Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 33:25
But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.
25. slew ] Render, smote. The Hebrew word suggests perhaps that there was a conflict between the people and the conspirators.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
2Ch 33:25
Josiah his son king in his stead.
Far-reaching heredity
Josiah was the son of Amon–which is equal to saying that the greatest sinner of his day was the progenitor of one of the finest saints that ever prayed. If that is not a miracle, what is meant by the term miracle? Read the account and say if it be not the reading of music:–And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father (2Ch 34:2) and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left. Then he had more fathers than one. That is the explanation. You are not the son of the man that went immediately before you; you are only his son in a very incidental manner. Josiah was the son of David his father–the larger father, the deeper root, the elect of God; a sun fouled by many a black spot, but a shining orb notwithstanding. We must enlarge our view if we would come to right conclusions regarding many mysteries. Amen was but a link in the chain. The bad man here, or the good man there, taken in his solitariness, is but a comparatively trivial incident in lifes tragedy. Heredity is not from one to two; it is from one to the last; from the beginning to the ending. In every man there lives all the humanity that ever lived. We are fearfully and wonderfully made–not physically only, but morally, religiously, temperamentally. All the kings live in the last king or the reigning monarch. We are one humanity. Solidarity has its lessons as well as individuality. We know not which of our ancestors comes up in us at this moment or that–now the tiger, now the eagle; now the praying mother, now the daring sire; now some mean soul that got into the current by a mystery never to be explained; now the cunning, watchful, patient deceiver, who can wait for nights at a time and never complain of the dark or the cold, and now the hero that never had a fear, the philanthropist that loved the world, the mother that never looked otherwise than God Himself would have her look. We can never tell which of our ancestors is really thinking in us, speaking through us; we cannot tell the accent of the immediate consciousness;–these are mysteries, and when the judgment comes it will be based upon all the ground, and not upon incidental points here and there (J. Parker, D. D.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 25. The people of the land slew all them] His murder was not a popular act, for the people slew the regicides. They were as prone to idolatry as their king was. We may rest satisfied that idolatry was accompanied with great licentiousness and sensual gratifications else it never, as a mere religious system, could have had any sway in the world.
FOR an explanation of the term groves, 2Ch 23:3; 2Kg 21:26.
I have referred to the prayer attributed to Manasseh, and found in what is called the Apocrypha, just before the first book of Maccabees. It was anciently used as a form of confession in the Christian Church, and is still as such received by the Greek Church. It is as follows: –
“O Lord, Almighty God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of their righteous seed, who hast made heaven and earth, with all the ornament thereof; who hast bound the sea by the word of thy commandment; who hast shut up the deep, and sealed it by thy terrible and glorious name; whom all men fear, and tremble before thy power; for the majesty of thy glory cannot be borne, and thine angry threatening towards sinners is insupportable; but thy merciful promise is unmeasurable and unsearchable; for thou art the most high Lord, of great compassion, long-suffering, very merciful, and repentest of the evils of men. Thou, O Lord, according to thy great goodness, hast promised repentance and forgiveness to them that have sinned against thee, and of thine infinite mercies hast appointed repentance unto sinners, that they may be saved. Thou, therefore, O Lord, that art the God of the just, has not appointed repentance to the just, as to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, which have not sinned against thee; but thou hast appointed repentance unto me that am a sinner: for I have sinned above the number of the sands of the sea. My transgressions, O Lord, are multiplied; my transgressions are multiplied; and I am not worthy to behold and see the height of heaven for the multitude of mine iniquities. I am bowed down with many iron bands, that I cannot lift up mine head, neither have any release; for I have provoked thy wrath, and done evil before thee. I did not thy will, neither kept I thy commandments. I have set up abominations, and have multiplied offences. Now therefore I bow the knee of mine heart, beseeching thee of grace. I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I acknowledge mine iniquities: wherefore I humbly beseech thee, forgive me, O Lord, forgive me, and destroy me not in mine iniquities. Be not angry with me for ever, by reserving evil for me; neither condemn me into the lower parts of the earth. For thou art the God, the God of them that repent; and in me thou wilt show all thy goodness: for thou wilt save me, that am unworthy, according to thy great mercy. Therefore I will praise thee for ever all the days of my life: for all the powers of the heavens do praise thee, and thine is the glory for ever and ever. – Amen.
The above translation, which is that in our common Bibles, might be mended; but the piece is scarcely worth the pains.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
[See comments on 2Ch 33:20]
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(25) Slew.Smote. The verse is identical with 2Ki. 21:24, save that it has smote plural instead of singular, which latter is more correct. It may be that the facts thus briefly recorded represent a fierce conflict between the party of religious reform and that of religious reaction, in which the latter was for the time worsted and reduced to a state of suspended activity.
The chronicler has omitted the remarks usual at the end of a reign. See 2Ki. 21:25-26 for a reference to sources, and Anions burial place (the garden of Uzza).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
REFLECTIONS
MY soul! in the contemplation of such characters as are here represented, behold the awful situation of the wicked. How by sin they destroy themselves, ruin their friends, involve their dearest connections in evil, and beginning in sin, for the most part terminate their existence in vanity and vexation of spirit. But think, my soul, what a miracle of grace must it be, when any, like Manasseh are delivered out of the snare of the devil, who were taken captive by him at his will. Surely none will venture to dispute here the sovereignty of grace, or to put that down to man’s free will which can belong to _ none but the undeserved; unsought for, unexpected, mercy of God in Christ. And hast thou, Lord, brought my soul out of the prison house, out of Satan’s empire; and washed me from my sins in thy blood! Hast thou made me a rich partaker of the grace which is in Christ Jesus! Oh! blessed, forever blessed, be the means in affliction like Manasseh’s, and yet more blessed be the God of the means, who remembered me in my low estate, for his mercy endureth forever.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the People of the land = the commonalty. Compare 2Ch 36:1.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
slew: Gen 9:5, Gen 9:6, Num 35:31, Num 35:33
the people: 2Ch 26:1, 2Ch 36:1
Josiah: 2Ch 34:1
Reciprocal: 2Ki 21:23 – General 2Ki 21:24 – made Josiah 2Ch 22:1 – the inhabitants Mat 1:10 – Josias