[287] I have not thought it worth while to unravel by a series of uncertain conjectures the careless, and often self-contradictory, synchronism of the reigns of the kings in the two kingdoms. The compiler of these books evidently attached little or no importance to accurate chronology. For instance, the data of 2 Kings xiii. 1, 10, do not coincide; and instead of entering into tedious, doubtful, and confusing guesses, I have contented myself throughout with giving for the reigns of the kings such dates, or approximate dates, as seem to result from the several notices compared with the contemporary annals of Assyria. [288] 2 Chron. xxiv. 23. [289] 2 Kings xiii. 4; "besought," literally "_stroked the face of_" (1 Sam. xiii. 12; 1 Kings xiii. 6). [290] The reference is usually explained of Jeroboam II. [291] Comp. 2 Kings ii. 12. [292] Lit., "Make thine hand to ride upon thy bow." There is not the slightest taint of belomancy in the story (comp. Ezek. xxi. 21), nor does it allude to shooting an arrow into an enemy's country as a declaration of war (Virg., _Æn._, ix. 57). [293] Aphek, a name of good omen (1 Kings xx. 26-30). [294] Thrice. Comp. Num. xxii. 28; Exod. xxiii. 17, etc. [295] LXX., ἐλυπήθη. [296] See R.V., margin. [297] _Antt._, IX. viii. 6. [298] See Ecclus. xlviii. 13: "When he was dead, he prophesied in the tomb." (But the clause may be spurious.) [299] Possibly some matrimonial proposal may have lain behind the interchange of messages. [300] Stade. For similar parables see Judg. ix. 8; Herod., i. 141; Rawlinson, _Anc. Mon._, iii. 226. [301] Beth-Shemesh, "the house of the sun." It is mentioned in 1 Sam. vi. 9, 12, and was a priestly city, and one of Solomon's store-cities (1 Kings iv. 9). It ultimately fell into the hands of the Philistines (2 Chron. xxviii. 18). It is not the Beth-Shemesh of Josh. xix. 22. [302] Josephus says that this was the fault of Amaziah, whom Joash of Israel threatened with death if Jerusalem resisted. [303] This implies that at least half the northern wall was dismantled--the wall towards Ephraim. [304] Some have conjectured that Amaziah of Judah became more or less the vassal of Joash of Israel, and that the vassalage continued till after the death of Jeroboam II. (1) For Jeroboam II. held Elath till his death, when Uzziah recovered it (2 Kings xiv. 22), and he certainly could not have held this southern Judæan port if Judah was entirely independent; and (2) we read that Uzziah did not become king at all till the _twenty-seventh_ year of Jeroboam II. But if Amaziah only survived Joash of Israel fifteen years (2 Kings xiv. 17), Uzziah must have succeeded in the _fifteenth_ year of Jeroboam. Is the explanation to be found in the fact that up to that time--for twelve years--Jeroboam did not allow the Judæans to elect a king? or are these among the hopeless confusion of synchronism which cannot be reconciled at all with our present data? CHAPTER XVII