Verse 5.-"every man from his acquaintance." —άvng άTO INS Tgασews autov, LXX. For 175, they

seem to have read 1, "every man from his sale."

,ממכרו seem

By the sale, I understand the bargain made for the redemption of a vow. Each priest was to have the custody of the money arising from the bargains which he made.

Verse 7.-"no more money of your acquaintance;"" no more money from your sales," LXX.

See verse 5.

of

Verse 13. "Howbeit there was not made the money that was brought into the house of the Lord." By the money brought into the house of the Lord, I understand what was collected in the box within the temple. The whole of this was expended on the repairs, and part of the poll-tax collected in the box without the gate. But of this there was a remainder, which was laid out upon the furniture of the sanctuary. See 2 Chron. xxiv, 14.

Verse 15. " for they dealt faithfully;" rather, "for they dealt upon honour."

Verse 18." and sent it to Hazael king of Syria, and he went away from Jerusalem." This therefore was an invasion of Hazael, earlier than that related

in 2 Chron. xxiv, in which the princes were slain, a great army was conquered, and the city pillaged.

Verse 21. -" in the city of David," but not in the royal sepulchre. See 2 Chron. xxiv, 25.

CHAP. xiii, 1. "In the three and twentieth year of Joash," &c. Hence it appears that Jehu reigned twenty-eight years complete, and died in his twentyninth. For the seventh of Jehu was the first of Joash. See chap. xii, 1; and compare chap. xi, 3, 4, and 2 Chron. xxii, 12, and chap. xxiii, 1. Therefore the twenty-third of Joash was the twenty-ninth of Jehu.

Verses 5-7. The text here has suffered some disarrangement, for the 7th verse connects not at all with the 6th. It were better that they stood in this order, 7, 5, 6. But what I should like best of all would be, that these verses should be removed to another part of the chapter; the 7th inserted between 22 and 23, and the 5th and 6th between 24 and 25.

Verse 10. "In the thirty and seventh"- Read, with the Aldine LXX, "thirty and ninth." Compare chap. xiii, 1, and xii, 1, and xiv, 1.

CHAP. XIV, 3. " yet not like David his father." See 2 Chron. xxv, 14-16.

Verse 10." thine heart hath lifted thee up;

glory of this"- For 3, read, as in the parallel place, 2 Chron. xx, 19, 77; “thine heart hath lifted thee up to boast; but tarry at home," &c. CHAP. XV, 19. "a thousand talents of silver;" i. e. at the lowest estimation, £47,145 .. 16 .. 8.

Verse 30." in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah." Jotham the son of Uzziah did not reign twenty years. And what historian ever reckoned by the years of a deceased prince, unless some remarkable event of his reign gave rise to a new era? It appears, too, that Hosea did not begin his reign before the twelfth, or at the earliest the tenth, of Ahaz, (see chap. xvii, 1), which was the twentyseventh, or twenty-sixth, from the beginning of Jotham. It seems certain, therefore, that this verse has suffered some great corruption. Perhaps it might be "smote him and slew him in the twentieth year;" i. e. in the twentieth year of Pekah's own reign. This is the most natural emendation of this verse; rejecting the words "and reigned in his stead" as the interpolation of some careless transcriber, or injudicious critic, and the words "of Jotham the son of Uzziah” as introduced either by accident from the 32d verse, or inconsiderately inserted, as a necessary exposition of the twentieth year. If this be

the true emendation of this verse, Hoshea slew Pekah in the twentieth year of Pekah's reign, which was the fourth or fifth of Ahaz king of Judah, but did not establish himself in the kingdom in less than seven or eight years after Pekah's death.

One MS. of Dr Kennicott's omits the words

in the twentieth year » בשנת עשרים ליותם בן עוזיה

of Jotham the son of Uzziah."

CHAP. xvi, 2. “Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years"

If Ahaz was twenty when he began to reign, and reigned only sixteen years, he was but thirty-six when he died. But we read, chap. xviii, 2, and 2 Chron. xxix, 1, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz was twenty-five years old when he began to reign. Now Hezekiah seems to have succeeded immediately upon his father's death. If these numbers therefore are correct, Hezekiah must have been born in the twelfth year of his father's age, which is highly improbable. It is probable that Ahaz was older than thirty-six, if his son was twenty-five at his death. But dying in the sixteenth year of his reign, he must have been more than twenty when he began to reign, if he died more than thirty-six. For twenty years therefore, read, in this place, "twenty and five," Сс

VOL. I.

which is the reading of the Vatican LXX in the parallel place, 2 Chron, xxviii, 1.

Verse 3. -" made his son to pass through the fire." Compare 2 Chron. xxviii, 3.

CHAP. Xvii, 9. "And the children of Israel did secretly," &c. 5. I think the passage might be thus rendered: "And the children of Israel put on things [wrapt themselves up in things, made a merit of things] which were not right towards Jehovah." They made a merit of these things, inasmuch as they were done under the pretence of religion, and of many, even of their idolatrous rites, Jehovah, in the first institution, was the ultimate object; as of the worship of the calves at Dan and Bethel.

Verse 23. There seems to have been a transposition of the parts of this chapter. From the 7th verse to the 23d inclusive, the corrupt manners of the people of Israel are described. From the 24th to the 33d inclusive, the new inhabitants, placed by the king of Assyria in Samaria, are the whole subject of the narrative. At the 34th, the narrative returns abruptly to the manners of the Israelites, which are described such as they were after the captivity. In the 41st verse the subject of the new inhabitants is as abruptly resumed. I am persuaded that the