Chapter 15:
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Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1 Kings 1 Chronicles
2 Kings 15
Complete Concise
In this chapter, I. The history of two of the kings of Judah is
briefly recorded:—1. Of Azariah, or Uzziah (v. 1-7). 2. Of Jotham his son (v.
32-38). II. The history of many of the kings of Israel that reigned at the
same time is given us in short, five in succession, all of whom, except one,
went down slain to the pit, and their murders were their successors. 1.
Zachariah, the last of the house of Jehu, reigned six months, and then was slain
and succeeded by Shallum (v. 8-12). 2. Shallum reigned one month, and then was
slain and succeeded by Menahem (v. 13-15). 3. Menahem reigned ten years, or
tyrannised rather, such were his barbarous cruelties (v. 16) and unreasonable
exactions (v. 20), and then died in his bed, and left his son to succeed him
first, and then suffer for him (v. 16-22). 4. Pekahiah reigned two years, and
then was slain and succeeded by Pekah (v. 23-26). 5. Pekah reigned twenty
years, and then was slain and succeeded by Hoshea, the last of all the kings of
Israel (v. 27-31) for things were now working and hastening apace towards the
final destruction of that kingdom.
Verses 1-7
This is a short account of the reign of Azariah. 1. Most of it
is general, and the same that has been given of others; he began young and
reigned long (v. 2), did, for the most part, that which was right, v. 3 (it was
happy for the kingdom that a good reign was a long one), only he had not zeal
and courage enough to take away the high places, v. 4. 2. That which is
peculiar, v. 5 (that God smote him with a leprosy) is more largely related, with
the occasion of it, 2 Chr. 26:16, etc., where we have also a fuller account of
the glories of the former part of his reign, as well as of the disgraces of the
latter part of it. He did that which was right, as Amaziah had done; like him,
he began well, but failed before he finished. Here we are told, (1.) That he was
a leper. The greatest of men are not only subject to the common calamities, but
also to the common infirmities, of human nature; and, if they be guilty of any
heinous sin, they lie as open as the meanest to the most grievous strokes of
divine vengeance. (2.) God smote him with this leprosy, to chastise him for his
presumptuous invasion of the priests' office. If great men be proud men, some
way or other God will humble them, and make them know he is both above them and
against them, for he resisteth the proud. (3.) That he was a leper
to the day
of his death. Though we have reason to think he repented and the sin was
pardoned, yet, for warning to others, he was continued under this mark of God's
displeasure as long as he lived, and perhaps it was for the good of his soul
that he was so. (4.) That he
dwelt in a separate house, as being made
ceremonially unclean by the law, to the discipline of which, though a king, he
must submit. He that presumptuously intruded into God's temple, and pretended
to be a priest, was justly shut out from his own palace, and shut up as a
prisoner or recluse, ever after. We suppose that his
separate house was
made as convenient and agreeable as might be. Some translate it a
free house,
where he had liberty to take his pleasure. However, it was a great mortification
to one that had been so much a man of honour, and a man of business, as he had
been, to be cut off from society and dwell always in a
separate house: it
would almost make life itself a burden, even to kings, though they have never
any to converse with but their inferiors; the most contemplative men would soon
be weary of it. (5.) That his son was his viceroy in the affairs both of his
court (for
he was over the house) and of his kingdom (for he was
judging
the people of the land); and it was both a comfort to him and a blessing to
his kingdom that he had such a son to fill up his room.
Verses 8-31
The best days of the kingdom of Israel were while the government
was in Jehu's family. In his reign, and the next three reigns, though there
were many abominable corruptions and miserable grievances in Israel, yet the
crown went in succession, the kings died in their beds, and some care was taken
of public affairs; but, now that those days are at an end, the history which we
have in these verses of about thirty-three years represents the affairs of that
kingdom in the utmost confusion imaginable. Woe to those that were with child
(v. 16) and to those that gave suck in those days, for then must needs be great
tribulations, when, for
the transgression of the land, many were the princes
thereof.
I. Let us observe something, in general, concerning these
unhappy revolutions and the calamities which must needs attend them—these bad
times, as they may truly be called. 1. God had tried the people of Israel both
with judgments and mercies, explained and enforced by his servants the prophets,
and yet they continued impenitent and unreformed, and therefore God justly
brought these miseries upon them, as Moses had warned them. If you will yet
walk
contrary to me, I will punish you yet seven times more, Lev. 26:21, etc. 2.
