Golden Text.—“Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.”Mal. 3:7. “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.”James 4:10.
Lesson I.—Reformation under Asa.2 Chron. 14:2–12. Parallel account, 1 Kings 14:2 to 15:24. Asa was the third king of Judah, being the son of Abijah, and grandson of Rehoboam. He reigned forty-one years, and the general character of his reign was that “he did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.” He tried to overcome the influence of the idolatry that had been encouraged by his father and grandfather, and acted so wisely that God smote his enemies before him and delivered the kingdom.
Lesson II.—Jehoshaphat’s Good Reign.2 Chron. 17:1–10. Of Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa, it is said that the Lord was with him, “because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim; but sought to the Lord God of his father, and walked in His commandments, and not after the doings of Israel.” But he made the fatal mistake of having his son and successor, Jehoram, married to Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, of Israel.
Lesson III.—The Temple Repaired.2 Chron. 24:4–13. Joash was the grandson of Jehoram and Athaliah. When his father Ahaziah died, Athaliah usurped the throne, and thought to put to death all her son’s children, so they would be out of her way. She supposed she had succeeded, but the infant Joash and his nurse were hidden in the temple by his aunt, who was the wife of Jehoiada, the high priest. By the time Joash was seven years old, his grandmother’s reign had become so corrupt that the people revolted. Joash was then brought out from his hiding-place, proclaimed king, and Athaliah was slain. While Jehoiada lived the young king was under his influence. So the house of the Lord was repaired, and the worship of the true God was well established once more.
Lesson IV.—Isaiah Called to Service.Isa. 6:1–13. The time of this vision of the prophet Isaiah was in “the year that King Uzziah died,” only a few years from the founding of Rome and the rise of Corinth. Hosea in Israel and Nahum and Micah in Judah were contemporaneous with Isaiah, whose home was in Jerusalem. His father’s name was Amoz, and his prophecies were “in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.”
Lesson V.—Messiah’s Kingdom Foretold.Isa. 11:1–10. This vision covers the first advent of our Lord, and also His second coming and reign of righteousness in the new earth. See also 2 Peter 3:9–13.
Lesson VI.—Hezekiah’s Great Passover.2 Chron. 30:1–13. Hezekiah was the good son of a bad father, King Ahaz. “He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.” 2 Kings 18:5. The extensive spiritual revival under his reign was inaugurated by a great Passover; “for they had not done it of a long time” according to directions. He sent out invitations not only through his own kingdom, but also into the kingdom of Israel, and there came “a very great congregation.”
Lesson VII.—The Assyrian Invasion.2 Kings 19:20–22, 28–37. This lesson teaches in a forcible manner that God answers the prayer of faith, and that He sometimes uses the enemies of His people as a rod wherewith to chastise His erring children and bring them back when they go astray. Even when that enemy thinks he is working against the God of Israel, God is, through him, working out His own will. He makes the wrath of man to praise Him.
Lesson VIII.—Manasseh’s Sin and Repentance.2 Chron. 33:9–16. Manasseh was the fourteenth ruler of Judah. Altho he was the son of the good Hezekiah, yet he “made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.” His was a striking instance of reaction from the example of a pious father, of sin, chastisement, repentance, personal reformation, and effort to repair evil, with partial outward success, but leaving a substratum of evil results to be uncovered at a later day.
Lesson IX.—The Two Paths.Prov. 4:10–19. “The path of the just [or ‘way of wisdom’] is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” “The way of the wicked [or ‘path of the wicked’] is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble.”
Lesson X.—The Book of the Law Found.2 Kings 22:8–20. Josiah began to reign at the age of eight years. At sixteen he gave his heart to the Lord. Four years later he set about repairing the house of the Lord, and in some hidden nook the book of the law was found. The king told the high priest and others to inquire of the Lord concerning the matter. So they went to Huldah, a prophetess, to make the inquiry. The Lord answered through this humble instrument, and assured Josiah that He would bring evil upon the people because of their sins; but because he had humbled himself before the Lord, the evil should not come in his day.
Lesson XI.—Trying to Destroy God’s Word.Jer. 36:20–32. In the days of Jehoiakim king of Judah, the wickedness of the king and people became so great that God sent a special warning by Jeremiah the prophet. This was written on a roll by Baruch the scribe, and read to the people. Some princes heard the reading and told the king about it. He had the roll brought into his palace to be read to him; but when three or four leaves had been read, the king took the roll and cut it in pieces, and threw it into the fire. But it could not be destroyed, for the Lord directed the prophet to rewrite it, and add more to it. “The Word of the Lord endureth forever.”
Lesson XII.—Captivity of Judah.Jer. 52:1–11. The captivity of Judah in Babylon, which began in the reign of Jehoiakim, was completed in the reign of his brother Zedekiah, who was the last king of Judah. At this time the city of Jerusalem was utterly destroyed, and Zedekiah’s eyes were put out, and he was made a prisoner in Babylon until the day of his death.
