A. M. 3051. A. C. 1003; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4482. A. C. 929. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. wherein he upbraided him with the murder of his brothers, and his departure from the religion of his ancestors; and wherein a he threatened him with a sore disease in his

very bad state of health. In this condition, he sent to a Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, to know if he should

surrounded with a battlement, to prevent falling from them, because it was a customary thing for people to walk upon them in order to take the air. Now, in this battlement, we may suppose that there were some wooden lattices for people to look through, of equal height with the parapet wall, and that Ahaziah negligently leaning on it, as it was rotten and infirm, it broke down, and let him fall into the court or garden belonging to his house. Or there is another way whereby he might fall. In these flat

bowels, and his wives, his children, and his people, with judgments of several kinds, which God would send upon them. Nor was it long before these threats began to operate. The Edomites, who had all along been subject to the house of David, rebelled; and having expelled his deputy, made themselves a king of their own, and were never again subject to the Jewish yoke. Lib-roofs, there was generally an opening which served instead of a nah, a city in his own dominions, shook off its allegiance, skylight to the house below; and this opening might be done and refused to acknowledge him any longer for its sovover with lattice-work, which the king, as he was carelessly ereign. The Philistines and Arabians made inroads there any absurdity in supposing such lattice-work in a king's walking, might chance to step upon, and slip through. Nor is upon his territories, ravaged the country, plundered his palace, when the world was not arrived to that height of art and palaces, and carried away his very wives and children; curiosity which we find it in now.-Poole's Annotations, and so that they left none except Jehoahaz the youngest; Calmet's Dissertation on the Buildings of the Ancient Hebrews. and, to complete his misery, after God had afflicted him obtain that name, it is not so easy a matter to discover. Several e The word signifies, the god of flies; but how this idol came to with a cruel dysentery, which for two years grievously are of opinion, that this god was called Baal-semin, the lord of tormented him, and brought him at last to his grave, he heaven, but that the Jews, by way of contempt, gave it the name died, without being so much as lamented by his subjects; of Baal-zebub, or the lord of a fly, a god that was nothing worth, and after a life of forty, and a reign of eight years, temple of Jerusalem, notwithstanding all the sacrifices that were or, as others say, whose temple was filled with flies; whereas the being buried indeed in the city of David, but not in any daily offered, never once had a fly in it, as their doctors relate. of the royal sepulchres, was succeeded by his son Je- The sacred writings, indeed, when they speak of the gods of the hoahaz. But to return to the history of king Ahaziah. heathens, very frequently call them, in general, idols, vanity, Ahaziah, as we said, succeeded his father Ahab in the abominations, &c., but they never change their proper names into such as are of an opprobrious import: neither can we think it kingdom of Israel, in the seventeenth year of Jehosha-likely, that the king of Israel would have called the god of Ekron, phat's reign, and was not a whit behind him in all man- for whom he had so high a veneration as to consult him in his ner of wickedness. But as his reign was but short, in the sickness, by any appellation of contempt. Whoever considers whole not above the space of two years, so was it hot countries, flies are known to be; in what vast swarms they what troublesome and destructive creatures, especially in some inglorious and full of trouble. For in the first year of sometimes settle, and not only devour all the fruits of the earth, his reign, the Moabites, who had always been obedient but in many places occasion a noisome pestilence; may reasonto the kings of Israel from the first separation of the two ably suppose, that the heathens had a proper deity to whom they kingdoms, took now an opportunity to revolt; nor had paid their addresses, either for the prevention or removal of this he power to reduce them to their subjection; for in the Arabic, Zimb, is an insect so very destructive as to render it far sore plague. [In particular, the fly, called Zebub, and in modern second year of his reign, he received such a hurt by a from surprising that the ancient polytheists, who had gods prefall from the terrace of his house, as reduced him to a siding over every department of nature, should worship, as a very powerful deity, Baalzebub, or the lord of flies. The Zebub, or Zimb is never seen, says Mr Bruce, but where the earth is tat and loamy; and though very little larger than a bee, "whenever it makes its appearance in swarms, as it always does, and even as soon as its buzzing is heard, all the cattle forsake their food, and run wildly about, till they die, worn out with fatigue, fright, and hunger." Even the elephant flies before it, or rolls himself in the mire to protect his skin from its attack. "The very sound of the Zimb, before it is seen, occasions," says the same author, "more trepidation both in the human and brute creation, than would whole herds of these monstrous animals collected together, though their number was in a tenfold proportion greater than it really is," and the only remedy that remains for the shepherd on the appearance of this destructive insect, is to hasten with his cattle as quickly as he can, to the nearest sandy desert, whither the Zimb never pursues them. If we may believe Sandys, these flies abound in the country that was anciently called Ekron.-Bp. Gleig. And accordingly we are told by Pliny (b. 29. c. 6.), that when there was a plague in Africa, occasioned by vast quantities of flies, after that the people had sacrificed to the god Achore, (he should have said the god of Ekron, for there is a plain affinity between their names,) the flies all died, and the distemper was extinguished. Now, it was a known maxim of the heathen theology, that as all plagues were inflicted by some evil demon or other, so all evil demons were under the restraint of some superior one, who is their prince and ruler. As therefore Pluto was known to be the god of hell, and to have all the mischievous band of spirits under his control, to him the heathens used to pray, and oiler sacrifices, that he might not suffer any of his inferior agents to inflict this heavy judgment upon them. They worshipped him, I say, not to engage him to do them any good, but to prevail with him to do them no harm; and accordingly we may observe that every thing in their service was dark and gloomy. Their offerings were in the night: “then to the Stygian king he performs nocturnal sacrifices." ( irg. Æn.

