II. THE PEOPLE REPENTANT (vers. 5-9). Nineveh was in the height of splendor and sin, when suddenly there appeared this strange figure from the distant land of Omri, startling every lane and square, bazaar and caravansary, by a piercing, monotonous wail, in a dialect which, though not unintelligible, seemed uncouth and barbarous. Geikie. God's word went home to their souls. Their conscience also bore witness against their besetting sins, cruelty, vileness, violence, — and they (1) believed God. (2) They were heartily and openly sorry. (3) They prayed mightily to God. (4) They put away their sins, each one for himself. (5) They made restitution of their ill-gotten gain. This they did both as individuals and as a nation. It was a miracle of grace, attributable to nothing short of the Holy Spirit.

Illustrations. (1) The Day of Pentecost. (2) The great revival in the Sandwich Islands during the present century. (3) The more recent conversion of the Fiji Islands. Two points are worthy of attention. (1) Nations and corporations, as such, have no future life, and their rewards and punishments are received in this life. Bearing this in mind, we better understand political economy and the philanthropy of history, not only in ancient monarchies, but in the accidents, and massacres, and successes that to-day are making history. (2) Our common domestic animals, from their connection with our sinful race, are exposed to suffering, which it is our duty to alleviate and prevent as far as possible. Illustration. "A man's cat and dog ought to be the happier for his religion." III. THE PUNISHMENT REMITTED (ver. 10). Do not try to reconcile God's Unchange-, ableness and his Repentance, for, like Free Will and Foreknowledge, "they were never at variance." Both are blessed truths seen from different standpoints. Show rather that God morally regards us at any one moment just as we then are, and that his justice is honored in the salvation of the penitent as much as in the destruction of the wicked.

If there is time, glance at Jonah (chap. 5), not yet hopeless of the destruction of those sinners, petulant, disappointed, even angry, as those who could govern God's world better than God himself are liable to be. Notice what the Lord prepares for his instruction, and the lesson he teaches him; and notice too that Jonah does not, as before, betake himself from God's presence.

Fail not to press home on every conscience the GOLDEN TEXT.

HEZEKIAH'S GOOD REIGN. 2 KINGS 18: 1-12.

GOLDEN TEXT. — He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. KINGS 18:3.

-2

TIME. Hezekiah began to reign, B.C. 726. More than a century after the death of Elisha, our last lesson in the Kings, and 75 years after Jonah's mission to Nineveh.

CHRONOLOGY. — By studying the table of Old Testament chronology of this volume, the main facts of the intervening history can be obtained. The dates, as given in our Bibles, vary a few years from those derived from the Assyrian monuments. It is not yet certain whether some error of dates has crept into the Bible history through the mistakes of copyists, or whether we do not yet correctly interpret the monuments. As the late Mr. George Smith has remarked, "There is a striking agreement in the order and substance of the events mentioned in both histories, although there sometimes appears to be considerable difference as to the dates. . . It must be remembered that many of the Assyrian chronological documents are mutilated and incomplete, and that the Assyrians are not always correct in the statements of their histories." - Green.

PLACE. - The kingdom of Judah; especially Jerusalem.

CORRESPONDING BIBLE HISTORY. -2 Chron., chaps. 29-31. Isa. 14: 28 to the end of chap. 35 belongs to the earlier half of Hezekiah's reign. Ps. 75, 76, 80-82, 85-89 belong to this reign.

RULERS. Hezekiah, king of Judah; Hoshea, king of Israel till 721, when the kingdom of Israel was overthrown, and the people carried away captive by Shalmaneser, or Sargon, king of Assyria; the Achæans founded Sybaris, 721; Numa Pompilius at Rome, 716673; rise of Corinth, 745.

PROPHETS.-Nahum (B.C. 720-698) begins, and Isaiah (B.C. 747-698) and Micah (B.C. 750-710) continue to prophesy. A considerable part of Isaiah's prophecies belong to this reign.

PRONUNCIATIONS. — A'bi; Assyr'iă; E'lah; Gō'zăn; Ha'lah; Ha'bör; Hězěkiăh; Hosheă; Medes; Něhūsh/tăn; Shalmănesěr; Zăchăriăh.

INTRODUCTION.

Our studies are now again turned to the kingdom of Judah. The interval of a century and a quarter since the great reformation under Joash (Lesson IV.) was one of varied fortunes to the kingdom of Judah. Sometimes it fell into declension and misfortune under bad kings, and rose to great prosperity under the good, while the kingdom of Israel was growing rapidly worse and worse, both in morals and in outward condition. This intervening history can be read in 2 Kings, chaps. 15-17, and 2 Chron., chaps. 25-28, with light thrown on it from the first 14 chapters of Isaiah, which belong to this period. We now turn to the reign of one of the best kings that ever ruled over Judah.

1. Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah 1 the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.

1

2. Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.

3. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did.

1 2 Chron. 28:27; 29: 1. Matt. 1:9.

EXPLANATORY.

I. Hezekiah. - Vers. 1-3. I. Now it came to pass, etc. It must be carefully observed that vers. 1-8 contain a summary account of the entire reign of Hezekiah. After this general summary follows, from ver. 9 on, the narrative of the chief events during his reign in chronological order. Lange. Third year of Hoshea. Hoshea was the 19th king of Israel, B.C. 730-721. Hezekiah began to reign near the close of his third year, so that the greater part of Hezekiah's first year would fall in the fourth year of Hoshea (see vers. 9, 10). — Cook. Hezekiah (strength of Jehovah) the son of Ahaz king of Judah. Hezekiah was the 13th king of Judah, and one of the best. He had a prosperous reign of 29 years (B.C. 726-698). He was the good son of a bad father. (1) Perhaps a good mother, the daughter of a prophet, counteracted the evil example of his father. (2) Perhaps also the excessive evil of his father and the results of his wickedness proved a warning to (3) Isaiah the prophet, who began to prophesy in his father's reign, may have exerted a good influence over him. The Jewish rabbis say he was his tutor. But (4) even if these things exerted their influence, we must, with Lange, "recognize here, if anywhere, a dispensation of divine providence.”. - P. He was one of the noblest princes who ever adorned David's throne. His reign of 29 years offers an almost unmarred picture of persevering warfare against the most intricate and most difficult circumstances, and of glorious victory. He was very noble, not unwarlike or wanting in courage (2 Kings 20: 20), yet by choice more devoted to the arts of peace (2 Chron. 32: 27-29; Prov. 25: 1). Ewald.

the son.

2. Twenty and five years old was he. It has been observed that this statement, combined with that of 2 Kings 16: 2, that Ahaz was only 20 at his accession, and reigned but 16 years, would make it necessary that Ahaz should have married at the age of ten. Probably an error has crept in as to the age of Ahaz. His mother's name also was Abi. A shortened form of Abijah in 2 Chron. 29: 1. Zachariah. The same as Zechariah, a very common name, belonging to 25 different persons in the Bible. This Zachariah must be distinguished from the author of the book of that name, who lived two centuries later. Stanley says that this Zachariah may have been the favorite prophet of Uzziah (2 Chron. 26: 5), who aided him so much in making his reign religious and prosperous. If the prophet who exerted such an excellent influence upon Uzziah was the father or grandfather (for "daughter" sometimes means grand-daughter) of Hezekiah's mother, there is some light cast upon the influences which made Hezekiah so different a man from his father.- Todd.

3. Right in the sight of the Lord. All that is truly right must be right in the sight of the Lord, who sees the inmost heart and motives, and knows not only what seems right, but what is right. Many a wrong may seem right in the sight of man. According to all that David... did. Some of his predecessors did right, it is said, but not like David, who was always the standard by which other kings were measured (1 Kings 11:6; 15: 3, 11).

4. He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the 2 brazen serpent that Moses had made for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.

II. The State of the Kingdom when Hezekiah Began to Reign. The condition of Judah when Hezekiah ascended the throne was sad in the extreme. The political situation was humiliating. The kingdom had been invaded by the Edomites, and many people carried away captives. The king of Assyria distressed the kingdom, and the temple and the palace were robbed of their treasures to buy him off. And the kingdom was expected to pay a large annual tribute to Assyria. Ahaz, with a daring impiety, had closed the temple altogether, broke up its sacred vessels, altered or removed part of its costly furniture, and marked his full adoption of polytheistic worship by setting up altars "in every corner of Jerusalem," as well as throughout the land. The Jews still commemorate by a yearly fast this time of affliction. -Green. Pride and oppression had developed themselves in an habitual disregard of justice, and a lawless violence towards the mass of the community. The numerous members of the royal family and the nobility monopolized the administration of justice, and encroached even on the power of the king. The cominon citizen, the peasant, and the shepherd trembled before them. The priests had caught the contagion of corruption, and even among the prophets a large proportion abused their office to the most selfish and dishonorable ends. Public feeling was roused against the fearless and upright among the order, till a persecution like that of Jezebel's days seemed imminent, and the servants of God had to hide for their lives. Still more: while the body of the people was thus impoverished, the rich selfish and oppressive, the judges corrupt, and heathen superstition invading all ranks, the State was torn by rival factions. Geikie.

III. A Great Revival of Religion. Vers. 4-6. FIRST, ITS WORK OF DESTROYING EVIL.

4.

