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Show 24. The Jecond Booke of thefirstpart ) ae Cua P, 19.9 4a the like fides in alhafter-times5-andin thefe our dayes by thefame Famine,plagues, Canvigig. of the HiftarieoftbeWord, caufed A/a to fight at'this time with money. It maybethat the imployment offo many hundred thoufands ofhands, inthe late feruice againftZerah,had caufed many mens prinate bufineffes to lye vndifpatched, wherby the people being nowintentiuetotheculture oftheir lands & other trades,thight be vnwilling toftir againfttthe Ifraelites.choofing rather to winke at apparant inconuenience, which the building of Rama would bring vpon them inafter-times.Such backwardnefle ofthe people might haue deterred warre,lofles vexation,death; ficknefle; and calamities; howfocuer the wife men Of the world raifethefe effects no bigherthan to fecond caufes sand fach other accidents, whichyas beingnexttheir eyes.and eates,feemeto themto worke every-alterationthat happensth.., ts (3 : A/a from aduenturing himfelf with theleaft part of his forces,& committing thefcc efs i Ww Oeer OfAla and his Contemporaries: O Abijah fucceeded A/a, who enioyedpeacefor his firft: ten. yeeres, in which 10 2.ChrOm.14s "time he eftablifhed the Church of God, breaking dewnethe-alrars dedicated "to itrange gods., with their images , cutting downe theis groues,. and taking into the hands of God. Howfoeuerit were,he took the treafures remaining in the temple,with which he waged Benhadad the Syrianagainft Beafba,whofe emploiments Bes- to hadedreadily accepted,and brake off confederacywith Baafba. For the raclites were his borderers and next neighbours,whom neither himfelfe (after ‘his inuafion) nor his fuceeffors after him euer gaue ouer,till they had made themfelues mafters ofthat kings dome. So Bewhadad being nowented into Nepthalim,without refiftance, hee {poyled 2. divers principalCities thereof,& inforced Bzafba to quit Rama} & toleaue the fameto Afa, withall the materials which he had brought thither,to fortifie:the fame : whicl; , ir high places. Hee -alfo {pared nothis, owne mother, whowasan Idolatreffe, 2chrenxs.16, but depdfing her fromherregency, brake her Idoll, ftamptit, and burntit. Heealfo fortified many Cities,ind other places,prouiding(as prouident Kings do)forthe trou: bles of warin the leafure of peace, For not long after he was inuaded by Zerah, who done, Benhadad, wholoued neither party,being lodenwith the fpoiles ofIfrael,and the therrcommianided all the Arabians bordering Iudwa, andwith fuch a multitude entred treafiires of Inda,returned to Damatcus. A fterthis,when Hamanz the Prophet reprehen- theterritorie of 4/4, as (for anything that haue read) were neueraflembledofthat ded 4/a,in that he nowrelyed on the ftrength of Syria; and didnot reft himfelfe on the Nation; either before orfince. Foriitis written, that there'came againtt the Iudzans, 2.ChT0R- 14-95 Zerabof Athiopia, with an hofte of ten hundred thoufand, and three hundred Chari. ots, which 4/4 enconptred with an Armie of.fite hundred and fourefcore thoufand, Iuda and: Beniamin, which obeyéd hir Teuied onrofthofevo, Eribes.of if and with which hee-onerthrew, this fcarefull multitude, and had the {poyle both of their Cities and Campes. wInthefore [x that chis Zerah was not an Athiopian, Lhane* prouedalready, and wereit butthe mer booke.c.j. Length between Athiopiaand Iudxa, andthe ftrong flourifhing Regions of Esyptinee terlacent(who would agt {iffer a million of ftrangets to pafsithrough them) it were fi § 10" Ge ficient toimakeit appeare howfoolith the opinionis,that thefe inuaders wereMthiopians... But intharthe Scriptures acknowledge that: Gerar was belonging to Zerahj Sethe Cities thereabouts were fpoiled by the Iudxans,in following their viétory|as placesbe-° longing to Zerdb.andthat all men know thatGevarftandeth vpon the'rorrentof Belor, whichDaid paft ouer whenhe furprized the Amalekites or Arabians;this proueti{uachronng. fauour andaffiftance of God,he notonly canfed Hananito be imprifoned, but he began 20to burden and oppreffe his people,andwas therefore ftrooken with the gricuous paines ofthe goutin his feet,wherewith after he had been two yeeres continually tormented, z.chranz6 he gaue vp the ghoft when he had reigned4 r.yeeres. f There lived with 4/2, Agefilaus the fixt ofthe