Jehoiada being dead, and Joafs spoilate, God visits him with a severe courage. 1. Hazael king of Syria, after the capture of Gath, prepares for the siege of Jerusalem; and Joafs now having deserted God, and being justly deserted by him, instead of returning to seek his favour, by robbing his temple endeavours to bribe his enemy. An impolitic contrivance, which only tempted the Syrians to a speedy return, 2 Chron. xxiv. Note, They who forsake God, grow foolish in their imaginations, and hullen their ruin by the means they use to avert it. 2. His wickedness and cruelty exasperated his subjects, and two of his servants conspired against him, and flew him. Thus ingloriously ended that reign, so promisingly begun. Note, Apollates from God, as they bring greater dishonour upon religion than others, may expect to be visited with God's heavy hand. Jeroboam, the son of Josph, reigned longer than any king of Israel before him; yet his character bears a brand of infamy. He followed the sins of his predecessor, whose name he bore, and the calves were his gods: yet God, in mercy to his people. 1. Raised up a prophet in the room of Elisha; Joarsh, a Galilean, See John vii. 52. The events recorded in his prophecy are supposed to have happened in his younger days, and now he more willingly executed the service of his functions. Nate, Even prophets are sinful men: if God rejected not them for their faults, let us not be too severe one on another. 2. Encouraged by Jonah he warned against the Syrians, and recovered the country from the northern border to the plain beavah reigned God's notice; no; but he heard their groaning, oppressed, plundered, delobate, helpless; and as his decree was not yet gone forth, he gave them one short respite more, to prove them, whether they would return to him, or to leave them inexcusable in their impenitence. 3. Jeroboam's warlike exploits appeared farther in the re-entry of Damascus and Hamash, which had been tributary to Judah formerly, and now became subject to Israel. Death, however, after a long and prosperous reign, laid his honour in the duds; and he left his throne to his son, who lost it quickly, according to the notice given to Jehu, Chap. x. 30. Under Jeroboam and his contemporary kings of Judah, Hofer, Jonah, Amos, and Micah prophesied and wrote. When matters were halting to ruin, then did God multiply the warnings of his word; and though Israel and Judah despised their prophets, we have reason to bless God for their writings that are preferred for our admonition. Jeroboam, in the heights of his impious offering, seemed to glory in his shame; his courtiers around him joined his idolatrous service, and none dare remonstrate against the horrid crime: but God will not suffer these doings to pals without a severe rebuke. 1. God sends a prophet from Judah to Beth-el, and in the midst of the crowd, near the altar where the king stood, he boldly delivered his message, and proclaimed aloud the Divine judgment upon the altar, and its worshippers; that it should be defiled with dead men's bones, and that a king should arise, Judah by name, who would offer up the idolatrous prattle upon it; and to confirm the truth of his message, he gives a sign, v. 3, which immediately came to pals, an evidence of God's present displeasure, and an earnest of the threatened destruction, which came to pals as foretold, about three hundred and fifty years after, 2 Kings xxiii. 17-20. Nate, (1.) Before God thieves, he warns; he willets not that any should prattle, but rather that they should come to repentance. (2.) God's prophets must not fear the faces of men, but openly and faithfully, even to the greatest, declare their message, however unwelcome or dangerous. (3.) No events, however contingent to us, are so to God; our names, abode, and flate, pretext and eternal, are all fourteen, and fixed by his unalterable decree. 2. Jeroboam, enraged at what he termed such insolence, stretches out his hand, and commands to seize the prophet, when instantly struck of God, it grew stiff, and withered; a warning to him, how dangerous it was to fight against God. Nate, (1.) Faithful rebukes often provoke proud wrath. (2.) The preachers of God's word are the especial butt of malice, but God will protect them; he that toucheth them, toucheth the apple of his eye. (3.) In the way of duty, we need fear no danger. (4.) The hearts of sinners, like the arm of Jeroboam, are, by repelling God's warnings, given up to judicial hardness and impenitence. 3. Such a stroke, though it turned not his heart, for the time altered his tone: for miracles cannot, unfit Divine Grace works with them, convert men's souls. He begs now the prophet, whom he had threatened, to be his advocate, hoping for more success from his prayers, than his own: not that he sought forgiveness of his sin, but deliverance from his affliction. The prophet charitably confents to pray for him, and at his request God restores the withered arm. Nate, (1.) They who in their prosperity reject the warnings of God's ministers, in their distress will have recourse to their prayers. (2.) An impenitent heart ever betrays itself, in a greater concern for its sufferings than its sins. (3.) To pray for those who desirabfully use and persecute us, is the way to obtain the promised beatitude, Mat. v. 10. 44. (4.) Mercies nor judgments make any lasting impression upon the reprobate. 4. Jeroboam now would reward the prophet for his prayers, but he is forbid to eat or drink in Beth-el, and therefore refuses the king's invitation, and returns, as ordered, by another way, v. 9. Nate, (1.) We must testify against the workers of iniquity, by refusing to have any fellowship with them. (2.) Neither offers nor threatensly must prevail with us, to swerve a step from the path of duty. 11. Now there dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el, and his ty sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Beth-el; the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father. 12. And their father said unto them, 'What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah. 13. And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the afa. So they saddled him the afa, and he rode thereon. 14. And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak; and he said unto him, 'Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am. 15. Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread. 16. And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread, nor drink water with thee in this place. 17. For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread, nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest. 18. He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art, and 'an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread, and drink water; But he lied unto him. 19. So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water. 20. And it came to pals as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him back: 21. And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thou saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee, 22. But camest back, and hast eaten bread, and drunk water in the place of which the LORD did day to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers. Nothing could be more noble than the prophet's behaviour before the king, and one cannot but grieve to see him afterwards thus deduced and flain. 1. The instrument of his fall is called an old prophet, originally of Samaria, but now of Beth-el; whose dubious character makes it difficult to determine, whether he were a good or bad man. He is called a prophet; was favoured with revelations; did not attend the idolatrous worship; believed and confirmed the word of God against the altar at Beth-el; buries the prophet in his tomb; and desires to lie by his side. On the other hand, his abode in Beth-el; his permitting his sons to attend the altar; and especially the baje decent hers put upon so good a man, would rather induce one to think, that, like Baalam, the speaking some truth, he was false and faithless. Having heard by his sons what had passed, v. 11. he follows the prophet, and invites him to take some reëachment. The prophet pleads his express prohibition, but this he pretends to over-rule by a later revelation made to him, who boasts himself a prophet also, enjoining him to bring his brother back. Deceived by this pretence, the good prophet complies, and suffers for it. Nate, (1.) False prophets are the most fatal enemies of God's people. (2.) They who seek to draw us aside from God's revealed will, however plausible their pretenses, are the censurates of hell. (3.) We may be seduced to do evil by appearances of piety, when we should not be driven into it by any fears of suffering. 2. The doom denounced on the disobedient prophet. The instrument of his delusion is made the messenger of his destruction. He upbrands him with his misdeception, in returning contrary to his orders, and foretells his sudden and approaching death, before he returned to the place of his abode in Judah, v. 22. If we enquire into so strange a translation, we are not. We know only God is just in all his ways; the deceived and the deceiver are his; we must wait till a judgment-day shall clear up every mysterious providence, and make his righteousness clear as the noon day. 23. ¶ And Amaziah succeeded his father Josph in Judah, and followed his ways; began well, but ended ill. 1. He externally kept up the worship of God, but his heart was not right with him, as David's. The high places also he suffered to remain. Nate, Outward formality may pass upon men; but God requires the heart. 2. He justly punished the conspirators against his father, as soon as he was well fixed on the throne. Their children, however, he flew not, according to the law, Deut. xxiv. 16. Nate, Though blood sleeps for a while, vengeance will at last overtake the murderer. 3. In his war against Edom, which had revolted, he was successful, vanquished them in battle, and took Selah, which he called Joktheel. Eph. 8 Prov. xvii. xxv. &xviii. 6. Judg. ix. 8. 1 Prov. xii. 10. Hab. ix. 6. 6 Prov. xx. 7. Luke xxv. 31. 6. 2 Sam. ii. 63. a Prov. xvi. 18. 2 Hab. xii. 30. 6 Zach. xix. 20. 7. 1 Kings vii. 41, &c. 8. ¶ Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoah the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu king of Israel, saying, 'Come, let us look one another in the face. 9. And Jehoah the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, 'The thistle that was in Lebanon, sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beak that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle. 10. Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and 'thine heart hath lifted thee up: glory of this, and tarry at home: for 'why thou hast thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou thou hast fall, even thou, and Judah with thee? 11. But Amaziah 'would not hear: therefore Jehoah king of Israel went up, and he, and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth-shemeh, which belonged to Judah. 12. And Judah was put to the worke before Israel, and they fled every man to their tents. 13. And Jehoah king of Israel 'took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoah the son of Ahaziah at Beth-shemeh, and came to Jerusalem, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, from 'the gate of Ephraim, unto 'the corner gate, four hundred cubits. 