this writing to be delivered to him, upon presumption that it would affect him the more, as it came from a person that was translated into heaven. But this notion has no better foundation than the other, for the prophets were sent to those who lived in their own age, to declare unto them the will of God, not to write letters, fit to be delivered only when they had departed out of this life. God never left himself without a witness; and at this time more especially, there were prophets in abundance; and therefore others have supposed, that there has been a mistake in the transcriber; and the name of Elijah put for that Elisha; or that Elijah, by whom this letter was sent, was not the prophet who was taken up to heaven, but another of that name, who lived in the subsequent age, and was contemporary with Jehoram. Which of these conjectures, for conjectures they are all, seems most feasible, we are at liberty to choose, since any of them is sufficient to solve the above-mentioned difficulty.-Le Clerc and Patrick's Commentary. [Boothroyd, in his translation, (2 Chron. xxi. 12.) instead of Elijah reads Elisha; and adds, this correction seems absolutely necessary, though not confirmed, perhaps, by any one MS. or ancient version. From comparing parallel passages, it is clear that errors in names are most frequent.]-ED.

a There was no calamity that could be thought of, as several have observed, which did not befall this wicked prince. His kingdom was destroyed and depopulated by the fiercest nations; his treasures ransacked; his wives carried into captivity; his children slain; himself afflicted with a sore disease for two years; and, when he was dead, denied the honour of a royal sepulchre, such as his father had. All which calamities were threatened in this writing sent him in the name of Elijah, that he might not think that they came by chance, but by the special direction of Almighty God, as a punishment for his impiety.-Patrick's Commentary on 2 Chron. xxi. 14.

b In the eastern countries the roofs of the houses were flat, and

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recover; but, by God's appointment, the prophet Elijah | of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, succeeded by his brother was sent to meet his messengers, and to turn them back with this answer, that the king should certainly die.' The messengers coming back much sooner than was expected,' acquainted the king with the reason of it; and he, by their description, understanding that it was Elijah who sent him the message, immediately despatched a captain with fifty soldiers to apprehend him; but upon their approach, the prophet conmanded fire to come down from heaven and destroy them. The like he did to another captain and his company; but when the third came, in a more submissive manner, and begged his life, and the lives of his soldiers, Elijah went with him to the king, and told him from his own mouth what he had before told the messengers; which accordingly came to pass, for he died a short time after, and having no son of his own, was, in the second year of Jehoram, son

About the beginning of the ƒ reign of Jehoram king of Judah, Elijah the prophet was translated into heaven. God, very likely, had given him some intimation of the time when this miraculous event should happen; and therefore, before his departure, he visited the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel and Jericho, and took his leave of them with such solemnity, that they began to suspect that this was the last visit he intended to make them; and accordingly & apprised Elisha of it, who thereupon determined not to leave his master, as long as he continued upon earth.

