Josiah is Slain. II. CHRONICLES, XXXVI. Jehoahaz Succeeds him. (22) Nevertheless Josiah would | Heb. made sick. singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in sepulchres. a Zech. 12. 11. (26) Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD, (27) and his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. thee not. not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of 2 or, among the Israel: and, behold, they are written in Necho from the mouth of God, and the lamentations. came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. (23) And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore 1wounded. (2) His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. (25) And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the 62 Kings 23. 30, &c. hoahaz was twenty and three years old 3 Heb., kindnesses. B.C. 610. For God . haste.-And God. The Egyptian kings, like those of Israel, consulted their prophets before undertaking any expedition. So did the Assyrians, as abundantly appears from their inscriptions. So, too, we read on the Moabite stone, "Chemosh said unto me, Go; take Nebo Go up against Horonaim, and take it." These facts sufficiently explain the text, without assuming that Necho had received an oracle from Jehovah, or was referring to the God of Israel. (Comp. Herod. ii. 158.) (22) But disguised himself.-Like Ahab (chap. xviii. 29). The LXX. reads, “he strengthened himself," or "persisted" (Expaтaιwon). (Comp. 3 Esdr. i. 28.) This implies the reading hith hazzaq instead of hith happesh. It is wholly unlikely that "disguised himself" is used in the figurative sense of "departed from his true character," as Keil and Zöckler think. The words of Necho from the mouth of God. The warning of Necho was really divine, as the event proved. For "words of Necho," 3 Esdr. i. 26 has, "words of the prophet Jeremiah; " but there is no trace of such a warning in the extant prophecies bearing his name. In the valley of Megiddo.-The valley of the Kishon, where Deborah and Barak had fought in the olden time against Jabin and Sisera. Herodotus (ii. 159) calls the place Magdolus. (See on 2 Kings xxiii. 29.) (23) And the archers shot.-Comp. the death of Ahab (chap. xviii. 33, and of Saul, 1 Chron. x. 3). 66 Have me away.-LXX., éşayάyeté μe, "Take ine out" (of the war-chariot). For I am sore wounded.- So Ahab. (chap. xviii. 33). (24) That chariot.-The (war) chariot. Put him.-Made him ride. CHAPTER XXXVI.-) Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem. (2) Je The second chariot was no doubt a more comfortable one, reserved in case of such an emergency. In one of the sepulchres.-Omit one of. Kings, "in his own sepulchre," which would be a chamber among those of his immediate ancestors, Manasseh and Amon. (See 2 Kings xxi. 18.) Mourned.-Were mourning. (25) And Jeremiah lamented i.e., wrote a dirge. The special mourning of the land over Josiah is not mentioned in Kings. The singing men... women.-The LXX. has "the ruling men women," reading sărîm . . . sarôth, instead of shārim . . . shārôth. Spake of Josiah in their lamentations.-In the dirges which they used to sing on certain anniversaries of disaster. And made them an ordinance.—And they made them (i.e. the laments for Josiah) a standing custom to Israel. They are written in the lamentations.The dirges alluding to Josiah's untimely end, and among them Jeremiah's, were preserved in a Book of Dirges (qinoth), which may have been extant in the chronicler's day. (Comp. the allusions in Jer. xxii. 10, 18; Zech. xii. 11.) This collection, however, was quite different from the canonical book of Lamentations, the subject of which is the ruin of Judah and Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. (26) His goodness. His pious deeds (chap. xxxii. 32). According to that . . . the Lord.-Said of no king besides. The book . . . and Judah.-2 Kings xxiii. 28, "the Book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah.” XXXVI. THE REIGN OF JEHOAHAZ (verses 1-4). (Comp. The people of the land took Jehoahaz.