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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>2 Kings 1 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/2_kings/1.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/2_kings/1.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/2_kings/1-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../2_kings/">2 Kings</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../1_kings/22.htm" title="1 Kings 22">◄</a> 2 Kings 1 <a href="../2_kings/2.htm" title="2 Kings 2">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap">THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS,<p>COMMONLY CALLED,<p>THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE KINGS.<p>II Kings.</span><p>BY<p>THE REV. C. J. BALL, M.A.,<p><span class= "ital">Late Chaplain of Lincoln’s Inn.</span><p>The division of the Book of Kings at this point is inartificial and arbitrary. The present narrative obviously continues that of <a href="/context/1_kings/22-51.htm" title="Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned two years over Israel.">1Kings 22:51-53</a>.<p><span class= "bld">INTRODUCTION<p>TO<p>THE BOOKS OF THE KINGS.</span><span class= "note">[1]<p><span class= "bld">[1] </span>While I alone am answerable for this Introduction, I have to acknowledge with gratitude some valuable criticisms and suggestions from my colleague in the work, the Rev. C. J. Ball, A.B.<span class= "bld"></span><p>I. Unity of the Book, and Relation to the Earlier Books.<span class= "note"></span></span>—The history of the kings (<span class= "ital">Sêpher Melachim</span>) is really but one book. The division into two books, which has no existence in the old Hebrew canon, and has been borrowed by us from the LXX. and Vulgate, is a purely arbitrary division, not even corresponding to any marked epoch in the history. It may have been made merely for convenience of use and reference. It may have been simply artificial; for there is a curious note in St. Jerome’s account of the arrangement of the Hebrew Canon in twenty-two books, according with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, in which he remarks that to the five double letters corresponded five double books, of which the Book of Kings is one. In any case it is to be disregarded, and the two books treated as having a perfect unity of idea and authorship.<p>In the LXX., followed in this by the Vulgate, the Books of Samuel are called the “First and Second Books of the Kings,” and our Books of Kings are made the Third and Fourth. It has been supposed that this ancient alteration of the Hebrew titles is intended to point to a common authorship. Some have gone so far as to make the whole history from Judges to Kings one unbroken compilation, in which the present divisions are but accidental; and in confirmation of this view it has been noticed that all the successive books open with the simple conjunction “And” (in our version, “Now”), that the various books contain common phrases and terms of expression, and that even in the Book of Judges (<a href="/judges/17-6.htm" title="In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.">Judges 17:6</a>; <a href="/judges/18-1.htm" title="In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day all their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel.">Judges 18:1</a>; <a href="/judges/19-1.htm" title="And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehemjudah.">Judges 19:1</a>) we find allusions to the future monarchy of Israel. Now these indications certainly show that the successive books were regarded as forming part of one history, and that the compilers had probably much the same ancient sources of information before them. Possibly, they may also imply the agency of what we should call an editor, at the time of the inclusion of the books in the Canon. But they cannot argue anything as to contemporaneous compilation. The connection in particular of the Books of Samuel and Kings is easily accounted for without any such supposition, by the consideration that, in actual fact, these books do include the whole history of the Israelitish monarchy. Against the notion of common authorship we must set the marked difference of language and character, which can hardly escape the most careless reader. Even in respect of the language of the books, there seems little doubt that the Hebrew of the Books of Samuel belongs to an earlier and purer age. But looking to the whole style and narrative, we observe that the Books of Kings have far more of an official and annalistic character; they mark dates and epochs, and quote authorities; they include the story of some 430 years in the same space which in the earlier books is devoted to about a century. Except in the sections which deal with the lives of Elijah and Elisha, and include descriptions of the characters of Ahab and Jezebel, they have far less freedom of style, less graphic vividness and beauty, and less of moral and spiritual force than the earlier books. There is (for example) no character in them which stands out with the living personality of David, or even of Saul; unless perhaps the characters of the two great prophets may be excepted. The successive kings are viewed as kings, rather than as men. Many of them are to us little more than names marking epochs. Even where they are drawn in some detail, as in the case of Solomon, Jehoshaphat, Jehu, Hezekiah, Josiah, the kingly character mostly predominates over the human individuality. It is impossible not to see that each of the two works has a marked internal unity of peculiar style and character, in which it differs from the other. By whomsoever they were compiled, they must be referred to different hands, and to different periods.<p><span class= "bld">II.</span> <span class= "bld">Sources from which it was Drawn.</span>—While, however, the Books of Kings have been brought by one hand into their present form, they are manifestly a compilation from more ancient sources. This is, indeed, avowed in their constant appeal to extant documents. But it would be obvious, even without such appeal, from internal evidence—from the alternate accordance and discordance with them of the independent record contained in the Books of Chronicles; from the occurrence of expressions (as “unto this day,” in <a href="/1_kings/8-8.htm" title="And they drew out the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place before the oracle, and they were not seen without: and there they are to this day.">1Kings 8:8</a> and elsewhere) which could not belong to the time of compilation; and from the marked variety of style and treatment in the various parts of the history itself. The only sources to which they actually refer are “the book of the Acts of Solomon” (<a href="/1_kings/11-41.htm" title="And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?">1Kings 11:41</a>), and the “books of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel and of Judah.” The former is expressly ascribed, in <a href="/2_chronicles/9-29.htm" title="Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat?">2Chronicles 9:29</a>, to the authorship of Nathan the prophet, Ahijah the Shilonite, and Iddo the seer. The latter may have been most frequently drawn up by “the recorder” or chronicler, whom we find mentioned as a court official in the successive reigns (see <a href="/2_samuel/8-16.htm" title="And Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the host; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder;">2Samuel 8:16</a>; <a href="/1_kings/4-3.htm" title="Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder.">1Kings 4:3</a>; <a href="/2_kings/18-18.htm" title="And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.">2Kings 18:18</a>). But in many cases the office of annalist was undoubtedly discharged by the prophets; as, for example, by Shemaiah and Iddo for Rehoboam (<a href="/2_chronicles/12-15.htm" title="Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the book of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer concerning genealogies? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.">2Chronicles 12:15</a>), by Iddo for Abijah (2 Chronicles 13, 22), by Jehu son of Hanani, for Jehoshaphat (<a href="/2_chronicles/20-34.htm" title="Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Jehu the son of Hanani, who is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel.">2Chronicles 20:34</a>), by Isaiah for Uzziah (<a href="/2_chronicles/26-22.htm" title="Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write.">2Chronicles 26:22</a>). In the record of the reign of Hezekiah, the compiler of the Books of Kings has embodied, almost verbatim, the historical chapters appended to the earlier part of the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 36-39.). It is, indeed, thought that the later name for Seer (<span class= "ital">Chözeh</span>), which is altogether distinct from the earlier title (<span class= "ital">Rôeh</span>) applied to Samuel (<a href="/1_samuel/9-9.htm" title="(Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he spoke, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.)">1Samuel 9:9</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/9-11.htm" title="And as they went up the hill to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said to them, Is the seer here?">1Samuel 9:11</a>, &c.), was an official title, indicating a position of authority and service in the court. Among the duties of his office the work of the historian may have been sometimes included. Probably it is not by mere technical arrangement that the historical books were included among “the Prophets” in the Jewish division of the Old Testament.