.

DISPENSATION.

261

CALIFORNI

his ancestors; and Athaliah suffered a death worthy of her infamous conduct. This prince. conducted himself properly during the life of Jehoiada. He reinstated the worship of the true God; collected treasures to repair the house of the Lord, for "the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God, and also all the dedicated things of the house of the Lord did they bestow upon Baalim." But after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served graven Idols. Zachariah the prophet, son of Jehoiada, remonstrated against their conduct; " and he was stoned to death at the commandment of the king, in the court of the house of the Lord." Thus "Joash remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done unto him, but slew his son."* We are informed that, as a punishment for his apostasy, the host of Syria came up against him; that they came to Judah and Jerusalem, destroyed all the princes of the people, from among the people, and sent all the spoils from them to the king of Damascus.

They came with a small company of men, and the Lord delivered a very great host into their hands, because they had forsaken the God of their

* 2 Chron, ch. xxiv. v. 20. 24.

fathers." He was slain in a conspiracyof his own servants; and was not buried in the sepulchres of his fathers.

Amaziah his son was a weak and irresolute prince. In some things "he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart." About to wage war against the Edomites, he numbered his hosts; and although he found that they amounted to three hundred thousand chosen men, he entered into an unnecessary alliance with the house of Israel, and hired one hundred thousand men of valour from thence. For this want of confidence in Jehovah, he was reproved by a man of God; and by his advice he dismissed the subsidized army; which was the occasion of much discontent. After he had vanquished the Edomites, he had the extreme folly to adopt their gods. For which the anger of the Lord was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent him a prophet who said unto him, why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand?" But he resented the reproof.* Elated with victory, he wantonly proposed to try his strength with Joash the king of Israel, who in vain admonished him of the unequal contest. The issue

* 2 Chron. ch. xxv. v. 15,

was that he was carried as a captive to his own city Jerusalem; the house of the Lord was plundered of its treasures; in the subsequent part of his reign a conspiracy was formed against him, as being disqualified to govern, he fled from the capital, and he was slain at Lachish.

Uzziah, the son of Amaziah, was aged sixteen years when he commenced his reign. He reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. "He

sought God in the days of Zachariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper." He was a warlike prince, and “had a host of fighting men, that went out to war by bands."-"The whole number of the chief of the fathers of the mighty men of valour, was two thousand and six hundred." "But when he was strong his heart was lifted up to his destruction." Like Saul he invaded the sacred and peculiar office of the priesthood, as established by the law of Moses; for" he went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense," and was wroth with the priest that reproved the profanation. For this offence he was punished with a leprosy, which not only rendered him incapable of governing, but he was totally secluded from social intercourse. His son Jotham administered judgment during the

remainder of his life, and succeeded him in the

government.

Jotham reigned only sixteen years. His reign was favourable to the cause of true religion; and he was prosperous; but he was not able to restore the worship of God in its purity, "for the people did yet corruptly."*

His son Ahaz plunged into all the horrors of paganism. He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel: he made molten images for Baalim: he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire after the abomination of the heathen. He fell a prey to the Syrians, by joining with the king of Israel against them. He formed an alliance with the king of Assyria, by whom he was plundered and betrayed. His afflictions rendered him more obstinate in his idolatrous practices, for he sacrificed to the Gods of Damascus that smote him,

saying, because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me."t "He cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God; shut up the doors of the house of the Lord; made altars in every corner of Jerusalem; and in every city of Judah he made high places, to burn incense unto other

* 2 Chron. ch. xxvii. † 2 Chron. ch. xxviii. v. 23.

Gods, and provoked to anger the Lord God of his father."

Hezekiah aimed at a complete restoration of that religion which had been not only neglected, but intentionally disgraced, under the former reign. He cleansed the temple, and prepared it for the solemn worship of God; he renewed the sacrifices that were appointed by the Mosaic law for a sin offering, or to make atonement for all Israel; issued orders that the passover, and the feast of unleavened bread, should be solemnly kept through the realm. "So that there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there was not the like in Israel."

Animated by his example, the conduct and dispositions of the populace appeared to be totally changed. They were at once inspired with zeal for the honour of the true God. Those of Jerusalem, "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 and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all.”*

These acts of piety were amply rewarded.

* 2 Chron.ch, xxxj.