صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

he was God. Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah. And he took away the strange gods, and the idol* out of the house of Jehovah, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of Jehovah, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. And he repaired the altar of Jehovah, and sacrificed thereon peace-offerings and thank-offerings, and commanded Judah to serve Jehovah, the God of Israel. Nevertheless, the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto Jehovah, their God only.†

Manasseh reigned fifty-five years, when he slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own

* See p. 202. † 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11-17.

Jehovah, Almighty God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of their righteous seed, who has made heaven and earth with all the ornament thereof; who has bound the sea by the word of thy commandment; who has shut up the deep, and sealed it by thy terrible and glorious name; whom all men fear, and tremble before thy power; for the majesty of thy glory cannot be borne, and thine angry threatening towards sinners is importable, but thy merciful promise is unmeasurable and unsearchable; for thou art the most high Jehovah, of great compassion, long suffering, very merciful, and repentest of the evils of men. Thou, O Jehovah, according to thy great goodness, hast promised repentance and forgiveness to them that have sinned against thee: and of thine infinite mercies hast appointed repentance unto sinners, that they may be saved. Thou therefore, O Jehovah, that art the God of the just, hast not appointed repentance to the just, as to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, which have not sinned against thee; but thou hast appointed repentance unto me that am a sinner: for I have sinned above the number of the sands of the sea. My transgressions, O Jehovah, are multiplied: my transgressions are multiplied, and I am not worthy to behold and see the height of heaven, for the multitude of mine

house, in the garden of Uzza, and was succeeded by his

son,

AMON.

A. C.

THE mother of this prince was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. He did evil in the sight 643. of Jehovah, as did Manasseh, his father: for Amon sacrificed unto all the carved images which Manasseh, his father, had made, and served them, and he humbled not himself before Jehovah, as Manasseh, his father, had humbled himself; but Amo trespassed more and more. And he forsook Jehovah, the God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of Jehovah.‡

1

Having reigned two years in Jerusalem, his servants con

iniquities. I am bound town with many iren bands, that I cannot lift up mine head, neither have any release; for I have provoked thy wrath, and done evil before thee. I did not thy will, neither kept I thy commandments: I have up abominations and have multiplied offences. Now, therefore, I bow the knee of mine heart, beseeching thee of grace. I have sinned, O Jehovah, I have sinned, and I acknowledge mine iniquities: wherefore I humbly beseech thee, forgive me, O Jehovah, forgive me, and de troy me not with mine iniquities. Be not angry with me for ever, by reserving evil for me; neither condemn me into the lower parts of the earth. For thou art the God, even the God of them that repent, and in me thou wilt shew all thy goodness: for thou wilt save me, that am unworthy, according to thy great mercy. Therefore, I will praise thee for ever all the days of my life: for all the powers of heaven do praise thee, and thine is the glory for ever and ever.-Amen. Apocrypha.

We have inserted the above, as it appears both pious and scriptural, (Matt. ix. 13.); but it is not usually considered authentic. Gray's Key, 622. 624.

* 2 Kings, xxi. 1-18. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 1-20.
+ 2 Chron. xxxiii. 22, 23. 2 Kings xxi. 20, 21.

2 Kings xxi. 22.

spired against him, and slew him in his palace; but the mass of the population remaining faithful, they immediately fell upon the conspirators, and slew them, and proclaimed his son Josiah in his stead.† Amon was buried in his sepulchre, in the garden of Uzza.‡

A.C. 641.

JOSIAH.

THE mother of this prince was Jedidah, who was herself the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath. He did that which was right in the sight of Jehovah, and walked in the ways of David, his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.§ For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David, his father.||

In the twelfth year of his reign, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem, from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images. And they brake

* 2 Kings, xxi. 19-23. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 21-24.
+ 2 Kings, xxi. 24. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 25.
2 Kings xxi. 26.

"He never swerved from God and truth; he never omitted what he knew to be his duty to God and his kingdom; he carried on his reformation with a steady hand; timidity did not prevent him from going far enough; and zeal did not lead him beyond due bounds. He walked in the golden mean, and his moderation was known unto all men. He went neither to the right, nor to the left; he looked inward, looked forward, and looked upward. Reader, let the conduct of this pious youth be thy exemplar through life! A. CLARKE. Such was our Edward VI.; and such promised to be Prince Henry, eldest son of James I., and our late lamented Princess Charlotte of Wales.

9 Chron. xxxiv. 1-3. 2 Kings, xxii. 1, 2.

down the altars of Baalin in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.* And when he had broken down the altars, and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.†

In the eighteenth year of his reign, having determined to repair the house of Jehovah, he appointed three of his officers to superintend that work, viz.: Shaphan, Maaseiah, and Joah; and ordered Hilkiah, the high priest, to deliver to them the money, which the Levites had collected from all Judah, and all the remnant of Israel.+

The pious Bogatzky§ is of opinion that, during many of the preceding reigns, the priests, probably to save themselves the trouble of writing, and the people of reading, the book at large, had furnished themselves with abstracts of the law, leaving out, or slightly mentioning some parts thereof, and particularly the threatenings. Whether this were so or not, it is perfectly clear, that so insensible had these people been to the law of Moses, their great legislator, that when Hilkiah, the priest, whilst emptying the coffers of the temple upon the above occasion, having found a copy of the book of the law of Jehovah, and delivered it to Shaphan, the scribe, it was evidently considered by both of them, a discovery of

* See Schind. 648. b.

+ 2 Chron. xxxiv. 3—7.
2 Kings xxii. 3-7. 2 Chron. xxxiv. 8-18.
§ Golden Treasury, vol. i. Sept. xii.

sufficient importance, to be immediately communicated to their sovereign.*

That the book found was that portion of the sacred canon, which is denominated the Pentateuch, and which the Jews call Chamisha Chomshi Torah, is clear;† and is by some imagined to have been the original autograph of Moses; and probably the part of it which was read, was a portion of the book of Deuteronomy;§ for when Josiah heard the words of the book of the law, he rent his clothes, and commanded Hilkiah, the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asahiah, to enquire of Jehovah, for their sovereign, for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of the book, which had been found; adding, as it were, in the deepest anguish of soul, and the most intense anxiety, For great is the wrath of Jehovah, that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.||

The individual to whom the high priest and his coadjutors had recourse, upon this important occasion, was Huldah, the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvath, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe, and who then dwelt in the college at Jerusalem. Upon hearing the king's message, she answered, as already fully instructed by the Holy Spirit upon t'e su'ject of their errand, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you to me, thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of

2 Kings, xxii. 8-10. 2 Chron. xxxiv. 14, 15, 18.
+2 Chron. xxxiv. 14.

Abp. Usher, p. 81. apud Bp. Wilson, and S. Clarke.

§ Compare Deut. xxviii. with 2 Kings, xxii. 16-18. and 2 Chron. xxxiv. 24, 25. Prid. i. 47.

2 Kings, xxii. 8-13. 2 Chron. xxxiv. 18-21.

Deut. xvii. 19.

« السابقةمتابعة »