mentation, and loosing of the members; and their countenances shall be perfectly black with fear. And where will be the den of the lions, and the mother of the young lions? God says to thee, Nineveh, that they shall deface thee, and the lions shall no longer go out from thee, to give laws to the world." And indeed this prophet prophesied many other things besides these concerning Nineveh; which I do not think necessary to repeat: and I here omit them, that I may not appear troublesome to my readers. All which things happened to Nineveh a hundred and fifteen years afterward.*

CHAP. XII.

OF THE DEATH OF JOTHAM, AND THE ACCESSION OF AHAZ; THE INVASION OF JERUSALEM BY THE KINGS OF SYRIA AND ISRAEL; AND THE SUBSEQUENT ASSISTANCE WHICH AHAZ RECEIVED FROM TIGLATH-PILESER, KING OF ASSYRIA.

NOW Jotham died, when he had lived forty-one years, and of them reigned sixteen;† and he was buried in the sepulchres of the kings. The kingdom then came to his son Ahaz; who proved most impious towards God,‡ and a transgressor of the laws of his country. He imitated the kings of Israel, and reared altars in Jerusalem, and offered sacrifices upon them to idols; to which also he offered his own son as a burnt-offering;|| according to the practice of the Canaanites. His other actions. were also of the same sort. Now as he was going on in this mad course, Rezin, King of Syria and Damascus, and Pekah, king of Israel, who were now at amity, made war with him. And when they had driven him into Jerusalem, they besieged

* About an. 611.

From an. 759 to 743.

See what great light is given by the exact knowledge of this history of Ahaz, Pekah, Rezin, and Tiglath Pul Assur to the famous prophecy of Isaiah, chap. vii. concerning the deliverance of the family of David from destruction at this time; and its continuance till the birth of the Messiah of this family, and that of a virgin also, and concerning some other predictions here concerned; in the Supplement to the Literal Accomplishments of Prophecies, page 41-54.

|| 2 Kings xvi. 3.

that city a long while: making but a small progress, on account of the strength of its walls. And when the king of Syria had taken the city Elath upon the Red Sea, and had slain the inhabitants, he peopled it with Syrians; and when he had slain those in the other garrisons, and the Jews in their neighbourhood, and had driven away much prey, he returned with his army back to Damascus.* Now when the king of Jerusalem knew that the Syrians were returned home, he, supposing himself a match for the king of Israel, drew out his army against him, and joining battle with him was beaten. And this happened because God was angry with him, on account of his many and great enormities. Accordingly there were slain by the Israelites one hundred and twenty thousand of his men that day: whose general, Amaziah, slew Zachariah the king's son in this conflict with Ahaz; as well as the governor of the kingdom, whose name was Azricam. He also carried Elkanah, the general of the troops of the tribe of Judah, into captivity; together with the women and children of the tribe of Benjamin. And when they had got a great deal of prey, they returned to Samaria.†

Now there was one Obed who was a prophet at that time in Samaria; he met the army, before the city walls: and with a loud voice told them, that they had got the victory, not by their

In the time of Abraham, Damascus was in being; and some of the ancients inform us, that this patriarch reigned there immediately after Damascus, its founder. This much is certain, that one whom he had made free, and appointed steward of his house, was of Damascus, Gen. xv. 2. at the time that he pursued Chedorlaomer, and the five confederated kings, as far as Hobah, which lies northward of Damascus, Gen. xiv. 15. The scriptures say nothing more of this city, until the time of David, when Hadad, who according to Josephus, Jewish Antiq. lib. vii. c. 6. was the first who took upon him the title of king of Damascus, sending troops to the assistance of Hadadezer king of Zobah, was himself defeated by David, and his country subdued. Towards the end of Solomon's reign, Rezin recovered the kingdom of Damascus, and shook off the Jewish yoke, 1 Kings xi. 23, &c. Some time after this, Asa king of Judah implored the help of Benhadad king of Damascus against Baasha king of Israel, 1 Kings xv. 18. And from his time the kings of Damascus were generally called Benbadad, till in this last controversy wth them. Ahaz called in the assistance of the king of Assyria, who killed their king, and carried his subjects into captivity, according to the predictions of Isaiah, chap. vii. 9. and Amos, chap. vii. Calmet's Dictionary, under the word.

B.

own strength, but by the reason of God's anger against king Ahaz: and he complained that they were not satisfied with the good success they had had against him: but were so bold as to make captives out of their kinsmen, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. He also gave them counsel to let them go home, without doing them any harm; for that if they did not obey God herein, they should be punished. So the people of Israel came together to their assembly, and considered of these matters: whèn a man whose name was Berechiah, and who, was one of chief reputation in the government, stood up, and three others with him, and said, "We will not suffer the citizens to bring these prisoners into the city, lest we be all destroyed by God. We have sins enough of our own, that we have committed against him, as the prophet assures us. Nor ought we therefore to introduce the practice of new crimes." When the soldiers heard that, they permitted them to do what they thought best. So the aforenamed men took the captives and gave them provisions, and sent them into their own country, without doing them any harm. However, these four went along with them, and conducted them as far as Jericho, which is not far from Jerusalem; and then returned to Samaria.

