The Former Glory of the Temple
Table of Contents
The Former Glory of the Temple: Part 2
II. "My people are bent to backsliding from me."
THE several historical allusions to the former glory of the Temple will prove only the more interesting if we consider these in connection with the history of the royal house of David, since, while the former manifest the holiness and the abounding grace of Jehovah towards Israel, the latter, in sad contrast, testifies to the sinful backslidings of Israel.
The latter part of David's reign Chron. xxviii. and xxix.) and the former part of the reign of Solomon, might well be considered as the period during which was displayed the first glory of the kingdom. If we may be allowed to make use of the expression, the culminating point of this glory was reached when the presence of the Lord God of Israel was manifested in His holy temple; when Israel could rejoice indeed, and sing," Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined."
It was then that the queen of Sheba came from a far off country to hear the wisdom of Solomon, to behold his glory, and, out of the abundance of an overflowing heart, to bless the Lord God of Israel. But, like the sun, which has no sooner attained to the height of its meridian splendor than it commences to decline, even so did the first glory of the kingdom prove of very short duration. Why? Not because the Lord had ceased to delight to bless Israel, and to display His tender mercies towards the nation of His choice. Alas! the reason is only too plainly discernible. Israel, as a nation, quickly turned aside from following the Lord. And it saddens one to reflect that Solomon-chosen of God to build the Temple (1 Chron. 28:6)-was also the builder of the high places upon the mount of corruption (i. e. the Mount of Olives), severally constructed for Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Molech (2 Kings 23:13). This fact alone sufficiently explains the reason why the first glory of the kingdom proved so transitory; and it may also be suggested as one reason why the several historical allusions to the former glory of the Temple are so few and far between; which latter (as we shall see as we proceed (in the sight of those who were privileged to behold the same) positively became even more glorious! yet we know not for how long or how brief a period the glory, as seen upon the day of the dedication of the Temple, was openly discerned.
Israel's declension in the latter years of Solomon's reign was very deplorable, but that in the days of his immediate successor proved even more so. When the revolted ten tribes exclaimed, " What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel! now see to thine own house, David "-did they simply reject Rehoboam? Did they not at the same moment deliberately reject the Son of David-He whom David acknowledged as " Lord''? They could, not reject the house of David and not reject the "Prince of the house of David, " to the open dishonor of Him who had promised that He would set His King upon His holy hill of Zion. With the exception of a faithful remnant (many of whom willingly vacated their possessions rather than forsake the Lord, 2 Chron. 11:13-.7), these ten tribes quickly turned from the living and true God to serve idols; and Bethel, i.e., house of God, became Beth-aven, i.e. house of iniquity. (Comp. 1 Kings 12:29, Hos. 4:15;10. 5.)
For three years Judah " walked in the way of David and Solomon "; then they forsook the Lord: and, for this cause, in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Judah was severely chastised by Shishak, king of Egypt. They "humbled themselves," and for a brief season "things went well" in Judah. During the reign of Abijah there was at least a formal acknowledgment that Jehovah was with them (2 Chron. xiii. 0-12). "Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God." Jehoshaphat "walked in the ways of his father David," but brought great trouble upon himself, his household, and his kingdom, by taking the daughter of Ahab to his son to wife. Nevertheless, when the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Edomites allied their forces and came up against Judah, Jehoshaphat sought the Lord and proclaimed a fast in Judah. "And all Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives, and their children." We are not told that these beheld the Shekinah glory; but this we are told, and it is well that we should mark this, that they received an immediate answer to their petition; thus they were enabled to realize that the Lord was present in His Temple. And those who sought the Lord in a day of trouble, returned after their bloodless victory, with joy unto the house of God, to own God's great deliverance (2 Chron. 20).
Very bitter were the fruits of the sinful matrimonial alliance with the idolatrous house of Ahab. For three generations we read of bloodshed, and murders in cold blood. Humanly speaking, but for the faithfulness of a woman, the direct line of the royal house of David had become extinct! For six years the house of God was the refuge of the infant Joash (2 Chron. 22:10-12.). It is worthy of remark that the names of the son, grandson, and great-grandson of the daughter of Ahab, are omitted by Matthew in " the book of the generation of Jesus Christ." See Matt. 1:8.
We also might have refrained from referring to the several reigns of these, and also to Athaliah's usurpation of the throne, if it had not been recorded that " the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman," broke up the house of God, and bestowed the dedicated things upon Baalim (2 Chron. 24:7). Her grandson Joash, however, in the days of Jehoiada the priest, repaired the house of God. But after the death of Jehoiada, Joash forsook the Lord, and with the treasures of the house of the Lord he redeemed Jerusalem from plunder (2 Kings 12:18).
Uzziah the son of Amaziah the son of Joash, " did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.. and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper." He was "marvelously helped," but " when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction." He presumed to enter into the sanctuary, and utterly ignoring the vehement protests of Azariah and those eighty faithful priests, was determined that he would burn incense upon the golden altar; but the Lord smote him instantaneously with leprosy, so that he was " thrust out " of the sanctuary; and he was a leper unto the day of his death.
Uzziah was smitten with leprosy in the house of the Lord: was the sanctuary rendered thereby defiled? This question might have troubled very many of the godly in Israel for many years after this had occurred, if the God of all grace had not mercifully interposed, surely for their sakes.
In the year that king Uzziah died, the prophet Isaiah was privileged- to behold a glory, the description of which favors the thought that it far surpassed "the glory" which Israel saw upon the day of the dedication of the Temple. Israel had seen " the glory of the Lord upon the house," but Isaiah now saw " the Lord, sitting upon a throne." In short, as John informs us, the prophet saw "His glory" (John 12:41). The throne was high and exalted: though this glory was now displayed in connection with the Temple, it was simply " the skirts thereof" which filled the sacred edifice. His was discerned to be the transcendent glory.
Above the Temple stood the seraphim; now seen in connection with the throne. Each of these had six wings; "with twain he covered his face," as unworthy to look upon Jehovah; " with twain he covered his feet," as unworthy that the Lord should look upon him; "and with twain he did fly"; in instant response to the will of God.