14. And he took all the gold and silver, and 'all the vessels that were found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house, and hostages, and returned to Samaria. Jeroboam's wife is bid carry to her husband tidings of bitter woe. The God of Israel, whom he had so dishonoured, and whose people he had so injured, will avenge their quarrel upon him. 1. He upbraids him with his safe ingratitude, and impious apology. God, who had so highly distinguished him, might justly expect a return of fidelity; but he he had exceeded all that went before him in wickedness. David had sins, great ones; but he never turned to idols. Solomon for a time was unfaithful, but repented: even Saul added not this to his iniquities. But Jeroboam had opened the flood-gates of idolatry, and not only sinned himself, but involved the people in this mortal sin. Note, (1.) The greater the mercies we have received, the greater the guilt of unfaithfulness to God. (2.) They who cause others to sin, heap up the measure of vengeance against themselves. 2. He denounces the approaching ruin on Jeroboam's house, chap. xv. 29. His family should be utterly extirpated, v. 14. and their dead bodies lie unburied, as dung on the earth. Nor was the day distant, when God would raise up another king to the throne, who should execute his vengeance: even now the judgment was at their door. Note, (1.) Sudden destruction often overtakes sinners in the midst of their career. (2.) Their carcasses in the day of God shall be thus cast out, as an advening to all fiefs, lfa. levi. 24. 3. The death of the heir of his throne, who was sick, as soon as she reached the city, should be the prelude and earnest of the judgments which approached. In one thing he shall be distinguished from his ungodly family; he shall go to his grave with honour; and this, because in him alone some good thing was found towards the Lord God of Israel. When all the rest apollatized, he shewed the gracious symptoms of a heart inclined to God, and which cleaved to his worship. Note, (1.) Every gracious desire God implores, he will take notice of. (2.) Youthful piety is peculiarly amiable. (3.) A little grace in bad times, and in kings courts, shines bright. The light is heightened by the dark shades around it. (4.) God in mercy removes the righteous from the evil to come. (5.) The darling child is often snatched away for a warning to the family. (6.) The soul that is early ripe for glory, God gathers, like a sweet flower, into his bosom. 4. Though the king shall bear the heaviest burden, his apostle subjects, who followed his wicked ways, shall not be unpunished. The prophet foretells their tumultuous, unfeited state, torn with fashion, and changing frequently their kings; till, weakened by intestine division, they would become an easier prey to foreign enemies, and be carried away captive beyond the river Euphrates, or Gozen, as was the case, a King xvii. 6. Note, (1.) Though we may have never so great examples to plead for our sin, it will not screen us from punishment. (2.) Ruin is not far from a kingdom, when righteousness is expelled, and iniquity triumphant. 5. The prophecy begins to receive an immediate accomplishment in the death of Abijah, who, according to the word of the prophet, died as soon as Jeroboam's wife entered the palace at Tirzah. His amiable dispositions, as well as his dignity, made him much lamented, and occasioned, no doubt, dire forbearings of the approaching evil. Note, Death pays no more respect to palaces, than to the clay-built hut. 6. Jeroboam himself, after a reign of twenty-two years, finished a wicked life by a miserable death, Ser 2 Chron. xiii. 20. struck with some dire disease, which brought him to his grave, and leaving his tottering crown to his unhappy son Nadab, who following his father's wicked ways, soon filled up the measure of the imagery of his family. Reference is here made to a book of annals, for farther particulars of Jeroboam's reign; but these not being inspired writings, like those of many other nations, are left. 21. ¶ And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah: Rehoboam was forty and one years old, when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD did choose out of all the tribes of Israel; to put his name there: and his mother's name was Naamah, an Ammonite's. 22. And Judah did evil in the fight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealously with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. 23. For they also built them high places, and images, and groves on every high hill, and under every green tree. 24. And there were also sodomites in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD call out before the children of Israel. 25. ¶ And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem: 26. And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, he even took away all; and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. 27. And king Rehoboam made in their stead brazen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king's house. 28. And it was so, when the king went into the house of the LORD, that the † guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard-chamber. 29. ¶ Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 30. And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. 31. And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonite's. And Abijah his son reigned in his stead. Vain on his victory over Edom, or perhaps to revenge the daughter made by the Israelites, whom he had dismissed from his army, 2 Chron. xxv. 13. Amaziah, 1. Sends a challenge to Josph king of Israel to meet him in the field, little suspecting the consequence of his foolish bravado. Nate, They who begin a quarrel, deserve to suffer for it. 2. Josph treats his message with great contempt, compares himself to a cedar, and Amaziah to a thistle; intimates that he would have thought any alliance with him disgraceful, and could treat him under foot, as easily as a wild beak does the thistle; therefore admits him to repress the vanity of his heart on his late trivial success, and not meddle to his harm. Nate, (1.) They who are proud, will meet with those who take a pleasure to mortify them. (2.) Vain minds swell with success, and usually destroy themselves by attempting things to which they are unequal. (3.) It is fully to despite good advice, though 3. Amaziah was too obstinate to be advised, and therefore rushes on his ruin, is routed, taken prisoner, led in triumph to his own capital, which the victor entered; and, after plundering the city and temple of every thing valuable, and breaking down a great part of the wall, left the place defenceless, and took hostages of Amaziah to keep him in subjection. Thus, whilst Ephraim vowed Judah, and Judah Ephraim, they opened an easier door of conquest for their common fors. Nate, The quarrels and divisions of God's people give the greatest advantage to their enemies. 15. ¶ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoah which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 16. And Jehoah's slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead. 17. ¶ And Amaziah the son of Josph king of Judah, lived after the death of Jehoah's son of Jehoahaz king of Israel, fifteen years. 18. And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 19. Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he fled to Lachith, but they sent after him to Lachith, and flew him there. 20. And they brought him on hostess, and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. 21. ¶ And all the people of Judah took † Azairah (which was sixteen years old) and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. 22. He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers. Jehoah's death and burial was mentioned, chap. xiii. 12. after his conquests above recorded, it is again repeated. Amaziah, his late prisoner, survived him fifteen years, whose ill conduct and ill success provoked his subjects to conspire against him. He flew to Lachith for refuge, but they pursued and flew him there. His son, who was a minor of sixteen, succeeded him, and built Elath, a city on the Red Sea, which his father had recovered from the Edomites, annexing it to the crown of Judah. Nate, (1.) They who govern ill, must blame themselves for the discontent their conduct produces. (2.) Every refuge a sinner dies to will be vain to protect him from the sword of judgment. 23. ¶ In the fifteenth year of Amaziah, the son of Josph king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Josph king of Israel began † to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years. 24. And 'he did that which was evil in the fight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nehat, who made Israel to sin. 25. He restored 'the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath, unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant' Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath-hepher. 26. For 'the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for 'there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel. 27. And the LORD † said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Josph. 28. ¶ Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he warned, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which belonged to Judah, for Israel, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 29. And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zachariah his son † reigned in his stead. The histories of the kingdom of Judah and Israel are throughout this book interested. Jeroboam's reign was near five years longer than Rehoboam's; but, to finish his history, his death is first recorded. 1. The accounts of Rehoboam contains nothing either great or good, but gives just suspicion, that his government was as weak and wicked, as the opening of it was safe and impolitic. He began his reign when, if ever, he might have been wise, at the age of forty-one, having enjoyed all the advantages of the best instruction; but he imitated his father's aged folly, rather than his early wisdom. He reigned not half to long as his predecessors, but forescent years, and these also disturbed by perpetual wars or bickerings with his rival Jeroboam. His mother was an Ammonite's, a bad wife for a king of Israel; and her son partook more of the temper of Ammon, than the Spirit of Abraham. Note, Ungodly connections entail miteries often on the latest palerity. He died at Jerusalem, where he reigned, and left the crown to Abijah, a bad son of a bad father. 2. The account of his subjects is bad, very bad. Led by his example, or not restrained by his negligence, far from being shocked at their neighbour's idolatry, they quickly imitated them, and committed abominations even beyond their father's world days; provoking God to jealously by their images and hill altars, and forsaking the house of his glory; giving up their bodies to abominable and unnatural lusts, as well as their souls to spiritual adultery, v. 24. imitating all the profane rites, and following all the dreadfuls involved of the occupied Canaanites, whom God had cast out before them. Note, (1.) They grow most abandoned, who fall from the profession of religion they once made. (2.) When men provoke God by their sins, he in just judgment gives them up to their own hearts lusts. (3.) If Canaan for such things suffered, shall Israel escape? no, in no wise. 3. God begins his visitations for their sins, by giving them up to Shishak king of Egypt, who, in the fifth year of Rehoboam, after plundering the country, beforesd Jerusalem, and was only to be bought off by the surrender of all the treasures which David and Solomon had amassed; such passing vanities are this world's riches! Among the rest, he carried away the golden Rahm-Cheir Chap. xvi. 4. Zealiel vi. 5. Ha. lovi. 6. Jer. xv. 7. Phil. 1st. 8. 2. 9. Phil. 1st. 10. 2. Pat. 11. 2. 12. 2. 13. 2. 14. 2. 15. 2. 16. 2. 17. 2. 18. 2. 19. 2. 20. 2. 21. 2. 22. 2. 23. 2. 24. 2. 25. 2. 26. 2. 27. 2. 28. 2. 29. 2. 30. 2. 31. 2. 32. 2. 33. 2. 34. 2. vi. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. Jeroboam, the son of Josph, reigned longer than any king of Israel before him; yet his character bears a brand of infamy. He followed the sins of his predecessor, whose name he bore, and the calves were his gods: yet God, in mercy to his people. 