quod haud dubie factum fuisset, Benhadadi | ashamed, as apprehending that the prophet morbum non futurum esse lethalem, sed eum suspected or discerned something extramoriturum esse vi oppressum ab Hasaële. ordinary and of an evil and shameful nature Priora verba igitur hic ad illum referre in him. The Hebrew words are ambiguous, debebat; posteriora autem huic prædicebant, and may indifferently be referred to either quid esset eventurum. of them; but they seem more properly to belong to Hazael, because it follows, by way of distinction, the man of God wept.

.הָיָה תִהְיֶה : referens dicit

=

=

Dr. A. Clarke.-He settled his countenance stedfastly.] Of whom does the author speak? Of Hazael, or of Elisha? Several apply this action to the prophet.

The Septuagint, as it stands in the Complutensian and Antwerp Polyglots, makes the text very plain: Kai éσrη AÇanλ KATA προσωπον αυτου, και παρεθηκεν ενώπιον αυτου δωρα, έως ᾔσχυνετο και εκλαυσεν ὁ άνθρωπος Tov Ocov, And Hazael stood before his face, and he presented before him gifts till he was ashamed; and the man of God wept.

Maurer.-10] i, dic ei. K'ri (ut Lev. xi. 21; 1 Sam. ii. 3; 2 Sam. xvi. 18, al. cf. ad Exod. xxi. 8), quod ipsum exhibent complures libri et versiones antiquæ. ita esse capiendum, nec tanquam negationem ad sequentia trahendum, cum ex eo patet, quod non infinitivo absoluto, seq. verb. fin., rarissime tantum præponitur (E Gr. min., p. 236, ex.), tum maxime colligitur ex comm. 14, ubi Hasael, Elisæ verba Ex morbo (cf. vs. 8, 9) utique evadere poteris, morbus tibi minime letalis erit. Sed ostendit mihi Jova, eum certo moriturum esse. Vates, divinitus edoctus, regem violenta morte moriturum esse (cf. vs. 15), ad quæstionem, num ille ex morbo, quo laboret, evasurus sit, respondet, morbum minime letalem fore; præterea vero de suo addit, se certo scire, regem nihilo secius moriturum esse. Sua sponte intelligitur, regi non nisi priora verba referenda fuisse. Schulzius sensum ita expedivit: "Interrogas me nomine regis; ", et firmavit vultum equidem vero jam scio, quid ei responsi suum. Hæc de Hazael dicuntur, quomodò daturus sis, sive vitam sive mortem præ- et hæc, wow, et obstupuit diu multùmdixero. Meo illi nomine vitam promittere que. Sed 7, et flevit, pertinet ad Elisæum, statutum est tecum. Mihi vero ostendit ut liquet. Non esset Hebr. consuetudinis, Deus, eum certo moriturum esse." Ex hac ut tria verba de eodem homine acciperentur, interpretatione verba liberius ita vertenda nominativo eorum ad finem rejecto. Obessent per me licet eas renunciatum regi, eum ex morbo evasurum esse. Mihi vero ostendit cet.

Ver. 11.

The Codex Vaticanus, and the Codex Alexandrinus, are nearly as the Hebrew. The Aldine edition agrees in some respects with the Complutensian; but all the Versions follow the Hebrew.

Ged., Booth. Then looking [Booth., having looked] him steadfastly, and long, in the face, the man of God wept.

Houb.-11

stupuit Hazael in responso Elisæi, vel stuporem simulavit, cùm celare vellet Elisæum, sui regis mortem non sibi fore ingratam.

Ver. 12.

καὶ παρέστη τῷ προσώπῳ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔθηκεν ῥήξεις. ἕως αἰσχύνης· καὶ ἔκλαυσεν ὁ ἄνθρωπος τοῦ Θεοῦ.

Au. Ver.-11 And he settled his countenance stedfastly [and set it], until he was ashamed and the man of God wept.

καὶ τὰς ἐν γαστρὶ ἐχούσας αὐτῶν ἀνα

Au. Ver.-12 And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young

Until he was ashamed. See notes on men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt

P. 880.

ii. 17,
Pool. He settled his countenance sted-
fastly; the prophet fixed his eyes upon
Hazael. Until he was ashamed; either till
the prophet was ashamed to look any longer
upon him; or till Hazael [so Patrick] was

dash their children, and rip up their women with child.

Rip up their women with child. So Gesen. and most commentators.