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place of Elijah's ascension, Elisha requested of him that the same gift of prophecy which God had been pleased to bestow on him, might be a communicated to him, in a larger measure than to the other prophets; which the other did not positively promise, but told him, however, that if he happened to see him when he came to be translated, this would be a good sign, that God would not refuse him his request: and while they were thus going on, and talking, there appeared, as it were, a bright chariot, and horses, running towards them on the ground, and, coming between them, parted them. For Elijah mounted the chariot, and in a great gust of wind, directed by angels, was transported into heaven; while Elisha, who was left behind, cried to him as he saw

scholars of the prophets,' such as they educated and trained up in religion and virtue, upon whom God by degrees bestowed the

spirit of prophecy, and whom the superior prophets employed in

the same capacity, as the apostles did the evangelists, namely, to publish their prophecies and instructions to the people, in the places where they themselves could not go. Nor is it any small testimony of Gods' love to an apostate people, that in these corrupt times, and in that very place where the golden calves were worshipped, he still continued the schools of the prophets, in order to recover them from idolatry. Nay, what is very remarkable, there were prophets of greater excellency for their miracles, in Israel, than were in Judah, because they needed them more, both to turn their hard hearts from the worship of idols, and to preserve the pious persons that remained among them from deserting their religion. Patrick's Commentary.

him mount, and expressed his sorrow when he was gone: but taking up the mantle which had dropped from him in his ascent, with it he divided the waters, as Elijah had done, and repassed the Jordan.

Hereby the prophets of Jericho, and the places adjacent, were convinced that the spirit of Elijah rested upon Elisha. And accordingly, when they met him, they recognised him for his successor, and paid him the same respect. Believing, however, that the Spirit of God might possibly have d transported Elijah into some distant or desert place, they desired leave to send out fifty men in search of him. Elisha assured them that it would be needless: however, to give them all the conviction they desired, he suffered them to do what they pleased; so that the men went and returned again after three days' search to no purpose.

From this place Elisha proceeded to Jericho, where, at the request of the inhabitants, he cured the brackishness of their water, and the barrenness of their the form of the chariot and horses that he had just then behield, and seems to imply, "that Elijah, by his example, and counsel, and prayers, and power with God, did more for the defence and preservation of Israel, than all their chariots and horses, and other warlike provisions;" unless we may suppose that this was an abrupt speech which Elisha, in the consternation he was in, left unfinished, and so the sacred history has recorded it.—Poole's Annotations and Le Clerc's Commentaries.

from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord will carry thee where I know not, so that when the king cannot find thee he will slay me,' (1 Kings xviii. 12). And accordingly in the New Testament, we are told of Philip, that when they were come out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught him away, that the eunuch saw him no more, and Philip was found at Azotus,' (Acts viii. 39, 40,Le Clerc's Commentary.

d The Spirit of the Lord,' whereby we may understand either a The words in the text are, Let, I pray thee, a double por- the power of God, or some one of his angels, frequently used to tion of thy Spirit be upon me; where some learned men are of carry the prophets through the air, and with vast celerity remove opinion, that this request in Elisha would be arrogant, if the them to distant places; and therefore Obadiah speaks of it as a words were to be taken in their most obvious sense; and there-common thing: and it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gon fore they refer them to Elisha's school-fellows, whom he desires to surpass in all prophetic gifts, as much as the first-born did excel the other children in his portion of the inheritance. But seeing Elijah had no other successor upon whom he was to bestow any prophetic gifts, but Elisha, we cannot see why Elisha may not be said to have a double portion of the prophetic spirit, since it is evident he did many more miracles than Elijah did, and even after his death, exerted a divine power in raising the dead man, (2 Kings xiii. 21.) Had he desired this double portion indeed out of a principle of vainglory, there might then be something said against his request; but since he did it with a pure intent to become thereby more serviceable in his generation, we cannot perceive why he was to blame in requesting what our blessed Saviour granted to his apostles, namely, the power of working greater miracles than he himself did.-Le Clerc's and Calmet's Commentaries.

