Chapter I: Front Matter

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OLD TESTAMENT VOLUMES

GENESIS. By Rev. Prof. Marcus Dods, D.D.

EXODUS. By Very Rev. G. A. Chadwick, D.D., Dean of Armagh.

LEVITICUS. By Rev. S. H. Kellogg, D.D.

NUMBERS. By Rev. R. A. Watson, D.D.

DEUTERONOMY. By Rev. Prof. Andrew Harper, B.D.

JOSHUA. By Rev. Prof. W. G. Blaikie, D.D., LL.D.

JUDGES AND RUTH. By Rev. R. A. Watson, D.D.

FIRST SAMUEL. By Rev. Prof. W. G. Blaikie, D.D., LL.D.

SECOND SAMUEL. By same author.

FIRST KINGS. By F. W. Farrar, D.D., Dean of Canterbury.

SECOND KINGS. By same author.

FIRST AND SECOND CHRONICLES. By Rev. Prof. W. H. Bennett.

EZRA, NEHEMIAH, AND ESTHER. By Rev. Prof. W. F. Adeney.

JOB. By Rev. R. A. Watson, D.D.

PSALMS. In 3 vols. Vol. I., Chapters I.-XXXVIII.; Vol. II., Chapters
XXXIX.-LXXXIX.; Vol. III., Chapters XC.-CL. By Rev.
Alexander Maclaren, D.D.

PROVERBS. By Rev. R. F. Horton, D.D.

ECCLESIASTES. By Rev. Samuel Cox, D.D.

SONG OF SOLOMON and LAMENTATIONS. By Rev. Prof. W. F. Adeney.

ISAIAH. In 2 vols. Vol. I., Chapters I.-XXXIX.; Vol. II.,
Chapters XL.-LXVI. By Prof. George Adam Smith, D.D., LL.D.

JEREMIAH. Chapters I.-XX. With a Sketch of his Life and Times. By
Rev. C. J. Ball.

JEREMIAH. Chapters XXI.-LII. By Rev. Prof. W. H. Bennett.

EZEKIEL. By Rev. Prof. John Skinner.

DANIEL. By F. W. FARRAR, D.D., Dean of Canterbury.

THE TWELVE (Minor) PROPHETS. In 2 vols. By Rev. George Adam Smith,
D.D., LL.D.

NEW TESTAMENT VOLUMES

ST. MATTHEW. By Rev. J. Monro Gibson, D.D.

ST. MARK. By Very Rev. G. A. Chadwick, D.D., Dean of Armagh.

ST. LUKE. By Rev. Henry Burton.

GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. In 2 vols. Vol. I., Chapters I.-XI.; Vol. II.,
Chapters XII.-XXI. By Rev. Prof. Marcus Dods, D.D.

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. In 2 vols. By Rev. Prof. G. T. Stokes, D.D.

ROMANS. By Rev. Handley C. G. Moule, D.D.

FIRST CORINTHIANS. By Rev. Prof. Marcus Dods, D.D.

SECOND CORINTHIANS. By Rev. James Denney, D.D.

GALATIANS. By Rev. Prof. G. G. Findlay, D.D.

EPHESIANS. By same author.

PHILIPPIANS. By Rev. Principal Robert Rainy, D.D.

COLOSSIANS and PHILEMON. By Rev. Alexander Maclaren, D.D.

THESSALONIANS. By Rev. James Denney, D.D.

PASTORAL EPISTLES. By Rev. A. Plummer, D.D.

HEBREWS. By Rev. Principal T. C. Edwards, D.D.

ST. JAMES and ST. JUDE. By Rev. A. Plummer, D.D.

ST. PETER. By Rev. Prof. J. Rawson Lumby, D.D.

EPISTLES OF ST. JOHN. By Rt. Rev. W. Alexander, Lord Bishop of Derry.

REVELATION. By Prof. W. Milligan, D.D.

INDEX VOLUME TO ENTIRE SERIES.

_New York_: HODDER & STOUGHTON, _Publishers_

THE
SECOND BOOK OF KINGS

BY
F. W. Farrar, D.D., F.R.S.

LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; ARCHDEACON OF
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CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAGE

AHAZIAH BEN-AHAB OF ISRAEL (B.C. 855-854) 3

A weak, shadowy, and faithless king--1. Relations between Judah and
Israel--2. Alliance with Jehoshaphat--3. Revolt of Moab--Mesha and
the Moabite Stone--4. The fall from the lattice--Baal-Zebub--Elijah
calling down fire from heaven--How are we to judge respecting the
Elijah-spirit?--Variations of moral standard.

