--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 436 of 914 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/436/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah, section 436. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/436/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 1 of 2. ## 436. 2 Chronicles · 18 of 24 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/436/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/436/#p-N ### Verse 3 [¶1] On the wall of Ophel - The wall, says the Targum, of the interior palace. Ophel was some part of the wall of Jerusalem, that was most pregnable, and therefore Jotham fortified it in a particular manner. ### Verse 4 [¶3] Castles and towers - These he built for the protection of the country people against marauders. ### Verse 5 [¶5] He fought also with - the Ammonites - We find here that he brought them under a heavy tribute for three years; but whether this was the effect of his prevailing against them, is not so evident. Some think that they paid this tribute for three years, and then revolted; that, in consequence, he attacked them, and their utter subjection was the result. ### Verse 7 [¶7] The rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars, and his ways - It was in his days, according to [2Kgs 15:37], that Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah king of Israel, began to cut Judah short. See the notes on [2Kgs 15:36], [2Kgs 15:37]. [¶8] Written in the book of the kings, etc. - There is not so much found in the books of Kings which we have now, as in this place of the Chronicles. In both places we have abridged accounts only: the larger histories have long been lost. The reign of Jotham was properly the last politically prosperous reign among the Jews. Hezekiah and Josiah did much to preserve the Divine worship; but Judah continued to be cut short, till at last it was wholly ruined. ### Introduction [¶10] Ahaz succeeds his father Jotham, and reigns wickedly for sixteen years, [2Chr 28:1]. He restores idolatry in its grossest forms, [2Chr 28:2-4]; and is delivered Into the hands of the kings of Israel and Syria, [2Chr 28:5]. Pekah slays one hundred and twenty thousand Jews in one day, and carries away captive two hundred thousand of the people, whom, at the instance of Oded the prophet, they restore to liberty, and send home, clothed and fed, [2Chr 28:6-15]. Ahaz sends to the king of Assyria for help against the Edomites, Philistines, etc., from whom he receives no effectual succor, [2Chr 28:16-21]. He sins yet more, spoils and shuts up the temple of God, and propagates idolatry throughout the land, [2Chr 28:22-25]. A reference to has acts, his death, and burial, [2Chr 28:26], [2Chr 28:27]. ### Verse 1 [¶12] Ahaz was twenty years old - For the difficulties in this chronology, see the notes on [2Kgs 16:2] (note). ### Verse 3 [¶14] Burnt his children in the fire - There is a most remarkable addition here in the Chaldee which I shall give at length: "Ahaz burnt his children in the fire; but the Word of the Lord snatched Hezekiah from among them; for it was manifest before the Lord that the three righteous men, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were to proceed from him; who should deliver up their bodies that they might be cast into a burning fiery furnace, on account of the great and glorious Name, (יהוה) and from which they should escape. First, Abram escaped from the furnace of fire among the Chaldeans, into which he had been cast by Nimrod, because he would not worship their idols. Secondly, Tamar escaped burning in the house of judgment of Judah, who had said, Bring her out, that she may be burnt. Thirdly, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz escaped from the burning, when Ahaz his father cast him into the valley of the son of Hinnom, on the altars of Tophet. Fourthly, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, escaped from the burning fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Fifthly, Joshua, the son of Josedek the high priest, escaped, when the impious Nebuchadnezzar had cast him into a burning fiery furnace, with Achaab the son of Kolia, and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, the false prophet. They were consumed by fire; but Joshua the son of Josedek escaped because of his righteousness." ### Verse 5 [¶16] Delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria - For the better understanding of these passages, the reader is requested to refer to what has been advanced in the notes on the sixteenth chapter of [2Kgs 16:5], etc. ### Verse 6 [¶18] A hundred and twenty thousand - It is very probable that there is a mistake in this number. It is hardly possible that a hundred and twenty thousand men could have been slain in one day; yet all the versions and MSS. agree in this number. The whole people seem to have been given up into the hands of their enemies. ### Verse 9 [¶20] But a prophet of the Lord - whose