II
K I N G S
CHAP. XV.
In
this chapter, I. The history of two of the kings of
Judah
is briefly recorded:-- 1. Of Azariah, or
Uzziah, ver. 1-7. 2. Of Jotham his son, ver. 32-38. II. The history of many of
the kings of Israel
that reigned at the same time is given us in
short, five in succession, all of whom, except one, went down slain to the
pit, and their murders were their successors. 1. Zachariah, the last of the
house of Jehu, reigned six months, and then was slain and succeeded by Shallum,
ver. 8-12. 2. Shallum reigned one month, and then was slain and succeeded by
Menahem, ver. 13-15. 3. Menahem reigned ten years, or tyrannised rather, such
were his barbarous cruelties (ver. 16) and unreasonable exactions (ver. 20),
and then died in his bed, and left his son to succeed him first, and then
suffer for him, ver. 16-22. 4. Pekahiah reigned two years, and then was slain
and succeeded by Pekah, ver. 23-26. 5. Pekah reigned twenty years, and then
was slain and succeeded by Hoshea, the last of all the kings of Israel (ver.
27-31) for things were now working and hastening apace towards the final
destruction of that kingdom.
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The
Reign of Azariah.
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B.
C. 798.
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1 In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam
king of Israel began Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah to reign.
2 Sixteen years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned two and
fifty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jecholiah of
Jerusalem. 3 And he did that which was right in the sight
of the LORD,
according to all that his father Amaziah had done; 4 Save that the
high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on
the high places. 5 And the LORD
smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in
a several house. And Jotham the king's son was over the house, judging
the people of the land. 6 And the rest of the acts of Azariah, and
all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of
the kings of Judah? 7 So Azariah slept with his fathers; and they
buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Jotham his son reigned
in his stead.
This is a short account of the reign of Azariah. 1. Most of it is general, and
the same that has been given of others; he began young and reigned long (v.
2), did, for the most part, that which was right, v. 3 (it was happy
for the kingdom that a good reign was a long one), only he had not zeal and
courage enough to take away the high places, v. 4. 2. That which is
peculiar, v. 5 (that God smote him with a leprosy) is more largely
related, with the occasion of it, 2 Chron. xxvi. 16, &c., where we have
also a fuller account of the glories of the former part of his reign, as well
as of the disgraces of the latter part of it. He did that which was right, as
Amaziah had done; like him, he began well, but failed before he finished. Here
we are told, (1.) That he was a leper. The greatest of men are not only
subject to the common calamities, but also to the common infirmities, of human
nature; and, if they be guilty of any heinous sin, they lie as open as the
meanest to the most grievous strokes of divine vengeance. (2.) God smote him
with this leprosy, to chastise him for his presumptuous invasion of the
priests' office. If great men be proud men, some way or other God will humble
them, and make them know he is both above them and against them, for he
resisteth the proud. (3.) That he was a leper to the day of his death.
Though we have reason to think he repented and the sin was pardoned, yet, for
warning to others, he was continued under this mark of God's displeasure as
long as he lived, and perhaps it was for the good of his soul that he was so.
(4.) That he dwelt in a separate house, as being made ceremonially
unclean by the law, to the discipline of which, though a king, he must submit.
He that presumptuously intruded into God's temple, and pretended to be a
priest, was justly shut out from his own palace, and shut up as a prisoner or
recluse, ever after. We suppose that his separate house was made as
convenient and agreeable as might be. Some translate it a free house,
where he had liberty to take his pleasure. However, it was a great
mortification to one that had been so much a man of honour, and a man of
business, as he had been, to be cut off from society and dwell always in a separate
house: it would almost make life itself a burden, even to kings, though
they have never any to converse with but their inferiors; the most
contemplative men would soon be weary of it. (5.) That his son was his viceroy
in the affairs both of his court (for he was over the house) and of his
kingdom (for he was judging the people of the land); and it was both a
comfort to him and a blessing to his kingdom that he had such a son to fill up
his room.
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The
Reigns of Zachariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, and Hoshea.
B. C. 758.
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8.