CHAPTER II

THE ASCENSION OF ELIJAH 19

Uncertain date--The journey to Gilgal; to Bethel; to Jericho; to
the Jordan--The double portion--Chariot and horses of fire--Elisha
recrosses the Jordan--The young prophets and their
search--Grandeur of Elijah.

CHAPTER III

ELISHA 25

Cycle of supernatural stories--Elisha and Elijah--The cure of the
unwholesome fountain--"Go up, thou bald-head"--The children and
the bears.

CHAPTER IV

THE INVASION OF MOAB 29

Death of Ahaziah--Jehoram Ben-Ahab of Israel--Good
beginnings--Attempts to recover Moab--Alliance with Judah and
Edom--The invasion--An army perishing of
thirst--Elisha--Music--Trenches in the wâdy--Error of the
Moabites--Their disastrous rout--Devastation of the
country--Mesha propitiates Chemosh--"Great wrath against
Israel"--The invading army retreats.

CHAPTER V

ELISHA'S MIRACLES 40

Their chronological vagueness--Difference between Elisha and
Elijah--Contrasts and resemblances--Social life in Israel--1. The
widow and the oil--2. The lady of Shunem--Her hospitality--Her
reward--3. The boy's death--Her distress--The resuscitation--4.
Death in the pot--5. The multiplied first-fruits.

CHAPTER VI

THE STORY OF NAAMAN 50

The little maid--The leper--Letter of Benhadad to Jehoram--His
indignation--Elisha's message--Naaman's disappointment and
anger--His servants--His healing--His gratitude--Bowing in the
house of Rimmon--Mean cupidity of Gehazi--Stricken with
leprosy--The axe-head.

CHAPTER VII

ELISHA AND THE SYRIANS 66

Syrian marauders--They are baffled--Anger of Benhadad--The vision
at Dothan--Meaning of the promises--How fulfilled to God's saints
on earth--Some are delivered, some are not--Elisha misleads the
Syrians--His generosity to them--Its effects--A fresh Syrian
invasion.

CHAPTER VIII

THE FAMINE AND THE SIEGE 76

Horrible straits of the besieged Samaritans--Stress of famine--The
King of Israel--The miserable women--Sackcloth under the
purple--The king's fury and despair--He threatens Elisha--The
messenger--The king upbraids him--Prophecy of sudden plenty--The
disbelieving lord--The extramural lepers--The Syrian camp--The
king's misgivings--The lord killed in the rush of the people.

CHAPTER IX

THE SHUNAMMITE AND HAZAEL 87

The lady of Shunem leaves her estate--Her return--Gehazi talks with
the king--Entrance of the Shunammite--Her estates restored--Elisha
visits Damascus--A royal present--Benhadad's illness--Hazael--The
dark prophecy--Unexplained death of Benhadad--Hazael's
usurpation--Real meaning of Elisha's words to Hazael.

CHAPTER X

TWO SONS OF JEHOSHAPHAT 99

Jehoram (B.C. 851-843)--Ahaziah (B.C. 843-842)--Jehoram
ben-Jehoshaphat of Judah--Perplexing uncertainty of minute
chronological details--The blight of the Jezebel-alliance--The
husband of Athaliah--His apostasies--Revolt of Edom--Narrow escape
of Jehoram--Revolt of Libnah--Jehoram's murder by his
brethren--Philistine invasion--Incurable disease--Ahaziah
ben-Jehoram--Joins his uncle (Jehoram ben-Ahab) in the campaign
against Ramoth-Gilead--Visits him at Jezreel--Shot down by Jehu.

CHAPTER XI

THE REVOLT OF JEHU (B.C. 842) 106

Misery of Jehoram's reign--Thwarted invasion of Moab--Aggression
of Benhadad--At Ramoth-Gilead--The young prophet--The two kings
absent from the camp--The dangerous commission--The assembled
captains--Jehu secretly anointed--His accession enthusiastically
welcomed by the army--His sudden enthronement--His swift
resolution--The watchman at Jezreel--The two horsemen--The two
kings--Their murder--Ferocity of Jehu--Elijah's
prophecy--Jezebel--She is hurled down--Jehu drives over her
body--The curse fulfilled.

