2 Kings 23:33

31-37 After Josiah was laid in his grave, one trouble came on another, till, in twenty-two years, Jerusalem was destroyed. The wicked perished in great numbers, the remnant were purified, and Josiah's reformation had raised up some to join the few who were the precious seed of their future church and nation. A little time, and slender abilities, often suffice to undo the good which pious men have, for a course of years, been labouring to effect. But, blessed be God, the good work which he begins by his regenerating Spirit, cannot be done away, but withstands all changes and temptations....

Verse 33. _NECHOH PUT HIM IN BANDS_] But what was the cause of his putting him in bands? It is conjectured, and not without reason, that _Jehoahaz_, otherwise called _Shallum_, raised an army, met Nechoh in his return from _Carchemish_, fought, was beaten, taken prisoner, put in chains; and taken into Egypt, where he died; 2Ch 23:34, and Jeremiah 22:11. _Riblah_ or _Diblath_, the place of this battle, was probably a town in _Syria_, in the land or district of _Hamath_....

Pharaoh-Nechoh, after bringing Phoenicia and Syria under his rule, and penetrating as far as Carchemish, returned to Southern Syria, and learned what had occurred at Jerusalem in his absence. He sent orders to Jehoahaz to attend the court which he was holding at Riblah, and Jehoahaz fell into the trap Ezekiel 19:4. Riblah still retains its name. It is situated on the Orontes, in the Coele-Syrian valley, near the point where the valley opens into a wide and fertile plain. Neco seems to have been the first to perceive its importance. Afterward Nebuchadnezzar made it his headquarters during his sieges of Jerusalem and Tyre 2 Kings 25:21; Jeremiah 39:5;...

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 23:1 JOSIAH'S RENEWAL OF THE COVENANT. HIS REFORMS AND DEATH. REIGN OF JEHOAHAZ. ACCESSION OF JEHOIAKIM. 2 KINGS 23:1 _Josiah_'_s renewal of the covenant_._ _The first care of Josiah, on receiving Huldah's message, which stamped the book found as the true "book of the covenant," was to call together a great assembly of the nation, which should be sufficiently representative of it, and renew the covenant between God and his people made originally a

AND PHARAOHNECHOH PUT HIM IN BANDS AT RIBLAH IN THE LAND OF HAMATH,.... Places in Syria; Hamath was formerly a kingdom in Syria, and Riblah is said by Jerom c to be Antioch of Syria, near to which was the fountain of Daphne; and in the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem on Numbers 34:11. Daphne is put for Riblah; and Josephus d says Antioch was by Daphne of Syria; and in the Apocrypha: "Which when Onias knew of a surety, he reproved him, and withdrew himself into a sanctuary at Daphne, that lieth by Antiochia.'' (2 Maccabees 4:33) Daphne is said to be by Antioch; with which place Pompey was greatly delighted, because of the pleasantness of it, and the abundance of waters about it e: hither, it is probable, Jehoahaz went with an army to avenge his father's death on the king of Egypt, or to assist the king of Babylon, or both; and here Pharaoh met with him, and took h

VI. FINAL APOSTASY OF JUDAH AND THE CAPTIVITY 1. Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim CHAPTER 23:31-37 _ 1. The three months' reign of Jehoahaz (2 Kings 23:31; 2 Chronicles 36:1)_ 2. Jehoiakim made king (2 Kings 23:34; 2 Chronicles 36:4) Chronicles tells us that immediately after the death of Josiah, the people of the land took Jehoahaz (which means “Jehovah holds up”) and made him king. He was not the LORD's choice, but the people's choice. He was not the eldest son and therefore the action of the people was an unlawful and a lawless one. He was an evil-doer; Josephus speaks of him as

Celebration of the Passover. The mention of the eighteenth year (2 Kings 23:23; cf. 2 Kings 22:3) shows that the reforms of Josiah occupied six months. The book was discovered in the first month of the civil year, in autumn. It was read (_cf._ Deuteronomy 31:10) at the Feast of Tabernacles. The Passover contemplated in Deuteronomy 16:6 was celebrated in the central sanctuary. It was not the domestic feast of the Priestly Code (Exodus 12), but a general assembly of the nation. In 2 Chronicles 30 Hezekiah is said to have kept a similar feast, but this is denied in...

AT BIBLAH. After his defeat by Nebuchadrezzar at Carohemish. Eiblah was. centre from whence roads branched to the Euphrates and Nineveh, or by Palmyra to Babylon. The southern roads led to Palestine, Lebanon, and Egypt. Eiblah still bears this name, and is about twenty-five miles south-south-west of Ernesa. THAT HE MIGHT NOT REIGN. Hebrew text reads "when he reigned". Authorized Version follows some codices, with Aramaean, Septuagint, and Vulgate....

_put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath_ In 2 Chronicles 36:3 it is said -the king of Egypt put Jehoahaz down at Jerusalem". We cannot, however, be sure that this implies an advance by Pharaoh-nechoh upon the holy city. However, the appointment which the people had made was clearly not acceptable to the Egyptian king, and Jehoahaz was carried away to the point which Pharaoh had reached in his march from Carchemish, and there put in bonds. _Riblah_ (called also _Riblathah_) was a city on the Orontes, and on the road which led from Palestine to Babylon. It is afterwards mentioned as the place at which Nebuchadnezzar tarried during the reduction of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:20-21) and whither the captives were brought to him. _tribute of an hundred talents_ On

RIBLAH— _Riblah_ was a city of Syria, upon the Orontes, afterwards called Antioch. As it was one of the pleasantest places in all Syria, Nebuchadnezzar lay there to attend the success of the siege of Jerusalem, to send his army proper supplies, and to intercept any relief that might come to the besieged....