His recovery. hardly left his lips than, like the stern prediction of Micah at the beginning of Hezekiah's reign, they were withdrawn. Before he had passed the precincts of the palace, a brighter vision was revealed to him. He returned. He applied the 1 usual Eastern remedy of a cluster of figs on the tumour which threatened the King's life. Instant relief ensued. The King's spirit revived. He asked, like his father Ahaz, for a sign to confirm the hope that he might once again pass up the steps in his royal procession to the Temple. The sign was given. Unlike many of the wonders of the Jewish history, which are told by writers long after the event, this is related, as it would seem, by an eyewitness, at least by a contemporary. But, like the sign granted to his father, it is for us wrapt in obscurity. What were the steps' of Ahaz,2 how the movement of the shadow upon them could be said to confirm the rising hopes of the King, we have no means of ascertaining. Of all the possible natural causes, by which such a phenomenon might have been produced, the only one which can be supposed even remotely to illustrate it is the fact that a partial eclipse of the sun took place at Jerusalem, as far as can be known, in the year of Hezekiah's illness. 3 The King recovered at once. In three days he was able to appear in the Temple, and the almost funereal dirge of his sick chamber was then blended with the praise of triumphant thanksgiving with which he returns to the living world of joyous human voices and sounding music, rejoicing in the This is to this day one of the simple methods of curing a boil or ache, in Turkey and Persia (Morier). 22 Kings xx. 9 (LXX.). On Sept. 26, A. D. 713. See the calculations in Thenius on 2 Kings xx. 9-11. The change of the shadow, however, would be, I am told, almost imperceptible, except to a scientific observer. The variations of the text in 2 Kings xx. and Isa. xxxviii., and the general import of the whole transaction, are well given in Strachey's Hebrew Politics, p. 289. Isa. xxxviii. 16, 18, 19, 20. Living Source of all life, and looking forward to handing on the truth to children yet unborn. lonian It was not long after this recovery that there arrived at BabyJerusalem an embassy from the great city of Babylon, here embassy. first distinctly mentioned in the historical narrative. The King was 'Merodach-Baladan, the rival or rebel King against the Assyrians. Many motives may have conspired to draw these strangers to Palestine. It may have been to contract 2 an alliance with the now powerful Hezekiah against the declining Empire of Assyria. It may have been, as the general tenor of the narrative indicates, to observe the internal resources of the country. It was, as we are expressly told, to join in the general homage of the surrounding nations, awestruck by the destruction of the Assyrian army; and also, with the peculiar curiosity of Chaldæan sages, whilst they congratulated Hezekiah on his recovery, to inquire into the astronomical wonders with which it was connected. He, in return, with that high religious elation which, according to Jewish tradition, mingled with his gentle and devout character, showed them exultingly over his splendid stores. The rumour of their visit spread through Jerusalem. It was almost the first time that the name of the imperial Eastern city had been heard in Jerusalem. Once, by Micah, a joyful visit, rather than a painful exile, to Babylon had been pronounced. Now the name suggests a darker prospect. Isaiah, when he heard from the King whence those strangers had come, drew aside the veil from the event, never named before, but henceforth never absent from the visions of the Jewish Prophets-the Babylonian Captivity. Those treasures which had been so carefully accumulated-those sons of the royal house, whom Hezekiah had so anxiously desired, would be 4 2 Chr. xxxii. 31. Micah iv. 10. Death of Hezekiah. B. C. 697. come the prey of the new power, just beginning to appear above the horizon, and soon to fill it from end to end. The hopes of Hezekiah, as we have seen, were entirely confined within the limits of this life. None of the Jewish Kings had a keener sense of the grandeur of his mission; but to none was it so closely identified with the interests of the present. The fifteen years of the remainder of his life seemed to be so much rescued from the desolation of impending calamities. When his end at last came, his funeral was marked with unusual honour. The whole population of the city and of the royal tribe of Judah were present. His burial forms a marked epoch in the royal interments. It may be that David's catacomb was filled. Hezekiah is the first king who was buried outside the city of David. Apparently his tomb was on the road approaching to the ancient burialplace of his family, and from this time no prince of the royal house was interred within the walls. 2 If we may trust the dates which bring the death of Sennacherib and of Sethos within the same period, additional point would be given to the peaceful strains in which the aged Isaiah, seemingly at this same time, rose above the contentions and troubles of his earlier days, and instead of denouncing Egyptian alliances and Assyrian invasions, looked forward to the happy union of the three nations which had been so hopelessly entangled in strife and jealousy, when Israel shall be third in the midst of the land with Egypt and ' with Assyria. Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands, and Israel mine inherit'ance.' And to this responds the 87th Psalm, probably of the same epoch. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city 6 1 Isa. xxxix. 2-7. This, if any, Lecture XL. 22 Chr. xxxii. 33 (Heb.), and also 2 Kings xx. 21 (Thenius). Isa. xix. 23-25 (Ewald). ' of God. Rahab and Babylon I claim amongst those 'who know me. Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia were born 'there.' There is no distinction drawn. These foreign races are reckoned as parts of the Chosen People. Their claim on the Divine Providence is acknowledged. Henceforth the true citizenship of Jerusalem is no longer confined to the earthly city of Palestine. 1 Rahab = Egypt, Ps. lxxxvii. 4. 490 LECTURE XXXIX. Manasseh. B. C. 697-642. MANASSEH AND JOSIAH. THE Paganism which had infected the Jewish nation from its earliest times, and which from Solomon's reign had been constantly struggling for the ascendant, made one last violent effort, after the removal of Hezekiah, similar to that which took place in the Roman Empire under the Emperor Julian. Whether or not this be any ground for fancying that Hezekiah had long deferred his marriage, from a belief in his own immortality, it did in fact not take place, so far as we can see, till after the recovery from his illness. His wife was a native of Jerusalem, traditionally the daughter of Isaiah, and bore a name of good omen- the Delightful '—Hephzibah. The brilliant crowns, the joyous festivity of the marriage, were long remembered. The young Prince-perhaps in allusion to the zeal with which that northern tribe had joined in Hezekiah's reforms, or to the desire which prevailed in Hezekiah's reign for a union of the two kingdoms-was called by the unusual 3 name of Manasseh. On his father's death he was but a boy of twelve years old. It would seem that the Jewish aristocracy, always inclining to the worship and belief of the surrounding nations, took possession of the young Prince, and not only turned his mind to the ancient Polytheism, but also excited him to an almost fanatical hatred against the True Religion, possibly exasperated by Josephus, Ant. x. 3, §1. 2 Isa. xi. 10, lxii. 3, 4, 5. (See Blunt, Undes. Coincidences, Part 3, v.) 4 See Gesenius; also Prof. Plumptre in Dict. of Bible, on MANASSEH. 2 Chr. xxiv. 17, 18; Jer. viii. 1, 2. |