Ch.xv.v.o—an- IL KI NCS
muft have begun to reign, had he immediately fucceeded his father in the throne; there muft be! therefore an interregnum of 22 years at leaft, which might be owing to the diffentions among the princes and people about the fucceffion, and a diflike to Zachariah on {ome account; however, after all, he muft reign, though but fix months, to fulfil the word of the Lord, fee ¥. 12.
¥.10. ind Shallum the fon of Fabefo confpired againft him, &c.| <A friend of his, as Fofepbus* calls him, encouraged by the diffatisfaction of the people to him: and mote bim before the people, and flew.him; in a public manner, the people confenting to it, and approving of it, not liking Zachariah to be their king: and reigued in his flead; tho’ near the Euphrates;
nearer Samaria, and Tirzah; according to Bunting‘, it was but fix miles from Samaria: becaufe they opened not to him, therefore he /mote it 3 they refufed to.open the gates of their city to him, and receive him, and acknowledge him as their king 4 therefore he exercifed feverity on the inhabitants of ~ * fit, and the parts adjacent, as far as Tirzab, putting © them to the fword: and all’ the women therein that were with child, be ript up; which was a mott {hocking inftance of barbarity, and which he did, to terrify others from following their example. ‘ | Bet Gerfom interprets it of ftrong towers built on mountains, which he demolifhed, deriving Haroth, which we render women with child, from Har a mountain..
¥. 9. And be did that which was evil in the fight of ihe Lord, as bis fathers bad done, &c.] Kven all his predeceffors, from the time of Yeroboam the fon ot Nedat, from whofe fin, in worfhipping the calves, they departed not.
y.17. In the 39th year of Azariab king of Fux dab, began Menahem the fon of Gadi to reign over Djrael, &c.| Shallum reigning but one month, both their reigns began the fame year.
but a very fhort time. ¥. 18. And he did that which was evil, &e.]
¥. 11. And the reft of the aéts of Zachariah, &c. During his fix months reign, and what he might do before in the interregnum:
y. 15. And the reft of the aéts of Shallum, and his con[piracy which be made, bebold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of I In which, no doubt, an account of the caufé of the confpiracy, and of the perfons affifting to him in it, was given, with other things done in his fhort | The fame character is given of him as of thofe be= fore him, y.
debold, they are written) y.19. And Pal the king of Affria came againft Ifrael; for|\the land, 8cc.| The land of J/rae/, he invaded. it 5 h chronologer " calls him Pul-Belicho; and he is generally thought to be the fame with Belochus or Belefis, governor of Babdyloz, who, with Ardaces the Mede, flew Sardanapalus, faid to be the laft of the Affrian kings, aud tranflated the empire to the Chaldeans; he ruling over Babylon and Niniveb, and Arbaces over the Medes and Perfans, but Pul was not a Badylonian, but an Affyrian”, and the firft king. of the <Afprions, at criptures fpeak of: we read no more of him; but one Metajfthencs, a Perfian hiftorian, The feigned and publifhed by Aznius, and fo named by him inftead of Mega/tdenes, calls him Pbul-Belochus, and fays * he reigned 48 years: aud Menahem gave Pul 1000 talents of filver; and a talent of filver, according to Brerewood’, was 375 pounds; but bifhop Cumberland calculates it at 353 pounds 1% fhillings and 10 pence halfpennys 1000 of them made a large fum of money, according to the former 375,000 pounds; and this he gave to him, not only to defift from the invafion of his land, but that his band might be with him; and not againft him: and #0 conjirm the kingdom in his band; which being got by ufurpation, and fupported by cruelty, was but tottering.
in the book of the chronicles of the kings of be they more or fewer, good or bad, they were allla ewi recorded there, which were of any moment.