Bp. Patrick.-12 This last expresses the highest degree of barbarous cruelty; for

which there was no occasion, if he did but | And that this is the true sense, his immediate
kill the women with child, for the child in murder of his master on his return fully
the womb would die with them, without proves. "Our common version of these
ripping them up. Therefore, a late learned words of Hazael," as Mr. Patten observes,
man, looking on this as a thing unheard of, “has stood in the front of many a fine de-
will have the word haroth not to signify clamation utterly wide of his real sentiment.
women with child, but castles or fortified His exclamation was not the result of horror;
places which he should demolish: though his expression has no tincture of it; but of
he cannot but acknowledge, that the cutting the unexpected glimpse of a crown! The
up women very naturally follows slaying prophet's answer is plainly calculated to
their young men, and dashing their children, satisfy the astonishment he had excited. A
which goes just before. And he should dog bears not, in Scripture, the character of
have taken notice, that the very first evil he a cruel, but of a despicable animal; nor does
mentions that Hazael should do to them, is he who is shocked with its barbarity call it a
setting their strongholds on fire (Gousset, GREAT deed."-David Vindicated.
Comment. Linguæ Hebraicæ, p. 216).

Houb.-13, servus tuus canis.
Id Nos, non canis, sed homuncio, ne canis plus

Houb.-12 D, juvenes eorum.
vocabulum suo malè mutilatum. Codices diceret Latine, quàm Hebraicè.

Au. Ver. So he departed from Elisha, and came to his master: who said to him,

-What said Elisha to thee? And he an כִּי יַעֲשֶׂה הַדָּבָר הַגָּדוֹל הַזֶּה וגו'

καὶ εἶπεν Αζαὴλ, Τίς ἐστιν ὁ δοῦλός σου, ὁ κύων ὁ τεθνηκὼς, ὅτι ποιήσει τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο; κ.τ.λ.

Au. Ver.-13 And Hazael said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, The LORD hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over Syria.

Dr. A. Clarke.-But what, is thy servant

swered, He told me that thou shouldest
surely recover.

That thou shouldest surely recover. See
notes on ver. 10.

Booth. That thou mayest assuredly recover.

Ver. 15.

a dog, that he should do this great thing?] 1ayu hapan nga nine ing

בַּמַּיִם וַיִּפְרְשׁ עַל־פָּנָיו וַיָּמֹת וַיִּמְלֹךְ believe this verse to be wrongly interpreted

καὶ ἐγένετο τῇ ἐπαύριον, καὶ ἔλαβε τὸ μαχβὰρ καὶ ἔβαψεν ἐν τῷ ὕδατι, καὶ περιέβαλεν ἐπὶ τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀπέθανε· καὶ ἐβασίλευσεν Αζαὴλ ἀντ ̓ αὐτοῦ.

Au. Ver.-15 And it came to pass on the morrow, that he took a thick cloth, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died: and Hazael reigned in his stead.

by the general run of commentators. It is
generally understood that Hazael was struck
with horror at the prediction; that these
cruelties were most alien from his mind;
that he then felt distressed and offended at
the imputation of such evils to him ; and yet,
so little did he know his own heart, that when
he got power, and had opportunity, he did
the whole with a willing heart and a ready
hand. On the contrary, I think he was
delighted at the prospect; and his question
rather implies a doubt whether a person so Ged. But, on the next day, having taken
inconsiderable as he is shall ever have it in a fly-net dipped in water, and put
his power to do such great, not such evil his face, he died: and Hazael reigned in his
things; for, in his sight, they had no turpi- stead.
In rendering this verse I have departed
tude. The Hebrew text stands thus: "But
what! thy servant, this dog! that he should from all the ancient versions, and most
They ascribe this
do this great work!" Or, "Can such a modern interpreters.
poor worthless fellow, such a dead dog [ó action to Hazael, and make him smother the
I am convinced that the text admits
KUWV Ó тEOVηKws, Sept.] perform such mighty king.
actions? thou fillest me with surprise." of no such meaning. Ben-hadad, encouraged

it upon

by the reported answer of Elishah, makes use

fever; and claps on his face a wet net. This

Ver. 16.

וּבִשְׁנַת חָמֵשׁ לְיוֹרָם בֶּן־אַחְאָב מֶלֶךְ of a violent remedy to allay the heat of his

יִשְׂרָאֵל וִיהוֹשָׁפָט מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה מָלַךְ -stops the perspiration ; and he dies in conse

quence. So Booth.

