Manasseh's Sin.

He is Carried to Babylon.

heathen.-Literally,

(9) So Manasseh And Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do evil more than the nations. Thenius thinks that the words and Manasseh astray, followed in the primary document immediately upon and he set the graven image in the house; the intermediate words being an addition by the editor of Kings.

(10) And the Lord spake to Manasseh."By the hand of his servants the prophets.' See 2 Kings xxi. 10-15, where the substance of the prophetic message is given; and it is added (verse 16) that Manasseh also shed very much innocent blood, "till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other." The reaction against the reforms of Hezekiah ended in a bloody struggle, in which the party of reform was fiercely suppressed.

MANASSEH'S CAPTIVITY AND REPENTANCE-HIS RESTORATION AND REFORMS (verses 11—17).

This section is peculiar to the Chronicle, and none has excited more scepticism among modern critics. The progress of cuneiform research, however, has proved the perfect possibility of the facts most disputed, viz., the captivity and subsequent restoration of Manasseh.

(11) Wherefore.-And.

The captains of the host of the king of Assyria. The generals of Esarhaddon, or rather, perhaps, of Assurbanipal. The former, who reigned from 681-668 B.C., has recorded the fact that Manasseh was his vassal. He says: "And I assembled the kings of the land of Hatti, and the marge of the sea, Baal king of Tyre, Me-na-si-e (or Mi-in-si-e) king of Ya-u-di (i.e., Judah), Qa-us-gabri, king of Edom," &c. "Altogether, twenty-two kings of the land of Hatti [Syria], the coast of the sea, and the middle of the sea, all of them, I caused to hasten," &c.

Assurbanipal has left a list which is identical with that of Esarhaddon, except that it gives different names for the kings of Arvad and Ammon. It thus appears that Manasseh paid tribute to him as well as to his father. Schrader (K.A.T., p. 367, seq.) thinks that Manasseh was at least suspected of being implicated along with the other princes of Phoenicia-Palestine in the revolt of Assurbanipal's brother Samar-sum-ukin (circ. 648647 B.C.) in which Elam, Gutium, and Meroë also participated; and that he was carried to Babylon, to clear himself of suspicion, and to give assurances of his fidelity to the great king.

Which took Manasseh among the thorns.— And they took Manasseh prisoner with the hooks (ba-hohim). The hooks might be such as the Assyrian kings were wont to pass through the nostrils and lips of their more distinguished prisoners. Comp. Isa. xxxvii. 29, "I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips;" and comp. Amos iv. 2, "He will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fish-hooks." Comp. also Job xli. 2, “Canst thou bore his jaw with a hook?" [The LXX., Vulg., Targ. render the word "chains." Syriac confuses the word with chayyim, "life," and renders "took Manasseh in his life."] Perhaps, however, the meaning is, and they took Manasseh prisoner at Hohim. There is no reason why Hohim should not be a local name, as well as Coz (1 Chron. iv. 8).

And bound him with fetters.-With the double chain of bronze, as the Philistines bound Samson (Judg. xvi. 21). So Sennacherib relates: "Suzubu king of Babylon, in the battle alive their hands took him; in fetters of bronze they put him, and to my presence brought him. In the great gate in the midst of the city of Nineveh I bound him fast." This happened in 695 B.C., only a few years before the similar captivity of Manasseh.

And carried him.-Caused him to go, or led him

away.

To Babylon.-Where Assurbanipal was holding his court at the time, as he appears to have done after achieving the overthrow of his brother the rebellious viceroy, and assuming the title of king of Babylon himself.

(12) When he was in affliction.-See this phrase in chap. xxviii. 22.

He besought.-Literally, stroked the face, a curious realistic phrase occurring in Exod. xxxii. 11.

The God of his fathers.-Whom he had forsaken for the gods of aliens. Some MSS., and the Syriac, Targum, and Arabic insert "Jehovah" before this phrase. (13) He was intreated of him.-1 Chron. v. 20. And brought him again to Jerusalem.-The Assyrian monarch after a time saw fit to restore

Amon's reign.

Josiah succeeds him.

made Josiah his son king in his stead.