<p>But although these sources alone are distinctly indicated, we can hardly doubt that others were actually available. There were Temple archives, from which so much of the record of the Book of Chronicles appears to be drawn; and it is difficult not to suppose that from these much is taken of the almost technical account of the building and furniture of the Temple, and of the full and detailed history of its consecration. The records, again, of the careers of the prophets, especially of the great prophets Elijah and Elisha, bear the impress of a character wholly different from that of the more official parts of the history. The beauty and vividness of the style, and the spiritual force of the narrative, appear to indicate that they are taken from some personal biographies, probably produced in the Schools of the Prophets, and possibly handed down by oral tradition, before they were committed to writing. The story of Elijah at Carmel and at Horeb, and on the great day of his translation, the picture of Elisha in his intercourse with Naaman, in the house of the Shunammite, amidst the angel guards at Dothan, or in the prophetic foresight of his dying hour, could have come from no official records. In the Books of the Chronicles (see <span class= "ital">Introduction</span> to Chronicles) we find repeated references to prophetic annals. It is hardly likely that a prophetic School of History would have omitted to dwell on the glorious history of the prophetic order. The supposition entertained by some critics, and enunciated with an almost intolerant positiveness, that the story of the great prophets is a half-imaginative composition of later growth, is contradicted by the very characteristics of the story itself—the unity and vividness of the characters depicted, the graphic touches of detail, and the solid realism of the whole narrative. Probably it would never have been entertained, except on the ground of a priori objection to all record of miracle.<p><span class= "bld">III. Date of its Compilation.</span>—While, however, these older materials of various kinds were employed, it is clear, from the general coherency of the narrative, the recurrence of fixed phrases and methods of treatment, and the characteristics of the style and language, that the books, as we at present have them, were put into form by one author. They may previously have passed through many hands, each compiler leaving his work to be dealt with by his successor. There may be a germ of truth in the confident assertions of the Biblical critics who describe the “old prophetic Book of Kings” as confidently as if they had collated it, and distinguish the contributions of the “Deuteronomist editor” as if they had seen him at work. But, as the book now stands, it is acknowledged by all that the style, the language, and some of the expressions used, refer it very plainly to the era of the Captivity. The curious notice, in the closing verses of the Second Book, of the release of Jehoiachin from prison by Evil-Merodach, the king of Babylon, in the thirty-seventh year of his captivity (unless, indeed, it be supposed, somewhat arbitrarily, to be an addition), may be taken, like the abrupt conclusion of the Acts of the Apostles, to indicate the actual date of the final composition of the books themselves.<p><span class= "bld">Tradition of Authorship.</span>—The old Jewish tradition, embodied in the Talmud, ascribing the book to the prophet Jeremiah, at least points unmistakably to its composition in this era. On the accuracy of this ascription itself the most careful criticism is still divided. The traditions of the Talmud vary very greatly in antiquity and value; and the strange character of some of the ascriptions of authorship of Scriptural books obliges us to receive all with reservation. Still they must have some <span class= "ital">primâ facie</span> force of testimony, unless they be plainly contradicted by internal evidence. In this case, moreover, it cannot be doubted that the tradition has in its favour considerable probability, when we remember the great honour in which Jeremiah was held by the Chaldæan conquerors (see <a href="/context/jeremiah/39-11.htm" title="Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying,">Jeremiah 39:11-14</a>; <a href="/context/jeremiah/40-2.htm" title="And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said to him, The LORD your God has pronounced this evil on this place.">Jeremiah 40:2-6</a>), and the consequent facilities which he might have enjoyed for saving some of the records of the Temple before its destruction (illustrated by the curious legend of his preservation of the Ark and the Tabernacle in <a href="//apocrypha.org/2_maccabees/2-1.htm" title="It is also found in the records, that Jeremy the prophet commanded them that were carried away to take of the fire, as it hath been signified:">2 Maccabees 2:1-6</a>); when we consider how naturally he, the last of the prophets of the era of Israel’s independence, would be led to preserve the record of its long probation; and when we trace his actual devotion to the work of the historian, as shown in the many historical chapters interwoven with his prophecy. To these considerations many critics add some notable similarities which they believe that they trace between these books and the Book of Jeremiah, not only in detailed points of the history, but in style and diction;<span class= "note">[2]</span> they note also the coincidence, with variations of detail, of Jeremiah 52 with the last chapter of the Second Book of Kings (which, however, would in itself only show that the compiler of the latter book had knowledge of the Book of Jeremiah); and dwell on the remarkable omission of all notice in the Book of Kings of the prophet Jeremiah, who played so important a part in the history, and who is expressly noticed more than once in the far briefer account in the Chronicles. (See <a href="/2_chronicles/35-25.htm" title="And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.">2Chronicles 35:25</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/36-12.htm" title="And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the LORD.">2Chronicles 36:12</a>.)<span class= "note">[3]</span> These evidences are not conclusive; but, when we take them in conjunction with the old Jewish tradition, and the probabilities of the case, we cannot but conclude that there is at least some considerable ground for the theory of the authorship of Jeremiah, or perhaps of Baruch the scribe, to whom the written form of some part at least of the Book of Jeremiah (see <a href="/jeremiah/36-4.htm" title="Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, which he had spoken to him, on a roll of a book.">Jeremiah 36:4</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/36-32.htm" title="Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides to them many like words.">Jeremiah 36:32</a>; Jeremiah 45) must be traced.<p><span class= "note">[2] See Canon Rawlinson’s Introduction in the <span class= "ital">Speaker’s Commentary, </span>§ 4.<p>[3] See, for example, Keil’s Introduction, the article “KINGS” (by Bishop hord A. Hervey), in the <span class= "ital">Dictionary </span>of the <span class= "ital">Bible, </span>and Canon Rawlinson’s introduction in the <span class= "ital">Speaker’s</span> <span class= "ital">Commentary.</span></span><p><span class= "bld">IV. Its General Character and Purpose.</span>—The compiler, whoever he was, was evidently much more than a mere copyist. The very character of his work shows that he had in view throughout the great purpose which pervades the whole prophetic utterances—to bring out the Divine government over the covenanted people; to trace their sins and their repentance, God’s punishments and His forgiveness; to draw forth, for the learning of the servants of God in all ages, the spiritual lessons taught by the voice of “God in history.” To suppose that the carrying out of this didactic purpose is in the slightest degree incompatible with faithful accuracy in narration of facts, is to misunderstand the main principles of true historical composition, which alone make history something higher than the “old almanac” of the shallow epigrammatist. To study the books themselves without discovering in them, again and again, evidences of historical and geographical accuracy, even in points of detail—traces of the incorporation of official documents and of the narratives of eye-witnesses—curious signs of independence, and yet of coincidence, in respect of the glimpses into Tyrian, Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and even Moabite history, which recent discoveries have given us—marks of a lofty and austere candour, not only disregarding the prejudices of patriotic vainglory, but even bringing out the better features of character in those whom it condemns—examples of a simple profoundness of insight into the causes underlying external history—might well seem to be impossible; unless we bring to the study some foregone conclusions as to the impossibility of the miraculous, in fact or in foresight, which are destructive of the historical character of the whole of Scripture. Still that the historian is a true prophet, teaching by examples, is obvious in every line of his history.<p>The evidence of this purpose is not to be found only or chiefly in the passages of grave reflection scattered through the books. Such are, for example, the constant references to the prohibited “high places,” showing that in these he, by the light of subsequent events, saw a danger which escaped even the most earnest reformers of earlier times. (See <a href="/1_kings/3-3.htm" title="And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.">1Kings 3:3</a>; <a href="/1_kings/15-14.htm" title="But the high places were not removed: nevertheless Asa's heart was perfect with the LORD all his days.">1Kings 15:14</a>; <a href="/1_kings/22-43.htm" title="And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the LORD: nevertheless the high places were not taken away; for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places.">1Kings 22:43</a>, &c.) Such, again, is the significant notice (in <a href="/1_kings/12-15.htm" title="Why the king listened not to the people; for the cause was from the LORD, that he might perform his saying, which the LORD spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.">1Kings 12:15</a>) of the judicial blindness of Rehoboam, as carrying out the appointed vengeance of the Lord on the apostasy of Solomon; the reflections on the sentences pronounced on the houses of Jeroboam and Baasha, and on the special sin of Ahab, which drew down similar destruction on the house of Omri (<a href="/1_kings/12-30.htm" title="And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even to Dan.">1Kings 12:30</a>; <a href="/context/1_kings/13-33.htm" title="After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.">1Kings 13:33-34</a>; <a href="/1_kings/16-7.htm" title="And also by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani came the word of the LORD against Baasha, and against his house, even for all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD, in provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam; and because he killed him.">1Kings 16:7</a>; <a href="/context/1_kings/21-25.htm" title="But there was none like to Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.">1Kings 21:25-26</a>); the emphatic reference to the mercy of God, giving to the kingdom of Israel a last deliverance and