ISRAEL TAKEN CAPTIVE INTO ASSYRIA. [975-606 B.C.

then sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser, asking assistance against Rezin. Ahaz sent the treasures of the temple and of the king's house to Tiglath-pileser; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it. He carried the people captive to Kir, and slew Rezin. Tiglath-pileser also invaded Israel; he conquered the northern parts of Canaan, and carried away the inhabitants captive into Assyria. The prophecy of Isaiah against Syria and Israel was then fulfilled, for the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria were taken away by the king of Assyria. Hoshea conspired against Pekah, and slew him.

While Abaz was at Damascus he saw an altar, the pattern of which he sent to Urijah, that he might make an altar of the same kind. Upon this altar, when he returned from Damascus, he offered sacrifice. Ahaz entirely forsook God; he defaced the vessels of the temple, and made altars in every corner of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, on which he burnt incense to false gods.

After Pekah's death there were wars and disturbances in Israel for nine years, when Hoshea began to reign. He did evil in the sight of the Lord. Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria came against him, and compelled him to pay him tribute.

sea.

Elath-a town and port of Arabia Petrea near to Ezion-geber on the Red

Kir-a district which was under the dominion of Assyria, through which the river Kir flows; this river falls into the Caspian sea.

LESSON 107. 2 CHRON. Xxviii. 26-xxx; 2 KINGS Xviii. 3-6. Hezekiah's Reforms.

After the death of Ahaz, his son Hezekiah began to reign. He did that which was right as his father David did. He destroyed

PERIOD VI.] HEZEKIAH RESTORES THE TEMPLE SERVICE.

all forms of idolatry, and he broke the brazen serpent that Moses had made in the wilderness; for the people in those days burnt incense to it. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so there was none like him among the kings of Judah, before nor after him. He restored the temple service, and sent priests into the temple to cleanse it, as well as all the holy vessels and altars. The temple was afterwards sanctified by burnt-offerings, and by the worship of the king and all the congregation. And the people sang praises to the Lord with gladness in the words of David.

Hezekiah then commanded the people to bring their sacrifices and burnt-offerings into the house of the Lord, and keep the passover; and he sent posts throughout his kingdom bearing letters from himself, saying, "Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the LORD God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see. Now be ye not stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever; and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you. For if ye turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him." Some of the inhabitants in Ephraim, Manasseh, and Zebulun, mocked the messengers, but others came to Jerusalem.

Some of those who came to this feast of the passover were not sanctified according to the law of Moses. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "The good LORD pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers." ey kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great

THE REFORMS OF HEZEKIAH.

[975-606 B.C.

gladness. Then they took counsel to keep it other seven days: and all the congregation of Judah, and the congregation that came out of the land of Israel, and the strangers also rejoiced, for since the time of Solomon there was not the like in Jerusalem. Then the priests and the Levites blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to God's holy dwelling-place, even to heaven. When all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and utterly destroyed all images and altars in Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh; after which they returned, every man to his inheritance.

Then Hezekiah commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the Lord. And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the first-fruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly. Hezekiah wrought that which was good, and right and true before the Lord his God; and in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the commandments, he prospered, because he did it with all his heart.

Ephraim a division of Canaan, nearly in its centre, which was occupied by the tribe of Ephraim, the younger of Joseph's sons. It was bounded on the east by the Jordan, on the west by the Mediterranean sea, on the north by western Manasseh, and on the south by Benjamin and Dan. Its towns were numerous and populous; among them were Shiloh, Samaria, Shechem, Gezer, Michmash, Naioth, and Beth-horon.

Manasseh-the province of Canaan which was occupied by the descendants of Joseph's elder son, it was in two portions. Eastern Manasseh was bounded on the south by Gad, on the west and north by lake Cinnereth and the source of the Jordan, and on the east by Syria ;-and Western Manasseh was between the tribes of Ephraim and Issachar. The most celebrated places in western Manassch were Tirzah, Megiddo, Gath-rimmon, Abel-meholah, Bethshan, Endor, and Ephrah; those of eastern Manasseh, Ashtaroth, Beeshterah, Geshur, Jabesh-gilead, and Lodebar.

PERIOD VI.] THE FUTURE GLORY OF THE CHURCH.

Benjamin-the district of Canaan allotted to the descendants of Jacob's youngest son; it was between the tribe of Judah on the south and Ephraim on the north; the tribe of Reuben was castward, and that of Dan westward; it was the smallest of the tribes, but it possessed several important cities, viz., Jericho, Rama, Bethel, Gibeah, Mizpeh, Ai, Gilgal, Anathoth, and part of Jerusalem.

LESSON 108. MICAI IV. 1-5; v. 2; 2 KINGS Xvii; xviii. 9-12.

Prophecies of Micah. The Captivity of Israel.

Micah also prophesied in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah. He spoke of the peace, glory, and prosperity of the future kingdom of Christ in this glowing language, "In the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and the people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it. For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever. In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; and I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in

THE BIRTH-PLACE OF CHRIST DECLARED.

[975-606 B.C.

mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever." He spoke of the ignorance of the people concerning their duties, and of God's requirements, saying, "Wherewith shall I come before the LORD?

Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten-thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" He foretold the birth of Christ at Bethlehem, saying, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."

Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, found Hoshea conspiring with So, king of Egypt, to throw off his yoke; for he brought no tribute as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison, in the sixth year of his reign over Israel. Hosea, the prophet, then called on the people to trust in the Lord; he said, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help. I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath." But the people would not repent, wherefore the Lord sent Shalmaneser against them, and he besieged Samaria three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Israel, Shalmaneser took Samaria, and carried the people of Israel away and placed them in Assyria, and in the cities of the Medes. God suffered them to be thus taken captive for their sins against him; they had forsaken God, served idols, and rejected his prophets. The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, who feared not the Lord, to dwell in the cities of Samaria. God sent lions among them which slew some of them. Then the