A. M. 3001. A. C. 1003; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A.M. 4507. A. C. 904. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. 3 have been more immediately under the divine favour than he, who, though more remarkable than any for his piety and goodness, fell under the lot and commendation of the wicked, as being not permitted " to live out half his days. We acknowledge, once more, that the words of Moses do not necessarily imply any miraculous assumption of a living man into heaven, or any other place unknown, and unaccessible to mortals; but still, if we will but compare what he says of Enoch with what he relates of the other patriarchs, we shall soon perceive, that his stantiated, that no question can be made of its reality; We acknowledge again, that, according to the light but the ambiguity of the words wherein the sacred his- which the gospel has introduced, for a good man to die torian has related the assumption of Enoch, has induced at any time' is gain, and to be removed from the miseries several to think, that though this antediluvian patriarch of this life is much better than the longest continuance was highly in favour with God, and for that reason re-in it. 10 But still it must be confessed, that, in the first moved from the contagious wickedness which was then ages of the world, and under a less perfect dispensation, overspreading the earth; yet that this removal was ef-length of days was generally accounted the recompense fected, not by any miraculous operation of God, but of virtue; and, therefore, if there were nothing extraor merely by his undergoing a natural death. dinary in the manner of Enoch's departure, the other The words wherein Moses has recorded this transac-patriarchs, who so far exceeded him in years, seem to tion are very few, and these of uncertain signification: Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.' Now it is plain, from several passages in Scripture, not only that the word which we render God took him,' is set to signify our common death, as in the case of Elijah himself, when, under the juniper-tree, he prays that God would take away his life,' because he was not better than his fathers; and in that of holy Job, when he tells us, that he did not know how soon his Maker might take him away; but that the other expression, he was not,' is frequently used in the same sense, as is evident from the lamentation which both Jacob and his son Reu-purpose was to distinguish between their manner of ben made for the supposed loss of Joseph: Joseph is not,' and Simeon is not, says the old man: and the child is not; and I, whither shall I go?' says the son. So that no argument can be drawn from the terms in the text to countenance a miraculous assumption, more than a natural death, in the prophet Enoch. But this is not all. The author of the book, entitled The Wisdom of Solomon, is supposed to carry the matter farther, and to declare positively for the death of this patriarch, when he tells us, "that he pleased God, and was beloved of him, so that, living among sinners, he was translated; yea, speedily was he taken away, lest wickedness should alter his understanding, and deceit beguile his soul. Being made perfect in a short time, he fulfilled a long time; for his soul pleased the Lord, therefore hasted he to take him away from among the wicked.' Where every line in the description, as some imagine, suits exactly with Enoch, and yet the author all along supposes, that the person he is here speaking of died in the same manner as other men do. 6 leaving the world and his. For whereas it is said of all the preceding patriarchs, that they lived to such and such a number of years, and 12 ‹ begat sons and daughters, and so died;' of Enoch it is said, that 13 he lived sixty and five years,' and begat Methuselah; that after he begat Methuselah, he lived three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters; but then, instead of 'he died,' the author's words are, he walked with God, and was not, for God took him:' where he first takes notice of his good and pious life, which made him so acceptable to God, and then of his translation, 'God took him :' but lest there should be any ambiguity in that expression, he adds, and he was not,' or appeared no more in the world; whereby he intimates that he still lives, and subsists in some other place. 14 The truth is, these expressions in the text, when rightly understood, do confirm, rather than invalidate, the doctrine of Enoch's translation: but, to put the matter beyond all dispute, we have the authority of an apostle, enumerating the actions of the worthies of old, and tel'We acknowledge indeed, that the author of the book ling us of this patriarch in particular, that by faith he of Wisdom, speaking of the hasty and premature death was translated, that he should not see death, and was of the righteous, might properly enough allude to what not found, because God had translated him: for, before Moses relates concerning the translation of Enoch, who, his translation, he had this testimony, that he pleased in comparison of his contemporary patriarchs, lived but God:' where the author to the Hebrews takes care, by a short time; but we have no reason at all to suppose, repeating the word three times, to prevent our mistaking that he is here directly treating of the death of Enoch; his meaning; and by telling us, that the patriarch was on the contrary, that he is here discoursing of the right- not found, he plainly alludes to what the sons of the eous in general, and vindicating the wisdom and good-prophets did, when Elijah was taken away, that is, sent ness of providence, in