(6) For he clave.--And he held fast. Hezekiah's pious feeling.

But kept.--And he kept. Hezekiah's practice. The context shows that the "commandments" specially in the writer's mind were those against polytheism.

Verse 6. - For he clave to the Lord - rather, and he clave to the Lord; i.e. he persevered through the whole of his life; he did not fall into sins at the last, like Asa and Azariah (see 2 Chronicles 16:7-12; 2 Chronicles 26.' 16-21) - and departed not from following him. The writer probably considers "the princes of Judah" answerable for the embassy to Egypt mentioned in Isaiah 30:4, and excuses Hezekiah's ostentatious display of his treasures to the ambassadors of Merodach-Baladan (2 Kings 20:13) as a weakness, not an actual breach of obedience. But kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses.

18:1-8 Hezekiah was a true son of David. Some others did that which was right, but not like David. Let us not suppose that when times and men are bad, they must needs grow worse and worse; that does not follow: after many bad kings, God raised one up like David himself. The brazen serpent had been carefully preserved, as a memorial of God's goodness to their fathers in the wilderness; but it was idle and wicked to burn incense to it. All helps to devotion, not warranted by the word of God, interrupt the exercise of faith; they always lead to superstition and other dangerous evils. Human nature perverts every thing of this kind. True faith needs not such aids; the word of God, daily thought upon and prayed over, is all the outward help we need.For he clave to the Lord,.... To his worship and service; to the fear of the Lord, as the Targum:

and departed not from following him; from his worship, as the same paraphrase:

but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses; both moral, ceremonial, and judicial.