those of his time respecting the spiritual world. The scenery employed is prophetic, conceived in the genius of prophetism as it existed at that time. The fact that Elijah, the greatest of all the prophets in the days of Ahab, was not once thought of when the will of the Lord was inquired, merely shews that the writer of this twenty-second chapter was different from the author of xvii.-xix.

IX. ELISHA'S CONDUCT TO THE CHILDREN.-In 2 Kings ii. 23, 24, are these words: "And he [Elisha] went up from thence unto Bethel and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back and looked on them and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she-bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them."

A charge of revenge and cruelty has been brought against Elisha for imprecating destruction on the children. To defend the prophet against it, great pains have been taken by -pologists. We shall content ourselves with a few remarks on

the occurrence.

First. The incident does not appear historical, at least in various particulars. It is wholly improbable that she-bears would come out of the wood to devour children, in answer to the imprecation of a prophet.

Secondly. Supposing the statement to be literally true that Elisha was mocked by children as he went up the street of Bethel, and that he turned round to curse them, it shews a sudden ebullition of passion unwarranted by the provocation. It was both cruel and revengeful for him to curse them. The prophets were but men, and sometimes sinned like others. This is an example of unjustifiable anger if the thing be historical. Why should attempts be made to excuse what is inexcusable?

Thirdly. Most of the attempts framed to justify the passionate conduct of the prophet do violence to the plain words of the passage as well as to morality, and are unworthy of their authors. Thus the term is said to mean grown up persons. In this way children disappear from the narrative, and men take their place. Three things, all incorrect, are asserted in favour of the new version of, viz., that it is applied to Isaac when he was twenty-eight years old; to Joseph when he was thirty; and to Rehoboam when he was forty years of age. There is neither reason nor necessity for altering the sense of the word, which is applied to an infant, to a boy not full grown, and to a youth nearly twenty years old. Whatever their age might have been, it made no difference in regard to the immorality of the impre

cation. If they were men, the curse invoked was an immoral thing; if they were children it was more immoral.

Fourthly. It is said that Elisha cursed them in the name of the Lord. That makes the case far worse than if he had simply cursed them. Strange to say, however, apologists take that to be an indication that he did not act from any petulant temper of his own, but declared in God's name and authority the punishment which He would inflict upon them. This interpretation is a perverted one. Nothing can be farther from the truth than to affirm that Elisha acted in this instance as a minister of the Supreme Governor of the world; and that the denunciation. proceeded in consequence from a divine impulse. The assertion is derogatory to the character of God, who neither inspires nor sanctions the imprecation of punishment pronounced by man against man.

Fifthly. Apologists invent a number of things which are foreign to the narrative, for the purpose of throwing blame on the children; such as, they belonged to an idolatrous town and were therefore wicked idolaters themselves. They insulted the prophet at the instigation of the priests of Baal. They alluded to Elijah's ascension to heaven, which they had heard of, but

did not believe. These assertions are baseless. Wanton children mocked the prophet who was bald at the back of the head. Children are prone to deride those who have any outward defect of body, or an appearance commonly associated with contempt. They surrounded the prophet, who was probably climbing very slowly the street of the hill on which Bethel was built, crying, 'Go up, thou bald head.' The ascension of Elijah is not alluded to. It is the ascent of Elisha up the hill of Bethel.

Sixthly. We reject the idea altogether that "some miracle was necessary to support the character and office" of Elisha. Neither his character nor office was derided. No miracle was necessary to bring a curse to pass. Rather would it have been necessary to thwart it. Nor was a miracle performed. The connexion of the she-bears with the malediction is legendary.

47

THE BOOKS OF CHRONICLES.

I. NAME.-The Hebrew name of the Chronicles is D' literally meaning, words of the days, transactions of the days or annals. In the Hebrew canon they formed one book, which the Greek translators divided into two, with the title παραλειπόμενα, signifying things omitted, because, as the author of the synopsis of sacred Scripture in the works of Athanasius writes, "many things omitted in the Kings are contained in them;" or rather as Movers1 explains the title, supplements, remains of other historical works. The common name chronicles is from the Latin chronicon, which Jerome first used, "Verba dierum, quod significantius chronicon totius divinae historiae possumus appellare, qui liber apud nos Paralipomenon primus et secundus inscribitur."2 The example of the Septuagint was followed by the Vulgate in dividing the work into two; and Daniel Bomberg introduced it into his editions of the Hebrew Bible; so that it is now current in the original text. Little inconvenience has followed from the separation, though we should prefer to have the whole printed together continuously.

II. CONTENTS.-The books of Chronicles may be divided into two parts as follows:

1. Chapters i.-ix. 34.

2. Chapters ix. 35-2 Chron. xxxvi.

The former consists of genealogical lists interspersed with short historical notices; the latter of the history of the kings in Jerusalem from David to Zedekiah. These again may be subdivided thus:

1. (a) Chapters i.-iii., the registers connecting Adam with David; together with the descendants of the latter till Elioenai and his seven sons.

