565 lines
26 KiB
Plaintext
565 lines
26 KiB
Plaintext
|
<HTML>
|
||
|
<HEAD>
|
||
|
<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Second Chronicles, Chapter XXI].</TITLE>
|
||
|
<meta name="aesop" content="information">
|
||
|
<meta name="description" content=
|
||
|
"This site is for those friends and family members who may or may not know Our Lord Jesus Christ, and if not, they may come to know Our Lord through His Prophets."> <meta name="author" content="Brian Duncalfe">
|
||
|
<meta name="keywords" content=
|
||
|
"Prophecy, Rapture,hope,bible map,bible maps, God, tribulation,Second Coming,Christ,large print bible,commentary,complete">
|
||
|
</HEAD>
|
||
|
<body background="../sueback.jpg" bgproperties="fixed" >
|
||
|
<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
|
||
|
on the Whole Bible</h1>
|
||
|
<h3><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank">Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page</a>
|
||
|
</h3>
|
||
|
</center>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<HR>
|
||
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
|
||
|
<TR>
|
||
|
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
||
|
[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
|
||
|
[<A HREF="MHC14020.HTM">Previous</A>]
|
||
|
[<A HREF="MHC14022.HTM">Next</A>]<BR>
|
||
|
<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
||
|
Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1708)
|
||
|
</TD></TR></TABLE>
|
||
|
<HR>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<!-- (Begin Body) -->
|
||
|
|
||
|
<CENTER>
|
||
|
<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>S E C O N D C H R O N I C L E S</B></FONT>
|
||
|
<BR>
|
||
|
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XXI.</FONT>
|
||
|
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
|
||
|
</CENTER>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<FONT SIZE=-1>
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
Never surely did any kingdom change its king so much for the worse as
|
||
|
Judah did, when Jehoram, one of the vilest, succeeded Jehoshaphat, one
|
||
|
of the best. Thus were they punished for not making a better use of
|
||
|
Jehoshaphat's good government, and their disaffectedness (or coldness
|
||
|
at least) to his reformation,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+20:33"><I>ch.</I> xx. 33</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Those that knew not now to value a good king are justly plagued with a
|
||
|
bad one. Here is,
|
||
|
|
||
|
I. Jehoram's elevation to the throne,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:1-3">ver. 1-3</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
II. The wicked course he took to establish himself in it, by the
|
||
|
murder of his brethren,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:4">ver. 4</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
III. The idolatries and other wickedness he was guilty of,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:5,6,11">ver. 5, 6, 11</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
IV. The prophecy of Elijah against him,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:12-15">ver. 12-15</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
V. The judgments of God upon him, in the revolt of his subjects from
|
||
|
him
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:8-10">ver. 8-10</A>)
|
||
|
|
||
|
and the success of his enemies against him,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:16,17">ver. 16, 17</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
VI. His miserable sickness and inglorious exit,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:18-20">ver. 18-20</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
VII. The preservation of the house of David notwithstanding,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:7">ver. 7</A>.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
</FONT>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_1"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_2"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_3"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_4"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_5"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_6"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_7"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_8"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_9"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_10"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_11"> </A>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
|
||
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
||
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Jehoram's Wicked Reign.</I></FONT></TD>
|
||
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 889.</TD></TR>
|
||
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
||
|
</TABLE>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Now Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with
|
||
|
his fathers in the city of David. And Jehoram his son reigned in
|
||
|
his stead.
|
||
|
2 And he had brethren the sons of Jehoshaphat, Azariah, and
|
||
|
Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah:
|
||
|
all these <I>were</I> the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.
|
||
|
3 And their father gave them great gifts of silver, and of
|
||
|
gold, and of precious things, with fenced cities in Judah: but
|
||
|
the kingdom gave he to Jehoram; because he <I>was</I> the firstborn.
|
||
|
4 Now when Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom of his father,
|
||
|
he strengthened himself, and slew all his brethren with the
|
||
|
sword, and <I>divers</I> also of the princes of Israel.
|
||
|
5 Jehoram <I>was</I> thirty and two years old when he began to
|
||
|
reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
|
||
|
6 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did
|
||
|
the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife: and
|
||
|
he wrought <I>that which was</I> evil in the eyes of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
|
||
|
7 Howbeit the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> would not destroy the house of David,
|
||
|
because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he
|
||
|
promised to give a light to him and to his sons for ever.
