And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias;
Ver. 10. And Ezekias begat Manasses] Who degenerates into his grandfather Ahaz, as the kernel of a well-fruited plant doth sometimes into that crab or willow which gave the original to his stock. This man was (till converted) as very a nonesuch in Judah as Ahab was in Israel; yet no king of either Judah or Israel reigned so long as he. It was well for him that he lived so long to grow better, as it had been better for Asa to have died sooner, when he was in his prime. But they are met in heaven, I doubt not; whither whether we come sooner or later, happy are we.
And Manasses begat Amon] Who followed his father in sin, but not in repentance. "And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord," &c.,Daniel 5:22. It is a just presage and desert of ruin, not to be warned. This was a bloody prince, therefore lived not out half his days. Queen Mary's reign was the shortest of any since the Conquest, Richard III only excepted; yet she was non natura, seal pontificiorum arte ferox, say some.
And Amon begat Josias] Of whom that is true that Jerome writes of another, In brevi vitoe spatio tempora virtutum multa replevit; or, as Mr. Hooker speaketh of King Edward VI, He departed soon, but lived long; for life consists in action: "In all these is the life of my spirit," saith Hezekiah, Isaiah 38:15,16; but the wanton widow is "dead while she liveth," 1 Timothy 5:6. That good king lived apace and died betime, being delicioe Orbis, as Titus was called; and Mirabilia mundi, as Otho; having at his death (as it is said of Titus) one thing only to repent of, and that was his rash engaging himself in a needless quarrel, to the loss of his life and the ruin of that state. a When Epaminondas was once slain, his countrymen were no longer famous for their valour and victories, but for their cowardice and calamities. (Nec virtutibus Thebani, sed cladibus insignes.) When Augustus departed this world, we feared, saith one, the world's ruin, and were ready to wish that either he had never been born, or never died. When God took away Theodosius, he took away with him almost all the peace of that church and state; so he did of this, with Josiah, that heavenly spark, that plant of renown, that precious prince,
" Qui regum decus, et iuvenum flos, spesque bonorum,
Delicice seecli, et gloria gentis erat: "
as Cardanus sang of our English Josiah, King Edward VI b
a Titus moriens, se unius tantummodo rei poenitere dixit. Id autem quid esset non aperuit, nec quisquam certo novit. Dio. in Tito.
b Orbis ruinam timueramus. Paterculus. Ludovico XII defuncto, tam subita orta est mutatio, ut qui prius digito coelum attingere videbatur, nunc humi serpere; sideratos esse diceres. Budaeus. Some think that Pedaiah (whose natural son Zorobabel was, 1Ch 3:19 ) should be here reckoned, though he be not named, because he was born and died obscurely in Babylon. Verseius. Funccius. Magdeburg. Praefat. ad Centur. 5.