The Expositor's Bible: The Second Book of Kings

346

2 Kings xv. 5 (2 Chron. xxvi. 21, "a house of sickness"). LXX., ἐν οἴκῳ ἀφφουσώθ; Vulg., in domo libera seorsim. Comp Lev. xiii. 46. Theodoret understands it that he was shut up privately in his own palace: ἔνδον ἐν θαλάμῳ ὑπ' οὐδένος ὁρώμενος. Symmachus, ἐγκεκλεισμένος.

347

His misfortune must have made a deep impression, and is possibly alluded to in Hos. iv. 4: "For thy people are as they that strive with the priest."

348

The Chronicler attributes the good part of his reign to the influence of an unknown Zechariah, "who had understanding in the visions of God"; and says that when Zechariah died Uzziah altered for the worse.

349

This high priest, Azariah, is only mentioned elsewhere in 2 Chron. xxvi. 17, 20.

350

Josephus says that he had put on a priestly robe, and that a great feast was going on, and that the earthquake (Amos i. 1; Zech. xiv. 5) happened at the moment, which broke the Temple roof, so that a sunbeam smote his head and produced the leprosy. We here see the growth of the Haggadah.

351

For instance, two verses earlier (2 Kings xv. 30) we read of the twentieth year of Jotham.

352

Isa. i. 10-17.

353

Amos viii. 2.

354

Amos iv. 1-3.

355

It is probable that our present Book of Zechariah is composed of the works of three prophets of different dates, each of whom may have borne that name. See my Minor Prophets ("Men of the Bible" Series).

356

Zech. xi. 8. In 2 Kings xv. 10 the LXX. read καὶ επάταξεν αὐτὸν ἐν κεβλαάμ; and Ewald thinks that "before the people" (קָבָל־צָם) is really a proper name of the third king in one month – "and Kobolam slew him." There is insufficient ground for this; though a similar name is found in Assyrian records.

357

Hos. viii. 3, vii. 7.

358

Zachariah, Shallum, Kobolam (?).

359

Zech. xi. 1-17 (Heb. 13).

360

That this was Thapsacus on the Euphrates (1 Kings iv. 24), and that Menahem was in a position to march northward three hundred miles, and offer so deadly and wanton an insult to the might of Assyria, is out of the question. The name means "a ford," and might apply to any town on a river. Thenius thinks the name is a clerical error for Tappuach, between Ephraim and Manasseh (Josh. xvii. 7, 8).

361

Josephus says, ὠμότητος ὑπερβολὴν οὐ καταλιπὼν οὐδὲ ἀγριότητος. It is said that the same crime was committed in 1861 by a Mexican bandit. Machiavelli says, "He who violently and without just right usurps a crown must use cruelty, if cruelty becomes necessary, once for all" (De princ., 8).

362

2 Kings viii. 12; Hos. xiii. 16.

363

Amos i. 13.

364

Hos. x. 14. This allusion is, however, uncertain. Shalmaneser III. is not elsewhere found abbreviated into Shalman. Some suppose him to be a Moabitish king, Salamannu, who was a vassal of Tiglath-Pileser. The LXX., Vulg., etc., identify him with the Zalmunna of Judg. viii. 18. Psalm lxxxiii. 11 renders the word ex domo ejus qui judicavit Baal (i. e., Gideon). Beth-Arbel is either Arbela in Galilee, or Irbid, north-east of Pella.

365

Nah. iii. 10.

366

Isa. xiii. 16.

367

The two predecessors of Tiglath-Pileser (Tuklat-abal-isarra) were Assurdayan and Assurnirari.

368

Isa. v. 26-29.

369

Comp. Job xx. 15; Ruth ii. 1.

370

Hos. v. 11-13. Comp. x. 6: "It [Samaria] shall be carried to Assyria for a present unto King Jareb." Sayce (Bab. and Orient. Records, December 1887) thinks that Jareb may have been the original name of Sargon, and so too Neubauer, Zeitschr. für Assyr., 1886. The Vulg. renders King Jareb ad regem ultorem, and so too Symmachus. Aquila and Theodotion have δικαζόμενον. It may be the name of an unknown king of Assyria, or of Pul, or of Sargon – R.V., margin, "a king that should contend."