He removed the high places. From 2 Chron. 31: I we learn that this was the fruit of opening the house of God and holding a great religious meeting for 14 days. The spirit of the more religious part of the nation was roused, and enthusiastic bands of men, excited by a week of devotional exercise, poured forth from Jerusalem in all directions over the surrounding country, bent on obliterating all traces of the idolatrous, and even of the questionable rites which had long prevailed in the land. "All Israel that were present" at the great Passover "went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin — in Ephraim also and Manasseh- until they had utterly destroyed them." Lange. For high places, see Lesson IV. Here they included not only the idolatrous, but those in which the true God was falsely worshipped. They were the rural centres for the worship of Jehovah, standing in the place of the later synagogues, and had hitherto been winked at, even by the best kings. Images. These were, no doubt, originally memorial pillars or stones, erected to commemorate some divine manifestation, and with no thought of idolatry (see Gen. 31: 13; 35: 14, 20; 28: 18). But the Canaanites erected pillars, which were also statues or images, to their god Baal in the same places, or used the old pillars for Baal worship. Groves. These were wooden pillars to Ashtoreth, as the "images" were stone pillars to Baal. Some of them may have been effigies of that goddess, and all were consecrated to her impure and revolting worship. Brake in pieces. Because the symbol of salvation became a means of idolatry. The brazen serpent. The origin of this serpent, as a symbol by which the Israelites, bitten by the fiery serpents in the wilderness, were cured, may be found in Num. 21: 4-9. It was probably preserved first in the tabernacle, and afterwards in the temple. The preservation of this remarkable relic of antiquity might, like the pot of manna and Aaron's rod, have remained an interesting and instructive monument of divine goodness and mercy to the Israelites in the wilderness, and it must have required the exercise of no small courage and resolution to destroy it. But in the progress of degeneracy it had become an object of idolatrous worship; and as the interests of true religion rendered its demolition necessary, Hezekiah, by taking this bold step, consulted both the glory of God and the good of his country. J., F. and B. For unto those days. The time of Hezekiah. It does not mean that this took place without interruption from the time of Moses down to that of Hezekiah, but simply that it occurred at intervals, and that the idolatry carried on with this idol lasted till the time of Hezekiah. - Keil. Did burn incense to it. As to an

5. He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; 2 so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. 6. For he clave 3 to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses.

7. And the LORD was 4 with him; and he 5 prospered whithersoever he went forth and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not. 8. He 7 smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

12 Kings 19: 10. Job 13:15. Ps. 13: 5. 22 Kings 23: 25. 3 Deut. 10: 20. Josh. 23:8. 42 Chron. 15:2. 62 Kings 16: 7. 71 Chron. 4: 41. Isa. 14:29.

5 Sam. 185, 14. Ps. 60: 12. I

$ 2 Kings 17:9.

idol. The remembrance of the old cures wrought might induce those bitten by venomous reptiles to seek help in this quarter. Cook. A superstitious belief in the hidden powers of an object through which such wonders were once done would naturally be associated with this brazen symbol. And he called it Nehushtan. Rather, " And it was called Nehushtan." This was its popular name down to the time of its destruction. The people called it, not "the serpent" (nahash), but "the brass," or "the brass thing" (nehushtan). Probably they did not like to call it "the serpent on account of the dark associations which were attached to that reptile (Gen. 3: 1-15; Isa. 27: 1; Ps. 91: 13, etc.). · Cook.

SECOND, THE WORK OF BUILDING UP THE Good. Hezekiah not only destroyed the idols and overthrew age-long wrongs, but, well knowing that this alone was not enough, he built up good institutions in the place of the bad ones removed. Three chapters in 2 Chron. are devoted to this reform (2 Chron. 29–31).

(1) He opened and restored the house of God.

(2) He had three great prophets to help him, — Isaiah, Micah, and Nahum.

(3) He organized the ministry of the priests, and encouraged those who taught the people.

(4) He re-established the services of divine worship.

(5) He re-organized the sacred music, both vocal and instrumental.

(6) The offerings to the Lord were free and abundant, for the temple service and for the priests.

(7) He summoned the whole nation to a great and solemn feast of worship, the Passover, which lasted fourteen days.

5. He trusted in the Lord. His service was not a mere outward service, but a service of the heart, and all his good works were the fruit of his faith. Whatsoever church or school labors and trusts as Hezekiah did, will see like results in the revival of God's work. So that after him was none like him. Said also of Josiah (2 Kings 23: 25). Each was first in his own work and method of reformation. Or probably the phrase was proverbial, and was not taken to mean more than we mean when we say that a king was one of singular piety. Cook.

