Wesley Corpus

The sea - Unto the dead sea, once a goodly plain, Gen 13:10, which was their southern border. Was bitter - Whereby he was moved to pity and help them, though they were an unworthy people. Nor any left - Both towns and country were utterly laid waste. Said not - Not yet; he had not yet declared this, as afterwards he did by the succeeding prophets. Jeroboam - It was in the reign of this Jeroboam, that Hosea began to prophesy, and he was the first that wrote his prophecies. At the same time Amos prophesied, soon after Micah, and then Isaiah in the days of Ahaz and Hezekiah. Thus God never left himself without witness, but in the darkest ages of the church, raised up some to be burning and shining lights, to their own age, by their preaching and living; and a few by their writings to reflect light upon us, on whom the ends of the world are come. Chapter XV The reign of Azariah, ver. 1 - 7. Of Zachariah, ver. 8 - 12. Of Shallum, ver. 13 - 15. Of Menahem, ver. 16 - 22. Of Pekahiah, ver. 23 - 26. Of Pekah, ver. 27 - 31. Of Jotham, ver. 32 - 38. To reign - Solely and fully to exercise his regal power. A leper - The cause whereof see 2Chron 26:16. Six months - After the throne had been vacant several years, thro' the dissentions that were in the kingdom. Full moon - That dominion seldom lasts long, which is founded in blood and falsehood. Twentieth year - The meaning is, that he began his reign in the twentieth year after the beginning of Jotham's reign; or, which is the same thing, in the fourth year of Ahaz, son of Jotham. To reign - Alone: for he had reigned before this, as his father's deputy. Gate - Not of the temple, but of one of the courts of the temple, probably that which led to the king's palace.