probation in the revival of power under Joash and Jeroboam II. (<a href="/context/2_kings/13-5.htm" title="(And the LORD gave Israel a savior, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians: and the children of Israel dwelled in their tents, as beforetime.">2Kings 13:5-6</a>); above all, the solemn chapter of sad confession of God’s righteous judgment, in the fall of that kingdom after many warnings and many acts of forgiveness (<a href="/context/2_kings/17-7.htm" title="For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,">2Kings 17:7-23</a>), and the corresponding reference in the case of Judah to the unpardonable and ineradicable corruptions introduced by Manasseh, which even Josiah’s reformation could not take away (<a href="/context/2_kings/21-10.htm" title="And the LORD spoke by his servants the prophets, saying,">2Kings 21:10-15</a>; <a href="/context/2_kings/23-26.htm" title="Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him with.">2Kings 23:26-27</a>; <a href="/context/2_kings/24-3.htm" title="Surely at the commandment of the LORD came this on Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did;">2Kings 24:3-4</a>; <a href="/2_kings/24-20.htm" title="For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.">2Kings 24:20</a>). In all these there is a deep prophetic insight into the ways of God, not untinged by the sadness so characteristic of all the prophets (especially of Hosea and Jeremiah, the prophets of woe to Israel and to Judah), but yet convinced that the Judge of the whole earth must do right, and even resting with satisfaction on His righteous judgment.<p>But the whole tenor and construction of the history tell this story with even greater emphasis. On attentive study it will be seen to be not so much a continuous narrative, as a series of records of great epochs of historical significance, strung on a thin thread of mere annalistic sequence. Thus, (<span class= "ital">a</span>) the First Book opens with a section of comparatively detailed narrative, full of lessons of practical instruction, describing the great reign of Solomon, and the revolution which avenged its apostasy and destroyed its glory (1 Kings 1-14.). After this, (<span class= "ital">b</span>) a period of at least forty years is dismissed in two chapters (1 Kings 15, 16) with the briefest possible notice, only just sufficient to give connection to the general narrative. To this succeeds (<span class= "ital">c</span>) the most magnificent section of the whole book (1 Kings 17 -2 Kings 11), unsurpassed in power in the historical books of the Old Testament, which, in the lives of the great prophets Elijah and Elisha, represents to us the great crisis of the Baal apostasy, the victorious struggle against it by the prophetic inspiration, supported by a special outburst of miraculous power, and the final vengeance which extirpated it, alike in Israel and in Judah. After this comes (<span class= "ital">d</span>) an epoch of important historical events—first, of a marvellous revival of prosperity and power to Israel under Joash and Jeroboam II., to Judah under Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah; next, of a period of revolution, anarchy, and bloodshed, which ushered in the final destruction of the northern kingdom. But it was (as the prophetic writings of Amos and Hosea show us) an epoch in which no spiritual vitality showed itself through national prosperity or national disaster; and therefore it is compressed within six chapters (2 Kings 12-17) in which, moreover, whole reigns, like the long and prosperous reign of Jeroboam II., are all but a blank, (<span class= "ital">e</span>) Similarly in the last epoch, when the kingdom of Judah alone survived, the two reigns of religious reformation—those of Hezekiah and Josiah—are given in graphic and detailed narrative, occupying five chapters (1 Kings 18-20, 22, 23), while the long reign of Manasseh, which, in its apostasy and corruption, filled up hopelessly the measure of national iniquity, is dismissed in a few verses (<a href="/context/1_kings/21-1.htm" title="And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.">1Kings 21:1-18</a>), and the whole history of the last agony of Judah, after the death of Josiah, occupies little more than two chapters (1Kings 24, 25). It is clear from the very method of the historical narrative that the purpose of the book is mainly didactic. The writer dwells rather on the lessons of history than the mere record of facts; on typical characters of good and evil, which appeal to the humanity of all times, rather than on the social and political conditions of the nation which belonged only to his own age; on the solemn march of the righteous providence of God, rather than on the confused and multitudinous struggles of human wills. In other words, he discharges what is virtually the prophetic office—only that he declares the works, instead of the direct word, of God. In this lies the spiritual value of the book for us. In this characteristic view of all events, far more than of the miraculous element of the record, we find the distinctive characteristic of what we call “Sacred history.”<p><span class= "bld">V. Illustrations from other Books.</span>—The study of the books, moreover, from this point of view is greatly helped by the illustration which they derive from comparison with other books of Holy Scripture, belonging to the same period of Jewish history.<p><span class= "bld">The Chronicles.</span>—It is, of course, obvious to compare them with the parallel record given in the Second Book of Chronicles. That record is of far later date. We cannot doubt that the Chronicler had the Books of Kings before him; for there are places in which he seems deliberately to pass over, or merely to glance at, what had been fully recorded there. But it is also clear that his work is, on the whole, independent; he evidently had and used the same ancient materials, and, besides these, other materials, especially the Temple records, and the prophetic annals, which he frequently cites; in passages of general coincidence there are constantly touches of variation, sometimes of apparent discrepancy; and in the history of the kingdom of Judah, to which he confines himself, there are many epochs in which he fills up generally what in our book is but a bare outline, or supplies special incidents which are there omitted. (See <span class= "ital">Introduction to Chronicles</span>.) Considering the date and character of the two works, it is probably well to take the Book of Kings as the standard account, and so far accept the significance of the title of <span class= "greekheb">Παραλειπομένων</span> (“things omitted”), given in the LXX. to the Chronicles, as to make them a commentary, an illustration, and a supplement of the older word. But each has its independent character and value. The Book of Kings has been called the prophetic record, the Book of Chronicles the priestly record, of the time. This would be a misleading antithesis, if it was taken to convey the notion of antagonism or even marked diversity of idea between the books, which any attentive study of both must dissipate. But it is so far true as this—that the Book of Kings, dealing so largely with the kingdom of Israel, naturally gives special prominence to the office and work of the older prophets, who ministered chiefly to that kingdom; while the Book of Chronicles, being almost exclusively the history of Judah, brings out the power of the priesthood and the royalty of David, which played so great a part—sometimes in union, sometimes in antagonism—in the spiritual history of the southern kingdom.<p>But besides this direct comparison of the two historical records, there is illustration no less valuable of the idea and purpose of the Books of Kings to be derived from other Scriptural books not properly historical, which, indeed, its narrative binds together in one continuous order of development.<p><span class= "bld">The Psalms.</span>—The illustration to be derived from the Psalms would be far more instructive, if we were not driven to rely mainly on internal evidence as to their date and occasion, and were not accordingly, in most cases, unable to fix these points with any certainty. But even with this drawback, the illustration is invaluable, as painting to us the inner life of Israel during the period of our history; for to this period a large portion of the Psalter must certainly be referred. There seems much probability that the first division of the Psalter (Psalms 1-41) took shape in the time of Solomon, for use in the Temple worship. In the later divisions many psalms are, with more or less authority, ascribed to Asaph, to Heman (and the sons of Korah), and to Ethan, the three chief musicians of David, and probably of Solomon also. Of these subsequent divisions it is at least not unlikely that some mark and illustrate the religious revivals of Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah. Nor is more particular reference altogether wanting. Two psalms (72, 127) are ascribed to Solomon—the one, a picture of the glory and majesty of his kingdom; the other (one of “the Songs of Degrees”), ascribing to the Lord alone the blessings of earthly prosperity and happiness. Other psalms, especially among those ascribed to the sons of Korah, are of a national character—crying to God in national disaster (Psalms 44), thanking Him in the hour of triumph and deliverance (Psalms 46-48, 85), singing hymns at the marriage of the king (Psalms 45), or proclaiming the loveliness and gladness of the dwellings of the Lord of Hosts (Psalms 84). One group (Psalms 91-100) has been thought by some to belong to the golden age of Hezekiah’s glory and Isaiah’s prophecy. The “great Hallel” (Psalms 113-118), though found in the divisions of the Psalter belonging to the era after the Captivity, yet illustrates the festal worship of the people in the Temple of God: such psalms as Psalms 137 mark the sorrows of the Captivity by “the waters of Babylon.” In all cases, the Psalms are the lyric expression of the inner life of the chosen people, and of the individual servants of God, underlying the simple narrative which our books supply. We must study them if we would catch the spirit which animates the letter of the historic record itself.<p><span class= "bld">The Sapiential Books.