him, &c.] Or withdraw his forces, and go back: but difguifed himfelf, that he might fight with him; without being perfonally known, and aimed © were in that poft and office: they might not depart From their service, to let people in and out, that came for their paffover-lamb, and fhare in their other offerings: for their brethren the Levites prepared for them; becaufe they were not at leifure to prepare for themfelves.

y¥. 16. So all the fervice of the Lord was prepared the fame day, &c.] With every facrifice, and for all forts of perfons: fo keep the paffover, and to offer burnt-offerings upon the altar of the Lord, which were required to be done on that day: according to the commandment of king Fofiah, which was, that every thing fhould be provided, prepared and done, as the law required.

y¥. 17. And the children of Ifrael that were pre: fent, kept the paffover at that time, &c.] In its proper time, on the 14th day of Nifan: and the at, fee 1 Kings xxii. 30. and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God; not believing that what he faid came from the Lord, though it might; and his infirmity was, that he did not enquire of the Lord about it: and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo; which was in the tribe of Manaffeh, thought to be the Magdolum of Herodotus, where he fays Necho fought the battle 4; fee the note on 2 Kings xxiii. 29.

x. 23. And the archers foot at king Foflab, 8c.) For though difguifed he appeared to be a general officer, and indeed chief commander, and therefore aimed at him, and prefled him -hard:. and the king faid to bis fervants, have me away, for I am wounded; as Abab {aid, when in the like cafe, 1 Kings xxi. 34.

¥.24. And his fervants therefore took him out of - feaft of unleavened bread feven days; the feven days following the paflover, as the Lord by Mo/es ap-| that chariot, &c.} Dead, and had him to Ferur alem, and buried him; fee the note.on 2 Kings xxiii.

v.18. And there was no paffover like to that kept in Ifrael, &c.] So exactly according to the law, fo univerfally by J/rael and Fudab, and with fuch liberality fhewn by the king, and the chief of the priefts and Levites; of this, and the following verte, fee the notes on 2 Kings xxill. 22, 23.

¥.20. After all this, when fofiah bad prepared the temple, &c.|. Purified it, and cleanfed it from the filth in it, and from all idolatry, and had repaired it, and put the fervice of it in\ good order, and on a good footing, after which great profperity in church and ftate might have been expected: Necho king of Egypt came up to fight againft Carchemifh by Euphrates; now called Querquifia, fappofed by fome to be the fame with the Cadytis of Herodotus, which that hiftorian calls a great city of Syria, whither he fays Necho went after the battle with the Syrians *; of which fee the note on J// x. g. and of this king of Egypt, fee the note on 2 Kings xxiii. 2g. and Yer. xlvi. 2. and Fofiah went out againft him or to meet him, and ftop him from going through his land, which lay between Egypt and Syria; Egypt being on the fouth of J/rae/, and Euphrates on the north of it, as archi obferves.

¥. 21. But he fent ambaffadors to him, &c.| That is, Necho fent to Fofiah: faying, what have 1 to do with thee, thou king of Fudab? fignifying he had

30. and all Fudab and Ferufalem mourned for Fofab; he having been fo good a king, fo tender of them, and fuch an happy inftrument, in reftoriag the true religion, and the fervice of God; this was the fenfe of the generality of them, who were fincere in their mourning; but it is not improbable, that thofe who were inclined to idolatry, were fecretly glad, though they diffembled mourning with °

¥.25. And Feremiah lamented for Fofiah, &c.] Compofed a lamentation for him, which is now loft; for what is faid in Lam. ch. iv. 20. refpeéts Zedekiab, and not Fofiab: and all the finging men, and all the finging women, [pake of Fofiah in their. lamentations unto this day; who were made ufe of on mournful occafions, as the prefice among the Romans, fee Fer. ix. 17. thefe in their mournful ditties ufed to make mention of his name, and the difafter that befel him: and made them an ordinance in Jfrael, an annual conftitution, as the Targum calls it, appointing a folemn-mourning for him once a year, which Yarchi fays was on the gth of Ab or July: and bebold, they are written: im, the lamentations; not of Jeremiah, tho’ the Targum is, *¢ Jo, they are written in the book which Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah, concerning the lamentations,” but refpeét a colleétion of lamentations on various fubjects then in being, but fince loft.

¥. 26, 7. Now the reft of the ads of i ofabs al his goodnefs, &c.} His piety towards God; and

HIS chapter records the reigns of the four kings of Yudah, and the captivity of the Jews, the fhort reign of Feboabaz, depofed by the king of Egypt, and his brother Eliakim or Feboiakim fet up in his room, y. 1—4. the reign of Feboiakim, who was bound and carried away by Nebuchadnezzar, ¥. 5—8. the reign of Febotachin his fon, who alfo in a fhort time was taken and carried to Babylon by the fame king, ¥. 9, 10. the reign of Zedekiah, who alfo rebelled againft the king of Babylon, and he and his people were taken and carried captive by him for his fins, which are here liberality to the people; of thefé two vertes, fee the note on 2 Kings xxiii. 28.