Booth.According to Josephus, this king was greatly beloved by his subjects; and if Hazael had murdered him, would he have

been raised to the throne? We are not informed that Ben-hadad had any children; and Hazael might succeed him by the choice of the people.

Gesen.—7 m. (r. 2 no. 1) coarse cloth, i. e., of a coarse texture, perh. hair cloth, cilicium, 2 Kings viii. 15.-The idea of wvwTelov, fly-net, proposed by J. D. Michaëlis, does not seem adapted to the context.

Ita

abe abe

Ἐν ἔτει πέμπτω τῷ Ἰωρὰμ υἱῷ Αχαάβ βασιλεῖ
Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ Ἰωσαφὰτ βασιλεῖ Ἰούδα, ἐβασίλ
ευσεν Ιωρὰμ υἱὸς Ἰωσαφὰτ βασιλεὺς Ἰούδα.

Au. Ver.-16 And in the fifth year of
Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel,
Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Je-
horam the son of Jehoshaphat king of
Judah began to reign [Heb., reigned. 892.
Began to reign in consort with his father].

See notes on ver. 17, and on i. 17.

Bp. Patrick.-16 All the seeming contradictions between this verse and chap. i. 17, Prof. Lee.-, carpet, or other coarse and chap. iii. 1, are thus briefly reconciled by cloth. We find a similar thing recorded in Huetius:-Jehoram beginning to reign with the Persian history, entitled, Kholasat El his father Jehoshaphat in his seventeenth year, Akhbar. (In my copy, p. 162, verso). and Joram king of Israel in his eighteenth, The words are these, The Malik ordered that the first year of Joram king of Israel will fall they should place a carpet on Abdallah's out in the second year of Jehoram, king of mouth, so that his life was cut off. Judah whose father dying in the twentyMaurer.” • et sumsit second year of his reign, Jehoram, king of Hasael velum culicare (sec. al. stragulum), Judah, began to reign alone in the fifth year immersit in aquam, et expandit in ejus (regis) of Joram king of Israel (see Demonstr. faciem cet. h. e., tum Hasael ope reticuli Evang. propos. iv. p. 204). (straguli) madefacti regem suffocavit. Ken.-16 This verse, when exactly reninterpretes numero plurimi. "At, inquit dered, is, And in the fifth year of Joram, Schulzius, falso parricidii reus agitur Hasael, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, and of qui certe sub commatis nostri initium Sub- Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, Jehoram, the jectum propositionis neutiquam esse potest, son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, began to alias enim nomen ejus non sub finem, sed reign. In my General Dissertation, p. 44, sub initium versus nostri ponendum fuisset notice was taken of the confusion here inneque etiam patet ratio, cur stragulam troduced (as Vignoles, Jackson, and other (orpoμa vertit Theodoretus Hebræum chronologers have remarked) by the interveteribus interpretibus usus) aquis intingi et polation of three Hebrew words, signifying et madefieri oportuisset, si Hasael ejus injectu Jehosaphati regis Judæ. "Tis certain, that suffocandi regis consilium cepisset." Verum Jehoshaphat reigned twenty-five years; and enim vero, qui sub finem commatis 14 sub- that Jehoram his son reigned but eight years; jectum est, is utique etiam sub initium (1 Kings xxii. 42; 2 Kings viii. 17; 2 Chron. commatis 15, subjectum esse poterit! Atqui xx. 31; and xxi. 5;) so that he could not subjectum verbi vs. 14. est Hasal. have reigned during his father's life, without Quod autem attinet ad reticulum (stragu-being king twenty years and eight years. I lum?) madefactum, notissima res est, pannos also specified several copies of the Vulgate, aqua intinctos multo solidiores et aëri im- both written and printed, which are free pervios fieri. Ex quo intelligitur, argu- from this interpolation. It was observed menta illa e diverso allata nullius esse likewise, that these words are wanting in momenti. Ceterum Schulzius hanc nobis two Heb. MSS.; and lastly, that the proposuit interpretationem: postridie vero Hexaplar Syr. MS., above 1000 years old, rex læto Hasaelis nuntio confirmatus stragu- made from the Greek (now preserved at lam sumtam aquis intinxit et faciei suæ Paris), has not these words, though they are maxime sine dubio sudanti obvelavit, ut re- found in the Vat. and Alexand. MSS. So frigerio levaretur, ita vero evaporatione Luther, Dathe, Bp. Horsley, Clarke, Ged., nimis cito impedita mortuus est. Booth., Maurer.