</span>—But plainer illustration is gained from books which can be more certainly referred to distinct periods in the history. Thus the golden age of the glory of Solomon is illustrated by consideration of the various books which may be called “Sapiential.” The great Book of PROVERBS, both in its poetical and gnomic portions, tracing itself to him as the chief master of wisdom—perhaps much as the Psalter bears the name of David—is in its representation of wisdom the key at once to the true nature of the culture and glory of his age, and to the tendencies which, gaining the mastery, brought on its fall. The SONG OF SOLOMON—now by all the best authorities referred unhesitatingly to his age, probably to his hand—is full of the passion for beauty, the delight in nature, the sensibility to pure love, the knowledge of humanity marking both the character of the great king, and the culture of his time; yet is not without the tendency to rest on the visible and the sensual, in which was the germ of his voluptuous polygamy. The Book of JOB—which, whatever be the date of its original materials, is commonly referred to his time—certainly opens the great questions of Natural Religion, concerning man as man, which belong to an age searching after wisdom, and having contact with the thought and inquiry of races outside the covenant. The wonderful Book of ECCLESIASTES, to whatever period it is to be referred, in its depiction of a souľs tragedy shows no little insight, into the character of him in whose person it speaks, as wearied out with the search after happiness in wisdom and in pleasure, in contemplation and in action, and coming back at last in despair to the simple command, “Fear God, and keep His commandments,” which was the first teaching of childhood. Only when studied in connection with the history can these books be rightly understood; so studied they give, on the other hand, an infinite life and colour to the bare massive outline drawn in the historical books.<p><span class= "bld">The Prophetic Books.</span>—Again, the later history of the Second Book borrows even greater illustration from the prophetic writings—much as the earlier part of the record derives its chief interest from the action of the elder prophets of unwritten prophecy from Ahijah to Elisha. Thus, the period of national revival in Israel under Jeroboam II., and the unhappy period of decline and fall which succeeded it—so briefly and coldly narrated in our books—live in the pages of AMOS, the prophet of the day of hollow and licentious prosperity, and HOSEA, the prophet of the well-merited doom of judgment. There we discover the evils which lurked under a material prosperity and an outward semblance of religion; there we see how they burst out, rending the very bonds of society, as soon as that prosperity began to wane. So, again, the character of the reckless and cruel greatness of the Assyrian Empire, shown so terribly in the destruction of Israel and in the imminent danger of Judah, is marvellously illustrated by NAHUM, in his grand patriotic hymn of triumph over the foreseen fall of Nineveh. To the days of prosperity of Uzziah, who “loved husbandry,” belong (it seems) the utterances of JOEL, picturing physical disasters as God’s judgment, calling to repentance, promising temporal and spiritual blessing, and beginning the series of Apocalyptic visions of the vain struggle of the enemies against the people of God. Once more, the great epoch of Hezekiah’s religious revival is marked by the writings of the prophet MICAH, who, indeed, gave the signal for it (see <a href="/jeremiah/26-8.htm" title="Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, You shall surely die.">Jeremiah 26:8</a>), and in whom first Messianic prophecy becomes clear and definite. The two grand crises of that reign—the danger under Ahaz from Syria and Israel, and the invasion of Sennacherib—form two chief themes of the supreme prophecy of ISAIAH, out of which the Messianic hope rises almost to actual vision. To the interval between Hezekiah and Josiah, when the Chaldean power begins to come into prominence, we may perhaps refer the magnificent brevity of the prophecy of HABAKKUK. Certainly the pathetic interest of the reign of Josiah, is illustrated by the foreboding utterances of ZEPHANIAH. The bitterness of the captivity of Judah—probably the great Captivity—is brought out in the denunciation of Edomite triumph and cruelty in the hour of Judah’s disaster by OBADIAH. Nor is it too much to say that the whole history of the last agony of the kingdom of Judah can be read adequately only in the historical and prophetical chapters of the great Book of JEREMIAH. The Books of Kings supply the thread of connection, which binds the prophetic books together, enabling us rightly to understand the sub- stance of each, and the method of prophetic development running through them all. The prophecies, on the other hand, supply constantly the key to the true sense of the history, drawing out explicitly the lesson which it teaches by implication, and giving us a living picture of the ages which it sketches only in outline.<p><span class= "bld">VI. Illustrations from Profane History.</span>—To these all-important illustrations must be added, as subsidiary, the light thrown upon the narrative by the study of the various heathen records, whether found in the works of ancient historians, or read in the monumental history of nations which came in contact with Israel, discovered and deciphered in modern times. This kind of illustration, hardly known in the case of the earlier books, begins substantially in the Book of Kings.<p>The account of Josephus, with all its acknowledged defects, is of very great value, both as a gloss on the Scriptural account, and an occasional supplement to it. The variations found in the LXX. version, in the way of transposition, addition, and omission, are not, indeed, of great importance; for the only substantial addition in the history of Jeroboam (see Note at the end of 1 Kings 11) is obviously legendary. But they are of considerable interest, and occasionally indicate the existence of independent traditions. The authors quoted by Josephus or early Christian historians (such as Berosus, Manetho, Ptolemy), the monuments of Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon, even the Moabitic stone, all throw light again and again on the Book of Kings; and, though not without occasional difficulties and discrepancies of detail, have unquestionably furnished the strongest confirmation of its historic truth, and have cleared up some obscurities in its brief record. The history, it will be observed, comes in contact with the history of Tyre in the reigns of Hiram and Ethbaal, father of Jezebel; with the history of Egypt in the reign of the Pharaoh father-in-law of Solomon, of Shishak, of “Zerah the Ethiopian,” of Sabaco (the So or Seveh of <a href="/2_kings/17-3.htm" title="Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.">2Kings 17:3</a>), of Tirhakah, and of Pharaoh-necho; with the history of Assyria under the “Pul” of <a href="/2_kings/15-19.htm" title="And Pul the king of Assyria came against the land: and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand.">2Kings 15:19</a>, Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser, Sargon, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon; with the history of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar; even with our one glimpse of the history of Moab under Mesha in the reign of Jehoram of Israel. Most of our knowledge of these histories is comparatively new. When it is read through the extraordinary monumental records of Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon—the discovery and deciphering of which form some of the most wonderful chapters in historical study—it not only brings cut facts, determines dates, confirms or corrects our interpretations, but it gives us a vivid picture of the very life and character of the great Empires, which often explains the different views taken of them in Scripture, and always gives force and colour to our conceptions of the Scripture history itself. The treasure-house is far from being exhausted. Future generations may rival or excel the advance made in this generation and the last, and every advance will be of no inconsiderable value to the student of Scripture history.<p>The effect of all this study and illustration of the book is to bring out more and more both its historical authenticity and its didactic value. The substance of the history, and even the text, have but few obscurities, and these are generally elucidated by comparison with the ancient versions.<p><span class= "bld">VII. The Numbers given in the Book.</span>—The one difficulty in the interpretation of the book lies in the numbers, chronological and other, which occur in it. These are now always written in full; but there is every reason to believe that in the original manuscripts they were, as usual, indicated by Hebrew letters—a method of indication which, as is well known, gives the greatest facility to accidental or intentional corruption. Thus, in our book, and still more in the Chronicles, it is difficult not to suppose that the large numbers given in the history (as, for example, <a href="/context/1_kings/20-29.htm" title="And they pitched one over against the other seven days. And so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined: and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians an hundred thousand footmen in one day.">1Kings 20:29-30</a>; <a href="/context/2_chronicles/14-8.htm" title="And Asa had an army of men that bore targets and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bore shields and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand: all these were mighty men of valor.">2Chronicles 14:8-9</a>; <a href="/context/2_chronicles/17-12.htm" title="And Jehoshaphat waxed great exceedingly; and he built in Judah castles, and cities of store.">2Chronicles 17:12-18</a>; <a href="/context/2_chronicles/25-5.htm" title="Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together, and made them captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, according to the houses of their fathers, throughout all Judah and Benjamin: and he numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able to go forth to war, that could handle spear and shield.">2Chronicles 25:5-6</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/26-12.htm" title="The whole number of the chief of the fathers of the mighty men of valor were two thousand and six hundred.">2Chronicles 26:12</a>, &c.) are without authority, due to careless transcription, or to corruption of the original document by the exaggeration of Jewish scribes.<p><span class= "bld">The Chronology.