2 Kings 21
DOYLYVer. 3. — in the eighteenth year] The eighteenth year of his reign, not of his age, as we are told at 2 Chron. xxxiv. 8.
2 Kings 21:12
- — both his ears shall tingle.] What ear can but tingle indeed at the mention of so dreadful a revenge? Can there be a worse judgment than desolation, captivity, desertion, spoil and torture of prevailing enemies? However other cities and nations may have undergone these disasters without wonder; yet that all this should befall Thy Jerusalem, O God, the place which Thou hast chosen to Thyself out of the whole earth, the lot of Thine inheritance, the seat of Thy Divine presence; it is sufficient to amaze all eyes and all ears! Bp. Hall.
2 Kings 21:13
- — I will stretch over Jerusalem &c.] This is a metaphor taken from those who set out men’s lots and portions by drawing a line to divide them. The meaning is, that He would give to Jerusalem the same measure which He had given to Samaria.
— the plummet of the house of Ahab:] Meaning that, as they had imitated the sin of Ahab, so they should
suffer his punishment, whose house was utterly destroyed. It seems to be a metaphor taken from builders who measure with a line and plummet what part of a building should stand and what be demolished. Bp. Patrick. The meaning of the expressions in this verse is, I will take the same course with Jerusalem that I have taken with Samaria, and with the wicked house of Ahab, which I have utterly rooted out from before Me. Bp. Hall. Respecting the execution of this threat, and other circumstances relating to Manasseh, see 2 Chron. xxxiii.
2 Kings 21:17
- — the rest of the acts of Manasseh.] See particularly the account of his being carried to Babylon, and being afterwards restored to Jerusalem, at 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11—19, &c.
Chap. XXII. This chapter is to be compared with 2 Chron. xxxiv. Josiah taketh care for the repair of the temple. Before CHRIST 641. about 624. and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.