been conquered by Sargon, but had revolted against Sennacherib, and he sent messengers with gifts and compliments to Hezekiah, no doubt wishing to form an alliance against their common enemy. Hezekiah's exaltation was great, and thinking perhaps of Solomon's glories which dazzled the queen of Sheba, he showed all his stores and treasures of jewels and balsam oil, forgetting the danger of inviting greedy invaders to so small a realm as his, carried along indeed by that delight in display and admiration that tempts us all. It was Hezekiah's only error, except perhaps his submission to Sennacherib into which Shebna led him. The rebuke soon came. Isaiah questioned him on his visitors, and no sooner had he made reply, than the sad sentence followed. These very treasures should be plundered, and all he had besides-nay, his own children, the much-prized son, either newly born, or born shortly after, should suffer slavery in Babylon.

Observe, if Isaiah had said Nineveh, it would only have been foretelling what everyone feared, but Babylon was then of little note, and a friendly power-nay, only six months later it was retaken by Sennacherib, and nothing seemed more unlikely than that the royal children of Judah should be slaves to the king of Babylon, But Hezekiah's belief was as complete as his repentance. He did not turn against the prophet-no, nor against Micah, who likewise declared that Judah should go to Babylon, and the city be ploughed as a field; and far less did he murmur against the prophet's master. He humbled himself. He knew he had forgotten God's glory in his own, and though his pleasure in all he valued was taken away from him, he meekly bowed to the rod, with the words of perfect resignation and thankfulness. And this submission was rewarded by a most wonderful opening of the book of the future before his eyes by Isaiah, bearing him far beyond the woe and punishment of his son and his city, into the glories of that Son of his line who should "blot out as a cloud his transgressions and as a thick cloud his sins." Isaiah's very next prophecy, coming immediately after the sentence on Hezekiah's vain display, begins—

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her,

That her wartare is accomplished,

That her iniquity is pardoned:

For she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins.

LESSON_LXXXIII.*

THE CALL OF CYRUS.

B.C. 709.-ISAIAH xliv. 21-28; xlv. i—7.

Remember these,† O Jacob and Israel;

For thou art my servant :

I have formed thee; thou art my servant :

O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.

I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions,

And, as a cloud, thy sins:

Return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.

Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it :

Shout, ye lower parts of the earth:

Break forth into singing, ye mountains,

O forest and every tree therein :

For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel. Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer,

And he that formed thee from the womb,

I am the LORD that maketh all things;
That stretcheth forth the heavens alone;
That spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;
That frustrateth the tokens of the liars,
And maketh diviners mad;

That turneth wise men backward,
And maketh their knowledge foolish;

That confirmeth the word of his servant,

And performeth the counsel of his messengers;

That saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited,
And to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built,

And I will raise up the decayed places thereof :
That saith to the deep, Be dry,

And I will dry up thy rivers;

That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd,

And shall perform all my pleasure:

Even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built;

And to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus,

Whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; And I will loose the loins § of kings,

To open before him the two-leaved gates;

And the gates shall not be shut ;

I will go before thee,

And make the crooked places straight :

*Not for the little ones.

+ "These" refers to a picture of idolatry that had gone before.

I Maketh vain.

Make them careless and sleepy.

I will break in pieces the gates of brass,

And cut in sunder the bars of iron:

And I will give thee the treasures of darkness,
And hidden riches of secret places,

That thou mayest know that I, the LORD,

Which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect,*

I have even called thee by thy name:

I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.

I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me;
I girded thee, though thou hast not known me :

That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west,
That there is none beside me.

I am the LORD, and there is none else.

I form the light and create darkness:
I make peace, and create evil :

I the LORD do all these things.