CHAPTER XII

JEHU ESTABLISHED ON THE THRONE (B.C. 842-814) 125

His politic subtlety--The murder of the seventy princes--The
ghastly heaps--Hypocritic ferocity.

CHAPTER XIII

FRESH MURDERS--THE EXTIRPATION OF BAAL-WORSHIP (B.C. 842) 131

Wading through blood to a throne--The ride to Samaria--The brethren
of Ahaziah of Judah--The corpse-choked tank of the shepherds--The
Bedawy ascetic--The scene of slaughter in the temple of Baal--Did
Elisha approve of these atrocities?--Prophetic judgment on
Jehu--Ravages of Hazael--Jehu's anguish--He pays tribute to Assyria.

CHAPTER XIV

ATHALIAH (B.C. 842-836)--JOASH OF JUDAH (B.C. 836-796) 146

The murderess-daughter of Jezebel--Fierce ambition--Jehosheba--The
rescued child--Reared in the Temple--The high priest's plot--The
coronation of the boy-king--Athaliah enters the Temple--Her
murder--The fate of Baal's high priest--Proposed restoration of
the Temple--Joash calls to task the defaulting priests--Death of
Jehoiada--Defection of Joash--Murder of Zechariah--Bad record of
the line of Jewish priests--Hazael attacks Judah--Defeat of Joash
and plunder of Jerusalem--Murder of Joash--Names of the murderers.

CHAPTER XV

AMAZIAH OF JUDAH (B.C. 796-783[?]) 167

The House of David--Amaziah brings to justice the murderers of his
father, but spares their children--Grounds for this--Different
views taken of him by the historian and the chronicler--Splendid
victory of Amaziah in the Valley of Salt--Expansion of the story
in the Chronicles--His defiance of Joash--His defeat and murder.

CHAPTER XVI

THE DYNASTY OF JEHU--JEHOAHAZ (B.C. 814-797)--JOASH
(B.C. 797-781) 175

Israel at its nadir--Calf-worship--Oppression of
Hazael--Disappearance of Elisha--Repentance of Jehoahaz--Joash of
Israel visits the death-bed of Elisha--"The arrow of the Lord's
deliverance"--Three victories over the Syrians--Death of Elisha,
and posthumous marvels--Joash and Amaziah--Contemptuous answer to
the King of Judah--Crushing defeat of Judah.

CHAPTER XVII

THE DYNASTY OF JEHU (CONTINUED)--JEROBOAM II. (B.C. 781-740) 187

Jeroboam II. the greatest of the kings of Israel--His conquests
and wide dominion--A dying gleam of prosperity--Cause of his
success--Relations with Assyria--Dawn of written prophecy--Jonah.

CHAPTER XVIII

AMOS AND HOSEA--ZACHARIAH BEN-JEROBOAM (B.C. 740) 193

Amos describes the condition of Israel--Growth of usury and
vice--Humble origin of Amos--His burdens--Degenerations of the
"calf-worship"--Uncompromising denunciation--Collision of Amos
with Amaziah the high priest at Bethel--His expulsion from
Bethel--The curse denounced--His justification of his
mission--Hosea the saddest of the prophets--His pictures of
Ephraim--Jeroboam II.--His death--His son Zachariah--His
desertion and shameful end.

CHAPTER XIX

UZZIAH OF JUDAH (B.C. 783[?]-737)--JOTHAM (B.C. 737-735) 209

Wane of Assyria--Uzziah a wise and good king--His other name
Azariah--Expansion of the story of his conquests in the
Chronicles--Training of his army--Defeated by the Assyrians
(?)--Stricken with leprosy--The story--Jotham acts as his public
representative--Diminished power of Judah under Jotham--Beginning
of Isaiah's prophecies--Death of Jotham.

CHAPTER XX

THE AGONY OF THE NORTHERN KINGDOM--SHALLUM, MENAHEM, PEKAHIAH,
PEKAH (B.C. 740-734) 217

Shallum, an usurping murderer--Rapid disappearance of
kings--Distracted epoch--The prophet Zechariah and the three
shepherds--Zechariah's prophecies--The cruel shepherd,
Menahem--His savage deeds--Portentous appearance of the Assyrians
in Israel--Menahem pays tribute--Tiglath-Pileser--Fulfilment of
Hosea's prophecy--Pekahiah--His murder--Pekah--His alliance with
Rezin against Judah--Ahaz appeals to Assyria--Defeat and death of
Rezin--Fulfilment of prophecy of Amos--Beginning of the captivity
of the Ten Tribes--Tiglath-Pileser's successors--Murder of Pekah
by Hoshea--Horrible state of Israel as described by Isaiah.

