Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 30:10
So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them.
10. passed ] LXX. (more literal).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ephraim and Manasseh are mentioned as the two tribes nearest to Judah, Zebulun as one of the furthest off.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
They laughed, i.e. the generality of the ten tribes; who by long want of meat had now lost all their appetite to Gods ordinances, and from a neglect were now fallen into a contempt and derision of them; for which they paid dear. For about six years after their refusal of this offer of grace they were all carried captive, 2Ki 18:1,10.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10-12. the posts passed from city tocityIt is not surprising that after so long a discontinuanceof the sacred festival, this attempt to revive it should, in somequarters, have excited ridicule and opposition. Accordingly, amongthe tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Zebulun, Hezekiah’s messengersmet with open insults and ill usage. Many, however, in these verydistricts, as well as throughout the kingdom of the ten tribes,generally complied with the invitation; while, in the kingdom ofJudah, there was one unanimous feeling of high expectation and piousdelight. The concourse that repaired to Jerusalem on the occasion wasvery great, and the occasion was ever after regarded as one of thegreatest passovers that had ever been celebrated.
2Ch30:13-27. THE ASSEMBLYDESTROYS THE ALTARSOF IDOLATRY.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
So the posts passed from city to city, through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even unto Zebulun,…. Through all the ten tribes, not being hindered or forbid by Hoshea king of Israel, who was one of the best of their kings, and was very willing his people should go and worship at Jerusalem if they thought fit; so that they had no excuse to make, as before, that they were forbid by their king going thither; and which it is very probable Hezekiah knew, and therefore took the freedom to send posts throughout his kingdom:
but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them; the messengers that brought the letters, the contents of which they despised, and paid no regard to; this was the behaviour of many, and probably of the greater part, but not of all, as follows.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The couriers went about from city to city in the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, even unto Zebulun; but the people laughed to scorn and mocked at the summons to return, and the invitation to the passover festival. The words “from city to city” are not inconsistent with the view that the kingdom of Israel had already been ruined. The Assyrians had not blotted out all the cities from the face of the land, nor carried away every one of the inhabitants to the last man, but had been satisfied with the capture of the fortresses and their partial or complete demolition, and carried only the flower of the inhabitants away. No doubt also many had saved themselves from deportation by flight to inaccessible places, who then settled again and built in the cities and villages which had not been completely destroyed, or perhaps had been completely spared, after the enemy had withdrawn. From the statement, moreover, that the couriers passed through the land of Ephraim and Manasseh unto Zebulun, no proof can be derived that the messengers did not touch upon the domain of the tribes led away captive by Tiglath-pileser (Naphtali and the trans-Jordanic land), but only visited those districts of the country which formed the kingdom of Israel as it continued to exist after Tiglath-pileser. If that were so, it would follow that the kingdom had not then been destroyed. But the enumeration is not complete, as is manifest from the fact that, according to 2Ch 30:11 and 2Ch 30:18, men of the tribes of Asher and Issachar came to Jerusalem in compliance with the invitation; and the domain of Asher extended to the northern frontier of Canaan. If we further take it into consideration, that, according to the resolution of the king and his princes, all Israel, from Beersheba on the southern frontier to Dan on the northern, were to be invited, it is not to be doubted that the couriers went through the whole land.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(10) So the posts passed.And the couriers were passing.
Even unto Zebulun.This tribe, which lay on the southern border of Naphtali, had suffered from Tiglath-pilesers invasion (Isa. 9:1). The messengers did not actually travel northward so far as Dan (2Ch. 30:5). This mention of Zebulun as the limit of their journey lends an air of historical truth to the account.
