by wanton bloodshed. Zachariah exclaimed with his dying breath, The Lord will look upon it and requite it!' At the end of that same year the retribution came. Hazael, king of Syria, invaded Canaan; he advanced unopposed as far as Gath and took it; he next marched with a comparatively small army into Judea, where he killed many of the nobles and chiefs of the people; then he turned to Jerusalem, and was about to enter the town, when Joash, anxious to induce him to retreat, sent him an immense tribute of gold and silver taken from the Temple and the palace. The unhappy king fell dangerously ill; and while tortured by pain and remorse, he was cruelly murdered by his own servants Josabar and Josabad. He was buried in the city of Jerusalem, but not in the royal sepulchre; and he was succeeded by his son. 137. AMAZIAH (838-811). [2 KINGS XIV. 1-20; 2 CHRON. XXV.] Amaziah's first care was to strengthen his position, for he was well aware that he would have to encounter the hostility of all the friends of his father's assassins. When he felt his authority sufficiently established, impelled by justice and filial duty, he slew the wicked murderers, but the children of the murderers he slew not; according to that which is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, wherein the Lord commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin.' The Edomites had since Joram's time maintained their independence. Amaziah, desirous to weaken, and, if possible, to reconquer them, undertook an expedition into their territory; he defeated them in a great battle, killed 10,000 of their men, advanced to their capital Sela, and took it, after which he changed its name into Joktheel. Elated by this decided victory, he aspired to the greater glory of subduing the kingdom of Israel. He despatched a messenger to Joash with the defiant words, 'Come, let us look one another in the face!' The king of Israel returned this proud, allegorical reply, '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 ran along the wild beasts that are in Lebanon, and trod down the thistle. Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, therefore thy heart is lifted up; enjoy the glory of this, and remain at home: for why shouldst thou interfere to thy misfortune, that thou shouldst fall, even thou and Judah with thee?' But Amaziah would not listen. So the two kings met in battle at Beth-shemesh, a city of Judah. Amaziah was defeated and his army routed; then Joash advanced upon Jerusalem, the walls of which he destroyed to a considerable extent. The capital was plundered by the victorious king, who returned to Samaria rich with spoil, and taking with him many hostages. During the later years of his reign, Amaziah abandoned the worship of God and turned to idolatry. The priests, incensed at this desertion, made a conspiracy against his life. He was informed of the danger, and escaped to Lachish; but he was pursued, seized, and mercilessly slain. His body was brought to Jerusalem and interred in the tomb of his ancestors. He was succeeded by his son. 138. UZZIAH OR AZARIAH (811-759). [2 KINGS XIV. 21, 22; XV. 1–7; 2 CHRON. XXVI.] Uzziah was sixteen years old when he commenced his long and happy reign. with pride and delight. Hebrew historians dwelt upon it guidance of the prophets, was a true and faithful wor shipper of the Lord, who sent him blessings and prosperity. He trained a magnificent army chosen from the very flower of his people, and supplied them with new weapons and complete armour. Eager to test and to establish their strength, he undertook a campaign against the old enemies of his people, the Philistines. He subdued them, breaking down the walls of their chief towns, Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod, and building new cities in their land. Then he turned his forces against the Arabians, whom he also defeated and weakened. Alarmed by these victories, the Ammonites sought his friendship by presents. His fame spread widely among the surrounding nations, and reached the king of Egypt. Constantly intent upon improvement and progress, Uzziah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, and fortified them with new towers. He raised forts in the desert, in order to secure a permanent command of the neighbouring countries. He even constructed and placed upon the towers of the bulwarks great engines, which by some machinery, rude enough it may be, but still remarkable for that time, could send a cloud of arrows and large stones down upon the enemy beneath. The peaceful arts of husbandry were not forgotten among the pursuits of war. The king loved agriculture, and encouraged it by every means in his power. He had vine-dressers in the mountains of Carmel; his vast flocks and herds grazed upon the rich pastures of the low countries; and for the use of his herdsmen he sank many wells. For the protection of commerce, he built or improved the harbour of Elath on the Red Sea, which offered greater safety than that of Ezion-geber. Many prophets shed lustre upon his time; men like Joel, Hosea, and Amos raised their voices in warning and counsel; it was then that the great Isaiah began his noble career of public instructor; and Micah followed in his footsteps. Thus Uzziah's reign passed gloriously for himself and pros perously for the people, until at last, in a moment of selfglorification and pride, he determined to offer up incense with his own hand on the golden altar of the Temple. As he entered the holy building, he was followed by Azariah the High-priest and many priests. They knew that his purpose was sinful, and they warned him that he could not with impunity usurp the office reserved for the anointed sons of Aaron. But their remonstrances were unheeded; Uzziah seized the censer, and was about to burn the incense, when suddenly he was afflicted by that most terrible of all scourges, leprosy. The fatal marks were imprinted on his forehead, and instantly observed by the priests. They knew that he durst not stay to pollute the House of God; he knew it himself, for he hurried out, and dwelt in seclusion, away from the palace and the city, a leper until the day of his death. The government was at once handed over to his son Jotham, who at Uzziah's death became king of Judah. 139. JOTHAM (759–743). [2 KINGS XV. 32-38; 2 CHRON. XXVII.] Jotham was twenty-five years old when he succeeded to the throne. Like his father, he was obedient to the Divine Law, although he likewise suffered the high places to remain, where the people still sacrificed and burnt incense.' He added another gate to the Temple, extended the wall of the hill (Ophel), and built new fortifications in the mountains and woods of Judah. He was strong enough to defeat and to subject the Ammonites, and to exact from them a heavy tribute of silver and of corn. So Jotham became mighty, because he went the right way before the Lord his God.' Yet it is strange that during the reigns of two of the most virtuous kings of Judah, the people should have been singularly corrupt and idolatrous. Again and again the voice of the prophets was lifted up to admonish and reprove, to advise and to menace. To their writings we are indebted for vivid pictures of the social condition of their times; from them we learn the lawless arrogance of the nobles and the heedless depravity of the people. Joel furnishes a magnificent description of a remarkable locust plague, and Amos and Micah make allusion to another terrible calamity, an earthquake, which became a marked epoch for several generations. But prominent even among so many great contemporaries stands Isaiah, unequalled in power and sublime impressiveness, the intrepid counsellor of kings and chiefs, the untiring teacher of the people, the terror of a venal and degraded priesthood, the messenger of bright hopes to the faithful and the penitent.' Jotham was succeeded by his son. 140. AHAZ (743-728). [2 KINGS XVI.; 2 CHRON. XXVIII.] Great troubles and misfortunes befell the land during the reign of this weak and idolatrous monarch. He did not what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, like David his father; but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel; he even made his son pass through the fire, according to the abomination of the heathens, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel; and he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.' The corruption of the kingdom of Judah reached an unprecedented height. Political dangers necessarily followed. The Edomites revolted and even ventured to invade Judea; they defeated the Hebrew army and carried off many captives. The Philis For a full account of the life and writings of Isaiah, see vol. ii. pp. 24-78. |