|
||
|
8 In his days the Edomites revolted from under the dominion of
|
||
|
Judah, and made themselves a king.
|
||
|
9 Then Jehoram went forth with his princes, and all his
|
||
|
chariots with him: and he rose up by night, and smote the
|
||
|
Edomites which compassed him in, and the captains of the
|
||
|
chariots.
|
||
|
10 So the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah unto
|
||
|
this day. The same time <I>also</I> did Libnah revolt from under his
|
||
|
hand; because he had forsaken the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God of his fathers.
|
||
|
11 Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and
|
||
|
caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and
|
||
|
compelled Judah <I>thereto.</I>
|
||
|
</FONT></P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
We find here,</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
I. That Jehoshaphat was a very careful indulgent father to Jehoram. He
|
||
|
had many sons, who are here named
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
and it is said
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>)
|
||
|
|
||
|
that they were better than Jehoram, had a great deal more wisdom and
|
||
|
virtue, and lived up to their education, which he went counter to. They
|
||
|
were very hopeful, and any of them more fit for the crown than he; and
|
||
|
yet, because he was the first-born
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
his father secured the kingdom to him, and portioned his brethren and
|
||
|
disposed of them so as that they would be easy and give him no
|
||
|
disturbance; as Abraham, when he made Isaac his heir, dismissed his
|
||
|
other children with gifts. Herein Jehoshaphat was very kind and fair to
|
||
|
his son, which might have obliged him to be respectful to him, and
|
||
|
tread in the steps of so good a father. But it is no new thing for the
|
||
|
children that have been most indulged by their parents to be least
|
||
|
dutiful to them. Whether in doing this he acted wisely and well for his
|
||
|
people, and was just to them, I cannot say. His birthright entitled him
|
||
|
to a double portion of his father's estate,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:171">Deut. xxi. 17</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
But if he appeared utterly unfit for government (the end of which is
|
||
|
the good of the people), and likely to undo all that his father had
|
||
|
done, it would have been better perhaps to have set him aside, and
|
||
|
taken the next that was hopeful, and not inclined as he was to
|
||
|
idolatry. Power is a sacred thing, with which men may either do much
|
||
|
good or much hurt; and therefore <I>Detur digniori</I>--<I>Let him that
|
||
|
deserves it have it. Salus populi suprema lex</I>--<I>The security of
|
||
|
the people is the first consideration.</I></P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
II. That Jehoram was a most barbarous brother to his father's sons. As
|
||
|
soon as he had settled himself in the throne he slew all his brethren
|
||
|
with the sword, either by false accusation, under colour of law, or
|
||
|
rather by assassination. By some wicked hand or other he got them all
|
||
|
murdered, pretending (it is likely) that he could not think himself
|
||
|
safe in the government till they were taken out of the way. Those that
|
||
|
mean ill themselves are commonly, without cause, jealous of those about
|
||
|
them. The wicked fear where no fear is, or pretend to do so, in order
|
||
|
to conceal their malice. Jehoram, it is likely, hated his brethren and
|
||
|
slew them for the same reason that Cain hated Abel and slew him,
|
||
|
because their piety condemned his impiety and won them that esteem with
|
||
|
the people which he had lost. With them he slew divers of the princes
|
||
|
of Israel, who adhered to them, or were likely to avenge their death.
|
||
|
The princes of Judah, those who had taught the good knowledge of the
|
||
|
Lord
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+17:7"><I>ch.</I> xvii. 7</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
are here called princes of Israel, as before <I>fathers of Israel</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+19:8"><I>ch.</I> xix. 8</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
because they were Israelites indeed, men of integrity. The sword which
|
||
|
the good father had put into their hands this wicked son sheathed in
|
||
|
their bowels. Woe unto him that thus <I>foundeth a kingdom in blood</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:12">Hab. ii. 12</A>);
|
||
|
|
||
|
it will prove a foundation that will sink the superstructure.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
III. That Jehoram was a most wicked king, who corrupted and debauched
|
||
|
his kingdom, and ruined the reformation that his good father and
|
||
|
grandfather had carried on: He <I>walked in the way of the house of
|
||
|
Ahab</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
made high places, which the people were of themselves too forward to
|
||
|
make, and did his utmost to set up idolatry again,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. As for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, where he kept his court, he
|
||
|
easily drew them into his spiritual whoredom: He <I>caused them to
|
||
|
commit fornication,</I> seducing them <I>to eat things sacrificed to
|
||
|
idols,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+2:20">Rev. ii. 20</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. The country people seem to have been brought to it with more
|
||
|
difficulty; but those that would not be corrupted by flatteries were
|
||
|
driven by force to partake in his abominable idolatries: He
|
||
|
<I>compelled Judah thereto.</I> He used that power for the destruction
|
||
|
of the church which was given him for the edification of it.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
IV. That when he forsook God and his worship his subjects withdrew from
|
||
|
their allegiance to him.
