house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah | the king was placed when he came to the and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, temple, as the Hebrew doctors will have it. and the priests, and the prophets, and all the | The king's seat, saith Jacob Juda Leo, was people, both small and great [Heb., from small | in the court of the Israelites, at the entrance even unto great]: and he read in their ears into the court of the priests, by a marble all the words of the book of the covenant pillar. which was found in the house of the LORD. , על העמוד [.Dr. A. Clarke.-By a pillar The prophets. upon the stairs or pulpit." This is what Pool. The prophets; either Jeremiah, is called the brazen scaffold, or pulpit which Zephaniah, Urijah; or the sons or disciples Solomon made, and on which the kings of the prophets. were accustomed to stand when they adSee 2 Chron. vi. 13, .prophete. Legitur | dressed the people, הנביאים 2 - .IIoub .Levite, quam and the parallel places (הלוים 30 .Par. xxxiv 2 scriptionem antetulit Lud. Cappellus, cum Commandments, testimonies, statutes. See forte crederet non fuisse eo tempore in notes on Deut. vi. 2, 20, vol. i., pp. 666, 667. Israel prophetas, sed unam Holdam prophe- Stood to the covenant. tissam, quam consultum iverant homines à rege missi. Sed fieri potuit multis de causis, ut Holda consuleretur, non cæteri prophetæ, cùm præsertim Holda in Jeru Ged., Booth.-Consented to the covenant. Gesen.-. Seq. to persist, to persevere in any thing, Isaiah xlvii. 12; Eccl. viii. 3; 2 Kings xxiii. 3; once c. acc. Ez. xvii. to לְעָמְדָה salem habitaret. Itaque incertum est, utra scriptura verior, an prophete, an Levite. stand to it. Comp. Esth. iii. 4, whether Mordecai's matters would stand, i. e., whether he would persist in that course. Maurer. Et perstitit (ut Eccles. viii. 3; Jes. xlvii. 12) populus in fœedere, stetit fædere, uti etiam Latini dicunt; vel: atque ita fecerat fœdus, propr. und so stand es dann im Bunde (cf. E. Gr. crit., p. 540. Prior interpretatio præferenda videtur. De Wettius: und es trat Gr. εσθαι ὀπίσω Κυρίου, τοῦ φυλάσσειν τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὰ μαρτύρια αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὰ δικαιώματα αὐτοῦ ἐν πάσῃ καρδίᾳ καὶ ἐν πάσῃ ψυχῇ, τοῦ ἀναστῆσαι τοὺς λόγους τῆς διαθήκης ταύτης, τὰ γεγραμμένα ἐπὶ τὸ βιβλίον τοῦτο. καὶ ἔστη πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ἐν τῇ διαθήκῃ. Au. Ver.-3 And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant. Stood by a pillar. See notes on xi. 14. Bp. Patrick. The king stood by a pillar.] Unto which his throne adjoined; wherein καὶ ἐνετείλατο ὁ βασιλεὺς τῷ Χελκίᾳ τῷ ἱερεῖ τῷ μεγάλῳ καὶ τοῖς ἱερεῦσι τῆς δευτε ρώσεως καὶ τοῖς φυλάσσουσι τὸν σταθμὸν, τοῦ ἐξαγαγεῖν ἐκ τοῦ ναοῦ κυρίου πάντα τὰ σκεύη rd remotnueva To Baal kai ro dicet kat rdon T 8unduet Tov otpayot ... Au. Ver. 4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Beth-el, The priests of the second order. : IT Ver. 5. Pool. The priests of the second order; Dippong Dawn either those two who were next in degree to the high priest, and in case of his sickness מַלְכֵי יְהוּדָה וַיְקַטֵר בַּבָּמוֹת יְהוּדָה וּמְסְבִּי יְרְוּשָׁלָם וְאֶת־הַמְקַטְרִים ;[were to manage his work [so Dr. A. Clarke of whom see 2 Sam. viii. 17; or the heads mibaby dabı web byab of the twenty-four courses, which David had appointed, 1 Chron. xxiv. Gesen. m. (r.). 1. Second rank, καὶ κατέκαυσε τοὺς χωμαρὶμ, οὓς ἔδωκαν second place, in order, dignity, honour, βασιλεῖς Ἰούδα, καὶ ἐθυμίων ἐν τοῖς ὑψηλοῖς etc. Often in the gen. after a noun, as καὶ ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν Ιούδα καὶ τοῖς περικύκλῳ πρώτα από the second priest, who stands Ιερουσαλὴμ, καὶ τοὺς θυμιῶντας τῷ βάαλ, καὶ next to the high priest (η από 2 Kings τῷ ἡλίῳ, καὶ τῇ σελήνῃ, καὶ τοῖς μαζουρώθ, xxv. 18; Jer. lii. 24; Plur., sa- kai náσy tŷj dvváμei toù oỷpavoû. cerdotes secundarii, priests of the second order, 2 Kings xxiii. 