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8 In the thirty and eighth year of Azariah king
of Judah did Zachariah the son of Jeroboam reign over Israel in Samaria six
months. 9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of
the LORD,
as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of
Nebat, who made Israel to sin. 10 And Shallum the son of Jabesh
conspired against him, and smote him before the people, and slew him, and
reigned in his stead. 11 And the rest of the acts of Zachariah,
behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of
Israel. 12 This was the word of the LORD
which he spake unto Jehu, saying, Thy sons shall sit on the throne of Israel
unto the fourth generation. And so it came to pass. 13
Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the nine and thirtieth year of
Uzziah king of Judah; and he reigned a full month in Samaria. 14
For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to Samaria, and
smote Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and slew him, and reigned in his
stead. 15 And the rest of the acts of Shallum, and his conspiracy
which he made, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles
of the kings of Israel. 16 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. 17 In the nine and
thirtieth year of Azariah king of Judah began Menahem the son of Gadi to reign
over Israel, and reigned ten years in Samaria. 18 And he
did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD:
he departed not all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who
made Israel to sin. 19 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. 20 And
Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of
wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria.
So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land.
21 And the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did, are they
not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
22 And Menahem slept with his fathers; and Pekahiah his son reigned in his
stead. 23 In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekahiah
the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned
two years. 24 And he did that which was evil in the sight
of the LORD:
he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to
sin. 25 But Pekah the son of Remaliah, a captain of his, conspired
against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the palace of the king's house, with
Argob and Arieh, and with him fifty men of the Gileadites: and he killed him,
and reigned in his room. 26 And the rest of the acts of Pekahiah,
and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the
chronicles of the kings of Israel. 27 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. 28 And he did that
which was evil in the sight of the LORD:
he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to
sin. 29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser
king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh,
and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them
captive to Assyria. 30 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.
31 And the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he did, behold, they are
written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
The best days of the kingdom of Israel were while the government was in Jehu's
family. In his reign, and the next three reigns, though there were many
abominable corruptions and miserable grievances in Israel, yet the crown went
in succession, the kings died in their beds, and some care was taken of public
affairs; but, now that those days are at an end, the history which we have in
these verses of about thirty-three years represents the affairs of that
kingdom in the utmost confusion imaginable. Woe to those that were with child
(v. 16) and to those that gave suck in those days, for then must needs
be great tribulations, when, for the transgression of the land, many were
the princes thereof.
I. Let us observe something, in general, concerning these unhappy revolutions
and the calamities which must needs attend them--these bad times, as they may
truly be called. 1. God had tried the people of Israel both with judgments and
mercies, explained and enforced by his servants the prophets, and yet they
continued impenitent and unreformed, and therefore God justly brought these
miseries upon them, as Moses had warned them. If you will yet walk contrary
to me, I will punish you yet seven times more, Lev. xxvi. 21, &c. 2.
God made good his promise to Jehu, that his sons to the fourth generation
after him should sit upon the throne of Israel, which was a greater favour
than was shown to any of the royal families either before or after his. God
had said it should be so (ch. x. 30) and we are told in this chapter (v.
12) that so it came to pass. See how punctual God is to his promises. These
calamities God long designed for Israel, and they deserved them, yet they were
not inflicted till that word had taken effect to the full. Thus God rewarded
Jehu for his zeal in destroying the worship of Baal and the house of Ahab; and
yet, when the measure of the sins of the house of Jehu was full, God avenged
upon it the blood then shed, called the blood of Jezreel, Hos. i. 4. 3.
All these kings did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, for they
walked in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Though at variance with
one another, yet in this they agreed, to keep up idolatry, and the people
loved to have it so; though they were emptied from vessel to vessel, that taste
remained in them, and that scent was not changed. It was sad indeed
when their government was so often altered, yet never for the better--that
among all those contending interests none of them should think it as much
their interest to destroy the calves as others had done to support them. 4.
Each of these (except one) conspired against his predecessor, and slew him--Shallum,
Menahem, Pekah, and Hoshea, all traitors and murderers, and yet all
kings awhile, one of them ten, another twenty, and another nine years; for God
may suffer wickedness to prosper and to carry away the wealth and honours
awhile, but, sooner or later, blood shall have blood, and he that dealt
treacherously shalt be dealt treacherously with. One wicked man is often made
a scourge to another, and every wicked man, at length, a ruin to himself. 5.