Laughed them to scorn.Literally, and they were laughing at them (hishq: here only), and making mock of them (Psa. 22:7). The verbs imply what the Israelites did continually. Vulg., cursores pergebant . . . illis irridentibus et subsannantibus eos.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. They laughed them to scorn They had no mind for reunion, and years of alienation and false worship had prepared them to treat with derision Hezekiah’s proposition.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
How awful a state was Israel now in! if the Reader makes a calculation of time he will discover that this happened not above two or three years, at the most, before the captivity of Israel by the king of Assyria. Hence their hearts were infatuated and blinded to their ruin. It is refreshing, however, amidst this general depravity, to observe that there were some whose hearts were inclined to seek the Lord. Hosea was king of Israel at this time; but it doth not appear that he either accepted the king of Judah’s invitation himself to go to Jerusalem at this pass over, or that he forbade any of his subjects from going.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Ch 30:10 So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them.
Ver. 10. But they laughed them to scorn. ] So profane and superstitious they were; so ready ripe for rain. It is a sad foretoken of a common calamity, when religion is become a matter, not of form only, but of scorn. Josephus saith that these Israelites thus invited slew both the messengers, and those prophets also that exhorted them to go up.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Ch 30:10-12
2Ch 30:10-12
SOME SPURN THE KING’S INVITATION; BUT MANY ACCEPTED
“So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them. Nevertheless certain men of Ashur and Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem. Also upon Judah came the hand of God to give them one heart, to do the commandment of the king and of the princes by the word of Jehovah.”
The remnant of the northern tribes that had been left in the land by the kings of Assyria had, in the principal part, degenerated into paganism and were naturally resentful that Judah had been spared, because they were fully aware that Judah’s sins against God were just as extensive as their own. They did not realize that God had humbled and destroyed their kingdom as an example of what would also eventually happen to Judah. It was not merely northern Israel that needed to return to God, but all Israel. Hezekiah did his best to bring the people back to God; and, for awhile, he succeeded; but as soon as his son Manasseh came to the throne, his reformation was quickly repudiated.
E.M. Zerr:
2Ch 30:10-11. Before the kingdom of the 10 tribes was taken into captivity, there were certain individuals who were true to God, and came to the place of lawful worship. (2Ch 11:16; 2Ch 15:9.) Now that some have been so fortunate as to escape their captors and get back home, they were yet unappreciative of their freedom and refused to respect the call of the posts or runners. Others, however, humbled themselves, which was indicated by their obedience to the orders. It can truthfully be said that pride is the cause of all rebellion, and humility is what prompts obedience.
2Ch 30:12. God does not force men by direct miraculous power to be righteous; he offers inducements to persuade him in the right direction. If man yields to the inducements and does the right thing, then it may correctly be said that the action was by the hand of God, as it is asserted here. The people of Judah were united in heart to do the thing that God required. This verse tells us that the king and his princes were issuing their orders by the word of the Lord. That made it divine law for the situation at hand, and placed a solemn duty before the people.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
the posts: 2Ch 30:6, Est 3:13, Est 3:15, Est 8:10, Est 8:14, Job 9:25
they laughed: 2Ch 36:16, Gen 19:14, Neh 2:19, Job 12:4, Luk 8:53, Luk 16:14, Luk 22:63, Luk 22:64, Luk 23:35, Act 17:32, Heb 11:36
Reciprocal: Gen 21:9 – mocking 2Ch 30:1 – Ephraim 2Ch 34:6 – in 2Ch 34:9 – Manasseh Isa 17:7 – General Isa 28:22 – be ye
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ch 30:10. They laughed them to scorn, and mocked them Having been long accustomed to serve other gods, the hearts of the generality of the ten tribes were so hardened, that they scoffed at this most gracious invitation to repentance. And what wonder that Hezekiahs messengers were thus despitefully used by this apostate race, when even Gods messengers, his servants the prophets, who produced undeniable credentials from him, had been and still were worse treated. These Israelites, however, in a little time, paid dear for thus rejecting the counsel of God against themselves. In about two years and a half after their refusing this grace, Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, invaded the country, and laid siege to Samaria, their capital city, and, at the end of three years more, took it, and carried the whole nation away captive into Assyria and Media, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded, and would not hear nor do it, 2Ki 18:9-12.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
30:10 So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they {h} laughed them to scorn, and mocked them.
(h) Though the wicked mock the servants of God, by whom he calls them to repentance, as in Gen 19:14 , yet the word does not cease to ripen in the hearts of God’s elect.