COMMENT. If Hezekiah was warned of the coming trouble and sorrow of his children and people, it was also revealed to him, through Isaiah, how they should be rescued and restored. This is one of the most famous of prophecies, and the most distinct, naming the deliverer two hundred years before he was born, and describing the manner of the deliverance; and it is therefore the one that unbelievers, and half-believers especially, try to get rid of, saying sometimes that a later writer's poems were mixed up with the true Isaiah's, sometimes that Koreish or Cyrus might have been a title of all Persian kings. But there is no reasonable doubt that Isaiah really wrote this-in fact, it is part of the great poem of consolation with which he comforted Hezekiah in his repentance and submission; and as to Cyrus being a name for the kings of Persia, they were then chieftains of a little wild tribe in the mountains, far beyond Assyria, and it was as wonderful to mention them at all as to call Cyrus by name. Nor was this a dynastic name in historic times.

The promise is brought in with some magnificent lines, reminding Jacob that they were God's own people, and promising that their sins should be blotted out as a cloud disappears in the summer sky. Then comes a call to heaven and earth to rejoice, since the Lord had redeemed, that is set free, His captive people. He proclaims His power as Creator, and then points in scorn to the + Prepared for battle.

* Chosen.

overthrow and disappointment of the false prophet and magician, while the word of the true prophet His servant shall stand. And that word is-first, that Jerusalem, which would be in ruins, should be built up; secondly, that deep waters should be dried up; thirdly, that Cyrus should be His Shepherd, doing all His will in building' Jerusalem. Then comes the message to this Cyrus in person. God would lead him forth to subdue nations. Two-leaved gates of iron and brass should be opened for him, difficulties made easy; the kings, his enemies, should be indolently sunk in feasting and sloth, and he should obtain great treasures, that so he might learn to know the true God. For Israel's sake had God called Cyrus, though a stranger, born where God was not known. God girded (that is, prepared) him, that from east to west it might be known that One alone made light and darkness, is lord of good and evil!

Step by step we shall see the exact fulfilment. Cyrus, born of the Persians, worshippers of the sun and light, and believers in two equal powers of good and evil, should go forth to subdue the nations of the East, dry up the deep bed of the Euphrates, enter through the brazen gates, while the diviners were mad at the mysterious writing on the wall, and Belshazzar was feasting with loins ungirt. Then should Cyrus hear from Daniel of the true God, proclaim His honour to "all people, nations, and languages," and send back captive Judah to build up Jerusalem-nay, should delight to be called "the Shepherd of his people." Could prophecy be more precise? Israel remembered it when they sang “He hath broken the gates of brass, and smitten the bars of iron in sunder."(Psalm cvii.)

But we then, perhaps, as the holy Prophet and King, know that the glorious prophecy looks far beyond. There is a Redeemer, whose own Blood blotteth out as a cloud our transgressions so soon as we return unto Him. He hath been, as Hosea had said, the Breaker of the gates of iron of the grave. He hath ransomed us from the grave. He is the Anointed Shepherd, bidding His Church be built, and making His Name, the Name of His Father, to be known from the east unto the west. Cyrus was but a type; Christ is the Deliverer foretold in the wonderful words that stretch far beyond their first fulfilment.

LESSON LXXXIV.

THE MAN OF SORROWS.

B.C. 709.-ISAIAH lii. 13—15; liii. 1—12.

Behold, my servant shall deal prudently,

He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
As many were astonied at thee;

His visage was so marred more than any man,
And his form more than the sons of men :

So shall he sprinkle many nations;

The kings shall shut their mouths at him:

For that which had not been told them shall they see;

And that which they had not heard shall they consider.
Who hath believed our report?

And to whom is the arm † of the LORD revealed?

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant,

And as a root out of a dry ground:

He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him,
There is no beauty that we should desire him.

He is despised and rejected of men ;

A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:
And we hid as it were our faces from him;

He was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:

Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities:

The chastisement of our peace was upon him

And with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

We have turned every one to his own way;

And the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth:

He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter,

And as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,

So he openeth not his mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment:

And who shall declare his generation?

For he was cut off out of the land of the living :

For the transgression of my people was he stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked,

And with the rich in his death;

Because he had done no violence,

Neither was any deceit in his mouth.

* Face.

+ Power.

Carried away as a prisoner.