Full many have been the speculations concerning those created intelligences. But we have no desire to speculate. It is most evident, that, by means of this vision, the Spirit of God taught the prophet, and through him all Israel who had eyes to see, ears to hear, and understanding hearts, that the throne of God was established in holiness. To this the seraphim bore witness as they cried " holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory." " And the posts of the door" (the prophet probably refers to the pillars Jachin and Boaz, 2 Chron. 3:17) "moved" (or trembled) at the voice of the seraphim.
Who can estimate the comfort which this vision afforded to the godly in Israel, especially after the report that a leper had been driven forth from the sanctuary? Notwithstanding this had come about, notwithstanding the unholiness of the nation at large, the Holy One of Israel had not deserted His holy temple.
The latter part of the vision is also most instructive. If Isaiah had before this been exercised about the uncleanness of Uzziah, in the presence of the holy Lord of •hosts, it is the realization of his own personal uncleanness that causes him such exercise of heart. Have we not all been taught the same lesson? It needed that Isaiah's iniquity should be taken away, that his sin should he purged, before he essayed to go forth to proclaim the word of the Lord.
From this time henceforward the prophet Isaiah wearied not of testifying to Israel of His glory.
( To be continued.)
The Former Glory of the Temple: Part 1
"Thou that: dwellest between the Cherubim, shine forth."
As the godly Israelite of old gazed upon Jerusalem, it was not simply the architectural beauty of the palaces of Zion, nor the surpassing beauty and magnificence of that "holy and beautiful house," which stood upon Mount Moriah, that caused him to pronounce "the beloved city" to be "the perfection of beauty." Nor was it simply, the intrinsic value of the gold, the silver, and the costly stones which adorned and were contained within the Temple, that constrained him to confess the "city of God" to be " the joy of the whole earth."
Why did his soul " long" and "faint" for the courts of the Lord? Because the beauty of the Lord was seen within the precincts of the city God had chosen, to put his name there, because the Lord's presence was manifested in His holy Temple. What had been the value of all its gold and silver, if the Lord had not deigned to manifest His presence, in the house called by His name?
Before we proceed, however, to speak of the glory which Jehovah caused to fill Solomon's Temple, it may be well for us to observe how the Lord had previously manifested His presence on earth.
By a "voice" Adam and Eve were made aware of the Lord's presence in Eden. The earliest allusion to the Shekinah glory appears to be the " smoking furnace," and " lamp of fire," which Abram saw pass between the divided carcasses, in ratification of the covenant which the Lord made with him concerning his seed (Gen. 15:17). Jacob saw a glorious ladder which reached up to heaven, and Moses beheld the burning bush. We must not, however, dwell upon these, nor more than mention the "thunders and lightnings," the "thick cloud" and the " voice of a trumpet exceeding loud," which attended the Lord's descent upon Sinai in fire. For the people were not suffered to break through, to gaze, while the glory of the Lord abode upon that mountain. Even Moses might only gaze upon the " back parts; " after seeing which his face shone so that Israel could not behold him unveiled.
We now particularly refer to that cloud, by means of which Jehovah led Israel through " the great and terrible wilderness"; to that pillar of cloud and of fire, which was at once the guide, the shield, and the confidence of Israel. Above the Tabernacle it appeared as a pillar of cloud, but within the Holy of Holies, over the Mercy-seat, the brilliancy of its glory was so exceeding great that, when the high priest entered within the veil to sprinkle the blood of Atonement, it was necessary that a cloud of incense should ascend between himself and that glory, lest he should die (Lev. 16:12, 13).
But the glory departed from Israel! 1 Sam. 3:3 evidently refers to a period when the cloud was no longer outwardly discerned by Israel. And a brief comparison of the entire verse with Lev. 24:2-4, will, doubtless, be sufficient to convince the reader that t Sam. iii. 3 does not refer-as many have supposed-simply to the light of the seven lamps of the golden candlestick, which stood without the veil. If any one of these lamps went out, a priest might soon restore its light; but when Jehovah withdrew the glory which shone " where the ark of God was," it was beyond man's power to restore this. Before the Lord "forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh "-before the dying wife of Phinehas named her babe, "Ichabod"-the Lord " came, and stood, and called, Samuel! " which child He established to be a prophet of the Lord.
The glory had departed would it ever return? To discover how intensely the godly Israelite longed for the restoration of the glory—how vehement was his desire that Jehovah would once more mercifully "cause His face to shine" upon Israel, we have only to turn to Psa. 67; 80 &c.
This was the one great desire of the thousands who were assembled within the courts of the Temple, upon the day of its dedication.
The ark had been borne into its resting place, and " the song of the Lord " was being sung, when the house was filled with a cloud. " Then said Solomon, The Lord hath said that He would dwell in the thick darkness.......But will God in very deed dwell with men on earth? Behold heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house which I have built!"
They behold the "thick darkness"! Will He "that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth"?
When Solomon had made an end of praying, "fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering" &c. and "the glory of the Lord filled the house." And when all the people saw " the fire," and " the glory of the Lord upon the house "-that glory which had been the joy and confidence of their fathers, and the terror and dread of former enemies of Israel (Ex. 14:24); that glory which once and again had appeared at the door of the tabernacle, when Israel's backslidings in the wilderness called forth instant judgment-that glory now displayed in grace,-with one accord " they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the Lord, saying, "For He is good; for His mercy endureth forever."
That glorious manifestation of the Divine presence in the Temple was, to Israel, a pledge of the fulfillment of Jehovah's gracious promise:-"This is my rest forever: here will I dwell for I have desired it."
Well might they sing in rapturous strains, " The Lord is in His holy temple."
Well might their hearts overflow with joy, as they hereafter sing one to another:" O come, let us sing unto the Lord; Let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, And make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms.
O come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For He is our God;
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand."
It was the knowledge that the Lord was present in that Temple, that caused the godly Israelite to count one day, spent in the courts of the Lord, " better than a thousand" spent elsewhere, that enabled him to confess the one desire of his heart to be that he might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, " to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his Temple," that constrained him, in the privacy of his own house, to worship towards God's Holy Temple.
Would the Shekinah glory-so graciously restored to Israel -abide upon and continue to fill the Temple at Jerusalem? " The Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.... Now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name might be there forever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually." By this unconditional promise, Jehovah assured Israel that He would ever be present in the place which He had chosen to put His name there. We also read in Psa. 132:13, 14:" For the Lord hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for His habitation.
