- 43-
the present Damascus gate)to that in the north-west corner of the wall, where it runs
southward.
- Here the Philistines first deposited the Ark (1 Samuel 6:12-14).
** The ancient Jewish cubit was two spans, each of three hand-breadths, the handbreadth
being four fingers wide, i.e., a cubit = 6 handbreadths, = 24 fingerbreadths.
Thus the city would be laid open towards the north, or the land of Israel. Josephus (Ant.
ix. 9, 3) has it that Jehoash through this breach made triumphal entry into Jerusalem,
carrying his royal prisoner with him. The victor plundered the Temple of what treasures
it still contained in charge of one Obed-Edom. He also stripped the royal palace of its
valuables, and taking with him "hostages" - probably from the chief nobles - returned to
Samaria.
- Less credit attaches to his notice that Jehoash had threatened to kill Amaziah unless he
persuaded the inhabitants of Jerusalem to open the city to him. Evidently there could not
have been any idea of holding out but Josephus may have felt it desirable thus to account
for an easy capture of the city which offered such stubborn resistance to the Romans.
** 2 Chronicles 25:24. But probably the booty from the Temple was inconsiderable.
Comp. 2 Kings 12:18. Perhaps the name Obed-Edom, as treasurer of the Temple at that
time, may in itself be significant. In any case, the special mention of the name marks this
as a contemporary notice.
*** That Jehoash left Amaziah on the throne indicates how completely the power of the
latter must have been broken.
The war between Judah and Israel probably occurred quite near the close of the reign of
Jehoash, king of Israel. As Amaziah of Judah reigned altogether twenty-nine years (2
Kings 14:2), and survived Jehoash for fifteen years (verse 17), we conclude that the
Judaeo-Israelitish war had 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.
(^)