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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1708)
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>S E C O N D C H R O N I C L E S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XXII.</FONT>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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We read, in the foregoing chapter, of the carrying away of Jehoram's
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sons and his wives; but here we find one of his sons and one of his
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wives left, his son Ahaziah and his wife Athaliah, both reserved to be
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the shame and plague of his family.
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I. Ahaziah was the shame of it as a partaker,
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1. In the sin, and,
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2. In the destruction, of the house of Ahab,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+22:1-9">ver. 1-9</A>.
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II. Athaliah was the plague of it, for she destroyed all the
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seed-royal, and usurped the throne,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+22:10-12">
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ver. 10-12</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="2Ch22_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="2Ch22_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="2Ch22_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="2Ch22_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="2Ch22_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="2Ch22_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="2Ch22_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="2Ch22_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="2Ch22_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Ahaziah Slain by Jehu.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 884.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest
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son king in his stead: for the band of men that came with the
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Arabians to the camp had slain all the eldest. So Ahaziah the son
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of Jehoram king of Judah reigned.
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2 Forty and two years old <I>was</I> Ahaziah when he began to reign,
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and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name also
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<I>was</I> Athaliah the daughter of Omri.
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3 He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his
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mother was his counsellor to do wickedly.
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4 Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> like the house
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of Ahab: for they were his counsellors after the death of his
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father to his destruction.
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5 He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram the
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son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at
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Ramoth-gilead: and the Syrians smote Joram.
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6 And he returned to be healed in Jezreel because of the wounds
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which were given him at Ramah, when he fought with Hazael king of
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Syria. And Azariah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to
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see Jehoram the son of Ahab at Jezreel, because he was sick.
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7 And the destruction of Ahaziah was of God by coming to Joram:
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for when he was come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the
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son of Nimshi, whom the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> had anointed to cut off the house of
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Ahab.
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8 And it came to pass, that, when Jehu was executing judgment
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upon the house of Ahab, and found the princes of Judah, and the
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sons of the brethren of Ahaziah, that ministered to Ahaziah, he
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slew them.
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9 And he sought Ahaziah: and they caught him, (for he was hid
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in Samaria,) and brought him to Jehu: and when they had slain
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him, they buried him: Because, said they, he <I>is</I> the son of
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Jehoshaphat, who sought the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> with all his heart. So the house
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of Ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We have here an account of the reign of Ahaziah, a short reign (of one
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year only), yet long enough, unless it had been better. He was called
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<I>Jeho-ahaz</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+21:17"><I>ch.</I> xxi. 17</A>);
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here he is called <I>Ahaz-iah,</I> which is the same name and of the
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same signification, only the words of which it is compounded are
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transposed. He is here said to be forty-two years old when he began to
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reign
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+22:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
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which could not be, for his father, his immediate predecessor, was but
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forty when he died, and it is said
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+8:26">2 Kings viii. 26</A>)
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that he was twenty-two years old when <I>he began to reign.</I> Some
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make this forty-two to be the age of his mother Athaliah, for in the
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original it is, <I>he was the son of forty-two years,</I> that is, the
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son of a mother that was of that age; and justly is her age put for
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his, in reproach to him, because she managed him, and did what she
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would--she, in effect, reigned, and he had little more than the title
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of king. Many good expositors are ready to allow that this, with some
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few more such difficulties, arise from the mistake of some transcriber,
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who put forty-two for twenty-two, and the copies by which the error
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should have been corrected might be lost. Many ancient translations
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read it here twenty-two. Few books are now printed without some
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<I>errata,</I> yet the authors do not therefore disown them, nor are
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the errors of the press imputed to the author, but the candid reader
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amends them by the sense, or by comparing them with some other part of
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the work, as we may easily do this.</P>
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<P>
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The history of Ahaziah's reign is briefly summed up in two clauses,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+22:3,4"><I>v.</I> 3, 4</A>.