This is my rest forever;
Here will I dwell; for I have desired it."
We will not now linger to meditate upon these; for in a subsequent paper, if the Lord will, we shall have occasion again to refer to them. We therefore pass on, without delay, to notice that the unconditional promise contained in 2 Chron. 7:16, is immediately followed by a conditional promise specially relating to the throne of the kingdom.-If Solomon and his successors failed not to serve the Lord there should not fail of them a man to be ruler in Israel.
This again is followed by a most solemn warning:-"But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them: Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a by-word among all nations. And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and unto this house? And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them." The foregoing warning, while it in no way conflicts with the unconditional promises (as to the abiding presence of Jehovah in Z..on) which have already been referred to, was sufficient testimony to Israel to the effect that if they hereafter proved unfaithful to Jehovah, not only should the glorious manifestation of the divine presence be withdrawn from the Temple, but the very calamities which should overtake that building should witness among all nations that Israel had forsaken the Lord, and had served other gods.
(to be continued.)
The Former Glory of the Temple: Part 3
3.
" I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth His face from the house of Jacob."
We have now arrived at a period which may with propriety be termed the dark days of the kingdom. A period characterized by a remarkably complete and powerful testimony, furnished by prophets raised up and inspired by the Spirit of God, to "reprove, rebuke, and exhort" a guilty people, who -nevertheless continued to " revolt more and more."
While the historical Books of the Bible supply us with all-important information, more particularly relating to the political history of the kingdom, the Prophets at the same time treat of the ecclesiastical and social condition of the people during the same period. It is therefore profitable for us, as we proceed further, here and there to connect the testimony of the historical Books with the corresponding testimony of the prophets. Since the former clearly shows under what circumstances certain portions of the latter were written, while the latter abundantly testifies to the longsuffering of God towards a people who continued to transgress against Him in the very face of the clearest and most decided testimony, and were therefore left without excuse.
Yet we would have it clearly understood that, in quoting from the Prophets in connection with contemporaneous circumstances, in no case do we limit the application of these Scriptures to those circumstances only, where these prove by intrinsic evidence that they testify both of that which is past, and of that which shall yet be.
Jotham, the son of Uzziah "did that which was right in the sight of the Lord," and, profiting by his father's dearly-bought experience, did not presume to enter into the sanctuary. During his comparatively short reign of sixteen years, he built the higher gate of the temple, and, "became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God."
It had been well with Judah if it had now been "like king, like people." Alas! the latter had by this time become so iniquitous that the prophet Isaiah, rebuking them, said " Ah! sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that are corrupters 1" These had forsaken the Lord, though they retained a form of godliness; their "oblations," were therefore " vain," and their feasts positively hateful to Jehovah! During the reign of Jotham, and throughout the entire reign of Jotham's successor, a threefold testimony was, by the Spirit of God, presented to Israel, in the mouth of the prophets Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah. See Isa. 1 Hos. 1:1; Mic. 1:1.-" Though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him." Hos. 11:7.
A crisis in the history of the kingdom was evidently fast approaching, when Jehovah, in infinite grace, by the mouth of His prophet, thus appealed to His people,-" Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." But the same people who disregarded the before-mentioned three-fold testimony of the prophets, also ignored Jehovah's appeal in grace, and for all that king Jotham set them a good example, these "did yet corruptly." 2 Chron. 27:2.
We now come to the reign of Jotham's son, a king so notoriously wicked, that the Spirit of God has, on account of his evil deeds, distinguished his very name thus,-" This is that king Ahaz. This king made molten images for Baalim, he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnon, and burnt his children in the fire... He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree." For which things sake the wrath of God overtook Ahaz and Judah.
During the reign of certain of the impious predecessors of Ahaz, honorable mention has once and again been made of the names of certain priests, whose fidelity in the service of Jehovah brought them into prominence. One mournfully distinguishing feature in the reign of Ahaz is, that here we have also a wicked priest! One so depraved in character that he became the ready tool of his sacrilegious sovereign, and practically aided and assisted the latter in his daring profanation of the brazen altar. 2 Kings 16:10-16.
In this reign Israel and Syria came up against Judah, who were twice defeated with frightful slaughter! 2 Chron. 28:5. Immense numbers of captives were carried away by both armies, but those which the army of Israel had taken were afterward restored, by those who gave heed to the testimony of the prophet Oded. Jerusalem was at this time spared simply because Rezin and Pekah had, against the Lord, taken counsel together to overthrow the dynasty of the house of David, and to set the son of Tabeal upon the throne of Judah. Isa. 7:1, 5, 6.
Towards the house of David even the people of Judah were now greatly disaffected (Isa. 8:6), for Ahaz, the ruling representative of that house, had already wearied men (Isa. 7:13), when Isaiah foretold the birth of Immanuel! And this too, at a time when Ahaz himself abhorred " the land" so soon to be forsaken of both her kings (Isa. 7:16).
Being deeply exercised in heart on account of a people smarting beneath richly-deserved chastisement, the prophet Hosea was moved by the Holy Spirit to address both to Ephraim and to Judah the earnest heart-stirring appeal" Come and let us return unto the Lord; for Ile bath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten and he will bind us up." Because Ephraim (i. e. the ten tribes) refused to return, this prophet foretold that they should be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Hos. 11:5. Would Judah (i.e. the two tribes) also refuse?
Instead of profiting under the chastening hand of Jehovah, Ahaz trespassed yet more against the Lord. He sacrificed unto the gods of the Syrians which smote him, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God (1 Kings 16:17), and presumptuously shut up the doors of the Temple (1 Chron. 28:24.)
Deprived of the privilege of entering the temple, there to pour out their souls before God, had the godly remnant now no place of refuge? Oh, the tender mercies of our God! though the temple was now indeed shut up, the Lord of hosts provided for His " disciples " a sanctuary, even Himself (Isa. 8:13, 14)! Nor was this all, for in these, the dark days of the kingdom the prophet Isaiah further testified of the " great light " which should presently shine even in Galilee! yea, of that " child " whose name should be called " Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God," &c. Isa. 9
But concerning the nation at large, how grave was the testimony of the prophets! From the house of Jacob the Lord was now hiding His face, Isa. 8:17. " They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them," Hos. 5:6. From His holy temple the Lord God witnessed against Israel. Mic. 1:1. For they turned not unto Him that smote them, nor sought the Lord of hosts. Isa. 9:13.