e The manner in which the prophet Elisha sweetened the fountain, and made the soil fruitful, was by casting salt into the water, to make the miracle more conspicuous; for salt is a thing, that of all others, makes water less potable, and the ground more barren. Josephus, however, willing to improve upon this history, adds, as his usual manner is, several circumstances of his own. For he tells us, "That this fountain did not only corrupt tas fruits of the earth, whether grain or plants, but likewise caused abortions in women, and tainted, with a blasted infection, whatWhat this chariot was, and to what place it conveyed Elijah, ever it touched, that was capable of such impression; that Elisha, we shall have occasion to observe in the following chapter; at having been treated with great hospitality and respect by the present we shall only take notice of some things relating to this people of Jericho, bethought himself of such an acknowledgment, prophet's character. The author of Ecclesiasticus (xlviii. 1, &c.) as they themselves, their country, and their posterity, to the end has dedicated this encomium to his memory," Then stood up of the world, might be the better for; that hereupon he went Elias the prophet as fire, and his word burnt like a lamp. He out to the fountain, and causing a pitcher of salt to be let down brought a sore famine among them, and by his zeal he diminished to the bottom of it, he advanced his right hand towards heavet, their number. By the word of the Lord he shut up the heaven, and, presenting his oblations at the side of it, besought God, in and also three times brought down fire. O Elias, how wast thou his goodness, to correct the water, and to sweeten the veins honoured by thy wondrous deeds? And who may glory like through which it passed; to soften the air, and to make it more unto thee? Who didst raise a dead man from death, and his temperate and fructifying; to bestow children as well as fruits, son from the place of the dead, by the word of the Most High; upon the inhabitants in abundance; and never to withdraw these who broughtest kings to destruction, and honourable men to their blessings, so long as they continued in their duty; and that upo bed:-Who wast taken up in a whirlwind of fire, and in a chariot offering up this prayer, with all due ceremony, and according te of fiery horses; who was ordained for reproofs in their times, to form, the ill quality of the fountain was changed, and, instead pacify the wrath of the Lord's judgment before it brake forth into sterility, became now an efficacious means of plenty and increase." fury; to turn the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the The author, we may observe, to gratify the pagans, represents tribes of Jacob." In which last sentence our author alludes to Elisha in the form of a magician, who, by invocations, oblations, that passage in Malachi, (iv. 5, 6.) 'Behold I will send you and other mysterious operations, changed the bad quality Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful waters, and thereby made the valley of Jericho fruitful; whereas day of the Lord; and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the this was done in a manner altogether supernatural and miracu children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest Ilous. Nay, to this very day, there is a fountain on the west of

come and smite the earth with a curse,'

the

Jericho, which rises about three quarters of a league above the town, in the way to Jerusalem, which, yielding a great deal of water, and that very good in its kind, runs along and fructifas the plain.-The Wars of the Jews, b. 5. c. 4.

soil.

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b

It was in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, that this Jehoram king of Israel, began to

Thence he continued his course to Bethel, where, | reign; and though he did not make any great reformaupon the children's mocking and ridiculing him, two tion in his kingdom, yet he was not altogether so wicked she-bears rushing out of the neighbouring forest, fell upon as his father and brother: for he d removed the idols of them, and devoured two and forty of them. From Baal, very likely to procure Jehoshaphat's friendship, Bethel he went to Mount Carmel, where probably there though the golden calves which were the state-engine to was another school of the prophets; and from thence he keep up the division between Israel and Judah, he could proceeded to Samaria, where he had soon opportunities not prevail with himself to depose. In this state, howenough of exerting his prophetic office. ever, he had Jehoshaphat for an ally, when he engaged in a war, which was in the beginning of his reign, with Mesha king of Moab, for refusing to pay the tribute f of an hundred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams with the wool, which, until the reign of his brother Ahaziah, had been all along from the time of David paid to the crown of Israel; and as the king of Israel was then no more than deputy to Jehoshaphat, he engaged him likewise in the quarrel. These three kings, in order to surprise the enemy, and invade him on the weakest side, took a compass of seven days' march in the wilderness of Edom, and had like to have been all lost for want of water, had not the prophet Elisha, who was then in the camp, put them in a method how to procure some e; g and not only so, but at the same time promised