1

1

Ab anno

annos novem.

Dr. A. Clarke.-These words, And of Je- verba omittantur; quanquam non difficile hoshaphat, king of Judah, are wanting in fuit, ut tria verba, quæ lineâ inferiore rethree of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., currunt, oculo Scribæ aberrante, fuerint in the Complutensian and Aldine editions of iterata in linea superiore. Superest explithe Septuagint, in the Peshito Syriac, in the candum, quomodo Joram, filius Achab, regParisian Heptaplar Syriac, the Arabic, and naverit annis quinque, antequam regnaret in many copies of the Vulgate, collated by Joram, filius Josaphat. Edm. Calmet, turDr. Kennicott and De Rossi, both printed bam sequens, ita interpretatur, regnavit annis and manuscript; to which may be added quinque, antequàm Joram, filius Josaphat, two MSS. in my own library, one of the solus regnaret, existimans, fuisse Joram, fourteenth, the other of the eleventh century, filium Josaphat, in regni societatem vocatum, and in what I judge to be the Editio Princeps de qua societate altum silet pagina sacra, ut of the Vulgate. And it is worthy of remark mirum sit eam adhiberi, annis regnorum that in this latter work, after the fifteenth computandis. Sed neque, si Joram cum verse, ending with Quo mortuo regnavit patre Josaphat regnavit, nodus solvitur. Azahel pro eo, the following words are Nam si fuit Joram rex factus anno patris in a smaller character, Anno quinto Joram Josaphat decimo sexto, ut credit Edm. filii Achab regis Israel, regnavit Joram filius Josa- Calmet, nec sic quidem demonstratur, quophat rex Juda, Triginta, &c. We have modo Joram, filius Achab, regnaverit, antealready seen that it is supposed that Jeho- quam Joram, filius Josaphat, regnaret solus, shaphat associated his son with him in the annis tantum quinque. Quippe Josaphat kingdom; and that the fifth year in this regnavit viginti quinque annos. place only regards Joram king of Israel, and decimo sexto regni Josaphat, usque ad annum not Jehoshaphat king of Judah. See the ejusdem vigesimum quintum, intercedunt notes on chap. i. 17. anni novem. Ergo regnaverit Joram, filius Josaphat, comite patre, Utitur Edm. Calmet his annis novem, ut explicet, quomodo Joram, filius Achab, regnaverit anno secundo regni Joram, filii Josaphat, ut cap. i. 17, narratur. Nempe, inquit, regnavit filius Achab, anno secundo postquam Joram, filius Josaphat, fuerat in regnandi societatem vocatus, sive anno decimo octavo regni Josaphat; nec videt se in alios induci laqueos. Nunc enim quomodo planum faciet, filium Achab regnasse annis quinque, antequam filius Josaphat, solus regnaret? Nam ab anno Josaphat regnantis decimo octavo, usque ad vicesimum quintum quo Joram, filius Josaphat, solus regnavit, intercedunt anni septem, non autem quinque. Ergo hæc male consociantur, et facilius est errasse Scribas, quam Sacrum Scriptorem computasse annos, nunc ab eo, tempore, quo filius Josaphat solus regnavit, nunc ab eo, quo, patre consorte, regnavit, ubi præsertim de isto regni consortio nihil quidquam memorant Sacri Scriptores. Vide quæ diximus ad caput i. 17. Vide etiam præfationem de regnandi initio utroque Joram filii Achab, et Joram, filii Josaphat.

Houb. 16 Anno quinto Joram, filii Achab, in Israel regnantis, regnavit in Judam rex Joram, filius Josaphat, regis Juda.

16, et Josaphat, regis Juda. Hæc omittunt Syrus et Arabs, et Græci Intt. in Editione Complutensi,

multi etiam Latini Codices. Certe habet id manifestam repugnantiam, ut annus quintus regni Joram, filii Achab, fuerit idem annus quintus regni Josaphat. Capite iii. versu 1, dictum est illum Joram initium regnandi fecisse anno regni Josaphat decimo octavo, et ipsa ex historia perspicuum est, Josaphat regem multo ante, quam illum Joram, regnare cœpisse. Vim faciunt verbis sacris, qui sic convertunt, anno quinto Joram, filii Achab, regnaverat autem Josaphat in Judam, regnavit Joram, filius Josaphat. Nam talis scribendi forma peregrina est, et sine altero exemplo. Quod si convertas, regnabat etiam Josaphat in Judam, vel dum regnabat Josaphat, regnavit Joram, quasi Josaphat filium suum Joram fecisset regni socium, non minus vim facies his verbis,, quæ significant, et Josaphat regis Juda, non autem, Josaphat regnabat in Judam. Ergo sapientius hæc verba omittuntur ex autoritate Codicum multorum. Nos tamen tollimus tantum Au. Ver.-17 Thirty and two years old nomen, legimusque, reg- was he when he began to reign; and he navit in Judam, ne sine necessitate hæc duo reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

Ver. 17.

