LIBRARY REFERENCES.

On the light thrown by the Assyrian inscriptions upon Bible history, see Rawlinson's Ancient Monarchies, vol. ii., and his Herodotus, vol. i.; Geo. Smith's Assyrian Discoveries; Rawlinson's Historical Illustrations of Scripture; and Prof. Birks' Com. on Isaiah, Appendix III. For the ultimate fate of "the ten tribes," see Bible Commentary, 2 Kings 17:23, Note B.

LESSONS FROM A GREAT REVIVAL.

I. A young man may become good, even though his father be bad. Grace can overcome all the disadvantages and difficulties of such parentage.

2.

Hezekiah's mother is mentioned, because a good mother is the greatest power toward making a good son. Nothing else is known of her; but this is enough, to be the mother and have the training of so great and good a son.

3. The first need both of the individual and of the nation, when in a state of disaster and adversity, is a revival of true religion.

4. A revival begins in the individual heart, and from that extends to the community. 5. There is a divine and a human instrumentality in every work of grace. Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, and the Lord was with him.

6. Every revival, both in the individual and in the community, is connected with the use of means.

7. There are two processes. First, the destruction of the evil, the repenting of sin, putting away bad habits, bad institutions, bad business, reforming abuses, casting out the idols of the heart. Second, the implanting of the good, repairing churches, new attention to divine institutions, using the means of grace, restoring religious meetings, better teaching, preaching, and singing, setting all the people to work, religious enthusiasm, and perseverance in all.

8. The result of more religion is greater prosperity. The nation that seeks first the kingdom of God shall have temporal blessings in addition.

9. Those who will not be revived, but continue in sin, must inevitably perish.

10.

But God makes the way of transgressors hard, by doing everything possible to persuade them to repent and be saved. They must trample on his love, his wonders of grace, the influences of his spirit, his works of providence, his discipline, in order to go on in sin.

SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS.

There will be little time in this lesson for more than a brief glance at the Intervening History of more than a century between this and our last lesson in the Kings. Look at the table of Old Testament chronology for this brief review. READ THE LESSON over not only in 2 Kings but in 2 Chronicles, and look at some of the chapters of Isaiah which belong to this period.

The SUBJECT is, - A GREAT REVIVAL AND ITS LESSONS.

I. GOOD KING HEZEKIAH (vers. 1-3). The influences from his mother, the prophets, the Spirit of God, and the sad warning from the state of the kingdom, which helped the young king to be good, are the like influences around us.

II. THE STATE OF THE KINGDOM WHEN HE BEGAN TO REIGN. Read the results of the wickedness of Ahaz, seen in the sad condition of the kingdom, in 2 Kings 16: 3, 8, 17; 2 Chron. 28: 4-6, 17-25; 29:6-9. There was both spiritual and worldly desolation. Great was the need of revival.

III. THE GREAT REVIVAL (vers. 4-6). Note the human and divine influences at work. Note also the two processes, the negative and the positive, the destroying evil, and the implanting of good. True reform is always more upbuilding than destructive. The evil institutions destroyed must be replaced by good institutions.

Illustration. Cutting down weeds, ploughing, picking up the stones, removing roots and stumps, these alone will never make a fruitful field. There must be the sowing of good seed, or there can be no harvest.

Illustration. Once risen into this divine white-heat of temper, were it only for a season and not again, the nation is thenceforth considerable through all its remaining history. I believe nations are benefited for ages by being thrown once into divine whiteheat in this manner. - Carlyle on The Reformation.

Mark also the means used,— the new interest in the house of God, the cleansing of the church, renewed services, new interest in the ministry, meetings, the service of song, prayer, instruction, contributions, and active work on the part of the people. It is the same in every revival.

IV. THE REVIVAL FOLLOWED BY NATIONAL PROSPERITY (vers. 7, 8). The work which true religion does in a community lies at the basis of prosperity. Religion cultivates industry, economy, energy, honesty, temperance, which tend to prosperity, and destroy the vices which bring poverty and ruin. Most of all, it brings the blessing of God.

V. THE END OF UNREPENTANT SINNERS (vers. 9-12). The kingdom of Israel was not finally destroyed till there was no hope of making it a good nation. Dwell on the influences with which God surrounds the sinner, and draws him to a better life. God does all that is possible to save men from ruin. What hinderances men have to overcome in order to lose their souls, - Bibles, Sabbaths, conscience, the Holy Spirit, God's providence, friends, teachers, a mother's prayers! But "he that hardeneth his neck shall be suddenly cut off," and that without remedy.

Illustration. In Retsch's illustrations of Goethe's Faust, there is one plate where angels are dropping roses upon the demons who are contending for Faust's soul, and every rose falls like molten metal, burning and blistering wherever it touches.

Illustration. Men take the blessed fruits and grains God has made, and turn them into intoxicating drinks which ruin body and soul.

HEZEKIAH'S PRAYER ANSWERED. -2 KINGS 20: 1-17.

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GOLDEN TEXT. - The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble. - Ps. 20: I. TIME.-B.C. 713. In the 14th year of Hezekiah's reign, seven or eight years after the end of the kingdom of Israel.

PLACE. - Jerusalem, the kingdom of Judah.

CORRESPONDING BIBLE HISTORY. - Isaiah, chaps. 38, 39; and 2 Chronicles 32: 24-33

PROPHETS. - Isaiah, Nahum, and Micah.

ASSYRIAN CHRONOLOGY.-The chronology of the Assyrian inscriptions, as arranged by Prof. Rawlinson and M. Oppert, in connection with the Scripture narrative (for no dates from a certain era are given in the inscriptions), regards Shalmaneser IV. as reigning B.C. 727-721; Sargon, B.C. 721-704; and Sennacherib, B.C. 704-680. This would place the invasion of Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:13, etc.) in the very last of Hezekiah's reign, after the promise of deliverance from Syria. Prof. T. R. Birks, of Cambridge, Eng., suggests that as Shalmaneser III. is not mentioned in the inscriptions, he and Sargon are the same person. Sargon means king de facto, or usurper, and is a title; so that the king's name was Shalmaneser Sargon (B.C. 729-714) the 15 years of Sargon covering those attributed to Shalmaneser, and beginning in 729. This is confirmed in many ways, and completely reconciles the inscriptions with Scripture, which in three different books reports the campaign of Sennacherib as in the 14th year of Hezekiah, or B.C. 713.

PRONUNCIATIONS. — Aʼmŏz; Băl'ădăn; Bĕro'dăch-băl'ădăn; Isai'ăh (Izā'yǎh); Sär'gon; Sennach'ĕrib or Sennache'rib; Shălmăne'ser.

INTRODUCTION.

One-half of Hezekiah's reign has passed away. The religious reformation has been bearing its fruits, and doubtless the accumulation of riches, and the works of peace, described in 2 Chron. 32: 27-30, were begun during this period. Then came the terrible invasion of Sennacherib from Assyria. Hezekiah endeavored to ward it off by sending to the Assyrian king an immense tribute of 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold; nearly a million and a quarter of dollars. But it was not long before he sent his armies, a mighty host, and besieged Jerusalem. In answer to Hezekiah's earnest prayer, God sent his angels and smote in one night 185,000 of them. It was probably during this siege, or not long after the deliverance, that Hezekiah's sickness occurred.

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1. In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah

12 Chron. 32: 24, etc. Isa. 38: 1, etc.

EXPLANATORY.

1. Hezekiah's Sickness. - Ver. I. I. In those days. About the time of the invasion of Sennacherib. That it did not occur after the departure of the Assyrians, but ot

the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.

2. Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying, 3. I beseech thee, O LORD, 1remember now how I have 2 walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

the commencement of the invasion of Sennacherib, i.e., in the 14th year of Hezekiah's reign, is evident from ver. 6, namely, both from the fact that in answer to his prayer 15 years more of life were promised him, and that he nevertheless reigned only 29 years (chap. 18: 2), and also from the fact that God promised to deliver him out of the hand of the Assyrians, and to defend Jerusalem. - Keil. Was Hezekiah sick unto death. Sick of a malady which, in the natural course of things, would have proved fatal. - Cook. From ver. 7 we learn that the disease was probably a carbuncle. - Keil. God sends illness upon the good, not in punishment for sins past, but as a trial of their faith and patience (Rom. 5:3). Lange. Prof. Birks thinks that this sickness occurred “very soon after the sudden overthrow of the Assyrians, and was an unexpected lesson of weakness and mortality in the very hour of exultation, when he incurred the great danger of secret pride." The prophet Isaiah. The leading prophet of Hezekiah's reign, and author of the Book of Isaiah (see next lesson). Came to him. There is no species of cruelty greater than to suffer a friend to lie on a dying bed under a delusion. There is no sin more aggravated than that of designedly deceiving a dying man, and flattering him with the hope of recovery when there is a moral certainty that he will not, and cannot recover. And there is evidently no danger to be apprehended from communicating to the sick their true condition. It should be done tenderly, and with affection; but it should be done faithfully. I have had many opportunities of witnessing the effect of apprising the sick of their situation, and of the moral certainty that they must die. And I cannot now recall an instance in which the announcement has had any unhappy effect on the disease. Often, on the contrary, the effect is to calm the mind, and to lead the dying to look up to God, and peacefully to repose on him. And the effect of THAT is always salutary. Nothing is more favorable for a recovery than a peaceful, calm, heavenly submission to God; and the repose and quiet which physicians so much desire their patients to possess, is often best obtained by securing confidence in God, and a calm resignation to his will.- Barnes. Set thine house in order. Arrange your affairs so that they will go on without you; referring to his family, his plans, his successor, and his kingdom. For thou shalt die. Death was the natural result of his sickness. This is not

a prediction, but a prophetic warning. A message, thus addressed to a person, not spoken of him to others, is a call to repentance and prayer, not the revelation of a fixed, unalterable decree. Birks.

II. Hezekiah's Prayer. - Vers. 2, 3. 2. Then he turned his face to the wall. Away from those who were present, in order that he might pray more freely and collectedly. - Lange.

3. Remember now. The old covenant promised temporal prosperity, including length of days, to the righteous. Hezekiah, conscious of his faithfulness and integrity, feels that he has not deserved the sentence which cuts him off in middle life, at an age little (if at all) beyond that which was attained by his wicked father. He ventures, therefore, to expostulate; he prays God to call to remembrance his life and conduct, as if it could only be through forgetfulness that God had determined evil against him. According to the highest standard of morality up to this time revealed, there was nothing unseemly in the self-vindication of the monarch, which has many parallels in the Psalms of David (Ps. 7: 3-10; 18: 19-26; 26: 1-8; etc.).— Cook. I have walked before thee . . . with a perfect heart. Though, as a man, he might be deeply conscious of imperfection, yet, as a king, his influence had been wholly on the side of religion, and he had not declined from the ways of God. Barnes. Hezekiah wept sore. Literally, "with a great weeping." Hezekiah's sorrow at the approach of death was natural and right. (1) The desire to live one's full term of years is right. God himself promises it as a blessing. (2) His work was unfinished. Hezekiah had passed his whole life up to this point in anxiety and trouble; he was now, for the first time, in a position to look forward with courage and hope to a period of peace, rest, and prosperity, and to the opportunity of doing more for his country than he had hitherto been able to do. He had succeeded to the throne in a time of deep decay, and had sought

4. And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

5. Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have 2 heard thy prayer, I have seen thy 3 tears behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.

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6. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

7. And Isaiah 5 said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

11 Sam. 9:16; 10: 1. 22 Kings 19:20. Ps. 65: 2. 3 Ps. 39: 12; 56: 8. 42 Kings 19: 34. 5 Isa. 38:21. in every way to restore prosperity and strength, and now, when he was in a position to labor for this end with some success, it was hard to leave all.— Lange. (3) He had no son, as yet, to whom he could leave his kingdom. (4) The consciousness of sin, and the need of better preparation to die (Isa. 38: 17). (5) In those days even the best of men had but faint assurance and realization of the resurrection and immortal life brought to light afterwards by Jesus Christ.

III. The Answer to his Prayer. - Vers. 4-11. FIRST, -THE PROMISE. 4. Afore Isaiah was gone out. The answer was immediate. Into the middle court. That is, of the royal palace. — Cook. Eastern palaces were built around a central court. 5. The captain of my people. The one who, under God, leads and commands God's people. The Lord, the God of David. The present is ever associated with the past, because all the past history of God's people belongs to the present, and illustrates God's dealings with them to-day. Behold, I will heal thee. Means were used (ver. 7), but the healing was God's direct gift. Who can tell but that he often thus spares useful lives when worn down with toil, and when the frame is apparently sinking to the grave, in answer to prayers? He may direct to remedies which had not before occurred; or he may himself give a sudden and unlooked-for turn to the disease, and restore the sufferer again to health. - Barnes. On the third day thou shalt go up. Hezekiah is comforted, not merely with a general assurance of recovery, but with a promise marking at once the completeness of the cure ("thou shalt go up"), and its rapidity (" on the third day"). Unto the house of the Lord. It is assumed, from the known piety of Hezekiah, that his first act, when he has recovered, will be to return thanks to Almighty God, in the temple.

6. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years. As if the Lord had said to him, "You have more work to do as king of my people, and also more of a useful, devoted life to enjoy. I assign its limit; work diligently while you may."- Cowles. The date of the illness is fixed by this to Hezekiah's 14th or 15th year, B.C. 714 or 713. — Cook. And. God gave him not only what he asked, but more, as he had done to Solomon 300 years before (2 Chron. 1: 7-12). I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. Either out of the hands of Sennacherib, as related in the previous chapter (2 Kings 19: 35-37), or it was a general assurance of protection and deliverance from this overgrown power which was continually threatening Judah (see Chronology in the Introduction to this lesson). For mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. In order that he might be known and revered in the world as the true God, which knowledge and reverence were the greatest blessings to men; and for the sake of the promises made to David.

