The Expositor's Bible: The Second Book of Kings

696

Another reading is "in Jerusalem," which gets over an historic difficulty.

697

Comp. 2 Kings xi. 14; LXX., ἐπὶ τοῦ στύλου; Heb., al-ha-ammud; Vulg., super gradum.

698

2 Kings xxiii. 4; for "in the fields of Kedron" one version has ἐν τῷ ἐμπυρισμῷ τοῦ χειμάῤῥου, "in the burning-place of the wady," – perhaps reading bemisrephoth for bishedamoth, and alluding to lime-kilns in the wady. It is surprising that they should carry the ashes "to Bethel." Thenius suggests the reading בֵּית־אַל, "place of execution" (lit., "house of nothingness").

699

Hos. x. 5; Zeph. i. 4 (the only other places where the word occurs). The delevit of the Vulgate (2 Kings xxiii. 5) only means that he put them down, and the κατέκαυσε of the LXX. should be κατέπαυσε.

700

Comp. Jer. ii. 23, where the LXX. has ἐν τῷ πολυανδρίῳ. In 2 Chron. xxxiv. 4, perhaps the true reading is, not Benî-ha-'âm, but Benî-hinnom– which would mean that he scattered the dust in the gehenna of Jerusalem. Comp. 1 Kings xv. 13.

701

For these Galli, see Seneca, De Vit. Beat., 27; Pliny, H. N., xi. 49.

702

Heb., bathîm, lit. "tents" or "houses"; Vulg., quasi domunculas.

703

In 2 Kings xxiii. 8, Geiger would read "the high places of the satyrs" (שׂצירים).

704

Usually derived (as by Selden and Milton) from toph, "drum," but perhaps from tuph (to spit in sign of abhorrence).

705

Parvar– perhaps "open portico." Renan connects the word with the Greek περίβολος. On horses dedicated to the sun, see Xen. Cyrop., viii. 3, 5, 12; Anab., iv. 5.

706

See Zeph. i. 5; Jer. xix. 13, xxxii. 29.

707

2 Kings xxiii. 13: "The Mount of Corruption"; Vulg., Mons offensionis; LXX., τοῦ ὄρους τοῦ Μοσθάθ. Some conjecture that Maschith may be a derisive change for some word which meant "anointing" (from being the Oil Mountain, Har ham-mischchah).

708

In burning the bones of the dead, he violated all Jewish feeling. Amos (ii. 1) had severely rebuked this form of revenge and insult even in the case of the heathen King of Moab. Bones defiled the touch (Num. xix. 16; Herod., iv. 73). Josiah's question at Bethel was, "What pillar is that?" (tsiyun). LXX., σκόπελον. Comp. Gen. xxxv. 20.

709

1 Kings xiii. 29-31.

710

2 Chron. xxxv. 1-19.

711

Jer. xi. 3, 4. Since, in this part of my subject, I make frequent reference to the prophecies of Jeremiah which are indispensable to the right understanding of the history, I may here say that modern critics (Cheyne and others) arrange them as follows: —

In the reign of Josiah, Jer. ii. 1-iii. 5, iii. 6-vi. 30, vii. 1-ix. 25, xi. 1-17.

In the reign of Jehoiakim, xxvi. 2-6, xlvi. 2-12, xxv., xxxv., and possibly xvi. 1, xviii. 19-27, xiv., xv., xviii., xi. 18-xii. 17.

In the reign of Jehoiachin, x. 17-23, xiii.

In the reign of Zedekiah, xxii. – xxiv., xxvii. – xxix. 1-11 (?), lii.

In the Exile, xxxix. – xliv.

712

See Cheyne, Jeremiah, p. 56, id. 6.

713

Canon Cheyne shows that even Mohammed could not persuade the Qurashites wholly to give up their black stone at the Kaaba, and their dolmens and sacred trees (id. 103). He left the auçab, or sacrificial stones (matstseboth), though he warns his followers against them (Quran, v. 92).

714

Jer. xvii. 9-11.

715

Ewald, The Prophets, iii. 63, 64.

716

Jer. xvii. 1-4.

