(6) The murderers.--Literally, the smiters.

According unto that which is written . . . law of Moses.--A quotation of Deuteronomy 24:16. This reference is from the pen of the Judaean editor.

Shall be put to death.--So the original passage and the Hebrew margin. Hebrew text, "shall die."

This humane provision of the Jewish law contrasts favourably with the practice of other nations, ancient and modern. Readers of the classics will recollect the hideous story of the treatment of the young daughter of Sejanus (Tac. Ann. v. 9).

(6) Even with the kings of Israel.--Probably some words have fallen out, and the original text was. "and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel." (Comp, 2Kings 14:16.) The Syriac and Arabic have, "and was buried."

Verse 6. - But the children of the murderers he slew not. It was the ordinary usage in the East for the sons of traitors to share the fate of their fathers. A Greek poet went so far as to say that a man was a fool who put to death the father, and allowed the son to live. The practice had a double ground. Sons, it might be assumed, would be cognizant of their father's intention, and would so be accessories before the fact. And the law of claim, or "blood-feud," would make it dangerous to spare them, since they would be bound to avenge their father's death on his destroyer. That the practice prevailed among the Israelites appears from Joshua 7:24, where we find the children of Achan involved in his fate, and again from 2 Kings 9:26, where we are told that Naboth's sons suffered with their father. But it was contrary to an express command of the Law, as the writer goes on to show. According unto that which is written in the book of the Law of Moses. "The book of the Law of Moses" (סֵפֶר תורַת־משֶׁה) may be either the Pentateuch regarded as one book, or Deuteronomy, the particular" book" of the Pentateuch in which the passage occurs. In either case the passage is fatal to the theory of the late' composition of Deuteronomy, which is here found to have ruled the conduct of a Jewish king a hundred and fifty years before Manasseh, two hundred before Josiah, and two hundred and eighty before the return from the Captivity - the dates assigned to Deuteronomy by recent "advanced" critics. Wherein the Lord commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin. As usual, when one sacred writer quotes another, the quotation is not exact. "But" (כִּוּ אִם) is inserted at the beginning of the final clause, and the form of the verb in the same clause is modified. It seems to be intended that we should be made to feel that it is the sentiment or meaning conveyed, and not the phraseology in which it is wrapped up, that is of importance.

14:1-7 Amaziah began well, but did not go on so. It is not enough to do that which our pious predecessors did, merely to keep up the common usage, but we must do it as they did, from the same principle of faith and devotion, and with the same sincerity and resolution.But the children of the murderers he slew not,.... Which is an instance of his clemency and goodness, and of his strict regard to justice, and to the law of God; though he might fear, these, being spared, would one time or other revenge their fathers' deaths:

according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, see Deuteronomy 24:16,

wherein the Lord commanded, saying, the fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children, &c. to which command Amaziah was obedient.