| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index
|
2 Kings Chapter
Fifteen
2 Kings 15
Chapter Contents
Reign of Azariah
or Uzziah
king of Judah. (1-7) The
latter kings of Israel. (8-31) Jotham
king of Judah. (32-38)
Commentary on 2 Kings 15:1-7
(Read 2 Kings 15:1-7)
Uzziah did for the most part that which was right. It was
happy for the kingdom that a good reign was a long one.
Commentary on 2 Kings 15:8-31
(Read 2 Kings 15:8-31)
This history shows Israel in confusion. Though Judah was
not without troubles
yet that kingdom was happy
compared with the state of
Israel. The imperfections of true believers are very different from the allowed
wickedness of ungodly men. Such is human nature
such are our hearts
if left
to themselves
deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked. We have
reason to be thankful for restraints
for being kept out of temptation
and
should beg of God to renew a right spirit within us.
Commentary on 2 Kings 15:32-38
(Read 2 Kings 15:32-38)
Jotham showed great respect to the temple. If magistrates
cannot do all they would
for the suppressing of vice and profaneness
let them
do the more to support and advance piety and virtue.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 2 Kings》
2 Kings 15
Verse 1
[1] In
the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel began Azariah son of
Amaziah king of Judah to reign.
To reign —
Solely and fully to exercise his regal power.
Verse 5
[5] And the LORD smote the king
so that he was a leper unto the day of his
death
and dwelt in a several house. And Jotham the king's son was over the
house
judging the people of the land.
A leper —
The cause whereof see 2 Chronicles 26:16.
Verse 8
[8] In
the thirty and eighth year of Azariah king of Judah did Zachariah the son of
Jeroboam reign over Israel in Samaria six months.
Six months —
After the throne had been vacant several years
thro' the dissentions that were
in the kingdom.
Verse 13
[13]
Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the nine and thirtieth year of
Uzziah king of Judah; and he reigned a full month in Samaria.
Full moon —
That dominion seldom lasts long
which is founded in blood and falsehood.
Verse 30
[30] And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of
Remaliah
and smote him
and slew him
and reigned in his stead
in the
twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.
Twentieth year —
The meaning is
that he began his reign in the twentieth year after the
beginning of Jotham's reign; or
which is the same thing
in the fourth year of
Ahaz
son of Jotham.
Verse 33
[33] Five
and twenty years old was he when he began to reign
and he reigned sixteen
years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jerusha
the daughter of Zadok.
To reign —
Alone: for he had reigned before this
as his father's deputy.
Verse 35
[35]
Howbeit the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burned
incense still in the high places. He built the higher gate of the house of the
LORD.
Gate —
Not of the temple
but of one of the courts of the temple
probably that which
led to the king's palace.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 2 Kings》
15 Chapter 15
Verses 1-7
Verse 5
And the Lord smote the King.
Familiarity with religious things
1. The character and conduct of King Uzziah are very full of
instruction. His life was marked by one fault
and by one signal act of
punishment from God. His fault was the offering sacrifice
that which only the
priest might do; and his punishment a leprosy
inflicted on him by the word of
a priest on his persevering in his fault. This is the more remarkable as he is
on the whole described as a good character. One notable circumstance is
that
in the Book of Kings he goes by the name of Azariah
and is there also
described as a good king
and all that we are told is that he died a leper
having dwelt in a several house until the day of his death. He made constant
reference to Zachariah the prophet
and we are told
as long as he sought the
Lord
God made him to prosper. He made war on Philistia
and prospered. Again
we are told that God helped him against the Philistines and against the
Arabians. Having come back
he built towers in the desert
and he had much
cattle. It appears that in his campaigns he won a high name for courage. He
transgressed against God by going into the temple and offering incense on the
altar. The priest went in after him with fourscore other priests--all valiant
men; and they withstood Uzziah
saying
“It appertaineth not to thee
O Uzziah
to burn it.” Uzziah
having a censer in his hand
was wroth; and while angry
holding the censer in his hand
the leprosy rose up into his forehead
and the
priests thrust him forcibly out; and he himself hasted to go out
because the
Lord had smitten him.
