NOTES ON THE INTERNATIONAL LESSON.
By Alonzo T. Jones
“AND he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did.” Hezekiah was one of the best kings that ever reigned in Judah, while Ahaz, his father, was one of the worst. There was a conspiracy formed by Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah king of Israel, against Ahaz king of Judah. They proposed to destroy Ahaz and set up Ashariah the son of Tabael as king of Judah. The Lord sent Isaiah to Ahaz to say, “Thus saith the Lord God, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.” Isa. 7: 1–10. Then Ahaz, instead of trusting the Lord, “sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, 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 rise up against me. 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 Assyria. And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him; for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.” “AND king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, 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. And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus; so Urijah the priest made it before king Ahaz came from Damascus. And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon.” “For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him; and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.” 2 Kings 16: 7–12; 2 Chron. 28: 23. In following this worship of the gods of Syria, he shut up the house of the Lord, and in all the cities of Judah “he made high places to burn incense unto other gods.” Then, too, after he had put himself into the hands of the king of Assyria, he had to rob the house of the Lord to satisfy his demands. He “cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the brazen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stones. And the covert for the Sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king’s entry without, turned he from the house of the Lord for the king of Assyria.” “And Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came unto him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not.” THUS it was that when Hezekiah came to the throne there was urgent necessity for a reformation. He accordingly immediately set about it. “He, in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them.” Then he brought in the priests and the Levites, and had them sanctify themselves, and sanctify and cleanse the house of the Lord. It took eight days to clean out all the rubbish and uncleanness that they found in the temple. Then Hezekiah gathered the rams, lambs, and bullocks for the burnt offering, and all the different orders of musicians to sing in the worship of the Lord. “And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people; for the thing was done suddenly.” 2 Chron. 29: 36. Next, “Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel.” “So the posts passed from city to city, through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even unto Zebulun; but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them. Nevertheless, divers of Asher and Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun.” 2 Chron. 30. This was the Lord’s last call to the people of the ten tribes. Those who thus humbled themselves and joined with Judah in the worship of God were delivered from the captivity inflicted by Sargon shortly afterward. The Lord knew the iniquities that were multiplying in Israel. He knew that their destruction could not long be delayed. As a nation, they were even now beyond recovery. But in his mercy and pity he sends one more gracious invitation to whosoever would return to his service and his worship. Still he longs for Ephraim to return. Still he pleads with Israel to repent. And then when they have gone with a perpetual backsliding, he cries out, “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.” Hos. 11: 8. But Ephraim was “like a silly dove.” “Ephraim provoked him to anger most bitterly,” till even mercy could no longer forbear, and the Lord was compelled to cast them out of his sight. “So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.” WHEN Hezekiah had brought back the people to the worship of God (“so that there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem”); then “all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.” 2 Chron. 31: 1. Then it was that Hezekiah broke “in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made; for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it; and he called it a piece of brass.” 2 Kings 18: 4 (margin). “AND he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.” His rebellion, however, did not, in the end, amount to much in his favor. Perhaps he would have fared better if he had maintained his rebellion upon its own merits, and trusted in the Lord to help him. But he not only rebelled, but he meddled with that which did not concern him at all, and so vitiated the righteousness of his own rebellion, and brought upon him a reverse, and the oppression of the king of Assyria. In short, the story is as follows: The people of Ekron rebelled against the king of Assyria also. But their king—Padi—“was inspired by friendship and zeal for Assyria” (so says Sennacherib himself), and resisted their rebellion. Then they took Padi, and gave him up, “bound in chains of iron, to Hezekiah of Judah.” They then joined with Egypt against Assyria. Sennacherib defeated the allied forces, and then went to Ekron. What he did there we will let him tell in his own words:— “I deposed the rulers and dignitaries who had revolted, and killed them; I hung their bodies on crosses on the walls of the city. I sold for slaves all the men of the city who had committed violence and crimes. As for those who had not committed crimes or faults, and had not despised their masters, I pardoned them. I brought Padi, their king, out of Jerusalem and restored him to the throne of his royalty.” THEN, as Hezekiah, by keeping Padi a prisoner for them, was made partaker in their rebellion Sennacherib went up to punish him. Of this Sennacherib tells part and the Bible tells part. Sennacherib says:— “But Hezekiah king of Judah did not submit. There were forty-four walled towns, and an infinite number of villages, that I fought against, humbling their pride and braving their anger. By means of fire, massacre, battles, and siege operations, I took them; I occupied them; I brought out 200,150 persons, great and small, men and women; horses, asses, mules, camels, oxen, and sheep, without number; and carried them off as booty. As for himself, I shut him up in Jerusalem, the city of his power, like a bird in its cage. I invested and blockaded the fortresses round it; those who came out of the great gate of the city, were seized and made prisoners. I separated the cities I had plundered from his country, and gave them to Mitenti king of Ashdod, to Padi king of Ekron, to Ishmabasi king of Gaza. Then the fear of my majesty terrified this Hezekiah of Judah. He sent away the watchmen and guards whom he had assembled for the defense of Jerusalem.” THEN it was that Hezekiah did as the Bible says: “And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me; that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.” And he had to rob the temple of even the gold from the doors to pay it. 2 Kings 18: 14–16. Of this Sennacherib says:— “He sent messengers to me at Nineveh, the seat of my sovereignty, with thirty talents of gold, and eight hundred talents of silver, metals, rubies, pearls, great carbuncles, seats covered with skins, thrones ornamented with leather, amber, seal skins, sandal wood, and ebony, the contents of his treasury. He sent an ambassador to present this tribute and to make his submission.”—Le Normand’s Ancient History of the East, Book 4, chap. 3, sec. 3, par. 9–11. Rawlinson’s Seven Great Monarchies, Second Mon., chap. 9, par. 166, 167. THAT was a dear piece of business for poor Hezekiah. He had far better have let the Ekronites conduct their own rebellion, and send their king somewhere else. It would have been much better if he had attended to his own business, and let this business of these others alone. By doing as he did, he not only brought upon himself this evil, but he debarred himself from the help of the Lord. He could not ask the Lord to help him. All that he could do, in his distress, was to confess to the king of Assyria, “I have offended; return from me; that which thou puttest on me will I bear.” It is far different from this the next time this same king of Assyria comes into the land, and sends an insulting letter, demanding a further surrender. Then in his innocency he could go and spread the letter before the Lord, and ask him to look upon it and see, and bow down his ear and hear, all that Sennacherib had spoken. Then, too, the Lord answered; and the king of Assyria’s army was smitten by the angel, and he returned with shame of face to his own country. Let every one remember that injunction of the Scriptures, “Let none of you suffer . . . as a busybody in other men’s matters.” 1 Pet. 4: 15. Keep yourself clear of such things, and then if distress comes, in innocency you can present your petition to the Lord, and can trust in him to help, and he will hear, and deliver.