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. Some of the provinces abroad that were tributaries to him did so.
|
||
|
The Edomites revolted
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
and, though he chastised them
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
yet he could not reduce them,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. One of the cities of his own kingdom did so. Libnah revolted
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>)
|
||
|
|
||
|
and set up for a free state, as of old it had a king of its own,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jos+12:15">Josh. xii. 15</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
And the reason is here given, not only why God permitted it, but why
|
||
|
they did it; they shook off his government because he had forsaken the
|
||
|
Lord God of his fathers, had become an idolater and a worshipper of
|
||
|
false gods, and they could not continue subject to him without some
|
||
|
danger of being themselves also drawn away from God and their duty.
|
||
|
While he adhered to God they adhered to him; but, when he cast God off,
|
||
|
they cast him off. Whether this reason will justify them in their
|
||
|
revolt of no, it will justify God's providence which ordered it so.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
V. That yet God was tender of his covenant with the house of David, and
|
||
|
therefore would not destroy the royal family, though it was so
|
||
|
wretchedly corrupted and degenerated,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
These things we had before,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+8:19-22">2 Kings viii. 19-22</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The tenour of the covenant was that David's seed should be visited for
|
||
|
their transgressions, but the covenant should never be broken,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+89:30-37">Ps. lxxxix. 30</A>,
|
||
|
|
||
|
&c.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_12"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_13"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_14"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_15"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_16"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_17"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_18"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_19"> </A>
|
||
|
<A NAME="2Ch21_20"> </A>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
||
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
||
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Jehoram's Miserable End.</I></FONT></TD>
|
||
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 884.</TD></TR>
|
||
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
||
|
</TABLE>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>12 And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet,
|
||
|
saying, Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God of David thy father, Because thou
|
||
|
hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the
|
||
|
ways of Asa king of Judah,
|
||
|
13 But hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast
|
||
|
made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like
|
||
|
to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy
|
||
|
brethren of thy father's house, <I>which were</I> better than thyself:
|
||
|
14 Behold, with a great plague will the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> smite thy people,
|
||
|
and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods:
|
||
|
15 And thou <I>shalt have</I> great sickness by disease of thy
|
||
|
bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day
|
||
|
by day.
|
||
|
16 Moreover the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of
|
||
|
the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that <I>were</I> near the
|
||
|
Ethiopians:
|
||
|
17 And they came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried
|
||
|
away all the substance that was found in the king's house, and
|
||
|
his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left
|
||
|
him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.
|
||
|
18 And after all this the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> smote him in his bowels with an
|
||
|
incurable disease.
|
||
|
19 And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end
|
||
|
of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so
|
||
|
he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him,
|
||
|
like the burning of his fathers.
|
||
|
20 Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and
|
||
|
he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being
|
||
|
desired. Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in
|
||
|
the sepulchres of the kings.
|
||
|
</FONT></P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
Here we have,
|
||
|
|
||
|
I. A warning from God sent to Jehoram by a writing from Elijah the
|
||
|
prophet. By this it appears that Jehoram came to the throne, and showed
|
||
|
himself what he was before Elijah's translation. It is true we find
|
||
|
Elisha attending Jehoshaphat, and described as pouring water on the
|
||
|
hands of Elijah, after the story of Elijah's translation
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+3:11">2 Kings iii. 11</A>);
|
||
|
|
||
|
but that might be, and that description might be given of him, while
|
||
|
Elijah was yet on earth: and it is certain that that history is put out
|
||
|
of its proper place, for we read of Jehoshaphat's death, and Jehoram's
|
||
|
coming to the crown, before we read of Elijah's translation,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+22:50">1 Kings xxii. 50</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
We will suppose that the time of his departure was at hand, so that he
|
||
|
could not go in person to Jehoram; but that, hearing of his great
|
||
|
wickedness in murdering his brethren, he left this writing it is
|
||
|
probable with Elisha, to be sent him by the first opportunity, that it
|
||
|
might either be a means to reclaim him or a witness against him that he
|
||
|
was fairly told what would be in the end hereof. The message is sent
|
||
|
him in the name of <I>the Lord God of David his father</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
upbraiding him with his relation to David as that which, though it was
|
||
|
his honour, was an aggravation of his degeneracy.
