Annotations upon the remaining historicall part of the Old Testament. The second part. to wit, the books of Joshua, Judges, the two books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, and the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther : wherein first, all such passages in the text are explained as were thought likely to be questioned by any reader of ordinary capacity : secondly, in many clauses those things are discovered which are needfull and usefull to be known ... and thirdly, many places that might at first seem to contradict one another are reconciled ... / by Arthur Jackson.

CHAP. VIII.

Vers. 1. THe Lord hath called for a famine, and it shall also come upon the land seven years.] And thus the people continuing in their sinnes, the judgements of God were doubled upon them. In Elijahs time, God sent a fa∣mine amongst them, but that lasted onely three yeares and a half, James 5.17. Eli∣jah was a man subject to the like infirmities, and he prayed, and it rained not for the space of three years and a half, but now this continued full seven years.

Vers. 2. And she went with her houshold and sojourned in the land of the Phili∣stines seven years.] Because it is said of this good Shunamite, that she went with her houshold, &c. it is probably conceived, that her husband being dead, she was at present a widow; and a notable discovery it was of the Lords high displeasure a∣gainst his people, that in the neighbour countrey of the Philistines there was no want, and yet in the kingdome of Israel a sore famine prevailed, yea and in Judah too: for it is not likely this good woman would have sought the preservation of her life amongst the Philistines, if she might have done it amongst her brethren of Ju∣dah: though the Philistines were a wicked people, yet they had not the means of grace as Gods people had; and therefore it is no wonder, though God was most provoked with the idolatry and other wickednesse of his own people.

Vers. 4. And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, &c.] When the Shunamite came to cry unto the king for her house and her land, (which in the time of her absence was seised upon by her kindred, or by the officers of state for the kings use) she found the king talking with Gehazi, concerning the miracles which Elisha had wrought, and so by that means found favour with the king, and recovered her estate. Some Expositours conceive that this was before Gehazi was stricken with leprosie, though that be inserted in the history before this, chap. 5.21. else they think the king would not have talked with him: But without very evident grounds, it is not fit to recede from the order of the history, I conceive not that le∣pers were ever so secluded from cohabitation with others, but that they might up∣on occasion have some conference with them; especially it might be so here, when the king had so great a desire to heare a true relation of all the wonders that Elisha had wrought; onely indeed, if this were after Gehazi was a leper, observable it is, that notwithstanding Gehazi did here speak so honourably of his master, upon whose word so sore a judgement had seized upon him.

Vers. 6. So the king appointed to her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, &c] The word translated officer signifies an eunuch, as it is in the mar∣gin of our bibles: kings it seems in former times had eunuchs to be the chief officers in their courts, whereupon in processe of time all their chief officers were called Eunuchs. As we see Potiphar to whom Joseph was sold, though he were a married man, is termed an Eunuch. Gen. 37.36.

Vers. 7. And Elisha came to Damascus, and Ben-hadad the king of Syria was sick, &c.] The most received opinion is, that Elisha went now to Damascus, ac∣cording to a charge given him by Elijah, purposely to anoint Hazael king; but why was Elijah sent from mount Horeb to Damascus, if God meant not that he himself should anoint Hazael, 1. Kings 19.15. And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wildernesse of Damascus, and when thou comest anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: rather therefore I conceive that Elisha went now by the speciall instinct of Gods Spirit, to confirm that to Hazael, by a second pre∣diction, which formerly upon Elijahs anointing, he did not much believe: and that the rather because of the present famine in Israel, and so coming thither found Ben-hadad sick; whether his sicknesse was occasioned through grief (as Josephus saith) for the shamefull flight of his armie from the siege of Samaria, chap. 7.6. especially when he heard it was occasioned by a causelesse feare, the Scripture expresseth not; but onely notes how in his sicknesse he was glad to consult with the Prophet con∣cerning his recovery, whom ere while he sent to apprehend in Dothan, chap. 6.13, 14. encouraged happely thereto also, by the miraculous cure that he had wrought upon the leprosie of his servant Naaman.

Vers. 10. Go, say unto him, Thou mayest certainly recover, &c.] That is, thy disease is not mortall, Thou mayest certainly recover of thy sicknesse; that therefore which the Prophet addes concerning his death, howbeit the Lord hath shewed me that he shall surely die, doth not contradict this which he said concerning his sicknesse. The question was whether he should recover of that sicknesse wherewith he was vi∣sited; to this a direct answer is given, that he might well recover, notwithstanding his sicknesse; but withall an intimation is given to the messenger that he should surely die, to wit, by another means, though not by his sicknesse.

Vers. 11. And he settled his countenance stedfastly, till he was ashamed.] That is, Elisha did fix his eyes stedfastly upon Hazael, untill he began to be ashamed, be∣cause he saw he could not forbear weeping; or rather, untill Hazael began to blush, and to be ashamed, because he saw the Prophet look so earnestly upon him.