The ambition of the great men made the nation miserable. Here is Tiphsah, a
city of Israel, barbarously destroyed, with all the coasts thereof, by one of
these pretenders (v. 16), and no doubt it was through blood that each
of them waded to the throne, nor could any of these kings perish alone. No
land can have greater pests, nor Israel worse troubles, than such men as care
not how much the welfare and repose of their country are sacrificed to their
revenge and affectation of dominion. 6. While the nation was thus shattered by
divisions at home the kings of Assyria, first one (v. 19) and then
another (v. 29), came against it and did what they pleased. Nothing
does more towards the making of a nation an easy prey to a common enemy than
intestine broils and contests for the sovereignty. Happy the land where that
is settled. 7. This was the condition of Israel just before they were quite
ruined and carried away captive, for that was in the ninth year of Hoshea, the
last of these usurpers. If they had, in these days of confusion and
perplexity, humbled themselves before God and sought his face, that final
destruction might have been prevented; but when God judgeth he will overcome.
These factions, the fruit of an evil spirit sent among them, hastened that
captivity, for a kingdom thus divided against itself will soon come to
desolation.
II. Let us take a short view of the particular reigns.
1. Zachariah, the son of Jeroboam, began to reign in the thirty-eighth year of
Azariah, or Uzziah, king of Judah, v. 8. Some of the most critical
chronologers reckon that between Jeroboam and his son Zachariah the throne was
vacant twenty-two years, others eleven years, through the disturbances and
dissensions that were in the kingdom; and then it was not strange that
Zachariah was deposed before he was well seated on the throne: he reigned but
six months, and then Shallum slew him before the people, perhaps as
Caesar was slain in the senate, or he put him to death publicly as a criminal,
with the approbation of the people, to whom he had, some way or other, made
himself odious; so ended the line of Jehu.
2. But had Shallum peace, who slew his master? No, he had not (v. 13),
one month of days measured his reign and then he was cut off; perhaps to this
the prophet, who then lived, refers (Hos. v. 7), Now shall a month devour
them with their portions. That dominion seldom lasts long which is founded
in blood and falsehood. Menahem, either provoked by his crime or animated by
his example, soon served him as he had served his master--slew him and
reigned in his stead, v. 14. Probably he was general in the army,
which then lay encamped at Tirzah, and, hearing of Shallum's treason and
usurpation, hastened to punish it, as Omri did that of Zimri in a like case, 1
Kings xvi. 17.
3. Menahem held the kingdom ten years, v. 17. But, whereas we have
heard that the kings of the house of Israel were merciful kings (1
Kings xx. 31), this Menahem (the scandal of his country) was so prodigiously
cruel to those of his own nation who hesitated a little at submitting to him
that he not only ruined a city, and the coasts thereof, but, forgetting that
he himself was born of a woman, ripped up all the women with child, v.
16. We may well wonder that ever it should enter into the heart of any man to
be so barbarous, and to be so perfectly lost to humanity itself. By these
cruel methods he hoped to strengthen himself and to frighten all others into
his interests; but it seems he did not gain his point, for when the king of
Assyria came against him, (1.) So little confidence had he in his people that
he durst not meet him as an enemy, but was obliged, at a vast expense, to
purchase a peace with him. (2.) Such need had he of help to confirm the
kingdom in his hand that he made it part of his bargain with him (a
bargain which, no doubt, the king of Assyria knew how to make a good hand of
another time) that he should assist him against his own subjects that were
disaffected to him. The money wherewith he purchased his friendship was a vast
sum, no less than 1000 talents of silver (v. 19), which Menahem
exacted, it is probable, by military execution, of all the mighty men of
wealth, very considerately sparing the poor, and laying the burden (as was
fit) on those that were best able to bear it; being raised, it was given to
the king of Assyria, as pay for his army, fifty shekels of silver for each
man in it. Thus he got clear of the king of Assyria for this time; he staid
not to quarter in the land (v. 20), but his army now got so rich a
booty with so little trouble that it encouraged them to come again, not long
after, when they laid all waste. Thus was he the betrayer of his
country that should have been the protector of it.
4. Pekahiah, the son of Menahem, succeeded his father, but reigned only two
years, and then was treacherously slain by Pekah, falling under the load both
of his own and of his father's wickedness. It is repeated concerning him as
before that he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam. Still this is
mentioned, to show that God was righteous in bringing that destruction upon
them which came not long after, because they hated to be reformed, v.
24. Pekah, it seems, had some persons of figure in his interest, two of whom
are here named (v. 25), and with their help he compassed his design.
