_History of the Jewish Kings, and of the "Paralipomena."_
Every nation, as soon as it was able to write, has written its own
history, and the Jews have accordingly written theirs. Before they had
kings, they lived under a theocracy; it was their destiny to be governed
by God himself.
When the Jews were desirous of having a king, like the adjoining
nations, the prophet Samuel, who was exceedingly interested in
preventing it, declared to them, on the part of God, that they were
rejecting God himself. Thus the Jewish theocracy ceased when the
monarchy commenced.
We may therefore remark, without the imputation of blasphemy, that the
history of the Jewish kings was written like that of other nations, and
that God did not take the pains Himself to dictate the history of a
people whom He no longer governed.
We advance this opinion with the greatest diffidence. What may perhaps
be considered as confirming it, is, that the "Paralipomena" very
frequently contradict the Book of Kings, both with respect to chronology
and facts, just as profane historians sometimes contradict one another.
Moreover, if God always wrote the history of the Jews, it seems only
consistent and natural to think that He writes it still; for the Jews
are always His cherished people. They are on some future day to be
converted, and it seems that whenever that event happens, they will have
as complete a right to consider the history of their dispersion as
sacred, as they have now to say, that God wrote the history of their
kings.
We may be allowed here to make one reflection; which is, that as God was
for a very long period their king, and afterwards became their
historian, we are bound to entertain for all Jews the most profound
respect. There is not a single Jew broker, or slop-man, who is not
infinitely superior to Cæsar and Alexander. How can we avoid bending in
prostration before an old-clothes man, who proves to us that his history
has been written by God Himself, while the histories of Greece and Rome
have been transmitted to us merely by the profane hand of man?
If the style of the history of the kings, and of the "Paralipomena," is
divine, it may nevertheless be true that the acts recorded in these
histories are not divine. David murders Uriah; Ishbosheth and
Mephibosheth are murdered; Absalom murders Ammon; Joab murders Absalom;
Solomon murders his brother Adonijah; Baasha murders Nadab; Zimri
murders Ela; Omri murders Zimri; Ahab murders Naboth; Jehu murders Ahab
and Joram; the inhabitants of Jerusalem murder Amaziah, son of Joash;
Shallum, son of Jabesh, murders Zachariah, son of Jeroboam; Menahhem
murders Shallum, son of Jabesh; Pekah, son of Remaliah, murders
Pekahiah, son of Manehem; and Hoshea, son of Elah, murders Pekah, son of
Remaliah. We pass over, in silence, many other minor murders. It must be
acknowledged, that, if the Holy Spirit did write this history, He did
not choose a subject particularly edifying.