_AMAZIAH REIGNS TWENTY-NINE YEARS; HE OVERCOMES THE EDOMITES, AND IS OVERCOME BY JEHOASH KING OF ISRAEL, WHO PLUNDERS THE TEMPLE. AMAZIAH IS SLAIN BY A CONSPIRACY. AFTER JEHOASH, JEROBOAM REIGNS IN ISRAEL FORTY-ONE YEARS._ _Before Christ 839._... [ Continue Reading ]
AS SOON AS THE KINGDOM WAS CONFIRMED—HE SLEW HIS SERVANTS, &C.— It seems, that the two assassins continued to be men of weight and interest at court even after they had murdered the king; for Amaziah retained them in his service for some time, nor durst venture to execute justice upon them till he w... [ Continue Reading ]
TOOK SELAH—AND CALLED THE NAME OF IT JOKTHEEL— As סלע _selang_ in the Hebrew signifies a _rock,_ and exactly answers to the Greek word _Petra,_ the generality of commentators with good reason have agreed, that this _Selah_ is the same with _Petra,_ the metropolis of _Arabia Petraea,_ whence the whol... [ Continue Reading ]
COME, LET US LOOK ONE ANOTHER IN THE FACE— Josephus, in his account of this transaction, tells us, that Amaziah wrote an imperious letter to the king of Israel, commanding him and his people to pay the same allegiance to him, which they formerly paid to his ancestors David and Solomon; or, in case o... [ Continue Reading ]
THE THISTLE THAT WAS IN LEBANON— This address is a proverb derived from the fable; a kind of speech which corresponds in all respects to writing by hieroglyphics; each being a symbol of something else to be understood: and as it sometimes happened when a hieroglyphic became famous, that it lost its... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THEY MADE A CONSPIRACY AGAINST HIM IN JERUSALEM, &C.— What provoked the people of Jerusalem, more than those of any other part of the nation, against their king, was, their seeing their city spoiled of its best ornaments, exposed to reproach on account of the great breach that was made in their... [ Continue Reading ]
BY THE HAND OF HIS SERVANT JONAH— The only mention we have of this prophet is in this passage, and in the account of his famous mission to Nineveh, where we shall say more on the subject. What the prophesies were by which he encouraged Jeroboam to proclaim war against the king of Syria, are nowhere... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW HE RECOVERED DAMASCUS, AND HAMATH— Some are of opinion, that when Jeroboam re-conquered these two chief cities of Syria, he restored them to the kingdom of Judah, because they belonged to it of right, and reserved to himself only a small tribute to be paid him by way of acknowledgment. This is w... [ Continue Reading ]