For all this the Lord ceased not to hear and answer the prayers of godly individuals, who waited upon Him at a time when the nation at large had forsaken Him; this was shown in a very marked manner, throughout the reign of Hezekiah, who succeeded Ahaz. " Hezekiah trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he clave to the Lord," &c. He delayed not to re-open the doors of the temple. He repaired these, revived the temple-service, and did his utmost to restore and to re-establish the worship of Jehovah, throughout his kingdom. He moreover sent letters to the remnant of the ten tribes, who had escaped out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and invited these to assemble with his own people to keep the passover at Jerusalem, 2 Chron. 30. Most gladly would we linger here awhile, but must hasten on.
Concerning Hezekiah we read, " The Lord was with him; " why then do 2 Kings 18 six; 2 Chron. xxxii'; Isa. 36; 37 furnish so many points of contrast, when these are compared with that which occurred during the reign of Jehoshaphat, as recorded in 2 Chron. 20? There must have been some reason for such inflictions, or Jehovah would never have suffered Sennacherib, an overflowing scourge, to take all the fenced cities of Judah (2 Kings 18:13), yea, to "reach even to the neck" (Isa. 8:7. 8); for he sent one of his servants to Jerusalem with a great army (Isa. 36:2). Why was Hezekiah suffered to humble himself before his enemy, and to attempt to appease his wrath by giving him all the silver found in the house of the Lord, and even the gold cut off from its doors and pillars (2 Kings 18:14-16)? Again, why was it that the army of Judah was in no way associated with the destruction of the army of Sennacherib? I would ask one question more, Why, in a day of national humiliation and distress do we read simply of the prayer of two individuals, viz. Hezekiah and Isaiah? (2 Chron. 32:20).
For all that a king, eminent for piety, now sat upon the throne, and for all that that remarkable threefold testimony of the prophet, already referred to, was mercifully preserved by a gracious and merciful God, in this reign; and for all that the hand of God was in Judah to give them one heart to obey the king (2 Chron. 30:12); these latter drew near with their mouth, and with their lips honored God, but their hearts were far from Him, Isa. 29:13. Isa. 28:14,16, reveals a state of things only rendered the more awful, when we contemplate its existence in the face of that prophet's glorious and sublime prophecies of the coming of Immanuel! In vain did He by the mouth of the prophet, appeal to Israel, " Hearken unto me, my people." In vain did the prophet anxiously exclaim, " Awake! Awake!" to a people content to sleep on in carnal security (Isa. 29;10); who believed not the prophets' "report" concerning Him who would be "despised, and rejected of men."
A "disobedient and gainsaying people " could not expect "great things" at the hand of Jehovah, but Hezekiah covered himself with sackcloth, and went into that temple which had not yet been "cast out" of Jehovah's sight; and there he spread Sennacherib's letter before the Lord, and prayed and said, " O Lord God of Israel, which dwelleth between the cherubim... Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear; open Lord, thine eyes, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib," &c. The Lord was "very gracious" to Hezekiah, at the voice of his cry (Isa. 30:19): He heard, he answered, He delivered. But the answer came to Hezekiah by one sent from the prophet Isaiah, not immediately to the petitioner, as we noticed in our last paper was the case in 2 Chron. 20:14,15.
(to be continued.)
The Former Glory of the Temple: Part 6
(Concluded.)
" The Lord hath cast off His altar, he hath abhorred His sanctuary."-Lam. 2:7.
There has been much speculation on Josiah's motives for advancing against the army of Pharaoh-N echo. Whatever these were, this step was as unwise as the result of it proved disastrous; for though Josiah disguised himself, he was mortally wounded at Megiddo by the Egyptian archers.
" And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah." The „prophet Zechariah, many years afterward, referred to " the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddon" as a type of that day of deepest national affliction, in which the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall look upon Him whom they have pierced, and shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son (Zech. 12:10-14). Nell might Judah and Jerusalem bewail the loss of their beloved king, for with Josiah perished all hope of the preservation of the kingdom. Humanly speaking, Josiah was the only remaining pillar that upheld the kingdom, and after his removal by death, it tottered, and finally fell.
Some might feel disposed to inquire, " Why was there no direct word from the Lord to prevent Josiah's rash advance, save the words of Necho, which Judah's king probably did not discern as proceeding from the mouth of God "? (2 Chron. 35:22).
This is one of several instances in the Word where we find that, after the mass of the people have failed, a godly leader has been suffered to fall. (Compare Num. 14:1-4, with xx. 10-12, and Psa. 106:32; Isa. 29:13 with 2 Chron. 32.3 T; 2 Cor. 12:20,2;1). Before Josiah advanced to meet Necho, Jeremiah had faithfully delivered a direct and most solemn word from the Lord to the people of Judah (Jer. 3:6 to vi. 30), from which we now quote. " Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord......Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.. Among my people are found wicked men The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so." The distressed prophet anxiously appealed to the common people, but in vain did he entreat these to turn unto the Lord. "They have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return." Then he turned to the great men, and spake unto them who knew the way of the Lord, but he found that these had " altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds." (v. 3-5). There were those who returned, confessing their sins, but these were but a remnant (Jer. 3:22-25).
The remarkable prophecy just referred to, was indeed a direct word from the Lord to Judah, but her people repented not: Judah's relapse into idolatry almost immediately after the death, of Josiah, proves most conclusively that that reformation in his days which outwardly appeared so very fair and promising, was rather the fruit of the godly zeal of her pious king, than the abiding result of the genuine repentance of the people of Judah. And he was taken- over whom Jeremiah lamented thus,-" The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen." Lam. 4:20.
Jehoahaz (or Shallum, Jer. 22:11), who succeeded Josiah, had reigned only three months in Jerusalem when Necho carried him away into Egypt. And the prophet, who had so bitterly mourned for Josiah, now said, " Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan (or honor) him: weep sore for him that goeth away; for he shall return no more, he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more." Jer. 22:10-12.
