2 Kings 1:1

THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS,

OTHERWISE CALLED THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE KINGS

-Year from the Creation, according to the English Bible, 3108.

-Year before the birth of Christ, 892.

-Year before the vulgar era of Christ's nativity 896.

-Year since the Deluge, according to Archbishop Usher and the English Bible, 1452.

-Year of the Cali Yuga, or Indian era of the Deluge, 2206. Chronologers vary very considerably in their calculations of the time which elapsed between the flood and the birth of Abraham, the difference of the two extremes amounting to nine hundred years! Archbishop Usher's computation is from the common Hebrew text, with the single exception of fixing the birth of Abraham in the one hundred and thirtieth year of the life of his father, instead of the seventieth, in order to reconcile 2 Kings 11:26; 2 Kings 11:32, with Acts 7:4. But these passages are better reconciled, in the opinion of Dr. Kennicott, by stating (with the Samaritan Pentateuch) the whole life of Terah to have been one hundred and forty-five years, instead of two hundred and five, as in our common Bibles.

-Year from the destruction of Troy, according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 289.

-Year from the foundation of Solomon's temple, 115.

-Year since the division of Solomon's monarchy into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, 79.

-Year before the era of Iphitus, who re-established the Olympic Games, three hundred and thirty-eight years after their institution by Hercules, or about eight hundred and eighty-four years before the commencement of the Christian era, 12.

-Year before the conquest of Coroebus at Elis, usually styled the first Olympiad, (being the 28th Olympiad after their re-establishment by Iphitus,) 120.

-Year before the Varronian or generally received era of the building of Rome, 143.

-Year before the building of Rome, according to Cato and the Fasti Consulares, 144.

-Year before the building of Rome, according to Polybius, the historian, 145.

-Year before the building of Rome, according to Fabius Pictor, who lived about two hundred and twenty-five years before the Christian era, 149.

-Year before the commencement of the Nabonassarean era, 149. The years of this epoch contained uniformly 365 days, so that 1461 Nabonassarean were equal to 1460 Julian years. This era commenced on the fourth of the calends of March, (Feb. 26,) B.C. 747; which was the year in which Romulus laid the foundation of Rome, according to Fabius Pictor.

-Year of the Julian Period, 3818.

-Year of the Dionysian Period, 94.

-Cycle of the Sun, 10.

-Cycle of the Moon, 18.

-Year of Megacles, the sixth perpetual archon of the Athenians, 26.

-Ocrazeres, the immediate predecessor of Sardanapalus, was king over the Assyrians about this time, according to Strauchius: but when this king reigned is very uncertain, Scaliger fixing the fall of Sardanapalus, which ended the Assyrian empire, in the year of the Julian Period, 3841; Langius, in 3852 of the same epocha; and Eusebius, in the year before Christ, 820.

-Year of Agrippa Silvius, the eleventh king of the Latins, 20.

-Year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, 18.

-Year of Ahaziah, king of Israel, 2.

-Last year of the Prophet Elijah.

-Tenth year of Elisha.

CHAPTER I

Ahaziah, being hurt by a fall, sends messengers to Baal-zebub

to inquire whether he shall recover, 1, 2.

They are met by Elijah, who sends them back with the

information that he shall surely die, 3-8.

The king sends a captain and fifty men, to bring Elijah to

Samaria, on which fire comes down from heaven, and destroys

both him and his men, 9, 10.

Another captain and fifty men are sent, who are likewise

destroyed, 11, 12.

A third is sent, who behaves himself humbly, and Elijah is

commanded to accompany him; he obeys, comes to the king,

reproves his idolatry, and announces his death, 13-16.

Ahaziah dies and Jehoram reigns in his stead, 17, 18.

NOTES ON CHAP. I

Verse 2 Kings 1:1. Moab rebelled] The Moabites had been subdued by David, and laid under tribute, 2 Kings 3:4, and 2 Samuel 8:2. After the division of the two kingdoms, the Moabites fell partly under the dominion of Israel, and partly under that of Judah, until the death of Ahab, when they arose and shook off this yoke. Jehoram confederated with the king of Judah and the king of Edom, in order to reduce them. See this war, 2 Kings 3:5.