6. For he clave to the Lord. Many other kings good at first had fallen away, but Hezekiah persevered to the end. Kept his commandments. He obeyed both the moral and ceremonial laws. He trained his people in the religious service and in morality. This is the natural result of a revival. I never have known a revival of religion which was not also a revival of morality. - P.

IV. The State of the Kingdom, as a Result of this Revival. — Vers. 7, 8. 7. And the Lord was with him. There are always two elements in true success, - the human and the divine. There is always something needed beyond energy and talent. God has control of all the things connected with us, many of which are as far beyond our control as the march of the stars through the sky. Verses 5 and 6 gave Hezekiah's side. Now we learn that God, with his infinite power, was with him to make all things work together for his good. He rebelled against the king of Assyria. He refused to pay the tribute which the king, lom under his father Ahaz had paid (2 Kings 16: 8). The revolt may be safely placed about the third year of Hezekiah (B.C. 724). — Wm. Smith.

Even unto

8. He smote the Philistines. His warlike enemies on the south-west. Gaza. As far as Gaza, the last town in the south-west of Palestine, on the frontier toward Egypt. Bib. Dic. From the tower of the watchmen. The smallest place, which contained only a watch-tower in the fields. To the fenced city. The fortified city; the largest and strongest of the Philistine towns. The reign of Hezekiah is the culminating point of interest in the history of the kings of Judah. He gives the first distinct example of an

9. And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.

10. And at the end of three years they took it: even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, 2 the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. 11. And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in 3 Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes :

12. Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them.

1 2 Kings 17:3. 22 Kings 17:6. 31 Chron. 5:26. 42 Kings 17:7. Dan. 9: 6, 10.

attempt to collect the sacred books of his country. By his orders a large part (Prov. 25: 1) of the Proverbs of Solomon · to which Jewish tradition adds the prophecies of Isaiah, the book of Ecclesiastes, and the Canticles were written out and preserved. The palace at Jerusalem was a storehouse of gold, silver, and jewels; the porch of the palace was once more hung with splendid shields (2 Chron. 32: 27). Towers and enclosures sprang up for the vast herds and flocks of the pastoral districts. The vineyards, olive-yards, and cornfields were again cultivated. The towers and fortifications of Jerusalem, the supply of water to the town, both by aqueduct from without and by a reservoir hewn out of the solid rock, were for centuries connected with his name. "Peace and truth" were the watchwords of his reign. — Stanley.

V. The End of the Kingdom of Israel. — Vers. 9-12. In these verses the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes by Shalmaneser, which has been related according to the annals of the kingdom of Israel in chap. 17: 3-6, is related once more according to the annals of the kingdom of Judah, in which this catastrophe is also introduced as an event that was memorable in relation to all the covenant-nation. — Keil.

9. Fourth year of king Hezekiah. Sometime in B.C. 723. Shalmaneser king of Assyria. He reigned B.C. 727-722. This war against Israel was begun by him, but he was succeeded by Sargon before the final victory. Hence it is not said in ver. 10 that Shalmaneser took Samaria, but " 'they took it." This agrees with the Assyrian inscriptions, which say that Sargon captured Samaria in B.C. 721, the first year of his reign.

IO. At the end of three years. B.C. 721.

II.

66

The king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria. At first Sargon carried off from Samaria no more than 27,280 prisoners (Ancient Monarchies, vol. ii., p. 410). But there is reason to believe that later in his reign he effected the wholesale deportation here mentioned. - - Cook. Put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan. Rather, on the Habor, the river of Gozan." The great affluent of the Euphrates, the western Khabour, is no doubt intended. Halah and Gozan were regions in Mesopotamia. This was the end of the kingdom of Israel. The people never returned to become a kingdom again. "The lost ten tribes" have often been sought for; but (1) some returned to Judea at the close of the Babylonish captivity; (2) some united with the Jews of the dispersion, - those scattered over various countries, but living as Jews; (3) the others were probably absorbed into the surrounding nations, and were no longer distinctively Jews. 12. Because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord. The writer proceeds to assign the reasons for which God suffered the Israelites to be deprived of their land and carried into captivity. He finds them (1) in their idolatries; (2) in their rejection of the law; and (3) in their disregard of the warning voices of prophets and seers, whom God had raised up from time to time in order to recall them, if possible, from their evil ways. · Cook. These Israelites, of the kingdom of Israel, were so confirmed in sin, so hardened against every good influence, that there was no possible hope of their reformation. God did everything possible for their salvation. He taught them his law, he gave them religious institutions, he disciplined them with sorrow, he blessed them with prosperity, he rewarded their obedience, he worked miracles for them, he sent them prophets to warn and to teach and guide, he bore long and patiently with them; but it was all in vain. They grew worse and worse, and at last they met their final and hopeless doom. - P.