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2
Chronicles Chapter Fifteen
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 15
Asa
returning from the battle
and with the spoil of the enemy
was met by a
prophet of the Lord
who encouraged him to go on with the work of reformation
promising the presence and help of God with him
2 Chronicles 15:1
which inspired him with fresh courage
and he went about the work with great
alacrity; and having offered sacrifices
he and his people entered into a
solemn covenant with the Lord
to serve him
2 Chronicles 15:8
upon which he destroyed his mother's idol
brought the dedicated things into
the house of God
and the effect of this was peace for a long time
2 Chronicles 15:16.
2 Chronicles
15:1 Now the Spirit
of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded.
YLT
1And upon Azariah son of
Oded hath been the Spirit of God
And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded
.... The same
with Iddo
as HillerusF8Onomastic
Sacr. p. 458. thinks; and some
suppose this to be the name of the son as well as the father
but called
Azariah
to distinguish him from him
see 2 Chronicles 15:8
on whom came
as the Targum
the spirit of prophecy
instructing him what to
say to Asa; and the Jews sayF9In Hieron. Trad. Heb. in Paralipom.
fol. 84. L. & 85. A. he is the same with Iddo
and he the same that was
sent to Jeroboam
to reprove him for the altar he built.
2 Chronicles
15:2 2 And he went out to meet Asa
and said to him: “Hear me
Asa
and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with
you while you are with Him. If you seek Him
He will be found by you; but if
you forsake Him
He will forsake you.
YLT
2and he goeth out before
Asa
and saith to him
`Hear
me
Asa
and all Judah and Benjamin; Jehovah [is]
with you -- in your being with Him
and if ye seek Him
He is found of you
and
if ye forsake Him
He forsaketh you;
And he went out to meet Asa
.... From Jerusalem
as
Asa was coming to it:
and said unto him
hear ye me
Asa
and all Judah and Benjamin; the principal
inhabitants of which tribes had been collected
and went to this war
and were
now returning:
the Lord is with you
while ye be with him; it was a
clear case he had been with them
in giving them the victory over the
Ethiopians; and as long as they continued in the service of God
and abode by
his pure worship
they might expect he would yet be with them
otherwise not:
and if ye seek him
he will be found of you; you will see
his face
and enjoy his favour
and have his presence
and help from him in
every time of need
when they sought him by prayer and supplication
as Asa
had
and attended his worship and ordinances:
but if ye forsake him; his laws and his
service:
he will forsake you; and leave you to fall
into the hands of your enemies.
2 Chronicles
15:3 3 For
a long time Israel has been without the true God
without a teaching
priest
and without law;
YLT
3and many days [are] to
Israel without a true God
and without a teaching priest
and without law
Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God
.... The fear
worship
and service of him being greatly neglected by them for a long time;
what period of time is referred to is not expressed
whether past
present
or
to come
but left to be supplied; the Targum refers this to the time of the
separation of the ten tribes
and the days of Jeroboam
when the calves were
worshipped
and not the true God
and the teaching priests of the Lord were
cast out
and the law of the Lord
especially with respect to worship
was not
regarded
in which it is followed by many interpreters; others think it refers
to time to come
and to what would be the case
should they forsake the Lord;
and was fulfilled in the Babylonish captivity
see Hosea 3:4 and the
JewsF11Vajikra Rabba
sect. 19. fol. 160. 4. say
that"Oded
prophesied that the days should come
when Israel would be "without the
true God"
since judgment should not be done in the world: and
"without a teaching priest"; since the high priesthood should cease
(see Hebrews 7:12)
"and without the law"; since the sanhedrim should cease;'but
according to our supplement
and which seems most correct
it refers to time
past; not to the case of the ten tribes from the times of Jeroboam; nor to the
case of Judah from the times of Rehoboam; but to times more remote
even the
times of the judges
when they worshipped Baal and Ashtaroth
and not the true
God
Judges 2:10
yet at
the same time suggesting
that should the present inhabitants of Judah go into
the same practices
their case would be like theirs
described in the following
verses:
and without a teaching priest: as they were under the
judges
from the times of Phinehas to those of Eli
which was a long space of
time:
and without law; every man doing as he pleased
there being
no king in Israel
nor any regard paid to the law of God
moral or ceremonial
Judges 17:6.
2 Chronicles
15:4 4 but
when in their trouble they turned to the Lord God of Israel
and sought
Him
He was found by them.
YLT
4and it turneth back in its
distress unto Jehovah
God of Israel
and they seek Him
and He is found of
them
But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of
Israel
.... When being carried captive by neighbouring nations
and
oppressed; and they cried unto the Lord
and repented of their sins
and turned
from them to him:
and sought him; by prayer and supplication:
he was found of them; and appeared for their
help and deliverance
of which there are many instances in the book of Judges.