taking them sometimes sooner 15 fifty men in quest of him, but found him not; and conthan ordinary out of this wicked world, is evident from the inference wherewith he concludes his discourse: *thus the righteous that is dead, shall condemn the ungodly that is living, and youth, that is soon perfected, the old age of the unrighteous: for they shall see the age of the wise, and shall not understand what God in his council had decreed of him, and to what end the Lord hath set him in safety. sequently not obscurely intimates, that this transport of the patriarch was of the same nature with what happened to the prophet so many years after; that they were both the effect of the divine favour to them, both the reward of their services upon earth, and both a remove to some certain place that is beyond the reach of the knowledge of man. In what part of the world this place is, we should not 9 Phil. i. 21, 22. 10 Saurin's Diss. on the Translation of Enoch. A. M. 3001. A. C. 1003; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4507. A. C. 904. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. our blessed Saviour promised the penitent thief upon the cross a joyful admittance; and having taken him with him, and reposited his soul in this mansion of rest and happiness, proceeded in his ascent beyond the orbits of the most distant stars, and made his entrance into the highest heavens, which are the residence of God himself; and into which, as others imagine, this patriarch and prophet were, upon their translation, carried. 5 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, says St Paul, speaking of himself, though his modesty made him conceal it,' (whether in the body, I cannot tell, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth) such an one caught up to the third heaven; and I knew such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, God knoweth) how that he was caught up into paradise, and heard things unspeakable, which it is not possible for man to utter:' and if St Paul was caught up into the third heaven,' even while he continued in this mortal state, why may we not suppose that Enoch and Elijah were at once translated into the same place? The probable design of God's vouchsafing the apostle this vision be too inquisitive, much less too positive, because we have no foundation but conjectures to go upon. St Austin, who seems to be more reserved in other abstruse questions, is very peremptory in this,-That Enoch and Elijah were translated into that a terrestrial paradise where Adam and Eve lived, in their state of innocence; that there they are nourished by the fruit of the tree of life, which gives them a power of subsisting for ever, without submitting to the necessity of death; that there they enjoy all the blessings and privileges that our first parents had before their transgression; and, among other things, an exemption from sinning, by the supernatural grace of God. But then the question is, where we are to place this terrestrial paradise, since there is scarce one region in the world that one author or other has not made choice of for its situation; and since, by the violent concussions which happened at Noah's flood, the face of nature had been so changed, that those very places, which, according to their description in Scripture, seem once to bid fairest for it, are now debased to such a degree, as little to deserve the appellation of the gardens of pleasure, much less the abodes of the blessed. 2 The word Schamajim, which we render heaven, is supposed by several, both Jewish and Christian doctors, of disembodied spirits. The passage which our auther here to be the upper part of the air, where the spirits of just that what is called 'paradise' by our Lord, (Luke xxiii. 43.) quotes from 2 Cor. xii., seems indeed to favour the opinion, men departed, together with these two translated persons, is the same as heaven itself; but that this is not the case, the live in a state of sincere, but imperfect bliss, until the following remarks by Dr Campbell, will, we think, place begeneral resurrection. But this, in our opinion, is plac-yond a doubt: "The Jews make mention of three heavens. ing the seats of the blessed too near the confines of 'the prince of the power of that element,' and in danger of being disturbed by some incursions from his quarters: and therefore, if we might be indulged a farther conjecture, we should rather choose to place them beyond the circumference of the solar system, where there are immense spaces, neither obstructed by the motion of any planets, nor obnoxious to the changes of their atmospheres, because nothing is there but pure ether. But how our corporeal part shall be enabled to live there, and to live to all eternity, we shall then come to under-be owned, the plural is used in expressing a subject indefinitely stand, when by experience we shall know what that change is, which the body undergoes, when it puts on immortality. In the mean time, as God is omnipotent, nothing can hinder him from making what changes he pleases in our bodies, and from preserving them eternally in that state. 3 This we may call the celestial paradise, into which 1 Contra Julian, b. 6. c. 30. 2 Le Clerc's Commentary on 2 Kings ii. 11. a Whether the Mahometans embrace the same opinion, it is a little uncertain; but they have a tradition among them, of one Kheder or Khizin, who had the good fortune to find the fountain of life, whereof he drank plentifully, and so became immortal. This Kheder, whose name signifies verdant or ever flourishing, according to them, is the same with Elijah, who lives in a place of retirement, in a delicious garden where the fountain of life runs, and the tree of life, which preserves his immortality, grows.