feeble form of the aged man, and bewailing the im pending bereavement of Israel, Elisha placed his hands upon the king's, and bade him discharge an arrow from a window towards the east. He shot, and the prophet told him that it was "the arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria," and that it foreshadowed a bloody defeat which the cruel invaders should sustain at Aphek.

Again Elisha told him to strike with a bundle of arrows on the ground. "And he smote thrice, and stayed"; whereat "the man of God was wroth," and told him that he should now win only three battles, whereas, had he struck five or six times, it would have insured him that number of victories. "Hazael, king of Syria, oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz," but he being dead, the Lord "would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence as yet," and Jehoash, successful in three encounters, as was foretold, "took again out of the hand of Benhadad, the son of Hazael, the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz, his father, by war.” The crowning wonder connected with Elisha's history occurred after his death. A party, disturbed in their preparations for the burial of a dead body by the approach of a predatory band of Moabites, threw it hastily into the prophet's sepulchre. "And when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.” *

* 2 Kings xiii. 1-25. "In the three-and-twentieth year of Joash, . . . Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, began to reign" (1). But, according to previous statements, Jehu, whom Jehoahaz succeeded, died in the twentyfirst year of Joash (comp. x. 36; xii. 1). —“And the Lord gave Israel a saviour," &c. (5); probably Joash is meant (comp. 25). "In the thirtyand-seventh year of Joash, king of Judah, began Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, to reign (10). But if (comp. 1) Jehoahaz came to the throne in the twenty-third year of Joash, and reigned seventeen years, it was in the forti

eth year of Joash that the son of Jehoahaz succeeded. "The chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof” (14); comp. ii. 12. —“ He said, 'Open the window eastward"" (17); the Syrian conquests had been in that direction, in the country on the other side of the Jordan (comp. x. 33)." Thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek" (ibid.); the same place where a great victory had been formerly obtained (comp. 1 Kings xx. 29, 30); perhaps we may render, Thou shalt smite them after the manner of Aphek, or with an "Aphek" overthrow; as people speak now of "a Waterloo defeat.". "Then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it" (19); but this had been already promised (comp. 17). "Now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice" (ibid.). For the probable origin of these alleged predictions, it is natural to look to some period subsequent to the events which accomplished them; comp. 25.

LECTURE XLII.

DECLINE AND FALL OF THE KINGDOMS.

2 KINGS XIV. 1.-XXV. 30.

REIGN OF AMAZIAH IN JUDAH. HIS CONQUEST OF IDUMEA. DEFEAT BY JEHOASH, AND DEATH. REIGNS OF AZARIAH, JOTHAM, AND AHAZ, IN JUDAH, AND OF JEROBOAM II., ZACHARIAH, SHALLUM, MENAHEM, PEKAHIAH, PEKAH, AND HOSHEA, IN ISRAEL.-WARS of IsRAEL AND SYRIA AGAINST ASSYRIA AND JUDAH.-IDOLATRIES OF AHAZ. -CONQUEST OF THE NORTHERN KINGDOM BY THE ASSYRIANS.- TRANSPORTATION OF THE INHABITANTS, AND INTRODUCTION OF NEW COLONISTS. -REIGN OF HEZEKIAH IN JUDAH. ASSYRIAN INVASION. CONFERENCE OF HEZEKIAH WITH ISAIAH. - DESTRUCTION OF THE ASSYRIAN ARMY. SICKNESS AND CURE OF HEZEKIAH. - RETROCESSION OF THE SUN. EMBASSY FROM BABYLON. IDOLATRIES OF MANASSEH AND A MON. - RELIGIOUS ADMINISTRATION OF JOSIAH. DISCOVERY OF THE BOOK OF THE LAW. RENEWAL OF THE NATIONAL COVENANT, AND PROSECUTION OF REFORMS. DEFEAT AND DEATH OF JOSIAH.. REIGNS OF JEHOAHAZ, JEHoiakim, and ZedEKIAH. — SACK OF THE CITY AND TEMPLE.- -VICE-ROYALTY OF GEDALIAH.-PROMOTION OF JEHO1ACHIN. BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY.