1. Raised up a prophet in the room of Elisha; Joarsh, a Galilean, See John vii. 52. The events recorded in his prophecy are supposed to have happened in his younger days, and now he more willingly executed the service of his functions. Nate, Even prophets are sinful men: if God rejected not them for their faults, let us not be too severe one on another. 2. Encouraged by Jonah he warned against the Syrians, and recovered the country from the northern border to the plain beavah reigned 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93. 94. 95. 96. 97. 98. 99. We have here, 1. Abas's idolatry, ver. 1—4. 2. His hiring the king of Affyria to invade Syria and Israel, ver. 5—9. 3. His causing an altar to be built after the pattern of an heathen are he found at Damascus, ver. 10—16. 4. His embracing the furniture of the temple, ver. 17, 18. 5. His death, ver. 19, 20. 240. a Chom vers. 1. 1. IN the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, 'Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. 2. Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the fight of the LORD his God, like David his father. 3. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and 'made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel. 4. And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and 'under every green tree. 9. 1—4. Ahaz, the son of Jesus Jotham, degenerated greatly from the steps of his holy ancestors. The idolatry of Israel pleased him better than the pure worship of Judah; and Molech is preferred to the glorious Jehovah. He sacrificed on the high places, which his fathers, though they left them, had never died; and, as if unfaithful with lesser abominations, made his own sons pass between, or through, the fires of lutheration, or perhaps burnt them in it, to the honour of his barred idols. Note, (1.) They who provoke God to give them up, lose even natural affection, and turn monsters inflicted of man. (2.) The desperate wickedness of the heart of man, when left to itself, who can know? 1. Lev. viii. 2. Chut. vii. 1. 5. ¶ Then Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to war: and they befieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. 6. At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drove the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and davit their unto thir day. 7. So Ahaz sent meffengers to 'Tiglath-pilefer king of Affyria, saying, I am thy servant, and thy son: come up, and 'save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which the up against me. 8. And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present to the king of Affyria. 9. And the king of Affyria hearkned unto him: for the king of Affyria went up against Damascus, and 'took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and flew Rezin. 9. 5—9. The sin of Ahaz soon brought him into deep distress, Ila. vii. 2. His country was ravaged, Elath left, and his capital defieged by the confederate forces of Syria and Israel. Yet, far from having recourse to God, or depending on his promises, Ila. vii. 4—16. he rather truffled on an arm of flesh; and, no engage the king of Affyria to make a direction in his favour, robbed the house of God of the dedicate treasures, unprevented his own, and predefined himself the wallal of an idolatrous Affyrian, rather than be the servant of the King of kings, who was so much better able to deliver him. The project succeeded: the king of Syria was then, his capital taken, and his people led captive to Kir, as foretold, Abas. 5. Note, (1.) God is the hell resource a sinner will fly to. (2.) They who cast off God's government, make themselves quickly the worst of fours. (3.) When men by their wickedness involve themselves in trouble, they will fearless flock at fraud or injustice, to extricate them from it. 10. ¶ And king Ahaz went to Damascus, to meet the Tiglath-pilefer king of Affyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof. 11. And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus: 'to Urijah the priest made it, against king Ahaz came from Damascus. 12. And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon. 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 brazen 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 burn the morning burnt-offering, and the evening meat-offering, and the king's burnt-facrifice, 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 brains altar shall be for me to enquire by. 16. Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that king Ahaz commanded. 9. 10—16. He who had enslaved his body to Affyria's king now enslaves his soul to Affyria's idols. 1. On a visit to the king of Affyria, to congratulate him on his success, and to say him the homage he had promised, he saw at Damascus, which probably he joined with him in his idol sacrifices, an altar that much pleased him for its beauty; and instantly he resolves to copy it, sends the model to Urijah the priest, and bids him prepare just such another against his return. 2. Urijah, a true court-priest, to gratify his master, confesses to prostitute his office; and Ahaz, at his return, is vastly pleased with the altar, offers on it his burnt-offerings; and though the priest had some shame left, and set it behind the brazen altar, the king will have the old altar thrown by, and will consider what to do with it, which his own is advanced into its place; and Urijah, who is too complaisant to offend a king, badly complies. Note, (1.) Of all characters, a five-phant priest is the most detestable. (2.) Court air is dangerous to breathe it: they who set their hearts on rising, rather than offend their great patrons, will worship at their altars, and comply with their evil ways. 17. ¶ And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the trees, and removed the laver from off them, and took down the ice from off the brazen oaths that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones. 18. And the convert for the sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king's entry without, turned fire from the house of the LORD. DORD, for the king of Affyria. 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. To cast contempt on the temple and its service, he continues to deduce and remove the divinely-appointed vessels. The borders of the ten bafes, curiously adorned, he cut off, and took off the layers from them: The bodies its alibi he removed from the oxen, either to render them contemptible, or to convert some of the brals to other uses. The event for its fabault, a rich canopy probably, under which the king lay on the fabbush, when he went up to the house of God, he removed; and, to gratify the king of Affyria, turned the noble secret Solomon laid made, another way, as relinquishing the worship of the temple. But in the midst of his days God, in mercy to his people, flopped his career of wickedness, and at thirty-five years of age he died, and left his crown to his most worthy successor and son Hezekiah. Now, God's grace is fostering. Whilst the ungodly father is left to perish in his wickedness, his son, though brought up under his ill example, is snatched as a brand from the burning. In this chapter we have, 1. The captivity of the ten tribes, ver. 1—6. 2. Reminds upon it, and the conly, of it, ver. 7—23. 3. An account of the nations which succeeded them, and their religion, ver. 24—41. Hofhea, the last of Israel's kings, lost with shame the throne he had ascended by perfidy and murder. It was nine years on the way fixed in the throne; or perhaps he reigned at first only as viceroy to the king of Affyria, and his reign is dated from his withdrawing himself from his service. We have here. 1. Israel become tributary, as a prelude to their final destruction. Though their king was not so bad as his predecessor, the people continued as bad as ever; and therefore God sold them into the hand of Shalmanaezer. Note, (1.) God tries to offer judgments before he strikes the final blow. (2.) They who fell themselves to the service of sin, will find the wages of it shortly to be eternal ruin. 2. Utterly destroyed and dispersed. Hofhea, by the help of So, king of Ethiopia, rebelled against the king of Affyria; but he suffered for his fasthood: his country's ravaged, his capital besieged, and, after three years resistance, taken; himself made prisoner; and, effectually to prevent any future revolt, all the people of any note carried away captive, and dispersed in the north of Affyria, and in the cities of Media; whilst colonies of Affyrians are put in possession of their fruitful land, under whom the remainder of this miserable nation might be husbandmen and vice-dressers, and serve, in other mental employments, their proud conquerors. What guilty nation sinning against gospel grace, need not tremble, that reads the catastrophe of God's once favoured people? Thus ended the kingdom of Israel, which, from its commencement under Jeroboam, had continued two hundred and fifty-five years. 7. For so it was, that the children of Israel had finned 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, 8. And 'walked in the statues of the heathen, (whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel) before Christ and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. 9. And the children of Israel did secretly these 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. 10. And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: 11. And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrongly wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger. 12. For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. 13. Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, 'by all the prophets, and by all the feers, 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, 'but hardest their necks, like to the neck of their faithers, 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 restitutencies which he testified against them, and they followed vanity, and 'became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, swearing 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, even two calves, and 'made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and 'served Baal. 17. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and 'sold themselves 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; there was none left 'but the tribe of Judah only. 19. 'Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statues 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 drove Israel from following the LORD, and 'made them sin a great sin. 22. For the children of Israel walked 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. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Affyria, unto this day. To vindicate the ways of God to man, and open the causes why Israel was thus abandoned to ruin, the sacred historian, after relating their dispersion, declares the just reasons of God's procedure. 1. Their sins had provoked his judgment, great, numberless, aggravated, and incorrigible. (1.) Beef ingratitude. God, had rescued them from the iron bondage of Egypt; after many wonderful interpositions, had bestowed on them the land of the heathen; and, to crown all, had given them the plainest direction for their conduct, and the most glorious promises to encourage their obedience. But all would not engage their hearts to him; they forget the God of their mercies, and turned from him to idols. (2.) Wilful disobedience. They rejected God's covenant, v. 15. left all his commandments, v. 16. and sold themselves to work wickedness, v. 17. as slaves by willing choice to their lusts: and if for a time restrained, through fear or shame, from open and avowed impiety, they still in secret indulged their abandoned hearts, and continued as bad as ever. (3.) Greal idolatry. Of all their sins this was most provoking: against it they had received especial warnings; and, because of it, had sent God's heavy judgments on the heathen. Yet, they not only learned their ways, but became more than the idolaters they imitated. They readily kissed the calves the wicked Jeroboam erected; adopted all their neighbours gods, v. 15. worshipped the hosts of heaven, the sin, moon, and planets; yea, so mad were they upon their idols, that there was not a grove, or a spreading tree scarcely, without an image under it. Every city, yea, every village, even to the meanest watch-tower, had its hill-altar, till they were multiplied as heaps in the furrows of the field, Hof. xii. 11. There they offered incense to these strange gods; and so lost to natural af- f. klin. before Chord 787. section, so befooted were they in their adulterous rage after their abominations, that their very children were led through the fires, or burnt in them, to honour these diabolical deities. Lord, what is man? (4.) Hardmed incristigibness. Prophet after prophet did God raise up to warn them, v. 17. and, to enforce the word of their mouth, he smote them with the sword of his corrections; but under both they proved alike impetuous. They regarded not the warning voice, nor repeated under the stroke of judgment. Therefore, when every method of recovery was fruitless, 2. God removed them out of his fight, according to the word of his prophets. The rod of his anger was the Affyrian, but the deft-action was from the Almighty. 3. Judah is glanced at in this catalogue of sins, v. 19. as having learned of their brethren, which was an aggravation of Israel's sin. But let Judah be warned by their sufferings to repent, left evil also overtake them. 24. ¶ And the king of Affyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria, 'intitued of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. 25. And ye it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD; therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which flew some of them. 26. Wherefore they spake to the king of Affyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner 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 Affyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence, and let them 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, and taught them how they should fear the LORD. 29. Howbeit, every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans 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 Athima. 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 the LORD, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. 33. They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations, whom they carried away from thence. 34. Upon this day they do after the former manners; 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 bore 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. 39. But the LORD your God ye shall fear, and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. 40. Howbeit, they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner. 41. So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day. What a change hath this unhappy land undergone! Strangers devour it. We have here. 1. The persons whom the king of Affyria sent to occupy the land of Israel from Babylon. See, who dwelt in the cities of Samaria, and entered into the defolate heritage of God's people. 2. God's visitation upon them. Lions, which were common on the banks of Jordan, are sent to chastise those strangers. So easily could God make their abode too hot to hold them. Note, If God let loose the old raging lion upon the soul, then, woe to the sinner. 3. Concluding Israel's God, whom they regarded as a topical deity, offended, because they knew not the manner of his worship, they send to Affyria their complaints; and one of Jeroboam's priests is sent them, who took up his residence at Beth-el, the seat of the calves. He taught them probably the law of Moses, so far as the outward ritual went; but did not oppose, or could not prevail on them to forklare their idols; so that there was a strange medley of religion, whilst in general they observed the Jewish rites and festivals, conferring priests of the people in common for their sacrifices, as Jeroboam had done; yet every nation kept its own unstar gods, and sacrificed to them in the high places. The names of these gods are preferred, but their significations are very dubious. Succoth-benoth is thought to be the godless Venus; the rest, different names of the Sun, according to the different manifestations under which these nations worshipped him. This mungrel superstition continued long, at least till the time of Alexander the Great, and was not quite abolished, even to our Savour's time. See John iv. 22. 4. A short account is given of those who went into captivity. Not the least altered by their sufferings. They did after their former manner, v. 40. a reproach to the name of Israel, which they bore; ungrateful to their great benefactor, rebellious against his word, rooted in idolatry, and therefore left to perish, left and incorporated in the idolatrical nations, among whom they dwelt. Note, They whom no judgments can reclaim, must perish without remedy. A more plodless scene than the last events in Judah, where we have, 1. Hezekiah reforming his kingdom, ver. 1—6. 2. Proffering in all his undertakings, ver. 7—12. 3. Included by Samacharib, the king of Affyria, ver. 13—15. and Jerusalem befaged, ver. 17. 4. Rishbhdeh's bishphem, ver. 18—37. 1. NOW it came to pass in the third year of Hofsea, son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. 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 fight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did. 4. He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brakes, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brakes, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brakes, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brakes, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brakes, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brakes, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brakes, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brakes, and cut down the groves, and Though Israel was gone into captivity, Judah yet remained, and in a state of great prosperity, under the pious Hezekiah, who came to the crown at the age of twenty-first, and consequently must be born when his father exceeded not twelve years of age. 1. He copied after the best of his progenitors, though the son of the worst; and was, like David in heart and temper, devoted to God's worship and service: nor did he, as some before him, begin well and end ill, but persevered to the last in constant dependance upon God, and unshaken fidelity to him under all his trials: So that in this, neither before nor after him was any like him of all the kings of Judah. Note, (1.) God in the darkest times, can raise up in his church the most burning and shining lights; let not his people therefore despair. (2.) The more obfiscates are in the way, the more does the grace of God appear great and glorious in overcoming them. (3.) Perseverance in the truth, is the crown of fidelity. 2. His zeal for God's glory immediately appeared on his accession to the throne. He applied no palliatives to the deep and prevailing idolatry, but laid the act in the root of the tree. Undiscovered through fear of opposition, he not only destroyed the groves and images, but also removed the high places, which had so long been abodeled, and which the most pious of his predecessors connived at: even the heazen serpent which Moses had had made, because in the late reign a superstitious coloration had been paid to it, he broke in pieces, as Nebula, no more than common head. Note, (1.) They need not fear, who boldly trust to God, in the path of duty. (2.) No length of customs can confiscate an evil practice. (3.) If our parents have dishonoured God, it is our honour to be unlike them. 9. God lifted him in all his undertakings. Having delivered the nation from the yoke of idolatry, he bravely threw off the yoke of the king of Affyria's usurped dominion, and recovered from the land of the Philistines the cities his father had lost, 2 Cleas. xxviii. 18. Note, Fidelity in God's service, will be ever accompanied with his blessing. 9. And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah (which was the seventh year of Hofnes, son of Elsh king of Israel) that 'Shalmanifer king of Affyria 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, in the ninth year of Hofnes king of Israel) Samaria was taken. 11. And the king of Affyria did carry away Israel unto Affyria, and put them in 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 transgreted his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them. 13. Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, did Sennacherib king of Affyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them. 14. And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Affyria to Lachifh, saying, 'I have offended, return from me: that which thou puttest on me, I will bear. And the king of Affyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah, three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold. 15. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house. 16. At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Affyria. The ruin of Israel, which we had before, is again here mentioned, in order to introduce the invasion of Judah, now laid open by the subjection of Israel to the king of Affyria. The conquest the father had begun, his son Sennacherib desired to complain, by adding Judah to the former conquests. 1. He makes a successful invasion, and without much resistance feizes the frontier towns, and opens a way for the siege of Jerusalem the capital. Note, They who are most zealous for God, may be reduced, to prove their faith and confidence, to great difficulties. 2. Hezekiah's trembling heart began to distrust his Almighty Saviour; and instead of having recourse to God, or his prophet Isaiah, feels by an inglorious submission, and a vast random of us, goes to buy off the danger. Note, Urdhaben faith at all times, and in all dangers, is not to be found. Blessed he God we have one who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and though we distrust him, will not be unmindful of us. 17. And the king of Affyria sent Tartan, and Rahfarn, and Rab-shakeh from Lachifh, to king Hezekiah, with a great host against Jerusalem: and they went up and came to Jerusalem: and when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the high-way of the fuller's field. 18. And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Alagh the recorder. 19. And Rab-shakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus faith the great king, the king of Affyria, 'What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? 20. Thou sayest (but they are but ye vain words)' I have counsel and strength for the war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebesist against me? 21. Now, behold thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: So is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him. 22. But if ye lay unto me, We trust in the LORD our God: is not that he whose high places, and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem? 23. Now therefore I pray thee give 2 pledges to my lord Vol. I. the king of Affyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand shores, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. 24. How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the leath of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 25. Am I now come up without the LORD against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it. 26. Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rab-shakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language (for we understand it) and talk not with us in the Jews language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall. 27. But Rab-shakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words: And as not for me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own pills with you? 28. Then Rab-shakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews language, and speak, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Affyria. 29. Thus faith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand: 30. Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, the LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Affyria. 31. Hearless not unto Hezekiah: for thus faith the king of Affyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig-tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern: 32. Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil-olive, and of honey, that ye may live and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah when he persuaded you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. 33. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Affyria? 34. Where are the gods of Hamash, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hene, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand? 35. Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand? 36. But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, 'Answer him not. 37. Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Alagh the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rab-shakeh. Hezekiah had dearly purchased his peace; but when he thought he had now appealed the thorn, to his surprise he sees Jerusalem surrounded by the hosts of perfidious Affyrians. Note, (1.) They who neglecting to trust in God, fly to human confidences, will wholly find the evil they attempt to avert increasing upon them. (2.) Treaties are flight hands to wicked kings. 1. We have the confidence between Hezekiah's commissioners and the Affyrian chiefs, with Rabshakeh at their head. They make him only one request, to speak to them in the Affyrian language, as they were near the gate, where the people might hear, v. 26. but Rabshakeh, who had begun his infirmity speech, only talked the louder and prouder. Note, They who have to do with unreasonable and wicked men, must expect from them little complications. 2. Rabshakeh's speech is artful, infolent, and blasphemous; admirably suited with lying insinuations to carry his point with the people, and lead them to surrender, and shews a great wicked man. [1.] He represents their defenceless state, and the folly of resisting. Their confidences he supposes to be either their own strength, v. 20. the assistance of Egypt, v. 21. or the interposition of their God, v. 22. neither of which could profit. Their own strength he despises, v. 23. If they could produce two thousand men, he would give them horses; and, after that, the meanest captain in his army were strong enough to rout them. Egypt was a broken reed; their confidence there was vain, and would destroy instead of supporting them, v. 21. And as for God, he neither would nor could help them. He insinuates as if Hezekiah had offended him by taking away the high places, v. 22. and that himself had a commission from him to avenge his quarrel, v. 25. nay, that should he attempt to discover them, it were vain; blasphemously concluding him as impotent to save, as the idol gods whom he proudly boasts his master had vanquished, 5 P v. 33, 35. Before Christ Jim. v. 33, 35. Nate, (1.) Men's deeds do not usually correspond to their proud boasting. (2.) Human confidence are certainly a broken reed; they who trust on them may expect disappointment. (3.) Ignorant and wicked men often reproach God's people for that which is their highest honour. (4.) Many pretend God's commission, whose fallhood will soon be detected. (2.) He boasts of the power of his king, the great king, whose conquests made him look to big, and whose armies rendered him to formidable, that all opposition against him was useless. Nate, Worldly greatness is almost idolized in the eyes of carnal men, whilst the eye of faith looks upon a great wicked man only as a great worm. (3.) He endeavours to exude them into immediate surrender, and to buy their peace with a pretext, as if it would be their own interest to do so. They would life be reduced to the greatest extremities, v. 31. If they dared to resist. But, if they submitted, he promises them to let them continue for a while in their present positions, and then remove them into a land as good as their own, where was plenty of every thing. Nate, (1.) By lying prunities the tongue hails his book; but experience too late discovers the terrible deception. (2.) We may not trust the fair words of an enemy. Many a flourish tongue hath under it the golden of ripe. 3. The commissioners of Hezekiah, according to his command, made no reply, but rent their clothes, in token of distress, as well as in detestation of the blasphemy, and told the king what he'd pulled, that he might consider of an answer. Nate, The best answer to incident those is silence. It but exasperates to answer a fool according to his folly. 1. Hezekiah, in great distress, defies the prayers of the prophet Ipsiah, ver. 1—5. and reserves from him an answer of peace, ver. 2, 7. 2. Sennacherib feeds a throaning letter to Hezekiah, ver. 8—13. 3. Hezekiah recommends his only to God, ver. 14—19. 4. God, by Ipsiah, inflows him of deliverance, ver. 20—34. 5. The army of the Afyrions is cut off by an angel, and Sennacherib himself saith by his excursion, ver. 35—37. 1. AND it came to pass when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with backcloth, and went into the house of the LORD. 2. And he sent Eliakim, which uses over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with backcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. 3. And they said unto him, Thus faith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. 4. It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Affyria his matter hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left. 5. So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6. And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye lay to your matter, Thus faith the LORD, Be our afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Affyria have blasphemed me. 7. Behold, I will send a thief upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. In deep distress, the afflicted Hezekiah rends his clothes, and puts on the mournful backcloth. Human help is vain; God alone can fucour him. Therefore, 1. He addresses himself to God, and goes up to the temple, there to seek counsel and comfort. Nate, Whilst we have an almighty God to fly to, we need not, in the midst of trouble, despair. 2. He feeds to beg Isaiah's prayers for him. Eliakim and Shebna could best inform him of Rab-shakeh's insistence and blasphemy. Now was the critical moment. In this deplorable situation, if God did not help instantly, they must perish, having no strength and power to help themselves, v. 9. Therefore he interests the prophet to lift up the prayer of faith and importunity, that the aim of God may be stretched out to rebuke the blasphemy he hath heard, and save the remnant which is left. Nate, (1.) Whilst we are crying to God in trouble, we should desire to interest the prayers of the murders and people of God in our behalf. (2.) They who apply to the great Prophet to be their advocates, have not only an it may be to support their hopes, but an it shall be, to give them assurance of relief. 3. Isaiah's answer is comfortable and encouraging. Terrible as the present danger appeared, Hezekiah need not fear it: God, who had heard the blasphemy, undertakes to blash their projects, and, with confusion destroying the hosts of Affyria, to send their king home covered with dishonour, there to fall more ingloriously by the sword of domestic enemies. Nate, (1.) None ever trusted in God, and were confounded. (2.) They who lift up their tongues against God, bring down his swift vengeance upon their own heads. 8. So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Affyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachith. 9. And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying, 10. Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Affyria. 11. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Affyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shall thou be delivered? 12. Have the Gods of the nations delivered them? which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Kezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelster? 13. Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah? 14. And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. 15. And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwelleth secures the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth. 16. LORD, 'how down thine car, and hear: were, LORD, thine eyes, and he: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God. 17. Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Affyria have destroyed the nations, and their lands. 18. And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, word and thone: therefore they have destroyed them. 19. Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth: may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only. When Hezekiah's silence gave no hopes of a surrender, Rab-shakeh returned to give the king an account of the conference, who had left Lachith; either it was too strong, or he might have taken it, and now was befieging Libnah. There intelligence being received, that Tirhakah was coming to Hezekiah's relief, he makes one effort more to terrify him to a surrender. 1. He feeds a threatening letter to him, mocking his vain confidence in God; magnifying and boasting of his conquests over other nations and their gods; and therefore intimating the vanity of Hezekiah's resistance. Nate, (1.) Wicked men, in the distresses of God's people, say, Where is now their God? But, though for a time he may permit their proud boasting, he will not finally fail those that trust him. (2.) Vain mind-trumpet their own praises, but God quickly covers them with shame. 2. Hezekiah received and read the letter; and, as the contents struck more at God's glory, than even his crowns and dignity, he went up to the temple, and solemnly spread it before him, as leaving the master in his hands, and fervently in prayer imploring present help. The God of Israel, whom Sennacherib despied as a local deity, he adored as the Universal Sovereign; interests his attention to the dishonour and on his great name; acknowledges the Afyrian conquests, but over gods the work of men's hands, that could neither help themselves, nor their worshippers; and therefore prays that Sennacherib might be made to know the difference between the God of Israel and the gods of the nations; and that all the world might see, in the greatness of the salvation wrought for them, the glory of the God they worshipped. Nate, We may confidently expect to be heard, when the great object of our requests is the manifestation of God's glory. 20. Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus faith the LORD God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Affyria, I have heard. 21. This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him, The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn, the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. 22. Whom hath thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hath thou exalted the the voice, and lift up thine eyes on high? even against the holy One of Israel. 