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His mother and her relations were his counselors to do wickedly, and it
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was to his destruction.</P>
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<P>
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I. He did wickedly. Though by a special providence of God he was
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preserved alive, when all his brethren were slain, and reserved for the
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crown, notwithstanding he was the youngest of them--though <I>the
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inhabitants of Jerusalem,</I> when they had buried his father
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ingloriously, made him king, in hopes he would take warning by that not
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to tread in his steps, but would do better for himself and his
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kingdom--yet he was not influenced by the favours either of God or man,
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but <I>walked in the way of the house of Ahab, did evil in the sight of
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the Lord</I> like them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+22:3,4"><I>v.</I> 3, 4</A>),
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that is, he worshipped, Baalim and Ashtaroth, supposing (as the learned
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bishop Patrick thinks) that by these demons, as mediators, they might
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have easier access to the supreme <I>Numen,</I> the God of Israel, or
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that <I>these they might resort to at all times</I> and <I>for all
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matters,</I> as being <I>nearer at hand,</I> and <I>not of so high a
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dignity,</I> but of a <I>middle nature</I> between the immortal God and
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mortal men--deified heroes; so they worshipped them as the church of
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Rome does saints and angels. That was sufficiently bad; but I wish
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there was no reason to suspect worse. I am apprehensive that they
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looked upon Jehovah, the God of their fathers, to be altogether such a
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one as these Baalim, and them to be as great and as good as he, nay,
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upon one account, more eligible inasmuch as these Baalim encouraged in
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their worshippers all manner of lewdness and sensuality, which the God
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of Israel strictly forbade.</P>
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<P>
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II. He was counselled by his mother and her relations to do so. <I>She
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was his counsellor</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+22:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>)
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and so were <I>they, after the death of his father,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+22:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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While his father lived <I>he</I> took care to keep him to idolatry;
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but, when he was dead, the house of Ahab feared lest his father's
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miserable end should deter him from it, and therefore they were very
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industrious to keep him closely to it, and to make him <I>seven
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times</I> more a <I>child of hell than themselves.</I> The counsel of
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the ungodly is the ruin of many young persons when they are setting out
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in the world. This young prince might have had better advice if he had
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pleased from the princes and the judges, the priests and the Levites,
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that had been famous in his good grandfather's time for teaching in the
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knowledge of God; but the house of Ahab humoured him, and <I>he walked
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after their counsel,</I> gave himself up to be led by them, and did
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just as they would have him. Thus do those debase and destroy
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themselves that forsake the divine guidance.</P>
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<P>
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III. He was counselled by them to his destruction. So it proved. Those
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that counsel us to do wickedly counsel us to our destruction; while
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they fawn, and flatter, and pretend friendship, they are really our
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worst enemies. Those that debauch young men destroy them. It was bad
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enough that they exposed him to the sword of the Syrians, drawing him
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in to join with Joram king of Israel in an expedition to Ramoth-Gilead,
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where Joram was wounded, an expedition that was not for his honour.
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Those that give us bad counsel in the affairs of religion, if regarded
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by us, may justly be made of God our counsellors to do foolishly in our
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own affairs. But that was not all: by engaging him in an intimacy with
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Joram king of Israel, they involved him in the common ruin of the house
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of Ahab. He came on a visit to Joram
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+22:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>)
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just at the time that Jehu was executing the judgment of God upon that
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idolatrous family, and so was cut off with them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+22:7-9"><I>v.</I> 7-9</A>.
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Here,
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1. See and dread the mischief of bad company--of joining in with
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sinners. If not the infection, yet let the destruction be feared.
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<I>Come out from Babylon,</I> that falling house,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+18:4">Rev. xviii. 4</A>.
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2. See and acknowledge the justice of God. His providence brought
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Ahaziah, just at this fatal juncture, to see Joram, that he might fall
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with him and be taken as in a snare. This we had an account of before,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+9:27,28">2 Kings ix. 27, 28</A>.
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It is here added that he was decently buried (not as Jehoram, whose
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dead body was cast into Naboth's vineyard,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+9:26">2 Kings ix. 26</A>),
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and the reason given is because he was the son (that is, the grandson)
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of good Jehoshaphat, <I>who sought the Lord with his heart.</I> Thus is
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<I>he</I> remembered with honour long after his death, and some respect
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shown even to his degenerate unworthy seed for his sake. <I>The memory
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of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot.</I></P>
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<A NAME="2Ch22_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="2Ch22_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="2Ch22_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Athaliah Usurps the Throne.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 884.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>10 But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was
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dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of
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Judah.
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11 But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the
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son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons that
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were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So
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Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada
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the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid him from
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Athaliah, so that she slew him not.
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12 And he was with them hid in the house of God six years: and
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Athaliah reigned over the land.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We have here what we had before,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+11:1-16">2 Kings xi. 1</A>,
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&c.
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1. A wicked woman endeavouring to destroy the house of David, that she
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might set up a throne for herself upon the ruins of it. Athaliah
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barbarously cut off all the seed-royal
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+22:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>),
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perhaps intending to transmit the crown of Judah after herself to some
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of her own relations, that though her family was cut off in Israel by
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Jehu it might be planted in Judah.
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2. A good woman effectually preserving it from being wholly extirpated.
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One of the late king's sons, a child of a year old, was rescued from
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among the dead, and saved alive by the care of Jehoiada's wife
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+22:11,12"><I>v.</I> 11, 12</A>),
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that a <I>lamp might be ordained for God's anointed;</I> for no word of
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God shall fall to the ground.</P>
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