tines broke into the land, and succeeded in conquering some of the western districts. Pekah, the king of Israel, who had seen the rising power of Judah with envy and anxiety, made an alliance with Rezin, king of Syria. Both monarchs marched against Jerusalem; but the city, strong in its splendid fortifications, withstood the siege of the united armies. Rezin, enraged at this humiliating check, marched with his troops southwards, seized the valuable harbour town of Elath, and colonized it with Syrians. To protect himself against future dangers from his northern foes, Ahaz turned for help to Tiglath-Pileser, the powerful king of Assyria, actually calling the vulture down into the fold. His messengers went to the great monarch with presents of gold and silver taken from the Temple and his own palace. Tiglath-Pileser, too happy to obtain a hold upon Canaan, obeyed the summons with alacrity; he marched upon Damascus, besieged and took it, led the people away captives to Kir, and slew Rezin, the king of Syria. Ahaz went to Damascus to meet his deliverer. There he saw and admired a heathen altar, and he determined to place one exactly like it in the Temple of the Lord. It was accurately copied, and this new altar was put eastward before the entrance to the Holy, on the spot previously occupied by the old and hallowed brazen one, which was removed to the northern side of the Court. With a strange delight in his new altar, he ordered that all the principal sacrifices should be offered upon it. Besides, he irreverently despoiled the great laver, took it down from the brazen oxen upon which it rested, and placed it on the stone pavement.

When he died, he left the empire much weakened in extent and material resources, and sadly degenerated in religion and morality.

141. HEZEKIAH (728-699).

[2 KINGS XVIII.—XX.; 2 CHRON. XXIX.-XXXII.]

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Fortunately for Judah, Hezekiah was in many respects well fitted to remedy the injury which the infatuation and perverseness of his father had inflicted upon the land. Right-minded and God-fearing, he abhorred all heathen practices, and determined to reinstate the pure worship of the Lord. He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did.... He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him none was like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he clung to the Lord, and departed not from following Him, but kept His commandments which the Lord commanded Moses.'

He wisely gave himself up to the guidance of Isaiah, who remained faithfully at his side from the commencement until the close of his reign; and he encouraged the prophets Nahum and Micah to teach the people and enforce upon them obedience and piety.

His first self-imposed task was to destroy not only the numerous idols which disgraced his kingdom, but also to cut down the groves and high places which had been spared and sanctioned even by his pious predecessors. With an unflinching hand he annihilated these last vestiges of a corrupt religion; he even broke in pieces and removed the brazen serpent of Moses, because this ancient and timehonoured relic of Israel's wanderings in the desert was regarded by the people with superstitious awe, and worshipped with incense and prayer. He renewed the services and offerings in the Temple with unusual splendour; he was anxious to celebrate the feast of Passover with a grandeur and magnificence that had not been known since the time of Solomon. To carry out this object, he post

poned the festival for a whole month, in order to give the priests time to sanctify themselves, and to enable the people to assemble at Jerusalem from the distant parts of the land; for he desired that, on that occasion, the Israelites should flock to the capital from Dan to Beersheba. He sent out his messengers not only through Judah, but to the towns of the rival kingdom, inviting them to take part in the great feast of gratitude and rejoicing. In the provinces of Israel the messengers were generally received with the utmost scorn and derision. Yet a few from the tribes of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulon obeyed the summons and joined the people of Judah, who all hastened to the Temple as with one heart. For so long a time had the Divine commands been neglected, that many appeared in the holy place unsanctified. But Hezekiah, rejoicing at their presence, prayed for them. The good Lord pardon every one that prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purifications of the Sanctuary!' The Passover was celebrated with great solemnity and innumerable sacrifices for fourteen days; it was the beginning of a new religious life that dawned upon Judah.

Hezekiah displayed equal energy in protecting his kingdom from external dangers. He undertook an expedition against the Philistines who, restless and aggressive as ever, menaced his territory; he demolished their forts, took their stronghold Gaza, and devastated a large portion of their land.

Then aspiring to greater aims, he determined to shake off the galling yoke of dependence, refused to pay the tribute money, and rebelled against Assyria. This daring step naturally provoked the anger of the mighty king Sennacherib; his troops poured into Judah, and easily took the fenced cities. Hezekiah's courage failed him, he saw no hope of deliverance or victory, and sent a messenger

to the king of Assyria with these humiliating words: 'I have offended; return from me; that which thou puttest on me will I bear.' Sennacherib, greedy for treasure, exacted three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. To comply with this demand, Hezekiah was compelled to despoil his own palace and the Temple of God, even to tear the gold from its doors and pillars. It appears, however, that he entered into secret negotiations with the king of Egypt, who promised assistance. The rumour of these plots reached the ears of Sennacherib; his anger was aroused, and he now insisted upon the absolute subjection of Judah. He was encamped in Lachish, in the land of Judah itself. From thence he sent his three generals Tartan, Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh, with a large army against Jerusalem, to which they at once began to lay siege. It was a terrible trial for the people of Judah.

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The king sent out three of his counsellors, Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah, to speak with the Assyrian officers, whilst the people came thronging upon the wall to hear the reply of the enemy. As soon as the Hebrew messengers approached, Rabshakeh addressed them in these haughty terms: Speak you now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? Thou sayest (but they are but vain words), I have counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? 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, to all that trust on him. But if you say to me, We trust in the Lord our God: is not that He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem? Now, therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver

thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. How then wilt thou withstand one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen ? 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.'

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Eliakim and his two friends were greatly alarmed at these insulting words; they feared that the people on the walls, hearing them, would lose all courage, and perchance waver in their allegiance to their king. So they bade the spokesman use the Aramæan tongue instead of the Hebrew. But Rabshakeh, easily divining their intention, cried with a loud voice in the language of the people of Judah: Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. Thus says the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you; for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand. Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then shall every man eat of his own vine and every one of his fig-tree, and every one shall drink the waters of his cistern; 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 you may live and not die; and hearken not to Hezekiah, when he persuades you, saying, The Lord will deliver us.'

When the words of the Assyrians were reported to the king, he rent his garments and put on sackcloth, and went into the Temple of the Lord. Then, in the anguish of his heart, he sent some of his servants to the great and pious Isaiah, entreating him to pray to God for His unhappy people. But the prophet saw no cause for alarm; even from the power of the mighty Assyrian monarch the Lord would save His chosen nation.

Meanwhile Sennacherib had advanced from Lachish to Libnah. Here he was informed that Tirhakah, king of