</span>—It is possible that this facility of corruption in numbers may bear upon what is the chief critical difficulty of the book, the determination of its chronology. In this book, unlike the earlier historical books, the calculations of dates are given in the text with great exactness, whether by the hand of the historian or by that of some later chronologer.<p>The first remarkable date is that mentioned in <a href="/1_kings/6-1.htm" title="And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.">1Kings 6:1</a>, fixing the commencement of the Temple in the 480th year after the Exodus. With regard to this date, which has presented much difficulty to chronologers, see Note on the passage. By whomsoever given, it deserves very careful consideration in the calculation of Biblical chronology.<p>Next we have the reign of Solomon given at forty years (<a href="/1_kings/11-43.htm" title="And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.">1Kings 11:43</a>); against which the statement of Josephus that he reigned eighty years (Ant. viii. 7. 8) can hardly be held to be of serious moment.<p>From the time of the disruption, we have, marked with great precision, first, the duration of the successive reigns of the kings of Israel; next, the duration of the reigns of the kings of Judah; lastly, statements of the synchronism of accessions in each line with certain years in the reigns of the kings of the other line. Now, in the present condition of the text, these three lines of calculation present occasional discrepancies; and this is especially the case with the synchronistic notices, which are, indeed, believed by many to have been added by a later hand, both because of their rather formal artificiality, and of the evident confusion which they introduce. Setting these last aside, the discrepancies are slight. In any case they are not great and may be easily exhibited.<p>The whole history (after the reign of Solomon) can be divided into three periods—(<span class= "ital">a</span>) from the contemporaneous accession of Jeroboam and Rehoboam to the contemporaneous deaths of Jehoram of Israel and Ahaziah of Judah by the hand of Jehu; (<span class= "ital">b</span>) from the contemporaneous accession of Jehu and Athaliah to the fall of Samaria in the sixth year of Hezekiah; (<span class= "ital">c</span>) from the sixth year of Hezekiah to the capture of Jerusalem. Now, (<span class= "ital">a</span>) in the first period there is no difficulty. The united reigns in Israel amount to 98 years,<span class= "note">[4]</span> in Judah to 95; and, remembering that the dates are always given in round numbers, reckoning, after the Hebrew manner, any part of a year as a year, there is here no real discrepancy, even in the synchronistic notices. We may accept the lower calculation, or perhaps something even less than this, as the true period. In the second period (<span class= "ital">b</span>) the discrepancy begins. The united reigns in Israel amount to 143 years, in Judah to 165; and the synchronistic notices in the later part of the period are not only disturbed by this discrepancy, but are occasionally self-contradictory.<span class= "note">[5]</span> Of this discrepancy there must be some account to be given; for it is too patent to have escaped the notice of the historian himself, or even of a later chronologer. It is, of course, possible to refer it to corruption of the text; but of such corruption we have no indication in any variations of the ancient versions. If this be set aside, there are but two ways of accounting for it. There may have been (as Archbishop Ussher supposed) periods of interregnum in Israel—one of eleven years after the death of Jeroboam II., and before the accession of Zachariah, the other of about the same period between Pekah and Hoshea. But of these the former is most unlikely, for the period of anarchy had not yet set in; the latter, more probable in itself, is apparently inconsistent with the actual words of the historian (<a href="/2_kings/15-30.htm" title="And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.">2Kings 15:30</a>); of neither is there any trace in the history. The only other possible supposition is, that in Judah some kings may, after common Oriental custom, have acceded to power during their fathers’ reigns, as coadjutors or substitutes. It happens that this is specially likely during this period in two cases. If, as has been thought by some critics, Amaziah after his defeat by Joash was kept in captivity till his conqueror’s death, it would be natural that his son should be placed on the throne; and, when Uzziah had been smitten with leprosy, we actually know that Jotham acted as king before his father’s death (<a href="/2_kings/15-5.htm" title="And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death, and dwelled in a several house. And Jotham the king's son was over the house, judging the people of the land.">2Kings 15:5</a>). This supposition is, on the whole, most probable. It will not correct the confusion of the synchronistic notices, but it will account for the discrepancy in the collective duration of the reigns in the two lines. In this case it is perhaps, therefore, best again to take the lower calculation. In the third period (<span class= "ital">c</span>), amounting to 133 years, Judah exists alone, and no difficulty can arise.<p><span class= "note">[4] If the civil war of four years (see </span><a href="/context/1_kings/16-15.htm" title="In the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah did Zimri reign seven days in Tirzah. And the people were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.">1Kings 16:15-23</a><span class= "note">) between Omri and Tibri be not included in the reign of Omri, then the period is 102 years.<p>[5] See (for example) </span><a href="/2_kings/15-27.htm" title="In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years.">2Kings 15:27</a><span class= "note">; </span><a href="/2_kings/15-30.htm" title="And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.">2Kings 15:30</a><span class= "note">; </span><a href="/2_kings/15-32.htm" title="In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign.">2Kings 15:32</a><span class= "note">; </span><a href="/2_kings/15-16.htm" title="Then Menahem smote Tiphsah, and all that were therein, and the coasts thereof from Tirzah: because they opened not to him, therefore he smote it; and all the women therein that were with child he ripped up.">2Kings 15:16</a><span class= "note"></span><p>The general result, therefore, is that, taking the shorter calculation, we have, from the division of the kingdom to the fall of Samaria, a period of 238 years, and from the same point to the fall of Jerusalem a period of 371 years. If the longer calculation be taken, twenty-two years must be added to each of these periods.<p>Now, we are able to test these calculations by independent chronological data, found in ancient historians and chronologers, and in the Egyptian and Assyrian monuments. By such comparison their general accuracy is very remarkably illustrated, although some discropancies in detail occur.<p>(<span class= "ital">a</span>) Thus the capture of Samaria is fixed by Ptolemy’s Canon in B.C. 721; the capture of Jerusalem is determined by undoubted authorities in B.C. 586. The interval between these dates corresponds almost exactly with the time assigned in our text to the sole existence of the kingdom of Judah.<p>(<span class= "ital">b</span>) Starting from either of these dates, the calculation in the text, taking the shorter reckoning, would place the accession of Rehoboam at 957 or 959 B.C. Now, the Egyptian records fix the accession of Shishak at about 983 B.C. His invasion took place in his twentieth year, B.C. 963, and as this coincided with the fifth year of Rehoboam, this would fix the accession of Rehoboam at B.C. 968—about half-way between the dates determined by the longer and shorter calculations of the chronology of our book.<p>(<span class= "ital">c</span>) The invasion of Pharaoh-necho is placed in our history about twenty-three years before the final capture of Jerusalem,<span class= "ital"> i.e.,</span> about B.C. 609. But the Egyptian chronology fixes his reign from 610 to 594, and makes his expedition against Assyria take place early in his reign.<p>(<span class= "ital">d</span>) The accession of Sabaco II. (the So or Seveh of <a href="/2_kings/17-4.htm" title="And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.">2Kings 17:4</a>) is fixed by the Egyptian records in B.C. 723; the Hebrew text notes the intercourse between him and Hoshea about three years before the capture of Samaria,<span class= "ital"> i.e.,</span> 723 or 724. In all these cases there is a very close coincidence between the two chronologies.<p>(<span class= "ital">e</span>) The Assyrian chronology agrees less closely. Thus our text makes Menahem’s reign end about thirty years before the fall of Samaria,<span class= "ital"> i.e.,</span> B.C. 751. The Assyrian records make Tiglath-pileser receive tribute for him in 741. In our text the expedition of Sennacherib is fixed to about eight years after the fall of Samaria,<span class= "ital"> i.e.,</span> B.C. 713. The Assyrian monuments place it about B.C. 701; and this later date seems, to be confirmed by the Canon of Ptolemy. These discrepancies cannot be removed, except by alteration of our text, unless there be some error in the data of our Assyrian calculations. It will be observed that they are simply in detail.<p>(<span class= "ital">f</span>) The chronological notices in Josephus, which by their minute accuracy suggest some independent sources of information, do not enable us to pronounce decisively between the two reckonings of the text. Thus (<span class= "greekheb"><span class= "ital">α</span></span>) he has placed Josiah’s fulfilment of the prophecy against the altar at Bethel 361 years after its utterance, immediately after the division of the kingdom (Ant. x. 1. 4). Now the eighteenth year of Josiah would be according to the shorter reckoning about 336 years, according to the longer reckoning about 352 years, after the division of the kingdom; and the incident recorded took place not earlier, though it may have been later, than the 18th year. (<span class= "greekheb"><span class= "ital">β</span></span>) In Ant x. 8. 4 he remarks that the kings of David’s race reigned on the whole 514 years, “during twenty of which” (he adds, oddly enough) “Saul reigned, who was not the same tribe.” Allowing forty years for David and eighty (according to Josephus’ calculation) for Solomon, and (it would seem) twenty for Saul, the period for the division of the kingdom to the fall of Jerusalem would be 370 years, which agrees with the shorter reckoning. (<span class= "greekheb"><span class= "ital">γ</span></span>) The Temple is said (Ant. x. 8. 