y. 12. This was the word of the Lord which he frake unto Jehu, &c.¥ Which was now fulfilled in the thort reign of Zachariah: faying, Thy fons fhall fit on the throne of Ifrael unto the 4th generation; fee ch. x. 30. and fo it came to pafs; as every word ot the Lord does, not one fails, for after Febu reigned Feboahaz, Feboafh, Feroboam the 2d, and Zachariah, ail defcendants of Febu. leaft, the
¥. 13. Shallum the fon of Fabefh began to reign in the 39th year of Uzziah king of Fudah, &c. fame with Azariab; he is fometimes called by one name, and fometimes by the other,’ fee ch. xiii. 21. and he reigned a full month in Samaria; and no longer; fo foon were the confpiracy againft his fovereign, and the murder of him punifhed.
y. 14. For Menabem the fon of Gadi went up from Tirzab, &c.| <A city in the tribe of Manafih, the royal city of the kings of J/rae before Omri, of which fee the note on Fo/h. xii. 24. whether Menahem. was of this city, or was now befieging it with an army he had the command of, as Fofepbus * fuggefts, is not certain; however, hearing what had befallen Zachariah, he came from hence: and came to Samaria; which, according to Bunting ‘,was fix miles from Tirzah: and fmote Shallum the fon of Fabefb in Samaria, and flew bim, and reigned in bis ftead judging he had as good a right to the throne as Shallum had.
_y. 20. And Menabem exatied the money of Ifrael, even of all the mighty men of wealth, &c.] Who were moft able to pay it, by which means he eafed the poor, and might thereby attach them to him: of each man 50 foekels of filver, to give to the king of Afhria; that is, he required them to pay 50 fhekels a-piece to make up the above fum as a pree rael.|\fent to Pul,; though the words in the original text lie more naturally thus, 40 give to the king of Alfyria 50 jhekels of filver for one man; that is, for every man in his army; which amounted to about reign. \fix pounds a man: fo the king of Afhria turned
¥. 16. Then Menahem fmote Tiphfab and all that were therein, and the coafts thereof from Tirzab, &c. The Yewi/o writers commonly take this Tiph/ab to be without the land of J/rae/, the fame with that back, to his own country: and frayed not’ there in | the land; in the land of Trael, neither to diftrefs nor to help Menahem, for which he gave him the money. | y in 1 Kings iv. 24. on the borders of Syria, and y. 21. And the reff of the ats of Menahem, &c.]- but it feems to be fome place
We are referred to the fame book of Chronicles for them as for thofe of the reft. of the kings, which feems to be a form the hiftorian ufes of them all.
y. 22. And Menahem flept with his fathers, &c.) Died a natural death, and in peace, though an ufurper and a tyrant: and Pekahiah bis fon reigned in bis flead, the kingdom, he had ufurped continued in his family., y¥. 23. In the 5oth year of Azariah king of Fudah, Pekabiah the fon of Menahem began to reign over Ifrael in Samaria, &c.) As it was in the 39th of Azariah thathis father began his reign, and he reigned 10 years, they mult end in the 4gth of Azariah, and therefore there muft be an interregnum of a year; perhaps the title of Pekadiab might be difputed, and it was a year before he could get fettled on the throne: and reigned ¢wo years; being flain by one of his captains, as after related.
y. 24. And be did that which was evil, &c.] Befides other fins, he cleaved to that of worfhipping the calves, a piece of {tate-policy all the kings of Ijrael gave into.
¥.25. But Pekah the fon of Remaliah, a captain of bis, &c.] The word fignifies a ¢hird man, the third to the king, as fome think; Fo/epbus.* calls him a chiliarch, one that had the command of 1000 men:. confpired againft him, and {mote him in Samavia, in the palace of the king’s houfe, Jofepbus” ays it was at a banquet: with Argob, and Arieh; whom, according to Abarbinel, Pekab flew with the king, being mighty men, who were always about him, but they feem rather to be confpirators with Pekah, and affifting to him in fmiting the king; the former of thefe, Ben Gerfom thinks, was governor of Argod, a country on the other fide Jordan, and the latter had his name from his fortitude, which fignifies a lion: and with him 50 men of the Gileadites; which may feem to ftrengthen the above notion concerning 4rgob, fince the Gileadites were of the fame fide of Yordan, and were near Argob, fee Deut. iii. 13. and he killed bim, and reigned in bis room; as his father killed Shallum, and reigned in his ftead.
