Chapter 36

Nehushtan (2Kings xviii. 4) is passed over in silence, as if it were incredible that such an image should have been worshipped down to that date in the belief that it had come down from the time of Moses; the not less offensive statement, on the other hand, that he took away _the Asherah_ (by which only that of the temple altar can be understood; comp. Deuteronomy xvi. 21) is got over by charging the singular into the plural; he took away _the Asherahs_ (xxx). 1 ), which occurred here and there throughout Judah, of course at heathen altars.

In the cases of Joash and Josiah the free flight of the Chronicler's law-crazed fancy is hampered by the copy to which he is tied, and which gives not the results merely, but the details of the proceedings themselves (2Chronicles xxii., xxiii.; 2Kings xi., xii.). It is precisely such histories as these, almost the only circumstantially told ones relating to Judah in the Book of Kings, which though in their nature most akin to our author's preference for cultus, bring him into the greatest embarrassment, by introducing details which to his notions are wholly against the Law, and yet must not be represented otherwise than in the most favourable light.

It cannot be doubted that the sections about Joash in 2Kings (xi. 1-xii. 17 [16]), having their scene end subject laid in the temple, are at bottom identical with 2Chronicles xxii. 10-xxiv. 14. In the case of 2Kings xi., to begin with, the beginning and the close, vers. 1-3, vers. 13-20, recur verbatim in 2Chronicles xxii. 10-12, xxiii. 12-21, if trifling alterations be left out of account. But in the central portion also there occur passages which are taken over into 2Chronicles without any change. Only here they are inappropriate, while in the original connection they are intelligible. For the meaning and colour of the whole is entirely altered in Chronicles, as the following comparison in the main passage will show; to understand it one must bear in mind that the regent Athaliah has put to death all the members of the house of David who had escaped the massacre of Jehu, with the exception of the child Joash, who, with the knowledge of Jehoiada, the priest, has found hiding and protection in the temple.

2 KINGS xi

4. In the seventh year Jehoiada sent and took the captains of the Carians and runners,

2CHRONICLES xxiii.

1. _In the seventh year Jehoiada_ sent and took the captains of strengthened himself and _took the captains_, Azariah the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah the son of Obed, and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, into covenant with him.

2. And they went about in Judah and gathered the Levites out of all the cities in Judah, and the chiefs of the fathers of Israel, land they came to Jerusalem.

2 KINGS xi

and brought them to him into the house of Jehovah, and made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of Jehovah, and showed them the king's son;

2CHRONICLES xxiii.

3. And the whole congregation made _a covenant in the house of God_ with the king. And he said unto them, _Behold, the king's son_ shall reign, as Jehovah said concerning the sons of David.

2 KINGS xi

5. And commanded them, saying, This is the thing that ye shall do; the third part of you which enter on the Sabbath and keep the watch of the king's house,

2CHRONICLES xxiii.

4. _This is the thing that ye shall do: the third part of you, which enter on the Sabbath_, of the priests and of the Levites, shall keep the doors.

2 KINGS xi

[6. And the third part in the gate of Jesod, and the third part in the gate behind the runners, and ye shall keep the watch in the house...]:

2CHRONICLES xxiii.

5. And the third part of you shall be _in the house of the king_, and the third part in the gate Jesod; and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of Jehovah.

2 KINGS xi

7. And the two other third parts of you, those who go forth on the Sabbath and keep the watch in the house of Jehovah about the king.

2CHRONICLES xxiii.

6. And no one shall come into the house of Jehovah save the priests and they of the Levites that minister; but all the people shall keep the ordinance of Jehovah.

2 KINGS xi

8. Ye shall encompass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand, and whosoever cometh within the ranks, shall be put to death, and ye shall be with the king whithersoever he goeth.

2CHRONICLES xxiii.

7. And the Levites shall _compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hands, and whosoever cometh_ into the house, _shall be put to death; and they shall be with the king whithersoever he goeth._

2 KINGS xi

9. And the captains did according to all that Jehoiada the priest had commanded, and took each his men, those that were to come in on the Sabbath with those that were to go out on the Sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest.

2CHRONICLES xxiii.

8. And the Levites and all Judah _did according to all that Jehoiada the priest had commanded, and took each his men, those that were to come in on the Sabbath with those that were to go out on the Sabbath_, for Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the divisions.

2 KINGS xi

10. And to the captains the priest gave King David's spears and shields that were in the house of Jehovah.

2CHRONICLES xxiii.

9. And Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spears and the bucklers and the shields that King David had, which were in the house of God.

2 KINGS xi

11. And the runners stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side, along by the altar and the house, round about the king.

2CHRONICLES xxiii.

10. And he set all the people, _every man having his weapon in his hand, from the south side of the house to the north side, along by the altar and the house, round about the king_.

2 KINGS xi

12. And he brought forth the king's son and put upon him the crown and the bracelet, and they made him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said: Long live the king.

2CHRONICLES xxiii.

11. _And they brought out the king's son and put upon him the crown and the bracelet and they made him king_, and Jehoiada and his sons _anointed him and said: Long live the king_.

Can the enthronement of Joash, as on a former occasion that of Solomon, possibly have been accomplished by the agency of the bodyguard of the kings of Judah? Is it possible that the high priest should have made a covenant with the captains within the house of Jehovah, and himself have held out the inducement to those half-pagan mercenaries to penetrate into the temple precincts? That were indeed an outrage upon the Law not lightly to be imputed to so holy a man! Why then did not Jehoiada make use of his own guard, the myriads of Levites who were at his command? Such a course was the only right one, and therefore that which was followed. "No one shall come into the house of Jehovah save the priests and they of the Levites that minister:" in accordance with this fundamental principle stated by himself (xxiii. 6; comp ver. 7 INTO THE HOUSE instead of WITHIN THE RANKS), our pious historian substitutes his priests and Levites for the Carians and runners. Hereby also Jehoiada comes into the place that belongs to him as sovereign of the sanctuary and of the congregation. He therefore needs no longer to set on foot in secret a conspiracy with the chiefs of the body-guard, but through his own spiritual officers calls together the Levites and heads of houses from all the cities of Judah into the temple, and causes the whole assemblage there to enter into a covenant with the young king. The glaring inconsistencies inevitably produced by the new colouring thus given to individual parts of the old picture must simply be taken as part of the bargain. If Jehoiada has unrestricted sway over such a force and sets about his revolution with the utmost publicity, then it is he and not Athaliah who has the substance of power; why then all this trouble about the deposition of the tyrant? Out of mere delight in Levitical pomp and high solemnities? What moreover is to be done with the captains who are retained in xxiii. 1, 9, and in ver. 14 are even called officers of the host as in 2Kings xi 15, after their soldiers have been taken from them or metamorphosed? Had the Levites a military organisation, and, divided into three companies, did they change places every week in the temple service? The commentators are inclined to call in to their aid such inventive assumptions, with which, however, they may go on for ever without attaining their end, for the error multiplies itself. As a specially striking instance of the manner in which the procedure of Chronicles avenges itself may be mentioned