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. His crimes are plainly charged upon him--his departure from the good
|
||
|
ways of God, in which he had been educated, and which he had been
|
||
|
directed and encouraged to walk in by the example of his good father
|
||
|
and grandfather, who lived and died in peace and honour
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>)--
|
||
|
|
||
|
his conformity to the ways of the house of Ahab, that impious
|
||
|
scandalous family--his setting up and enforcing idolatry in his
|
||
|
kingdom--and his murdering his brethren because they were better than
|
||
|
himself,
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
These are the heads of the indictment against him.
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. Judgment is given against him for these crimes; he is plainly told
|
||
|
that his sin should certainly be the ruin,
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) Of his kingdom and family
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
||
|
|
||
|
"With a heavy stroke, even that of war and captivity, <I>will the Lord
|
||
|
smite thy people and thy children,</I>" &c. Bad men bring God's
|
||
|
judgments upon all about them. His people justly suffer because they
|
||
|
had complied with his idolatry, and his wives because they had drawn
|
||
|
him to it.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) Of his health and life: "Thou shalt have great sickness, very
|
||
|
painful and tedious, and at last mortal,"
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
This he is warned of before, that his blood might be upon his own head,
|
||
|
the watchman having delivered his soul; and that when these things so
|
||
|
particularly foretold, came to pass, it might appear that they did not
|
||
|
come by chance, but as the punishment of his sins, and were so
|
||
|
intended. And now if, as he had learned of Ahab to do wickedly, he had
|
||
|
but learned even of Ahab to humble himself upon the receipt of this
|
||
|
threatening message from Elijah--if, like
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+21:27">1 Kings xxi. 27</A>),
|
||
|
|
||
|
he had <I>rent his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted</I>--who knows
|
||
|
but, like him, he might have obtained at least a reprieve? But it does
|
||
|
not appear that he took any notice of it; he threw it by as
|
||
|
waste-paper; Elijah seemed to him <I>as one that mocked.</I> But those
|
||
|
that will not believe shall feel.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
II. The threatened judgments brought upon him because he slighted the
|
||
|
warning. No marvel that hardened sinners are not frightened from sin
|
||
|
and to repentance by the threatenings of misery in another world, which
|
||
|
is future and out of sight, when the certain prospect of misery in this
|
||
|
world, the sinking of their estates and the ruin of their healths, will
|
||
|
not restrain them from vicious courses.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. See Jehoram here stripped of all his comforts. God <I>stirred up the
|
||
|
spirit of his neighbours</I> against him, who had loved and feared
|
||
|
Jehoshaphat, but hated and despised him, looking upon it as a
|
||
|
scandalous thing for a nation to change their gods. Some occasion or
|
||
|
other they took to quarrel with him, invaded his country, but, as it
|
||
|
should seem, fought neither against small nor great, but the king's
|
||
|
house only; they made directly to that, and <I>carried away all the
|
||
|
substance that was found in it.</I> No mention is made of their
|
||
|
carrying any away captive but the <I>king's wives</I> and <I>his
|
||
|
sons,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Thus God made it evident that the controversy was with him and his
|
||
|
house. Here it is only said, They <I>carried away</I> his sons; but we
|
||
|
find
|
||
|
|
||
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+22:1"><I>ch.</I> xxii. 1</A>)
|
||
|
|
||
|
that they <I>slew them all.</I> Blood for blood. He had slain all his
|
||
|
brethren, to strengthen himself; and now all his sons are slain but
|
||
|
one, and so he is weakened. If he had not been of the house of David,
|
||
|
that one would not have escaped. When Jeroboam's house, and Baasha's,
|
||
|
and Ahab's, were destroyed, there was none left; but David's house must
|
||
|
not be wholly extirpated, though sometimes wretchedly degenerated,
|
||
|
because a blessing was in it, no less a blessing than that of the
|
||
|
Messiah.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. See him tormented with <I>sore diseases and of long continuance,</I>
|
||
|
such as were threatened in the law against those that would not <I>fear
|
||
|
the Lord their God,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:58,59">Deut. xxviii. 58, 59</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
His disease was very grievous. It lay in his bowels, producing a
|
||
|
continual griping, and with this there was a complication of other sore
|
||
|
diseases. The affliction was moreover very tedious. Two years he
|
||
|
continued ill, and could get no relief; for the disease was incurable,
|
||
|
though he was in the prime of life, not forty years old. Asa, whose
|
||
|
heart was perfect with God though in some instances he stepped aside,
|
||
|
was diseased only in his feet; but Jehoram, whose heart was wicked, was
|
||
|
struck in his inwards, and he that had no bowels of compassion towards
|
||
|
his brethren was so plagued in his bowels that they fell out. Even good
|
||
|
men, and those who are very dear to God, may be afflicted with diseases
|
||
|
of this kind; but to them they are fatherly chastisements, and by the
|
||
|
support of divine consolations the soul may dwell at ease even then
|
||
|
when the body lies in pain. These sore diseases seized him just after
|
||
|
his house was plundered and his wives and children were carried away.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(1.) Perhaps his grief and anguish of mind for that calamity might
|
||
|
occasion his sickness, or at least contribute to the heightening of it.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(2.) By this sickness he was disabled to do any thing for the recovery
|
||
|
of them or the revenge of the injury done him.
