Глава 28

Ahaz, 12th king of Judah 1–4. Duration and wickedness of the reign. 5–8. The defeat of the Jews at Ahaz by the Syrians and Israelites, with the capture of many prisoners. 9–15. Release of captives according to the word of the prophet Oded. 16–21. The defeat of the Jews by the Edomites and Philistines, the painful help from the Assyrian king. 22–27. Ahaz's persistence in idolatry and his inglorious death. 2 Chronicles 28:1. Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem for sixteen years; and he did not do that which was right in the sight of the Lord, as David his father did: 2 Chronicles 28:2. he followed the paths of the kings of Israel, and even made cast statues of Baals; 2 Chronicles 28:3. and he burned incense in the valley of the children of Hinnom, and caused his sons to pass through the fire, imitating the abominations of the nations which the LORD drove out before the children of Israel; 2 Chronicles 28:4. and he offered sacrifices and incense on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. Wed. (2 Kings 16:2-4), The Expository Bible, vol. II, p. 529. In this section between 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles there is an almost literal similarity, with a few differences that do not change the essence of the matter. Thus, in the accepted text of LXX (2 Chronicles 28:1), the years of Ahaz upon accession to the throne are defined as 25 years: ἔικοσι καὶ πέντε ἐτῶν (in codes II, 19, 52, 60, 64, 93, 108, 119, 158, 236, 243 Golmes has: ἔικοσι ἐτῶν ). And in Codex 539 of Russia there are 25 Jewish-Masoretic texts. Due to the fact that this last figure eliminates the chronological inconsistency in accepting the date of 20 years in relation to the age of Hezekiah at his accession to the throne (2 Kings 18:2; 2 Chronicles 29:1), (see “Explanatory Bible” vol. II, p. 529), it should be considered original. By the name of Baals (v. 2) here we probably mean pagan deities in general, but more specifically, judging by the cast statues, of course, maybe the service of Astarte (Prof. Gulyaev, “Historical Books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament,” p. 562; cf. “Explanatory Bible,” vol. II, pp. 418 and 436). About the valley of the sons of Hinnom and about the fiery cult of Moloch that took place here, see comments to (2 Kings 16:3) and to (2 Kings 23:10), "Explanatory Bible", vol. II, p. 529 and 570–571. 2 Chronicles 28:5. And the Lord God delivered him into the hand of the king of the Syrians, and they smote him and took from him many captives and carried them to Damascus. He was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, and he caused a great defeat to him. 2 Chronicles 28:6. And Pekah the son of Remaliah [king of Israel] slew an hundred and twenty thousand Jews in one day, a warlike people, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. 2 Chronicles 28:7. Zichri, a strongman from Ephraim, killed Maaseiah, the king's son, and Azrikam, who was in charge of the palace, and Elkanah, the second king. 2 Chronicles 28:8. And the children of Israel took captive from their brothers the Jews two hundred thousand wives, sons and daughters; They also plundered a great deal of spoil from them, and sent the spoil to Samaria. 2 Chronicles 28:9. There was a prophet of the Lord there, his name was Oded. He went out in front of the army going to Samaria and said to them: Behold, the Lord God of your fathers, in wrath against the Jews, delivered them into your hand, and you beat them with such fury that reached to heaven. 2 Chronicles 28:10. And now you are thinking of enslaving the sons of Judah and Jerusalem as male and female servants for yourself. Are you not guilty before the Lord your God? 2 Chronicles 28:11. So listen to me and bring back the captives whom you have taken from among your brothers, for the fire of the wrath of the Lord is upon you. 2 Chronicles 28:12. And some of the leaders of the children of Ephraim stood up: Azariah the son of Jehohanan, Berehiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Hezekiah the son of Shallum, and Amasah the son of Hadlai, against those who were coming from the war, 2 Chronicles 28:13. and they said to them, “Do not bring in the captives here, for it would be a sin for us before the Lord.” Do you really think to add to our sins and to our crimes? Great is our guilt, and the fire of [the Lord's] wrath is upon Israel. 2 Chronicles 28:14. And they left the armed captives and spoils with the captains and the whole assembly. 