4. So the second chariot in order, Gen. xli. 43. Prof. Lee.-Priests of the second rank. Bp. Patrick. The priests of the second order.] They that were under the high priests; especially the sagan (as the Targum here hath it), who was the vicar of the high-priest, and stood at his right hand when he officiated, as the Jews tell us in Joma, where they say a man could not be made a high-priest unless he had been first a sagan. Au. Ver.-5 And he put down [Heb., caused to cease] the idolatrous priests [Heb., chemarim, Hos. x. 5. Foretold, Zeph. i. 4], whom the king of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun and to the moon, and to the planets [or, twelve signs, or, constellations], and to all the host of heaven. The idolatrous priests. Bp. Patrick. These idolatrous priests are I called chemarim in the Hebrew, because The keepers of the door.] Whom the they were clothed in black garments (as Jews call amarcelim; which word we find Kimchi gives the reason, both upon this xii. 10, where the Targum expounds it, place and upon Zeph. i. 4); whereas the "priests that were treasurers:" that is, such priests of the Most High were clothed in Levites as had the custody of the sacred white; especially those whose genealogy money, which was for the repair of the was not questioned. They, indeed, who temple. And the Hebrew phrase is not could not make out their descent, were much different, "the keepers of the clothed in a black habit, to distinguish them thresholds;" that is the entrance into those from undoubted priests; and so were they chambers (as Hottinger thinks) wherein who had any defect or blemish in their body, were kept such things as were of public use as appears from the Talmud in Middoth. And in the temple. Of which there were seven: indeed it is certain, that they among the wherein the priests' garments were laid up, heathens, who sacrificed to the infernal and other such-like things. gods, were clothed with such vestments, as All the vessels.] The word we translate appears by Canidia in Horace, lib. i., sat. vessels or instruments, signifies all the 8, and Medea in Apollonius Rodius, lib. iii., various furniture belonging to Baal, and the ver. 861; from whence some think they had rest of the false gods, which served either the name of μeλavŋþópoɩ, which we find in for offering of incense, or sacrifices, or the some ancient inscriptions. And thus the vestments of the priests, &c. Egyptians bewailed Osiris, all which was Baal. See notes on Judg. ii. 11, p. suitable to their nightly sacrifices; wherein they were sad for the absence of the sun, 166. The grove. See notes on Exod. xxxiv. 13, who was meant by Osiris, as Gilbertus vol. i., p. 376. For all the host of heaven. Bp. Patrick.-All the host of heaven.] That is, the planets, and the rest of the stars, which the Sabæans, and Chaldeans, and other eastern people, worshipped. Cuperus observes in his Harpocrates, p. 129. Baal. See notes on Judg. ii. 11, p. 166. black silk garment; from whence, in all Houb.-...2001: circulo animadvertunt likelihood, the priests came to be so clothed. Codices; legendum 1200, et in circuitu. Dr. A. Clarke.-5 The idolatrous priests. Who these were is not well known. The Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic call them the Bp. Patrick.-Unto Baal, to the sun, and priests simply, which the kings of Judah had to the moon.] Here Baal is distinguished ordained. Probably they were an order from the sun [so Dr. A. Clarke]; and made by the idolatrous kings of Judah, and therefore signifies the same with Belus, who called kemarim, from, which signifies to was a deified king: and indeed it is highly be scorched, shrivelled together, made dark, probable, that not only Baal, but Moloch or black, because their business was con- and Adonis, were the names only of some stantly to attend sacrificial fires, and probably very potent kings, who were adored when they wore black garments; hence the Jews they were dead, and in time were thought to in derision call Christian ministers kemarim, be real gods. because of their black clothes and garments. Gesen.