|
||
|
|
||
|
(3.) It added, no doubt, very much to his grief, in his sickness, that
|
||
|
he was deprived of the society of his wives and children and that all
|
||
|
the substance of his house was carried away. To be sick and poor, sick
|
||
|
and solitary, but especially to be sick and in sin, sick and under the
|
||
|
curse of God, sick and destitute of grace to bear the affliction, and
|
||
|
of comfort to counter-balance it--is a most deplorable case.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
3. See him buried in disgrace. He reigned but eight years, and then
|
||
|
<I>departed without being desired,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Nobody valued him while he lived, none lamented him when he died, but
|
||
|
all wished that no greater loss might ever come to Jerusalem. To show
|
||
|
what little affection or respect they had for him, they would not
|
||
|
<I>bury him in the sepulchres of the kings,</I> as thinking him
|
||
|
unworthy to be numbered among them who had governed so ill. The
|
||
|
excluding of his body from the sepulchres of his fathers might be
|
||
|
ordered by Providence as an intimation of the everlasting separation of
|
||
|
the souls of the wicked after death, from the spirits of just men. This
|
||
|
further disgrace they put upon him, that they <I>made no burning for
|
||
|
him, like the burning of his fathers,</I>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
||
|
|
||
|
His memory was far from being sweet and precious to them, and therefore
|
||
|
they did not honour it with any sweet odours or precious spices, though
|
||
|
we may suppose that his dead body, after so long and loathsome a
|
||
|
disease, needed something to perfume it. The generality of the people,
|
||
|
though prone to idolatry, yet had no true kindness for their idolatrous
|
||
|
kings. Wickedness and profaneness make men despicable even in the eyes
|
||
|
of those who have but little religion themselves, while natural
|
||
|
conscience itself often gives honour to those who are truly pious.
|
||
|
Those that <I>despise God shall be lightly esteemed,</I> as Jehoram
|
||
|
was.</P>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<!-- (End Body) -->
|
||
|
|
||
|
<HR>
|
||
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
|
||
|
<TR>
|
||
|
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
||
|
[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
|
||
|
[<A HREF="MHC14020.HTM">Previous</A>]
|
||
|
[<A HREF="MHC14022.HTM">Next</A>]<BR>
|
||
|
<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
||
|
Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1708)
|
||
|
</TABLE>
|
||
|
<HR>
|
||
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
|
||
|
<TR>
|
||
|
<TD ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="BOTTOM">
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
<!--Matthew_Henry's_Commentary_on_the_Whole_Bible:_Second_Chronicles_XXI.--><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank"><b>Back to Bibles Net . Com - Online Christian Library </b></a><br>
|
||
|
<a href="http://biblesnet.com/download.html" target="_blank"><br>
|
||
|
<b>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Free Download</b></a><br>
|
||
|
<br>
|
||
|
<A HREF="http://biblesnet.com/contactus.html" target="_blank"><strong>Contact Us </strong></A><br>
|
||
|
|
||
|
</TD></TR></TABLE>
|
||
|
<HR>
|
||
|
</BODY>
|
||
|
</HTML>
|