23. By thy ineffengers thou hast reproached the LORD, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the fides of Lebanon, and will cut down the 7th all cedar-trees thereof, and the choice for trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the foref 8 of his Carmel. 24. I have digged and drunk strange warers, and wish the fole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of befuged places. 25. Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waft fenced cities into ruinous heaps. 26. Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded, they were as the grafs of the field, and as the green herb, as the grafs on the house-tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up. 27. But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. 28. Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult is come up into nine ears, therefore I will put my book in thy note, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camels. 29. And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same, and in the third year low ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof. 30. And the ye remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah, shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. 31. For our of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of both shall do this. 32. Therefore thus faith the LORD concerning the king of Affyria, he shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. 33. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, faith the LORD. 34. For I will defend this city to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. o. 20-34. Whilst Hezekiah was speaking to God in the temple, he was returning an answer to him of peace, by his prophet Isaiah. So speedy are often God's answers to the prayer of faith. 1. He assures him of the vanity of Sennacherib's hoall, and the confusion which should cover him. Jerusalem, which God as a chaffa virgin had espoused, he would as a faithful husband protect from every violence. She therefore mocked at these insistent threatening, and despised his attempts: these reproaches God with jealousy heard, and would avenge. The conquests he boasted as gotten by his own arm, God had given him as the rod of his anger against these nations; and since the ex-brother itself against the healer, Isa. 1. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100 2. He comforts Hezekiah and the people with further promises of the Divine favour, 1. The plenty which they should enjoy. Though the Affyrians had wafted the country, and the next year was a sabbatical year, yet God would take care they should have enough spontaneously produced, to feed them till the harvest of the following year. Nor, if we have toufed God with our fouls, let us never disfruft his care for our bodies. 2. Prophecies and peace should be in their borders. The remnant which is escaped, should increase in their families, and be affluent in their circumstances, and no siege prevent the quiet purifour of their several occupations. Nor, They enjoy a glorious liberty, who have God for their protection; and rooted in faith, and fruitful in holiness, are blatt with a portion among that remnant, which is chosen according to the election of grace. 3. There should not be the least hostile attack made against them. God will infirmly defeat the projected siege; and for David's sake, and for his own glory, defend them as with a shield. Nor, (1.) They are safe whom God protects. (2.) Though we are unworthy, yet for his own glory, and to fulfil his promises made to our David, God will save us. 35. ¶ And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and fmote in the camp of the Affyrians, an hundred fourfores and five thousand; and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 36. So Sennacherib king of Affyria depurred, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. 37. And it came to pass as he was worshipping in the house of Nifroch his god, that Adram-elech and Sharreer his foes fmote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia; and Esar-haddon his son reigned in his head. o. 35-37. The promise is scarce sooner made, than fulfilled. 1. The army of Affyria is destroyed. A mighty angel, sent from God, in our night flow 185,000 men; so that in the morning they beheld those dead corpses, who the preceding evening looked so formidable. Nor, (1.) When our last hour of trial is ended in death, then shall we see all our spiritual enemies thus slain before us. (2.) If one angel could work such a great deliverance, why should the heirs of salvation fear, when legions minister to them continually? 2. The affrighted king lives to see the ruin, and by an ignominious flight, rests on save himself; but vain is the thought of escaping, when God marks the sinner as the but of his anger. Instead of being overcome with the knife of the power of Israel's God, and repenting of his blasphemies, he still cleaves to Nifroch his god. Perhaps he was now thanking him for his deliverance, or imploring his help on some new attempt he had meditated; but the arm of death feizes him in the idol temple. He is murdered by two of his foes, who escape from justice, and Esar-haddon, another of them, reigned in his head. Nor, (1.) When parents are rebels against God, let them not marvel if their children rebel against them. (2.) They who after warning perish in their wickedness, justly suffer the reward of their deeds. In this chapter we have, 1. Hezekiah's fishes, and recovery, ver. 1-11. 2. Hezekiah's sin, and recovery, ver. 12-19. 3. The conclusion of his reign, ver. 20, 21. 1. In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death: and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amos came to him, and said unto him, Thus faith the LORD, See 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, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy fight: and Hezekiah's way; 5. 4. And it came to pass after 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 faith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee; on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. 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 Affyria, and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. 7. And Isaiah said, "Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. 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, This sign shall 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. 11. And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD, and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the 8 thial of Ahas. o. 1-11. We have heard the deliverance of Jerusalem from destruction; here we have the recovery of her king from death. 1. Hezekiah is fed of a disease etheread mortal. This must have happened soon before, or soon after the ruin of the Affyrian army; when he could ill be spared, or when in the midst of his triumphs. Nor, (1.) The hell of men are liable to death, and thus humour the plague of sin hath seized their mortal bodies. (2.) Robert Clark (2.) Every moment of life is uncertain; death pays no more respect to the conqueror than as his prisoners. 2. The prophet is sent to give him notice that he must die, and therefore to prepare for it, by settling his family and affairs. Note, (1.) God's ministers need often press this argument which men are in health, as a quickening call, to awaken the people's diligence to provide for death. (2.) When we are ill, they are our best friends, not who flatter us with life, but admonish us to be ready to resign it. (3.) Our souls are infinitely a more important concern than our houses; let them therefore be let in order, through renewed applications to anoning blood, and eleneth's resignation of them into the hands of God. 3. Hezekiah, struck with the message, turned his face to the wall, either as desiring to be unobserved, or as directing his prayer towards the temple, and cried unto God. He humbly mentions the simplicity of his heart: not as his title to God's favour, but as a comfortable proof of the grace of which he had been a partake, and begs God would still remember him in mercy in this trying season, whether for life or death. He wears face. The dangerous state of Judah exposed to the Assyrian sword, the reformation from idolatry scarce settled, and no son yet to succeed him; these grieved him for the people's sake, or his tears were the expression of the fervency of his devotion, rather than the effect of any dismaying fear. Note, (1.) Though all our hopes towards God in a dying hour depend upon the finished work of Jesus, yet will the testimony of our confidence to our simplicity before him afford us to shall consolation. (2.) There is in death something terrible to nature, but grace can make us more than conquerors over its fears. (3.) The bell preparation for death is prayer, when our spirit is departing; then let us look up and say, "Into thy hands I" commend my spirit, for thou hast redeemed me, O Lord." 4. Isaiah is immediately sent back with a message of peace to him; not that there is any change in God's mind, but he who gave him notice of the fatal tendency of his disease, designed to stir up Hezekiah's prayer, and to answer him in mercy. For his people's sake, over whom Hezekiah presided, and as the God of David, mindful of his covenant, he tells him his prayer is heard, and more than answered: he shall not only recover, but perfectly return to God's courts to worship, shall enjoy fifteen years longer life, and during that time, he protected from every attack of the king of Assyria, who threatened his country. Note, (1.) God's gifts exceed our desires as well as deserts. (2.) Life is a blessing, when contended to advance the purposes of God's glory upon earth, and this is the only end which can make it desirable. (3.) Though we know not the limits of our remaining days, we know they are few, and therefore need diligently improve them. 5. The outward means prescribed for his recovery, was a lamp of figs laid on the boil; not that they could so suddenly operate, or so perfectly effect the cure, but God would restore him to the use of means, though the efficacy was not in the figs, but the faith which applied them. Note, (1.) As we must not tempt God in our sickness, by the neglect of means, we must take care not to trust in them. (2.) When we are sick, the prayers and advice of God's prophets may do more good than the prescription of our physician. 6. To confirm his faith, Hezekiah asked, and God granted him a sign of his recovering health, and return to the temple. God proposed to him his choice, whether the shadow should go forward or backward ten degrees (or half hours, as it is generally thought) upon the dial of Ahaz, which he might for from his window. As the retrograde motion would appear most miraculous, he chose that; and immediately the sun (as to appearance it seemed, but in fact it must be the earth) at Isaiah's prayer returned either suddenly to begin its morning course again, or gradually; which supposing it rose at six, and it was then eleven o'clock, would make that day twenty-two hours long. Note, He who first impressed motion on their revolving planets, and keep them in their spheres, can when he pleases arrest their rapid course, and shortly will put a final period to their revolutions. 12. ¶ 'At that time Berodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon,' sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah: for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. 13. And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and 'shewed them all the house of his precious things, the River, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his + armour, and all that was found in his treasures: 'there was nothing in his hands, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not. 14. ¶ Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country, even from Babylon. 