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18 And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king's entry without, turned he from the house of the LORD for the king of Assyria.

2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him.

3 Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and "gave

19 Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chro-him presents. nicles of the kings of Judah?

20 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and buried with his fathers in the city of David: Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

CHAPTER XVII.

was
and

This chapter gives us an account of the captivity of the ten tribes, and so finishes the history of that kingdom, after it had continued about 265 years, from the

setting up of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. In it, we have, I. A short narrative of this destruction, v. 1-6. H. Remarks upon it, and the causes of it, for the Justifying of God in it, and for warning to others, v. 7-23. III. An account of the nations which succeeded them in the possession of their land, and the mongrel religion set up among them, v. 24-41.

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when, on the sabbath they officiated in greater numbers than on other days. Whatever it was, it should seem that in removing it, he intended to put a contempt upon the sabbath, and so to open as wide an inlet as any other to all manner of impiety. (3.) The king's entry, which led to the house of the Lord, for the convenience of the royal family, (perhaps, that ascent which Solomon had made, and which the queen of Sheba admired, 1 Kings 10. 5,) he turned another way, to show that he did not intend to frequent the house of the Lord any more. This he did for the king of Assyria, to oblige him, who perhaps returned his visit, and found fault with this entry, as an inconvenience and disparagement to his palace. When those that have had a ready passage to the house of the Lord, to please their neighbours, turn it another way, they are going down the hill apace toward their ruin.

2. Ahaz resigning his life in the midst of his days, at 36 years of age, (v. 19,) and leaving his kingdom to a better man, Hezekiah his son, (v. 20,) who proved as much a friend to the temple, as he had been an enemy to it. Perhaps this very son he had made to pass through the fire, and thereby dedicated him to Moloch; but God, by his grace, snatched him as a brand out of the burning.

NOTES TO CHAPTER XVII.

V. 1-6. We have here the reign and ruin of Hoshea, the last of the kings of Israel, concerning whom observe,

I. That though he forced his way to the crown by treason and murder, (as we read ch. 15. 30,) yet he gained not the possession of it till seven or eight years after; for it was in the fourth year of Ahaz that he slew Pekah, but did not himself begin to reign till the 12th year of Ahaz, v. 1. Whether by the king of Assyria, or by the king of Judah, or by some of his own people, does not appear; but, it seems, so long he was kept out of the throne he aimed at. Justly were his bad practices thus chastised, and the word of the prophet was thus fulfilled, (Hos. 10. 3,) Now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the Lord.

4 And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.

5 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.

6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into in andhe Medes. Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and in Habor

7 For so it was, that the children of Israel had

e c. 18. 10, 11. Foretold Hos. 13. 16. d Lev. 26. 32, 33. Deut. 29. 36, 64. 29. 27, 28. e 1 Chr. 5. 26.

v. 4. Had the king and people of Israel applied themselves to God, made their peace with him, and their prayers to him, they might have recovered their liberty, ease, and honour; but they withheld their tribute, and trusted to the king of Egypt to assist them in their revolt, which, if it had taken effect, had been but to change their oppressors. But Egypt became to them the staff of a broken reed. This provoked the king of Assyria to proceed against them with more severity. Men get nothing by struggling with the net, but entangle themselves the more.

V. That it was an utter destruction that came upon them. 1. The king of Israel was made a prisoner; he was shut up and bound; being, it is probable, taken by surprise, before Samaria was besieged.

2. The land of Israel was made a prey. The army of the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and made themselves masters of it, (v. 5,) and used them as traitors punished with the sword of justice, rather than as fair enemies. 3. The royal city of Israel was besieged, and, at length, taken. Three years it held out, after the country was conquered, and, no doubt, a great deal of misery they endured in that time, which is not particularly recorded; but the very brevity of the story, and the passing of this matter over lightly, methinks, intimate that they were abandoned of God, and he did not now regard the affliction of Israel, as sometimes he had done.