(22) But he did

that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as did Manasseh his father: for Amon sacrificed unto all the carved images which Manasseh his father had

CHAPTER XXXIV.-(1) Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. (2) And he did that which

trespass.

of Uzza." The words, in the garden of, seem to have fallen out of our text. So LXX., v napadeίow oikov AUTOû; Syriac, “in his house, in the garden of treasure." THE REIGN OF AMON (verses 21-25. Comp. 2

Kings xxi. 19-26).

(21) Amon was two and twenty years old. -So 2 Kings xxi. 19, which adds his mother's name and parentage.

(22) For Amon sacrificed.—Literally, and to all the carven images which Manasseh his father had made did Amon sacrifice. (Comp. 2 Kings xxi. 21, "and he walked in all the way wherein his father had walked, and served the idols which his father had served, and

worshipped them.' Idols in the above passage is gillûlim, "dunglings," a term nowhere used by the chronicler.) The statement of our text seems to imply that the "carven images" made by Manasseh had not been destroyed, but only cast aside. (See Note on verse 15.) It argues a defect of judgment to say with Reuss that the reforms of Manasseh are rendered doubtful by it. The whole history is a succession of reforms followed by relapses; and the words of the sacred writer need not be supposed to mean that the images which Amon worshipped were the very ones which his penitent father had discarded, but only images of the same imaginary gods.

and more.—

(23) And humbled not himself... more and more. This verse is added by the chronicler. But Amon trespassed more Literally, for he, Amon, multiplied trespass. (25) Slew.-Smote. The verse is identical with 2 Kings xxi. 24, save that it has "smote" plural instead of singular, which latter is more correct. It may be that the facts thus briefly recorded represent a fierce conflict between the party of religious reform and that of religious reaction, in which the latter was for the time worsted and reduced to a state of suspended activity.

The chronicler has omitted the remarks usual at the end of a reign. See 2 Kings xxi. 25, 26 for a reference to sources, and Amon's burial place ("the garden of Uzza").

XXXIV.

THE REIGN OF JOSIAH (chaps. xxxiv.―xxxv.). The history of Josiah, as related here, is in substantial agreement with the narrative of 2 Kings xxii., xxiii. The main difference lies in the fact that the chronicler assigns the various reforms of this king to his eighth,

walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left. (3) For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and

(1) Josiah was eight years old. So 2 Kings xxii. 1, which adds, and his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath."

(2) And declined... the left.-So Kings. Josiah is the only king upon whom this encomium is pronounced. It is equivalent to saying that his observance of the law was perfect. Comp. Deut. v. 32, xvii. 20 (the law of the king), xxviii. 14.

(3-7) Idolatry extirpated. This brief account is parallel to 2 Kings xxiii. 4-20.

(3) For.-Now.

In the eighth year.-The specifications of time in this verse are peculiar to the chronicler.

While he was yet young.-Being about sixteen. He began to seek.-Chap. xvii. 3, 4; 1 Chron. xiii. 3.

And in the twelfth year.-When, perhaps, he began to govern alone.

He began to purge.-It is not said that the whole work was completed in the twelfth year; indeed, verse 33 implies the contrary. But the writer having begun the story of the destruction of idolatrous objects, naturally continues it to its close, though that properly belongs to Josiah's eighteenth year (2 Kings xxii. 3, compared with xxiii. 4 seq.). It is not, therefore, clear (as Thenius asserts) that the chronicler has put the extirpation of idolatry first, simply to show that the pious king needed no special prompting to such a course; or that, as Nöldeke supposes, the writer meant to clear this highly-extolled king from the reproach of having quietly put up with the abomination for full eighteen years.

The high places.-2 Kings xxiii. 5, 8, 9, 13.

The groves.-The Asherim (2 Kings xxiii. 4, 6, 7, 14). There was an Asherah in the Temple, as well as in the high places which Solomon built for Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom. The carved and molten images. are not mentioned in the parallel passage, which, however, gives a much clearer and more original description of the different kinds of idolatry abolished by Josiah..

Josiah's good works.

(The Syriac has, "he began to root out the altars, and idols, and leopards, and chapels, and collars, and bells, and all the trees which they made for the idols.")

(4) Of Baalim.-Of the Baals. 2 Kings xxiii. 4, 5, "the Baal."