15. And he said, What have they sent in those house? And Hezekiah answered, 'All the things that are in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures, that I have not shewed them. 16. And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD. 17. Behold, the days come, that all that is in mine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in stone unto this day, 'shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD. 18. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, 'shall they take away, and 'they shall be cuneous in the palace of the king of Babylon. 19. Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, 'Good to the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. And he said, Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days? 20. ¶ And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and 'brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 21. And Hezekiah slept with his fathers: and ¶ Manaseth his son is reigned in his stead. The king of Babylon, hitherto tributary to the king of Assyria, but probably on the late finale on Sionacherh's forces meditating a revolt, in order to engage Hezekiah's friendship, concerning whom he had heard such great things. 1. Sends ambassadors to congratulate him on his recovery; with a letter and a present, in token of his high respect for him, and desire to cultivate a correspondence with him. Note, It is wise to gain their favour, who have God for their friend. 2. Hezekiah unobligious of danger, and probably giving way to the vanity of his heart, flattered with such honour done him by so great a king, received them with great cordiality; and to excite a high idea of his riches and magnificence, shewed them his treasures, armoury, palaces, and whatever was curious or noble in his dominions. Note, Our politicians become a snare to us when we pride ourselves on them, take a pleasure in shewing them, and delight to hear them commended. 3. God saw and condemned the pride of his heart, and Isaiah is sent to repasse him for it. He enquiries concerning the persons, whence they came, and what they had seen. Hezekiah without reserve informed him, and receives a threatening sentence from the prophet. The treasures on which he was in vain, the king of Babylon should seize; and the alliance on which he prided himself, would be fatal to his family, v. 18. Note, (1.) They who will walk in pride, God will abide. (2.) That which hath manifested to our vanity and self-confidence, ere long will cover us with confusion. 4. Hezekiah humbly submits to the divine denunciation, Thankful that in judgment God had remembered mercy, and that in his days there should be peace. Note, (1.) We must submit to God's afflictions not only as just, but gracious; designed not for our destruction, but humiliation. (2.) In the darkest dispositions of Providence we have cause to be thankful, if but that we are out of hell. (3.) The enjoyment of peace and truth, outward quoteness, and gospel-practising, is a singular mercy we can never sufficiently acknowledge. 5. Hezekiah's reign, according to the prophetic word, ended peaceably and gloriously, of which we shall hear more, 2 Chron. xxix. His supperity, for the supply of Jerusalem with water, is here only mentioned, a noble and useful work. After a life of piety, he left his crown to his son Manaseth, an unworthy successor, who hailened the nation's ruin. Note, A good man cannot entail his piety on his posterity. In this chapter we have a short but sad account of the reigns of two of the kings of Judah, Manaseth and Amos. 1. Manaseth devoted himself to all manner of unleashed, ver. 1—9. God therefore devoted him and Jerusalem to ruin, ver. 10—18. 2. Amos followed his father's steps, ver. 19—22. Was there done by the sword, and left good Judah his successor, ver. 23—26. observed times, and used in departments, and dealt with familiar spirits, and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the fight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. 7. And he let a graven image of the grove that he had made, in the house of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever. 8. Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them. 9. But they heathened not: and "Manaffeh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations, whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel. c. 1—9. Like the seven years famine of Egypt, that made the former plenty forgotten, the wickedness of Manaffeh blest out all the glorious work his father had to proudly accomplished. 1. Manaffeh was young when he began his reign, and continued forcibly of any of the kings of Judah, reckoning the years of his captivity in Babylon. Whether he was immediately corrupted by those at court, who, amidst their pretended information, retained their love for the old abominations; and by flattery, gained the ear of the unexperienced king, or whether only after he had children, v. 6. he adulterated, is uncertain. Note, It is very dangerous to come too young to the possession of honour and greatness, so many are in wait to flatter such to their ruin. 2. His wickedness was beyond all his predecessors. Not warned by Israel's punishment, he adopted all their sins with circumstance of peculiar aggravation; deipsing, or rather as if designing as cult reproach on his father's proceedings, he began with rebuilding the high places Hezekiah had destroyed. Haal and Aftonach (translated a grove) once more reared up than handful heads, and the lofts of heaven were the objects of his worship, instead of that God who made them. To pro-fore God's holy temple, he dared there erect his idol altars, filled the house and courts with these abominations, and there far-freeced to his gods. In the temple itself he placed the image of Aftonach, v. 7. in opposition and defiance to God, provoking him to cast them off for ever; whom, on their fidelity, he had promised ever to protect and preserve. Mad upon his idols, he made his son to pass through the fire, in honour to these false deities; and superstitious as impious, he trusted on charms, and consulted wizards, as if the devil wore a better oracle than the God that spoke from between the cherubims. Seduced by their king's example, the people in general followed him, and Judah was filled with idolatry, worse than the very heathen nations around them. Note, (1.) They who have had a religious education, when they give themselves up to evil, usually grow of all others the most profligate. (2.) Irreligion and fe-puthism are nearly allied. They who cast off all fear of God, are often seen to be the greatest slaves to the illusions of the devil. (3.) A bad example is deadly infectious, and especially in kings: how much will they have to answer in the day of God, who are chargeable not only with their own blood, but with the murder of thousands of souls, whom they have seduced and destroyed? 10. ¶ And the LORD spoke by his servants the prophets, saying, 11. ¶ Because Manaffeh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: 12. Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. 13. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. 14. And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey, and a spoil to all their enemies: 15. Because they have done that which was evil in my fight, and have provoked me to anger since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day. 16. Moreover, ¶ Manaffeh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem I from one end to another, beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the fight of the LORD. 17. ¶ Now the rest of the acts of Manaffeh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chroni-Vox. I. cles of the kings of Judah? 18. And Manaffeh slept before Christ with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead. Though their provocations were so great, God did not strike without warning. Joel, Nahum, Habakkuk prophesied, it is supposed, under Manaffeh, and the tradition is, that Isaiah was sawn afunder by him, Heb. xi. 37. At last, when incorrigible, the threatened judgment came; of which we shall hear more, I Chom. xxxiii. We have here. 1. The charge brought against Manaffeh. His vile idolatry, his infamous delusions of God's people; and, as the foount of his guilt, v. 16. the blood of innocents which he shed, and as above hinted, of God's prophets: this filled the measure of his iniquities from full, and brought down the heavy wrath of a justly offended God. Note, (1.) The greatest king's most bland shortly as the meanest criminels at God's bar. (2.) The persecution of God's people is the crime which falls soonest the measure of a nation's sins. 2. The sentence pronounced upon him. A destruction so terrible, that the neighbour nations should be astonished at the report. The same judgment should light on Jerusalem as Samaria, and the house of Manaffeh be destroyed as the house of Ahab. The country should be thoroughly plundered, ramacked, and defolate, fended of all, in a dish wiped clean, and turned upside down, and all the inhabitants removed into a strange land. Since they had forsaken God, he would forsake them; and taking now their former sins, from the day they left Egypt, into the account, reckon with them from first to last. Note, (1.) When by our perfidious apology we turn from God, old guilt that had otherwise been cancelled is recalled, to witness against and condemn us. (2.) They who forsake God, must expect to be forsaken by him. (3.) When God visits for sin in the great day, then shall indeed the ears of sinners tingle at the dreadful sentence denounced upon them. 3. Manaffeh's death is recorded, and his burial. Whether on his penitence, see 2 Chron. xxxiii. he judged himself unworthy, or others thought an idolater ought not to lie there, he was not buried in the royal sepulchres, but privately in his own garden, leaving his crown to his son, the heir of his idolatry, as well as his kingdom. 19. ¶ Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Mishullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jofbah. 20. And he did that which was evil in the fight of the LORD, as his father Manaffeh did. 21. And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and ferred the idols that his father ferred, and worshipped them: 22. And he forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the LORD. 23. ¶ And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and flew the king in his own house. 24. And the people of the land flew all them that had conspired against king Amon, and the people of the land made Jofiah his son king in his stead. 25. Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 26. And he was buried in his sepulchre, in the garden of Uzza: and Jofiah his son reigned in his stead. 1. Amon's reign and life were short, and his end tragical. He returned to these idolatries, which, in his latter days, his penitent father had hypocritical; and thus by his wick-ends, hastened his death. A conspiracy was formed; and, after a reign of but two years, he was slain in his own house. Note, (1.) The evil we have occasioned to others, we can never repair. When we would wish to undeceive those we have seduced, to our grief, we find every effort vain. (2.) It is a mercy to a nation, that the career of a wicked king is short. 2. The men of Judah revenged his death on the conspirators, and set up Jofiah his son in his stead; who being an infant, probably they designed to rob him of the crown: and they buried Amon with his father, in the garden of Uzza, as unworthy a tomb among his illustrious predecessors. We have here in this chapter, 1. The good character of Jofiah, ver. 1, 2. His regard is God's house and worship, ver. 3—7. 