371

Hos. vii. 8-12.

372

Josephus says, τῇ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀκολουθήσας ὠμότητι.

373

2 Kings xv. 25, A.V., "in the palace of the king's house" (armon), rather "fortress." For the character of the Gileadites see 1 Chron. xii. 8, xxvi. 31.

374

The length of Pekah's reign is most doubtful. If the periods assigned to the reigns in the Northern and Southern Kingdoms be added together up to the Fall of Samaria in the sixth year of Hezekiah (2 Kings xviii. 9, 10), it will be found that the Southern chronology is twenty years longer than the Northern. G. Smith would alter the text, and make Jeroboam II. reign fifty-one years and Pekah thirty years; others invent an interregnum of eleven years between Jeroboam II. and Zachariah, and an anarchy of nine years before Hoshea's accession; others shorten Pekah's reign to one year.

375

2 Kings xv. 37.

376

Vide infra.

377

Deut. xxxiii. 19: "They [Zebulon] shall call the peoples unto the mountain: there shall they offer the sacrifices of righteousness."

378

Isa. viii. 6, 7.

379

Perhaps we should read Edomites (2 Kings xvi. 6).

380

The bar of its city gate.

381

Bikath-Aven – "The cleft of Aven" – Cœle Syria, or Hollow Syria, still called by the Arabs El-Bukāa. Comp. Josh. xi. 17, xii. 7. Aven – or "Vanity" – is perhaps Heliopolis or Baalbek. Comp. Ezek. xxx. 17.

382

Perhaps Beit el Jame, "House of Paradise" – about eight hours from Damascus (Porter, Five Years in Syria, i. 313).

383

Kir, in Armenia – the land of their origin (Amos ix. 7).

384

But, after all, was there a golden calf at Dan? It is scarcely ever alluded to, and the notion that there was one may have arisen (1) from a corruption or mistaken rendering of the text in 1 Kings xii. 29, and (2) from the existence there of the idolatrous ephod. See Klostermann, ad loc.; Isa. ix. 8-17.

385

LXX., Ἀποτρίψαι τὸν μόσχον σοῦ, Σαμάρεια; Vulg., Projectus est vitulus tuus, Samaria. Orelli renders it, "Abscheulich ist dein Kalb, O Samaria." In Jer. xlvi. 15 we read (of Egypt), "Why is thy strong one swept away?" where the true reading may be, "Hath Khaph [i. e., Apis], thy chosen one, fled?" LXX., Ἆπις ὁ μόσχος σοῦ, ὁ ἐκλεκτός. So Amos had prophesied that the "god of Dan" and the "way of Beersheba" should fall for evermore (Amos viii. 14).

386

Isa. ix. 11-16. With this passage comp. 2 Kings xxiii. 5; Zeph. i. 4; Hos. vii. 9, 10.

387

Tiglath-Pileser says: "Pakaha, their king, I killed: Ausi [Hoshea] I placed over them. The distant land of Bit-Khumri [the "house of Omri"] —the whole of its inhabitants, with their goods – I carried away to Asshur" (b. c. 734). In this year he mentions Ahaz among his tributaries.

388

Hos. iv. 4; v. 1, "Hear ye this, O priests … ye have been a snare on Mizpah," etc.; vi. 9, "The company of the priests murder by the way to Shechem."

389

Hos. x. 10 (so R.V., and in the main the versions after the Hebrew margin). LXX., ἐν τῷ παιδεύεσθαι αὐτοὺς ἐν ταῖς δύσιν ἀδικίαις αὐτῶν; Vulg., "cum corripientur propter duas iniquitates suas"; A.V., "When they shall bind themselves in their two furrows." I believe that the "two iniquities" may mean two cherubs at Bethel. See x. 15: "So shall Bethel do unto you because of the evil of your evil."