4. The people of Israel were carried captives into Assyria, v. 6. The generality of the people, those that were of any note, were forced away into the conqueror's country, to be slaves and beggars there. (1.) Thus he was pleased to exercise a dominion over them, and to show that they were entirely at his disposal. (2.) By depriving them of their possessions and estates, real and personal, and exposing them to all the hardships and reproaches of a removal to a strange country, under the power of an imperious army, he chastised them for their rebellion, and their endeavour to shake off his yoke. (3.) Thus he effectually prevented all such attempts for the future, and secured their own country to himself. (4.) Thus he got the benefit of their service in his own country, as Pharaoh did that of their fathers; and so this unworthy people were lost, as they oppression. (5.) Thus he made room for those of his own country, that had little, and little to do, at home, to settle in a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey. All these seve ral ways, he served himself by this captivity of the ten tribes. We are here told in what places of his kingdom he disposed of them; in Halah and Habor, in places, we may suppose, far distant from each other, lest they should keep up a correspondence, incorporate again, and become formidable. There, we have reason to think, after some time, they were so mingled with the nations, that they were lost, and the name of Israel was no more in remembrance. They that forgot God, were themselves forgotten; they that studied to be like the nations, were buried among them; and they that would not serve God in their own land, were made to serve their enemies in a strange land. It is probable that they were the men of honour and estates, who were carried captive, and that many of the meaner sort of people were left behind, many of every tribe, who either went over to Judah, or became subject to the Assyrian colonies, and their posterity were Galileans or Samaritans. But thus ended Israel as a nation; now they became Lo-ammi, not a people; and Lo-ruhamah, unpitied. Now Canaan spewed them out. When we read their entry under Hoshea the son of Nua, who would have thought that such as this should have been their exit under Hoshea the son of Elah? Thus Rome's glory in Augustus, sunk many ages after, in Augustulus. Providence so ordered the eclipsing of the honour of the ten tribes, that the honour of Judah the royal tribe, and Levi the holy tribe, which yet remained, might shine the brighter. Yet we find IV. That they brought it upon themselves by the indirect a number sealed of each of the 12 tribes, (Rev. 7.) except Dan. course they took to shake off the yoke of the king of Assyria, | James writes to the 12 tribes scattered abroad, (Jam. 1. 1,) and

II. That though he was bad, yet not so bad as the kings of Israel that had been before him, (v. 2,) not so devoted to the calves as they had been. One of them, (that at Dan,) the Jews say, had been, before this, carried away by the king of As-were found, and ended, as they began, in servitude, and under syria in that expedition, ch. 15. 29, to which, perhaps, the prophet refers; (Hos. 8. 5,) Thy calf, O Samaria, has cast thee off; which made him put the less confidence in the other. And some say that this Hoshea took off the embargo which the former kings had put their subjects under, forbidding them to go up to Jerusalem to worship, which he permitted those to do, that had a mind to it. But what shall we think of this dispensation of providence, that the destruction of the kingdom of Israel should come in the reign of one of the best of its kings? Thy judgments, O God, are a great deep. God would hereby show that in bringing this ruin upon them, he designed to punish, 1. Not only the sins of that generation, but of the foregoing ages, and to reckon for the iniquities of their fathers, who had been long in filling the measure, and treasuring up wrath against this day of wrath. 2. Not only the sins of their kings, but the sins of the people. If Hoshea was not so bad as the former kings, yet the people were as bad as those that went before them, and it was an aggravation of their badness, and brought ruin the sooner, that their king did not set them so bad an example as the former kings had done, nor hinder them from reforming; he gave them leave to do better, but they did as bad as ever, which laid the blame of their sin and ruin wholly upon themselves.

III. That the destruction came gradually. They were for some time made tributaries, before they were made captives, to the king of Assyria, (v. 3,) and if that lesser judgment had prevailed to humble and reform them, the greater had been prevented.

sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,

8 And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.

9 And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

10 And they set them up *images and groves* in every high hill, and under every green tree:

11 And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:

12 For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.

13 Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying," Turn ye from your evil ways, and

A c. 18. 8. i 1 / Deut. 12. 2.