717

The Qurashites and other heathen Arabs accounted holy a large green tree, and every year had a sacrifice in its honour. "On the way to Hunain we called to God's Messenger (Mohammed) that he should appoint for us such trees. But he was terrified, and said, 'Lord God, Lord God! Ye speak even as the Israelites … ye are still in ignorance, – thus are heathen enslaved'" (Vakïdi, Book of the Campaigns of God's Messenger, quoted by Cheyne, Jeremiah, p. 103, from Wellhausen).

718

Psalm lxxxv. 8.

719

Deut. xxx. 11-14. See Wellhausen, p. 165.

720

Jer. vi. 20. The passages of Jeremiah which seem of a different spirit may have been added by later hands —e. g., xxxiii. 18, which is not in the LXX.

721

Jer. vii. 21; Ewald; and Cheyne, l. c. 120. So the Jews seem to have understood it, for they appoint this passage to be read on the Haphtara after the Parashah about sacrifices from Leviticus.

722

Jer, vii. 22, 23. This alone would show that Jeremiah did not (as earlier critics thought) write "Deuteronomy," in spite of the numerous close resemblances in phraseology. Thus, Jeremiah often denounces the priests (i. 18, ii. 8-26, iv. 9, v. 31, viii. 1, xiii. 13, xxxii. 32). Cheyne, p. 82.

723

Mic. iii. 11.

724

Jer. vii. 4, 8-15.

725

Jer. xxxi. 31, 32.

726

Jer. xxii. 15, 16.

727

He was forced to desist by a fearful mortality among the labourers.

728

Circ. b. c. 611-605. Herod., ii. 158, 159, iv. 42. Psamatik, the father of Necho, was perhaps a Lybian. He established his sway over all Egypt displacing the Assyrians.

729

Antt., X. v. 1.

730

Herod., ii. 158. His father Psamatik had left him an adequate army of natives and mercenaries.

731

Herodotus says of his ships: Ἁι μὲν ἐπὶ τῇ βορηίῃ θαλάσσῃ ἐποιήθησαν.

732

Judg. iv. 23; 1 Sam. xxix. 1-11; 1 Kings xx. 26; 2 Kings xxiii. 29; 2 Chron. xxxv. 22; Rev. xvi. 16 (Armageddon). Herodotus confuses it with Migdol (Μάγδολον).

733

1 Macc. xii. 49; Jos., Antt., XIII. vi. 2.

734

2 Chron. xxxv. 20-22.

735

According to 1 Esdras i. 25-32, "for upon Euphrates is my war."

736

Klostermann, in 2 Chron. xxxv. 21, reads bachalôm, "in a dream," instead of "to make haste."

737

Gen. xli. 1; Herod., ii. 188; Records of the Past, ix. 52.

738

2 Kings xviii. 25.

739

Antt., X. v. 1: Τῆς πεπρωμένης οἶμαι εἰς τοῦτ' αὐτόν παρορμησάσης.

740

Deut. xxviii. 1-8.

741

Psalm xx. 6, xviii. 29-50.

742

Lev. xxvi. 36.

743

2 Chron. xxxv. 22: "hearkened not to the words of Necho from the mouth of God."

744

"When he had seen him." Comp. 2 Kings xiv. 8.

745

1 Esdras i. 25; and LXX., "firmly resolved," "strengthened himself," as in 2 Chron. xxv. 11.

746

Jos., Antt., X. v. 1; and 2 Chron. xxxv. 23; 1 Esdras i. 30.

747

The fortunes of the Jews again prevailed in this plain in the days of Holofernes (Judith vii. 3); but they were defeated there by Placidus (Jos., B. J., IV. i. 8).

748

Zech. xii. 11-13 (comp. Jer. xxii. 10, 18). No such place as Hadadrimmon is known, though there is a Rummâne not far from Megiddo. Jerome (Comm. in Zach.) identifies it with a place which he calls Maximianopolis. Wellhausen (Skizzen, 192) thinks that the mourning is compared to some wail over the god Hadadrimmon, like the wailing for Tammuz. Jonathan and Jarchi say that Hadadrimmon was the son of Tabrimmon, who opposed Ahab at Ramoth-Gilead.

749

2 Chron. xxxv. 24, 25. Jeremiah's elegy has probably perished. It would have been most interesting had it been preserved. Lam. iv. is too vague to have been this lost poem.

750

Jer. iv. 10.

751

Jer. xx. 7, 8.