390

Hos. xi. 8-11.

391

2 Kings xvii. 1 is inconsistent with xv. 30, 33, and it is wholly useless for our purpose to enter into complicated chronological hypotheses, every one of which may be erroneous.

392

Schrader, K. A. T., p. 255.

393

Seder Olam, xxii. 2; 2 Chron. xxx. 6-11.

394

See Herod., ii. 137; called So (Heb., Sô or Seve) in 2 Kings xvii. 4. Perhaps Shebek, the founder of the twenty-fifth dynasty. LXX., Σηγώρ; Vulg., Sua; Manetho, Sabachon. In the Eponym Canon he is called an Egyptian general, Sibakhi, who helped Gaza against Assyria, and was defeated. The ka appended at the end of his name (Egyptian Shaba-ka) is thought by some to be the Cushite article. The race of the priest Hirhor died out with Piankhi, and the Ethiopians elected a noble named Kashta. Shabak was his son. He conquered Sais, and burnt his rival Bek-en-raut alive (b. c. 724). His dynasty ruled for fifty years; he was succeeded by Sevechus (Shabatok), and he by Tehrak (Tirhakah).

395

His name means "Salmân, pardon." We have no monuments or inscriptions of this king; only an imperial weight.

396

Mic. v. 1.

397

Hos. xiii. 13.

398

Hos. xiii. 7-11. The prophecy is rhythmic, though not written in actual poetry.

399

Till the discovery of the Assyrian records, Sargon (Sharru-kênu, 'the faithful king') was but a name. The Jews knew but little of him. He is but once mentioned in Scripture (Isa. xx. 1), and was probably confused by some Jews with other kings. Yet he reigned sixteen years (722-705), and his records give the annals of fifteen campaigns. In 720 he crushed a confederacy headed by Yahubid of Hamath, and reduced that city to a "heap of ruins." He then advanced against Hanno, King of Gaza, who was in alliance with Sabaco, and defeated the combined forces of the Philistines and Egyptians at Raphia, half-way between Gaza and the Wady-el-Arîsh, "the torrent [nachal] of Egypt." Sargon was at the time too much occupied with other enemies to pursue his advantage over Egypt; for Armenia, Media, and other countries needed his attention. This encouraged Ashdod to rebel, and its king, Azuri, refused his tribute (see Isa. xx. 1). Sargon deposed him, and put his brother Ahimit in his place. Relying on Egyptian promises, Philistia joined Judah, Edom, and Moab in defying Assyria. They deposed Ahimit as an Assyrian nominee, and put Yaman in his place. Egypt, as usual, failed to help, and in 711 the Assyrian Turtan, or Commander-in-chief, took Ashdod after three years' resistance, and carried its people into captivity. The punishment of Egypt was reserved for the subsequent reigns of Esarhaddon (681-668) and Assurbanipal. See Driver's Isaiah xlv. (Isa. xx.). Isa. xiv. 29-32 is an ode of triumph for the Fall of Philistia.

400

Hos. xiii. 16.

401

See De Hincks in Journ. of Sacr. Lit., October 1858; Layard, Nin. and Bab., i. 148.

402

Isa. xxviii. 1-4.

403

2 Kings xvii. 13, "by all the prophets, and all the seers," (chôseh). Hāvernick thinks that the nebi'îm were such officially.

404

See Amos ii. 4, 5; Isa. xxviii. 15; Jer. xvi. 19, 20; Ezek. xx. 13-30, etc.

405

Deut. xxvi. 5.

406

Isa. xli. 14.

407

Hos. xi. 9.

408

See my Minor Prophets, 6-97.

409

Not as in A.V., "Habor, by the river of Gozan."

410

2 Kings xvii. 6. The LXX. has "rivers" and "mountains": ἐν Ἀλαὲ καὶ ἐν Ἀβὼρ ποταμοῖς Γωζὰν καὶ ὅρη Μήδων. The river is not Ezekiel's Chebar. These deportations en masse of a whole population, with their women and children, their waggons and flocks, are depicted on Sargon's series of tablets in his splendid palace at Khorsabad.