Vers. 13. And Elisha answered, The Lord hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over Syria.] Intimating, that in this regard it was likely enough he would ex∣ercise those cruelties upon the Israelites, which now he made so strange of; and that because he should then have power to do it, and withall, when once he sate in the throne of Syria, he would bear the same deadly hatred against Gods people, which his predecessours had done before him, and thence is Damascus threatned under those terms, Amos 1.4. I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devoure the palaces of Ben-hadad.

Vers. 15. He took a thick cloth, and dipt it in water, and spread it on his face, &c.] And thus Ben-hadad was strangled by Hazael, and that so, that no signe or token could be seen in his dead body of any violence that was offered him, and per∣haps too under a pretence of allaying the distemper of heat he was in, by reason of his sicknesse.

Vers. 16. And in the fifth yeare of Joram the sonne of Ahab king of Israel, &c.] Jehoshaphat had designed his sonne Jehoram to be king, and appointed him to govern the kingdome in his absence in the seventeenth yeare of his reigne, a little

before he went with Ahab against Ramoth Gilead (and thence the yeare of Jeho∣ram king of Israel his beginning to reigne, is counted to be both the eighteenth yeare of Jehoshaphat, 2. Kings 3.1. and the second yeare of Jehoram the sonne of Jehoshaphat, 2. Kings 1.17.) but at his return he resumed the royall power wholly to himself, not communicating the same again to his sonne, untill the fifth yeare of Joram king of Israel, which was the two and twentieth of Jeho∣shaphat: and then this old king took unto him this his eldest sonne, as partner in the government, himself yet living; the cause whereof, in all probabilitie, was some discord and differences which brake out even then between him and his younger brethren, which as they moved Jehoshaphat to commit to his younger sonnes the cu∣stody of strong fenced cities in Judah, 2. Chron. 21.3. the better to assure them, if it might have been, against the power of their elder brother; so also on the other side, it caused him, to put this his eldest sonne in possession of the kingdome, whilest him∣self was living, for fear of tumult after his death.

Vers. 17. And he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.] To wit, foure years toge∣ther with his father, and foure years himself alone.

Vers. 18. For the daughter of Ahab was his wife.] To wit, Athaliah, vers. 26.

Vers. 19. Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah, for David his servants sake, as he promised him to give him alway a light, &c.] That is, one of his seed, in whom the soveraigntie of Judah should be continued, though farre short of the glo∣ry that formerly they enjoyed, before the revolt of the ten tribes.

Vers. 20. In his dayes Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, &c.] The Edomites ever since Davids time, 2. Sam. 8.14. had been tributaries to the kings of Judah, and had been governed by a Viceroy whom they set over them, 1. Kings 22.47. There was no king in Edom, a deputy was king. But now they cast off this yoke, and so the prophecie of Isaac began to take effect, Gen. 27.40. that Esau should break the yoke of his brother Jacob from off his neck. 2. Chron. 21.2, we reade, first, that so soon as his father was dead, he presently made use of his power against his six younger brethren; and having gotten them into his hands slew them, and, together with them for company, many of the great men of the land, such belike, as ei∣ther formerly or then had taken their part, & that withall he took upon him to make innovations in Religion, erecting high places in the mountains of Judah, and forcing the people to embrace that idolatry which himself had learned from the house of A∣hab, vers. 10.11. And these combustions in the land of Judah, we may well think gave encouragement to the Edomites to revolt at this time, and so God punished these his abominable courses.

Vers. 22. Yet Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day.] That is, though Joram overthrew the Edomites in that forementioned battel, vers. 21. yet they retiring into their places of advantage, persisted resolutely in their revolt, and so he was forced to return again into his own land; which indeed is not so strange, if we consider, that he might perhaps heare of the revolt of Libnah, a citie in his own countrey, and then no wonder though he stayed not to prosecute his victory in the land of Edom.

Then Libnah revolted at the same time.] Libnah was a great citie within Judah, one of the royall cities of Canaan when Joshua entred it, Josh. 10.29, 30, It was

by him given to the priests the sonnes of Aaron, Josh. 21.13. and now it rebelled against Joram, because he had made such innovations in Religion, and forced the people to idolatry, as is expressed, 2. Chron. 21.10, 11. which no marvell though the Levites were least able to endure. It is much indeed that one citie alone should venture upon such an attempt; but perhaps the kings absence whilest he was in Edom, and the discontent of the people; yea perhaps some correspondence they might have with the Philistines (who ere long invaded the land, 2. Chron. 21.16, 17.) gave them hope of abettors, and how they sped in the conclusion, the Scripture ex∣presseth not.

