PERIOD VI.]

THE SENTENCE OF HEZEKIAH.

king sent one of the priests of the land into Samaria, to teach the people.

LESSON 109.

2 KINGS xviii. 7, 8, 13-16; xx. 1-11, and 2 CHRON. Xxxii. 1-8.

Hezekiah resists Assyria; his Illness.

The Lord was with Hezekiah in all things and prospered him whithersoever he went forth. He rebelled against the king of Assyria, and he smote the Philistines even to Gaza. At this time

Nahum prophesied of the ruin and desolation of Nineveh, and denounced its crimes of lying and robbery. Isaiah prophesied against Tyre, "a mart of nations," which should be destroyed, and also against Babylon, "the glory of kingdoms," which he said should be swept "with the besom of destruction."

In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came against the fenced cities of Judah and took them. Hezekiah strengthened Jerusalem for a siege, and built up walls and towers, and encouraged the people, saying, "With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles." Afterwards, he acknowledged to Sennacherib that he had offended, and offered to pay him tribute. Sennacherib appointed him to pay three-hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. And Hezekiah gave him the treasures from the house of the Lord, and from the king's house, and he cut off the gold from the doors, and the pillars of the temple, and gave it to him. In those days Hezekiah was sick unto death. The prophet Isaiah came to him, and announced this message from the Lord, "Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live." Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and wept and prayed to the Lord, saying, "I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and

THE SIGN OF HEZEKIAH'S LENGTHENED LIFE. [975-606 b.c. have done that which is good in thy sight." Isaiah departed, but was commissioned to return, and tell him that God had heard his prayer, and seen his tears, and he would heal him, and on the third day he should go up to the house of the Lord. He was also to announce to him that God would add fifteen years to his life, and deliver him from the king of Assyria. Isaiah directed that a lump of figs should be laid upon the boil. Hezekiah asked for a sign

that he should recover. Isaiah inquired if he would have the shadow on the dial to go forward ten degrees, or backward ten degrees. Hezekiah said, "Let the shadow return backward ten degrees." Isaiah cried unto the Lord, and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

Babylon-the great city which was the metropolis of the Babylonian empire; it was situated on the river Euphrates, and was celebrated both for its extent, and its magnificent buildings. Terrible denunciations against Babylon were uttered by the prophets, especially Isaiah, and their predictions have been fulfilled.

LESSON 110.

2 KINGS Xviii. 17-xix. 37; xx. 12-19. ISAIAH XXXix.

Sennacherib's Invasion.

Berodach-baladan, the son of the king of Babylon, heard that Hezekiah had been sick, and he sent letters and a present to Hezekiah. Hezekiah showed the messengers all his precious things: his silver, gold, spices, armour, and every thing he had. Isaiah came and inquired of Hezekiah whence the messengers came: and what they wanted. Hezekiah told him, and also that he had shown them all his treasures. Isaiah then said unto Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD: Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left,

PERIOD VI.]

1

THE INVASION OF SENNACHERIB.

saith the LORD. And of thy sons the palace of the king of Babylon."

word of the LORD which thou hast spoken, Is it not good if peace and truth be in my days?"

Sennacherib again invaded Judah. He sent his servants to Jerusalem, but he himself laid siege to Lachish. His captains -Tartan, Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh, boasted of Sennacherib's victories over other nations. They said their gods were not able to deliver them from his power, and they railed against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, which were the work of the hands of man. Hezekiah was comforted by this message from Isaiah, "Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will send a blast 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." And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, "O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone,

thou hast made heaven and earth. LORD, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, thine eyes, and see and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God. Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. 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." In answer to this prayer, Isaiah was to say concerning the king of Assyria, "He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it." And the angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a-hundred-and-fourscore-andfive-thousand; in the morning this vast number was found to be all

ISAIAH'S PROPHECIES OF THE MESSIAH. [975-606 B.c.

dead corpses.

Sennacherib returned to Nineveh, and as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god he was slain by two

of his sons.

LESSON 111.

ISAIAH xl, xlii, xliv. xlv, liii, lx-lxv. 2 CHRON. XXxii. 27-33.

Prophecies of Isaiah. Hezekiah's Prosperity and Death.

:

Isaiah prophesied of many things that were to come to pass in the Jewish nation. Some of the events he predicted were then near at hand, others were very distant. He spoke of the coming of John the Baptist as the forerunner of Christ, in these words, "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: and the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it." Of the Redeemer he said, Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." He said that Christ would be the light of the Gentiles, to open their eyes, and to bring them out of the prison-house of ignorance and sin. He thus spoke of the sufferings of the Saviour: "He is despised, and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded

PERIOD VI.]

:

ISAIAH'S GOSPEL PROPHECIES.

for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." Isaiah also spoke of the messengers of the gospel of Christ, saying, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!" He predicted the coming of Cyrus to perform God's pleasure, who would cause Jerusalem, and the temple to be rebuilt. He invites all to look to the Lord and be saved, because He is God, and there is none else.

He also foretold the great extension of the Gospel in the latter days, when the abundance of the nations, and the power and glory of their kings shall be devoted to the Lord. Then Jerusalem shall be called the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of