So first, in
the case of Joram: he makes high places on the hills of Judah and
seduces the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and
Judah to apostatise (xxi. 11), and moreover slays all his brethren
with the sword (ver. 4)--the one follows from the other. His widow
Athaliah breaks up the house of Jehovah by the hand of her sons
(who had been murdered, but for this purpose are revived), and
makes images of Baal out of the dedicated things (xxiv. 7); none
the less on that account does the public worship of Jehovah go on
uninterrupted under Jehoiada the priest. Most unsparing is the
treatment that Ahaz receives. According to 2Kings xvi. 10 seq.,
be saw at Damascus an altar which took his fancy, and he caused a
similar one to be set up at Jerusalem after its pattern, while
Solomon's brazen altar was probably sent to the melting-pot; it
was Urijah the priest who carried out the orders of the king. One
observes no sign of autonomy, or of the inviolable divine right of
the sanctuary; the king commands and the priest obeys. To the
Chronicler the story so told is quite incomprehensible; what
does he make of it? Ahaz introduced the idolatrous worship of
Damascus, abolished the worship of Jehovah, and shut up the
temple (2Chronicles xxviii.
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