God made good his promise to Jehu, that his sons to the fourth generation after
him should sit upon the throne of Israel, which was a greater favour than was
shown to any of the royal families either before or after his. God had said it
should be so (ch. 10:30) and we are told in this chapter (v. 12) that so it came
to pass. See how punctual God is to his promises. These calamities God long
designed for Israel, and they deserved them, yet they were not inflicted till
that word had taken effect to the full. Thus God rewarded Jehu for his zeal in
destroying the worship of Baal and the house of Ahab; and yet, when the measure
of the sins of the house of Jehu was full, God avenged upon it the blood then
shed, called
the blood of Jezreel, Hos. 1:4. 3. All these kings did that
which was
evil in the sight of the Lord, for
they walked in the sins
of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Though at variance with one another, yet in
this they agreed, to keep up idolatry, and the people loved to have it so;
though they were emptied from vessel to vessel, that
taste remained in them,
and
that scent was not changed. It was sad indeed when their government
was so often altered, yet never for the better—that among all those contending
interests none of them should think it as much their interest to destroy the
calves as others had done to support them. 4. Each of these (except one)
conspired against his predecessor, and slew him—
Shallum, Menahem, Pekah,
and
Hoshea, all traitors and murderers, and yet all kings awhile, one of
them ten, another twenty, and another nine years; for God may suffer wickedness
to prosper and to carry away the wealth and honours awhile, but, sooner or
later, blood shall have blood, and he that dealt treacherously shalt be dealt
treacherously with. One wicked man is often made a scourge to another, and every
wicked man, at length, a ruin to himself. 5. The ambition of the great men made
the nation miserable. Here is Tiphsah, a city of Israel, barbarously destroyed,
with all the coasts thereof, by one of these pretenders (v. 16), and no doubt it
was through blood that each of them waded to the throne, nor could any of these
kings perish alone. No land can have greater pests, nor Israel worse troubles,
than such men as care not how much the welfare and repose of their country are
sacrificed to their revenge and affectation of dominion. 6. While the nation was
thus shattered by divisions at home the kings of Assyria, first one (v. 19) and
then another (v. 29), came against it and did what they pleased. Nothing does
more towards the making of a nation an easy prey to a common enemy than
intestine broils and contests for the sovereignty. Happy the land where that is
settled. 7. This was the condition of Israel just before they were quite ruined
and carried away captive, for that was in the ninth year of Hoshea, the last of
these usurpers. If they had, in these days of confusion and perplexity, humbled
themselves before God and sought his face, that final destruction might have
been prevented; but when God judgeth he will overcome. These factions, the fruit
of an evil spirit sent among them, hastened that captivity, for a kingdom thus
divided against itself will soon come to desolation.
II. Let us take a short view of the particular reigns.
1. Zachariah, the son of Jeroboam, began to reign in the
thirty-eighth year of Azariah, or Uzziah, king of Judah, v. 8. Some of the most
critical chronologers reckon that between Jeroboam and his son Zachariah the
throne was vacant twenty-two years, others eleven years, through the
disturbances and dissensions that were in the kingdom; and then it was not
strange that Zachariah was deposed before he was well seated on the throne: he
reigned but six months, and then Shallum
slew him before the people,
perhaps as Caesar was slain in the senate, or he put him to death publicly as a
criminal, with the approbation of the people, to whom he had, some way or other,
made himself odious; so ended the line of Jehu.
2. But had Shallum peace, who slew his master? No, he had not
(v. 13), one month of days measured his reign and then he was cut off; perhaps
to this the prophet, who then lived, refers (Hos. 5:7),
Now shall a month
devour them with their portions. That dominion seldom lasts long which 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—
slew
him and reigned in his stead, v. 14. Probably he was general in the army,
which then lay encamped at Tirzah, and, hearing of Shallum's treason and
usurpation, hastened to punish it, as Omri did that of Zimri in a like case, 1
Ki. 16:17.
3. Menahem held the kingdom ten years, v. 17. But, whereas we
have heard that the
kings of the house of Israel were merciful kings (1
Ki. 20:31), this Menahem (the scandal of his country) was so prodigiously cruel
to those of his own nation who hesitated a little at submitting to him that he
not only ruined a city, and the coasts thereof, but, forgetting that he himself
was born of a woman,
ripped up all the women with child, v. 16. We may
well wonder that ever it should enter into the heart of any man to be so
barbarous, and to be so perfectly lost to humanity itself. By these cruel
methods he hoped to strengthen himself and to frighten all others into his
interests; but it seems he did not gain his point, for when the king of Assyria
came against him, (1.) So little confidence had he in his people that he durst
not meet him as an enemy, but was obliged, at a vast expense, to purchase a
peace with him. (2.) Such need had he of help
to confirm the kingdom in his
hand that he made it part of his bargain with him (a bargain which, no
doubt, the king of Assyria knew how to make a good hand of another time) that he
should assist him against his own subjects that were disaffected to him. The
money wherewith he purchased his friendship was a vast sum, no less than 1000
talents of silver (v. 19), which Menahem exacted, it is probable, by military
execution,
of all the mighty men of wealth, very considerately sparing
the poor, and laying the burden (as was fit) on those that were best able to
bear it; being raised, it was given
to the king of Assyria, as pay for
his army, fifty shekels of silver for each man in it. Thus he got clear of the
king of Assyria for this time; he staid not to quarter in the land (v. 20), but
his army now got so rich a booty with so little trouble that it encouraged them
to come again, not long after, when they laid all waste. Thus was
he the
betrayer of his country that should have been the protector of it.
