61
The light of the morning of salvation - in opposition to the previous darkness of the night, the sun being
the Sun of Righteousness.
62
After a night of rain the sun shines forth and the earth sprouts. Comp. Psalm 72:6; Isaiah 45:8.
63
Pointing to the promise in 2 Samuel 7 - as it were: Does not my house stand in this relationship towards
God, that alike the Just Ruler and the blessings connected with His reign shall spring from it ?
64
Here is an indication of the judgment to come upon the enemies of the Messianic Kingdom. Mark here the
contrast between the consequences of Belial and those of the morning light when green sprouts from the
earth. Mark also how, while the sprouting of the grass is a gradual and continuous process, the burning of
the castaway thorn s is the final but immediate judgment. Comp. Matthew 13:30.
65
Here is an indication of the judgment to come upon the enemies of the Messianic Kingdom. Mark here the
contrast between the consequences of Belial and those of the morning light when green sprouts from the
earth. Mark also how, while the sprouting of the grass is a gradual and continuous process, the burning of
the castaway thorns is the final but immediate judgment. Comp. Matthew 13:30.
66
That is, they are not gathered together with the nake d hand in order to burn them, but people provide
themselves with iron instruments held by wooden handles.
67
The fire a symbol of the Divine wrath.
68
Other renderings have been proposed, but the one in the text conveys the idea that the thorns are burned
where they lie.
69
It should always be kept in view that (as stated in Vol. 4: p. 163) the history of Israel is presented in the
Book of Kings from the prophetic point of view. In other words, it is a history written from the standpoint of
2 Samuel 7:12-16. In the language of Winer (Real-Worterb. vol. 1. p. 412, note), "The history of the Old
Testament was not regarded as an aggregate of facts, to be ascertained by diligent research and treated with
literary ability, but as the manifestation of Jehovah in the events which occurred, for the understanding of
which the influence of the Spirit of God was an essential condition." The Old Testament contains not merely
secular history. Accordingly, its writers are designated in the Canon as "prophets." The "Book of Kings"
was originally one work. Its division into two books was made by the LXX translators. Thence it passed into
the Vulgate, and was introduced into our printed editions of the Hebrew Bible by Dan. Bomberg, at the
beginning of the 16th century. In the LXX and Vulgate the books of Samuel and of Kings form one work,
divided into four books. The Talmud (Baba B. 15 a)ascribes the authorship of the Book of Kings to Jeremiah,
but the evidence seems insufficient. The author of the "Book of Kings" mentions t hree sources from which,
at least partially, his information was derived: the Acts of Solomon (once, 1 Kings 11:41), the Book of the
Chronicles of the Kings of Judah (sixteen times), and the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel
(seventeen times) - making in all thirty-four references. At the time of the composition of the Book of
Chronicles the two last-mentioned works seem to have been either combined, or re -cast into one: the Book
of the Kings of Judah and Israel (2 Chronicles 16:11; 24:27, and o ther passages). Another important
inference is to be derived from a comparison of the Books of Kings with those of Chronicles. Not
unfrequently the two relate the same event in almost the same words. But while in the history of Solomon, as
told in the Book of Kings, the reference is to the Acts of Solomon, in Chronicles (2 Chronicles 9:29) it is to
the "Book of Nathan the prophet, the Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and the Visions of Iddo the Seer,"
showing that the work called the Acts of Solomon was based on these three prophetic compositions. Again,
in the history of Rehoboam, we have in 2 Chronicles 12:15, a reference to the "Book of Shemaiah the
Prophet," and to that of "Iddo the Seer, concerning genealogies;" in the history of Abijah to the "Midrash
of the prophet Iddo" (2 Chronicles 13:22); in that of Uzziah to "the writing of Isaiah the prophet" (2
Chronicles 26:22); and in that of Manasseh to "the Book of Chosai" (2 Chronicles 23:19). Without entering
into further details, we only remark that passages from the prophecies of Isaiah (26-39.), and of Jeremiah (53.)