occurred in the fourteenth, and the Edomite war probably in the thirteenth, year of the reign of

Amaziah. The fifteen years which followed after the death of Jehoash were full of trouble to the

king of Judah. At last the general dissatisfaction, caused by the disasters of the war and the

attempted introduction of foreign rites, culminated in a revolution at Jerusalem. Amaziah escaped

to Lachish, in the low country of Judah (Joshua 15:33, 39), on the road from Hebron to Gaza.

Lachish has sometimes been erroneously identified with the present Tel-el-Hasi. Its more correct

location* seems to be, passing from Eleutheropolis [the Biblical Libnah] westwards to Ajlan, the

ancient Eglon, whence at a distance of about forty-five minutes the ruins of Umm Lakis - the

ancient Lachish are - reached.

* Comp. Guerin, La Judee i. pp. 299, etc.; Badeker, p. 203.

As usually, the ancient city lay on the top of a hill. Among its ruins many cisterns are found. The

country around is undulating, and two great wadys open on either side. Lachish was, as we know,

strongly fortified (2 Chronicles 11:9); it was besieged by Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:14, 17; Isaiah

36:2); and could offer a stout resistance to Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 34:7). In short, it was one of

the strong fortresses towards Egypt, although, from the friable nature of the building materials, its

ruins, as those of other similarly -constructed places, are not considerable. In the time of Solomon,

Lachish had been one of the "chariot-cities," for which alike its situation near the Egyptian

emporium of horses (1 Kings 9:19; 10:26-29), and the plentiful pasturage around, would specially

fit it. From the prophecies of Micah (1:13), it appears to have been the first Judaean city to adopt

the idolatrous worship of the northern kingdom, which thence passed into Jerusalem.

But the strong walls of Lachish could not afford security to Amaziah. The conspirators from

Jerusalem followed the king, and his dead body was brought back to Jerusalem - perhaps in the

very chariot in which he had made his escape.* Yet even this circumstance, as well as his

honorable burial with his royal ancestors, and the elevation to the throne of his son, "by all the

people of Judah," indicate that although the discontent was not confined to the capital, yet the

people generally were wholly averse to any change of dynasty, such as had characterized every

revolution in Israel.**

* 2 Kings 14:20: "And they carried [lit. brought] him upon the horses," with the definite article,

probably to mark the chariot as that in which he had gone.

** Similarly, the murder of Joash, the father of Am ziah, had not been followed, as in Israel, by

a

the enthronement of one of the conspirators.

CHAPTER 5 - AZARIAH, OR UZZIAH, (TENTH) KING OF JUDAH. JEREBOAM II.,

(FOURTEENTH) KING OF ISRAEL

Accession of Azariah or Uzziah - Reign of Jeroboam II. -Restoration of Israelitish Territory -

Political Causes and Divine Agency in these Successes - Corruption of the People -Scattered

Historical Notices - New Phase in Prophecy - Its Characteristic - The two Prophets on the

Boundary -line -Prophets of that Period: Joel, Amos, Hosea, Jonah. (2 KINGS 14:21-29.)

IT would seem that a peculiar meaning attaches to the notice that all the people of Judah took

Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father, Amaziah" (2 Kings

14:21). With the exception of the name, this statement is literally repeated in 2 Chronicles 26:1,

indicating that the writers of the two books had copied it from the same historical record. But