¥. 26. And the reft of the adts of Pekahiah, &c.] The fame form of expreffion is ufed as before, y. 21. of all the kings.
¥. 27. Inthe 52d year of Azariah king of Fudab,
Pekab the fon of Remaliah began to reign over Irae!
in Samaria, &c.| Which was the laft year of the reign of. Azariah: and reigned 20 years; which was a long reign for an ufurper and murderer.
¥. 28. And he did that which was evil in the fight of the Lord, &c.] Not only in committing the above crimes of ufurpation and murder, but idolatry, and particularly the worfhipping of the calves, hinted at in the text.
¥. 29. In the days of Pekah king of Ifrael, came Tiglath-pilefer king of Afpria, &c.] Into the land of Srael; he is called by a Yewifh chronologer ‘ Pul-Afir; fo Pkul-Affar by Metajfthenes*, who fays he reigned 25 years; he very probably. was the fon of Pul the Afjrian king, mentioned ¥. 19. and is thought to be the fame that Avianus * calls Tilgamos; fome think he had the firft part of his name from” Diglath, or Diglito, by which the river Tigris is called in Pliny’, with which Affyria was and Gilead; a country beyond ‘Yordan, which be= longed to the Reudenites, Gadites, and half tribe of Manaffeb; and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, that is, upper Galilee, which lay in Naphtali: and — carried them captive to Afyria; which was the firft captivity of J/rae/, in which half their tribes were carried away.. No"
¥. 30. And Hofbea the fon of Elab made a con|piracy againft Pekab the fon of Remaliah, and fmote bim, and flew him, and reigned in bis ftead, &c. Didby.
him as he had done by Pekabiah, y..28. this was meafure for meafure, as the ews fay: and this he did iz she 20th year of Fotham the fon of Uzziah; and yet Fotham is faid to reign but 16 years, ¥. 33. this muft be reckoned thereforeveither — from the time of his being viceroy, and judging T/rael in his father’s life-time, ¥. 5, or this was the 4th year of 4baz, and the 2oth year, reckons ing from the time Fotbam began to reign,’ who is the rather mentioned, becaufe as yet the hiftorian had taken no notice of Ahaz.) ate
¥. 31. And the reft of the ails of Pekab, 8c} Not recorded here, were to be read in the book of chronicles of the kings fo often referred to. 1 ~~
¥. 32. In the 2d year of Pekah the fon of Remalich king of Ifrael, began Fotham the fon of Uzziab king of Judab to reign.|.Pekab began to reign in his laft year, ¥. 27. and which was the. firft of Pekah,; Uzziah reigned full 52, and then Fotham fucceeded, which was the beginning of, the 2d of Pekab.. > began to reign, &c.| Alone, after» the death of his father: and he reigned 16 years in Ferufalem;
and his mother’s name was Jerufha, the daughter of Zadok: a perfon well known. in thofe times; Dn Lightfoot * thinks he was high-prieft...,.. *
¥. 34. And he did that which was right in the fight of the Lord, &c.|. Farchi, in 2 Chron. xxviis
2. obferves, from a writer of theirs, thatin all the kings of Yudah before him, even in the beft, fome fins were found; but in Yotbam. there was nothing fcandalous and reproachtul; and it is a high character Fofepbus* gives of him, that there: was no virtue wanting in him; he was pious towards:God, juft towards men, and careful of the public good; _ but the infpired hiftorian chiefly refpects matters of religious worfhip; he did not. give into eye: | he did according to all that his father Uzziah tb done; that is, according to what was well done by him; he did not imitate him in going into the temple to burn incenfe, which is particularly excepted, 2 Chron. xxvii. 2.: sw ia ¥..35- Howbeit the high places were mot removed,
&c.]..As they were not. by his father,sand the fame is obferved.of the beft of kings before: the people facrificed and burnt incenfe fill in the bigh places; from which they,could not be broughtoff by prophets or kings: 4e. built the higher the houfe of the Lord x which. was betw: ple and the king’s palace, which led.to its.
