unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the A.C.698. house, and say 56,

$6 On the death of Hezekiah, idolatry was re-established in Judah (2 Kings xxi.) His son Manasseh, who succeeded him, being now only twelve years of age, its revival must be imputed rather to those who held the offices of government, than to the king himself. The first part of this chapter of Isaiah foretells the invasion of Jerusalem by the Assyrians under Sennacherib, or by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar. The latter part of it predicts the destruction of Shebna, and seems to have so little reference to the former, that, from its internal evidence, I have been induced to separate it, and to give it this place. Vitringa and Bishop Lowth are of opinion, that the Shebna here mentioned is not the same as Shebna the scribe, spoken of in the history of Hezekiah's reign. As we only read of one person of eminence of the name of Shebna in the account of the events of this king's life, there does not appear sufficient grounds for the adoption of this supposition. In ver. 15. we find that Shebna the scribe was now over the house; it is most probable, therefore, from the sequel, that he was the cause of Eliakim's having been dismissed from that station. Eliakim was actually treasurer at the time of Sennacherib's invasion, and, from the prophet's description, (ver. 21.) he must have been a servant of the true God, and as such employed by Hezekiah: we have therefore reason to conjecture he lost his situation as treasurer since the acccession of Manasseh. Shebna, in succeeding to this office, in all probability was the chief promoter of the re-establishment of idolatry: his great pride and vanity are displayed in his anxiety to have his sepulchre on high, in a lofty vault, that it might be more conspicuous; a custom prevalent in the East among persons of exalted rank. While he was rioting in all the excess of luxury, devoting himself to false gods, and making "a habitation in a rock," I have supposed that Isaiah predicts his downfall. It is not possible to imagine that this prophet could have been a silent spectator of the present revival of idolatry; and it is by many conjectured that the severe and forcible language in which he denounces the ruin of Shebna, was the principal cause of the cruel death soon after inflicted on him. Shebna was taken captive with Manasseh to Babylon, and when the Lord brought that king again to Jerusalem, and "he took away the strange gods, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel," (2 Chron. xxxiii. 15, 16.) he recalled Eliakim, and literally fulfilled the prediction of the prophet, by making him again the treasurer of his houshold; "I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle," (ver. 21.)

Eliakim is supposed to have been of the pontifical family, and to have been high priest at the time of Manasseh; and the same who is mentioned by the name of Joakim or Eliakim, as high priest in the history of Judith. Eliakim and Joakim have both the same signification in the Hebrew tongue, and are used promiscuously. It is likewise conjecured, that Eliakim was the Hilkiah mentioned as high priest in the reign of Josiah. I have inserted this as the last of Isaiah's prophecies, considering it as the probable cause of his death. There was a very ancient and general tradition among the Jews, that this prophet was sawn asunder during the reign of Manasseh, (2 Kings xxi. 16.) and that his death is alluded to in Hebrews xi. 37. In Urvamoth, fol. 49. 2. it is thus

A.C. 698,

* Or, O he.

Or, the

LORD who covered thee

with an excellent covering, and clothed

thee gorgeous

16 What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock?

17 Behold, the LORD will carry thee away with ‡a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee.

18 He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the ly,shall surely, chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord's house. 19 And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down.

ver.

Heb. the captivity of a

man.

Heb. large of spaces.

20 ¶ And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:

21 And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.

h

22 And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his h Job xli. 14. shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.

Rev. iii. 7.

23 And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.

24 And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small Or, instru quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the || vessels of flagons.

ments of viols.

676.

25 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

SECTION III.

Captivity and Death of Manasseh.

2 CHRONICLES XXXIII. VER. 11-21.

11 ¶ Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the capHeb. which tains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with † fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

were the king's.

+ Or, chains.

written: "Manasseh slew Isaiah; for he commanded that he should be slain with a wooden saw. They then brought the saw, and cut him in two; and when the sword reached his mouth, his soul fled forth." St. Jerom and others mention the same thing, and among the Jews the tradition is indubitable.—Prideaux Connection, vol. i. p. 40.-Whitby and Dr. Adam Clarke on Hebrews xi. 37.-Fragments of Calmet, 210.

12 And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD A.C. 676. his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,

13 And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.

14 Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about * Ophel, *Or,the tower, and raised it up to a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah.

15 And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.

16 And he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.

17 Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the LORD their God only.

18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel.

19 His prayer also, and how God was intreated of him, and all his sins, and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up groves and graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers.

20 So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.

2 KINGS XXI. VER. 17, 18.

17¶ Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

+ Or, Hosai,

xxxiii. 20.

18 And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried i2 Chron. in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.

2 CHRONICLES XXXIII. VER. 1-11.

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned k 2 Kings xxi. fifty and five years in Jerusalem:

1, &c.

2 But did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like unto the 1 abo- 1 Deut. xviii. minations of the heathen, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of

Israel.

A.C.676.

*Heb. he returned and

built.

m 2 Kings xviii. 4.

n Deut. xii. 11. 1 Kings viii. 29. & ix.3. ch. vi. 6. & vii. 16.

14.

3 For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had m broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.

4 Also he built altars in the house of the LORD, whereof the LORD had said, n In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.

5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.

6 And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

7 And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of o Ps. cxxxii. God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever.

p 2 Sam, vii. 10.

Ivah.

678.

8 P Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; so that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.

9 So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.

10 And the LORD spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.

CHAPTER XIV.

PART II.

State of the Provinces formerly possessed by the Ten Tribes, during the Reign of Manasseh.

2 KINGS XVII. VER. 24, TO THE END.

24¶And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon,

a ch. xviii. 34, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.

25 And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them.

26 Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.

27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence;

and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them A. C. 678. the manner of the God of the land.

28 Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

29 Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.

30 And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,

31 And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

32 So they feared the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.

33 They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, b after the manner of the nations *whom they carried away from thence.

Zeph. i. 5. Or, who

* car

away from thence.

34 Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom c Gen. xxxii. 28. 1 Kings xi. he named Israel;

d

с

31.

35 With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor d Judg. vi. 10. bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them :

36 But the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.

37 And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods.

38 And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.

your

enemies.

39 But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver out of the hand of all you 40 Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.

41 So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.