-Calmet's Dictionary, under the word Elijah. 52 Cor. xii. 2, &c. the clouds are suspended. The second is above the first, and is but afterwards, in referring to what he had related, he says, (2 b This is incorrect. The paradise into which the soul of the penitent thief was promised admittance, was nothing else than hades, or the abode of the spirits of the just until the general resurrection, as Dr Campbell has most satisfactorily shown in his sixth Dissertation, prefixed to his translation of the Gospels. Although, therefore, we cannot determine the place of residence assigned to Enoch and Elijah, we can scarcely suppose that they, with their glorified bodies, inhabit the regions-ED. A. M. 3001. A. C. 1003; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4507. A. C. 904. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. of heaven, was to show him what his final reward would sonable to think, that by the ministry of angels, or rather be, and consequently, for the crown of joy that was set by the power of God, the cloud which carried them up, before him, to make him glory in the cross of Christ,' was condensed to a more than common consistency, and 2' in tribulation, in distress, in persecution:' and how that the whirlwind which might be raised for this purpose, reasonable it is to believe, that these two worthies, who helped to accelerate its motion, and expedite their in their several generations had fought the good fight, ascent. and finished their course, and kept the faith,' should, upon the peculiar favour of their assumption into heaven, be admitted to a nearer participation of the beatific vision, as an ample reward for the fatigues of their warfare? At our Saviour's transfiguration upon the mount, we find one of these sent to him, as we may presume, upon some important message, appearing in a bright and glorious form, and, as if he were admitted to the counsels of heaven, 46 talking with him of his decease, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem:' and therefore we can hardly think that his abode could be at any wide distance from the throne of God's presence, who, in conjunction with his faithful servant and lawgiver, Moses, was deputed to go an embassy to his beloved son. But in this point, we ought to repress our curiosity, and in the sense of Theodoret, content ourselves with what God has been pleased to reveal in Scripture, without inquiring too curiously into what he hath thought fit to conceal. In what manner Enoch was translated into heaven we have not the least intimation, nor is the account of Elijah's ascension to be taken in a literal sense; since a fiery chariot and horses would not have been a vehicle so proper for a nature as yet not impregnated with immortality. The notion of those who, upon this occasion, make angels assume the form of the chariot and horses, is not so incongruous, because we need not doubt but that by the divine permission they can transform themselves into any shape. They are supposed to have frequently appeared in the figure of flying oxen, for which reason they have obtained the name of cherub, or cherubim; and with the same facility they might at this time have put on the appearance of horses: but in points not so clearly expressed, we are to resolve God's method of acting by those that are analogous, and yet more plain. Now the only ascension that we read of besides these, is that of our blessed Saviour; and the manner in which he is said to have been carried up, was by the subvention of a cloud, which raised him from the ground, and, the mounting with him gradually,' carried him out of the apostles' sight:' and in like manner, we may suppose, that the translation of these two was performed, namely, that a bright and radiant cloud, which, as it ascended, might appear like a chariot and horses, raised them from the earth, and leaving this little globe behind, wafted them into the seats of the blessed. Only we must observe, that Christ's body was at this time invested with the powers of spirituality, and therefore capable of ascending without any vehicle; whereas theirs was retarded with a load of matter." And therefore it is rea But since flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption;' the question is, how these persons were all on a sudden, made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light?' Behold I show you a mystery,' says St Paul, speaking of those who shall be alive at we shall not all sleep, our Saviour's second advent, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump ;' and therefore the same almighty power, which, at the sounding of the last trump, will make our corruptible natures 'put on incorruption, and our mortal put on immortality,' did, no doubt, in their passage, change their terrestrial into celestial bodies, and thereby convey into them such faculties as were requisite for the enjoyment of the place whereunto it was conducting them. Whence did the author learn this? Is it not reasonable to suppose that the same power that removed Enoch and Elijah What particular services Enoch had done God, for which he vouchsafed him this favour extraordinary, and an exemption from mortality, the Scripture has nowhere specified. It tells us only, that he walked with God;' but then, considering, that if not then, at least in a short time, 10 all flesh hath corrupted their ways, and that when God saw the wickedness of the earth, it repented him that he had made man;' we may suppose, that this good and pious patriarch took care not only of his conduct, but set himself in opposition likewise to the violence, and other kinds of iniquity, which began then to prevail in most places; and that, in short, he was, as the tradition goes, a preacher of righteousness, in which office Noah is said to have succeeded him. For that he was a preacher of righteousness is manifest from that commination of his, which St Jude, from some ancient record or other, brings him in making to the antediluvian world: "Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed, and of all the hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.' b It is not to be supposed that either Enoch or Elijah received such a glorious distinction on account of any services which they had rendered in the cause of God and religion; for, strictly speaking, no mere man was capable of rendering such services to God as should entitle him to an exemption from the curse brought upon all mankind by the fall; and however eminent these prophets were for their piety and zeal in the cause of God, they were still obnoxious to the consequences of Adam's transgression, and if they were exempted from the common doom, and admitted into the heavenly state, it could only have been through the blood of the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. See remarks at the end of this chapter. -En. A. M. 3001. A. C. 1003; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4507. A. C. 904. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. And in like manner, it is very evident, that Elijah was | learned and sagacious.—a 'I will give power unto my a zealous advocate for God, and a strenuous opposer of two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two idolatry, an implacable enemy to Baal's priests, an un- hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. daunted reprover of the wickedness of princes; and a These are the two olive-trees, and the two candlesticks, severe inflicter of the divine vengeance upon all the standing before the God of the earth; and if a man will children of disobedience: and therefore, we may pre- hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and desume, that God designed his exaltation, not only as a voureth their enemies.-They have power to shut heaven, recompense for his past services, which were great, but that it rain not, in the days of their prophecy, and have as an encouragement, likewise, to other remaining pro- power over waters, to turn them to blood, and to smite phets, to be strong in the Lord; to bear witness boldly the earth with all plagues as often as they will. And against the corruption of the age wherein they lived; when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast, and in the execution of their office to fear the face of no that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit, shall make war against them, and overcome them, and kill them, and their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.-Their bodies shall lie three days and an half without being buried, and the people shall rejoice and make merry, because of their death; but after three days and an half, the spirit of life from God shall enter into them, and they shall stand on their feet, and great fear shall fall upon them that see them." man. The corruption of the age indeed, both in the times of Enoch and Elijah, was become so great and general, that the belief of a future state, we may well suppose, was in a manner quite extinct among them; and therefore God might think it expedient, at these two periods of time, to give the world a sensible proof of it, if not to convince the unbelieving part, at least to excite in the hearts of the faithful, under all their afflictions and persecutions for righteousness' sake, refreshing hopes and expectations of a recompense to be made them in due time. Nor can we think, but that in these instances God might have a prospect to a greater event, and by the assumption of his two faithful servants, intend to typify the ascension of his Son, who was to destroy death, and open the kingdom of heaven to all believers; that thereby he might make the testimony of his apostles concerning this fact a thing more credible; and give all good Christians a more solid comfort and consolation in those words of St Paul, 'Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.' The testimony of the angels concerning our blessed Saviour is,This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven:' but, before this his second coming, it is an opinion that has prevailed much among the ancient fathers, that God in his great mercy will send Enoch and Elijah to oppose the proceedings of Antichrist, to refute his doctrines, and to fortify the righteous against his threats and cruelties; but that, by the management of this their adversary, they shall be put to death, though in a short time raised again to everlasting life and glory. The whole of this notion is founded upon a very abstruse passage in St John's Revelation, concerning the two witnesses, which are variously interpreted. For, besides Enoch and Elijah, as we said before, some apply them to the law and the prophets, others to the Old and New Testament, and others again, especially those who favour the millenary scheme, to our Saviour Christ, and his forerunner John the Baptist. But as every one is left to his liberty to choose what part he pleases in such problems as these, we shall, without pretending to determine any thing ourselves, leave the passage, which, in a great measure we account inexplicable, to the examination of the more a Rev. xi. 3, &c. The learned Calmet, from whom in a great measure I have extracted this dissertation, concludes his discourse in such words as these.