2. It seems clear that Uzziah was a man whose life throughout
until
the finishing act of it
was in conformity to God’s will
and blessed with
God’s mercy. That crowning act of his life--the offering the incense
we are
told
was the result of a presumptuous spirit brought on by the success of his
life. But while this cause is assigned for the fault
and the fault is
mentioned to explain the punishment in the Book of Chronicles
in the Book of
Kings the punishment only is mentioned; and we are simply told that the Lord
smote the king till he was a leper; and that he dwelt in a several house; so
that any one reading the account in this book
without referring to Chronicles
would be in the dark as to the motive of the Almighty in afflicting the king.
We must refer to one portion of God’s counsels to understand the other. The
light shed from one page of His will
will irradiate and explain that which
hitherto may have appeared to be obscure; and how often is this the case in
daily life!
3. And this leads us to consider that particular form of sin in King
Uzziah which called out the vengeance of God
and which developed itself into
so singular an act
and one
at first sight
so little in keeping with the
former portions of his life. His early career was one of a good and religious
man
blessed by God with prosperity on that account. Trusting to his success as
a sign not only of God’s favour
but of his own moral security
he became
inflated with pride and self-sufficiency
and his temptation was to fall into
that very sin
so natural to those who
having once been earnest or sincere in
their religion
have by degrees familiarised themselves with it; so that they
think they may play with it as a bauble
or use its influence to serve their
own ends
and
like Uzziah
thrust themselves into the very office of the
priest
by a profane and irreverent handling of holy things. This familiarity
with the things of religion is the natural result of that precocity of
spiritual knowledge which belongs to many. It ends in more than one false
condition of mind. Familiarity itself quickly shades off into irreverence
pride and self-sufficiency
and independence of those means of grace and
elevated helps to the religious life which are so inseparably mixed up with the
life of the earnest Christian. Into these faults Uzziah fell. A disposition of
independence
which his seems to have been
would naturally lead him to think
very much for himself in things religious; and thinking for himself would
naturally lead him to too subjective a view of religion generally.
4. There are many forms which this particular error takes that come
before our eye--familiarity with holy things and holy names
which look upon
reserve with the same eye as they look on hypocrisy
and on reverence with the
same feeling with which they regard superstition. Many sad conditions result
from this so great a familiarity of treatment of the external objects of
religion
that
by degrees
such men lose sight of objective religion
altogether
and blend it into themselves. In the realms of faith
where the
shadowy forms which pass before the mind’s eye are matters of apprehension more
to the mind than to the sense
there is ever a danger of our ignoring the
separate existence of those forms
making them after all but the idols of our
own creation. The attitude necessary towards those objects is one of reverence
and reserved delicacy. The forms of the unseen world are in themselves to our
eye infinitely fine; the rude touch
the over-curious gaze
may dissipate them
as far as our perception of them goes. So that some have dealt with the Second
blessed Person of the Trinity
till they have denied His Divinity
and with the
Holy Spirit until they have denied His Personality. With an unauthorised touch
they have entered the holiest place
and dared to intrude upon scenes for which
they have neither warrant nor commission. Another end in which this kind of
spirit results is
very naturally
pride and self-sufficiency. In proportion as
we melt off the outlines of the objects of our creed
we lower our estimation
of them; and in proportion as they are made parts only of our own interior
self
we by degrees find nothing on which we can place reliance
save on our
own opinion or personal energy. It is to this condition of mind that our
familiarity with religious subjects will judicially bring us
and those whose intentions
were best
may in this life have to bewail Uzziah’s end. (E. Monro.)
Verses 8-12
Verses 8-31
Verse 29
And carried them captive to Assyria.
Captivity
A very humbling expression! But this is an aspect of providence we
cannot afford
if we be wise men
to ignore. Tiglath-pileser
King of Assyria
came and carried away all these people captive to Assyria--simply “carried”
them. When men have lost their soul
their spirit
their fire
they are simply
carted away like so many hundredweights and tons of dead matter. We are not men
if we have lost manliness--in other words
if we have lost the indwelling
Spirit of God
the force eternal
the seal Divine; we are not then conquered
because to be “conquered” would imply some measure of calculated and rational
resistance--we are simply carried away
borne off
as men might carry dead
matter. This is the lot of all nations that forget God: this is the lot of
every man whose heart ceases to be the sanctuary of the living Spirit: he is
but so much bulk; name him in pounds avoirdupois
report him in so many inches
and feet of stature and girth;--he has grieved the Spirit; he has quenched the
Spirit; henceforth he is to be driven as one of a herd of dumb cattle; he is to
be carried as if he were but so much flesh. (J. Parker
D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》