_A.M. 3246. B.C. 758._ The reign of Azariah, 2 Kings 15:1. Of Zachariah, 2 Kings 15:8. Of Shallum, 2 Kings 15:13. Of Menahem, 2 Kings 15:16. Of Pekahiah, 2 Kings 15:23. Of Pekah, 2 Kings 15:27. Of Jotham, 2 Kings 15:32.... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam_ After an interregnum of twelve years in the kingdom of Judah, either through the prevalency of the faction which cut off Amaziah the father, and kept the son out of his kingdom; or, rather, because Azariah was very young, it is thought only four years of... [ Continue Reading ]
_According to all that his father had done_ Like him beginning well, but not persevering. _Save that_ It should rather be read, _howbeit_, or _nevertheless_, (as in 2 Kings 14:4,) _the high places were not removed_ That irregularity, in the mode and place of worship, still continued.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper_ The cause of this stroke is related at large, 2 Chronicles 26:16. _And dwelt in a several house_ Separated from conversation with others by virtue of the law, recorded Leviticus 13:46, which, being the law of the King of kings, bound kings no less th... [ Continue Reading ]
_They buried him with his fathers_, &c. Not in the very sepulchre of the kings, because he was a leper, (2 Chronicles 26:23,) but in the same field, and very near to the same place, where his ancestors lay interred.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shallum the son of Jabesh_ Probably one of his chief captains; _conspired against him_ On what pretence is quite uncertain. _And smote him before the people_ Openly and impudently, which, it is likely, he presumed to do, either because he remembered that the promise of the kingdom, made to Jehu, wa... [ Continue Reading ]
_The rest of the acts of Zachariah_, &c. We read of nothing that he did; therefore the meaning is, that his behaviour during the six months in which he reigned, how he managed things, and provoked this conspiracy, are recorded elsewhere.... [ Continue Reading ]
_This was the word of the Lord, Thy sons_, &c. How unfaithful soever they proved to God, he faithfully performed the promise which he made to Jehu, whose sons, to the fourth generation, succeeded him in the throne of Israel. But this Shallum put an end to that family, and fulfilled the prophecy of H... [ Continue Reading ]
_He reigned a full month_ That dominion seldom lasts long that 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: he _went up from Tirzah_ A city in the tribe of Ephraim, where Jeroboam first dwelt; and _... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then Menahem smote Tiphsah_ Either that Tiphsah mentioned 1 Kings 4:24, or another city of the same name. _And the coasts thereof, from Tirzah_ All the people dwelling between those places. _Because they opened not to him_ Refused to open the gates of their city, and submit to him as conqueror. _Al... [ Continue Reading ]
_Pul the king of Assyria came against the land_ This is the first time that we find any mention of the kingdom of Assyria, since the days of Nimrod, who erected a small principality there, Genesis 10:11. And they were no great people, one would suppose, when the eighty-third Psalm was written, in wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_Of all the mighty men of wealth_ By exacting the money only of the rich, it is likely, he thought he should ingratiate himself with the common people, upon whom he laid no tax. Fifty shekels of silver, demanded of each man of wealth, were a sum equal to f7. 10 _s_. of our money.... [ Continue Reading ]
_He did that which was evil_, &c. He was the wicked son of a wicked father, and so perished by such a conspiracy as his father formed against Shallum. _With Argob and Arieh_ It does not appear from the text whether these persons were Pekah's partners in this treason, or Pekahiah's courtiers and offi... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah Pekah began to reign_ This is the fifth king that reigned over Israel during the reign of Azariah king of Judah. Pekah, however, reigned much longer than any of the preceding four. For though he also, like Shallum and Menahem, got the kingdom by treason and b... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the days of Pekah came Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria_, &c. He is supposed by some to have been the son and successor of Sardanapalus, who restored the kingdom of Assyria, and possessed it after it bad been dismembered by Belesis and Arbaces: but our learned Prideaux, who begins his valuable c... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hosea made a conspiracy against Pekah, and smote him_ It is probable that the people were provoked at him for leaving them exposed to a foreign enemy, while he invaded Judah; and that Hosea took advantage of their discontent and disgust to seize and slay him. Thus Pekah's treason and violence retur... [ Continue Reading ]
_Began Jotham the son of Uzziah to reign_ Why he should be called all along Azariah, and here, and 2 Kings 15:34, Uzziah, no account can be given, unless it was to show that he had two names. And it appears by the book of Chronicles, that the name _Uzziah_ was as much used, when that book was writte... [ Continue Reading ]
_Five and twenty years old was he when he began to reign _ Namely, properly and alone; for he had reigned before this as his father's deputy. _And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord_ Josephus gives him a very high character; that he was pious toward God, just toward men, and laid h... [ Continue Reading ]
_In those days_ That is, toward the end of Jotham's reign; _the Lord began to send against Judah, Rezin and Pekah_ As he bid Shimei curse David, when he gave him an opportunity of doing it, without fear of punishment. Wicked men are the sword, the rod in God's hand, which he makes use of as he pleas... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David_ He died in the midst of his days, being only forty-one years of age. 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 his suc... [ Continue Reading ]