subject of such a romance. It may be said (I know not whether it has been), that the whole story is an allegory, in which Manasseh's captivity, repentance and restoration, covertly denote the fortunes of the whole nation,-an allegory, in short, of the Babylonian judgment, designed for the exhortation and comfort of the exiles. That it has an allegorical meaning I admit, for Manasseh in his sin, punishment, repentance and restoration, is a conspicuous type or symbol of the whole nation, provoking God to the uttermost, sent into captivity, and thence upon its repentance restored to its own land. But an allegory of merely human contrivance would never have been foisted into a book which lays claim to strict historical veracity: besides, two parts out of three of the story are strictly historical, and the second of these two is peculiar to the Book of Chronicles. Besides, I shall have occasion to point out hereafter "an economy of times and seasons" belonging to this story, which attests at once its allegorical import and its objective reality. I will only remark in conclusion, that the specific difficulties alleged by Gramberg, and even acknowledged as weighty by Movers, p. 327, are little better than cavils. First, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 15, the idol-altars in the Temple are said to have been removed and cast out of the city by Manasseh, but 2 Kings xxxiii. 12, it was Josiah who "destroyed the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the Temple." As if there were any contradiction here! Why, even the Chronicles relate that Amon revived all the idolatries of his father, v. 21; "he walked in all the way that his father had walked in, and served the idols that his father served." It is nowhere said that Manasseh destroyed his idols and altars; "he took them away and cast them out of the city," v. 15, his son Amon restored them, Josiah finally destroyed them. Secondly, if idolatry was abolished by Manasseh in all Judah, how are we to account for its so speedy revival and extensive prevalence in the beginning of the reign of Josiah, 2 Kings xxiii. 4 ff.? The answer is furnished by the Chronicles: Manasseh put a stop to idolatry, and "commanded Judah to serve the Lord. Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the Lord their God only," v. 16, 17. From the worship of the high places to idolatry was ever but a step. Manasseh was not able to repair the evil which he had done: the people were in heart addicted to their idols, and may well be sup posed to have returned to them during the latter years of his long reign. And this answers the third objection: "if Manasseh repented of his sins and made amends, why are they denounced as the cause of the judgment on a later generation, 2 Kings xxiv. 3; Jer. xv. 4?" Manasseh's repentance may have procured his own pardon and a respite of judgment to his people. But his sin did not die with him. Like Jeroboam son of Nebat, he made his people to sin; Judah sinned on notwithstanding Manasseh's reformation. §. 234. B.C. E. R. 642 336 640 338 623 350 13 623 355 18 1 Amon AMON, r. 2 years: restored idolatry: slain by conspiracy, 2 K. xxi. 19. 2 C. xxxiii. 21. 1 Josiah JOSIAH began to reign at 8 y. old, 2 K. xxii. 1. 2 C. xxxiv. 1. At 12 y. old he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places and idols, 2 C. xxxiv. 3 ff. [Jeremiah begins to prophesy.] After purging the land, ib. 8, in his 18 y., ib. and 2 K. xxii, 3, he begins to repair the Temple: the book of the Law is discovered: the great Reformation and solemn Passover, 2 K. xxii. 10 ff. xxiii. 21 ff. 2 C. xxxiv. xxxv. 1-18. The date "18th year," 2 Chron. xxxiv. 8; 2 Kings xxii. 3, must obviously be understood with some latitude: it is not the date of the order for the repairs of the Temple, but of the solemn Passover: for all these events, the repairs, the discovery of the law, the covenant made by the whole nation, and the preparation of the Passover, cannot be crowded into the short space of 14 days'. These incidents therefore belong in part to the 17th of Josiah. It appears also from the Chronicles, that the description 2 Kings xxii. 4-20, of the purging of the land from idols lies out of its place in the order of time: v. 21 joins on to v. 3, the intermediate verses relate to an earlier period, between the 12th and 18th years of Josiah, and the verb in c. 4, must be understood in the pluperfect tense. The narrator in 2 Kings, hastening in medias res begins his story at the crisis of the reform, the 18th year, the year of the great covenant and Passover, then relates the circumstances which led to that important Here then we have an instance of an anticipative date precisely similar to that of S. Luke iii. 1. In both cases, the crowning event gives its date to the whole series of antecedent events. No event, and thence reverts to the earlier acts of Josiah. other view is tenable, for it is not likely that so good a king would be altogether inactive against idolatry during 17 years of his reign. § 235. B. C. Æ. R. 610 368 31 Josiah. 