a 2 Kings ii. 19. And the ground barren; marg. 'causing to miscarry. If the latter reading is allowed to be more just than the former, we must entertain a different idea of the situation of Jericho than the textual translation suggests. There are actually at this time cities where animal life of certain kinds pines, and decays, and dies; and where that posterity which should replace such loss, is either not conceived; or, if conceived, is not brought to the birth; or, if brought to the birth, is fatal in delivery to both mother and offspring. An instance of this kind occurs in Don Ulloa's Voyage to South America, vol. i. p. 93. | He says of the climate of Porto Bello, that it destroys the vigour of nature, and often untimely cuts the thread of life." And of Sennaar, Mr Bruce (Trav. vol. iv. p. 469.) says, that "no horse, mule, ass, or any beast of burthen, will breed, or even live at Sennaar, or many miles about it. Poultry does not live there; neither dog nor cat, sheep nor bullock, can be preserved a season there. They must go all, every year, to the sands. Though every possible care be taken of them, they die in every place where the fat earth is about the town, during the first season of the rains." He farther mentions, that the situation is equally unfavourable to most trees.-ED.

6 They had probably been robbed of their whelps, which made them more fierce and outrageous.-Patrick's Commentary.

e 'Jehoram king of Israel began to reign.' There were two Jehorams who were contemporary: the first, the son of Ahab, brother to Ahaziah, and his successor in the kingdom of Israel; the second, the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, who succeeded his father in Judah. But there is a difficulty here: how is it that Jehoram, the brother of Ahaziah, began to reign in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat, as it is stated, 2 Kings i. 17, seeing that, according to chap. iii. 1, he began his reign in the eighteenth year of the reign of Jehoshaphat; and according to chap. viii, 16, ‘Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, began to reign in the fifth year of Jehoram king of Israel.' Calmet and others answer thus: "Jehoram king of Israel began to reign in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, which was the second year after this Jehoshaphat had given the vice-royalty to his son Jehoram; and afterwards Jehoshaphat communicated the royalty to Jehoram his successor, two years before his death, and the fifth year of Jehoram king of Israel." Dr Lightfoot takes another method:-"Observe," says he, "these texts, 1 Kings xxii. 51, Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria, the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned two years;' and 2 Kings i. 17: And Ahaziah died, according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken, and Jehoram reigned in his stead, in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah;' and 2 Kings iii. 1: Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah.' By these Scriptures it is most plain, that both Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, and Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, began to reign in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat: for who sees not in these texts that Jehoshaphat's eighteenth, when Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign, is called the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat? Now Jehoshaphat's reign was not yet expired by eight or nine years, for this was in his seventeenth year, and he reigned twenty-five years; (1 Kings xxii. 42.) nor was Ahab's reign yet expired by two or three years, for this was in his twentieth year, and he reigned twenty-two years, (1 Kings xvi. 29.) But the reason why both their sons came thus into their thrones in their lifetime, and both in the same year, was, because their fathers, Jehoshaphat and Ahab, were both engaged in the war against the Syrians, about Ramoth-Gilead; and while they were providing for it, and carrying it on, they made their sons vice-royals, and set them to reign in their stead, while they were absent, or employed upon that expedition." This is very pro

1

12 Kings iii. 16.

bable, and seems well supported by the above texts, and would solve all the difficulties with which many have been puzzled, and not a few stumbled. Here we have sufficient evidence for the vice-royalty here mentioned.-Dr A. Clarke.-ED.

d It is a little strange, that his mother Jezebel, who brought this worship with her from the Sidonians, should suffer him to remove the images of her favourite god; but she perhaps might be a little daunted with the many disasters that had befallen her family, and was content with the privilege of having her idolatrous worship in private; nor is it unlikely, that Jehoshaphat might refuse to assist him in his wars against the king of Moab, unless he would consent to renounce his idolatry.-Patrick's Commentary. e The answer which he gives Jehoram is the very same that he returned to his father Ahab, in his war against the Syrians: 'I am as thou art; my people, as thy people; and my horses, as thy horses,' (1 Kings xxii, 4, and 2 Kings iii. 7.) And considering the ill success he had, one would wonder why he should be so forward to join with his son; but, as Jehoram had reformed some things, he might have a better opinion of him, and, by showing him kindness, hope perhaps to prevail with him to proceed farther: and, as the Moabites had of late invaded his country, (2 Chron. xx. 1.) he might embrace this opportunity to chastise them for it. But, without these considerations, the war was right and justifiable; and fit it was that rebels and revolters should be chastised, lest the example should pass into his own dominions, and encourage the Edomites to revolt from him, as we find they afterwards did from his son.-Patrick's Commentary and Poole's Annotations.