-1. That though we cannot infer from the strict words of Moses, that Enoch was translated alive into another world, and is still living; yet nevertheless ought the authorities of St Paul, and the tradition of the church, to prevail, with us, to esteem, this opinion as a matter of faith.-2. Although the fathers and interpreters seem to differ about the place into which Enoch was translated, yet if we examine carefully their different opinions, the greatest part of them may be reduc ed to a declaration of his being in paradise, which some place on the earth, and others in heaven. And, 3. That whatever liberty the church may allow interpreters, of putting a sense on the passage quoted out of the Revelation, which speaks of the coming of two witnesses that are to appear in the latter ages, it must be agreed, that the opinion which explains it of the return of Enoch and Elijah upon the earth, is much preferable to any other, on account of its antiquity, its intrinsic justness, and the number of authors who maintain it.-[Calmet might, very consistently with his creed, pay great deference to tradition, and the authority of the Romish church; but Protestants renounce both the one and the other, and appeal to no human tribunal, in the interpretation of Scripture, but that of reason.]-ED. section, might well have been spared. b A considerable portion of what is advanced in the preceding All inquiries as to the particular place or state assigned to Enoch and Elijah, or as to the exact nature and locality of the mansions prepared for the just, are to be regarded as vain and fruitless speculations, which These are amongst the secret things which belong to the Lord: may lead into error, but cannot tend to edification or instruction, and therefore it argues presumption on our part to search into them with prying and curious eyes. What it concerns us chiefly to know, is the design which the Almighty had in translating Enoch and Elijah into heaven, without tasting death, and if we carefully attend to the times in which each lived, the circumstances in which each was placed, and the method which God was pleased to adopt, in revealing his plans of mercy to our fal len race, we may warrantably draw the following conclusions. 1. That God intended to put a distinguishing mark of his honour ence to the truth, and their zeal in defending it in the midst of upon Enoch and Elijah, in consideration of their faithful adher universal degeneracy and corruption. 2. That the high honour thus conferred upon these two faithful servants of God, was intended as a public attestation of a future state of retributions for the encouragement of God's people in times of trial and afiliction. The account given of Enoch's translation is brief, and couched in obscure terms, while the history of the translation of Elijah is much more particular and minute; and this is perfectly consistent with the gradual development of the Almighty's designs, which we clearly recognise in the Old Testament, and particularly in the prophecies. 3. The assumption of Enoch and Elijah, was also designed as a prefiguration of the ascension of Christ. On A. M. 3001. A. C. 1003; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4507. A. C. 904. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. SECT. III. CHAP. I.—From the Siege of Samaria by Benhadad, to the Death of Uzziah King of Judah. THE HISTORY. C but, upon his master's prayer, his eyes were opened, and he beheld a multitude of horses and fiery chariots standing in array, and prepared to protect them; while, gured the town were struck with blindness; so that by as his master continued his prayer, the men that beleathe prophet's persuading them that they were out of their way, and had mistaken the place they were bound to, they were led, in this bewildered condition, into the very midst of Samaria, where, at the prophet's request, God opened their eyes again to show them the danger they were in. NOTWITHSTANDING the great service which the prophet Elisha had done Benhadad king of Syria, in curing Naaman, the general of his forces, of a confirmed leprosy, he still continued his enmity against Israel. Having Jehoram, finding so great a number of the enemy raised an army with a purpose to besiege Samaria, he lying at his mercy, would have gladly put them to the opened the campaign with stratagems of war; and, in sword; but Elisha by all means dissuaded him from it ; hopes of surprising Jehoram's troops, laid here and there alleging, that as he would scarce be so cruel as to kill in some ambuscades, which Elisha, by his spirit of prophe-cold blood, even prisoners that were taken in war, much cy found out, and all along gave the king of Israel a less should he touch those who were brought into his timely intelligence of them. Benhadad at first suspect- hands by the providence of God; and therefore he rather ed that his councils were betrayed; but when he was in-advised him to treat them, with all manner of civility, formed by a one of his officers that Elisha, who was then and let them go; which accordingly the king did. at Dothan, a small city in the half tribe of Manasseh, and not far from Samaria, must certainly have been at the bottom of all this, he sent a strong detachment to seize him, and invested the city that night. On the morrow, when Elisha's servant saw the enemy surrounding the town, and knew of no forces to oppose them, he expressed his fear and concern to his master; b But, e how signal soever this piece of service and danger he thought his master in, (for, in all probability, he had e It must be allowed that angels, whether they be purely spiritual, or, as others think, clothed