Page:The Books of Chronicles (1916).djvu/388

324 of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works. Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart. Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his good deeds, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the ascent of the sepulchres of the sons of David: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.

direction followed by the tunnel through which Hezekiah brought the waters from the upper spring of Gihon (St Mary's Well outside the city) to the Pool of Siloam within the walls is roughly west or south-west; see G. A. Smith, Jerusalem, 1. 102 f.

31. who sent] Read rather, with LXX., who had been sent.

to inquire of the wonder] According to 2 Kin. xx. 12; Is. xxxix. 1, the ostensible reason of the embassy was to congratulate Hezekiah on his recovery. The real object was to gain over Judah to an alliance against Assyria, from which Babylon was constantly seeking to revolt.

to try him, that he might know, etc.] The phrase is based on Deut. viii. 2.

32. his good deeds] Cp. xxxv. 26 (of Josiah); Neh. xiii. 14 (of Nehemiah).

the vision of Isaiah in the book of the kings] The reference is apparently to Is. xxxvi. 2—xxxix. 8 = 2 Kin. xviii. 17—xx. 21.

33. in the ascent of the sepulchres of the sons of David] What is implied by "the ascent of the sepulchres," the phrase being found only here? Some hold that it means a place outside the royal burying-ground, and that, since exclusion from the royal sepulchres was a mark of dishonour otherwise confined to the bodies of wicked kings (xxi. 20, xxiv. 25, xxvi. 23, xxviii. 27) the statement could hardly emanate from the Chronicler himself but must be derived from some old and presumably trustworthy source: an unsatisfactory view. Certainly the Chronicler cannot have understood the phrase to mean anything derogatory to Hezekiah, and there is, in fact, no necessity to interpret it as some place outside the royal sepulchres. On the contrary, it is reasonable to suppose that it means a definite part of this royal cemetery, the lower slopes ("ascent") or possibly the higher part.

did him honour] Cp. xvi. 14, xxi. 19.