B.C. 698.

blank. a useless

birds, that he might the more closely hide the picture that was
under, full of owls and satyrs, the most sadly remarkable of other
creatures. Thus Satan embroiders the curtain with the image of instrument.
virtue, that he may easily hide the foul picture of sin that is
d Spencer.
under it.d

idolatrous

7-10. (7) carved image, symbol or image of the goddess the people
Ashtoreth. (8) of Moses, a testimony to the Mosaic author- led into
ship of the Pentateuch." (9) made .. to err, his example,
and his actions, leading them astray. worse, bec. of the know-
ledge and privileges wh. they had. (10) spake, 2 Ki. xxi.

10-16.

practices

a Eze. viii. 3, 5.

Wordsworth.

The force of example (v. 9).—When John Newton was on board
the Harwich, he became acquainted with a young midshipman.
who was then free from open vice. Newton corrupted him, and vv. 9, 10. F. II.
he soon arrived at maturity in guilt. Years after, they met, and Hutton, 20.
as Newton's conscience now began to be listened to again, he was
Many persons
anxious to rescue his former companion, if he could, from effects who appear to
of which he had himself been the guilty cause. As he no longer repent are like
felt infidelity to be tenable, he strove to undeceive his victim. sailors who
throw their goods
His usual reply, however, was, that Newton was the first to give overboard in a
him an idea of his liberty, which he would not now forego. His storm, and wish
efforts were vain; he got worse, spurned all restraints, gave loose for them again
to every passion: his excesses threw him into a malignant fever,
of which he died; but not till he had appalled all those about
him, and pronounced his own sad doom, without showing any to the Path.
symptom that he hoped or asked for mercy.c

among the

11-17. (11) king of Assyria, Esar-haddon.
thorns,' either fr. his hiding places; or the word should be ren-
dered living, they took him alive. fetters, two chains of brass.
Babylon, Ge. xi. 1-9. (12) in affliction, a prisoner, a captive,
and doomed. (13) prayed, so turning with his whole soul to
Him. (14) built a wall, wh. may have been damaged when
the king was taken prisoner. Gihon, ch. xxxii. 4. fish gate,
near N.E. corner of the lower city. Ophel, the S. part of the
temple hill. (15) strange, etc.. as put by him (vv. 3-5). (16)
repaired, etc., wh. he had himself desecrated. (17) high
places, ch. xxxi. 1. Manasseh's reform compares unfavourably

with that of his father.

in a calm.

c Tweedie's Lamp

Manasseh's
captivity
and release

a Esar-haddon

were

mentions Manas-
seh among his
tributaries; and
king of Assyria
he was the only
who, fr. time to
time, held his
court at Baby-
lon."-Spk. Com.
Heb. chach,
the sharp, thorn-
Manasseh's captivity.-Critics who are fond of inventing "new like hook by wh.
readings," might, upon consideration, be led to suggest that we caught and held
prisoners
should substitute " Nineveh," or Assyria," for Babylon," in like fish."
the above passage. Why should the Assyrian generals carry Wordsworth.
their royal captive to Babylon? Nineveh was the capital of the
Assyrian Empire. This apparently singular circumstance is ex-
plained by the remains recently discovered at Babylon. The
identification of the king here mentioned is easy. The Assyrian
monuments, and both sacred and profane history, all lead to the
conclusion that Esar-haddon, the son and immediate successor of
Sennacherib (2 Ki. xix. 37), was the contemporary of Manasseh,
the son and immediate successor of Hezekiah. Now it is remark-
able that, of all the Assyrian monarchs, Esar-haddon seems to
have been the only one who actually ruled at Babylon. During Belfrage, Disc. to
the period in which Babylon was subject to Assyria, it was com- Aged; J. Slade,
iv. 159: G. W
monly ruled by native viceroys; but the inscriptions recently Lewis, ii. 74; F.
discovered in Babylonia state that Esar-haddon built himself a H. Hutton, 54; J.

Ac. ix. 11.

d 2 Chr. xxvi. 9,

xxvii. 3; Ne. iii.

26.

vr. 10-13. Dr.J.

Conant, i. 257.
v. 11. J. Saurin,
vi. 424; R. w.
Evans, Scrip.
Biog. ii. 159; F.
rv. 12, 13. H.

H. Hutton, 38.

B.C. 698.

W. Warter, ii. 513.

palace in that province. He consequently resided there, at least for a time, which cannot be said of any other monarch of that line. Now naturally, therefore, it follows that the captive king of Judah should have been taken to Babylon, and not to Nineveh ! Facts of this kind should check the hasty reception vv. 14-17. F. J. of "new "and "improved" readings, merely because the originals Hutton, 70. may present a difficulty, or seem to contradict our preconceived notions.

vv. 12-16. Dr.J., Toulmin, 355.

e W. H. Groser.

end of the

reign of Manasseh

18-20. (18) prayer, a prayer of Manasseh is found in the Sept., but cannot be authentic. (19) of the seers, or of Hosai, poss. a prophetic name. (20) in his own house, bec. the a "The only king's sepulchres were full. Amon, the hidden; name of one name of an of the eight principal deities of Egypt.a

Egyptian deity

that we find in

the Jewish an-
nals."-Stanley.
v. 20. F. H. Hut

ton, 86.