2 Chronicles
15:5 5 And
in those times there was no peace to the one who went out
nor to the
one who came in
but great turmoil was on all the inhabitants of the
lands.
YLT
5and in those times there is
no peace to him who is going out
and to him who is coming in
for many
troubles [are] on all the inhabitants of the lands
And in those times there was no peace to him that went out nor to
him that came in
.... There was no safety in going abroad for travellers from one
part to another on account of trade and business
the highways being infested
with thieves and robbers:
but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries; of the
country villages
which were deserted
because of the plunders and depredations
of them
Judges 5:6.
2 Chronicles
15:6 6 So
nation was destroyed by nation
and city by city
for God troubled them with
every adversity.
YLT
6and they have been beaten
down
nation by nation
and city by city
for God hath troubled them with every
adversity;
And nation was destroyed of nation
and city of city
.... Or one
tribe of another; as the Ephraimites by the Gileadites
and the tribe of
Benjamin by the other tribes; and Shechem by Abimelech
Judges 9:45
for God did vex them with all adversity; both with
foreign enemies and civil wars; and now it is intimated that this would be
their case again
should they not keep close to the Lord their God.
2 Chronicles
15:7 7 But
you
be strong and do not let your hands be weak
for your work shall be rewarded!”
YLT
7and ye
be ye strong
and
let not your hands be feeble
for there is a reward for your work.'
Be ye strong therefore
and let not your hands be weak
.... Be
hearty
earnest
and vigorous
and not languid and remiss in reforming the
worship of God
which Asa had begun:
for your work shall be rewarded; with peace and
prosperity at home
and success against enemies abroad
of which they had had a
recent instance.
2 Chronicles 15:8 8 And when Asa heard these
words and the prophecy of Oded[a] the
prophet
he took courage
and removed the abominable idols from all the land of
Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he had taken in the mountains of
Ephraim; and he restored the altar of the Lord that was before
the vestibule of the Lord.
YLT
8And at Asa's hearing these
words
and the prophecy of Oded the prophet
he hath strengthened himself
and
doth cause the abominations to pass away out of all the land of Judah and
Benjamin
and out of the cities that he hath captured from the hill-country of
Ephraim
and reneweth the altar of Jehovah that [is] before the porch of
Jehovah
And when Asa heard these words
and the prophecy of Oded the
prophet
.... Some think that besides the above words of Azariah the son
of Oded
a prophecy of Oded his father was related by him
though not recorded;
but rather Oded here is the same with the son of Oded; and so the Vulgate Latin
and Syriac versions read Azariah the son of Oded; and so does the Alexandrian
copy of the Septuagint version:
he took courage
and put away the abominable idols out of all the
land of Judah and Benjamin; which were abominable to God
and all good
men; besides the images and statues he had broken before
he removed other
idols that remained
being animated and emboldened by the speech of the
prophet:
and out of the cities which he had taken from Mount Ephraim: the same
which his father Abijah had taken from Jeroboam
2 Chronicles 13:19
and which perhaps
upon the approach of the Ethiopians
revolted from Asa
or
were restored by them to Jeroboam
and Which Asa retook upon his conquest of
them:
and renewed the altar of the Lord before the porch of the Lord; the altar of
burnt offering
which had never been repaired since it was made by Solomon;
perhaps he anew overlaid it with brass that being worn out
or become very thin
in some places.
2 Chronicles 15:9 9 Then he gathered all Judah
and Benjamin
and those who dwelt with them from Ephraim
Manasseh
and Simeon
for they came over to him in great numbers from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was
with him.
YLT
9and gathereth all Judah and
Benjamin
and the sojourners with them out of Ephraim
and Manasseh
and out of
Simeon -- for they have fallen unto him from Israel in abundance
in their
seeing that Jehovah his God [is] with him.
And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin
and the strangers with
them
.... The proselytes of the gate:
out of Ephraim and Manasseh
and out of Simeon: out of all
the places in those tribes that had come off to him
or had been taken by him;
for otherwise these belonged to the ten tribes under the government of
Jeroboam
and his successors
and the next clause explains it:
for they fell to him out of Israel abundance
when they saw that
the Lord his God was with him; as was clear by the victory he gave him
over the Ethiopians; after that time many in the above tribes came over to him;
the Targum is
"when they saw the Word of the Lord his God was his help.'
2 Chronicles 15:10 10 So they gathered together
at Jerusalem in the third month
in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
YLT
10And they are gathered to
Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa
So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem
.... By the
order of Asa
2 Chronicles 15:9
in the third month; of the ecclesiastical year
the month
Sivan
in which month was the day of Pentecost; and that very probably was the
time of their gathering:
in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa; and which
seems to be the year in which he fought the Ethiopians.
