Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He didn’t do that which was right in the LORD his God’s eyes, like David his father.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 2. When he, Joatham, “had begun,” cœpisset. Bible.—Thus Junius evades the following difficulty. D.—Sixteen, consequently he died when he was 36 years old. As Ezechias was 25 when he came to the throne, Achab must have been a father at 11 ( Calmet.) or 12 year of age. Bochart, Dissert. xxiii.—S. Jerom asserts the same of Solomon, and observes, that “many things which seem incredible in Scripture, are nevertheless true.” ep. ad Vital. He, with some others, has recourse to a miracle. Others suppose that Ezechias was an adopted son, or kinsman, or that the numbers are incorrect, and so forth But we are assured by respectable authors, ( Bible.) that people have children very soon in the hotter climates. Busbeque (Ep. 3.) says, in Colchis many are mothers at ten years of age; and to convince the incredulous, produce their infants “not much bigger than a large frog.” Albert the Great says he knew one who had a child at 10, and Navarre (ap. Sanchez. Matthew 7:2, 5 disp. 104.) was credibly informed that a similar fact was seen at Naples. Mandesle observes that this is common in India. He says one had lately a child at six year of age, which was there thought remarkable. S. Jerom mentions a boy who became a father at 10, and Sanchez relates that the same happened in Spain. A boy under 12 had a child by a girl of 10, in Provence. Scaliger Elenc. The Romans laws fix upon the age of 14 for males, and 12 for females’ lawfully marrying; ( Bible.) though many examples of people having children before that age are produced by Tiraqueau, 6. conn. 36. Yet physicians require 13 in males, and 14 years complete in females before they are capable of this effect. Genebrard. Saint Augustine (de Civ. xv. 11. and xvi. c. ult. and in ps. civ.) maintains that a person of 10 years of age is unfit for generation. Calmet.—Malitia supplet ætatem. Achaz was a monster of wickedness. Bible.—In the first year of his reign, and in the fifth Olympiad, the Ephori were appointed at Sparta under Theopompus, nephew of Lycurgus. Salien, A.Calmet. 759.