[203] 2 Kings x. 12. The shepherds House of Meeting (Beth-equed-haroim). LXX., ἐν Βαιθακάθ; Vulg., ad cameram pastorum; Aquila, οἶκος κάμψεως. It has been conjectured by Klostermann that it belonged to the Rechabites, that they had been persecuted by Jezebel, and that they were glad to help in taking vengeance on her descendants.
[204] The Chronicler (2 Chron. xxii. 8) says "sons of the brethren of Ahaziah."
[205] LXX., ἡ δυναστεύουσα.
[206] 2 Kings x. 14, A.V., "at the pit." Lit., "in" or "into the cistern."
[207] See Martin, Hist. de France, ix. 114.
[208] Whittier.
[209] Jer. xxxv. 1-19. Josephus (Antt., IX. vi. 6) calls him "a good man and a just, who had long been a friend of Jehu." "He was," says Ewald (Gesch., iii. 543), "of a society of those who despaired of being able to observe true religion undisturbedly in the midst of the nation with the stringency with which they understood it, and therefore withdrew into the desert."
[210] Jer. xxxv. (written about b.c. 604). Communities of Nazarites seem to have sprung up at this epoch, perhaps as a protest against the prevailing luxury (Amos ii. 11).
[211] In Josephus it is Jehonadab who blesses the king.
[212] Heb., יֵש וָיֵשׁ.