with some material form, cannot be seen by mortal eyes; and therefore as Elisha himself, without a peculiar vouchsafement of God, could not discern the heavenly this point we can hardly entertain a doubt, if we attend to the host, which, at this time, encamped about him; so he requests nature and design of the types and figures of the Old Testament. of God, that, for the removal of his fears, and the confirmation "It has been pertinently remarked, that in each of the three of his faith, his servant might be indulged the same privilege; great periods of the church, it has pleased God, with a view to nor does it seem improbable, that from such historical facts as support the faith of his people, to give them a lively figure of the these, which have descended by tradition, that notion among the resurrection, as in the cases of Enoch before the flood, and under Greeks, of a certain mist which intercepts the sight of their gods what is called the patriarchal dispensation, Elijah under the Mo- from the ken of human eyes, might at first borrow its original. saic dispensation, and the great Captain of salvation himself, under To this purpose we may observe, that Homer makes Minerva bethe gospel, for whom the everlasting doors were opened. And speak Diomedes fighting against the Trojans, who were assisted in conducting those events, the Most High has gradually disclosed by some other gods: "The vapour which heretofore lay over life and immortality, from the dawn of morning light, to the full thine eyes, I of a truth abstracted, that you might certainly know glory of meridian splendour. It must have been an encouraging the immortal from the mortal being." Which Virgil has imisight to the antediluvian saints to see a guilty son of Adam with- tated, in making Venus speaks thus: "Look: for I will take drawn from among them, and lodged not in a tomb, but in the away all that cloud which, at present overspreading thy vision, bosom of God. It was a still more striking illustration of im-weakens it powers, and renders indistinct the circumjacent obmortality, to behold the heavens opened, and the divine messen-jects.” (Eneid. 2)—Le Clerc's Commentary. gers, in flaming fire, conducting a prophet into the mansions of d Though, according to the rigour of the laws of arms, a conglory. But the grandest display of this doctrine, is presented before our eyes, in the case of the Author and Finisher of our faith, who when he burst the bars of the grave, and ascended up on high, 'brought life and immortality to light,' opened the gates of righteousness, that the nations of those who are saved, may enter in. Enoch, Elijah, and Christ, in one view, may be compared with each other; but, in all things, to the latter belongs the preeminence. Enoch and Elijah ascended as solitary individuals, and their ascension, except as an example, benefited only themselves. Christ ascended as the first-fruits of them that sleep, and now that he is lifted up, he is drawing together his elect unto him, whom at least he will present before the presence of the Divine glory, with exceeding joy."-Jones.—ED. queror is at liberty to put whatever enemies fall into his hands, if he pleases, to the sword; yet the laws of humanity and compassion, of honour and good nature, should always restrain us from treating with the utmost severity such as surrender themselves, and implore our mercy; for so says the tragedian, "What the law doth not forbid, modesty itself repudiates." (Senec. Troad.) So the philosopher, "The nature of honour and equity commands us to spare even captives." (Senec, de Clement. b. 1. c. 18.) And so the divine, "Necessity, not will, destroys the opposing enemy; as violence is due to him that fighteth and opposeth, so mercy must be rendered to the vanquished captive." (Aug, ad Bonifac. epis. 1.) But, besides the humanity and charity of the thing, there was this prudence and policy, in the kind treatment a It is not to be doubted, but that Naaman, upon his return of the Syrians, that, by this means, their hearts might be mollified from Samaria, spread the fame of Elisha so much in the court of towards the Israelites, that, upon their return, they might beSyria, that some of the great men there might have the curiosity come as it were, so many preachers of the power and greatness to make a farther inquiry concerning him; and, being informed of the God of Israel, and not only be afraid themselves, but disby several of his miraculous works, they might hence conclude,suade others likewise from opposing a people that had so invincithat he could tell the greatest secrets, as well as perform such ble a protector.-Calmet's Commentary and Poole's Annotations. wonders as were related of him; and that, therefore, in all probability, he was the person who gave the king of Israel intelligence of all the schemes that had been contrived to entrap him, -Patrick's Commentary. This young man, it is supposable, had been but a little while with his master, no longer than since Gehazi's dismission, and therefore perhaps had not yet seen any great experiments of his power to work miracles; or, if he had, the great and eminent e Several heathens have observed, that "injuries are more gloriously overcome by benefits, than requited by pertinacious and mutual hatred;" but the sense of benefits in bad natures does not last long: for no sooner do we read of the kind treatment which the Syrians received, (2 Kings vi. 23.) but it immediately follows, that the king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up and besieged Samaria; which does not so well agree with what is said in the preceding verse, namely, that the bands of the |