"The grave is

a common treasury to

God hears prayer.-Introduce by referring to the anxious question, which is awakened in many minds, Wherewithal shall I appear before God? and then proceed to discuss these points :

I. Who was entreated? God. II. Who prevailed with God?

Manasseh. III. How is it that the entreaty of the sinner can prevail with God?

Sepulchres in gardens (v. 20).—It is probable that they buried which him in the garden of his house. This was conformable to the we must all be practice of the Jews (2 Ki. xxi. 18). In such a place Christ was taken."-Burke. buried. The Romans had sometimes sepulchres in their gardens. b Sarah Martin, Galba, the emperor, was buried in his garden; and so was Cyrus, the Prison king of Persia. The Greeks and Romans frequently buried the

Preacher.

the reign

of Amon

dead in their own houses. It was enjoined by the Thebans, before they built a house, to build a sepulchre in the place.

21-25. (21) two years, 2 Ki. xxi. 19. (22) sacrificed, etc., fully restoring the idolatrous worship; he was born and a 2 Ki. xxi. 23, 24. trained while his father was an idolater. (23) trespassed "An evil con- more, going ever deeper into sin. (24) conspired, bec. very science is like prob. the self-will he showed in religion made him tyrannous in the raging sea, which can only government." (25) Josiah, whom Jehovah heals.

a gnawing worm

than the blood

be calmed by the Hezekiah and Manasseh.-A contrast. We have in the end of sign of the cross the one and the beginning of the other a magnificent sunset, of Christ. It is and a sunrise of quite an opposite description. We have a good in the bones, for father and king closing life in Hezekiah; a bad son and successor the removal of commencing life in Manasseh. I. Consider Hezekiah, and what which nothing we learn about him. 1. We learn that genuine goodness shall less is required not want appropriate record and remembrance; 2. God the of the Son of inspirer of goodness in the hearts of men will not forget it; God." Krum- 3. The beneficiaries of goodness will not be unmindful of their macher. benefactors; 4. Sympathetic imitators will mirror forth their goodness from whom they have derived its idea and impulse. II. Now turn to Manasseh, and what the history says about him. 1. A youthful king; 2. A long reign; 3. A life of great wickedness. Application:-(1) What may parents learn from the son palace of plea of such a father? Hezekiah hoarded up wealth for his son. Did sure by wide he undervalue the moral element in him? (2) What may subjects portals o f learn from the successor of such a king? Not to trust religion conceal the low to princes who may be alternately reformers and destroyers. wicket, behind The punishment of sin.—It is not only justice to the law that which leads into requires punishment of its transgression by the monarch, but bey are in love to the peace, purity, and honour of the subjects of his short time sent kingdom. It is not only justice to the father's authority that

b J. Spencer Hill. "Those who give themselves up to

the service of sin, enter the

marble, which

the fields, where

а

B.C. 698.

to feed swine."

requires and leads him to chastise his son for disobedience, but love to the rest of the family, that they may not imitate his sin nor be corrupted by it. So with God. He punishes sin, not James D. Burns. only upon principles of justice, but upon the ground of love.

CHAPTER THE THIRTY-FOURTH.

c J. Bate.

B.C. 641.

was the best and the kings who had sat upon this throne since David, and was approached by none in his zeal against idolatry, and in his deLord."-Kitto.

