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became mighty because he prepared his ways before Jehovah, his God.*

In the latter days of this monarch, Jehovah began to send against Judah, Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah;† and after reigning fifteen years, he slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and he was succeeded by his son,‡

A HAZ.

A.D. 742.

THIS monarch was twenty years old when he began to reign, but he did not that which was right in the sight of Jehovah, like David, his father; for he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim. Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire,§ after the abominations of the heathen, whom Jehovah had cast out before the children of Israel. He sacrificed also, and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.||

Then Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, son of Remaliah king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to war; and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him.¶

For upon this occasion it was, that the prophet Isaiah was sent to this monarch with the following remarkable prediction: And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and

* 2 Chron. xxvii. 1-6 2 Kings, xv. 32-36..
† 2 Kings, xv. 37.

2 Kings, xv. 38. 2 Chron. xxvii. 9.

See A. Clarke on Lev. xviii. 21. xx. 2. 4, 5,
2 Chron. xxviii, 1—4.
¶ 2 Kings, xvi, 5,

the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. Then said Jehovah unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shcarjashub, thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller's field; and say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet: fear not, neither be faint hearted, for the two tails of these smoking fire brands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying, Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal: thus saith Jehovah, God, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within three score and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.

Moreover, Jehovah spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of Jehovah, thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt Jehovah. And he 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? Therefore Jehovah 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 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.

Which came exactly to pass; for in the twenty-second year of Manasseh, Esarhaddon, king of Assyria and Babylon, carried away captive all that were left in Samaria of the last captivity." Br. WILSON. BP. LOWTH. PRIDEAUX, i. 55.

Jehovah shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria. And it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes. In the same day shall Jehovah shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep; and it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give, that he shall eat butter; for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land. And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for briers and thorns. With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns. And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of the briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the breeding of lesser cattle.

Moreover, Jehovah said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man's pen concerning Maher-shalalhash-baz. And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah, the priest, and Zechariah, the son of Jeberechiah. And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said Jehovah to me, Call his name Mahershalal-hash-baz. For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus, and the spoil of Samaria, shall be taken away before the king of

as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin, and Remaliah's son: now therefore, behold, Jehovah bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks; and he shall pass through Judah, he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.*

Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand for God is with you.

For Jehovah spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, a confederacy, to all them to whom this people would say, a confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify Jehovah of Hosts himself: and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling,† and for a rock of offence, to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among

"The land of the tribe of Judah, is here called the land of Immanuel; because Immanuel was to come out of that tribe, and that tribe should have a sceptre and government till Immanuel should come, which none of the other tribes had, having all lost the sceptre before our Lord came." BP. WILSON.

+ Rom. ix. 32. 1 Peter, ii. 7, 8. "Jesus Christ was this stone of stumbling; ergo, Jesus Christ was Jehovah of Hosts." Jones on the Trinity.

my disciples. And I will wait upon Jehovah, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. Behold, I and the children whom Jehovah hath given me, are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Jehovah of Hosts, who dwelleth in mount Zion. And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the earth, and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness: nevertheless, the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation.

When at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.* Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called,

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