SECOND CHRONICLES XXI-JEHORAM'S PUNISHMENT 791 12 ¶ And there came a writing to him, from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah, 13 But hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father's house, which were better than thyself: 14 Behold, with a great plague will the LORD smite thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods. 15 And thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day. 16 Moreover the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that were near the Ethiopians: 17 And they came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons. 18 And after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease. 19 And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers. 20 Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being desired. Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings. Chapter 22 1 Ahaziah succeeding reigneth wickedly. 5 In his confederacy with Joram the son of Ahab, he is slain by Jehu. 10 Athaliah, destroying all the seed royal, save Joash, whom Jehoshabeath his aunt hid, usurpeth the kingdom. IND the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah' his youngest son king in his stead: for the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the eldest. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned. 2 Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri. 3 He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly. 4 Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the LORD like the house of In the preceding chapter this king's name is given as Jehoahaz, here as Ahaziah, and in verse 6 as Azariah. These three names must refer to the same person. The first two forms are presumably variations of the same name; the last seems a mistake, as several manuscripts have Ahaziah. The dates and ages given appear also to be confused. 792 SECOND CHRONICLES XXII—AHAZIAH'S DEATH Ahab: for they were his counsellors after the death of his father to his destruction. 5 He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead: and the Syrians smote Joram. 6 And he returned to be healed in Jezreel because of the wounds which were given him at Ramah, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria. And Azariah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab at Jezreel, because he was sick. 7 And the destruction of Ahaziah was of God by coming to Joram: for when he was come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the LORD had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab. 8 And it came to pass, that, when Jehu was executing judgment upon the house of Ahab, and found the princes of Judah, and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah, that ministered to Ahaziah, he slew them. 9 And he sought Ahaziah: and they caught him, (for he was hid in Samaria,) and brought him to Jehu: and when they had slain him, they buried him: Because, said they, he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart. So the house of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom.1 10 But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah. 11 But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not. 12 And he was with them hid in the house of God six Athaliah reigned over the land. Chapter 23 years: and 1 Jehoiada, having set things in order, maketh Joash king. 12 Athaliah is slain. 16 Jehoiada restoreth the worship of God. ND in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah the son of Obed, and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, into covenant with him. slain. 2 And they went about in Judah, and gathered the Levites out The Revised Version reads “had no power to hold the kingdom”—that is, all its grown men had been The Riches of Ophir BY H. MELVILLE, AN ENGLISH ARTIST OF THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY. + “Every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.”—II. Chron., 9, 21. Κ' ING SOLOMON reigned for forty years; and all the earlier part of this long period of peace must have been a time of joy in Israel. Prosperity was everywhere; riches flowed in upon the nation. For the first time the Hebrews engaged in foreign commerce and began to cultivate that aptitude for business which has changed them from a wholly agricultural nation into a race of traders. Solomon's navies sought strange lands, of which only the names have come down to us, Ophir and Tarshish, which must have been somewhere in Asia or in Africa, places reached from the Red Sea. The commerce of the West, of the Mediterranean, was controlled by Hiram; and of the East by Solomon. Strange wares were seen in Israel, so new to this simple folk that even the Bible makes note of them, "ivory, and apes, and peacocks." Yet after a time, the taxes which the king's constant building laid upon the people, began to seem to them more severe than all the goods he brought them. His splendor grew too gorgeous for them; a gulf between monarch and subjects opened, and it broadened. |