411

Ezra iv. 10. "The great and noble Asnapper" of the passage is either some Assyrian general, or a confusion of the name Assurbanipal.

412

2 Kings xvii. 9. Heb., "covered"; A.V. and R.V., "did secretly," rather "perfidiously"; LXX., ἠμφιέσαντο λόγους ἀδίκους κατὰ κύριον; Vulg., Et offenderunt verbis non rectis dominum suum.

413

Star-worship is not mentioned in the Book of the Covenant (Exod. xx. – xxiii.) or the oldest sections of the Mosaic Law. It is first forbidden in Deut. iv. 19, xvii. 3, when contact with Syrians and Assyrians made it known (comp. Job xxxi. 26-28; Jer. viii. 2, xix. 13; Zeph. i. 5). The language of 2 Kings vii. – xxiii. frequently reflects the prohibitions of Deuteronomy (see Deut. xii. 2, 30, 31, iv. 19, v. 7, 8, xvi. 21, xviii. 10, xxxi. 16, etc.)

414

In 2 Kings xvii. 11, for "they did wicked things," the LXX. has κοινωνοὺς (i. e., qedeshîm) ἐχάραξαν καὶ ἑταιρίδας (qedeshôth); i. e., they had depraved hieroduli of both sexes. Comp. Hos. iv. 14; Gen. xxxviii. 21 (where the allusion is to one of the votaries of Asherah).

415

Bishop Lightfoot, Sermons, p. 267.

416

"La quale Religione se ne Principi della Republica Christiana si fusse mantenuta, secondo che dal dottore d'essa ne fu ordinato, sarebbero gli State e le Republiche Christiane più unite e più felici assai ch' elle non sono" (Discorsi, i. 12).

417

2 Kings xvii. 24. Comp. xviii. 34. Hence the later Jews comprehensively called the Samaritans Cuthites. Comp. 2 Kings xix. 13; Isa. xxxvii. 13.

418

Heliopolis, Ptolemy, v. 18, § 7; Isa. xxxvi. 19. Here, according to the Chaldæan legends, Xisuthrus buried his tablets about the Creation, etc.

419

From Ezra iv. 2 some infer that the main immigrants were introduced by Esarhaddon, who did not succeed till b. c. 681. He claims to have colonised Syria.

420

So we see from 2 Kings xix. 13, which applies to the reign of Hezekiah.

421

See Appendix, "The Golden Calves."

422

He uses the agency of "the great and noble Asnapper" (Ezra iv. 10) for the deportation (see Botta, 145; Layard, Nin. and Bab., i. 148; Dr. Hincks, Jour. of Sacr. Lit., October 1858), unless Asnapper be a confusion for Assurbanipal (Sardanapalus).

423

Hos. iii. 4.

424

See Jer. xlix. 19, l. 44; Prov. xxii. 13, etc.

425

Lit., "Daughter-huts" (Selden, De Dis Syr., ii. 7), but probably a transliteration. Zarpanit – "She who gives seed" – was Aphrodite Pandemos (Mylitta – Herod., i. 199). The Rabbis – who only guess – say she represented "the Clucking Hen" —i. e., the Pleiades. There does not seem to be any connection between Succoth and "Sakkuth," the various reading in Amos v. 26, which seems to be the Assyrian Moloch.

426

Said to be worshipped under the form of a cock.

427

LXX., Ἐβλαζέρ. Jarchi says these deities were worshipped under base animal forms – but it is more than doubtful.

428

The Rabbis, from Exod. xxiii. 13; Josh. xxiii. 7, thought they were bound to give scornful nicknames to heathen deities. Hence such changes as Kir-Heres for Kir-Cheres, Beelzebub for Beelzebul, Bethaven for Bethel, Bosheth for Baal, etc.