Necho set Eliakim, the brother of Jehoahaz, upon the throne of Judah, but changed his name to Jehoiakim. In the beginning of this vassal king's reign, Jeremiah took his stand in the court of the Lord's house, and once more exhorted Judah to repentance; but the priests, prophets, and people conspired together against the prophet of the Lord, and threatened to take his life. Jehoiakim had already stained his hands with the blood of the prophet Urijah, but now, certain princes and elders interposed, and prevented the priests and prophets from carrying out their threat concerning Jeremiah (Jer. 26). But in vain did certain attempt to make the prophet hold his peace; despite all their threatenings and cruelty, he ceased not to proclaim the Word of the Lord; displaying indefatigable zeal, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, he lifted up his voice, and faithfully reminded the people of the curses contained in that solemn covenant which Judah had so recently engaged to keep; at the same time he earnestly protested unto them that because they had not obeyed the voice of the Lord, but had conspired against and broken His covenant, He would certainly bring evil upon them from which their false gods could not deliver them (Jer. 11) The prophet also referred to the obedience of the Rechabites to the commands of Jonadab their father: thus he reproved an ungodly nation that refused to obey the commands of God (Chapter 35).
Jeremiah also sternly rebuked Jehoiakim for his injustice, and selfish indifference to the cause of the poor, as also for his covetousness, violence, and oppression, and predicted that his burial would present a most shameful contrast to that of his honored father (Chapter 22:13-19). Nevertheless Jehoiakim persisted in his evil ways, and in the third year of his reign, both he and his people were made to smart beneath Jehovah's chastening rod. For Nebuchadnezzar came up against Jerusalem, and took it. The conqueror at first bound Jehoiakim, with intent to carry him to Babylon, but he afterward reinstated him upon the throne as his vassal, and, taking with him certain vessels of the sanctuary, and several youthful princes of the blood royal (Dan. 1), so he departed from Jerusalem.
It was probably after this that Baruch the scribe (because Jeremiah was at the time " shut up") took the roll which he had written at the dictation of that prophet, and went and read it in the house of God to all the people. When this roll was read before the king he burnt it in the fire, and would have seized Baruch and Jeremiah, but the Lord hid them.
The king that despised the covenant of the Lord, after three years rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, and a second time, did the Chaldees, (now assisted by the surrounding enemies of Israel) besiege the city.
From the language employed by the sacred historian, (2 Kings 24:1-16,) and the historical fact of his dead body being cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the might (Jer. 36:30), coupled with the statement that his son and successor had only reigned three months and ten days when the city capitulated, and the special mention of " the king's mother," as being amongst the captives, we are inclined to the thought that Jehoiakim died during this second siege of Jerusalem.
Jeremiah compared the brief reign, followed by the captivity of Jehoiachin (Jeconiah or Coniah) to the plucking off, and casting away a signet ring, and foretold that none of his seed should succeed to the throne of Judah (22:24-30).
Having set Zedekiah, the brother of Jehoiakim, upon the vacant throne, Nebuchadnezzar a second time retired from Jerusalem, carrying away all the treasures of the temple and palace, and leading into captivity all the mighty men of Judah, and all the skilled artisans, so that none remained save the poorest of the people.
We will now leave Jerusalem awhile, and follow this mournful procession of Jewish captives to Babylon. When these reached the city which was the glory of the Chaldees' excellency, they sat down, and wept as they remembered Zion. It only added to their grief when they were required to sing one of the songs of Zion. Though these had not the heart to sing the Lord's song in a strange land, they would not, they could not forget Jerusalem (Psa. 137). And the Lord graciously acknowledged those that He had sent out of Judah for their good, that returned unto Him with their whole heart (Jer. 24), and comforted them with the assurance that, when seventy years were fulfilled, He would return the captivity of Zion.
In most sublime language Habakkuk had described the coming of Jehovah to take vengeance, Jeremiah had also declared that a whirlwind from the Lord was gone forth in fury, which should fall grievously upon the head of the wicked (23:19). The captive Ezekiel was by the river of Chebar when the heavens were opened, and he saw visions of God. And, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire unfolding itself, &c. Out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures, glorious in appearance, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Yet the vision inspired Ezekiel with awe and dread, and the words " dreadful," and " terrible," occur in the prophet's description of the appearance of these Cherubim and their attendant wheels, which set forth the judicial greatness of God in His attributes of power. These symbolic figures display the glorious, irresistible, and overwhelming power of Him who was then about to " remove the diadem, and take off the crown" of the profane and wicked Zedekiah (Ezek. 21:25,26), and to send upon Jerusalem His four sore judgments, viz., the sword, the famine, the noisome beast; and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast, Ezek. 14:21. The visible agents employed by Jehovah to accomplish this work of destruction being Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans (Hab. 1:6-9; 2 Chron. 36:17).
While those captives whose names are mentioned in the Book of Daniel, by their faithfulness, and obedience to His commands glorified God in a strange land, the weak-minded and vacillating Zedekiah and his princes at Jerusalem were simply adding iniquity to iniquity. The Babylonish king exalted the prophet Daniel to great honor, but the last of Judah's kings suffered the prophet Jeremiah to be cruelly ill-treated (Jer. 38:4-6). Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego obeyed God rather than man, and Nebuchadnezzar blessed the God that delivered them that trusted in Him, (Dan. 3:28). Because Zedekiah broke that covenant which he had sworn by God to keep, Nebuchadnezzar resolved to destroy Jerusalem.
Exactly thirteen months after he had seen the visions by the river of Chebar, was Ezekiel brought in the visions of God to Jerusalem. One of the duties of priests was to "put difference between holy and unholy, and between clean and unclean." In the light of the Divine presence this priest and prophet beheld the great abominations which the house of Israel were committing, even in the several courts of the sanctuary (Ezek. 8); for both priests and people had polluted the house which the Lord had hallowed in Jerusalem (2 Chron. 36:14). Within that sanctuary the prophet again beheld the living Cherubim, but those golden cherubim which overshadowed the mercy-seat, were no longer " cherubim of glory," for Ezekiel informs us "that the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house " (9:3), " and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory." (10:4). The prophet heard the dreadful sound of the Cherubim's wings, (10: 5.) and beheld the glory of the Lord depart from off the threshold of the house, and stand over the cherubim. " And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted from the earth in my sight" (10: 19); rising from the midst of the city, the glory lingered awhile upon the Mount of Olives, and finally disappeared (11: 22 -24).