Lev. 18. 3. Deut. 18. 9. c. 16. 3. Ps. 106. 35. g Ez. 8. 12. Kings 14. 23. Is. 57. 5. ⚫ statutes. k Deut. 16. 21. Mic. 5. 14. c. 16. 4. m Ex. 20. 3, 4. Lev. 26. 1. Deut. 4. 19. 5. 7, 8. 1 by the hand of. n Is. 1. 16, 17. 55. 7. Jer. 18. 11. 25. 5, 35. 15. Ez. 18. 31. 2 Pet. 3. 9. o Deut. 31. 27. Prov. 29. 1. Is. 48. 4. Jer. 7. 26.

Paul speaks of the 12 tribes which instantly served God day and night, Acts 26. 7. So that though we never read of the return of those that were carried captive, nor have any reason to credit the conjecture of some, that they yet remain a distinct body in some remote corner of the world; yet a remnant of them did escape, to keep up the name of Israel, till it came to be worn by the Gospel church, the spiritual Israel, in which it will ever remain, Gal. 6. 16.

V. 7-23. Though the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes was but briefly related, it is in these verses largely commented upon by our historian, and the reasons of it assigned, not taken from the second causes, the weakness of Israel, their impolitic management, and the strength and growing greatness of the Assyrian monarch, these things are overlooked; but only from the First Cause.

1. It was the Lord that removed Israel out of his sight; whoever were the instruments, he was the Author, of this calamity. It was destruction from the Almighty; the Assyrian was but the rod of his anger, Is. 10. 5. It was the Lord that rejected the seed of Israel, else their enemies could not have seized upon them, v. 20. Who gave Jacob to the spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Did not the Lord? Is. 42. 24. We lose the benefit of national judgments, if we do not eye the hand of God in them, and the fulfilling of the scripture; for that also is taken notice of here; (v. 23,) The Lord removed Israel out of his favour, and out of their own land, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. Rather shall heaven and earth pass, than one tittle of God's word fall to the ground. When God's word and his works are compared, it will be found not only that they agree, but that they illustrate each other. But why would God ruin a people that were raised and incorporated, as Israel was, by miracles and oracles? Why would he undo that which himself had done, at so vast an expense? Was it purely an act of sovereignty? No, it was an act of necessary justice. For,

2. They provoked him to do this by their wickedness. Was it God's doing? Nay, it was their own; their way and their doings procured all this to themselves, and it was their own wickedness that did correct them. This the sacred historian shows here at large, that it might appear that God did them no wrong, and that others might hear and fear. Come, and see what it was that did all this mischief, that brake their power, and laid their honour in the dust; it was sin; that, and nothing else, separated between them and God; this is here very movingly laid open as the cause of all the desolations of Israel. He here shows, I. What God had done for Israel, to engage them to serve him. 1. He gave them their liberty; (v. 7,) he brought them from under the hand of Pharaoh who oppressed them, asserted their freedom, (Israel is my son,) and effected their freedom with a high hand; thus they were bound in duty and gratitude to be his servants, for he had loosed their bonds; nor would he that rescued them out of the hand of the king of Egypt, have contradicted himself so far as to deliver them into the hand of the king of Assyria, as he did, if they had not by their iniquity, betrayed their liberty, and sold themselves. 2. He gave them their law, and was himself their king; they were immediately under a divine regimen; they could not plead ignorance of good and evil, sin and duty, for God had particularly charged them against those very things which here he charges them with, (v. 15,) That they should not do like the heathen. Nor could they be in any doubt concerning their obligation to observe this charge, for they were the commandments and statutes of the Lord their God, (v. 13,) so that no room was left to dispute whether they should keep them or no; he had not dealt so with other nations, Ps. 147. 19, 20, 3. He gave them their land, for

keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.

14 Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.

15 And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain,' and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged "them, that they should not do like them.

