914-804 which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land. 39 Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he made, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 40 So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead. 41 ¶ And Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. 42 Jehoshaphat was thirty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 43 And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the LORD: nevertheless the high places were not taken away; for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places. 44 And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel. 45 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he shewed, and how he warred, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 46 And the remnant of the Sodomites, 18 2 Chrou, 20. 31. 47 There was then no king in Edom: a deputy was king. 48 Jehoshaphat "made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber. 49 Then said Ahaziah the son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would not. 50 And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead. 51 Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned two years over Israel. 52 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin: 53 For he served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked to anger the LORD God of Israel, according to all that his father had done. 19 Or, had ten ships. OF THE KING S, GS, COMMONLY CALLED, THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE KINGS. a 2 And Ahaziah fell down through lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick : and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease. 3 But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? 4 Now therefore thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed. 5¶And when the messengers turned back unto him, he said unto them, Why are ye now turned back? turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. 7 And he said unto them, "What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words? 8 And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite. 9 Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down. 10 And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. 11 Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly. 12 And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. 13 And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight. Heb. The bed whither thou art gone up, thou shalt not come down from t 4 Heb. bowed. VOL. 11. 2 F 9 Heb. what was the manner of the man. 217 14 Behold, there came fire down from | heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight. 15 And the angel of the LORD said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king. 16 And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron, is it not because there is no God in Israel to enquire of his word? therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. 17 So he died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram reigned in his stead in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; because he had no son. 18 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? Verse 2. "Fell down through a lattice."-This probably means that he fell from the roof of the house into the interior court or garden. He was perhaps leaning against the slight fence or battlement, when it gave way under him. We have sometimes heard of such accidents in the East. "Baal zebub, the god of Ekron."-There are some considerable difficulties relating to this idol. The name "Baal-zebub" (13 by means "the lord of flies;" and the first question is, whether he was thus named by his worshippers, or nicknamed thus by the Hebrews, to avoid even the verbal recognition or utterance of his proper name, which, under this view, we may suppose to have been Baal-Samen, "the lord of heaven," one of the gods mentioned by Sanchoniathon in his Phoenician theogony. That the Hebrews were in the habit of nicknaming the pagan idols and the seats of idolatrous worship is certain; but if they did so in the present instance, what becomes of that opinion which makes Beelzebul (BuBova), "the dung god," of the New Testament, a nickname of the Baal-zebub of the Old? It is then the nickname of a nickname. Reserving for another place our opinion on this point, and without thinking it worth while to state more minutely the grounds of our conviction, we entertain little doubt that Baal-zebub, "the fly-god," is the name by which this idol was Silver Coin of Aradus (a Phoenician Island). recognised by his worshippers. One might certainly hesitate at this concluOuseley's Travels, vol. iii. sion, were it not that we find some even of the "elegant divinities" of Greece and Rome similarly distinguished; and the reason why they were so distinguished, assists us to understand that this Baal obtained the surname of Zebub on account of his being considered to protect the town or district in which he was worshipped from the visitation of gnats and other troublesome insects, the presence of which does often, in the East, form by no means the lightest calamity of life. The most remarkable analogy is that offered by the fact, that the eastern Europeans had a fly-expelling Jupiter (Zeus aóuvos), as well as the western Asiatics a fly-expelling Baal. Pausanias relates, that when Hercules sacrificed in Olympus, he was much disturbed by flies; in consequence of which, either from his own invention or through the instruction of some other person, he sacrificed to Jupiter Apomyius, or the expeller of flies, and then the flies fled beyond the Alpheus. After this the Eleans also sacrificed to Jupiter Apomyius, as one who drove away flies from Olympia. (Eliac. pr. c. xiv.) We consider this very illustrative. It seems that Hercules himself was also honoured in precisely the same character among the Erythræans, although we do not read of any fly-expelling feats among the twelve celebrated labours of that hero. As another instance we may refer to Apollo, one of whose many surnames was Smintheus (ivesus) from the Cretan word for a mouse, which he received from having cleared the Cretan colony in Troas from the swarms of mice with which it had been infested. He is often mentioned under this name by Homer. The modern superstitions of the East are not without a similar god. Mr. Roberts traces some curious coincidences between the Hindoo god Vyravar and the Baal-zebub of Scripture. The former is, as well as the latter, the prince of demons, the fly god, the dung god, and one to whom people apply, when in sickness or trouble, more frequently than to any other. In one of his avatars, or births, he delighted in blood and ordure; and he is considered to assume the form of a wasp, to punish those who offend him.