3. The imperfection made on him by God's word, ver. 8—11. 4. The answer be reversed, on confining the prophetsis Habab thereupon, ver. 12—20. 1. ¶ Jofiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem; and he reigned twenty and one years in Jerusalem; and and his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Azaiah of Bafsah. 2. And he did that which was right in the fight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned out afide to the right hand or to the left. 3. And it came to pals in the eighteenth year of king Jofiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaiah, the son of Meftulham, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying, 4. Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may turn the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the 1 door have gathered of the people. 5. And let them deliver it into the hand of the doors of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD; and let them give it to the doors of the work which is in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house. 6. Unto carpenters, and builders, and matons, and to buy timber and hewn flume to repair the house. 7. Howbert, there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully. 8. And Hilkiah the high priest laid unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD; and Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 9. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD. 10. And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book; and Shaphan read it before the king. One merciful respite more is given to idolatrous Judah; another good king to prove them, if yet they will bring such fruit, before the ax is laid to the root of the tree. 1. Though Judah was very young, but eight years of age when he came to the crown, he gave very early symptoms of uncommon piety, and all his days the fruit answered the promising blasfism; and he neither turned to the right or left from following the steps of David, that great pattern of excellence. Note, (1.) Early piety is peculiarly pleasing and promising. (2.) When a son is taken out of so wicked a house as Amon's, God's sovereign and rich grace appears more eminently displayed in the choice and separation. 2. As soon as he was fit to take the reigns of government into his own hand, he began to reform the interrupted warthry, and repair the decayed temple of God. Nearly the same method seems to be taken, as in the days of Judah, chap. xii. to collect the money, and the same integrity appears in the persons employed. Note, They who delight in the temple service, may be trusted for their fidelity and honestly in the repairs of it. 3. In the repairs of the temple, the book of the law was happily found, generally supposed to be the very copy, Deut. xxvi. 24. Moses laid up in the most holy place; and which either some wicked high-priest had taken from thence, that he might hide what would put him to shame; or some good one, to prevent its being destroyed by the preceding idolatrous kings, had deserted, to preserve it from being destroyed. Perhaps in these fat days, the neglect of the word of God was so great, that another perfect copy no where remained; and from what appears, neither Judah, though so good a king, nor Hilkiah, though so good a priest, had before been so perfect a copy of this sacred treasure. It is conjectured, that in such troublesome times under idolatrous kings, the public reading of the law every sabbatical year, had been discontinued, and the kings no longer transcribed it, as was commanded. Whilst perhaps some abstracts from it served for a ritual, in which the threatenings and promises, Leo. xxvi. and Deut. xxviii. were omitted; these therefore, when read, so affected the king, v. 11. Note, (1.) The preservation of the inspired writings through so many ages, and amidst so many enemies, is a standing witness to their divine authority. (2.) When God's word is thrust into a corner, unnoticed by, or cruelly with-held from the people, no marvel integrity abounds. (3.) They who have never read through all the book of God, know not how much it contains to make them tremble; and yet how many christians, yea protestants, are thus negligent, and never once in their time read God's word entire. 4. Hilkiah having first read the book himself to Shaphan, desires him to convey it to the king, and read it in his ears, as it contained matters so deeply and nearly affecting him. Note, (1.) Reading their Bibles, is among the best employments in which kings can be engaged. (2.) They are inexcusable, who have thus feared book in their hands, and continue wilfully ignorant of its contents. 11. And it came to pals, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. 12. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Arhoor the son of Micaiah, and Shahban the scribe, and Afohiah a servant of the king, saying, 13. Go ye, inquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkned unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us. 14. So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Arhoor, and Shahban, and Afohiah, went unto Huldah the prophets, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the 1 wardrobe (now the death in Jerusalem, in the college) and they commanded with her. 15. And the said unto them, Thus faith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me. 16. Thus faith the LORD, behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read. 17. Because they have forsaken me, and have burnt incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands: therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched. 18. But to the king of Judah which sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus faith the LORD God of Israel, As teaching the words which thou hast heard; 19. Because the heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou hearself what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a defolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me: I also have heard thee, faith the LORD. 20. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again. 4. Heb. See the king's ture. 88b. 6. 14. Deut. xxviii. 15. Jer. xxx 9. Amen. v. 4. luses, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon. 14. And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they minidred, took they away. 15. And the sire-pans, and the bowls, and such things as were of gold, in gold, and of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away. 16. The two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the brass of all these vessels was without weight. 17. The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it was brass: and the height of the chapiter three cubits: and the wreathen work, and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with wreathen work. 18. ¶ And the captain of the guard took: Seralah the chief prist, and Zephaniah the second prist, and the three keepers of the door. 19. And out of the city he took an officer, that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king's presence, which were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, which mustered the people of the land, and thresescore men of the people of the land that were found in the city. 20. And Nebuzar-adan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon, to Ribliah. 21. And the king of Babylon smote them, and flew them at Ribliah in the land of Hamath. 'So Judah was carried away out of their land. Near two months were spent in plundering the city, or given of God as a reprieve to the people, and then the decree went seeth. 1. The temple, and all the palaces in Zion, are laid in ashes, the walls dismounsed, and the whole city laid in ruins. The temple had now flood about four hundred and twenty years; and it is remarked by Josephus, that on the same month, and the same day, the second temple was destroyed by the Romans. Nate, (1.) The temple is no longer precious in God's fight, when the people are apostate. (2.) God's patience with savours by and by will end, and then judgment will overtake them to the unremind. 2. The few vessels of silver and gold which remained in the temple, were now carried away, with all the brass, the pillars, the sea, the bases, and all the vessels belonging to the service, which for its vast quantity is said to be without weight. Thus a period was put to their worthship. They who had so abused God's house, and these consecrated vessels, deserved to be deprived of them. 3. Many of the great men are seized and executed, as being the supporters of the rebellion, v. 18—20. and the rest carried away captive, Jer. lii 29. only the poor of the land were left to fill the ground for their proud conquerors. Thus, after about 860 years possession, the same iniquities cast them out, as had been satal to the Canaanites, on whom they had executed God's judgments. If Canaan be not spared, let not Israel think to escape. 22. ¶ And as for the people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even 'over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler. 23. And when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Carrah, and Seralah the son of Tanbumeth the Netophathite, and Jazaniah the son of a Magchathite, they, and their men. 24. And Gedaliah sware to them, and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. 25. But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishamah, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and 'Orove Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah. 26. And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies arse, and 'came to Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees. Heb. Of the kingson Chap. v. 1. Jer. 16. Heb. 16. We have here the effect which the reading the law produced upon the good Judah. 1. He sent his clothes in token of his awakened sense of the guilt lying upon them. He perceived clearly the dreadful deobedience of his ancestors, and justly feared the impending wrath, which was denounced against them. Note, (1.) When God's spiritual law is laid open to the heart, it will read it in deep humiliation under a sense of sin. (2.) When we see the heavy wrath of God hanging over us, it is high time to bethone us of flying from it. 2. He sent instantly to enquire of God, what method to take to avert the thorns, if yet there might be hope. Jeremiah and Zephaniah both prophesied at that time, but probably they were at a distance from Jerusalem; where Huldah, the wife of Shallum, who had a poll at court, was more known, and more to be applied to. Though a woman, yet honoured with prophetic inspiration, and though in a court, remnant for her piety. Note, (1.) Though God hath given the superiority to the man, yet will he put such honour upon the weaker sex, as may make them respected. (2.) If we have holy men or women near us, it is wise to make them our friends and advisers. 3. The prophets from God returned a plain answer to his enquiry. She used no compliment to introduce her message, v. 15, but declared the unquenchable wrath of God gone forth against the land, for their pall abominations; nor could any prayers or intricacies may its ravages, though for a time it might be suspended: because Judah's heart was tender, impressed with the words of God's law, and in deep humiliation laid low before the dead, and the words of God's law, and in deep humiliation laid low before the dead, and the words of God's law, and in deep humiliation laid low before the dead, and the words of God's law, and in deep humiliation laid low before the dead, and the words of God's law, and in deep humiliation laid low before the dead, and the words of God's law, and in deep humiliation laid low before the dead, and the words of God's law, and in deep humiliation laid low before the dead, and the words of God's law, and CHAP.