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victorious army of Judah on its return not with words of flattery, but of earnest
admonition (2 Chronicles 15:1-7), so now this otherwise unknown prophet of Samaria.
And his very obscurity, and sudden and isolated message, as well as its effect, are
instructive of the object and character of prophetism. Only a prophet of the Lord could
have dared, in the circumstances, to utter words so humiliating to Israel's pride, and so
exacting in their demand. The defeat and loss of Judah had been in Divine punishment of
sin, and would they now add to their own guilt by making slaves of the children of Judah
and Jerusalem? Or did they presume to regard themselves as instruments of God's
judgments, forgetful of the guilt which rested upon themselves? Nay, let them know that
wrath was already upon them, alike for their sins, for this fratricidal war, and now for
their purpose of enslaving their brethren - and let them set their captives free.
There is not the least reason for questioning the accuracy of this narrative,* nor yet of
that of the effectual intervention on behalf of the captives of four of the heads of houses
in Ephraim, whose names have been handed down to honor.
- This has been done by certain critics. Unwilling as we are to use hard language, not
only in this, but in most of the difficulties raised by that school of critics, it seems not
easy to determine whether their ingenuity is greater in raising objections that are
ungrounded, or in constructing a history of their own.
The latter is a further confirmation of the historical character of the report. Indeed, even if
it had not been recorded, we should have expected some such intervention. The more
serious party in Israel, whether friends or foes of Pekah, must have disapproved of such
an undertaking as that of their king. There had previously been wars between Israel and
Judah; but never one in which Israel had joined a heathen power for the purpose of
overthrowing the house of David, and placing on its throne a Syrian adventurer. It must
have awakened every religious and national feeling; and the sight of 200,000 Judean
women and children driven into Samaria, weary, footsore, hungry, and in rags, to be sold
as slaves, would evoke not satisfaction, but abhorrence and indignation. It is to this that
we understand the four princes to refer when speaking of the "trespass" already
committed by this war, and warning against adding to it by retaining the captives as
slaves. As we realize the scene, we do not wonder at the intervention of the princes, nor
at the popular reaction when the words of the prophet roused them to full consciousness
of their wrong. Nor, taking merely the political view of it, could princes or people have
been blind to the folly of weakening Judah and entangling themselves in a war with
Tiglath-pileser.
As so often in similar circumstances, the revulsion of popular feeling was immediate and
complete. The spoil and the captives were handed over to "the princes;" those who had
lately been prisoners were tenderly cared for as brethren and honored guests,* and
brought back to the Judean border-city Jericho.** Without presuming to affirm that this
episode was in the mind of our Lord when He spoke the parable of "the Good
(^)