752

Chron. iii. 15.

753

He is named "fourth," but he was older than his brothers Jehoiakim and Zedekiah (2 Kings xxiii. 31, xxiv. 18). The genealogy is as follows: —

754

An allusion to the Syrian mode of hunting the lion by driving it with cries into a concealed pit (Tristram, Nat. Hist. of the Bible, 118; Cheyne, 140).

755

Ezek. xix. 1-4.

756

The name Shallum means "recompense." It may have been regarded as ill-omened, since the King of Israel who bore this rare name had only reigned a month.

757

The Talmud says that kings were only anointed in special cases (Keritoth, f. 5, 2; Grätz, ii. 328).

758

Jos., Antt., X. v. 2: Ἀσεβὴς καὶ μιαρὸς τὸν τρόπον.

759

Herod., ii. 159.

760

Mr. G. Smith identifies Carchemish with Jerablûs.

761

Cheyne, Jeremiah, p. 127.

762

Comp. 2 Kings xxv. 20, 21. The old Hittite capital of Riblah was a convenient halting-place on the road between Babylon and Jerusalem. It was on the northernmost boundary of Palestine towards Damascus (Amos vi. 14).

763

Jer. xxii. 10-12.

764

2 Chron. xxxvi. 3; 1 Esdras i. 36. The smallness of the tribute proves the impoverishment of the land. Sennacherib demanded from Hezekiah three hundred talents of silver, and thirty of gold; and Menahem paid one thousand talents of silver to Tiglath-Pileser.

765

Not Jehoiakim, but Jehoiachin, as the sequel shows.

766

Ezek. xix. 5-9. The allusions to Jehoiakim by Jeremiah are numerous, and all unfavourable (xxii. 13-19, xxvi. 20-23, xxxvi. 20-31, etc.)

767

Josephus (Antt., X. v. 2) is very severe on this king. He says that "he was unjust in disposition, an evil-doer, neither pious towards God nor just towards men."

768

Perhaps an allusion to a sort of fortified palace on Ophel.

769

Hab. ii. 9-11.

770

The text is perhaps corrupt. Two MSS. of the LXX. read "because thou viest with Ahab," and the Vatican MSS. has "with Ahaz." Cheyne adopts the former reading.

771

Jer. xxii. 13-17.

772

Jer. xxiii. 1.

773

Jer. xxii. 23.

774

Jer. xii. 5.

775

Jer. xxvi. 20-23. So far as I am aware, Bunsen stands alone in identifying Urijah with the "Zechariah" who wrote Zech. xii. – xiv. Others refer Zech. xii. 10 to the murder of Urijah.

776

Jer. xxvi. 18.

777

Isa. xiv., passim.

778

Nabu-pal-ussur, "Nebo protect the son."

779

Nabu-kudur-ussur, "Nebo protect the crown" (Schrader, ii. 48), or "the youth" (Oppert). The portrait of Nebuchadrezzar – this is the proper spelling, as generally in Jeremiah – is preserved for us on a black cameo which he presented to the god Merodach. It is now in the Berlin Museum, and shows strong but not cruel or ignoble characteristics. It is copied in Riehm's Handwörterbuch, ii. 1067. The Jews, as they were fond of doing to their enemies, made insulting puns on his name. Thus in the Vayyikra Rabba (Wünsche, Bibl. Rabb.) the Three Children are represented as saying to him, "You are Neboo-cad-netser: bark [nabach] like a dog; swell like a water-jar [kad], and chirp like a cricket [tsertser]," – in allusion to his madness.

780

Jer. xlvi. 5 (vi. 25).

781

Jos., Antt., X. xi.; Berosus, p. 11. The Chronicler and Josephus show some confusion, caused by the similarity of the names Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin.

782

Dan. i. 6.

783

We might infer from Ezek. xvii. 12 that Nebuchadrezzar actually took Jehoiakim with him to Babylon.

784

Ezek. xvii. 15.

785

Jer. xxxvi. 29, xxv. 9, xxvi. 6.

786

2 Kings xxiv. 2-4.

787

Grätz thinks that Jeremiah's roll was substantially Jer. xxv.

788

Jos., Antt., IX. ix. 1.

789

Jer. li. 59. Ewald, Hitzig, and others take the title to mean "quartermaster" (2 Chron. xxxiv. 8).