5) to have fallen “in the tenth day of the sixth month of the 470th year” after its dedication; but since this was in the eleventh year of Solomon, or (according to Josephus) sixty-nine years before the disruption, this would give 401 years for the same period, which is in excess even of the longer reckoning. (<span class= "greekheb">δ</span>) In Ant. ix. 14. 1, he gives the period from the disruption to the fall of Samaria as “240 years, 7 months, and 7 days,” which agrees almost exactly with the 238 years of the shorter reckoning.<p>Hence the effect of this comparison, assuming the general correctness of the non-Scriptural records, is to bring out more clearly—what the condition of the chronology itself would suggest—the existence of some confusions in detail, but an undoubted general correctness even in this, which is acknowledged to be the point of the greatest difficulty. The books thus stand out as true history in the highest sense of the word, uniting clear historical accuracy, even of detail, with vivid depiction of character, and high prophetic insight into the laws of the Providence of God.<p>[In respect both of the <span class= "ital">Introduction</span> and the Notes on the First Book of Kings, the author has to express his obligation to the Commentaries of Keil and Thenius; to Ewald’s <span class= "ital">History of Israel</span>, and (in less degree) to Stanley’s <span class= "ital">Lectures on the Jewish Church</span>; to Canon Rawlinson’s valuable Introduction and Notes in the <span class= "ital">Speaker’s Commentary</span>, and his <span class= "ital">Bampton Lectures</span>; to many articles in Smith’s <span class= "ital">Dictionary of the Bible</span>, and Winer’s <span class= "ital">Realwörterbuch</span>, and to Prof. Robertson Smith’s article (“KINGS”) in the <span class= "ital">Encyclopœdia Britannica</span>. For the study of the text, the <span class= "ital">Variorum</span> Bible of Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode is invaluable. The comparison of the text with the ancient versions, and the study of Josephus’ history, which is, in the main, virtually a paraphrase, are matters of course.]<p><span class= "bld"><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/1-1.htm">2 Kings 1:1</a></div><div class="verse">Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.</div>1.THE REIGN OF AHAZIAH CONTINUED.<p>EPISODE CONCERNING ELIJAH.</span><p>(1) <span class= "bld">Then.</span>—And.<p><span class= "bld">Moab rebelled against Israel.</span>—David reduced Moab to vassalage (<a href="/2_samuel/8-2.htm" title="And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts.">2Samuel 8:2</a>; comp. <a href="/2_kings/23-20.htm" title="And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there on the altars, and burned men's bones on them, and returned to Jerusalem.">2Kings 23:20</a>). After that event, Scripture is silent as to the fortunes of Moab. It probably took occasion of the troubles which ensued upon the death of Solomon, to throw off the yoke of Israel. The famous Moabite stone suplements the sacred history by recording the war of liberation which Mesha, king of Moab, successfully waged against the successors of Ahab. The inscription opens thus: “I am Mesha, son of Chemosh-gad, king of Moab the Dibonite. My father reigned over Moab thirty years, and I reigned after my father. And I made this <span class= "ital">bamah</span> (“high place,” “pillar”) for Chemosh in Korha, a <span class= "ital">bamah</span> of salvation, for he saved me from all the assailants, and let me see my desire upon mine enemies . . . Omri, king of Israel, and he oppressed Moab many days, for Chemosh was angry with his land. And his son (i.e., Ahab) succeeded him, and he, toe, said, ‘I will oppress Moab.’ In mỵ days he said (it), but I saw my desire upon him and his house, and Israel perished utterly for ever. And Omri occupied the land of Medeba, and dwelt therein, and (they oppressed Moab he and) his son forty years. And Chemosh looked (?) on it (i.e., Moab) in my days.” From this unique and unhappily much injured record it appears that Omri had reduced Moab again to subjection, and that Ahab, who, like his father, was a strong sovereign, had maintained his hold upon the country. The death of Ahab and the sickness of Ahaziah would be Moab’s opportunity. The revolt of Moab is mentioned here parenthetically. The subject is continued in <a href="/context/2_kings/3-4.htm" title="And Mesha king of Moab was a sheep master, and rendered to the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with the wool.">2Kings 3:4-27</a>. (See the Notes there.)<p>(2–16) A new and (according to Ewald and Thenius) later fragment of the history of Elijah.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/1-2.htm">2 Kings 1:2</a></div><div class="verse">And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that <i>was</i> in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">Through a lattice.</span>—Rather, the <span class= "ital">lattice</span>, i.e., the latticed window of the chamber on the palace roof, looking into the court below. The word rendered “through” (<span class= "ital">bĕ‘ad</span>) implies that Ahaziah was leaning out over the window-sill. (Comp. <a href="/2_kings/9-30.htm" title="And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.">2Kings 9:30</a>; <a href="/psalms/14-2.htm" title="The LORD looked down from heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.">Psalm 14:2</a>.) He perhaps fell into a gallery underneath, as the palace would be several storeys high, and he was not killed by his fall. The word <span class= "ital">sĕbākhāh</span> means “net” in <a href="/job/18-8.htm" title="For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks on a snare.">Job 18:8</a>, and decorative “network” in metal in <a href="/1_kings/7-18.htm" title="And he made the pillars, and two rows round about on the one network, to cover the capitals that were on the top, with pomegranates: and so did he for the other capital.">1Kings 7:18</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/4-12.htm" title="To wit, the two pillars, and the pommels, and the capitals which were on the top of the two pillars, and the two wreaths to cover the two pommels of the capitals which were on the top of the pillars;">2Chronicles 4:12</a>. The Rabbis explain it here as a sort of skylight to the chamber beneath the upper chamber, or a spiral stairway; both improbable.<p><span class= "bld">He sent messengers</span>.—By Jezebeľs advice. (S Ephrem.)<p><span class= "bld">Baal-zebub.</span>—Here only in the Old Testament. “Lord of Flies” is generally compared with the Greek <span class= "greekheb">Ζϵὺς ὰπομυῖος</span>,<span class= "ital"> or </span><span class= "greekheb">μυίαγρος</span>, the “fly-averting Zeus” of the Eleans (Paus., viii. 26, 4), and it is no doubt true that flies are an extraordinary pest in the East. But when we remember that “myiomancy,” or divination by watching the movements of flies, is an ancient Babylonian practice, we can hardly doubt that this is the true significance of the title “Baal-zebub.” In the Assyrian deluge tablet the gods are said to have gathered over Izdubar’s sacrifice “like flies” (<span class= "ital">kîma zumbie</span>). The later Jewish spelling (<span class= "greekheb">Βεελζεβοὺλ</span>) probably contains an allusive reference to the Talmudic woras <span class= "ital">zébel</span> (“dung”), <span class= "ital">zibbûl</span> (“dunging”).<p><span class= "bld">Ekron.</span>—<span class= "ital">Akir</span> (<a href="/joshua/13-3.htm" title="From Sihor, which is before Egypt, even to the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines; the Gazathites, and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avites:">Joshua 13:3</a>). Of the five Philistine cities it lay farthest north, and so nearest to Samaria.<p><span class= "bld">Recover.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">live from, or after.</span><p><span class= "bld">Disease.</span>—<span class= "ital">Sickness</span>, viz., that occasioned by his fall. The LXX. adds, “and they went to inquire of him.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/1-3.htm">2 Kings 1:3</a></div><div class="verse">But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, <i>Is it</i> not because <i>there is</i> not a God in Israel, <i>that</i> ye go to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?</div>(3) <span class= "bld">But the angel . . . said.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">Now the angel . . . had said.</span> “<span class= "ital">The angel</span>” is right. (Comp. <a href="/2_kings/19-35.htm" title="And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.">2Kings 19:35</a>.) Reuss strangely renders: “Mais une révélation de l’Eternel parla;” and adds the note, “Et non pas un ange” (!).<p><span class= "bld">Arise, go up.</span>—Samaria lay on a hill, and the prophet was to meet the messengers at the gates.<p><span class= "bld">King of Samaria.</span>—Not Israel, a mark of Judæan feeling.<p><span class= "bld">And say.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">speak</span>. LXX., Vulgate, and Arabic add “saying,” but comp. <a href="/context/1_kings/21-5.htm" title="But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said to him, Why is your spirit so sad, that you eat no bread?">1Kings 21:5-6</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Is it not because.</span>—Omit “not.” So <a href="/2_kings/1-6.htm" title="And they said to him, There came a man up to meet us, and said to us, Go, turn again to the king that sent you, and say to him, Thus said the LORD, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that you send to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? therefore you shall not come down from that bed on which you are gone up, but shall surely die.">2Kings 1:6</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Ye go.</span>—Are going.<p><span class= "bld">A God in Israel.</span>—Comp. <a href="/micah/4-5.htm" title="For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.">Micah 4:5</a> : “For all peoples will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God for ever and ever.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/1-4.htm">2 Kings 1:4</a></div><div class="verse">Now therefore thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">Now therefore</span>.—For this act of faithlessness, and to prove by the event that there is a God in Israel, whose oracle is unerring. (Comp. <a href="/1_kings/18-24.htm" title="And call you on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answers by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.">1Kings 18:24</a>, seq.)