4. Pekahiah, the son of Menahem, succeeded his father, but
reigned only two years, and then was treacherously slain by Pekah, falling under
the load both of his own and of his father's wickedness. It is repeated
concerning him as before that he
departed not from the sins of Jeroboam.
Still this is mentioned, to show that God was righteous in bringing that
destruction upon them which came not long after, because they hated to be
reformed, v. 24. Pekah, it seems, had some persons of figure in his interest,
two of whom are here named (v. 25), and with their help he compassed his design.
5. Pekah, though he got the kingdom by treason, kept it twenty
years (v. 27), so long it was before his violent dealing returned upon his own
head, but it returned at last. This Pekah, son of Remaliah, (1.) Made himself
more considerable abroad than any of these usurpers, for he was, even in the
latter end of his time (in the reign of Ahaz, which began in his seventeenth
year), a great terror to the kingdom of Judah, as we find, Isa. 7:1, etc. (2.)
He lost a great part of his kingdom to the king of Assyria. Several cities are
here named (v. 29) which were taken from him, all the land of Gilead on the
other side Jordan, and Galilee in the north containing the tribes of Naphtali
and Zebulon, were seized, and the inhabitants carried captive into Assyria. By
this judgment God punished him for his attempt upon Judah and Jerusalem. It was
then foretold that within two or three years after he made that attempt, before
a child, then born, should be able to cry
My father and my mother, the
riches of Samaria should be
taken away before the king of Assyria (Isa.
8:4), and here we have the accomplishment of that prediction. (3.) Soon after
this he forfeited his life to the resentments of his countrymen, who, it is
probable, were disgusted at him for leaving them exposed to a foreign enemy,
while he was invading Judah, of which Hoshea took advantage and, to gain his
crown, seized his life,
slew him, and reigned in his stead. Surely he was
fond of a crown indeed who, at this time, would run such a hazard as a traitor
did; for the crown of Israel, now that it had lost the choicest of its flowers
and jewels, was lined more than ever with thorns, had of late been fatal to all
the heads that had worn it, was forfeited to divine justice, and now ready to be
laid in the dust—a crown which a wise man would not have taken up in the
street, yet Hoshea not only ventured
upon it but ventured
for it,
and it cost him dear.
Verses 32-38
We have here a short account of the reign of Jotham king of
Judah, of whom we are told, 1. That he reigned very well,
did that which was
right in the sight of the Lord, v. 34. Josephus gives him a very high
character, stating that he was pious towards God, just towards men, and laid out
himself for the public good,—that, whatever was amiss, he took care to have it
rectified,—and, in short, wanted no virtue that became a good prince. Though
the high places were not taken away, yet to draw people from them, and keep them
close to God's holy place, he showed great respect to the temple, and built
the higher gate which he went through to the temple. If magistrates cannot do
all they would for the suppressing of vice and profaneness, let them do so much
the more for the support and advancement of piety and virtue, and the bringing
of them into reputation. If they cannot pull down the high places of sin, yet
let them build and beautify the high gate of God's house. 2. That he died in
the midst of his days, v. 33. Of most of the kings of Judah we are told how old
they were when they began their reign, and by that may compute how old they were
when they died; but no account is kept of the
age of any of the kings of
Israel that I remember, only of the years of their
reigns. This honour
God would put upon the kings of the house of David above those of other
families. And by these accounts it appears that there was none of all the kings
of Judah that reached David's age, seventy, the common age of man. Asa's age
I do not find. Uzziah lived to be sixty-eight, Manasseh sixty-seven, and
Jehoshaphat sixty; and these were the three oldest; many of those that were of
note did not reach fifty. This Jotham died at forty-one. 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 successor. 3. That
in his days the confederacy was formed against Judah by Rezin and Remaliah's
son, the king of Syria and the king of Israel, which appeared so very formidable
in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz that, upon notice of it, the heart of that
prince was moved and
the heart of the people, as the trees of the wood are
moved with the wind, Isa. 7:2. The confederates were unjust in the attempt,
yet it is here said (v. 37),
The Lord began to send them against Judah,
as he bade Shimei curse David, and took away from Job what the Sabeans robbed
him of. Men are God's hand—the sword, the rod in his hand—which he makes
use of as he pleases to serve his own righteous counsels, though men be
unrighteous in their intentions. This storm gathered in the reign of pious
Jotham, but he came to his grave in peace and it fell upon his degenerate son.
Chapter 15:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1 Kings 1 Chronicles
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalm
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
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1 Corinthians
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1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Revelation
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