2 Chronicles 28:15. And the men mentioned by name arose and took the captives, and clothed all the naked of them from the spoil, and clothed them, and put shoes on them, and fed them, and gave them drink, and anointed them with oil, and put all the weak among them on donkeys, and sent them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brothers, and returned to Samaria. Here there is the difference from (2 Kings 16:5-6), that, then, according to the 4th book of Kings, as well as according to (Isa.7:1), the allies: Rezin of Syria and Pekah of Israel besieged Jerusalem with troops, which they could not take, after which the Syrian king moved to Idumea and captured Elath, according to 2 Chronicles Ahaz met his allies not in Jerusalem, but somewhere outside it, even before the siege Jerusalem: there he was defeated by each of his allies, there the Israelis captured 200,000 Jewish women and children, after they were released at the insistence of the prophet Oded. But it goes without saying that 2 Chronicles here does not in the least contradict 4 Kings, but only complements the story of 2 Kings (Is. 7:1) by introducing the moment preceding the siege of Jerusalem: it is quite natural that Ahaz, without waiting for the arrival of his allies to Jerusalem, tried to repel the Syrian army and the Israeli army somewhere on the border of Judea, but, having been defeated by each army, then retreated to Jerusalem and locked himself in it. The enormous numbers of Jews killed (120,000) and captured (200,000) (v. 6 and 8), without a doubt, can cause bewilderment and suggest that copyists have damaged the digital readings of the biblical text. The Hebrew Masoretic text, however, has no variants in vv. 6 and 8, but the Greek LXX has several of them, so in verse 6, codices 74, 106, 120, 134, 236, 19, 60, Golmes has: ἐίκοσι χιλιάδες - only 20,000, which seems more natural than that indicated in accepted text number. As for the fact of the magnanimous mercy of captive Jewish women and children on the part of the Israelites, transmitted only by 2 Chronicles, at the prompting and admonitions of the prophet Oded (vv. 9–15), this fact does not represent anything incredible: the struggle between the two Jewish kingdoms, which began shortly after the collapse of the formerly united Jewish kingdom, had much greater dynastic or governmental motives: the desire of the kings of Judah (e.g., Abijah, Amaziah (2 Kings 14:8–13; 2 Chronicles 13:3–19, 25:17–22), cf. The Expository Bible, vol. II, p. 522) subjugate the fallen northern Jewish kingdom, rather than the tribal enmity of the two kingdoms; the latter is unlikely due to the natural kinship of the tribes of Israel and Judah; therefore, fraternal feelings, especially under the influence of prophetic admonitions, could easily awaken in the hearts of the victorious Israelis towards the Jewish captives. And already the fact that the sacred writer Prince. Chronicles, which usually omits everything relating to the kingdom of Israel, here deliberately cites a fact that took place within the latter, speaking for the historical reliability of the fact. The Israelis took the captives with the greatest care and consideration even to remote points of their homeland, for example to Jericho (v. 15, On the situation of Jericho, see commentary on (1 Kings 16:34); The Expository Bible, vol. II, pp. 446–447 and note 1). 2 Chronicles 28:16. At that time King Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria so that they would help him, 2 Chronicles 28:17. for the Edomites still came and killed many in Judea and took them captive; 2 Chronicles 28:18. and the Philistines scattered throughout the cities of the low country and the south of Judah, and took Bethshemesh and Aijalon, and Gederoth and Soho and its towns, and Timnah and its towns, and Gimzo and its towns, and settled there. 2 Chronicles 28:19. Thus the Lord humiliated Judah because of Ahaz, the king of Judah, because he corrupted Judah and sinned gravely before the Lord. 2 Chronicles 28:20. And Tiglathellaser king of Assyria came to him, but was a burden to him, instead of helping him, 2 Chronicles 28:21. because Ahaz took treasures from the house of the Lord and the king's house and from the princes and gave them to the king of Assyria, but not to help himself. Only 2 Chronicles also definitely speaks about the raids on Judea by the Edomites and Philistines under Ahaz. But the news about the Edomites and their actions threatening Judea is confirmed in the message (2 Kings 16:6): about the taking of the Edomite Elath from Judea under Ahaz by the king of Syria; an indication of the hostile and defiant behavior of the Philistines under Ahaz is found in the prophet Isaiah (Is. 14:28–29). Mentioned in Art. 18 The cities occupied by the Philistines were all located in the tribe of Judah, in its southwestern part, on the border with the land of the Philistines. Of these, for the first time here and only once in the Bible, “Gimzo” is mentioned, LXX: Γαμζώ, (also Γαμεζαὶ, Γαμζαί), Vulgata: Gamzo, slav.: “Gamzon” - a city east of Lydda is now Gimzu (Robinson, Palastina, III, 271). "Bethshemesh" - about the position of this priestly city, see comments to (Josh. 15:10; 1 Kings 6:9; 1 Kings 4:9) in the "Explanatory Bible", vol. II, p. 92, 239–240, 379–380. On the position of the Levitical city of “Aijalon” (in the tribe of