In his presence.-Comp. 2 Kings xxiii. 16, from which it appears that Josiah personally superintended the work of demolition.

The images.-Sun statues (chap. xiv. 4).

That were on high above them, he cut down. -Or, that were above, from off them he hewed.

The molten images.-Rather, the maççebûth, or sacred pillars. (See 2 Kings xxiii. 14.)

Made dust of them.-2 Kings xxiii. 6 (of an Asherah).

And showed . . . unto them.-Literally, and sprinkled upon the face of the graves that used to sacrifice unto them, as if the graves were guilty. 2 Kings xxiii. 6 relates this of the temple Asherah only.

upon their altar.-See

(5) And he burnt. 2 Kings xxiii. 13, 14, 16, 20 for details. Literally, and bones of priests he burnt. They were bones taken from the graves of the idolatrous priests, who were thus punished, while their altars were irreparably defiled. (For the horror with which such a violation of the dead was then regarded, see Amos ii. 1.)

And cleansed (i.e., "purged," verse 3) Judah and Jerusalem. This phrase does not occur at all in the parallel account.

(6) And so did he in the cities... unto Naphtali. See 2 Kings xxiii. 15, 19, according to which Josiah destroyed the sanctuary of Bethel, and the high places"in the cities of Samaria," i.e., the northern kingdom.

Simeon is again mentioned somewhat strangely, as in chap. xv. 9, no doubt because Beersheba, a famous sanctuary within its territory, was a place of pilgrimage for the northern tribes.

Manasseh and Ephraim, i.e., the northern kingdom, as in chap. xxxi. 1; Isa. ix. 21.

With their mattocks.-Rather, in their ruins; reading behorbôthêhem, instead of beharbôthêhem, which means "with their swords." (Comp. Ezek. xxvi. 9.) The phrase qualifies the word "cities." The cities of Israel had been ruined by the Assyrians, Sargon, and Shalmaneser, the latter of whom took Samaria, after a three years' siege, and carried the people captive to

The Repair of the Temple.

altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut. down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.

(8) Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent to Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God. (9) And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all

Assyria, in 721 B.C., replacing them by foreign colonists. This explains how it was that Josiah was able to desecrate the northern sanctuaries, and slay their priests (2 Kings xxiii. 20). The ordinary Hebrew text divides the word thus: behar bûthehem, so as to suggest the reading behar battêhem, "in the hill of their houses." The LXX. has "in their places round about"; the Vulg. omits the phrase; and the Syriac reads "in their streets around." The whole verse should be connected with verse 7, thus: "And in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, to wit, in their ruins round about, he pulled down the altars and the Asherim; and the carven images he dashed into pieces unto pulverising." Hedaq is an unusual form of the infinitive, not a perfect, as Bertheau supposes.

(7) The idols.-Sun-statues (verse 4). The word does not occur in the parallel account; but verse 5 mentions sun-worship.

(8-13) The cleansing and repair of the Temple. (Comp. 2 Kings xxii. 3-7; and the similar account of the restoration by Joash in chap. xxiv. 11-13).

When he had purged.-Omit had. (Lětaher is apparently co-ordinate with lemolko, "in the eighteenth year to his reigning, to purging the land"; as if the work of purification had been co-extensive with the reign. The LXX., however, has, "in order to purge the land," which may be right.)

He sent Shaphan.-Who was secretary of state (2 Kings xxii. 3, "the scribe").

Maaseiah... Joah.-Kings mentions Shaphan

only.

The governor of the city.-Sar ha'îr; praefectus urbis. (Comp. 1 Chron. xi. 6.)

(9) And when they came... they delivered. -And they came... and they gave. In 2 Kings xxii. 3-7, the contents of verses 9-12a are given in the form of the king's instructions to Shaphan. Here we are told that those instructions were carried out. "They delivered (wayyittěnû) is substituted for the difficult wěyattem of Kings (i.e., " and let him pay out "). From the hand of Manasseh . . . Benjamin. -Kings, "from the people." Reuss oddly imagines that these words denote a kind of organised collection throughout all Palestine," and then proceeds to draw an inference unfavourable to the chronicler.

...

The Repair of the Temple.

Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to Jerusalem. (10) And they put it in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the LORD, and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the LORD, to repair and amend the house: (1) even to the artificers and builders gave they it,

Hilkiah finds a Book. (13) Also

skill of instruments of musick. they were over the bearers of burdens, and were overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters.

(14) And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house

lings, and 1to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed. (12) And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and other of the Levites, all that could

And they returned to Jerusalem.-This is the meaning of the Qri or Hebrew margin. The Hebrew text has, "and the inhabitants of Jerusalem," which is correct.

(10) Put it in.-Gave it into.

The workmen.-The doers of the work, i.e., the overseers or contractors. See Note on chap. xxiv. 12. And they gave it to the workmen... the house. So LXX. and Syriac. The Hebrew text says, and the doers of the work who were working in the house of Jehovah gave it for restoring and repairing the house. To whom the masters gave it is stated in next verse.

To repair. Libdoq, here only. The term is so used in Syriac. The original form of the verse is 2 Kings xxii. 5, where "the doers of the work" are first the masters, and then the men.

(11) Even to . . . builders.-And they gave it to the craftsmen and to the builders.

For couplings.-For the couplings or girders; an explanation added by the chronicler. And to floor

destroyed.-Kings, "to repair the house." The reference to the defacement of the Temple buildings by idolatrous kings may be compared with the similar notice concerning Athaliah's sons, chap. xxiv. 7, and Ahaz, chap. xxviii. 24. Perhaps, however, the expression "destroyed" does not mean more than "allowed to go to ruin.'

To floor. To rafter, or joist. (See margin.)
The houses.-The chambers.

-

(12) And the men did the work faithfully. Literally, And the men were working (or dealing) in good faith in the work. In 2 Kings xxii. 7 Josiah bids the High Priest not to require any account of the money delivered to the master-workmen, "because they work in good faith."

And the overseers of them were.-And over them were set. The names of the overseers, and the details added in next verse, are peculiar to and characteristic of the chronicler.

To set it forward.- To lead, conduct, preside; usually a musical term. (Comp. 1 Chron. xxiii. 4.) And other musick. Literally, and the Levites, to wit, every one skilled in the instruments of .song. (Comp. 1 Chron. xv. 16; xxv. 7.)

(13) Also. And.

They. The Levitical musicians.

a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses. (15) And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan. (16) And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the king word back again, saying, All that

Were over the bearers of burdens.-They probably cheered their labours with song and music; as was the practice in ancient Egypt.

And were overseers.-Leaders, conductors; see Note on verse 12. Notice the honourable position here assigned to the musical guilds of Levites.

And of the Levites . porters. In connection, that is, with the work of restoration. But comp. 1 Chron. xxiii. 4, 5. The writer may only intend to say that there were Levitical guilds of "scribes, officers, and porters,” as well as of musicians. Scribes.-1 Chron. ii. 55.

(14—19) Hilkiah finds the Book of the Law, and delivers it to Shaphan, who reads it before the king. (Comp. 2 Kings xxii. 8—11.)

(14) And when they brought out.—This verse is not in Kings. It supplements the older account, by assigning the occasion of the discovery.

Josephus makes Hilkiah find the book in the treasurechamber of the Temple which he had entered to get gold and silver for making some sacred vessels. According to Rabbinical tradition it was found hidden under a heap of stones, where it had been placed to save it from being burnt by king Ahaz.

A book. The book.

Given by Moses.-The Hebrew phrase, "by the hand of Moses," belongs not to "the book," but to "the Law (or teaching) of Jehovah "; and the meaning of the whole expression is, "the Law of Jehovah communicated through the medium or instrumentality of Moses." (Comp. chap. xxxiii. 8.)

To Shaphan.—Kings adds, “and he read it.” Those words need not mean that Shaphan read the book through, as Thenius suggests. (See Note on 2 Kings xxii. 3.)

(16) Carried.-Brought in. Again. Further, besides.

Committed to thy servants.-Given into the hand of thy servants; viz. the overseers of the repairs. They do it.-They are doing.

"And Shaphan brought the book in unto the king,” is only a different pointing of, "and Shaphan the scribe came in unto the king," 2 Kings xxii. 9. The rest of the verse is an addition of the chronicler's. Perhaps the Notes on 2 Kings xii. 11 and chap. xxiv. 11 apply hero.