Hereupon king Ahaz, having been so completely defeated by the Israelites, sent to Tiglath-Pileser,* king of the Assyrians, and sued for assistance in his war against the Israelites, Syrians, and Damascenes; with a promise to send him much. money. He sent him also great presents at the same time. Now this king, upon the reception of the ambassadors, came to assist Ahaz, and having made war upon the Syrians, he laid

* In 2 Chron. xxviii. 20, we read, that Tiglath-Pileser came unto Ahaz, and distressed, but strengthened him not. And yet, in 2 Kings xvi. 9. it is said, that he did help him; and how then can he be said to have distressed him? Very well: for as he came to his assistance against the king of Syria, so he took Damascus, carried the people captive, and delivered Ahaz from the power of the Syrians; but this did Abaz little good, for he helped him not to recover the cities which the Philistines had taken from him. He lent him no forces, nor enabled him to recruit his own; on the contrary he rather weakened him, by exhausting his treasures, and destroying Samaria, which opened a way for the invasion of his coun. try with more facility, as it happened in the next reign. For it is no uncommon thing, even in later ages, to hear of kingdoms that were called in the help of some foreign prince against their enemies, over-run and conquered by those who came in to their assistance. Patrick's Commentary. B.

their country waste, took Damascus by force, slew Rezin their king, and transplanted the people of Damascus into the upper Media; a colony of Assyrians, in their city. He also afflicted the land of Israel, and took many captives out of it. In the mean time, king Ahaz took all the gold that was in the royal treasury, and the silver, and what was in the temple of God, and what precious gifts were there, and he carried them with him, and came to Damascus, and gave it to the king of Assyria, according to his agreement. So he confessed that he owed him thanks for all that he had done for him, and returned to Jerusalem.

Now this king was so thoughtless of what was for his own good, that he would not leave off worshipping the Syrians' gods, when he was beaten by them: but he continued in his idolatry, as though they had procured him the victory. And when he was beaten again, he began to honour the gods of the Assyrians: and he seemed more desirous to honour any other than his paternal and true God; whose anger was the cause of his defeat. Nay, he proceeded to such a degree of contempt of God's worship, that he shut up the temple entirely; and forbade the people to bring in the appointed sacrifices; and took away the gifts that had been given to it. And when he had offered these indignities to God, he died; having lived thirtysix years,† and reigned sixteen ;‡ and he left his son Hezekiah for his successor.

* 2 Kings xxviii. 24.

† When Josephus, together with all our Hebrew, and all our Greek copies in the Kings; and all our Hebrew, and almost all our Greek copies in the Chronicles, make Ahaz to be but twenty years old when he began to reign, and to reign sixteen years; and then as all the copies agree, to be succeeded by Hezekiah at twenty-five years of age: it is plain there are but eleven years, or at most some odd months besides for Ahaz, the father, when the son Hezekiah was born; which is one of the greatest difficulties in all the Bible. But then, as Dr. Wall justly ob serves, this difficulty is cleared by the Greek copy and the Armenian version; which though the former in the Kings, and the latter in the Chronicles, had with the rest dropped the odd years above twenty for the age of Ahaz, when he came to the crown, yet has the former in the Chronicles, 2 Chron. xxviii. I, and the lat ter in the Kings, preserved them, and expressly assured us there, that Ahaz was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; which directly implies that he was sixteen years old when his son Hezekiah was born; which wholly obviates the difficulty.

From An. 744 to 728. ¡

CHAP. XIII.

OF THE DEATH OP PEKAH; AND THE REIGNS OF HOSHEA, KING OF ISRAEL, AND HEZEKIAH, KING OF JUDAH.

ABOUT the same time Pekah,* king of Israel died by the treachery of a friend of his named Hoshea, who retained the kingdom nine years;† but was a wicked man, and a despiser of the divine worship. And Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, made an expedition against him, and overcame him (which must have been because he had not God favourable nor assistant to him,) and brought him to submission, and ordered him to pay an appointed tribute. Now in the fourth year of the reign of Hoshea, Hezekiah,‡ the son of Ahaz, began to reign in Jerusa

*

Josephus says here, that Pekah was slain about the same time that Ahaz died; which chronology will not allow. Yet when we consider, that in the same chronology the fourth of Ahaz is called the twentieth of Jotham, 2 Kings xv. 30. while Jotham reigned in all but sixteen years, verse, 33, it may be questioned, whether some of the copies in the days of Josephus had not hereabouts some different numbers; and that according to those numbers Pekah might have been slain about the same time that Ahaz died; though possibly Josephus might use these words, "about the same time," in a looser acceptation.

↑ From an. 737 to 728.

Of Ahaz it is recorded, that he was but twenty years old when he began to reign, and that he reigned sixteen before he died; so that in the whole he lived six and thirty years, 2 Kings xvi. 2. Now his son Hezekiah is said to have been five and twenty years old when he began to reign, 2 Kings xviii. 2. and, consequently, his father must have begot him when he was eleven years old, which seems a little incredible and to solve this difficulty, commentators have taken several ways. Some have imagined that Hezekiah was not the real, but adopted son only of Ahaz, and might therefore succeed his foster father, at this or any other age; but this hypothesis, as Bochart observes, spoils the descent of our Saviour from David. Others suppose, that there was an interregnum for some years occasioned by a sedition that happened in Jerusalem. But there is no foundation for this hypothesis in history; on the contrary it is much more likely, that, as Hezekiah was a man grown, and greatly beloved by the people, he should immediately succeed upon his father's demise. Others imagine, that, in the detestation of Ahaz's wickedness his reign is omitted in this account, and that therefore the pas sage should be thus rendered: Ahaz was twenty years old when his father began to reign. But this is reversing the order of the words in the text, and turning them into a sense that is far from being natural. Others, not satisfied with any of these solutions, will needs have it, that there is an error crept into the text it