the 52d year: of Azariah, or Uzziab, which was
¥. 33. Five and twenty years old was he coben be- and his.reign, upon the whole, was a good reign: — ul o®: § ‘ett; ae yy Ch. xvi. ¥.1—6. PRK PASS 767 ro. it is the fame that was afterwards called the gate of Nicanor; the eaft-gate, as fay the Fewi/f> nothing of what follows came to pafs in his life, but in the times of his fon: the Lord began to writers *.. Jend againft Fudah, Rexin the king, of Syria, and yy. 36. Now the reft of the alts of Fotham, and all that be did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Fudab?] Of which mention is often made by the infpired hiftorians; fome of Fotham’s other atts are recorded in the canonical book of Chronicles, 2 Chron. xxvii.
¥. 37. In thofe days, &c.) ‘At the end of the days of Fotham, or after his death, things might! be in defign, and preparations made before, but! Pekah the fon of Remaliahb; to make war with them as a fcourge to Abaz for his fins; of which in the following chapter.
_ y. 38. And Fotham flept with his fathers, and ewas buried with his fathers in the city of David bis father, &c.] Died, and was buried with the kings of Fudeb in their fepulchres: and Abaz his Jon reigned in bis Jiead; an account of whofe reign we have in the next chapter.
jet ab chapter contains the reign of Abaz only, relates his idolatry, ¥. 1—4. his hiring the king of Affria with the treafure of the temple, and his own, ‘to affift him againft the kings of Ifrael and Syria, who befieged him, y. 5—g. his feeing the altar of an'idol at Dama/cus, the fathion of which he took, and ordered one like it to be built at Ferufalem, ¥. 10—16, his defacing and removing fome things in the temple, y. 17, 18. and the chapter is concluded with his death and burial, ¥. 19, 20.: fee 2 Chron, xxviii, 25. fants were carried by their mothers through the flames; which feemed to be an expiation or purgation, and which he takes to be the fame with the fin of Abaz. a y. 4. And he fecrificed and burnt incenfe in the high places, and on the bills, &c.] Which none of the kings of Zudab before him ever did; for tho? ’ they connived at this practice in the people, they never encouraged it by their own example; and very probably he offéred {acrifices there to idols, whereas the people facrificed to the true God, though at a wrong place: f y. 1. In the 17th year of Pekah the fon of Remaliah, Abaz the fon of Fotham, king of Fudab began to reign.) “Fotham began to reign in the fecond of Pekab, and he reigned 16 years, and therefore his laft year would fall in the 18th of Pekab; but-as his firft year might be at the beginning of the fecond of Pekab, his latt was towards the end of the 17th of Pekab’s, as here; fee ch. xv. and under every green tree; and which is never {aid | of the people, and feems to confirm it; that Zbaz facrificed to other gods, fince the heathens ufed to place idols under green trees, and worfhip them, whom the Jews imitated, Fer, ii. 2. and.iii. 6. y¥. 5. Then Rezin king of Syria, and Pekab Son of - Remaliah king of Ifracl, came up to JFerufalem to war, &c.] To fight with 4baz, moved to it by the
¥. 2. Twenty years old was Abaz when he began to reign, and reigned 16 years in Ferufalem, &c.], The fame number of years his father did: and did not that which was right in the fight of the Lord God, like David his father, his more remote progenitor, nor even like his more immediate father, from whom he received fuch good inftruétions, and of whom he had fo good an example; but grace is neither propagated by blood, nor through the force of education, David, retaken by
