they could not lay aside their own idolatries, for they continued to serve their own graven images also in many following generations. ver. 41.

52 Q. But did they always continue in this mixed kind of religion?

A. In process of time they forsook their idols, worshipped the true God only, and submitted themselves to the Jewish religion, so as to receive the five books of Moses: they had a temple of their own built on Mount Gerizim, and in the New Testament are called Samaritans.

1 Q. Judah?

CHAP. XII.

Of the Kings of Judah.

How many kings and rulers reigned over

A. Twenty; namely, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah the queen, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jothan, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah.

2 Q. Were all these rulers of Judah also great sinners, as well as the kings of Israel?

A. A few of them were very religious, some very wicked, and others of an indifferent or mixed character. 3 Q. What fell out in Rehoboam's reign, after the ten tribes had made Jeroboam their king?

A. When Rehoboam raised a great army out of Judah and Benjamin to recover the ten tribes, God by his prophet forbid them to proceed. 1 Kings xii. 22-25.

4 Q. Were there no wars then between Judah and Israel?

A. Yes; in the following times there were bloody wars between them.

5 Q. How did the people of Judah behave themselves under the government of Rehoboam?

A They fell into idolatry and shameful sins, whereupon God was angry, and Shishack king of Egypt plundered the temple and the king's house of their treasures, in the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign. 1 Kings xiv. 25. So short-lived was the supreme grandeur and glory of the Jewish church and state.

6 Q. Did Abijah the son of Rehoboam do any thing remarkable in his reign ?

A. He made a speech, and pleaded against Israel, when Jeroboam led them to war against him; he reproved them for their departure from the true worship of God, and from the house of David; and when they would not hearken, but set upon him in battle, he and his army cried unto the Lord, and shouted, and slew five hundred thousand men. A brave example of divine success! 2 Chron. xiii. 4—17.

7 Q. What is recorded concerning Asa, the son of Abijah, and king of Judah ?

A. That he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and destroyed the idols which had been set up in the land. 2 Chron. xiv. 1–5.

8 Q. What token of favour did God shew him?

A. When he called upon the Lord, and trusted in him, he defeated the army of the Ethiopians, who came against him, though they were a thousand thousand. ver. 9-15.

9 Q Did Asa continue all his days to fear the Lord? A. In his old age he fell into distrust of God, and he gave the treasure that remained in the house of God, and in the king's house, to the king of Syria, to guard and help him against Baasha the king of Israel; and he imprisoned the prophet which reproved him for it. 2 Chron. xvi. 1-10.

10 Q. What is remarkable in Asa's death?

A. That in the disease of his feet (which is supposed to be the gout) he sought not the Lord, but only to the physicians; and he slept with his fathers. ver. 11-13. 11 Q. How did his son Jehoshaphat behave himself in the kingdom ?

A. He walked in the first and best ways of his father David, and God was with him. 2 Chron. xviii. 3.

12 Q. Wherein did Jehoshaphat more particularly discover his piety and goodness?

A. He appointed Levites and priests throughout all the cities of Judah, to teach the law of the Lord; and he set judges in the land with a solemn charge to do justice without bribery. 2 Chron. xvii. 7-9, and xix.

5-11.

13 Q. Wherein did God manifest his special favour to Jehoshaphat?

A. God gave him very great treasures, and the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms round about Judah, so that for many years they made no war upon him. 2 Chron. xvii. 10-19.

14 Q. Wherein did he offend God?

A. In joining in alliance with Ahab the wicked king of Israel, whereby he was in great danger of being slain in a battle against the Syrians. 2 Chron. xviii. 1, 31, and xix. 2.

15 Q. When Moab and Ammon joined their forces against Jehoshaphat, how was he delivered from them?

A. He proclaimed a fast through the land, and in the midst of the people he prayed earnestly to the Lord, and when he went out to battle, he appointed the singers before the army, to sing praises to the Lord. 2 Chron.

xx. 1-21.

