tion; he kept on foot a numerous and well-appointed army, which he used with effect against the Philistines, the old enemies of his nation; and his fame was spread abroad even unto Egypt, and among the children of Ammon, who brought him gifts. He does not, however, seem to have been led astray by that wild thirst for reputation in war, which had been the failing of his father Amaziah: he looked to other and purer sources of national prosperity; and remembering the words of Solomon, "the profit of the earth is for all, the king himself is served by the field," he betook himself to encourage and to practise the arts of its cultivation. He 66 digged many wells, for he had much cattle, both in the low country and in the plains; husbandmen also, and vine-dressers in the mountains, and in Carmel; for he loved husbandry." Happy had it been for him, had he continued throughout his life to employ himself in occupations like these but it was otherwise; an unlawful desire came upon him, urging him to interfere in that office which was the priests' alone, by burning incense upon the altar in the temple of the Lord. The high priest and his brethren did all that lay in their power to dissuade and hinder him from his rash attempt; but he disregarded their words, and while on the point of putting his profane purpose into execution, was stricken with leprosy by God. Hastily, and overcome by a sense of his transgression, he retired from the holy place to his own home, where he passed the rest of his days in a state of mournful solitude, his son Jotham ruling in his stead. Let his example teach us to mind our own business, and not presumptuously to intrude into any office to which we are not appointed, least of all into that holy ministry of the priesthood, to which no persons can be considered Eccles. v. 9. † 2 Chron. xxvi. 10. "as lawfully called and sent, unless they have been chosen to this work by men who have public authority given unto them in the congregation, to call and send ministers into the Lord's vineyard;" "* and who, in that branch of the Church Catholic established in England, are its Bishops alone. CHAP. XXXIII. HISTORY OF AHAZ-PROPHECY OF ISAIAH. RUIN OF ISRAEL. THE period of Jewish history at which we are now arrived, is remarkable for an extraordinary outpouring of the spirit of prophecy upon holy men, in the kingdoms as well of Israel as of Judah. Hosea and Amos in the former country, and Joel and Micah in the latter, began about this time to declare things to come, while the most celebrated of them all, who, as a mark of distinction, has been called the evangelical prophet, or prophet of the gospel, Isaiah, the son of Amos, has pointed to the time at which he probably first received his inspiration from heaven, by recording a vision of God in his holy temple, which he saw in the year that king Uzziah died. The song of the seraphim which he heard on that solemn occasion, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory," was again listened to after an interval of more than eight hundred years by the apostle St. John and to this hour the Christian Church in the most sacred ordinances of its religious service, has adopted that hymn of praise, acknowledging the establishment of God's kingdom upon earth, and testifying its anxiety that his will may be done there, as it is in heaven. In this vision also, it receives, with the deep awe befitting such a subject, the revealed mystery of the Holy Trinity: it recognises in the Lord Jehovah sitting on his throne, the persons, not of the Father alone, but of the Son also, and of the Spirit. Of the Son, because we read in St. John's gospel, that "These things said Isaiah, when he saw his glory, and spake of him :"* and of the Spirit, because we have the assurance of St. Paul in his address to the Jews at Rome, contained in the last chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, that it was the Holy Ghost which spake by Isaiah the prophet unto their fathers, saying, "Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive;" which words were addressed to Isaiah upon the occasion in question: and it looks accordingly upon the threefold repetition of the word— Holy, holy, holy, applied to the Lord of Sabaoth, as bearing an especial reference to the mystery of the three Persons and one God. The purport of the prophecy contained in this vision, was to point out the long-continued obstinacy and hardness of heart which should be the character of the Jewish people unto the latest times, always excepting, however, a certain remnant, a tenth,"§ consecrated as it were to God, which should believe and be saved, a "holy seed," preserving in it a substantial principle of life, capable of reviving and flourishing anew at his good pleasure. The prophecy itself, like that to which it relates, contains within the shortest possible compass, that which, being expanded, forms the whole book of God-the dealings of the Lord Jehovah by his Son and Spirit with his people; and I have therefore dwelt upon it a little longer now, because the whole history of the 66 • John xii. 41. + Acts xxviii. 25-27. § Ver. 13. world that follows, goes to explain and to confirm it: the casting away of Israel has been the reconciling of the world, and it remains that the receiving of them again shall be, as St. Paul expresses it, "life from the dead."* The first great infliction of God's wrath upon his rebellious people, was drawing near at the time when king Uzziah died, and this prophecy was delivered : the kingdom of Israel, or of the ten tribes, had provoked him most by their continual idolatries and transgressions, and upon their heads the punishment was destined first to fall. Pekah, the son of Remaliah, was then their king: he had obtained the throne by the murder of Pekahiah, son of Menahem; which Menahem had also murdered his predecessor Shallum, an equally blood-stained usurper with himself, and had been compelled, during his cruel and inglorious reign, to weigh down his people with taxes, in order to prevent, by payment of tribute, the attacks of a new enemy, the king of Assyria. This powerful nation, of which the only mention hitherto had been in the preaching of Jonah to the Ninevites, was destined henceforth to be the scourge, and after no long time the destruction of Israel: on the present occasion, however, they were bought off by the gifts of Menahem, and departed for a time. Pekah instead of profiting of this period of respite, by turning in penitence to the Lord his God, went on in the old courses, which now seemed habitual to the kings of Israel; and, urged by that unnatural enmity which the ten tribes seem constantly to have born against their brethren of Judah, entered into a confederacy with Rezin, king of Syria, and marched against Jerusalem. Ahaz, the king of Judah, who had lately succeeded his father Jotham, a righteous prince, was Rom. xi. 15. himself of a far different character; God therefore determined to punish him, and his people who walked in his ways, by the hands of these his enemies: they gained several victories over him, and at length forced him to retreat into Jerusalem, to which they prepared to lay siege. Thus far God suffered them to vex Judah, but as it was not his purpose as yet to overthrow it entirely, he sent Isaiah his prophet to Ahaz, with a message of consolation, requesting him also to ask a sign, as a proof that what he promised should come to pass. This Ahaz, probably disbelieving the prophet altogether, but willing to justify his contempt of him, by an assumed reverence for God, refused to do, saying, "I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. And Isaiah said, Hear ye now, O house of David, is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also ?"* (We see here, that they who make excuses and accept not that which God freely offers, are said to weary, that is, to displease him: let us apply this to his offers of all the means of grace, to opportunities of public worship, of hearing his word, of receiving the blessed sacrament of his Son's body and blood, and gratefully avail ourselves of these, and all other his great bounties towards us.) The prophet went on to say, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel : butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know (or rather-when he shall know) to refuse the evil, and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings." To Ahaz and the men of Judah, the importance of this sign consisted in its fixing the time within which they might expect Isaiah vii. 12, 13. ↑ Verses 14-16. |