790

Jer. xlv. 1-5.

791

Zeph. i. 8; 1 Kings xxii. 26; Jer. xxxvi. 26, A.V., "The son of Hammelech." Comp. xxxviii. 6. Hammelech may be a proper name, or a prince of the blood-royal may be intended.

792

"The 'Book,' now as afterwards, was to be the death-blow of the old regal, aristocratic, sacerdotal exclusiveness. The 'Scribe,' now first rising into importance in the person of Baruch to supply the defects of the living Prophet, was, as the printing-press in later ages, handing on the words of truth, which else might have irretrievably perished" (Stanley).

793

Cheyne, Jeremiah, p. 149; Jer. xiv. 1-xv. 9.

794

Nebuchadrezzar occupies a larger space in the Bible than any heathen king, being spoken of in 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.

795

For further details of Jehoiakim see 1 Esdras i. 38: "He bound Joakim and the nobles; but Zaraces his brother he apprehended, and brought him out of Egypt." The allusion is entirely obscure, and probably arises from some corruption of the text. The literal rendering is: "And Joakim bound the nobles; but Zaraces his brother he apprehended, and brought him out of Egypt." Zaraces might be a corruption for Zedekiah, who was Jehoiakim's half-brother. Some think that Zaraces is a corruption for Urijah, and "his brother" a clerical error.

796

Jer. xxxvi. 30, xxii. 19.

797

LXX., καὶ ἐκοιμήθη Ἰωακεὶμ ἐν Γανοζὰν μετὰ τῶν πατέρων ἑαυτοῦ.

798

2 Chron. xxxvi. 8.

799

Sanhedrin, f. 104, 2. For another allusion see id. 49, 1; Hershon, Treasures of the Talmud, p. 232.

800

Jer. xxvi. 22.

801

2 Chron. xxxvi. 9.

802

Jer. xx. 2. There seem to have been special "stocks" and "collars" in the Temple, reserved, by order of the priest Jehoiada, for those whom the priests regarded as unruly prophets (Jer. xxix. 26).

803

Jer. xxii. 24-30. The captivity of the queen-mother struck men's imaginations (Jer. xxix. 2).

804

Middoth, ii. 6, quoted by Cheyne, p. 163; Jos., B. J., VI. ii. 1. Comp. Ezek. i. 2.

805

Ezek. xix. 6-9. The special allusions are no longer certain.

806

2 Kings xx. 17. The expression "he cut to pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon had made" is hardly consistent with Ezra i. 7-11, unless we understand the word in a loose sense.

807

He says that he nobly gave himself up to save the city (Antt., X. vii. 1). His captivity was made an era from which to date Ezek. i. 2, viii. 1, xxiv. 1, xxvi. 1, etc. Comp. Susannah 1-4.

808

Jer. xxii. 30, 'arîrî. His "son" Assir (1 Chron. iii. 17) may have been made an eunuch (Isa. xxxix. 7).

809

Luke iii. 27, 31; Matt. i. 12.

810

Baruch i. 3, 4.

811

The favourable notice of Nebuchadrezzar in Taanith (quoted above) is not found in Berachoth, f. 57, 2, where he is called "the wicked." There are many wild legends about him. In Nedarim (f. 65, 2), R. Yitzchak says: "May melted gold be poured into the mouth of the wicked Nebuchadrezzar! Had not an angel struck him on the mouth, he would have outshone all David's songs and praises." With reference to Isa. xxii. 1, 2, the Rabbis say that Jeconiah went to the Temple roof, and flung up the keys into the air, when Nebuchadrezzar required them: "a hand took them, and they were seen no more" (Shekalim, vi. 5). In Nedarim (f. 65, 2) we are told that Zedekiah's rebellion consisted in divulging, contrary to his oath, that he had seen Nebuchadrezzar eating a live hare (Hershon, Treasures of the Talmud).

812

Comp. Jer. xxiii. 6: Jehovah-Tsidkenu.

813

Ezek. xvii. 12-14.

814

Ezek. xvii. 1-6.

815

Jer. xxxiv. 8-11.

816

Jer. xxxiv. 19. Comp. Gen. xv. 17.

817

This is strikingly shown by his piteous remark to them in Jer. xxxviii. 5.