most beloved of

votedness to the

"His character

1–7. (1) eight years, so the kingdoms must have been Josiah governed by a regency. (2) right, though he was the son of begins his reign such an idolatrous father.a (3) eighth year, when he was 16 years of age: Jewish youths were regarded as attaining their revival majority at 13. twelfth year, when he was about 20. Then of true he was strong enough to act an independent part. (4) images, religion marg. sun-images. groves, or Astarte pillars. strowed it, a "This prince 2 Ki. xxiii. 6. (5) priests, i.e. the idolatrous priests. (6) cities of Manasseh, etc., Josiah claimed authority over the whole country, as there was now no Israelite king. with their mattocks, correctly in their desolate places." (7) he had, etc., showing that the king personally superintended the business. Josiah, or early piety.-His example is worthy the imitation of all young persons. Notice-I. His early piety. 1. While young he sought God; 2. Young persons may become religious under great disadvantages; 3. His early piety gave him great stability of character; 4. His religion secured him honour and happiness. II. His eminent piety. Early piety leads to eminent piety. had early shown 1. It gave him opportunity for improvement as he grew in age; a decided bias in 2. It led to eminent piety. III. Josiah's peaceful death and favour of elevahonourable burial (Chr. 24-27). 1. Though a good man, yet! not faultless; 2. His peaceful death; 3. His honourable funeral. Ewald. -Early piety exemplified in Josiah.-Observe-I. The object "Heb. word is after whom Josiah sought-David's God. Now God was-1. not fr. chereb, a David's teacher; 2. David's comfort; 3. David's delight; 4. sword, or ахе, David's defence. II. The manner how he sought after that but fr. choreb, and chorebah, dryobject. 1. He sought God from a deep conviction that his ness." conduct, and the conduct of Israel generally, was highly offensive worth. to God, and that they were exposed to imminent peril; 2. He Le. xxvi. 31, 33. sought with great self-abasement of soul; 3. He sought God by vv. 1, 2. C. E. destroying the idols out of the land; 4. He sought God by Kennaway, 224. restoring the true worship, and frequenting it; 5. He sought v. 3. W. May, 25; God with all his heart. III. The period of life when he did it. J. I. S. Cellerier, While he was yet young." We should seek God while we are 360; S. Lavington, yet young, because-(1) God is the best object whom we can seek; (2) Youth is the best time for seeking God.

tion and manliness of life."

Words

47; Dr. J. Flet

cher, iii. 313; 4. Gatty, ii. 14; Bp. Wordsworth,

315.

ii.

"The sick man's sacrifice is but

Jewish cemeteries. In the parallel passage (2 Kings xxiii. 6) we read, upon the graves of the children of the people." Dr. Kitto considers these passages to refer to the common or public cemeteries of the Jews. The private and family sepulchres a lame oblation. were of the nature of caverns, but these were beyond the reach Pious treasures, of the mass of the people. The public cemeteries were placed at laid up in healtha distance of not less than 2,000 cubits from a Levitical city; the defect of sick ful days, excuse and were required to be more than 50 cubits from any other non-performcity. Neither foreigners nor criminals were allowed to be buried ances, without in these cemeteries. The price of Judas's treason, we are told, which we must was used to buy "a field to bury strangers in." Places were with anxiety appointed, too, in which to bury criminals. Lightfoot says upon the lost

needs look back

B.C. 641.

(quoting the Talmud), "They buried not an executed person in the grave of his fathers; but there were two places of burial opportunities of for such-one for them that were slain with the sword and health; and may have cause rather strangled, and the other for them that were burned and stoned; to envy than pity and when the flesh was wasted, the bones were gathered and the ends of peni-buried in the graves (cemeteries or sepulchres) of their fathers." tent public sufferers who go In such a place our Saviour would have been buried had not with healthful Joseph of Arimathæa begged the body, and buried it in his own prayers into the sepulchre. The public cemeteries, it would appear, were covered lives, and in the with grass, no mounds being used in the form of a grave, as in integrity of their modern burial-grounds. Memorial stones were placed near the faculties return spot, sometimes of a round or pyramidal form, or, where an their spirit unto inscription was required, of an oblong character. Dr. Kitto it."-Sir Thomas instances the burial-ground of Sarbout-el-Cadem, in Idumea, as furnishing a good illustration of these cemeteries and monuments.

last scene of their

God that gave

Browne.

Josiah

orders the repair of the house of God

8-13. (8) to repair, from the account in Kings it appears that this work of purging the temple was commenced first." The cleansing and repairing of the temple may have been going on while the destruction of idols, altars, etc., was in hand. (9) money, 2 Ki. xxii. 4. they returned, or had returned, i.e. from their journeys for collecting moneys. (10) workmen, etc., 2 Ki. xxii. 5. Eastern people will only work under overexact seers. (11) floor, marg. rafter. the kings of Judah, Ahaz. chronological Manasseh, and Amon. (12) faithfully, or skilfully, and dililowed either in gently. (13) scribes, now first spoken of as a class, forming Kings or Chro- distinct division of the Levitical body.

a 2 Ki. xxiii. 4.

b "The
order is not fol-

nicles."-- Jamie

son.

c Spk. Com.

Pr. xxv. 1.

Zeal for the Master (v. 12).-The late Rev. John Campbell, of Kingsland, used to relate an anecdote illustrative of the devotedness of Mr. Townsend to the cause of Christ. Finding him, one Tuesday morning, leaning on the balustrade that led to the breakfast room of the Religious Tract Society, and unable to proceed from a difficulty of breathing, Mr. C. remarked, "Mr. Townsend, is this you? Why should you come in this state of "A heavenly awe body to our meetings? You have attended them for a long and encompass- time, and you should now leave that work for younger men." ed, as it still Looking upon his friend with a countenance brightened by the ought, and must, sentence or thought that was struggling for utterance, his words ness whatso-were, "O Johnny, Johnny, man, it is hard to give up working in ever."-Carlyle. the service of such a Master!"