¥. 3. But be walked in the way of the kings of Jrael, &c.] Worfhipping the calves as they did; which as it was contrary to the religious fentiments in which he was educated, fo againft his intereft, which was the only, or at leaft the principal thing, which fwayed with the kings of J/rael to continue that idolatry: yea, and made bis fon to pas through the fire; between two fires to Molech, by way of luftration; which might be true of Hezekiab his fon, and others of his fons, for he more he burnt with fire, as appears from 2 Chron. xxviii. 3. both ways were ufed in that fort of idolatry, fee the note on Lev. xvili. 21. according to the abominations of the beathen, whom the Lord out from before the children of Irael, the old Canaanites; fo the Carthaginians, a colony of the Phenicians, ufed in time of calamity to offer human facrifices, and even their children, to appeafe their deities’. Theodoret fays, he had feen in fome cities, in his time, piles kindled once a year, over which-not only boys, but men would leap, and in- 37. 2 Chron. xxviii. 5. but could not overcome him; {0 as.to take Ferufalem, and fet up another king there, as their fcheme was, If. vii. 5, 6, though they had both at other times got great advantages over him, and flew many of his people, and carried them captive, fee 2 Chron. xxviii. 5-—8.
y. 6. At that time Rezin king of Syria, recovered £lath to Syria, &c.] A port on the Red-fea, that obtained formerly belonged to Edom, taken from them by them when they revolted in Foram’s time, and perhaps taken by Amaziah again, fince his fon Azariab rebuilt. it, and. reftored it to. Fudab, ch. xiv. 22. and it feems by this, that it politicaljhad been in the hands of the Syrians, who nowrecovered it; unlefs inftead of Aram, rendered Syrians, we could fubftitute. Edom, which Le Clerc) has yentured to do without any authority: and. \drave the Jews From Elath; who were in pofieffion, of it. This is the firft time that the inhabitants, hadjof the kingdom of $udahb are called Fews, from the name of their original patriarch, and principal. tribe; though fome, think ® they had this name from the time this tribe. went up firft againft the. caft Canaanites. Fudg.i. 1, 2. however, it is a miftake of. R. Elias Levita", that itis never found in the bible. they were called ews, but from the time the ten tribes were carried captive, and not before;,anda greater miftake ftill it is of Tacitus °, that they were, called Fews or Judeans, as if they were Ideans from mount Jda in Crete, from whence he fuppofes they came: amd the Syrians came to Elath, and:
Edomites; and fo read the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin verfions; and Kimchi obferves that it is written dramim, Syrians, becaufe the king of Syria took it, and by his means the Edomites returned to it, but is read Edomim, Edomites, becaufe it belonged to the children of Edom, and it is certain the Edomites had come and {mitten Fudah, 2 Chron. xxviii. 17.
¥. 7. So Abax fent meffengers to Tiglath-pilefer king of Affyria, &cc.} Of whom fee ch. xiv. 29. faying, I am thy fervant, and thy fon; fignifying, that he would be his vaffal, and become tributary to him, and ferve him as a fervant his mafter, or a fon his father, on condition he would come to his affiftance, and fo he became his fervant; hence his fon Hezekiah is faid to rebel againft the king of Affyria, ch. xviii. 7. come up and fave me out of the band of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Ifrael, which rife up againft me, which affiftance he had no reafon to call in, fince the Lord had promifed him deliverance from both thofe kings, and gave him a fign of it, J/ vii. 4—16.
yv. 8. And Abaz took the filver and gold that was found in the houfe of the Lord, &c.\ Which Uzziab and Fotham had put there; for all that was found there in the times of Amaziab was taken away by Feboafh king of J/rael, ch. xiv. 14. and in the treafures of the king’s boufe; whatever gold and filyer he had of his own: and fent it for a prefent to the king of Afpria; to obtain his help and affiftance.;
y. 9. And the king of Affyria bearkened unto him, &c.} Complied with his requeft: for the king of