429

Not as in A.V., "of the lowest of them," but "of all classes." Comp. 1 Kings xii. 31.

430

In 2 Kings xvii. 31-38 we again find repeated references to Deuteronomy (iv. 23, v. 32, x. 20, etc.).

431

Ezra iv. 1. The actual word "Samaritans" occurs only once in the Old Testament, in 2 Kings xvii. 29.

432

See Neh. xiii. 4-9, 28, 29; Jos., Antt., XI. vii. 2. Josephus makes Manasseh a brother of the high priest Jaddua (b. c. 333).

433

Jos., Antt., IX. xiv. 3, XII. v. 5, XIII. ix. 1, XX. vi., XVIII. ii. 2. The bitterly hostile relations between Jews and Samaritans in the time of Christ are illustrated by Luke ix. 52-54.

434

Probably a shortened form for Jehoahaz ("The Lord taketh hold"). He is called Jahuhazi in Tiglath-Pileser's inscription (Schrader, Keilinschr., p. 163).

435

For twenty-five it is not improbable that we should read fifteen.

436

Isa. iii. 1-12.

437

In Isa. ii. 2-4 we find, as so often in the prophetic books in their present too-often-haphazard arrangement, a glowing promise of universal peace placed before unsparing denunciations. The verses are also found in Micah (iv. 1, 2), and it has been conjectured that in both prophets they are a quotation from some older source – perhaps from Jonah, son of Amittai.

438

Heb., "deceiving with their eyes."

439

Isa. v. 7. The paronomasia of the original is striking. Van Oort renders it, "He looked for reason, but behold treason; and for right, but behold affright."

440

His name means "Jehovah saves," and is perhaps alluded to in Isa. viii. 18. Amos ("One who bears a burden"), needless to say, is a totally different name from that of Amoz ("Vigorous"), the father of Isaiah.

441

2 Chron. xxviii. 19.

442

It may mean "God is good" (Tabeel).

443

For further explanations I must refer to my paper on Rabbinic Exegesis (Expositor, First Series, v. 373).

444

2 Chron. xxviii. 7.

445

Of Oded nothing else is known.

446

Some, however, interpret the name "A remnant repents" (LXX., ὁ καταλειφθεὶς Ἰασούβ; Vulg., Qui derelictus est Jaseb).

447

Isa. vi. 13.

448

The words "And within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people" (Isa. vii. 8), are almost certainly an interpolation: for (1) the overthrow came within far less than sixty years; (2) the clause awkwardly breaks the context; (3) the "sixty years" is inconsistent with the promise (vii. 16) that it should be within very few years.

449

Isa. vii. 1-25.

450

Not improbably the water which afterwards flowed through Hezekiah's new tunnel between the Virgin's Tomb and the Pool of Siloam. It is referred to in 2 Chron. xxxii. 3, 30 (Isa. xxii. 9-11). See Appendix II.

451

This, if it be correct, can only mean that the son of Tabeal had a party in Jerusalem; but Hitzig renders it "dreadeth," not "rejoiceth in."

452

The meaning is by no means clear.

453

See Driver, Isaiah, p. 34.

454

See 2 Kings xxiii. 11, which shows that this was not an innovation of Manasseh's. They were common in Persia. See Q. Curtius, iii. 3.

455

2 Kings xvii. 31; Ezek. xvi. 21, xxiii. 37, xxxiii. 6; Deut. xii. 31; Jer. xix. 5. See 2 Chron. xxviii. 3; for "his son," בְּנוֹ, it uses בָּנָיו "his sons," but perhaps generically. Moloch-worship may have been stimulated by accounts of the Assyrian fire-god Adrammelech (Movers, Phöniz., ii. 101). On this sacrifice of children to Moloch, which the Phœnicians referred back to the god El or Il, once King of Byblos, who in a crisis of danger sacrificed his eldest son Icond, see Plut., De Superst., § 13; Diod. Sic., xx. 12-14; 2 Kings iii. 27, xvi. 3, xxi. 6; Mic. vi. 7; Döllinger, Judenthum u. Heidenthum (E. T.), i. 427-429.