This was a prodigious number indeed; but then we are to consider, that these countries abounded with sheep, insomuch that Solomon offered 120,000 at the dedication of the temple, (2 Chron, vii. 5.) and the Reubenites drove from the Hagarites 250,000, (1 Chron. v. 21.) For, as Bochart observes, their sheep frequently brought forth two at a time, and sometimes twice a year. The same learned man remarks, that in ancient times, when people's riches consisted in cattle, this was the only way of paying tribute; for, as he quotes the passage out of Pliny, " money, (pecunia,) was even named so from the word pecus, or cattle and still yet in the Censor's tables all things are called pascua, (pastures,) from which the people received revenue, because this had long been their only income." (Nat. Hist. b. 18. c. 3) It is observed by others likewise, that this great number of cattle was not a tribute which the Moabites were obliged to pay to the Israelites every year, but on some special occasion only; upon the accession of every new king, for instance, when they were obliged to express their homage in this manner, or to make satisfaction for some damages, that the Israelites should at any time suffer from their invasions or revolts.—Patrick's and Le Clerc's Commentaries.

g The prophet did not instruct the kings how to procure a sup

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them a complete victory over the Moabites. The next morning, the confederate army had water enough; a and the Moabites, who were now marching to oppose them, perceiving water where they knew there used to be none, and, by the reflection of the sun, that it looked like blood, supposed that the three kings had quarrelled, and their armies engaged, and slain one another; so that they concluded they had nothing to do but to fall upon the spoil. But when they came to the camp, the Israelites gave them a reception that they little expected; for they not only killed great numbers of them upon the spot, but pursued them into their country, destroyed their fortified places, choked up their springs, cut down their timber, and made ravage and devastation wherever they came; insomuch that the king was forced to betake himself to his capital city, Kirhareseth, where the confederate army besieged him, and soon reduced him to such extremity, that after he had made a successful sally with 700 men, in hopes of forcing the king of Edom's quarters, and found himself repulsed, he took his eldest

ს

ply of water by any knowledge of his own, as our author's words would seem to imply, he merely announced to them what God had revealed to him, namely, that they should dig a number of ditches, and that these should be miraculously filled with water. "The mind of the holy man being discomposed, as it seems, by the presence of the idolatrous Edomite, he called for music, in order, probably, that its soothing influence might prepare him to give a response with calmness and self-possession, and then he predicted the manner and issue of the battle in terms as plain as if it had been a description after the event. The manner in which the enemy were delivered into the hands of the confederate kings, was altogether miraculous, for, though it was through the intervention of water, there was not the whirlwind, which in the east is the usual prognostic of rain; and it was to that usual atmospheric appearance, previous to a shower, that the prophet alluded, when he said, 'Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain, yet the valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both you and your cattle.' The event fell out precisely as the prophet had foretold; the whole country was filled with water, and what proved a most seasonable relief to the confederate armies, was the cause of the enemy's destruction, for in consequence of the reflection of the sun's rays on the water, which, at its rising and falling, often gives water a red appearance, they were deceived into the belief that it was blood; and that such a profusion of it could have been occasioned only by some sudden and deadly strife between the allies. Under this delusion, they ran carelessly to the camp of the opposite party, by whom they were surprised, put to flight, and killed in great numbers, their country invaded and laid waste.-Jamieson's Eastern Manners, pp. 316, 317.-ED.

a 2 Kings iii. 17. ‘Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet the valley shall be filled with water.' Rain is often in the east preceded by a squall of wind. The editor of the Ruins of Palmyra tells us, that they seldom have rain except at the equinoxes, and that nothing could be more serene than the sky all the time he was there, except one afternoon, when there was a small shower, preceded by a whirlwind, which took up such quantities of sand from the desert, as quite darkened the sky (p. 37). Thus Elisha told the king of Israel, ye shall not see wind nor rain, yet that valley shall be filled with water.' The circumstance of the wind taking up such a quantity of sand as to darken the sky, may serve to explain 1 Kings xviii. 45: The heaven was black with clouds and wind.' The wind prognosticating rain is also referred to Prov. xxv. 14: Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift,' pretending to give something valuable and disappointing the expectation, is like clouds and wind without rain.'-Harmer, vol. 1. p. 54.-ED.