This removal of the glory from the Temple and city signified the entire removal of the Divine presence from both. Neither were any longer shielded from destruction by the protecting arm of Jehovah. The Lord had lingered long, but Judah had not repented; the days of grace would therefore be succeeded by a day of wrath! This is also plainly shown by the word of the Lord,-" Smite; let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity; Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children, and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark, and begin at my sanctuary," (Ezek. 9:5,6.) While on the one hand, 2 Chron. 36:17-19 and Jer. 52 show how-thoroughly the conquering Chaldeans carried out the Divine commission to destroy both city and people of Jerusalem,, another scripture (Jer. 39:11-14,) testifies on the other hand of their careful protection of Jeremiah from violence. Though Israel had despised the word of the Lord, and misused His prophets, Nebuzar-Adan spake with becoming, reverence of the former, and treated Jeremiah with very great kindness. (Jer. 40:2-4). For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests and people, Jerusalem became a desolation, and her sanctuary a heap of ruins.
The conditional promises made to Solomon (2 Chron. 7:19-22) were fulfilled in the destruction and desolation of the Temple. With regard to that sanctuary, the sole confidence of the faithful in Israel was now reposed in the unconditional promises 'which Jehovah made at the same time (7:14-16). Though that city and sanctuary were at the moment a ruinous heap, the prophet Daniel ceased not to esteem Jerusalem, " thy holy mountain," and he further entreated the Lord to " cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake." (Dan. 9:16-17.) Though that " holy and beautiful house" was burnt up with fire, amid his tears, Jeremiah could, with the assurance of faith exclaim, " A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary." And though at this moment the mosque of Omar stands where the Temple once stood, Moriah has not ceased to be the place of His earthly sanctuary. When the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, in the Lord's own time, a Temple shall be builded Avon that mountain, and the prophet who beheld the departure of the " Former Glory of the Temple," has foretold that the glory of the Lord shall return, but another prophet has said that the glory of the latter house shall exceed the glory of the former (Hag. 2:9). In that day the city of Jerusalem shall be overshadowed with the glory of the Lord, Isa. 4:5,6.
The Former Glory of the Temple: Part 4
Thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities."
That Hezekiah was one of those " kings " who longed to "see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the Jiving," his song of thanksgiving, because the Lord had, in answer to his fervent prayer, prolonged his life fifteen years, shows most clearly (Isa. 38). But though he was restored to health, who had been sick to the death, we glean from 2 Chron. 32:24-31, that those extra fifteen years of his reign were not altogether to Hezekiah's honor. For he "rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him, for his heart was lifted up," &c.; and in an hour of trial, yielding to temptation, he vainly displayed all his treasures before those ambassadors whom the king of Babylon had sent unto him, "to inquire of the wonder done in the land." (Comp. Matt. 7:6.)
Isaiah now foretold that all of these objects of desire, together with the objects of his tenderest affections, should presently be carried away to Babylon (Isa. 39)
Hezekiah received these mournful tidings, and acknowledged this word of the Lord to be " good," for he " troubled himself for the pride of his heart." The inhabitants of Jerusalem also humbled themselves, so that these things came not upon them during the reign of Hezekiah. (2 Chron. 32:26.)
The nation was about to be put into the crucible; but before He did this, for this considerable interval, did the Lord " wait that he may be gracious unto his people " (Isa. 30:18.) Meanwhile some were commissioned to "comfort His people," by testifying to the cities of Judah, of the coming " Lord God."
We have already glanced at this portion of prophetic testimony; let us now examine it more closely. In these writings of Isaiah we have Jehovah's testimony concerning his " servant " (Isa. 42); and the Savior's personal testimony concerning Himself and the work He would finish (43-51:8,) followed by the prophet's inspired and earnest appeal to the nation to turn to the Lord, their Redeemer. He further spake of His beauty (52:7.), of the dignity of His person (v. 13), yea, of His rejection, humiliation, travail of soul, and death (53). Again in the following chapter, by a figure of speech he showed that one eternal bond of affection existed between the Redeemer and the nation of His choice (54:5); though Israel delivered Him up to be crucified.
But in Isa. 55 it is to individuals rather than to the nation that the prophet appeals. Why is this? Because the nation at large believed not the prophet, therefore promises (of personal salvation) are here made to " everyone that thirsteth "-not to Israelites only, for the repentant "son of the stranger" should also be made joyful, &c. (56:3-8). This word of the Lord did not return unto Him void; even in those days it accomplished that which He pleased and prospered in the thing whereto He sent it, as we shall presently see.
So long as Hezekiah lived, there doubtless existed a hindrance to the outward manifestation of the awful workings of evil (amongst some in authority at Jerusalem) which Isa. 28:14,15, exposes. But the time came that Hezekiah must die, and we wonder not that the Spirit of God, at about the time of his death, moved the prophet to lament, " The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men (or men of godliness) are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come." (Isa. 57).
" Woe unto thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning I " Manasseh ascended the throne at the age of twelve years, and " did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord." He built again the high places which his father had destroyed, reared up altars to Baal, made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven. Moreover he built idolatrous altars in the two courts of the temple, observed times, used enchantments, witchcraft, &c., and wickedly set up an idol in the house of God.
With such a monster of iniquity upon the throne there was no longer any magisterial restraint upon wicked men. Nevertheless by His prophets " the Lord spake unto Manasseh and to his people; but they would not hearken, though Isaiah, (being divinely commissioned to " Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression," &c.) shrank not from exposing their hypocrisy and from denouncing the evil deeds of a people whose hands were defiled with blood, whose feet ran to evil, and who made haste to shed innocent blood (59:1-7).
Let us now pause for a moment, to listen to a very remarkable lamentation, part of which we here quote:-" We wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness...we roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves; we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us." This cry is raised by a repentant remnant of Israel-the fruit of faithful prophetic testimony. By examining the context we may also discover that they are a persecuted and a slaughtered remnant, hated, disowned, and cast out by their brethren of Israel. And all this at a time when prophets, who cannot be made to hold their peace day nor night (62:1-6), solemnly testify that the fierce wrath of Jehovah will speedily be outpoured upon an ungodly nation (Isa. 63:6). But. those " wicked " individuals who have forsaken their " ways;" those " unrighteous men" who have forsaken their thoughts, and are now returning unto the Lord (who will have mercy upon and abundantly pardon them), those deeply exercised "humble" and " contrite " ones who tremble at Jehovah's word are meanwhile comforted by the mention of the " loving-kindnesses of the Lord," of the " mercies " of their Savior, and of His " love " and " pity " who is their Redeemer (63:7-9).