- only in plur. De idol-priests 2 Kings xxiii. 5; Hos. x. 5; Zeph. i. 4. Houb.-, et adolevit: Legendum, vel, ad adolendum, ut legere videtur Syrus, vel ", et adolebant, ut Græci Intt. et ut Chaldæus, High places. See notes on 1 Kings iii. 3, pp. 719-721. To the planets. Bp. Patrick. The Hebrew word maza. loth, which the LXX pronounce mazuroth, is thought by Procopius Gazæus to be the name of a star, and most likely the evening star: which others take to signify a constellation, as we translate it in the margin; or all the twelve signs. For the Jewish astronomers call the zodiac, ophanhamazaloth, the circle of the signs. Bp. Horsley.-To the planets. The Heb. word seems rather to express the physical influences of the planets. Gesen. f. plur. (see note) constellations, spec. the twelve signs of the zodiac, 2 Kings xxiii. 5. Sept. μačovpw0, as if reading, as in Job xxxviii. 32. Vulg. duodecim signa. Targ. 1, Syr. Sjas. -The same word is frequent in later Heb. as identical, r and 7 being interchanged (see in); although it is uncertain which form Bp. Horsley.—5, 8, 8, 9, 13, 15, 15, 19, is the primary one. Taking first, the 20. High places; rather, chapels. The softer, ie, these constellations are held chapels in verse 9, are to be understood of to be so called from their influx or influence chapels for the service of Jehovah; but in all the other places, of idolatrous chapels. Round about. VOL. II. to upon the destinies of men, from r. 6 L q. v., or again, the signs of the zodiac were thereof upon the graves of the children of regarded as the stations or lodgings of the the people. -to descend, dis نزل night-quarter, from r. Pool.-i. e., of the common people, whose graves were made together in some common place, which was generally accounted very impure and contemptible, and therefore a fit place for this filth to be thrown into. Or, More correctly, however, the harder, of bastards, who are oft called the children Job xxxviii. 32, is assumed by others as of the people; who as they had this brand the earlier and primary form, though they of infamy laid upon them, that they might have not succeeded in pointing out its true not enter into the congregation of the Lord, origin; for the ip are not crowns, as if Deut. xxiii. 2; so possibly they were exposed cognate with diadem; nor zones, bells, to this further ignominy, to be buried in a from r., as implying either the belt of peculiar, and in the most infamous place.. Orion or the zone of the zodiac; but in Or rather, as it is in the Hebrew, of that accordance with the certain usage of the people, i. e., those idolatrous people, as it Hebrew and Arabic, the word signifies pre- is explained, 2 Chron. xxxiv. 4, and here monitions, forewarnings, concr. forewarners, sufficiently implied in this and the foregoing presagers, (comp. præsaga Stat. Theb. 8, verse. 145,) i. e. constellations having a fore Dathe, Ged., Booth.-Upon the graves Ver. 7. knowledge of future events and foretokening of the common people. Arab. IV. to premonish, to ad- by nik Jo, mansio, domus. The Arabian name for the signs of the zodiac generally. The is not the "circulum palati orum," or signs of the zodiac, as Gesenius Host of heaven. See notes on ver. 4. CIT καὶ καθεῖλε τὸν οἶκον τῶν καδησὶμ τῶν ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ Κυρίου, οὗ αἱ γυναῖκες ὕφαινον ἐκεῖ xerтuμ тâ äλσei. Au. Ver.-7 And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the Lord where the women wove hangings [Heb., houses] for the grove. Sodomites. See notes on 1 Kings xiv. 24, pp. 825, 826. Bp. Patrick.