2 Chronicles 15:11 11 And they offered to the Lord at that time
seven hundred bulls and seven thousand sheep from the spoil they had brought.
YLT
11and sacrifice to Jehovah on
that day from the spoil they have brought in -- oxen seven hundred
and sheep
seven thousand
And they offered unto the Lord the same time
.... The
Targum adds
on the feast of weeks
or Pentecost: of the spoil which they had
brought; from the camp of the Ethiopians
and the cities of the Philistines:
seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep; partly for
burnt offerings
and partly for peace offerings
by way of thankfulness to the
Lord for the victory he had given them
and for a feast at the making of the
following covenant with him.
2 Chronicles 15:12 12 Then they entered into a
covenant to seek the Lord
God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;
YLT
12and they enter into a
covenant to seek Jehovah
God of their fathers
with all their heart
and with
all their soul
And they entered into a covenant
.... Asa and all his
people; that is
as Piscator remarks
they went between the pieces of the calf
cut asunder
for the confirmation of the covenant
see Jeremiah 34:18
to seek the Lord God of their fathers
with all their heart
and
with all their soul; to serve and worship him most truly
sincerely
and cordially.
2 Chronicles 15:13 13 and whoever would not seek
the Lord
God of Israel was to be put to death
whether small or great
whether man or
woman.
YLT
13and every one who doth not
seek for Jehovah
God of Israel
is put to death
from small unto great
from
man unto woman.
That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put
to death
.... That obstinately refused to worship him
and served other
gods
which by the law was deserving of death
Deuteronomy 17:2
whether small or great
whether man or woman; without any
regard to rank or dignity
age or sex.
2 Chronicles 15:14 14 Then they took an oath
before the Lord
with a loud voice
with shouting and trumpets and rams’ horns.
YLT
14And they swear to Jehovah
with a loud voice
and with shouting
and with trumpets
and with cornets
And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice
.... As not
being ashamed of the oath they took
and that there might be witnesses of it
and that it might be clear they did not equivocate in but expressed themselves
in plain words:
and with shouting
and with trumpets
and with cornets; showing that
the oath was not extorted from them unwillingly
but that they took it with the
utmost cheerfulness
and with all the demonstrations of joy and gladness
imaginable.
2 Chronicles 15:15 15 And all Judah rejoiced at
the oath
for they had sworn with all their heart and sought Him with all their
soul; and He was found by them
and the Lord gave them rest all
around.
YLT
15and rejoice do all Judah
concerning the oath
for with all their heart they have sworn
and with all
their good-will they have sought Him
and He is found of them
and Jehovah
giveth rest to them round about.
And all Judah rejoiced at the oath
.... The greater part of
them; for some there might be who were dissemblers:
for they had sworn with all their heart; in the
sincerity and uprightness of their souls:
and sought him with their whole desire; none being
more or so desirable as he:
and he was found of them: and favoured them with
his presence:
and the Lord gave them rest round about; from all
their enemies.
2 Chronicles 15:16 16 Also he removed Maachah
the mother of Asa the king
from being queen mother
because she had
made an obscene image of Asherah;[b] and Asa
cut down her obscene image
then crushed and burned it by the Brook
Kidron.
YLT
16And also Maachah
mother of
Asa the king -- he hath removed her from [being] mistress
in that she hath
made for a shrine a horrible thing
and Asa cutteth down her horrible thing
and beateth [it] small
and burneth [it] by the brook Kidron:
Verses 16-18
And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king
.... Or rather
his grandmother
1 Kings 15:10
he removed her from being queen; the Septuagint version
is
"that she should not minister to Astarte"; which was the goddess
of the Zidonians; of this and the two next verses; see Gill on 1 Kings 15:13
1 Kings 15:14
1 Kings 15:15.
2 Chronicles 15:17 17 But the high places were
not removed from Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was loyal all his days.
YLT
17yet the high places have
not turned aside from Israel; only
the heart of Asa hath been perfect all his
days.
2 Chronicles 15:18 18 He also brought into the
house of God the things that his father had dedicated and that he himself had
dedicated: silver and gold and utensils.
YLT
18And he bringeth in the
sanctified things of his father
and his own sanctified things
to the house of
God
silver
and gold
and vessels.
2 Chronicles 15:19 19 And there was no war until
the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.
YLT
19And war hath not been till
the thirty and fifth year of the reign of Asa.
And there was no more war unto the thirty fifth year of the reign
of Asa. That is
from the Ethiopian war to that time; after that there
was no war with any foreign enemy; there were animosities and discords
bickerings and hostilities of some sort continually between Asa and Baasha king
of Israel
as long as he lived
see 1 Kings 15:16.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)