Doubtless these Scriptures especially treat of the time of " Jacob's trouble," viz., the period of the " great tribulation," during which they will be fulfilled to the very letter. But we are persuaded that there was a reason why this portion of the word of God was written at this critical period in the history of the kingdom.
Heb. 12:35-39 evidently refers to a most violent persecution of certain faithful ones who "received not the promise:" i.e. these suffered before Christ came in the flesh. Does any other portion furnish us with a clue as to when such a persecution raged? Who can doubt that Ezek. 34:2-6, alludes to a general persecution that had already raged in Israel? And that 2 Kings 21:16;24. 3, 4, plainly mark the early part of Manasseh's reign as having been such a period. Indeed, we know of no other period in the entire history of Israel which furnishes so complete a picture of the yet future " great tribulation."
For here we find a wicked ruler, refusing all reproof, and compelling his subjects to sin with his idols (2 Kings 21:1); a disobedient and gainsaying people adding iniquity to iniquity, and giving themselves over to commit most abominable wickedness (2 Kings 23:7). We also have a powerful and very fruitful prophetic testimony, which evil men are powerless to destroy, until these prophets have finished their testimony (2 Kings 21:10-15); the fruit of which is seen in a repentant remnant, so very numerous that he who persecuted them to the death is said to have filled Jerusalem from one end to another with innocent blood (ver. 16). This may have been because these would not worship the abomination which stood where it ought not, i.e. within the temple. The picture is rendered only the more complete by the Assyrian, the rod of Jehovah's anger (Isa. 10:5), coming upon the scene to chastise a guilty people (2 Chron. 33:11). And if the faithful sons of Zadok (Ezek. 44:15) could no longer enter into the sanctuary, because of the idol therein contained, it quite became these at such a time to " weep between the porch and the altar," and, on behalf of those tormented by the fear of merciless adversaries coming upon them from without, and slaughtered by equally blood-thirsty enemies within the city, to say, " Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them; wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?"
The faithful ones who escape the sword during the " great tribulation " shall be delivered at the moment of Christ's descent upon Olivet (Zech. 14:1-5); but those spared from he sword of Manasseh were relieved by the transportation of their chief persecutor to Babylon (2 Chron. 33:11).
Manasseh was now a prisoner in fetters; and in his affliction " he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto Him: and He was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord, He was God." He took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built upon Moriah, and in Jerusalem: and, in some measure, restored the worship of Jehovah.
But though the Lord had abundantly pardoned the truly penitent Manasseh, the latter could not undo the mischief he had done; nor avert the calamities which retributive justice demanded should overtake a guilty nation, because both monarch and people (2 Chron. 34:25), had defiled His sanctuary, and shed innocent blood. These national transgressions the Lord would not pardon (2 Kings 24:3). Because of these His wrath was kindled against Jerusalem and Judah; but before that wrath was outpoured, a merciful and longsuffering God appealed yet again in grace to those who were no longer worthy to be called " His people "; as we shall see, (D.V.), in our next.
(to be continued.)
The Former Glory of the Temple: Part 5
5.
"1 spake unto you ... but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not: therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, ... as I have done to Shiloh."' Jer. 7:13,14.
AMON, the son and successor of Manasseh, had no sooner ascended the throne than he discovered the same deliberate determination to commit wickedness which had characterized his father's youth, and proved himself to be one that despised the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, Whose goodness led his father to repentance. He served those idols whose worship had proved the ruin of Manasseh, and " humbled not himself before the Lord, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more;" and was early made to eat of the fruit of his own way. He had reigned but two short years when his own servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house.
The untimely death of the wicked Amon was an event fraught with blessing to Judah; for the throne thus suddenly rendered vacant was now occupied by a child, whose name had been announced at Bethel, several hundred years before, by the man of God that spake against the altar of Jeroboam (1 Kings 13:2). The boy-king Manasseh was an impious son of a pious father, and did a vast amount of evil in his kingdom before he reached the age of maturity; but the boy-king Josiah, as the godly son of an ungodly father, wrought a great amount of good before he attained to manhood.
He was but eight years old when he began to reign, and in the eighth year of his reign, "while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father." The inspired historian briefly summarizes his actions thus,-" He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand nor to the left."
The blessed results of the piety of this youthful king early became apparent in his kingdom. In the twelfth year of his reign, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, groves, and carved and molten images, which had become so very numerous that the prophet Jeremiah afterward said, " According to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal." He that attentively reads the long catalog of the abominations which Josiah destroyed and abolished (2 Kings 23:4-20), and also observes that, not until the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign (i.e. six years after the first commencement of this all-important work), do we find it recorded that " he had purged the land, and the house," cannot fail to form at least some faint idea of the awful magnitude of Judah's idolatry during the respective reigns of that king's two immediate predecessors. And what child of God can reflect upon all this and not magnify and exalt Rim who, according to the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, raised up Josiah to sit upon the throne of such a kingdom, at such a time! Who thus lingered in grace over a beloved but rebellious and iniquitous nation, the doom of which was already sealed!
Having purged the land, and the house, Josiah's next thought was to repair the house of the Lord his God. The expense of this was met by the willing offerings of the people. While this was being done, Hilkiah the high priest made a most remarkable discovery.
Every father in Israel was clearly responsible both to keep the words of the law in his heart, and to teach them diligently unto his children (Deut. 6:6, 7). The members of the tribe of Levi were responsible before God to teach Israel that law (33:10) which Moses wrote in a book, charging them withal to place in the side of the ark of the covenant" (31: 24-26). Over and above all these, the priests were particularly commanded to "teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord bath spoken unto them" &c. (Lev. 10:1;1). Had Israelites, Levites, and priests altogether lost sight of and forgotten that same "holy law," when Hilkiah found the book of the law in the house of the Lord? For Josiah appears to have been suffered to remain in profound ignorance of the contents of this book until it was read before him by Shaphan the scribe.