<p><span class= "bld">Thus saith.</span>—Or,<span class= "ital"> hath said.</span> After these words the prophetic announcement comes in rather abruptly. Perhaps the verse has been abridged by the compiler, and in the original account from which he drew, the words of <a href="/2_kings/1-6.htm" title="And they said to him, There came a man up to meet us, and said to us, Go, turn again to the king that sent you, and say to him, Thus said the LORD, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that you send to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? therefore you shall not come down from that bed on which you are gone up, but shall surely die.">2Kings 1:6</a> may have followed here, “Go, return to the king . . . Ekron.”<p><span class= "bld">And Eijah departed.</span>—On the Lord’s errand. The LXX. adds, “and said unto them,” or “told them,” which is perhaps due to a copyist’s eye having wandered to the words “unto him,” or “unto them,” in next verse (Thenius).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/1-5.htm">2 Kings 1:5</a></div><div class="verse">And when the messengers turned back unto him, he said unto them, Why are ye now turned back?</div>(5) <span class= "bld">Turned back unto him.</span>—Unto Ahaziah, as the Syriac and Vulgate actually read. Literally, <span class= "ital">And the messengers returned unto him, and he said, &c.</span> Though Elijah was unknown to the envoys, such a menacing interposition would certainly be regarded as’ a Divine warning, which it was perilous to disregard.<p><span class= "bld">Why are ye now turned back?</span>—<span class= "ital">Why have ye returned?</span> with emphasis on the “Why.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/1-6.htm">2 Kings 1:6</a></div><div class="verse">And they said unto him, There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, <i>Is it</i> not because <i>there is</i> not a God in Israel, <i>that</i> thou sendest to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">Thou sendest.</span>—<span class= "ital">Art sending</span>. Elijah had said, <span class= "ital">ye are going</span>, in his question to the messengers (<a href="/2_kings/1-3.htm" title="But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that you go to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?">2Kings 1:3</a>). (See Note on <a href="/2_kings/1-4.htm" title="Now therefore thus said the LORD, You shall not come down from that bed on which you are gone up, but shall surely die. And Elijah departed.">2Kings 1:4</a>.) Bähr is wrong in supposing the servants anxious to shift the prophet’s blame from themselves to their lord, or that Elijah had addressed them as accomplices in the king’s guilt. They had no choice but to obey the royal mandate.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/1-7.htm">2 Kings 1:7</a></div><div class="verse">And he said unto them, What manner of man <i>was he</i> which came up to meet you, and told you these words?</div>(7) <span class= "bld">He said.</span>—Spake. (See Note on <a href="/2_kings/1-3.htm" title="But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that you go to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?">2Kings 1:3</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">What manner of man?</span>—See margin. The word <span class= "ital">mishpat</span> here denotes the <span class= "ital">external</span> characteristics and visible peculiarities by which a man is <span class= "ital">distinguished</span> (<span class= "ital">shāphat</span>) from his fellows. (Comp. our expressions “sort,” “fashion,” “style,” and the Vulgate, “Cujus figuræ et habitus est vir ille?” LXX., <span class= "greekheb">ἡ κρίσις</span>. Syriac, “appearance,” “look.” Targum, <span class= "greekheb">νόμος</span><span class= "ital">.</span>)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/1-8.htm">2 Kings 1:8</a></div><div class="verse">And they answered him, <i>He was</i> an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It <i>is</i> Elijah the Tishbite.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">Answered.</span>—Said unto.<p><span class= "bld">An hairy man.</span>—Literally, a lord of hair. This might refer to length of hair and beard (so LXX., <span class= "greekheb">δασὺς</span>, “hirsute,” “shaggy”); or to a hairy cloak or mantle. The second alternative is right, because a hairy mantle was a mark of the prophetic office from Elijah downwards. (Comp. <a href="/zechariah/13-4.htm" title="And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he has prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive:">Zechariah 13:4</a>, “a rough garment;” and <a href="/matthew/3-4.htm" title="And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leather girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.">Matthew 3:4</a>, where it is said of John Baptist—the second Elias—that “he was clad in camel’s hair,” and had “a leather girdle about his loins.”) The girdle, as Thenius remarks, would not be mentioned alone. The common dress of the Bedawis is a sheep or goat’s skin with the hair left on.<p><span class= "bld">Girt with a girdle of leather.</span>—Such as only the poorest would wear. The girdle was ordinarily of linen or cotton, and often costly. The prophet’s dress was a sign of contempt for earthly display, and of sorrow for the national sins and their consequences, which it was his function to proclaim. (Comp. <a href="/isaiah/20-2.htm" title="At the same time spoke the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off your loins, and put off your shoe from your foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.">Isaiah 20:2</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/1-9.htm">2 Kings 1:9</a></div><div class="verse">Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">Then the king sent.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">And he sent.</span> With hostile intentions, as is proved by his sending soldiers, and by the words of the angel in <a href="/2_kings/1-15.htm" title="And the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him to the king.">2Kings 1:15</a>. (Comp. <a href="/1_kings/18-8.htm" title="And he answered him, I am: go, tell your lord, Behold, Elijah is here.">1Kings 18:8</a>; <a href="/1_kings/22-26.htm" title="And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son;">1Kings 22:26</a>, <span class= "ital">seq.</span>)<p><span class= "bld">He sat.</span>—<span class= "ital">Was sitting. </span>The LXX. has “Elias was sitting,” which is probably original.<p><span class= "bld">A captain of fifty.</span>—The army of Israel was organised by thousands, hundreds, and fifties, each of which had its “captain” (<span class= "ital">sar</span>). (Comp. <a href="/numbers/31-14.htm" title="And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle.">Numbers 31:14</a>; <a href="/numbers/31-48.htm" title="And the officers which were over thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near to Moses:">Numbers 31:48</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/8-12.htm" title="And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.">1Samuel 8:12</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">On the top of an hill.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">the hill, i.e.</span>, above Samaria. Others think, Carmel, from <a href="/1_kings/18-42.htm" title="So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down on the earth, and put his face between his knees,">1Kings 18:42</a>; <a href="/2_kings/2-25.htm" title="And he went from there to mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.">2Kings 2:25</a>.<p><span class= "bld">He spake.</span>—LXX., “the captain of fifty spake.”<p><span class= "bld">Thou man of God.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">man of the god, i.e.</span>, the true God. (So in <a href="/2_kings/1-11.htm" title="Again also he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said to him, O man of God, thus has the king said, Come down quickly.">2Kings 1:11</a>; <a href="/2_kings/1-13.htm" title="And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and sought him, and said to him, O man of God, I pray you, let my life, and the life of these fifty your servants, be precious in your sight.">2Kings 1:13</a>, infra.)<p><span class= "bld">The king.</span>—In the Hebrew emphatic, as if to say, the king’s power is irresistible, even by a man of God. The true God was thus insulted in the person of His prophet.<p><span class= "bld">Come down.</span>—Or, Pray come down—in a tone of ironical politeness (<span class= "ital">rēdāh</span>‚ precative).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/1-10.htm">2 Kings 1:10</a></div><div class="verse">And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I <i>be</i> a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">And Elijah answered and said.</span>—So Syriac and LXX. Heb., <span class= "ital">and spake</span>.<p><span class= "bld">If.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">And if a man of the god I</span> (truly be). This “and” closely connects the prophet’s reply with the captain’s demand. All the versions except the LXX. omit it, with some Hebrew MSS.<p><span class= "bld">Then.</span>—Omit.<p><span class= "bld">Let fire come down from heaven.</span>—A phrase found only here and in <a href="/2_chronicles/7-1.htm" title="Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house.">2Chronicles 7:1</a>. Ewald considers this a mark of the later origin of this tradition about Elijah. The words “come down” are at any rate appropriate, as repeating the captain’s bidding to the prophet.<p><span class= "bld">Consume.</span>—<span class= "ital">Eat, or devour.</span> (Comp. <a href="/1_kings/18-38.htm" title="Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.">1Kings 18:38</a>.) Here, as there, Jehovah is represented as vindicating His own cause by the means most adequate to the necessities of the time, viz., a manifest miracle.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/1-11.htm">2 Kings 1:11</a></div><div class="verse">Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Again also he sent.</span>—Although he had heard what had befallen his former envoys.<p><span class= "bld">He answered.