456

This worship was to be punished by stoning (Lev. xviii. 21, xx. 2-5; Deut. xviii. 10). On the whole subject see Movers, Phöniz., 64; Jarchi on Jer. vii. 31; Euseb., Præp. Ev., iv. 16.

457

Josephus says that Ahaz made "a whole burnt-offering" of his son; but his authority is very small (καὶ ἴδιον ὡλοκαύτωσεν παῖδα). Comp. Psalm cvi. 37.

458

Ignorant Romanists have often cherished the same notions about the saints. For centuries in Spain the people bought the old gowns and cowls of the monks, and buried their dead in them, to deceive St. Peter into the notion that they were Dominicans or Franciscans!

459

See Ovid, Fasti, v. 659: "Scripea pro domino Tiberi jactatur imago." They were also called Argei, id. 621; Varro, L. L., vi. 3.

460

Varro, L. L., v. 3.

461

Herod., ii. 137. Egypt., Sebek; Heb., So (2 Kings xvii. 4), or perhaps Seve; Arab., Shab'i. Rawlinson, Hist. of Anct. Egypt, ii. 433-450.

462

Kir (see Amos ix. 7) is omitted in the LXX. Elam is added in Isa. xxii. 6. Tiglath-Pileser calls the king Rasunnu Sarimirisu —i. e., of Aram. See Smith, Assyr. Discoveries, p. 274; Eponym Canon, 68; Schrader, K. A. T., 152 ff.

463

Isa. xvii. 1-11.

464

The name seems to be Tuklat-abal-isarra, – according to Oppert worshipper of the son of the Zodiac —i. e., of Nin or Hercules. According to Polyhistor, he was a usurper who had been a vine-dresser in the royal gardens. He never mentions his ancestry. But see Schrader, K. A. T., 217 ff., 240 ff., and in Riehm.

465

Eponym Canon, p. 121, lines 1-15. On this fall of Damascus and Samaria, see Isa. xvii.

466

Jahuhazi (Schrader, Keilinschr., p. 263). He probably bore both names; but, as in the case of Jeconiah, who is called Coniah, the omission of the element "Jehovah" from his name may have been intended as a mark of reprobation.

467

The remark may refer to some earlier period in the reign of Ahaz, before the capture of Damascus. It is more probable that the altar was used for some Assyrian deity, and the adoption of it may have flattered Tiglath-Pileser.

468

2 Kings xvi. 11, which records the zealous subservience of Urijah, is wanting in some MSS. of the LXX. But that the altar was made, and without his opposition, is clear from the narrative. Asa (2 Chron. xv. 8) had repaired Solomon's great altar; Hezekiah subsequently cleansed it (id. xxix. 18); Manasseh rebuilt it (Q'ri). The brass of it ultimately went to Babylon (Jer. lii. 17-20).

469

Bähr says: "It seems that Urijah, like his companion, was only anxious for his revenues. At any rate, his conduct is a sign of the character and standing of the priests of that time. They were 'dumb dogs who could not bark.' They all followed their own ways, every one for his own gain" (Isa. lvi. 10, 11). "We have in this high priest," says the Würtemberg Summary, "a specimen of those hypocrites and belly-servants who say, 'Whose bread I eat, his song I sing'; who veer about with the wind, and seek to be pleasant to all men; who wish to hurt no one's feelings, but teach just what any one wants to hear."

470

1 Kings viii. 64; 2 Chron. iv. 1. In this and similar instances commentators, biassed by a priori considerations, have imagined that Ahaz did not in person offer sacrifices. But this is what the text says, and it was the custom of kings to regard themselves as invested with Divine attributes. Ahaz may have had this lesson impressed on his mind by his visit to Tiglath-Pileser. See Grätz, Gesch. der Juden., ii. 150. Layard, Nin. and Bab., 472 ff., gives us pictures of Assyrian kings ministering at their altars, which are of various shapes.