b 2 Kings iii. 25. Felled all the good trees.' In times of war it was formerly very common for one party to injure the other, by destroying their valuable trees. Thus the Moabites were punished, and thus the Arabs of the holy land still make war upon each other, burning the corn, cutting down the olive trees, &c. -Hasselquist's Travels, p. 143.-ED.

son, e and in mere desperation, sacrificed him upon the wall of the city, in the sight of the Israelitish army, who being struck with horror at so barbarous an action, raised the siege, and retired to their own country, d

Upon raising this siege, the prophet Elisha left the three kings, and returned to Samaria; whereupon the sacred historian gives a long detail of the several miracles which he wrought, namely, that he increased a poor widow's oil, to such a quantity, as enabled her to pay her husband's debts, and preserve her two sons from bondage. That, to reward the wealthy Shunamite for his kindness and hospitality to him, he prevailed in his prayers with God, that his wife might have a child, and afterwards, when the child died, restored him to life again. That while he was at Gilgal, he cured the noxious quality of the prophets' colloquintida pottage, by

2

12 Kings iv. 1, &c.

3

e

2 Kings iv. 8, &c.

32 Kings iv. 34. e Not only the Holy Scriptures, but several heathen writers likewise do assure us of this, that in cases of great extremity, it was customary among people to sacrifice to their gods whatever was most dear to them. Cæsar, in his war with the Gauls, tells us, that when they were afflicted with grievous diseases, or in time of war, or great danger, they either offered men for sacrifices, or vowed that they would offer them; because they imagined, that their gods could never be appeased, unless one man's life was given for another's. No less a man than Grotius is of opinion, that this Moabitish king, in imitation of Abraham, sacrificed his son to the God of Israel, hoping thereby to appease his wrath, and to move the compassion of the kings that were besieging him: but the most general opinion is, that he offered this costly sacrifice to some false deity, and very likely to Chemosh, which was his national god, and generally thought to be the sum.-Calmet's and Le Clerc's Commentaries.

d Instead of the words, there was great indignation against Israel,' as in our version, 2 Kings iii. 27, Boothroyd has, there was great indignation amongst the Israelites,' which seems to be the true reading.-ED.

e This kindness consisted in entertaining him; to the better accomplishment of which, they built for him a little chamber on the wall, that he might turn in thither, as related, 2 Kings viii. 10. The following may illustrate the nature of this chamber: "To most of these houses there is a smaller one annexed, which sometimes rises one story higher than the house; at other times it consists of one or two rooms only, and a terrace, whilst others that are built, as they frequently are, over the porch or gateway, have, if we except the ground floor, which they have not, all the conveniences that belong to the house, properly so called. There is a door of communication from them into the gallery of the house, kept open or shut at the discretion of the master of the family, besides another door, which opens immediately from a private staircase, down into the porch or street, without giving the least disturbance to the house. These back houses are known by the name of olee or oleah, for the house properly so called, is dar of beet, and in them strangers are usually lodged and entertained. The oleah of holy Scripture, being literally the same appellation, is accordingly so rendered in the Arabic version. We may suppose it then to have been a structure of the like contrivance. The little chamber, consequently, that was built by the Shunmite for Elisha, whither, the text instructs us, he retired at his pleasure, without breaking in upon the private affairs of the family, or being in his turn interrupted by them in his devotions; the summer chamber of Eglon, which, in the same manner with these, seems to have had privy stairs belonging to it, through which Ehud escaped, after he had revenged Israel upon the king of Moab; the chamber over the gate, whither, for the greater privacy, king David withdrew himself to weep for Absalom; and that upon whose terrace, Ahaz, for the same reason, erected his altars; seem to have been structures of the like nature and cotrivance with these olees.”—Shaw's Travels, p. 280.—Ev.

It is a plant so very bitter, that some have called it the gall of the whole earth. It purges excessively, and is a sort of poison, if not qualified, and taken in a moderate quantity.-Calmet's and Patrick's Commentaries. It is customary to use herbs gathered