Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar?— Because thou frettest thyself in cedar? מתחרה methachareh from חרה charah, to fret and grieve, signifies one that is a prey to the uneasy passions of discontent and remorse. The question, therefore, is somewhat of a sarcastic nature, which asks, Shalt thou reign, because thou frettest thyself in cedar? As if it had been said, Is this the inestimable privilege of royalty, this the circumstance which constitutes thy happiness as a king, to carry continually about thee the pangs of guilt, anxiety, and remorse in a splendid palace? In like manner speaks Horace of
————miseros tumultus Mentis, et curas laqueata circum Tecta volantes.* Lib. II. od. Jeremiah 16:10.
*———neither wealth nor pow'r control The sickly tumults of the soul; Or bid the cares to stand aloof Which hover round the vaulted roof. FRANCIS.
And it is obvious, how well this suits with the following context, which places in a striking contrast the happiness of the good Josiah resulting from the consciousness of having fulfilled the duties of his station with pious integrity. "Did not thy father eat and drink, that is, partake of all real comforts and conveniences which human life requires, in as great a degree as thyself? But at the same time governing with impartial justice and equity, he enjoyed in consequence thereof that solid and true felicity, which nothing but the practice of virtue, holiness, and religion, emphatically called 'the knowing of God,' can bestow."