FROM the point at which we have now arrived, the author hastens to the close of his work. He condenses into twelve chapters the history of two hundred and fifty years; and more than half of this compendious narrative is taken up with an account of the Assyrian conquest of Israel, and of single transactions in the three reigns of Hezekiah, Manasseh, and Josiah.

Amaziah, son of Joash, and his successor in the kingdom of Judah, came to the throne when twentyfive years of age, and reigned twenty-nine years. In a disposition of rectitude and piety, but an irresolute

policy, which tolerated the idolatrous propensities of the people, his character and administration resembled those of his father. In taking vengeance for the late king's death, it is observed that he recognized a principle of the law of Moses, designed to restrain the savage vindictiveness of those ancient times, when the blood of whole families was made to expiate the of fence of their head. Amaziah "slew his servants which had slain the king his father, but the children of the murderers he slew not."

A successful inroad into Idumæa gave Amaziah a taste for war, and a confidence in his valor and conduct. He sent a defiance to the king of Israel, who, having first answered it with a taunting remonstrance, at length led his army into the territory of Judah. He obtained a victory, in which Amaziah was taken prisoner, and immediately pushed forward to Jerusalem, where he threw down a part of the city wall and rifled the temple and the royal palace of their treasures, after which, taking hostages with him from the conquered country, he returned to Samaria, where he died and was buried. Amaziah survived him fifteen years. A conspiracy at Jerusalem drove him to Lachish. There he was overtaken and put to death. "And they brought him on horses; and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David."

His son, Azariah, sixteen years of age, next filled the throne of Judah. His long reign of fifty-two years is not related to have been marked by any memorable action, except the recovery and reconstruction of the city of Elath on the Red Sea. His contemporary in Israel, Jeroboam II., followed, as to internal administration, the course of the first monarch of his name. In war, he obtained some important successes against the Syrians," according to the word of the Lord God

of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai," a prophet whose predictions, here referred to, have not been transmitted to our times.*

As to the religious administration of his government, the king of Judah, Azariah, walked in the

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* 2 Kings xiv. 1-29. "In the second year of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, reigned Amaziah," &c. (1). Joash of Israel ascended the throne in the thirty-seventh year of Joash of Judah (comp. xiii. 10), who reigned forty years (comp. xii. 1). From these data it follows that the former came to the throne three years at least before the latter died, and the second year of the former was from one to two years before the latter died. Yet in the second year of the former (xiv. 1) Amaziah is said (xii. 21) to have succeeded the latter. According to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses," &c. (6); comp. Deut. xxiv. 16. "He..... took Selah," &c. (7). Selah, y, means the rock. Probably the city of Petra is intended, the capital of Idumæa, the extraordinary ruins of which are at this day visited by travellers. “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar," &c. (9). The application of this apologue is not apparent. Understanding Joash to have meant himself by the wild beast, it is not obvious what is intended by the cedar, or by the offer of a matrimonial alliance, which was an entirely different proposal from what Amaziah had made. Beth-shemesh, which belongeth to Judah" (11); a Levitical city, about thirty miles northwest of Jerusalem; comp. Josh. xv. 10; xxi. 16; 1 Sam. vi. 9, et seq. "He fled to Lachish” (19); a city in the south of Judah (comp. Josh. x. 23; xv. 39). —"He built Elath, and restored it to Judah" (22); i. e. after its loss in the time of Joram (comp. viii. 20). — “ He restored the coast of Israel, from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain" (25). That is, he recovered the country east of the Jordan, along the whole length of Israel; for on the northern border of the Israelitish territory was the Syrian city of Damascus, and the southern boundary of Israel met the northern point of the Dead Sea, or "Sea of the Plain." "Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath-hepher" (ibid.); of whom there will be occasion to speak particularly in another place.

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"There was not any shut up, nor any left" (26); this seems to be a sort of idiomatic expression for any resource whatever; any resource, whether of such a kind as is carefully husbanded (shut up), or such as is less regarded (comp. Deut. xxxii. 36). -"He recovered Damascus" (28); where David had formerly had a garrison (comp. Sam. viii. 6). —“ Which belonged to Judah, for Israel" (ibid). The words italicized have nothing in the original corresponding to them. They were introduced by our translators in order to give some sense to the words "to Judah," words which (probably as finding it impossible to explain them) the authors of the Syriac and Arabic versions have omitted.