name was Oded - To this beautiful speech nothing can be added by the best comment; it is simple, humane, pious, and overwhelmingly convincing: no wonder it produced the effect mentioned here. That there was much of humanity in the heads of the children of Ephraim who joined with the prophet on this occasion, the fifteenth verse sufficiently proves. They did not barely dismiss these most unfortunate captives, but they took that very spoil which their victorious army had brought away; and they clothed, fed, shod, and anointed, these distressed people, set the feeblest of them upon asses, and escorted them safely to Jericho. We can scarcely find a parallel to this in the universal history of the wars which savage man has carried on against his fellows, from the foundation of the world. ### Verse 16 [¶22] The kings of Assyria to help him - Instead of מלכי malchey; Kings; the Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic, and Chaldee, one MS., and the parallel place, [2Kgs 16:7], have מלך melek, King, in the singular number. This king was Tiglath-pileser, as we learn from the second book of Kings. ### Verse 21 [¶24] But he helped him not - He did him no ultimate service. See the note on [2Kgs 16:9]. [¶25] After [2Kgs 16:15], the 23d, 24th, and 25th verses are introduced before the 16th, in the Syriac and Arabic, and the 22d verse is wholly wanting in both, though some of the expressions may be found in the twenty-first verse. ### Verse 23 [¶27] He sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him - "This passage," says Mr. Hallet, "greatly surprised me; for the sacred historian himself is here represented as saying, The gods of Damascus had smitten Ahaz. But it is impossible to suppose that an inspired author could say this; for the Scripture everywhere represents the heathen idols as nothing and vanity, and as incapable of doing either good or hurt. All difficulty is avoided if we follow the old Hebrew copies, from which the Greek translation was made, Και ειπεν ὁ βασιλεις Αχαζ, εκζητησω τους Θεους Δαμασκου τους τυπτοντας με, And King Ahaz said, I Will Seek to the Gods of Damascus Which Have Smitten Me; and then it follows, both in Hebrew and Greek, He said moreover, Because the gods of the king of Syria help them; therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. Both the Syriac and Arabic give it a similar turn; and say that Ahaz sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, and said, Ye are my gods and my lords; you will I worship, and to you will I sacrifice." ### Verse 24 [¶29] Shut up the doors - He caused the Divine worship to be totally suspended; and they continued shut till the beginning of the reign of Hezekiah, one of whose first acts was to reopen them, and thus to restore the Divine worship, [2Chr 29:3]. ### Verse 27 [¶31] The kings of Israel - It is a common thing for the writer of this book to put Israel for Judah. He still considers them as one people, because proceeding from one stock. The versions and MSS. have the same reading with the Hebrew; the matter is of little importance, and with this interpretation none can mistake. ### Introduction [¶33] Hezekiah's good reign, [2Chr 29:1], [2Chr 29:2]. He opens and repairs the doors of the temple, [2Chr 29:3]. He assembles and exhorts the priests and Levites, and proposes to renew the covenant with the Lord, [2Chr 29:4-11]. They all sanctify themselves and cleanse the temple, [2Chr 29:12-17]. They inform the king of their progress, [2Chr 29:18], [2Chr 29:19]. He collects the rulers of the people: and they offer abundance of sin-offerings, and burnt-offerings, and worship the Lord, [2Chr 29:20-30]. Every part of the Divine service is arranged, and Hezekiah and all the people rejoice, [2Chr 29:31-36]. ### Verse 2 [¶35] He did that which was right - See the note on [2Kgs 18:3]. ### Verse 8 [¶37] He hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment - He probably refers here chiefly to that dreadful defeat by the Israelites in which a hundred and twenty thousand were slain, and two hundred thousand taken prisoners; see the preceding chapter, [2Chr 28:6-8] (note). ### Verse 10 [¶39] To make a covenant - To renew the covenant under which the whole people were constantly considered, and of which circumcision was the sign; and the spirit of which was, I will be your God: Ye shall be my people. ### Verse 16 [¶41] And the priests went - The priests and Levites cleansed first the courts both of the priests and of the people. On this labor they spent eight days. Then they cleansed the interior of the temple; but as the Levites had no right to enter the temple, the priests carried all the dirt and rubbish to the porch, whence they were collected by the Levites, carried away, and cast into the brook Kidron; in this work eight days more were occupied, and thus the temple was purified in sixteen days. ### Verse 17 [¶43] On the first day - "They began on the first day of the first month Nisan." - Targum.