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Introduction
Ochozias sendeth to consult Beelzebub: Elias foretelleth his death: and causeth fire to come down from heaven, upon two captains and their companies.
Chapter 1
[10] Let fire: Elias was inspired to call for fire from heaven upon these captains, who came to apprehend him; not out of a desire to gratify any private passion; but to punish the insult offered to religion, to confirm his mission, and to shew how vain are the efforts of men against God, and his servants, whom he willeth to protect.
[17] The second year of Joram: Counted from the time that he was associated to the throne by his father Josaphat.
Chapter 2
[1] Heaven: By heaven here is meant the air, the lowest of the heavenly regions.
[3] The sons of the prophets: That is, the disciples of the prophets; who seem to have had their schools, like colleges or communities, in Bethel, Jericho, and other places in the days of Elias and Eliseus. [9] Double spirit: A double portion of thy spirit, as the eldest son and heir: or thy spirit which is double in comparison of that which God usually imparteth to his prophets.
[15] They worshipped him: viz., with an inferior, yet religious veneration, not for any temporal, but spiritual excellency.
[24] Cursed them: This curse, which was followed by so visible a judgment of God, was not the effect of passion, or of a desire of revenging himself; but of zeal for religion, which was insulted by these boys, in the person of the prophet; and of a divine inspiration: God punishing in this manner the inhabitants of Bethel, (the chief seat of the calf worship,) who had trained up their children in a prejudice against the true religion and its ministers.
Chapter 3 [25] Brick walls only remained: It was the proper name of the capital city of the Moabites. In Hebrew, Kir-Haraseth.
Chapter 4 [29] Salute him not: He that is sent to raise to life the sinner spiritually dead, must not suffer himself to be called off, or diverted from his enterprise, by the salutations or ceremonies of the world. [31] The staff: St. Augustine considers a great mystery in this miracle wrought by the prophet Eliseus, thus: By the staff sent by his servant is figured the rod of Moses, or the Old Law, which was not sufficient to bring mankind to life then dead in sin. It was necessary that Christ himself should come, and by taking on human nature, become flesh of our flesh, and restore us to life. In this Eliseus was a figure of Christ, as it was necessary that he should come himself to bring the dead child to life and restore him to his mother, who is here, in a mystical sense, a figure of the Church. [39] Wild gourds of the field: Colocynthidas. They are extremely bitter, and therefore are called the gall of the earth; and are poisonous if taken in a great quantity.
Chapter 5 [15] A blessing: a present. [19] Go in peace: What the prophet here allowed, was not an outward conformity to an idolatrous worship; but only a service which by his office he owed to his master: who on all public occasions leaned on him: so that his bowing down when his master bowed himself down was not in effect adoring the idols: nor was it so understood by the standers by, since he publicly professed himself a worshipper of the only true and living God, but it was no more than doing a civil office to the king his master, whose leaning upon him obliged him to bow at the same time that he bowed.
Chapter 6 [18] Blindness: The blindness here spoken of was of a particular kind, which hindered them from seeing the objects that were really before them; and represented other different objects to their imagination: so that they no longer perceived the city of Dothan, nor were able to know the person of Eliseus; but were easily led by him, whom they took to be another man, to Samaria. So that he truly told them, this is not the way, neither is this the city, etc., because he spoke with relation to the way and to the city, which was represented to them.
Chapter 7 [1] A stater: It is the same as a sicle or shekel.
Chapter 8 [10] Tell him: thou shalt recover: By these words the prophet signified that the king's disease was not mortal: and that he would recover if no violence were used. Or he might only express himself in this manner, by way of giving Hazael to understand that he knew both what he would say and do; that he would indeed tell the king he should recover; but would be himself the instrument of his death. [16] And of Josaphat: That is, Josaphat being yet alive, who sometime before his death made his son Joram king, as David had done before by his own son Solomon. [26] Daughter: That is, grand-daughter; for she was daughter of Achab son of Amri, ver. 18.
Chapter 10 [18] I will worship him more: Jehu sinned in thus pretending to worship Baal, and causing sacrifice to be offered to him: because evil is not to be done, that good may come of it. Rom. 3. 8.
Chapter 11 [12] The testimony: The book of the law.
Chapter 12 [4] Sanctified: That is, dedicated to God's service.-- Ibid. [21] The city of David: He was buried in the same city with his fathers, but not in the sepulchres of the kings. 2 Par. 14.
Chapter 13 [6] A grove: Dedicated to the worship of idols. [19] If thou hadst smitten: By this it appears that God had revealed to the prophet that the king should overcome the Syrians as many times as he should then strike on the ground; but as he had not at the same time revealed to him how often the king would strike, the prophet was concerned to see that he struck but thrice.
Chapter 14 [8] Let us see one another: This was a challenge to fight. [25] Opher: The tribe of Zabulon.
Chapter 15 [1] Azarias: Otherwise called Ozias. [30] In the twentieth year of Joatham: That is, in the twentieth year, from the beginning of Joatham's reign. The sacred writer chooses rather to follow here this date than to speak of the years of Achaz, who had not yet been mentioned.
Chapter 16 [18] Musach: The covert, or pavilion, or tribune, for the king.
Chapter 17 [1] In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Juda: He began to reign before: but was not in quiet possession of the kingdom to the twelfth year of Achaz.
Chapter 18 [4] And he called its name Nohestan: That is, their brass; or a little brass. So he called it in contempt, because they had made an idol of it.
Chapter 19 [23] Carmel: A pleasant fruitful hill in the forest. These expressions are figurative, signifying under the names of mountains and forests, the kings and provinces whom the Assyrians had triumphed over.
Chapter 21 [6] Pythons: That is, diviners by spirits.
Chapter 22 [8] The book of the law: That is, Deuteronomy. [14] The Second: A street, or part of the city, so called; in Hebrew, Massem.
Chapter 23 [3] The king stood upon the step: That is, his tribune, or tribunal, a more eminent place, from whence he might be seen and heard by the people.
Chapter 24 [2] The Lord sent against him the rovers: Latrunculos. Bands or parties of men, who pillaged and plundered wherever they came. |