Scripture Notes | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 4, 1868

Scripture Notes.

THISTLE AND CEDAR.

2 Kings xiv, 9. And Jehoash the king of Israel, sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife; and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle.

Thistle, cedar. The orientals still speak of their rulers under the similitude of different trees. Some men are always known by the name of certain trees. Thus a person who is tall, and stoops a little, is called the cocoa-nut tree, and he who has long legs and arms, the banyan, which spreads its arms, and lets fall its supporters to the ground. It is therefore not very improbable, that Jehoash was known by the name of the cedar, and Amaziah by that of the thistle.—Roberts.

HEZEKIAH PUNISHED FOR SHOWING HIS TREASURES.

Chap. xx, 15. And he said, What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah answered, All the things that are in my house have they seen; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them.

The king of Babylon, knowing that Hezekiah had refused submission to the Assyrians, seems to have proposed to enter into a confederacy with him against that potent nation, and Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and, in order to convince the ambassadors that he was a desirable ally, he showed them all his treasures, and armor, and preparations for war, of every kind, from pride and ostentation. He seems likewise to have missed the opportunity of instructing the Chaldeans concerning the perfections &c., of Jehovah, who had wrought the miracles which had excited their attention. Though Hezekiah's sickness preceded Sennacherib's invasion and overthrow, it is probable this embassy arrived after that event; when Hezekiah's exhausted treasuries had been abundantly replenished by the spoil of the Assyrians.—Scott.

TOPHET.

Chap. xxiii, 10. And he defiled Tophet, 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.

Jerome says, Tophet was a fine, pleasant place, well watered with fountains, and adorned with gardens. The valley of the son of Hinnom, or Gehenna, was in one part; here it appears the sacred rites of Molech were performed; and to this all the filth of the city was carried, and perpetual fires were kept up, in order to consume it. Hence it has been considered a type of hell; and in this sense it is used in the New Testament.—Dr. A. Clarke.

HORSES GIVEN TO THE SUN.

Chap. xxiii, 11. And he took away the horses that the king of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the Lord, by the chambers of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire.

The worshipers of the sun represented that luminary by a man seated in a chariot drawn by swift and furious horses, and therefore they dedicated to him horses and chariots.—Scott.

The Hindoos believe that the sun is drawn in his course by seven horses, and the deity sits in his one-wheeled chariot.—Roberts. The Greeks believed the sun was drawn by four horses, named Pyrois, Eous, Æthon, and Phlegon.—Lempriere.

THE LORD'S HOUSE AND KINGDOM.

1 Chron. xxii, 14. But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever; and his throne shall be established for evermore.

In the parallel passage, the Lord says to David, thine house, thy kingdom; here, [16, 17.] mine house, &c. The Lord was Israel's king; and David and Solomon were his vicegerents, as well as types of the Messiah, in whose church and kingdom all these promises and predictions have their grand fulfilment; which shows that this principally belonged to the Messiah, of whom David was but a figure.—Patrick.

DAVID'S PREPARATION FOR THE TEMPLE.

Chap. xxii, 14. Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the Lord, a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance; timber also and stone have I prepared; and thou mayest add thereto.

The gold and silver here mentioned, if computed by the ordinary weight of the talent, would amount to eight or nine hundred millions sterling; and this enormous quantity would have more than sufficed to erect an edifice, as large as the temple itself, apart from its courts, of solid gold and silver. Compared therefore with the size of the temple, and with the gains of Solomon, when the precious metals became common at Jerusalem, (1 Kings xiv, 14, 28.) it is generally concluded, either that some mistake has taken place in the numeral letters, or that a talent of inferior weight and value is meant. David had collected this wealth for the temple in his trouble, or in his poverty. He had set out in life very poor; he had passed through a constant succession of trials and troubles, not only before he came to the kingdom, but during his whole reign; and all his prosperity was the result of the Lord's singular kindness, in making him a gainer by all the attempts of his numerous enemies. He seems also to speak of his preparation as a small matter, whether compared with the greatness of the Lord to whom it was dedicated, or with his own obligations to him.—Scott.