1 Jehoahaz. 609 369 1 Jehoiakim. 606 372 4 Josiah, as an ally of the king of Assyria, joins battle with Pharaoh-Necho and is slain in the plain of Megiddo, 2 K. xxiii. 29. 2 C. xxxv. 20 (at Hadadrimmon, Zech. xii. 11)'. JEHOAHAZ (Shallum, Jer. xxii. 10, 11) succeeding, reigns only 3 months, 2 K. xxiii. 31. Necho "put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he should not be king in Jerusalem," 2 K. xxiii. 332. Jehoahaz was taken into Egypt (2 K. and 2 C. and Jer. u. s.), and Pharaoh gave the throne to Eliakim, changing his name to JEHOIAKIM. Nebuchadnezzar conquers Judæa. Beginning of the seventy years' captivity. Chap. 111. sect. i. On Jehoiakim's rebellion after this defeat, see p. 172. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER IV. CHRONOLOGY OF THE PROPHETS WHO LIVED BEFORE THE EXILE. 236. JONAH is mentioned, 2 Kings xiv. 25, as having foretold the deliverance of Israel and recovery of its former prosperity, which came to pass in the reign of Jeroboam the Second, B. c. 824-783. Of JOEL we learn only that he was the son of Pethuel. The time of his prophesying seems to lie not very long before that of Amos, whose prophecy begins with a text of Joel. Movers, p. 119 ff. and Ewald refer it to the reign of Joash, but on grounds which I think inconclusive. AMOS prophesied in the reign of Jeroboam the Second, and in that part of it which was contemporary with the reign of Uzziah, that is, E. c. 808-783. He began to prophesy "two years before the earthquake:" this, as a remarkable event, is alluded to by Zechariah long afterwards, xiv. 5, but its time is not known. The close connexion between the close of Joel and the opening of Amos seems to indicate that the two prophets were not far separated in time. HOSEA began in the same reigns, but continued to prophesy into the reign of Hezekiah i. 1; i. e. from before 783 B. C. till after 726 B. C. Like Amos, he prophesied against the Ten Tribes; he may have lived to see the fulfilment of his predictions. §237. ISAIAH was commissioned to the prophetical office in the death-year of Uzziah, vi. 1. His prophecies fall into two parts distinct in matter and manner: the first, extending from chap. i. to xxxix. consists of a series of oracles, arranged for the most part in the order of their delivery: the other, from chap. xl. to the end, is one continued prophetical discourse. PART I. i. Chap. i-v. Prophecies against Jerusalem, delivered in the reigns of Uzziah and Jotham. This section is completed with the narrative of Isaiah's mission chap. vi. ii. Chap. vii-xii. The Prophecy of Immanuel, delivered in the first year of Ahaz, on occasion of the confederacy of Rezin and Pekah against Jerusalem. iii. Chap. xiii. xiv. 27. and Assyria. Prophecies against Babylon iv. Chap. xiv. 28-xxiii. Prophecies immediately relating to the Assyrian invasion. 1. xiv. 28-32. Against Philistia: delivered in the death-year of Ahaz, 726 B. C. The Philistines in the reign of Ahaz had shaken off the subjection to which they were reduced by Uzziah, 2 Chron. xxviii. 18. Hezekiah in the early part of his reign reduced them again, 2 Kings xviii. 8. The two last verses relate to the devastation of Philistia by the Assyrians. 2. xv. xvi. Moab. This was to come into accomplishment within three years, xvi. 14. It seems to relate to the invasion of Shalmaneser, 723-721. 3. xvii. Damascus and Ephraim: especially the latter: fulfilled 721. The last verses predict the destruction of the Assyrian when he should come against Judah. Chap. xviii. seems to form part of this prophecy; i. e. to relate to Ethiopia, which under So or Sevechus had made alliance with the Ten Tribes against Assyria, and under Tirhakah came out against Sennacherib for the relief of Jerusalem. 4. xix. Egypt. This prophecy predicts the political convulsions of Egypt, from the time of the Ethiopian dynasty, to the accession of Psammetichus. To this oracle is added as an appendix chap. xx, delivered "in the year in which Tartan came to Ashdod, sent from Sargon king of Assyria, and he besieged it and took it." Sargon must have been the successor of Shalmaneser, between him and Sennacherib, therefore about 718 B. C. He is mentioned only in this place, but Berosus probably means him where he says, Postquam regnasset frater Senecheribi, &c., Eus. Chron. Armen. 42. Ashdod was the key to Egypt, and thitherward Assyria would naturally turn its arms immediately after the reduction of Syria, Ephraim, and Phoenicia. It seems from the prophecy, that the siege lasted three years. Afterwards it cost Psammetichus 29 years' siege to recover it to Egypt. |