(b) Chapters iv. - vii., genealogical registers of the twelve tribes of Israel.

1 Untersuchungen ueber die biblische Chronik, pp. 95, 96.
2 Prologus galeatus.

(c) Chapters viii.-ix. 34, genealogical lists of the families in Jerusalem.

2. (a) ix. 35-xxix. contains the history of David, introduced by a brief account of Saul's pedigree, and the downfall of his house.

(b) 2 Chron. i.-ix. is occupied with the history of Solomon. (c) 2 Chron. x.-xxxvi. contains a history of the kings in Jerusalem, from Rehoboam to Zedekiah.

More particularly, the contents are these.

The first four verses contain the names of thirteen members of the earliest period of the world's history, according to the fifth chapter of Genesis, from Adam to Noah and his sons. The next nineteen verses contain the seventy races or nations from the tenth chapter of Genesis, with the omission of the short historical and geographical notices which appear in Gen. x. 1, 5, 9-12, 186.-20, 21, 30-32. The posterity of Japhet are fourteen, those of Ham thirty, and those of Shem twenty-six; making up the seventy races sprung from Noah's three sons. The next four verses (i. 24-27) give the names of the ten members of the second period of the world's history—viz., from Shem to Abraham, agreeably to the account in Gen. xi. 10-32. The historical notices connected with these names in Genesis are omitted. The succeeding fourteen verses (i. 29-42) give the seventy descendants of Abraham beginning with the twelve sons of Ishmael, extracted from the corresponding record in Genesis. The remainder of the chapter (i. 43-54) contains a catalogue of the kings that reigned in Edom before the beginning of kingly power in Israel; and also the dukes of Edom. These are from the thirty-sixth chapter of Genesis, with some variations.

The second chapter enumerates the twelve tribes of Israel, and the seventy descendants of Judah. The posterity of one of them, Zerah, is somewhat fully noticed; but more fully the descendants of Hezron Zerah's nephew, because he was progenitor of the house of David. Here Caleb is called the son of Hezron (ver. 18). Chelubai in the ninth verse is only another form of the same name, though Ewald thinks that they are names of different persons. But it is evident that the chroniclewriter identifies Chelubai (9) and Caleb (vers. 18, 42); for both are represented as the son of Hezron and brother of Jerahmeel. Hence it is more probable that one Caleb is referred to in the chapter than two of the same name. The name of the father being Jephunneh in Joshua and Hezron here, need not create much difficulty.

1 Geschichte des Volkes Israel, vol. i. p. 471, second edition.

The third chapter contains a list of David's posterity, with the descendants of his son Solomon in the royal line of Judah; and some of the posterity of Jeconiah the last king but one.

The fourth chapter begins with the patriarch Judah and his sons, or rather families sprung from him (1-23). This list appears to be incomplete. Whether it was compiled from defective materials, or put together carelessly, cannot now be determined; but some parts of it are unintelligible as they stand, for example, the seventeenth and eighteenth verses. In 21-23 the posterity of Shelah are given separately, perhaps as a sort of appendix. Notices in connexion with the names are very few. Of Jabez (9, 10) an anecdote is recorded; and the occupations of a few others are mentioned (14, 21, 23). Simeon and his sons are next given (24-33). Here the notices are more copious; an account of the settlement of the tribe in Canaan being furnished, with a notice of some families distinguished for fecundity; and the conquests made by the tribe at the end of the eighth century. The next tribe whose genealogy is given is that of Reuben, whose four sons are specified in Genesis and Numbers. The race of Reuben is then continued in one line viz. that of Joel, who seems to have lived about the time of David, and of whose posterity we have seven generations, down to Beerah who was prince of the Reubenites at the time of the Assyrian conquest. The notices of the Reubenites conclude with a short account of a successful war with the Hagarites in the time of Saul, by which means they extended their possessions beyond the eastern border of Gilead (v. 1-10). Genealogical accounts of the tribe of Gad follow (v. 11-22). Here the descendants mentioned in Gen. xlvi. 16 do not appear, but a series of twelve names (twelfth and thirteenth verses). The names given were probably taken from two lists composed in the times of Jotham king of Judah and Jeroboam king of Israel respectively (verse 17). To the genealogy of Gad is appended a brief notice of a successful warlike expedition undertaken by the two and a half tribes east of Jordan against the Hagarites. Both the number of men composing the joint force, and the great booty carried off by the victors are specified. Gad, Reuben, Manasseh continued to occupy the territory thus obtained, till they were carried away captive by Tilgath-Pilneser into Assyria. The verses in question (18-22) would have been in a more suitable place after the twenty-fourth, where the half-tribe of Manasseh is spoken of. The twenty-third and twenty-fourth verses relate to the half-tribe of Manasseh; and the last two verses of the chapter to the exile of the two and a half tribes.

The tribe of Levi is more fully described in its genealogy

VOL. II.

4