- Jehoiakim's II. CHRONICLES, XXXVI. him. Reign. of the LORD his God. (6) Against him came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. (7) Nebuchadnezzar also carried off the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon. when he began to reign, and he reigned Heb, removed he did that which was evil in the sight three months in Jerusalem. (3) And the king of Egypt 1put him down at Jerusalem, and condemned the land in an hundred talents of silver and a talent of 2 Heb., mulcted. gold. (4) And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz 3 Or, chains. his brother, and carried him to Egypt. (5) Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and (8) Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold they are written in the a 3 Kings 24. 13: book of the kings of Israel and Judah : Dan. 2. (3) And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem.-Rather, removed him. 3 Esdr. i. 33 adds "from reigning," which is almost demanded by the context. The LXX. follows the reading of 2 Kings xxiii. 33: "And Pharaoh-necho bound him in Riblah, in the land of Hamath, from reigning (i.e., so that he reigned not) in Jerusalem"; but the Syriac and Vulg. support the existing Hebrew text. The LXX. begins the verse thus: "And he did the evil before the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done; and adds, after the clause about the fine, "and the king took him away to Egypt." Condemned the land in.-Fined the land.-So Kings "laid a fine upon the land.” : Riblah was in Syria, on the river Orontes. Necho may have ordered or enticed Jehoahaz to meet him there. (4) And the king of Egypt made Eliakim.— The verse agrees with 2 Kings xxiii. 34. Carried him to Egypt.-Made him come. Kings, "and he came to Egypt, and died there." Comp. Jeremiah xxii. 10-12. The LXX. adds: "and the silver and the gold he gave to the Pharaoh. Then the land began to be assessed, in order to give the money into the mouth of Pharaoh. And each according to ability used to demand the silver and the gold from the people of the land to give to Pharaoh-necho." THE REIGN OF JEHOIAKIM (verses 5-8). (Comp. 2 Kings xxiii. 36-xxiv. 7; 3 Esdr. i. 37-41; Jer. xxv. xxvi.) (5) Jehoiakim . . . in Jerusalem.—2 Kings xxiii. 36, adding the mother's name. here. So LXX. And he did... the Lord.-2 Kings xxiii. 37, which adds "according to all that his fathers had done." So LXX. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.—Nabiumkudurri-uçur ("Nebo guard the crown!") son of Nabopalassar, who had founded this dynasty by successful revolt against Assyria. His extant inscriptions chiefly relate to palace and temple building. Schrader gives a short inscription from a brick now in the Zürich Museum. "Nabû- Kudurri-uçur, king of Babylon, restorer of Esagili and Ezida [two famous temples], son of Nabu-abala-uçur, King of Babylon am I." No really historical inscription is known except a fragment relating to his Egyptian campaign in his 37th year (568 B.C.), and an illegible one on the rocks of Nahr-el-Kelb near Beirut. The LXX. here interpolates the account of Jehoiakim's three years of vassalage, and his revolt against Nebuchadnezzar, and the other events and reflections contained in 2 Kings xxiv. 1-4. The "fill LXX. makes Jehoiakim, instead of Manassel, Jerusalem with innocent blood," contrary to the Hebrew text. And bound him in fetters. Two bronze (chains), as in chap. xxxiii. 11. To carry him to Babylon.-To make him go. It is not said that this intention was carried out. (Comp. chap. xxxiii. 11, "and carried him to Babylon.") Nebuchadnezzar, who, according to Jer. xlvi. 2, had defeated Necho in a great battle at Carchemish, in the 4th year of Jehoiakim, appears to have left the king of Judah to reign as a vassal-king, after inflicting upon him a severe humiliation. (The LXX., 3 Esdr., Vulg., and Arabic, but not the Syriac, read: "and carried him to Babylon.") Thenius says this must be the right reading, and then denies its claim to credibility. He further asserts that, "in order to allow ample scope for the fulfilment of the prophecy of Jeremiah (see Note on verse 8), the chronicler has represented Jehoiakim as carried alive to Babylon in the last year of his reign. This statement rests not upon objective historical grounds, but upon subjective prejudices against the chronicler. Dan. i. 1, by a transcriber's error, puts this first capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in the third year of Jehoiakim; whereas Nebuchadnezzar only became king in the fourth of Jehoiakim. (2 Kings xxv. 8; Jer. xxv. 1.) (7) Nebuchadnezzar also carried.-And of the vessels of the house did Nebuchadnezzar bring. Not mentioned in Kings, but confirmed by Dan. i. 2. In his temple.-The temple of "Merodach, my Lord" (Bilu, i.e., Bel), whom his inscriptions so fre quently mention. The great temple of Belus (Bel Merodach), which Nebuchadnezzar built, was one of the wonders of the world to Herodotus (Herod. i. 181 seq.) (8) Now the rest of the acts.-(Comp. 2 Kings xxiv. 5.) And his abominations which he did. - His crimes against God and man, i.e., probably acts of idolatry and tyranny. (Comp. Jer. xxv. 6, vii. 5-11, xxii. 13-19; covetousness, shedding innocent blood. &c., charged against him.) That which was found in him.-Chap. xix. 3. His general character and conduct. As in the case of Amon (chap. xxxiii. 25), the last particulars about Jehoiakim are omitted in this flying notice of his reign, which was only memorable because of the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar. The LXX., however, gives instead of this verse 2 Kings xxiv. 5—6, in The Wickedness II. CHRONICLES, XXXVI. or. Jeconiah, 1 Coniah, Jer. Chron. 3. 16; or, 24. a 2 Kings 24. 8. Heb., at the re turn of the year. 3 Heb., vessels of desire. (9) a Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jeru-2 salem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. (10) And 2 when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him toor Mataniah, 2 Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD, and made 4 Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem. one and twenty Kings 24. 17; Jer. 37. 1. of Zedekiah. sight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the LORD. (13) And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the LORD God of Israel. (14) Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much Jer. 52. 1, &c. ; 2 after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. (15) And the LORD God of their Kings 24. 18. e Jer. 25. 3, &35. 15. 5 Heb., by the hand (11) Zedekiah was b years old when he began to reign, and of his messengers. fathers sent to them 5 by his messengers, reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. rising up betimes, and sending; be(12) And he did that which was evil in the fully. cause he had compassion on his people, 6 That is, continu terpolating in the latter "and was buried with his fathers in the garden of Uzza" (ev yavošaḥ or yavosáv; see 2 Kings xxi. 26). Thenius says these words certainly (!) stood in the original text," but were omitted by the chronicler and the editor of Kings, because they conflict with the prophecy of Jeremiah (chaps. xxii. 18, 19, xxxvi. 30)—which is apparently the reason why he is so sure of their genuineness. JEHOIACHIN (verses 9-10). (Comp. 2 Kings xxiv. 8-17; 3 Esdr. i. 41-44; Jer. xxii. 24-30; Ezek. xix. 5-9.) (9) Jehoiachin was eight years old.-2 Kings xxiv. 8 has correctly eighteen ; and so some MSS., LXX. (Alex.), Syriac, Arabic. What the prophet Ezekiel says of him could not apply to a boy of eight. (The difference turns on the omission of the smallest Hebrew letter, namely, yod, which as a numeral represents ten.) Three months and ten days.-Kings, "three months;" Syriac and Arabic here have "one hundred days," i.e., three months and ten days. Thenius thinks the ten days were added, in order that the catastrophe of Jehoiachin's reign might fall on a tenth day of the month, like the investment of Jerusalem and the fall of the city under Zedekiah (chap. xxv. 1, 8). He did that which was evil.-2 Kings xxiv. 9. (See also the above-cited passages of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.) According to the latter prophet, Jehoiachin "devoured men, and forced widows, and wasted cities." 66 (10) And when the year was expired.-See margin. At the return of the year" means in spring, when kings usually went forth to war. (2 Sam. xi. 1; 1 Kings xx. 22.) Kings gives a full account of the siege and surrender of Jerusalem, and the deportation to Babylon of the king and all his princes and men of war, by "the servants of Nebuchadnezzar." With the goodly vessels. Chap. xxxii. 27. "Some of the vessels" had already been carried off (verse 7). (See 2 Kings xxiv. 13 and Jer. xxvii. 18—22.) 6 "uncle" had become illegible in the MS. here used by the chronicler. ZEDEKIAH AND THE FINAL CATASTROPHE (verses 11-21). (Comp. 2 Kings xxiv. 18—xxv. 21; Jer. xxxix., lii.; 3 Esdr. i. 44—55.) (11) Zedekiah was one and twenty.-So 2 Kings xxiv. 18, adding his mother's name (Hamutal, who was also mother of Jehoahaz). Before Jeremiah . . . mouth of the Lord.Not in Kings. (Comp. Jer. xxi. xxii. 1-10, xxvii. xxviii., xxxii.—xxxiv., xxxvii., xxxviii.) Two special sins of Zedekiah are mentioned in this and the next verse-viz., his disregard of Jeremiah's counsel, and his perjury to Nebuchadnezzar. (13) And he also rebelled.-2 Kings xxiv. 20. Who had made him swear by God.-When Nebuchadnezzar appointed Zedekiah vassal-king of Judah, he would naturally make him swear fealty to himself by the God of his fathers. The fact is not specially recorded in Kings; but the prophet Ezekiel makes it the point of a prophecy against the king and his grandees (Ezek. xvii. 11-21; comp. especially verse 17, "mine oath that he hath despised.") But (and) stiffened his neck and hardened his heart. (Comp. the like expression in Deut. ii. 30; 2 Kings xvii. 14; Jer. xix. 15.) Zedekiah was not personally unfavourable to the prophet Jeremiah, and consulted him more than once; but he was too weak and timorous to stand by the prophetic counsel, in defiance of his princes who were intriguing with Egypt. SINS OF THE RULING CLASSES WHICH BROUGHT DOWN THE JUDGMENT OF GOD (verses 14-16). (Comp. with this passage 2 Kings xvii. 7—23.) (14) The chiefs.-The princes. Transgressed very much.-Committed manifold unfaithfulness. After all the abominations 66 .-See Ezek. viii. 5-18; where the princes of the priests and the people" are specially singled out in verses 11 and 16. The twenty-five men of the latter verse are the High Priest and the heads of the twenty-four courses of priests. (Comp. also Jer. xxxii. 32, seg). His Messengers. The prophets (2 Kings xvii. 13). (15) Rising up betimes and sending.-i.e., constantly and earnestly. Jer. xxv. 3, 4: "The Lord hath Judah Spoiled II. CHRONICLES, XXXVI. a2 2 Heb., the remain- by the Chaldeans. all these he brought to Babylon. (19) And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt 2 and on his dwelling place: (16) but they 1 Heb., healing. mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD a Kings 25. 1, &c. all the palaces thereof with fire, and arose against his people, till there was no remedy. (17) a Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. (18) And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; a Ezra 1. 1. destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. (20) And them that had escaped from der from the the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: (21) to fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of 'Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for Lev. 26. 34, 35, 43. as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten Jer. 25. 9, 12, & 29. 10. sent all his servants, the prophets, rising early and sending them (comp. also Jer. xxvi. 5; xxix. 19; xxxv. 14, 15). He had compassion on.-He spared, was forbearing with. Dwelling place.—Mā¢ôn (chap. xxx. 27; Ps. xxvi. 8; comp. Jer. xxv. 6). (16) But they mocked.-And they were mocking, mal'ibim; only here (an Aramaism). Misused.-Mitta'te im, only here. Derided, strictly, stammered. Another form of this verb occurs in Gen. xxvii. 12. (Comp. for the fact Isa. xxviii. 9-14; Ezek. xxxiii., 30; Jer. xvii. 15, xx. 7, 8.) Till there was no remedy.-Healing; i.e., deliverance, owτnpía (comp. chap. xxi. 18). God is said to heal, when he averts calamity (chap. xxx. 20). The wrath... arose.-Went up (alah), like smoke (Ps. xviii. 8; 2 Sam. xi. 20). (17) Therefore he brought up.-And He caused to come up; alluding to "the wrath went up.' In the house of their sanctuary. Which they had polluted (verse 14). The scene of their sin witnessed their destruction. Him that stooped for age.-Rather, greyheaded, hoary (yashësh). (Comp. Ezek. ix., where the horrors of the capture of Jerusalem are ascribed expressly to the Divine working; see also Jer, xv. 1-9; Deut. xxxii. 25.) He gave them all into his hand.-Comp. Jer. xxxvii. 6, xxxii. 3, 4. Them all.-Literally, the whole, everything, τà TávтTα. "Them all would be kullam, whereas the text is hakkōl. (So verse 18, "all these.") Jerusalem was taken 588 B.C. (18) All the vessels (the) great and (the) small. See 2 Kings xxv. 13-17, for an inventory of the articles; also Jer. xxvii. 19 seq. (19) They burnt the house of God.-2 Kings XXV. 9. Brake down the wall...—Jer. xxxix. 8; 2 Kings xxv. 9, 10. And destroyed all the goodly vessels.Literally, And all her delightsome vessels were for destroying (lehash hith). (Comp. Isa. lxiv. 11): "all our pleasant things are laid waste." 2 Kings xxv. 13 speaks of the breaking-up of the great vessels of the Temple, for the sake of carrying off their material more easily. Servants to him and his sons... kingdom of Persia.-A fulfilment of Jeremiah's prophecy con years. (22) dNow in the first year of Cyrus king (21) To fulfil.—lemalloth (an Aramaised form). The word... Jeremiah.-The seventy years of Babylonian exile are predicted in Jer. xxv. 11–12. (Comp. also Jer. xxix. 10: " Thus saith the Lord, After seventy years be accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you.") Until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths."Enjoyed" is rāçethah, which Gesenius renders persolvit, "made good,” “discharged,” as a debt. The meaning is that during the long years of the exile, the land would enjoy that rest of which it had been defrauded by the neglect of the law concerning the sabbatical years (Lev. xxv. 1-7). The following words, as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath" (literally, all the days of the desolation she rested) are taken from Lev. xxvi. 34, 35. 66 To fulfil threescore and ten years.-i.e., in order to fulfil the seventy years of exile foretold by Jeremiah. We have no right whatever to press the words of the sacred writer, in the sense of assuming that he means to say that when Jerusalem was taken by the Chaldeans exactly seventy sabbatical years had been neglected— that is, that the law in this respect had not been observed for 490 years (70×7), or ever since the institution of monarchy in Israel (490 +588=1,078). The seventy years are reckoned from the 4th of Jehoiakim, when the prophecy was uttered (Jer. xxv. 1, 12), to the first year of Cyrus, and the return under Zerubbabel, 536 B.C. THE EDICT OF CYRUS, AUTHORISING THE RETURN (verses 22, 23). (Comp. Ezra i. 1-3; 3 Esdr. ii. 1-5; Isa. xliv. 28, xlv.-xlvii.) (22) Now in the first year of Cyrus.-This verse is the same as Ezra i. 1, save that it has "by the mouth" instead of "from the mouth." The latter is probably correct. (Comp. verse 12 supra.) So some MSS. here also. The Proclamation II. CHRONICLES, XXXVI. of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of "Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the of Cyrus. Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he a Jer 25. 12, 13, & house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, (23) Thus saith Cyrus king of ... 29. 10. Throughout all his kingdom. and put it also in writing.-Into all . . . and also into a writing. Writing.-Miktāb (chap. xxxv. 4.) The Lord.-Iahweh. Instead of this Ezra i. 3 has, Iehi, "Be; SO also 3 Esdr. ii. 5. "The Lord-with him!" (Iahweh ‘immô) is a frequent formula in the chronicle, and is probably correct here. (Some Hebrew MSS. and the Vulg. unite the readings.) And let him go up.-Whither? The sentence is abruptly broken off here, but continued in Ezra i. 3. As to the relation between the Chronicles and Ezra, see Introduction. Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia.-Comp. the words of Darius Hystaspes on the famous Behistun Inscription, which begins "I am Darius, the great Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up. 66 king, the king of kings, the king of Persia;" while every paragraph opens with Saith Darius the king." All the kingdoms. . . given me.-Comp. the words of Darius: "Saith Darius the king:-By the grace of Ormazd I am king; Ormazd has granted me the empire." The Lord God of heaven.-Jehovah, the God of heaven. "The god of heaven" was a title of Ormazd or Ahuramazda, the Supreme Being according to Persian belief, which was Zoroastrianism. It is not at all wonderful that Cyrus should have identified the God of Israel with his own deity, especially if he had heard of the prophecies Isa. xliv. 28, &c. Such a politic syncretism was the settled practice of the Roman empire in a later age. |