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similarities in designation of the deity, the most absolute contrast to the religion of
Jehovah as regards doctrine and life, so as to bring the heavenly origin of the latter into
marked prominence.
(^279) Not as in the Authorized Version (1 Kings 16:33): "And Ahab made a grove."
(^280) It has been ingeniously suggested (by Hitzig), that this was a Year of Jubilee, viz.
912 B.C.
(^281) Thus the Pentateuch in its present form circulated ten centuries before the time of
our LORD.
(^282) This seems the real meaning of the Hebrew, and not "much business," as in the
Authorized Version of 2 Chronicles 17:13.
(^283) A very ingenious defense of the accuracy of the numbers of this army has been
lately attempted. But to us these numerals seem corrupt, though it is impossible in this
place to furnish proof for the assertion. Probably they were illegible or blotted out, and
the copyist seems to have supplied the two first from chap. 14:8, while the other three
were formed by deducting 100,000 from each of them. The same total is double that of
chapter 14:8.
(^284) This seems to be the true meaning of the Hebrew text.
(^285) We arrive at this conclusion as follows: When eight or nine years later, that is, in the
seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat, the latter paid his memorable visit to Ahab (1 Kings
22:2), Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, must have been already about eight or nine years
old, since he ascended the throne about thirteen years later, after the death of his
grandfather and his father, at the age of twenty-two (2 Kings 8:26). But it must be
admitted that the chronology of these reigns is involved and somewhat difficult.
Indeed, a perfect agreement is impossible. For the dates are given not according to any
fixed standard (such as the Creation, or the Birth of Christ), but according to the reigns
of the various kings. But, according to Jewish practice, a year of a king's reign is
counted from Nisan (April) to Nisan, so that any time before or after Nisan would be
counted as an integral year. Thus a prince who ascended the throne in Adar (March) of
one year and died in Ijar (May) of the next, although only reigning fourteen months,
would be said to have reigned three years. This difference, when applied to the reigns
of the various kings, or to a comparison between the dates of the kings of Israel and
Judah, constitutes one of the main practical difficulties in establishing a perfect
agreement.
(^)