818

He first sent two of Jeremiah's friends, Elasah and Gemariah, the son of Shaphan.

819

Some critics have doubted the authenticity of Jer. li., lii.

820

2 Chron. xxxvi. 14-21; Stanley, ii. 528; Milman, i. 394.

821

Shaphan's other sons, Gemariah, Ahikam, Elasah, and his grandson Gedaliah, were friends of Jeremiah.

822

Ezek. viii. 17. The allusion seems to be to a custom like that of the Parsees, who hold a branch of tamarisk or pomegranate twigs (called barsom) before their mouths when they adore the sacred fire. Strabo, xv. 732; Spiegel, Zendavesta, ii., p. lxviii; Eran. Alterthumsk., iii. 571 (Orelli, ad loc.). Lightfoot explains it, "add fuel to their wrath."

823

Ezek. xvi. 15-34.

824

Jer. vii. 4, 21-28, viii. 8, xxiii. 31-33, xxxi. 33, 34.

825

Jer. iii. 15, 16.

826

Jer. xxvii. 3.

827

Herod., ii. 161.

828

Psammis, the son of Necho, only reigned six years; Hophrah (b. c. 594) was his son.

829

The LXX. calls him "the false prophet."

830

Jer. xxvii. 1-8, 12-18. On vv. 16-22 see the LXX.

831

Here (Jer. xxviii. 11, and in xxxiv. 1, xxxix. 5) the name is written "Nebuchadnezzar"; everywhere else in Jeremiah it is "Nebuchadrezzar."

832

Part of his dispute with Jeremiah turned on the recovery or non-recovery of the Temple vessels. Zedekiah is said to have given a set of silver vessels to replace the old ones (Baruch i. 8).

833

Jer. xxix. 21-23.

834

Jer. xxiii. 9-32.

835

Jer. xxviii. 13-16, xxiii. 28.

836

Jer. xxiii. 29.

837

Ezek. xiii. 1-23.

838

Ezek. xvii. 25.

839

Josephus rightly attributes the unfortunate career of Zedekiah to the weakness with which he listened to evil counsellors, and to the insolent multitude.

840

2 Chron. xxxvi. 13; Jer. lii. 3.

841

Ezek. xvii. 15, 16, 18, 19.

842

Ezek. xvii. 7-10.

843

Jer. xlvi. 17.

844

Another form of belomancy is still commonly practised among the Arabs. Three arrows are placed in a vessel: on one of them is written, "My God permits me"; on another, "My God forbids me"; the third is blank. They are then shaken, and the decision is guided by the one which falls out first. Comp. Homer, Iliad, iii. 316; Speaker's Commentary, ad loc.

845

Ezek. xxi. 28-32.

846

An allusion to the restoration of Jeconiah or his descendants, and to the far-off Messiah, meek and lowly.

847

Ezek. iv. 1-3.

848

Jer. xxxvii. 3.

849

Ezek. vii. 16.

850

Jer. xxi. 1-10, xxxvii. 1-17. Josephus says that Pharaoh was defeated (Antt., X. vii. 3). Jeremiah merely says that he and his army returned to their own land.

851

Homer, Iliad, i. 106-109.

852

But it must not be forgotten that Jer. xxxi. 1-34 is so hopeful that it has been called "the Gospel before Christ."

853

Jer. vi. 14, viii. 11; Ezek. xiii. 10.

854

W. R. Smith, "Prophets" (Enc. Brit.).

855

Jer. xxxvii, 11-15.

856

Jer xxxviii. 5. The Jewish aristocracy consisted, says Grätz, of three classes: the benî hammelech, or "king's sons" —i. e., princes of the blood-royal; the roshî aboth, "heads of the fathers," or zekenîm, "elders"; and the abhodî hammelech, "king's servants," or "courtiers" (ii. 446).

857

Lam. v. 4.

858

Jer. xxxvii. 21, xxxviii. 9, lii. 6.

859

Lam. iv. 7, 8.

860

Lam. iv. 10, ii. 20; Ezek. v. 10; Baruch ii. 3.

861

Lam. iv. 5. See Stanley, Lectures, ii. 470.

862

Ezek. xi. 22.

863

This may possibly be alluded to in Psalm lxix. 2.

864

Jer. xxxviii. 10, A.V., "thirty."