-R. Solomon Jarchi thinks it the statues of the moon, or Venus, there were probable, that among those who worshipped those who prostituted themselves to filthy mixtures. But Mr. Selden, by kedeshim (which we translate sodomites), understands the priests of Astarte, whom St. Jerome upon Hosea iv. calls exsectos, upon pretence of greater purity, depriving themselves of those parts that serve for procreation of καὶ ἔῤῥιψε τὸν χοῦν αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν τάφον children. τῶν υἱῶν τοῦ λαοῦ. Hangings. Au. Ver.-6 And he brought out the Or, garments for the service of the grove, grove from the house of the LORD, without for the idols or the priests belonging to Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and them. Heb. houses, i. e., either little chapels burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped made of woven work, like those which were it small to powder, and cast the powder made of silver, Acts xix. 24; within which own sic tractamus, ut , pilosorum, Josure, urbis prefecti, ed sinistram di, qui וַיְטַמָּא אֶת הַבָּמוֹת אֲשֶׁר קִטְרוּ שָׁמָּה .portam urbis intrabat הַכֹּהֲנִים מִגֶבַע עַד־בְּאֵר שָׁבַע וְנָתַץ אֶת־ a) Quoniam ni in numero plurali le gitur, in singulis portis are, uti vulgatus בָּמוֹת הַשְׁעָרִים אֲשֶׁר־פֶּתַח שַׁעַר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ vertit, exstructie videntur, ut intrantes et שָׂר הָעִיר אֲשֶׁר־עַל־שְׂמֹאול אִישׁ בְּשַׁעַר καὶ ἀνήγαγεν πάντας τοὺς ἱερεῖς ἐκ πόλεων Ιούδα, καὶ ἐμίανε τὰ ὑψηλὰ, οὗ ἐθυμίασαν ἐκεῖ οἱ ἱερεῖς ἀπὸ Γαιβὰλ καὶ ἕως Βηρσαβεέ καὶ καθεῖλε τὸν οἶκον τῶν πυλῶν τὸν παρὰ τὴν θύραν τῆς πύλης Ἰησοῦ ἄρχοντος τῆς πόλεως, τῶν ἐξ ἀριστερῶν ἀνδρὸς ἐν τῇ πύλῃ τῆς πόλεως. exeuntes idola, quibus aræ istæ dicatæ erant, adorarent. Quod si est, sequens præcipuam aliquam harum ararum indicat, in loco illo designato, de quo nihil amplius constat, exstructam. Sed of ó legerunt singularem: καὶ καθεῖλε τὸν οἶκον τῶν πυλῶν τὸν παρὰ τὴν θύραν τῆς πύλης, κτ.λ., nec non Arabs. = 2] et diruit sacella portarum, in Au. Ver.-8 And he brought all the primis id, quod erat ad introitum portæ priests out of the cities of Judah, and de- Josuæ. ning nie 'n, cf. vs. 15: etiam filed the high places where the priests had altare illud et sacellum (2) diruit, creburned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba, mavitque sacellum, comminuit in pulverem. and brake down the high places of the gates Ceterum bene Dathius: " 'quoniam," etc. that were in the entering in of the gate of [vid. supra]. Joshua the governor of the city, which were Ver. 10. Brake down the high places of the gates. וְטְמָא אֶת־הַתֹּפֶת אֲשֶׁר בְּנֵי בְּנֵי־הם -on a man's left hand at the gate of the city לְבִלְתִּי לְהַעֲבִיר אִישׁ אֶת־בְּנָוֹ וְאֶת־ ,3 .High places. See notes on i Kings iii בן קרי pp. 719-721. Of the gates. Houb., Horsley, Ged., Booth.-Of the satyrs. Houb. 8 Accersitis autem ex urbibus Jude Sacerdotibus, contaminavit aras, ubi sacrifici thura incendebant, à Gabaa usque ad Bersabee, subvertitque aras Satyrorum, quæ erant in portâ Josue, principis civitatis, ad sinistram eorum, qui urbis portam subibant. : ויבא 8 : abpb wise ine καὶ ἐμίανε τὸν Ταφεθ τὸν ἐν φάραγγι υἱοῦ Εννόμ, τοῦ διαγαγεῖν ἄνδρα τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἄνδρα τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτοῦ τῷ Μολὸχ ἐν πυρί. Au. Ver.-10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. Topheth. Meliùs, et venire jussit. ... 107, incendebant hic thura. Legen- Dr. A. Clarke.-St. Jerome says, that dum, ibi; fuit malè geminatum, ex Topheth was a fine and pleasant place, well subsequenti.... Plerique ver- watered with fountains, and adorned with tunt, excelsa portarum. Tamen malè por- gardens. The valley of the son of Hinnom, tarum, ubi agitur una porta Josue. Tolera- or Gehenna, was in one part; here it appears biliùs Chaldæus, janitorum. Nos the sacred rites of Molech were performed, |