5. Pekah, though he got the kingdom by treason, kept it twenty years (v.
27), so long it was before his violent dealing returned upon his own head, but
it returned at last. This Pekah, son of Remaliah, (1.) Made himself more
considerable abroad than any of these usurpers, for he was, even in the latter
end of his time (in the reign of Ahaz, which began in his seventeenth year), a
great terror to the kingdom of Judah, as we find, Isa. vii. 1, &c. (2.) He
lost a great part of his kingdom to the king of Assyria. Several cities are
here named (v. 29) which were taken from him, all the land of Gilead on
the other side Jordan, and Galilee in the north containing the tribes of
Naphtali and Zebulon, were seized, and the inhabitants carried captive into
Assyria. By this judgment God punished him for his attempt upon Judah and
Jerusalem. It was then foretold that within two or three years after he made
that attempt, before a child, then born, should be able to cry My father
and my mother, the riches of Samaria should be taken away before the
king of Assyria (Isa. viii. 4), and here we have the accomplishment of
that prediction. (3.) Soon after this he forfeited his life to the resentments
of his countrymen, who, it is probable, were disgusted at him for leaving them
exposed to a foreign enemy, while he was invading Judah, of which Hoshea took
advantage and, to gain his crown, seized his life, slew him, and reigned in
his stead. Surely he was fond of a crown indeed who, at this time, would
run such a hazard as a traitor did; for the crown of Israel, now that it had
lost the choicest of its flowers and jewels, was lined more than ever with
thorns, had of late been fatal to all the heads that had worn it, was
forfeited to divine justice, and now ready to be laid in the dust--a crown
which a wise man would not have taken up in the street, yet Hoshea not only
ventured upon it but ventured for it, and it cost him dear.
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The
Reign of Jotham.
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B.
C. 742.
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32 In the second year of Pekah the son of
Remaliah king of Israel began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to
reign. 33 Five and twenty years old was he when he began to reign,
and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was
Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok. 34 And he did that which was
right in the sight of the LORD:
he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. 35
Howbeit the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burned
incense still in the high places. He built the higher gate of the house of the
LORD.
36 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they
not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
37 In those days the LORD
began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of
Remaliah. 38 And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried
with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Ahaz his son reigned in
his stead.
We have here a short account of the reign of Jotham king of Judah, of whom we
are told, 1. That he reigned very well, did that which was right in the
sight of the Lord, v. 34. Josephus gives him a very high character,
stating that he was pious towards God, just towards men, and laid out himself
for the public good,--that, whatever was amiss, he took care to have it
rectified,--and, in short, wanted no virtue that became a good prince. Though
the high places were not taken away, yet to draw people from them, and keep
them close to God's holy place, he showed great respect to the temple, and
built the higher gate which he went through to the temple. If magistrates
cannot do all they would for the suppressing of vice and profaneness, let them
do so much the more for the support and advancement of piety and virtue, and
the bringing of them into reputation. If they cannot pull down the high places
of sin, yet let them build and beautify the high gate of God's house. 2. That
he died in the midst of his days, v. 33. Of most of the kings of Judah
we are told how old they were when they began their reign, and by that may
compute how old they were when they died; but no account is kept of the age
of any of the kings of Israel that I remember, only of the years of their reigns.
This honour God would put upon the kings of the house of David above those of
other families. And by these accounts it appears that there was none of all
the kings of Judah that reached David's age, seventy, the common age of man.
Asa's age I do not find. Uzziah lived to be sixty-eight, Manasseh sixty-seven,
and Jehoshaphat sixty; and these were the three oldest; many of those that
were of note did not reach fifty. This Jotham died at forty-one. He was too
great a blessing to be continued long to such an unworthy people. His death
was a judgment, especially considering the character of his son and successor.
3. That in his days the confederacy was formed against Judah by Rezin and
Remaliah's son, the king of Syria and the king of Israel, which appeared so
very formidable in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz that, upon notice of it,
the heart of that prince was moved and the heart of the people, as the
trees of the wood are moved with the wind, Isa. vii. 2. The confederates
were unjust in the attempt, yet it is here said (v. 37), The Lord
began to send them against Judah, as he bade Shimei curse David, and took
away from Job what the Sabeans robbed him of. Men are God's hand--the sword,
the rod in his hand--which he makes use of as he pleases to serve his own
righteous counsels, though men be unrighteous in their intentions. This storm
gathered in the reign of pious Jotham, but he came to his grave in peace and
it fell upon his degenerate son.
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