16 Q. What was the effect of this pious practice?

A. When they began to sing and to pray, his enemies fell upon one another till they were all slain. ver. 22-29.

17 Q. Did Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, imitate his father's government in piety?

A. By no means; for he slew all his own brethren, he walked in the ways of Ahab king of Israel, and took his daughter Athaliah to wife. 2 Chron. xxi. 1-7.

18 Q. How did God testify his displeasure against Jehoram?

A. He smote Jehoram with such an incurable dis

temper, that his bowels fell out, and he died of sore diseases. ver. 15-19.

19 Q. Who succeeded Jehoram in the kingdom? A. Ahaziah his youngest son, for all his eldest were slain in the camp by the Arabians. 2 Chron. xxii. 1. 20 Q. What was the behaviour and the fate of Ahaziah king of Judah?

A. He followed the evil practices of the house of Ahab, by the persuasions of his mother Athaliah, who was the grand-daughter of Omri; and when he went out with Jehoram, the king of Israel, against Jehu, he was slain by Jehu. 2 Chron. xxii. 1—9.

21 Q. Who succeeded to the throne of Judah when Ahaziah was dead?

A. Athaliah his mother seized the kingdom, and destroyed all the seed-royal of the house of Judah, except Joash, the son of Ahaziah, an infant of a year old, who was hid in the temple. 2 Chron. xxii. 2, 10—12.

22 Q. How did Athaliah reign?

Ꮑ. As she counselled her son Ahaziah before, so she herself practised the idolatry of the house of Ahab. 2 Chron. xxii. 3, 17, and xxiv. 7.

23 Q. How was Athaliah deposed?

A. Jehoida the high priest stirred up the captains of the army, the Levites, and the chief of the people against her he set Joash on the throne when he was seven years old, anointed and proclaimed him king, then ordered the guards to slay Athaliab, and destroyed the worship of Baal. 2 Chron. xxiii. 1—15.

24 Q. What was the conduct of Joash in his government?

A. He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoida the priest, who was his uncle; he repaired the temple, and the vessels thereof, and restored the worship of God. 2 Chron. xxiv. 1-15.

25 Q. How did Joash behave after Jehoida's death? A. He was persuaded to change the worship of God for idols, and most ungratefully slew Zechariah, the son of Jehoida, because he reproved the idolatry of the people. 2 Chron. xxiv. 17-22. Matt. xxiii. 35.

26 Q. crime?

In what manner did God punish him for his

A. He sent an army of the Syrians against him, who pillaged the country; he smote him with sore diseases, and at last his own servants slew him on his bed. ver. 23-26.

27 Q. How did Amaziah the son of Joash reign ?

A. At first he seemed to work righteousness, and hearkened to the voice of God and his prophets; but afterwards, gaining a victory over the Edomites, he learnt to worship the gods of Edom. 2 Chron. xxv. 1-16.

28 Q. How came Amaziah to meet his ruin and his death P

A. Being puffed up with his success against Edom, he challenged the king of Israel to battle, and was routed shamefully, and was slain at last by a conspiracy of his own people. 2 Chron. xxv. 17—28.

29 Q. What was the character and reign of Uzziah the king?

4. He was made king at sixteen years old, in the room of his father Amaziah; he sought after God in the days of Zechariah the prophet, and God prospered his arms against all his enemies, and made his name great. 2 Chron. xxvi. 1—15.

Note. This was several hundred years beforé that Zechariah who prophecied after the captivity.

30 Q Wherein did he provoke God afterwards? A. His heart was lifted up by his prosperity, and he assumed the priest's office, and burnt incense in the temple, though the priests opposed him. ver. 16.

31 Q. What was his punishment for this crime?

A. While he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, the leprosy rose up in his forehead, and he continued a leper till his death. ver 19.

32 Q. Is there any thing very remarkable in the reign of Jotham, the son of Uzziah?

A. He was a good king, and God blessed his arms, so that he brought the Ammonites under tribute. 2 Chron. xxvii. 1-6.