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(^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 three
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
other 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.) are inserted
in 2 Kings, where, however, they are ascribed not to these prophetic books, but to the
"Book of the Kings of Judah" (2 Kings 20:20). These facts seem to show that the
(^)