Dan), see comments to (Joshua 10:12,19:42), “Explanatory Bible”, vol. II, p. 117 and 63–64. "Gederof" or Gedera - now the village of Qatra or Gadra, cf. (1 Mac.15:39,16:9) and comments on (Josh. 15:36), The Expository Bible, vol. II, p. 96; Wed Guerin, Iudee II, p. 35 ff. "Socho" - there were two cities of this name, both in the tribe of Judah: one in the plain (Joshua 15:35); Wed (1 Kings 4:10; 2 Chronicles 11:7), another in the mountains of Judah (Joshua 15:48), see The Expository Bible, vol. II, p. 96 and 97. For the position of “Timnah” or Timna (Onomasticon, 292) in the mountainous part of the tribe of Judah, see comments to (Gen. 38:12–14) (“Explanatory Bible,” vol. I, p. 215); this is the present Tibneh, 4 hours west of Bethlehem. Another Timna (Josh. 15:10) according to the original division was in the tribe of Dan (Josh. 19:43), but for the most part was in the hands of the Philistines ((Judg. 14:1,2,5); see comments about it in the “Explanatory Bible”, vol. II, pp. 92 and 189); this Timna or Tamna is probably meant in the passage in question in 2 Chronicles. In addition, a similar name is known: Thomnath-Sarai ((Joshua 19:50); Onomasticon, 500), where Joshua was buried (Joshua 24:30–31) - a city on Mount Ephraim. A thorough study of the situation of this last city is given by prof. A.A. Olesnitsky, Holy Land, vol. II, p. 307–371 (cf. The Interpretive Bible, vol. II, pp. 120–121). About the cowardly embassy of Ahaz to the king of Assyria (in the accepted Hebrew text, article 16 is “to the kings” - al malhe, but in code 188 in Kennicott, in the LXX, Vulgate, Slavic text there is a singular number: “to the king of Assyria”), i.e. Tiglath-Pilezer for help against the king of Israel and about the rich gifts with which Ahaz bought this help from the Assyrian king. The verses (2 Chronicles 28:16,21) speak completely in agreement with (2 Kings 16:7–8) (see comments on the “Explanatory Bible,” vol. II, pp. 530–531). At the same time (2 Chronicles 28:20) adds that the help of the Assyrian king was rather a burden to Ahaz - as the prophet Isaiah warned the king of Judah about this (Isaiah 7:17,8:7), and as this is actually confirmed (2 Kings 15:29) by the evidence of the invasion of Tiglath-Pilezer into the borders of the kingdom of Israel and several cities taken away, and he did not distinguish between cities of both the Jewish kingdoms (cf. The Explanatory Bible, vol. II, pp. 527–528). 2 Chronicles 28:22. And in his time of need, he continued to act lawlessly before the Lord; he is King Ahaz. 2 Chronicles 28:23. And he offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, thinking that they had struck him, and said: The gods of the kings of Syria help them; I will sacrifice to them, and they will help me. But they were for the downfall of him and all of Israel. 2 Chronicles 28:24. And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and broke in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut the doors of the house of the Lord, and built altars for himself in all the corners of Jerusalem, 2 Chronicles 28:25. and throughout all the cities of Judah he built high places for burning incense to other gods, and provoked the Lord God of his fathers to anger. The characterization here of the wickedness of Axaz and his idolatry and persecution of the religion of Jehovah is more condensed than in (2 Kings 16:10–18) (see The Explanatory Bible, vol. II, pp. 531–535). The church closed by Ahaz (v. 24) remained in this position until the death of Ahaz, and only Hezekiah, upon his accession to the kingdom, opened the doors of the church (2 Chron. 29:3). 2 Chronicles 28:26. His other deeds and all his actions, first and last, are described in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 2 Chronicles 28:27. And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of Jerusalem, but they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead. Wed. (2 Kings 16:19–20). For the “book of the kings of Judah and Israel,” see the comments on (2 Chronicles 27:7). The stories of the next, 13th king of Judah, Hezekiah, are devoted to four chapters of 2 Chronicles (2 Chronicles 29–32) inclusive, corresponding to (2 Kings 18–20). Only in a few places are these parallel narratives word for word similar; For the most part, 2 Chronicles touches very briefly on what 2 Kings talks about in detail and sets out in great detail what 2 Kings contains only a simple indication or brief mention of. In general, (2 Chronicles 29–32), in contrast to chapters (2 Kings 18–20) and (Is. 36–39) (also related to the history of the reign of Hezekiah), examines and expounds the reign of Hezekiah not so much from the point of view of the state-theocratic and religious-pragmatic, like 4 Kings and the book of the prophet Isaiah, but from the outside church and liturgical activities and liturgical reforms of King Hezekiah (cf. "Explanatory Bible", vol. II, p. 542). You might be interested in: