13. And he burnt his burnt-offering and his meat-offering, and poured his drink-offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace-offerings, upon the altar. 14. And he brought also the brasen altar, which was before the Lord, from the fore-front of the house, from between the altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of the altar. 15. And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, Upon the great altar [the high altar] burn the morning burnt-offering, and the evening meat-offering, and the king's burnt-sacrifice, and his meat-offering, with the burnt-offering of all the people of the land, and their meat offering, and their drink-offerings; and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt-offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice: and the brasen altar shall be for me to enquire by. 16. Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that king Ahaz commanded. 17. ¶ And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down the sea from of the brasen oxen [these were ultimately carried off by the Babylonians (Jer. lii. 20)] that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones [a pedestal or foundation of stonework]. 18. And the covert for the sabbath [an obscure expression. The best interpretation is "the covered hall (or stand) set apart for the use of the king and his attendants when he visited the Temple on holy days"] that they had built in the house, and the king's entry without, turned he from the house of the Lord [stripped them of their ornamental work] for the king of Assyria. 19. Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah ? 20. And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead. 2 Kings xvii. I. In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years. 2. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. 3. Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave [rendered] him presents [or, tribute]. 4. And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought [offered] no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year [omit "year by year"]: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up [comp. Jer. xxxii. 2, 3, xxxiii. 1, xxxvi. 3] and bound him in prison. 5. Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. 6. In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them [literally, made them dwell] in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan [on Habor the river of Gozan] and in the cities of the Medes. 7. For so it was [literally, And it came to pass], that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods [such as the Baals and Asherahs of Canaan, which symbolised the productive powers of Nature, and, further, the heavenly bodies (comp. Amos v. 25, 26; Ezek. viii. 14, 16], 8. And walked in the statutes [religious rules or ordinances. (Comp. Exod. xii. 14, "statutes;" Lev. xx. 23, "manners;" I Kings iii. 3, "ordinances ")] of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and the kings of Israel, which they had made. 9. And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. [The towers are such as are mentioned in 2 Chron. xxvi. 10.] 10. And they set them up images [statues], and groves [pillars and Asherahs-sacred trunks], in every high hill, and under every green tree: II. And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them; and wrought wicked things [not merely idolatrous rites, but also the hideous immoralities which constituted a recognised part of the nature-worships of Canaan] to provoke the Lord to anger: 12. For they served idols [And they served the dunglings; a term of contempt], whereof the Lord had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. 13. Yet the Lord testified [gave solemn warning or charge] against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. 14. Notwithstanding they would not hear [and they hearkened not], but hardened their necks [neck. (Comp. Deut. x. 16; Jer. xvii. 23; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 13)], like to the neck [more than the neck] of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God. 15. And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them. 16. And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images [1 Kings xii. 28: literally, a casting], even two calves, and made a grove [an Asherah (1 Kings xiv. 23, xvi. 33)], and worshipped all the host of heaven [chap. xxi. 3; comp. xxiii. 4], and served Baal. 17. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire [the cultus of Molech (chap. xvi. 3)] and used divination and enchantments [Deut. xviii. 10; Numb. xxiii. 23], and sold themselves [idolatry is regarded as a servitude (comp. 1 Kings xxi. 20, 25)] to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. 18. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight [by banishing them from his land (v. 23)]: there was none left but the tribe [i.e., the kingdom (comp. 1 Kings xi. 36)] of Judah only. 19. Also Judah kept not [Judah was no exception to the sins and punishments of Israel; she imitated the apostasy of her sister-kingdom, and was visited with a similar penalty] the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. 20. And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight. 21. For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave [put far away] Israel from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin. 22. For the children of Israel walked [obstinately persisted, in spite of all warning] in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; 23. Until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. [Comp. Hosea i. 6, ix. 16; Amos iii. 11, 12, v. 27; Isa. xxviii. 1-4] So was Israel carried away [that the land was not entirely depopulated appears from such passages as 2 Chron. xxx. I, xxxiv. 9] out of their own land to Assyria unto this day. 24. And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them [made them dwell] in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. 25. And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent [the] lions [in the interval between the Assyrian depopulation and the repcopling of the land, the lions indigenous to the country had multiplied naturally enough] among them, which slew some of them. 26. Wherefore they [men; the prefects of the province] spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner [appointed worship] of the God of the land therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land. 27. Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry [cause to go] thither one of the priests whom ye brought [carried away] from thence; and let them [him] go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land. 28. Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Beth-el [because he was a priest of the calf-worship], and taught [and was teaching; implying a permanent work] them how they should fear the Lord. 29. Howbeit [And] every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans [the people of northern Israel (comp. v. 24)] had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt. 30. And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, 31. And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. 32. So they feared [were fearing] the Lord, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them [of all orders, or promiscuously (comp. I Kings xii. 31). Another indication that it was Jeroboam's mode of worship which was now restored] priests of the [omit "the"] high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. 33. They feared the Lord, and served their own gods [literally, Jehovah they were fearing, and their own gods they were serving], after the manner of the nations whom they carried [who carried them] away from thence. 34. Unto this day they do after the former manners [they still keep up the religious customs of the first colonists]: they fear not the Lord, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel: 35. With whom the Lord had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them: 36. But the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched-out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice. 37. And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore: and ye shall not fear other gods. 38. And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget ; neither shall ye fear other gods. [This formula is repeated thrice (vv. 35, 37, 38) as the main point of the covenant between Jehovah and Israel.] 39. But the Lord your God ye shall fear; and he [the pronoun is emphatic : and he, on his part, will deliver you] shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. 40. Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did [continued doing] after their former manner. 41. So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images [a variation of v. 33], both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day. A GENUINE RELIGION. VERY significant expression occurs in the twenty-ninth verse of the fifteenth chapter. "In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria." A very humbling expression! But this is an aspect of providence we cannot afford, if we be wise men, to ignore. Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, came and carried away all these people captive to Assyria-simply "carried" them. When men have lost their soul, their spirit, their fire, they are simply carted away like so many hundredweights and tons of dead matter. We are not men if we have lost manliness-in other words, if we have lost the indwelling Spirit of God, the force eternal, the seal divine; we are not then conquered, because to be "conquered" would imply some measure of calculated and rational resistance, we are simply carried away, borne off, as men might carry dead matter. This is the lot of all nations that forget God: this is the lot of every man whose heart ceases to be the sanctuary of the living Spirit: he is but so much bulk; name him in pounds avoirdupois, report him in so many inches and feet of stature and girth;-he has grieved the Spirit; he has quenched the Spirit; henceforth he is to be driven as one of a herd of dumb cattle; he is to be carried as if he were but so much flesh. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." The Almighty can humble us in many ways-— unexpected, wholly unforeseen, and absolutely inevitable, so that he who was the crown of his people is trodden under foot, and as for the fine gold, men are struck by nothing so much as by its dimness. We now come to the incident of Ahaz sending messages to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, complaining to him that the hand of the king of Syria and the hand of the king of Israel had been raised against the king of Judah. Ahaz afterwards paid a visit to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, going to Damascus to |