And to his children.

Houb.-19 5 7 15 nns, ut daret ei lucernam in filiis suis, vel per filios suos. Hæc oratio recte procedit. Tamen plerique Veteres, "", et filiis ejus, quæ etiam scriptura bona est; itaque eam habent tres Codices Orat. nec non alii duo, manu tantum priori.

See notes on ver. 16. Bp. Patrick.-17 Part of which was his father, as I now observe, and the rest by himself. Dr. Lightfoot observing three dates of the beginning of his reign gives this account of it :-The first was when he was made viceroy with his father, at the time he went out of the land for the recovery of Ramoth-gilead. The second was Dathe.-Pro ? oi ó, Vulgatus, Chaldæus when his father went upon his expedition et quadraginta fere codd. Kennicotti habent with Jehoram, king of Israel, against Moab . Hanc igitur lectionem tot testibus (chap. iii. of this book), from which time, he probatam sum secutus. thinks, the beginning of his reign is fixed Maurer. 19 Plurimi libri et nonnulli here, and in 2 Chron. xxi. 20. For after veterum pro " exhibent ", quod recithis time, Jehoshaphat was little at Jeru- piendum duxerunt Schulzius, Dathius, alii. salem, but abroad either in his own land Nihil muto. ? cum appositione co(which he perambulated that he might hæret, nisi est: apud filios ejus. Ceterum reduce the people to the true religion), or in cf. ad 1 Reg. xi. 36. Moab, to bring them into subjection (2 Chr. xix. 20). And lastly, at his father's death

Ver. 22.

– עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה אָז תִּפְשַׁע לִבְנָה .he was completely king of Judah 2 Chron

ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης τότε ἠθέτησε Aoẞvà èv tậ kaipậ ékeivw.

Au. Ver.-23 Yet Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah [and so fulfilled, Gen. xxvii. 40] unto this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time.

xxi. 1 (see Harm. of the Evang. Prolegom., sect. 6). So that the clearest solution of the difficulty mentioned in the foregoing verse is this (as Dr. Alix, a great man in this learning, and all others, hath observed to me), that Jehoram had three beginnings of his reign. One in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat, when his father designed him to be king; the second in the twenty-third year of his father, when he was crowned; eo die, tunc... and the last when his father (after he had Crediderim, fuisse Nex malè iteratum. reigned five-and-twenty years) died; and he Nam excluditur per hæc verba mnya, reigned alone a little more than four years. eo tempore; verius tamen legatur et Thus Solomon was made king before his rebellavit; posito, pro TM. father died, and again after his death, as Abarbinel observes (see 1 Kings ii. 12).

Then.

, ביום הזה אז 22 .Houb

Ver. 25.

בִּשְׁנַת שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה לְיוֹרָם בֶּן־ Dr. A. Clarke,—IHe reigned eight years in אַחְאָב מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל מָלַךְ אֲחַזְיָהוּ בֶּן־ Jerusalem.] Beginning with the fifth year

יְהוֹרָם מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה :

of Joram, king of Israel. He reigned three years with Jehoshaphat his father, and five years alone; i. e., from A.M. 3112 to 3119, according to Archbishop Usher.

ἐν ἔτει δωδεκάτῳ τῷ Ἰωρὰμ υἱῷ ̓Αχαάβ βασιλεῖ Ἰσραὴλ ἐβασίλευσεν Οχοζίας υἱὸς Ιωράμ.

Au. Ver.-25 In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel did Ahaziah [called Azariah, 2 Chron. xxii. 6, and Jehoahaz, 2 Chron. xxi. 17, and xxv. 23] the son of Jehoram king of Judah begin to reign.

In the twelfth year of Joram.

Pool.—Object. It was in the eleventh year of Joram, chap. ix. 29. Answ. Either, first, He began to reign in the confines of Joram's eleventh and twelfth year, in the very end of his eleventh year, or towards the beginning