Vers. 24. And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the citie of David.] Before his death there was a prophesie in writing delivered him from Elijah the Prophet, 2. Chron. 21.12. which threatned both his people, his children, his wives, and his own body, and immediatly what was threatned came to passe: for, first, the Philistines and Arabians brake into Judea, took the kings house, made spoil of his goods, and slew or carried away all his children, save the youngest onely; and then afterwards the Lord smote him with a grievous dis∣ease in his bowels, which left him not till his guts fell out, and being dead, he was obscurely buried in the citie of David, but not in the sepulchres of his Ancestours the kings of Judah; and that without the lamentations and solemnities that had been used in other princes funeralls, 2. Chron. 21.16. All the time of this kings reigne another king of the same name reigned in Israel, to wit, Joram the sonne of Ahab his brother in law.

And Ahaziah his sonne reigned in his stead.] He is elswhere called Jehoahaz 2. Chron. 21.17. and Azariah, 2. Chron. 22.6. He was the youngest sonne of Joram, for all the elder sonnes were slain, or carried away by the Philistines, 2: Chron. 21.17. In S. Matthews catalogue of the kings of Judah, it is said, Matth. 1.8. that Jehoshapoat begat Joram, and Joram begat Ozias, and so this Ahaziah who succeeded Joram, and Joash who succeeded Ahaziah, 2, Kings 11.2. and Amaziah, who succeeded Joash, 2. Kings 12.21. and was the father of Ozias are quite left out; but this I conceive was onely, because the Evangelist resolving to distribute the Ancestours of Christ into three severall ranks (according to the three great changes that had happened in the state, and finding just fourteen in the first rank from Abra∣ham to David, he laboured to reduce the other ranks to the same number too, as knowing that equall numbers are a help to the memory, and so to make just fourteen generations in that rank; also from David to the captivitie he leaves out Ahaziah, Jo∣ash, and Amaziah, and them perhaps rather then others, because they were the next from Ahab, by Athaliah the daughter of Ahab and wife of Joram.

Vers. 25. In the twelfth yeare of Joram the sonne of Ahab king of Israel, &c.] Yet chap. 9.29. it is said, that he began to reigne in the eleventh yeare of Joram king of Israel, which is, because the yeare of Ahaziahs reigne did concurre with the latter end of the eleventh, and the beginning of the twelfth yeare of Joram king of Israel.

Vers. 26. Two and twentie years old was Ahaziah when he began to reigne, &c.] In the 2. Chron. 22.2. it is said, that he was two and fourty years old when he be∣gan to reigne; we may reconcile this thus, that he was two and fourty years old when he began to reigne alone by himself, but that he was made king also when he

was but two & twenty years old, his father yet living; but then that must be granted which is before noted upon 1. Kings 22.42. to wit, that Asa also was made king in his fathers life time; and indeed, because this answer may have some strong objections made against it, therefore others do rather reconcile these two places thus, to wit, that those words in 2. Chron. 22.2. Fourty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reigne, must be understood of the continuance of Omries pedigree, who was great grandfather to this Ahaziah. Omri reigned as sole king six years, 1. Kings 16.23. Ahab two and twenty, 1. Kings 16.29. Ahaziah his sonne two, 1. Kings 22.51. Joram twelve, 2. Kings 3.1. And thus Omries stock continued fourty and two years; and therefore it is said, that Ahaziah (who was of that stock by his mo∣ther Athaliah) in his two and fourtieth yeare began his reigne. But this answer me∣thinks is more unsatisfactory then the other; the words in 2. Chron. 22.2. will hardly bear such an interpretation.

And his mothers name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of Israel.] That is, the grandchild of Omri, the daughter of Ahab, the sonne of Omri, vers. 18.

Vers. 27. He was the sonne in law of the house of Ahab.] That is, the sonne of Ahabs sonne in law, to wit, the sonne of Joram by Athaliah Ahabs daughter; yet perhaps even he also by his mother Athaliahs perswasion married a daughter of the house of Ahab, though by another wife Joash was born, who succeeded him in the throne, chap. 12.1.

Vers. 28. And he went with Joram the sonne of Ahab, to the warre against Ha∣zael the king of Syria in Ramoth Gilead.] Toward the latter end of his reigne Jo∣ram king of Israel undertook the recovery of Ramoth Gilead out of the hands of Hazael then king of Syria (which Ahab his father had formerly attempted with ill successe) and Ahaziah the king of Judah his sisters sonne joyned with him in that expedition, as Jehoshaphat had formerly done with Ahab.

Vers. 29. And king Joram went back to be healed in Jezreel, of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at▪ Ramoth, &c.] That is, Ramoth Gilead: ha∣ving wonne the town, and then manned it strongly, leaving the chief of his army there behind him with his captains (of whom Jehu was the chief) he withdrew himself to Jezreel to be cured of the wounds which he received in this siege of Ra∣moth Gilead. See the note, chap. 9.14.