And Hosea, the son of Elah— After Hoshea had murdered his predecessor Pekah, the elders of the land seem to have taken the government into their own hands; for he had not the possession of the kingdom till the latter end of the twelfth year of Ahaz; i.e. nine years after he had committed the fact. He came to the crown, it must be owned, in a very wicked manner; and yet his character in Scripture is not so vile as that of many of his predecessors, chap. 2 Kings 17:2. For whereas the kings of Israel had hitherto maintained guards upon the frontiers, to hinder their subjects from going to Jerusalem to worship, Hoshea took away these guards, and gave free liberty to all to go and pay their adoration where the law had directed; and therefore, when Hezekiah had invited all Israel to come to his passover, this prince permitted all that would to go; and when upon their return from that festival, they destroyed all the monuments of idolatry that were found in the kingdom of Samaria, instead of for-bidding them, in all probability he gave his consent to it; because without some tacit encouragement, at least, they could not have ventured to do it.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, Terrible was the state of Israel in these last days. Like the convulsions of the body before its dissolution, under judgments unhumbled, by mercies unaffected, uniformly persevering in a course of idolatry; their kings mounting successively to the throne by murder; shook with intestine commotions, spoiled by invading enemies, till, at last, the besom of destruction swept the land.
1. Zachariah, the last of Jehu's family, began and ended his reign in six months.
2. Shallum, his murderer and successor, had still a shorter space. One month saw his ill-gotten greatness ruined. Menahem revenged his treason and murder upon him, and seized the crown, of which the usurper was dispossessed. Note; Few traitors and murderers die in their beds.
3. Menahem, having climbed into the throne by blood, seeks to secure his seat by the most inhuman barbarity on those who dared to oppose him. Tiphsah, for refusing to open its gates, is, as a terror to others, sacked and ravaged with the most savage fury, even to ripping up the women with child. Yet, cowardly as cruel, he dared not fight the king of Assyria, who invaded him; but at an immense sum, which he levied from his nobles, bought him off, and engaged him to support his wicked government. Note; The more we read of this miserably oppressed and distracted state, the more thankful should we be for the liberty, peace, and security we enjoy under our own mild government.
4. Pekahiah succeeded his father, who died in peace, though a tyrant and usurper. Two years his tottering government continued, when he fell by the conspiracy of his general Pekah, who seized the throne, and reigned in his stead.
5. Twenty years Pekah kept the crown that his treason had secured; but long impunity is no final security. The king of Assyria, though so lately bribed, returned, and seized all Gilead, with part of Naphtali, Zebulon, and Ephraim; and thus half of the ten tribes went into captivity. Whereupon a conspiracy was formed against Pekah, and Hoshea, having murdered him, as he did his predecessor, ventured to wear that crown which had been so fatal to others, and proved as destructive to himself. All these kings concurred in following Jeroboam's sins, and thereby justified God in these judgments which fell so heavily upon them.
2nd, Jotham, who succeeded his father Uzziah on the throne of Judah; copied his excellencies, and avoided his sins; only the high places remained. His repairing the gate of the Lord's house shews his respect to the place, and God kept him in peace, it seems, all his days, removing him at the age of forty-one, from the storm which was gathering under the confederacy of the kings of Syria and Israel. Note; (1.) The righteous are taken away from the evil to come. (2.) When God removes a good king from a nation, or a good minister from his flock, they have reason to fear, lest for their sins and unprofitableness the Lord has a controversy against them.