Overshadowed

all earthly busi

Hilkiah, the priest, finds a copy of the law

that the book

14-17. (14) found a book, prob. an orig. copy of the Pentateuch.a (15) the book, this term indicates that it was the temple copy. (16) back again, when the repairing work was completed. (17) the money, . 9.

The Bible and the bullet.-Samuel Proctor, a class-leader in the a "It would seem Methodist Society, was formerly a grenadier in the first regiment of the law was of foot guards, and took part in the struggle on the plains of found by Hilkiah Waterloo. He always carried a small Bible in one pocket, and a in the treasury, Hymn-Book in the other. In the evening of June 16th his where they regiment was ordered to dislodge the French from a wood, of stowed the money for secu- which they had taken possession, and from which they annoyed rity."-Bertheau. the allied army. While thus engaged, he was thrown a distance of four or five yards, by a force for which he could not account at the time; but when he came to examine his Bible, he saw, with lively gratitude to the Preserver of his life, what it was

b2 Ki. xxii. S.

that had thus driven him. A musket-ball had struck him where B.C. 641.

sword of the

sails

map by which

his Bible rested, and penetrated nearly half through the volume. "The Bible is a All who saw the ball said that it would undoubtedly have killed rock of diahim, had it not been for the Bible, which served as a shield.-monds, a chain The Bible placed in the churches.-Formerly a large Bible was of pearls, the chained in some convenient place in every parish church. Cran- Spirit; a chart mer, the first Protestant archbishop, and afterwards a martyr, by which the who was appointed to the see of Canterbury during the reign of Christian Henry VIII., was very desirous of obtaining a translation of the to eternity; the Scriptures into English. He often solicited this favour of the he daily walks; king, and, at length, secured it. When some printed copies were put into his hands, he blessed God, and sent one to his majesty, and begged that all his subjects might have liberty to read it. An injunction was forthwith issued, which required an English Bible, of the largest size, to be procured for the use of every parish church, at the expense of the minister and churchwardens, and prohibited the common people from being discouraged to read or hear the Scriptures. The book was everywhere received with inexpressible joy, every one that was able perused it, and the poor eagerly flocked to hear it read. Some aged persons to the study of learned to read on purpose to peruse it, and even little children the Scriptures." crowded to hear it. Reader! dost thou value thy Bible?

18-22. (18) a book, it is singular to find the king unacquainted with the Pentateuch. (19) rent his clothes, the usual sign of grief and alarm. (20) Abdon, or Achbor." (21) of the Lord, through His prophet. (22) Huldah, etc., 2 Ki. xxii. 14. wardrobe, prob. the royal garments. college, or a particular suburb of Jerus.

the sundial by his life; the bawhich he sets lance in which he weighs his

actions."-T.

Watson.

Theodosius the Second dedicated a great part of the night

reads the

Shaphan, the scribe, book of the law to Josiah a 2 Ki. xxii. 12. "The intellect has only one failing, which to considerable one; it has no conscience. Napoest instance of this. If his heart had borne any proportion to his been one of the greatest men in all history." H. W. Beecher. "I use the Scriptures, not as an arsenal to be re

be sure is a very

leon is the readi

brain he had

Lowell.

The way to read the Bible.-You put your Bible in your bookcase. There it stands all the week, perhaps. Or you read it once a day, or once a week, as the case may be. And you do it very decorously. The room is still, and your children sit around the room in a stiff row. You put on your spectacles and read; and as you read, you lower the key of your voice-for when men want to be religious, they always take a solemn note; and you read all the way through the chapter, and are like a blind man walking along a road where there are all sorts of flowers on both sides, never seeing a single one. Men read thus, and feel a great deal better because they have read the Bible to their family! Now, I tell you, the only thing you read in the Bible is that which jumps into you, and which you cannot get out of you. It is the vital, luminous part, and not the dead letter that you read, if you read any part of the Bible.-The study of the Bible. -How utterly impossible it would be in the manhood of the world to imagine any other instructor of mankind than the Bible. And for that reason, every day makes it more and more evident temthat the thorough study of the Bible, the investigation of what ple, where I it teaches and what it does not teach, and the determination of delight to conthe limits of what we mean by its inspiration, the determination template the of the degrees of authority to be ascribed to the different books, beauty, the symif any degrees are to be admitted, must take the lead of all other metry, and the magnificence of studies. He is guilty of high treason against the faith who the structure, fears the result of any investigation, whether philosophical, or and to increase scientific, or historical. And therefore nothing should be more my awe and exwelcome than the extension of knowledge of any and of every to the Deity there cite my devotion kind-for every increase in our accumulations of knowledge preached and

sorted to only for arms and wea

pons, but as a matchless