</span>—LXX., “went up” (<span class= "ital">way-ya’al for way-ya’an</span>), as in <a href="/2_kings/1-9.htm" title="Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spoke to him, You man of God, the king has said, Come down.">2Kings 1:9</a>; <a href="/2_kings/1-13.htm" title="And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and sought him, and said to him, O man of God, I pray you, let my life, and the life of these fifty your servants, be precious in your sight.">2Kings 1:13</a>.<p><span class= "bld">And said.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">spake.</span> Yet some MSS., and Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic, as Authorised Version.<p><span class= "bld">Thus hath the king said.</span>—Or, commanded (<span class= "ital">’āmar</span>).<p><span class= "bld">Come down quickly.</span>—“Impudentior fuit hic . . . priore<span class= "greekheb">;</span> tum quia audito ejus supplicio non resipuit, tum quia auxit impudentiam addendo ‘Festina’” (<span class= "ital">a Lapide</span>). (But see Note on <a href="/2_kings/1-12.htm" title="And Elijah answered and said to them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume you and your fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.">2Kings 1:12</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/1-12.htm">2 Kings 1:12</a></div><div class="verse">And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I <i>be</i> a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">Said (spake) unto them.</span>—LXX. and Syriac, “unto him,” which seems original.<p><span class= "bld">The fire of God.</span>—“The” is not in the Hebrew. The LXX., Vulgate, Arabic, and Targum, with some MSS., omit “of God.” The phrase occurs in the sense of lightning (<a href="/job/1-16.htm" title="While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and has burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell you.">Job 1:16</a>).<p><span class= "bld">Consumed him and his fifty.</span>—According to Thenius, the story of the destruction of the captains And their companies emphasises (1) the authority properly belonging to the prophet; (2) the help and protection which Jehovah bestows on His prophets. The captains and their men are simply conceived as <span class= "ital">instruments of a will opposing itself to Jehovah</span>, and are accordingly annihilated. These considerations, he thinks, render irrelevant all questions about the moral justice of their fate, and comparative degrees of guilt. (Comp. <a href="/2_kings/2-23.htm" title="And he went up from there to Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said to him, Go up, you bald head; go up, you bald head.">2Kings 2:23</a>, <span class= "ital">seq</span>., <a href="/2_kings/6-17.htm" title="And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray you, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.">2Kings 6:17</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/1-13.htm">2 Kings 1:13</a></div><div class="verse">And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">A captain of the third fifty.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">a captain of a third fifty.</span> But <a href="/2_kings/1-11.htm" title="Again also he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said to him, O man of God, thus has the king said, Come down quickly.">2Kings 1:11</a>, “another captain of fifty,” and the phrase which follows here, “the third captain of fifty,” indicate the right reading, “a third captain of fifty.” (So LXX. and Vulg.)<p><span class= "bld">Fell.</span>—Margin. (Comp. <a href="/isaiah/46-1.htm" title="Bel bows down, Nebo stoops, their idols were on the beasts, and on the cattle: your carriages were heavy laden; they are a burden to the weary beast.">Isaiah 46:1</a>, “Bel boweth down.”)<p><span class= "bld">Besought him.</span>—Begged favour, grace, or compossion of him (<a href="/genesis/42-21.htm" title="And they said one to another, We are truly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he sought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come on us.">Genesis 42:21</a>; <a href="/hosea/12-5.htm" title="Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial.">Hosea 12:5</a>).<p><span class= "bld">These fifty thy servants.</span>—Or, <span class= "ital">these thy servants, fifty </span>(<span class= "ital">men</span>), laying stress on the number of lives.<p><span class= "bld">Be precious in thy sight.</span>—Comp. <a href="/psalms/72-14.htm" title="He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight.">Psalm 72:14</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/26-21.htm" title="Then said Saul, I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no more do you harm, because my soul was precious in your eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.">1Samuel 26:21</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/1-14.htm">2 Kings 1:14</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">Burnt.</span>—<span class= "ital">Eat, or devoured</span> (<a href="/2_kings/1-10.htm" title="And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume you and your fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.">2Kings 1:10</a>; <a href="/2_kings/1-12.htm" title="And Elijah answered and said to them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume you and your fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.">2Kings 1:12</a>).<p><span class= "bld">The two captains of the former fifties.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">the former two captains of fifties</span>.<p><span class= "bld">Therefore let my life now.</span>—And <span class= "ital">now</span> (i.e., this time) <span class= "ital">let my life</span>. Some MSS., and LXX., Vulg., and Arabic add the precative “now,” that is, “I pray,” as in <a href="/2_kings/1-13.htm" title="And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and sought him, and said to him, O man of God, I pray you, let my life, and the life of these fifty your servants, be precious in your sight.">2Kings 1:13</a> (“I pray thee” = na’).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/1-15.htm">2 Kings 1:15</a></div><div class="verse">And the angel of the LORD said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">Said.</span>—So LXX. (<span class= "greekheb">εἶπεν</span>). Heb., <span class= "ital">spake</span>. Vulgate and Arabic add “saying.” (See Note on <a href="/2_kings/1-3.htm" title="But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that you go to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?">2Kings 1:3</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Go down.</span>—From the mountain top into the city.<p><span class= "bld">With him.</span>—’<span class= "ital">Othô</span>, later form for ’<span class= "ital">ittô</span>, which some MSS. read here.<p><span class= "bld">Be not afraid of him</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> the captain. The former two, as being the willing tools of the king, might have shown their zeal by instantly slaying the prophet. (Comp. the case of the knights who murdered St. Thomas of Canterbury.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/1-16.htm">2 Kings 1:16</a></div><div class="verse">And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron, <i>is it</i> not because <i>there is</i> no God in Israel to inquire of his word? therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">And he said.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">spake</span>. The LXX. adds, “and Elijah said.”<p><span class= "bld">Is it not because.</span>—Omit “not.” The question is here parenthetic, the connection of the main sentence being, “Forasmuch as thou hast sent . . . therefore thou shalt not come down,” &c.<p><span class= "bld">Off.</span>—<span class= "ital">From,</span> as in <a href="/2_kings/1-4.htm" title="Now therefore thus said the LORD, You shall not come down from that bed on which you are gone up, but shall surely die. And Elijah departed.">2Kings 1:4</a>; <a href="/2_kings/1-6.htm" title="And they said to him, There came a man up to meet us, and said to us, Go, turn again to the king that sent you, and say to him, Thus said the LORD, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that you send to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? therefore you shall not come down from that bed on which you are gone up, but shall surely die.">2Kings 1:6</a>. The words of the oracle are thrice repeated verbally.<p>“Here, just as in other cases,” says Bähr, “Elijah reappears suddenly and disappears again, and no one knows whence he comes or whither he goes.” The peculiar form of the story suggests that it was derived in the first instance from oral tradition rather than from a written source.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/1-17.htm">2 Kings 1:17</a></div><div class="verse">So he died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram reigned in his stead in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; because he had no son.</div>(17, 18) Concluding remarks added by the compiler.<p>(17) <span class= "bld">And Jehoram.</span>—LXX. (Alex.), Syriac, and Vulgate add “his brother,” an expression which has fallen out of the Hebrew text, owing to its resemblance to the next (<span class= "ital">tahtāw,</span> “in his stead”). (Comp. <a href="/2_kings/3-1.htm" title="Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.">2Kings 3:1</a>, “son of Ahab.”)<p><span class= "bld">In the second year of Jehoram.</span>—Vat. LXX., “in the eighteenth year,” which is probably right. (Comp. <a href="/1_kings/22-52.htm" title="And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin:">1Kings 22:52</a>, “Ahaziah . . . reigned over Israel in . . . the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat . . . and he reigned two years.” Either, therefore, our present Heb. text is corrupt, or the compiler followed a different source in this place.) Thenius proposes the reading, “in the twenty-second year of Jehoshaphat,” in place of “in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_kings/1-18.htm">2 Kings 1:18</a></div><div class="verse">Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, <i>are</i> they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?</div>(18) <span class= "bld">The acts.</span>—<span class= "ital">Dibrê, i.e.</span>, history.<p><span class= "bld">Which he did.</span>—Some MSS. and the Syriac read “and all that he did,” which seems correct.<p><span class= "bld">The book of the chronicles of the kings.</span>—See Introduction, and <a href="/1_kings/14-19.htm" title="And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.">1Kings 14:19</a>.<p><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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