Chapters 40-66 of the book of Isaiah belong to a later period, as will be shown in another lesson. Micah, the prophet of social justice.—Micah was a prophet of the southern kingdom contemporary with Isaiah. Like Amos, he belonged to the peasant class, and, like him, he used all his power of denunciation against the higher classes, who were oppressing the poor. Micah predicted the destruction of Jerusalem at the very time Isaiah was declaring its inviolability. BIBLICAL SOURCES: Isaiah's call, Isa. 6. 1-8. Song of the vineyard, Isa. 5. I-7. The corruption of the land, Isa. 3, 5, 10. Jehovah's demands, Isa. 1. 16-20. The coming judgment on Judah, Isa. 5. 26–29. Hezekiah's reforms, 2 Kings 18. 1-6. Isaiah's advice sought by Hezekiah, 2 Kings 19. 1-7. QUESTIONS 1. Give some facts with regard to Isaiah's life. 2. What was Isaiah's chief service to his country? 3. What were his fundamental teachings? 4. What was there new in his conception of God? 5. Discuss the political situation in the time of Ahaz, and Isaiah's relation to it. 6. Mention some of the chief abuses which he condemns. 7. What was the nature of Hezekiah's reforms? 8. Describe Sennacherib's invasions. 9. How long did Isaiah's period of activity last? Approximate dates? 10. Commit to memory Isa. II. 1-9, and Micah 6. 8. LESSON XXXVII THE REACTION UNDER MANASSEH UPON Hezekiah's death in 692 his twelve-year-old son, Manasseh, became king and reigned nearly fiftyfive years. At his father's death Manasseh came under the influence of the anti-prophetic party. He was a product of the harem, and the intrigues of the harem and court had been scathingly rebuked by Isaiah. Manasseh's reign was an unfortunate one for Judah, for, not being in sympathy with the prophetic party, who had the real welfare of the country at heart, he was the leader in a violent reaction against the teachings of the prophets. He was most subservient to Assyria, and an imitator of Assyrian ways, especially in religious matters, and he largely undid the good work of Hezekiah. The return to heathenism under Manasseh.He restored the altars to heathen gods that had been torn down by Hezekiah, he set up an asherah in the temple, he introduced the Assyrian star worship, and the people had altars to the "hosts of heaven" erected on their housetops. Ahaz was the first to introduce this worship, but Manasseh carried it much further. He restored the terrible rite of child-sacrifice,1 offering his own son to Moloch. Believing the Assyrian gods to be more powerful than Jehovah, he was doubtless 1 Moloch (or Molech) was a deity worshiped by the Israelites, especially by the people of Judah, toward the close of the monarchy. The chief feature of the worship was the sacrifice of children. The place was the Valley of Hinnom (called the Topheth) just outside of Jerusalem. According to 1 Kings II. 7, the cult was introduced by Solomon. It was regarded by the Hebrews as Canaanite in origin (Deut. 12. 29-31). honest in his desire that his people should adopt the Assyrian worship. Manasseh violently persecuted the prophets, many of whom were forced to go into hiding. "Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another." Heathenism was again intrenched, but the prophetic party was not dead. The prophets were quietly working for the salvation of the nation. Reasons for the reaction.-From the fact that the masses of the people were apparently in sympathy with Manasseh, we know that Hezekiah's reforms were the work of a minority party-the prophetic and did not represent any real change in the religious attitude of the people as a whole. Isaiah and Micah had denounced idolatry and immorality, but the reforms that had come about as a result of their preaching were too drastic for the masses of the people. Only by degrees can such sweeping changes be brought about, and Hezekiah did not live long enough to see his reforms accomplished. Moreover, the people were disappointed because Isaiah's prophecies concerning the destruction of Assyria had not been fulfilled. The Assyrian gods were clearly winning. Thus the party hostile to prophetic teaching gained prestige. The ignorant masses still clung to the older cults of worship. The teachings of the prophets were too strict and sober for them; Isaiah's ideas of morality were beyond their comprehension. Assyrian customs too were the fashion, and fashion is potent even in religion. The Hebrews had come to accept their vassalage and even to admire their once hated enemy. Assyria was the most powerful nation in the world, while Judah was small and obscure. Remember that the Hebrews as a whole were not yet monotheists. Though they worshiped Jehovah as their national god, they believed the gods of the other nations had as real existence as their own. A necessary accompaniment of such a belief is that in case of a conflict between nations the victorious nation has the stronger gods. What wonder that the Assyrian worship obtained a large following among the Hebrews? There is an interesting passage in 2 Kings 18, in which the Hebrews are taunted by an emissary of the Assyrian king: "Hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?" The remarkable thing is that Jehovah worship could survive when the Hebrews were constantly being beaten by their powerful neighbors. The fact that it did endure is chiefly due to the prophets, who had an explanation for Judah's humiliations. Isaiah, and after him other prophets, declared that it was not because Jehovah was weaker than the gods of other nations that they were beaten, nor was it because he had forgotten them; it was because he was angry with them for their sins, and was punishing them; yet he was ready to forgive them whenever they would turn to him. This new conception of Jehovah was eventually accepted, and the more the race were persecuted and humiliated the more they clung to Jehovah. The work of the prophets during Manasseh's reign. They were in a small minority, and it must have required great courage to take a stand which meant condemnation of the king and his policies. According to tradition, Isaiah met his death at this time. The great outburst of prophetic activity in the reign of Josiah seems to indicate that while apparently inactive the prophets were at this time writing and gathering together the writings of their predecessors. The sermons of Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah evidently were collected and edited during this period. Many think that the book of Deuteronomy was written at this time. Assyria at the zenith of her power. The mighty empire with which the Hebrews had had to contend for three centuries was soon to decline. Sennacherib's son Esarhaddon (681-668) conquered Egypt, and that event, which occurred during Manasseh's reign, marked the climax of Assyrian power. Esarhaddon's son Ashurbanipal, whose reign overlapped Josiah's, though not a great military leader, was one of the most enlightened rulers of antiquity. Assyria was the inheritor of Babylonian culture, and this monarch did all he could to revive it. He built a great library at Nineveh, and filled it with the religious, scientific, and literary works of the past. This was the earliest library in western Asia known to us. A great collection of twenty-two thousand clay tablets, now in the British Museum, was discovered in the ruins of this library, where they had been lying on the floor for twenty-five hundred years. From this library come a majority of the inscriptions which throw light on the history of the ancient East. With the death of Ashurbanipal began the decline of Assyria. The fall of Nineveh. With the destruction of Nineveh in 607 (or 606) the Assyrian empire fell, and a great shout of exultation went up from the Nile to the Caspian Sea. Scholars are not fully agreed as to the foes that accomplished the ruin of the city, but it seems probable that it was taken by the Medes, a people |