The reading of that word which is " quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword," brought the king into deep exercise of soul. To him it was indeed a light by which he discerned, as he never had done before, the appalling extent of the declension in that nation which had not kept the word of the Lord; so that he rent his clothes, and wept. Because of their fathers' disobedience to that law, great wrath was already poured out upon them; and Josiah, rightly divining that that wrath still remained unappeased, delayed not to anxiously inquire of the Lord.
Yet he did not like Jehoshaphat, proclaim a fast; neither did he, like Hezekiah, enter into the temple, and there personally appeal to the God that dwelleth between the Cherubim. He sent the high priest and certain of his honored servants, to Huldah the prophetess, that they might inquire of the Lord for him. When we reflect upon all that had taken place within that sanctuary, surely we need not wonder that the anxious king acted as he did. With regard to the fate of the nation, the answer he received was decisively to the effect that the Lord would bring evil upon Judah, and wrath should be poured out, that should not be quenched, but that portion of it which referred to himself personally, was most merciful and gracious. He should be gathered to the grave in peace, and be spared the sorrow of beholding all the evil which the Lord would bring upon the land, and upon its people.
Having himself meekly received' this word of the Lord, Josiah, as one whose heart yearned over his beloved subjects, lost no time in gathering the elders together. If he was himself powerless to avert the impending calamities, he would faithfully apprise Judah of their danger; that, ere it was too late, they might personally seek and obtain shelter from the wrath to come. In the house of God, in the audience of the assembled multitude, he read aloud all the words of the book of the law, and caused all that were present to stand to " the covenant of God."
In accordance with the requirements of that law, in the same year, he kept the feast of the passover. It is in the chapter which treats of the observance of this passover that we have the last historical allusion to the ark of the covenant. Why did the king command the Levites to " put the holy ark in the house?" Such a command implies that it was at that moment outside of the house Had those who wickedly set up an idol in that house, removed it from its resting place, with sacrilegious hands? Or had certain faithful priests desirous of preserving it from sacrilege in those terrible days reverently borne it to some place of safety; as those Levites intended to have done, when Absalom threatened the peace of Jerusalem? (2 Sam. 15:24,25). Should this latter supposition be correct, it is not at all improbable that Ezek. 44:15 refers to the same pious action.
Blessed in the pious king that sat upon the throne, and by his means with a knowledge of God's holy law, Judah was about this time favored again with another threefold prophetic testimony; in the mouths of the prophets Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah. The peaceful reign of Josiah may be compared to nature's glorious sunset, so soon succeeded by the blackness and darkness of night: or to the calm which precedes the storm. But when we compare the respective prophecies of the above-mentioned prophets, with those of the prophets who preceded them, we can but observe how much the language of the former differed from that employed by the latter.
It may not be out of place here to mention one remarkable point of contrast between the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah. The former wearied not of testifying to the coming of the Deliverer to Zion; the latter wept as he foretold the coming destruction of Zion, &c. If the nation had believed the report of the one, would the other have been charged to deliver such sorrowful tidings? But, as the prophet Hosea, while he foretold the fate of the ten tribes, aptly expressed Jehovah's abiding and tender affection for Israel (Hos. 11 i-8), in like manner, while Jeremiah foretold the captivity of Judah, he also pathetically expressed the love that Jehovah ceased not to cherish toward Judah (Jer. 11:15;12. 7.).
We often distinguish Jeremiah by calling him " the weeping prophet." Let us not forget that the Spirit of God moved him to cry;-" Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people." While his words and his tears aptly expressed his own heart's poignant grief, they none the less clearly expressed how deeply Judah had grieved the Holy Spirit of God. Jehovah had "marked their iniquity" (Jer. 2:22), and would speedily requite their great wickedness upon their own heads:-even the " house of their sanctuary" should be leveled with the ground.
A. J.
(To be continued.)
Marginal Notes.
Genesis.
Gen. 15:18. In the glorious reign of Solomon we have a fulfillment of the covenant here established. " He reigned over all the kings from the river (i.e. Euphrates) even unto the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt" 2 Chron. 9:26.
16: 7. Shur is generally supposed to have been a desert on the South West of Palestine, extending to the boundaries of Egypt, and Hagar, being an Egyptian, probably took a route most likely to lead back to her native land.
19: 1. The gate of Sodom. " You observe that the gateway is vaulted, shady, and cool. This is one reason why people delight to assemble about it. Again, the curious and vain resort thither to see and to be seen. Some go to meet their associates; others to watch for returning friends, or to accompany those about to depart, while many gather there to hear the news, and to engage in trade and traffic. I have seen in certain places-Joppa for example-the lady and his court • sitting at the entrance of the gate, hearing arid adjudicating all sorts of causes in the audience of all that went in and out thereat." Dr. Thomson.
19:22. Zoar was one of the five cities of the plain spoken of in Chapter 14:2,8, and as we learn from Deut. 29:23 it was the only one spared by the judgments that fell in consequence of the iniquity of the inhabitants of that country. Its site cannot now be fixed with any degree of certainty.
20:2. Abimelech was the common title of the Philistine kings, as Pharaoh was of the Egyptians.
21:14. The first mention of Beersheba, a town so often mentioned afterward as one of the boundaries of the possession of the children of Israel. The name was given on the occasion of the covenant made between Abraham and Abimelech, v. 31, and was confirmed later by Isaac Chapter 26:33. In the neighborhood there are to this day the ruins of a town called Bir-es-Seba with two large wells and five smaller ones.
22:2. Solomon built the temple on Mount Moriah, and on the same spot the mosque of Omar now stands. The place where Abraham built the altar for the sacrifice of Isaac was near the spot where our Lord was crucified.
23:17. " The cave of Machpelah is one of the sites mentioned in the Old Testament as to the identity of which no doubt exists. The burying-place of the patriarchs is shown now, though so carefully guarded by the jealousy of the Mohammedans that but few Europeans have been permitted to see the monuments erected in honor of the dead. The manner in which the purchase was effected by Abraham is exactly in accordance with the details of a similar transaction as now carried out. The preliminary negotiations, the mediation of the neighbors, weighing out of the money, and exact description of the plot of land are all the accompaniments of a bargain by which the purchased land is made sure to the purchaser."