-From Ahaziah's application, it would seem as if Baal-zebub enjoyed some peculiar reputation for the cure of diseases: to explain which, it is only necessary to observe, that under all systems of polytheism there have been always some particular gods distinguished for their supposed attention to the maladies of men. There is however another opinion concerning Baal-zebub, which deserves attention: this is, that Baal-zebub was not a fly-expelling god, but was himself an insect-god, analogous to the scarabæus or beetle of the Egyptians, which we slightly mentioned in the note on seals, under 1 Kings xxi. This opinion has the support of Calmet in his Dissertation sur l'Origine des Philistins.' After dwelling upon the fact that Baal-zebub is not called "the fly-expelling god," but "the fly god," on which we think he lays rather too much stress-and observing that the figure of a fly sometimes appears on Phoenician coins, he quotes Philastrius, who intimates that the insect-worship was preserved at Accaron (Ekron) even subsequent to the Christian era, and mentions a sect of Jewish heretics who worshipped the fly of that place. Calmet himself also notices the fact that flies of gold were found at Tournay, in the tomb of Childeric, and, as he was a pagan, these were perhaps his divinities; and we may add to this, that the scarabæus is often found in the mummy-cases of the Egyptians. We do not, after all, see why these two opinions may not coalesce, and Baal-zebub be at the same time an insect-god and an expeller of insects. Enough, at least, has been said to render it unnecessary to suppose that "Baal-zebub "was a nickname given to the god of Ekron by the Israelites. He was clearly the tutelary god of Ekron, as Dagon was of Ashdod, and Melkart of Tyre. Whether he was worshipped in the human or insect form, or as a combination of both, the evidence of Phoenician coins only can determine. We know, however, that in other instances, the same idol may exhibit three varieties of form-human, animal, and both combined. 4. "Thou shalt not come down from that bed."-From this it is clear that Ahaziah did not sleep on the floor, as people of high consideration often do in the East. It appears that he lay on the raised divan, or on such a bedstead as we mentioned in the note to Deut. iii. 11. Sometimes the principle of this bedstead is applied to form a permanent platform or gallery at the upper end of a room, with a balustrade in front. It is sometimes so clevated that steps are provided for the ascent. The beds are laid here at night, and it serves as a sitting place by day, being rather a modification of the divan than what we should call a bedstead. We imagine that either this, or the simple divan, or the bedstead mentioned in the note referred to above, must be understood, whenever a bed is mentioned, as to imply that it was elevated above the ground. 8. “An hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather.”—It is generally agreed that the hairiness refers not to Elijah personally, but to his mantle; and that this mantle of hair and girdle of leather formed the cheap and humbler attire which the prophets usually wore. In like manner the great anti-type of Elijah, John the Baptist, had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins" (Matt. iii. 4). Strong and broad girdles of leather are still much in use among the nomade tribes and the artizans and husbandmen of Western Asia. See the notes on 1 Sam. x. 5; and 2 Sam. iii. 31. CHAPTER II. 1 Elijah, taking his leave of Elisha, with his man tle divideth Jordan, 9 and, granting Elisha request, is taken up by a fiery chariot into heaven. 12 Elisha, dividing Jordan with Elijah's mantle, is acknowledged his successor. 16 The young prophets, hardly obtaining leave to seek Elijah, could not find him. 19 Elisha with salt healeth the unwholesome waters. 23 Bears destroy the children that mocked Elisha. AND it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. 2 And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Beth-el. And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Beth-el. 3 And the sons of the prophets that were at Beth-el came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. 4 And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. 5 And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace. 6 And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the LORD hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on. 7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood 'to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan. 8 And Elijah took his mantle, and wrap Heb. in sight, or over against 2 F 2 Heb. Thou hast done hard in asking. • Verse 7. 7 Heb, sons of strength. ped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground. 9¶And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. 10 And he said, "Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. 11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and 'Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried, 'My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. 13 He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the 'bank of Jordan; 14 And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over. 15 And when the sons of the prophets which were 'to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elísha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. 16 And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty 'strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure the Spirit of the LORD hath taken him up, and cast him upon 'some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send. 17 And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent there 3 Ecclus. 48. 9. 1 Mac. 2. 59. 4 Chap. 13. 14. 8 Heb. one of the mountains. 5 Heb. lip. 219 fore fifty men: and they sought three days, but found him not. 18 And when they came again to him, (for he tarried at Jericho,) he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not? 19 And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground 'barren. 20 And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. 21 And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land. 22 So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake. 23 And he went up from thence unto Beth-el and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. 24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them. 25 And he went from thence to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria. Verse 22. "The waters were healed unto this day."-Perhaps we ought not to expect to find this spring now. Referring the reader to the note on 1 Kings xvi. 34, we may observe that near the ruins which Mr. Buckingham guesses to be those of Jericho, the long-continued drought had dried up the streams and torrents, so that he could say nothing with regard the peculiar qualities of any of the fountains in the neighbourhood. For the same reason, the plain was there |