Heraclide, and Bacésthe fift king of the famerace in Coriath,of whomhis fucceffots were afterward called Bacide, 4flartws,8 Aflarimus were kings in Tyre. Affarimus took reuenge onhis brother Phel/eres, for the Eufebin chron: murtherof Ithabalws Prieft ofthe goddeffe 4/farta,whom Salomonin dotage ped. Atys & Capys ruled the Latines + Pirithiades & Ophrateus the Affyrians worthip: Terfivpus and Phorbasthe Atheians : Chemmis reigned in Egypt; who dying in the 36. yeere : Afa , left Cheops his fucceffour, that reigned fifty fixeyeeres', euen to the 16.0f 30 loxs, §. V. ficientlythat Zerah was leader ofthie Arabians,Sothat Gérarwas a frontiertown ftan- ding on the yttermoft South-bozderofall Iudwa; fromall parts of Adthiopiafixe hundred miles. Alfo the {poiles which:.4/2 tooke,asithe cattellcamels,and theepe, where ofhefacrificedfiue thoufand, thew them to be Arabians adioyning,and notfar offand not ynknown Aithiopians. And ifit be obiested thatithefe defart countries can hardly yecldia million ofmenfit for the wars, | anfwer,that it is as like that Arabia Petrxaand the Defart which compafletwoparts ofthe holy Land,fhould yeeld ten hundredthou ; fand,as thartwo Tribes ofthe twelue;fnouldarme flue hundred andfourefcore thot fand.. Befides, it anfwereth tothe promife:of |Godito. Abraham, that thefe N2- tions fhould exceede in number; for, God {pakeit of Imael, that hee: would make himfruitfull, and multiply himexceedingly.that:!hee ‘fhould beget twelue Princes, &c, : Btafbaatking ofIftael began to reignein thethitd of 4/z,and ifearing'the greatnes * 2.070.168.0614 Afe after his great victory,entertained.Beshadad king ofSyria, ofthe race ofAdadtetrs toioyne with him againft A/a;and tothe end to block hin vp,he fortified Rama,whiclt lieth in the wayfrom Ierufalem towards Samaria, This watre began accotdingto theletter ofthe Scripturesinthe36.ycere of sfrhit reigne : but becaufe inthe firft of Kingsthe 16.itis faid that Baafbadicdin the 26. of Afastherfore couldnotBaafha beginthis wat inthe'3 5.0f-A/ahis reign,but inth yeer of the diuifion of Iuda and Iiaels forfo many yeers it was from the firft of k¢ am,who reigned 17.yeers,tothe 16.0f Afa.ltmay feeme ftrange,that A/e being ting into the field an Army of fue hundred & fourefcore thoufand good Souldit®s did not ealily drive awayBatfba, and defeat hiinofhis purpofes.; the victorics OF againtt lero! oa, andof A/a himfelfe again Zerzh, being yet freth in minde,whi ght well have oldened themen of Iuda,and afmuchdifheartened the enentt donlefie there were fome important Circumfances, oniitved in the Text, WMce Ofthe great alteration falling out in the ten Tribes during the reigne ofAfa, N the reigne of Afathe Kingdome ofIfrael felrgreat and:violent commotioné, which might haue' reduced the ten Tribes ynto their fotmet allegeance to the ute of Danid, if the wifedome of Godhad not otherwife determined. The Ineffe of Jeroboam had in his latter dayes , the fentence of heauie vengeance laid Vpon tjby the mouth ofAbia,the fame Prophet which had foretold'the diuifion ofIf. "or! 5 forthefinne of Salomon sandhis reigne ouer'the ten Tribes: One fon Zerabo- 4mhad among others,in whom onely God found fo muchpiety, as (though it fufficed not to with-hold his wrath from that Family) it procured voto himva peaceable end: an honourableteftimonyofthe peoples loue, bytheir generall mourning tion andlamenta: at his death, and (wherein he was moft happy)the fauourab le approbationof God he k fe of this good fon, the vngodly father was foon taken away : amife- ute, 40 conicious ofhis, vile ynthankefulneffe to God, that he durft notfuk. nametobe vfedin confultine with an holy Prophet, affured of the ruine mandhis,yea of Gods extreame hatred-yetforbeari ng to deftroythofe > that wrought his confiifion. So loath he to fotfakehis worldly wif vhen the world was readyto forfake him,and all belongi ng to him, his‘ hatefull y excepted, : De : fon of Ferobodm, reigned in the fecond and thirdyeerés of Afa, which are did run vo yeeres,though indcedehis fathers laft yeer of two andtw was the firft with the fecond of 4/z, Whofe third yeerée 1a adab enioyed not his Kingdomeone whole yeere. He y.xdyers.as3 scourfes,neither did God alter his fentence. It feemes that hee zements denounced againft his fathers houfe : for as a Prince thar Sf{z Was |