15 and 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 he saith to Judah, `Let us build these cities, and compass `them' with wall, and towers, two-leaved doors, and bars, while the land `is' before us, because we have sought Jehovah our God, we have sought, and He giveth rest to us round about;' and they build and prosper.
and they enter into a covenant to seek Jehovah, God of their fathers, with all their heart, and with all their soul,
For our glorying is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we did conduct ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you;
and rejoice doth Hezekiah and all the people, because of God's giving preparation to the people, for the thing hath been suddenly.
for I am pressed by the two, having the desire to depart, and to be with Christ, for it is far better,
Not in secret have I spoken, in a dark place of the earth, I have not said to the seed of Jacob, In vain seek ye Me, I `am' Jehovah, speaking righteousness, Declaring uprightness.
Her ways `are' ways of pleasantness, And all her paths `are' peace.
and rejoiced in all the good which Jehovah thy God hath given to thee, and to thy house, thou, and the Levite, and the sojourner who `is' in thy midst.
Be glad in Jehovah, and rejoice, ye righteous, And sing, all ye upright of heart!
And He giveth rest, and who maketh wrong? And hideth the face, and who beholdeth it? And in reference to a nation and to a man, `It is' the same.
And Nehemiah -- he `is' the Tirshatha -- saith (and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levites who are instructing the people) to all the people, `To-day is holy to Jehovah your God, do not mourn, nor weep:' for all the people are weeping at their hearing the words of the law.
`Now -- with my heart -- to make a covenant before Jehovah, God of Israel, and the fierceness of His anger doth turn back from us.
And Jehoiada maketh a covenant between him, and between all the people, and between the king, to be for a people to Jehovah; and all the people enter the house of Baal, and break it down, yea, his altars and his images they have broken, and Mattan priest of Baal they have slain before the altars. And Jehoiada putteth the offices of the house of Jehovah into the hand of the priests the Levites whom David had apportioned over the house of Jehovah, to cause to ascend the burnt-offerings of Jehovah, as written in the law of Moses, with joy, and with singing, by the hands of David; and he stationeth the gatekeepers over the gates of the house of Jehovah, and the unclean in anything doth not go in. And he taketh the heads of the hundreds, and the honourable ones, and the rulers among the people, and all the people of the land, and bringeth down the king from the house of Jehovah, and they come in through the high gate to the house of the king, and cause the king to sit on the throne of the kingdom. And all the people of the land rejoice, and the city hath been quiet, and Athaliah they have put to death by the sword.
and 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;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 2 Chronicles 15
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 15 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 15
2Ch 15:1-15. Judah Makes a Solemn Covenant with God.
1. Azariah the son of Oded—This prophet, who is mentioned nowhere else, appears at this stage of the sacred story in the discharge of an interesting mission. He went to meet Asa, as he was returning from his victorious pursuit of the Ethiopians, and the congratulatory address here recorded was publicly made to the king in presence of his army.
2. The Lord is with you, while ye be with him—You have had, in your recent signal success, a remarkable proof that God's blessing is upon you; your victory has been the reward of your faith and piety. If you steadfastly adhere to the cause of God, you may expect a continuance of His favor; but if you abandon it, you will soon reap the bitter fruits of apostasy.
3-6. Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, &c.—Some think that Azariah was referring to the sad and disastrous condition to which superstition and idolatry had brought the neighboring kingdom of Israel. His words should rather be taken in a wider sense, for it seems manifest that the prophet had his eye upon many periods in the national history, when the people were in the state described—a state of spiritual destitution and ignorance—and exhibited its natural result as widespread anarchy, mutual dissension among the tribes, and general suffering (Jud 9:23; 12:4; 20:21; 2Ch 13:17). These calamities God permitted to befall them as the punishment of their apostasy. Azariah's object in these remarks was to establish the truth of his counsel (2Ch 15:2), threatening, in case of neglecting it by describing the uniform course of the divine procedure towards Israel, as shown in all periods of their history. Then after this appeal to national experience, he concluded with an earnest exhortation to the king to prosecute the work of reformation so well begun [2Ch 15:7].
7. Be ye strong—Great resolution and indomitable energy would be required to persevere in the face of the opposition your reforming measures will encounter.
your work shall be rewarded—What you do in the cause and for the glory of God will assuredly be followed by the happiest results both to yourself and your subjects.
8. when Asa heard … the prophecy of Oded the prophet—The insertion of these words, "of Oded the prophet," is generally regarded as a corruption of the text. "The sole remedy is to erase them. They are, probably, the remains of a note, which crept in from the margin into the text" [Bertheau].
he took courage—Animated by the seasonable and pious address of Azariah, Asa became a more zealous reformer than ever, employing all his royal authority and influence to extirpate every vestige of idolatry from the land.
and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim—He may have acquired cities of Ephraim, the conquest of which is not recorded (2Ch 17:2); but it has been commonly supposed that the reference is to cities which his father Abijah had taken in that quarter (2Ch 13:19).
renewed the altar of the Lord … before the porch—that is, the altar of burnt offering. As this was done on or about the fifteenth year of the reign of this pious king, the renewal must have consisted in some splendid repairs or embellishments, which made it look like a new dedication, or in a reconstruction of a temporary altar, like that of Solomon (2Ch 7:7), for extraordinary sacrifices to be offered on an approaching occasion.
9-15. he gathered all Judah and Benjamin—Not satisfied with these minor measures of purification and improvement, Asa meditated a grand scheme which was to pledge his whole kingdom to complete the work of reformation, and with this in view he waited for a general assembly of the people.
and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh—The population of Asa's kingdom had been vastly increased by the continued influx of strangers, who, prompted by motives either of interest or of piety, sought in his dominions that security and freedom which they could not enjoy amid the complicated troubles which distracted Israel.
and out of Simeon—Although a portion of that tribe, located within the territory of Judah, were already subjects of the southern kingdom, the general body of the Simeonites had joined in forming the northern kingdom of Israel. But many of them now returned of their own accord.
10-14. the third month—when was held the feast of pentecost. On this occasion, it was celebrated at Jerusalem by an extraordinary sacrifice of seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep, the spoil of the Ethiopians being offered. The assembled worshippers entered with great and holy enthusiasm into a national covenant "to seek the Lord their God … with all their heart and with all their soul;" and, at the same time, to execute with rigor the laws which made idolatry punishable with death (2Ch 15:13; De 17:2-5; Heb 10:28). The people testified unbounded satisfaction with this important religious movement, and its moral influence was seen in the promotion of piety, order, and tranquillity throughout the land.
18. the things that his father had dedicated—probably part of the booty obtained by his signal victory over Jeroboam, but which, though dedicated, had hitherto been unrepresented.
and that he himself had dedicated—of the booty taken from the Ethiopians. Both of these were now deposited in the temple as votive offerings to Him whose right hand and holy arm had given them the victory.