Richard Challoner

The testimony: The book of the law.

A tribunal: A tribune, or a place elevated above the rest.

The price of a soul: That is, the ordinary oblation, which every soul was to offer by the law. Ex. 30.

Sanctified: That is, dedicated to God's service.-- Ibid.

The city of David: He was buried in the same city with his fathers, but not in the sepulchres of the kings. 2 Par. 14.

A grove: Dedicated to the worship of idols.

If thou hadst smitten: By this it appears that God had revealed to the prophet that the king should overcome the Syrians as many times as he should then strike on the ground; but as he had not at the same time revealed to him how often the king would strike, the prophet was concerned to see that he struck but thrice.

Let us see one another: This was a challenge to fight.

Opher: The tribe of Zabulon.

Azarias: Otherwise called Ozias.

A leper: In punishment of his usurping the priestly function. 2 Par. 26.

In the twentieth year of Joatham: That is, in the twentieth year, from the beginning of Joatham's reign. The sacred writer chooses rather to follow here this date than to speak of the years of Achaz, who had not yet been mentioned.

Musach: The covert, or pavilion, or tribune, for the king.

In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Juda: He began to reign before: but was not in quiet possession of the kingdom to the twelfth year of Achaz.

And he called its name Nohestan: That is, their brass; or a little brass. So he called it in contempt, because they had made an idol of it.

Carmel: A pleasant fruitful hill in the forest. These expressions are figurative, signifying under the names of mountains and forests, the kings and provinces whom the Assyrians had triumphed over.

I have formed it: All thy exploits, in which thou takest pride, are no more than what I have decreed; and are not to be ascribed to thy wisdom or strength, but to my will and ordinance: who have given to thee to take and destroy so many fenced cities, and to carry terror wherever thou comest.-- Ibid.

Heaps of ruin: Literally ruin of the hills.

Pythons: That is, diviners by spirits.

The book of the law: That is, Deuteronomy.