SECOND, THE MEANS. 7. A lump of figs. It is usual in the East, even at the present day, to employ a poultice of figs as a remedy for ordinary boils. But such a remedy would not naturally cure a dangerous tumor or carbuncle. Thus the means used in this miracle may be compared with those adopted by Elisha when he raised the Shunammite's child (2 Kings 4: 34), or by our Lord when he satisfied the hunger of the multitudes, means having a tendency towards the result wrought by them, but insufficient of themselves to produce that result.- Cook. The boil. Hezekiah's malady was evidently a single inflammatory boil, ulcer, or tumor, not an eruptive disorder. Cook. Probably a carbuncle is intended. Keil. Such means as this, and the clay with which Christ anointed the eyes of the blind, and the oil with which James bids the elders anoint the sick, are employed (1) as an aid to faith; (2) as showing that true faith in God uses means; (3) as showing that

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8. And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the LORD the third day?

9. And Isaiah said, 2 This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?

10. And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.

II. And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and 3 he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz. 3 See Josh. 10: 12, 14.

1 See Judges 6:17, 37, 39. Isa. 7: 11, 14: 38:22.

2 See Isa. 38: 7, 8.

the power in all means is from God; (4) the means here were inadequate, in order to lead Hezekiah to trust in God and to feel that his healing was the direct gift of God. — P. THIRD, THE ASSURANCE. 8. And Hezekiah said. Not after the recovery mentioned in the last verse, but after the promise of recovery. He probably was deathly sick, and felt no immediate signs of improvement. What shall be the sign? Rather, "What sign is there?" Asking for a sign is a pious or a wicked act according to the spirit in which it is done. No blame is attached to the requests of Gideon (Judg. 6:17, 37, 39), or to this of Hezekiah, because they were real wishes of the heart expressed humbly. The "evil generation" that "sought for a sign" in our Lord's days, did not really want one, but made the demand captiously, neither expecting nor wishing that it should be granted. Cook.

9. Shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? Hezekiah is given his choice between two signs. The ten degrees are literally "ten steps," and refer to the instrument which we call a sun-dial, and which the ancients called a shadowmeasurer (Plin. xxxvi. 15), because the hour of the day was estimated by the length of the shadow. It seems most probable to us that it was a column with circular steps surrounding it. "This column cast the shadow of its top at noon upon its uppermost, and morning and evening upon the lowest step, and thus designated the hour of the day (Knobel). — Lange. How much time each step or degree measured is unknown. If, as some suggest, they were half-hour marks, then the time would go back five hours.

IO. It is a light thing for the shadow to go down. That is, down the steps, or forward on the dial. This was its natural direction. It is easy to make the day of life shorter. Let the shadow return backward. (1) The king chooses that which appears to be the more difficult in order that the proof may be the clearer. Lange. (2) The retrograde movement of the shadow upon the sun-dial indicated that Hezekiah's life, which had already arrived at its close by natural means, was to be put back by a miracle of divine omnipotence, so that it might continue for another series of years.- Keil. (3) It was a symbol of the arrest of the downward course of the kingdom, and a return to prosperity. — Birks.

II. And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord. Even a prophet must pray, and for the very things which had been promised. This necessity of prayer kept the prophet's soul in communion with God. And he brought the shadow ten degrees backward. The question as to the mode whereby the return of the shadow was produced is one on which many opinions have been held. The older commentators, almost without exception, believed in an actual reversing of the earth's motion around its axis; moderns generally suppose some less violent interference with the order of nature, as extraordinary refraction. -Keil. Recently it has been urged with a good deal of force that the true cause of the phenomenon was a solar eclipse, in which the moon obscured the entire upper limb of the sun; and it has been clearly shown that if such an occurrence took place a little before midday it would have had the effect described as having taken place. Cook. The proba bility is that it was a miraculous use of the laws of refraction, producing the effect which was once observed in a lesser degree. On the 27th of March, 1703, P. Romauld, prior of the cloister at Metz, made the observation that, owing to such a refraction of the solar rays in the higher regions of the atmosphere in connection with the appearance of a cloud, the shadow on his dial deviated an hour and a half. - Henderson. The dial of Ahaz. See under ver. 9. The dial which Ahaz set up, and which he probably obtained from Babylon, for he appears to have been fond of foreign objects of art (2 Kings 16: 10). The Assyrians" were the first to divide the day into twenty-four hours, the hours into sixty minutes, the minutes into sixty seconds" (Lenormant I., 449). And Herodotus states (2:109) that the Greeks