CHAPTER XXI

KING HOSHEA AND THE FALL OF THE NORTHERN KINGDOM (B.C.
734-725) 235

The name Hoshea--The king and the prophet--Occasional gleams of hope
and promise--A humiliating reign--Death of Tiglath-Pileser--Hoshea
revolts to Sabaco of Egypt--Seized by Shalmaneser--Samaria
besieged--Terrible state of the city--Sabaco renders no
help--Usurpation of Sargon--Capture of the city--Greatness of
Sargon--Fall of the Northern Kingdom--Blighted destiny--God's
mercy--"God, and not man"--Despoliation of the tribes--Moral of the
story--Assyria and Egypt--The strength and weakness of a
nation--Machiavelli--Mixture of alien emigrants--Their worship--The
lions--Strange syncretism--The Jews and the Samaritans.

CHAPTER XXII

THE REIGN OF AHAZ (B.C. 735-715) 260

The chronology--A distracted kingdom--Dark pictures from
Isaiah--No sign of repentance--Grapes and wild grapes.

CHAPTER XXIII

ISAIAH AND AHAZ 265

Isaiah--Rezin and Pekah--Ahaz meets Isaiah--He receives a promise of
deliverance--He refuses a sign--The sign given him--Immanuel--Birth
of Messianic prophecy--Maher-shalal-hash-baz--The promised
Deliverer.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE APOSTASIES OF AHAZ 273

Moloch-worship--Sacrifice of children--Ahaz appeals to Assyria for
help--Ruin of Damascus and death of Rezin--Ahaz does homage to
Tiglath-Pileser at Damascus--Records of Tiglath-Pileser--The new
altar--Complaisance of the priest Urijah--Unpopularity of
Ahaz--Further misgivings--His death.

CHAPTER XXV

HEZEKIAH (B.C. 715-686) 287

Dates--Importance of the reign--Hezekiah's age--His character--His
reformation--Partial suppression of the _bamoth_--Removal of the
_matstseboth_ and _Asherim_--Destruction of the brazen
serpent--Trust in Jehovah--Psalm xlvi.--Chastisement of the
Philistines--Three parties in Jerusalem--1. The Assyrian party--2.
The Egyptian party--3. The national party--Its attitude to the
others--Micah--Mockery of Egypt--Anger and insults of the priests
against Isaiah--Confidence of Isaiah--Waverings of Hezekiah.

CHAPTER XXVI

HEZEKIAH'S SICKNESS--THE BABYLONIAN EMBASSY 305

The story of Hezekiah's illness misplaced--At the point of
death--Isaiah's message--The king's agony of mind--The prayer--The
reprieve--The sun-dial of Ahaz--The king's gratitude and
thanksgiving--Merodach-Baladan--Rising power of Babylon--Object of
the embassy--The king's action--The prophet's reproof--The king's
humble submission.

CHAPTER XXVII

HEZEKIAH AND ASSYRIA (B.C. 701) 319

Greatness of Sargon--His campaigns--Defeat of Egypt at the battle
of Raphia--Ashdod--Defeat of Merodach-Baladan--Grandeur of
Sennacherib--His invasion of Judæa--Earlier collisions--His
campaigns--1. Against Babylon--2. Against Elam--3. Against the
Hittites and Philistines--Defeat of the Ethiopian Tirhakah at
Altaqu--Heavy mulct imposed on Hezekiah--Siege of
Lachish--Sennacherib breaks his compact--Distress of Jerusalem.

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE GREAT DELIVERANCE (B.C. 701) 331

Embassy of the Turtan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh--Misery and
licence in the city--The conference--Oration of the Rabshakeh--Its
effect on the king's ministers and on the people--Taunting insults
of the Rabshakeh--Faithfulness and self-control of the
people--Heroic faith of Isaiah--Failure of the
embassy--Sennacherib's threatening letter--Hezekiah's
prayer--Isaiah promises deliverance in the name of Jehovah--The
sign--The angel of death--Scene of the catastrophe--The Egyptian
tradition of Sethos and the mice--Death and burial of
Hezekiah--The campaign as recorded on the Assyrian monuments--The
triumph of indomitable faith--Grandeur of Isaiah--Wane of
Assyria--Beautiful tolerance of Isaiah.