Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel.
What title is that that I see? The king's attention, it is probable, had been arrested by a tombstone more conspicuous than the rest around it, bearing on an inscription the name of him that lay beneath; and this prompted his curiosity to make the inquiry. It seems probable from this instance that epitaphs were inscribed on the tombs of the ancient Jews, especially those which were placed in proper cemeteries. The title or inscription which caught the eye of the king was, there is reason to believe, on an excavated grave; but from the way in which the circumstance is recorded, it may be inferred that the practice of surmounting a tomb with an epitaph was common and familiar. It was followed by the Jews in the mediaeval times; because Buxtorf has preserved numerous specimens from an old Jewish cemetery of Basle. Here is a sample from his work-`I have set this stone over the head of the venerable Rabbi Eliakim, deceased. God grant that he may rest in the garden of Eden with all the saints. Amen, amen. Selah.'
The men of the city - not the Assyrian colonists, because they could know nothing about the ancient transactions of the place, but some of the old people who had been allowed to remain (Hengstenberg, 'On Daniel,' p. 146, and Trench, 'On the Parables,' p. 311, note, deny that any of the Israelites were left), and perhaps the tomb itself might not then have been discoverable, through, the effects of time and neglect, had not some 'Old Mortality' garnished the grave of the righteous. This is one of the most remarkable prophecies contained fin the Bible. It may appear strange and unaccountable that some pious end devoted king, like Jehoshaphat or Hezekiah, had not, at a much earlier period, bestowed upon his son the name of Josiah х Yo'shiyaahuw (H2977), whom Yahweh heals], and thus taken a step which, to a sovereign of such a character, must have appeared so exceedingly desirable-that of overthrowing the establishment of the calf-worship at Beth-el, and vindicating the honour of Yahweh. Had the prediction referred to the entire suppression of idolatry throughout the kingdom of Israel, and its reunion with that of Judah in the common celebration of national worship at Jerusalem, the spirit of patriotism would assuredly have kept alive the remembrance of the announcement both in the court and throughout the country, making a consummation so devoutly to be wished the favourite and distinguishing policy of the best kings. But the demolition of the single altar at Beth-el was too limited an enterprise, too trivial an act to stimulate the ambition of a Jewish king, or to continue a subject of interest in the councils of his cabinet; and hence, the prophecy seems to have fallen into comparative neglect or oblivion.
But not one jot nor title of the divine word ever fails to be fulfilled. God chooses his own time, as well as his own instrument, for the accomplishment of His providential purposes; and although no king of Judah before Manasseh had an opportunity of passing the confines of his kingdom; although Manasseh, with Amon, had not probably the slightest knowledge of the prophecy, and was influenced solely by motives of humble penitence and devout gratitude for his own temporal and spiritual deliverance in bestowing the name of Josiah upon his grandson; he was unconsciously, but by an unseen, overruling power, led to do what verified 'the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed to Jeroboam, regarding the overthrow of the altar at Beth-el.'