16 And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven," and served Baal.

17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

p Jer. 8. 9. 9 Deut. 29. 25, 26. r Deut. 6. 17, 18. Jer. 44. 23. s Deut. 32. 21. 1 Sam. 12. 21, 1 Kings 16. 13. t Jon. 2. 8. Rom. 1. 21. Deut. 12. 30, 31, Ex. 32. 4, 8. to 1 Kings 12. 28. 1 Kings 14. 15, 23. 15. 13. y Jer. 8. 2. z 1 Kings 16. 31. 22. 53. a Lev. 18. 21. c. 16. 3. Ez. 23. 87. b Deut. 18. 10. e 1 Kings 21. 20. d 1 Kings 11. 13, 32.

he cast out the heathen from before them, (v. 8,) to make room for them; and the casting out of them for their idolatries, was as fair a warning as could be given to Israel not to do like them. II. What they had done against God, notwithstanding these engagements which he had laid upon them.

I. In general; they sinned against the Lord their God, (v. 7,) they did those things that were not right, (v. 9,) but secretly; so wedded were they to their evil practices, that when they could not do them publicly, could not, for shame, or could not, for fear, they would do them secretly: an instance of their atheism, that they thought what was done in secret, was from under the eye of God himself, and would not be required. Again, they wrought wicked things in such a direct contradiction to the divine law, that it seemed as if it were done on purpose to provoke the Lord to anger, (v. 11,) in contempt of his authority, and defiance of his justice. They rejected God's statutes, and his covenant, (v. 15) would not be bound up either by his command, or the consent they themselves had given to the covenant, but threw off the obligations of both, and therefore God justly rejected them, v. 20. See Hos. 4. 6. They left all the commandments of the Lord their God, (v.16,) left the way, left the work, which those commandments prescribed them, and directed them in; nay, lastly, they sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, that is, they wholly addicted themselves to sin, as slaves to the service of those to whom they are sold, and, by their obstinate persisting in sin, so hardened their own hearts, that, at length, it was become morally impossible for them to recover themselves, as one that has sold himself has put his liberty past recall. 2. In particular; though they were guilty (no doubt) of many immoralities, and violated all the commands of the second table, yet nothing is here specified, but their idolatry; that was the sin that did most easily beset them, that was, of all others, most provoking to God, was the spiritual adultery that broke the marriage covenant, and was the inlet of all other wickedness; this is again and again mentioned here as the sin that ruined them. (1.) They feared other gods, (v. 7,) that is, worshipped them, and paid their homage to them, as if they feared their displeasure. (2.) They walked in the statutes of the heathen, which were contrary to God's statutes, (v. 8;) did as did the heathen, (v. 11;) went after the heathen that were round about them, (v. 15;) so prostituting the honour of their peculiarity, and defeating God's design concerning them, which was, that they should be distinguished from the heathen. Must they that were taught of God, go to school to the heathen? They that were appropriated to God, take their measures from the nations that were abandoned by him? (3.) They walked in the statutes of the idolatrous kings of Israel, (v. 8,) in all the sins of Jeroboam, v. 22. When their kings assumed a power to alter, and add to, the divine institutions, they submitted to them, and thought the command of their kings would bear them out, in disobedience to the command of their God. (4.) They built them high places in all their cities, (v. 9,) if it were but the tower of the watchmen, a country town, that had no walls, but only a tower to shelter the watch in time of danger, or but a lodge for shepherds, it must be honoured with a high place, and that with an altar; if it were a fenced city, it must be further fortified with a high place; having forsaken God's holy place, they knew no end of high places, in which every man followed his own fancy, and directed his devotion to what god he pleased: sacred things were hereby profaned and laid common, when their altars were as heaps in the furrows of the field, Hos. 12. 11. (5.) They set them up images and groves, Asherim, even wooden images, so some think that should be rendered, which we translate groves; or Ashtaroth, so others, (v. 10,) directly contrary to the second

19 Also Judah kept not the commandments of | placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manthe LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of ner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent Israel which they made. lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.

20 And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.

21 For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, king: and Jeroboam 'drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin.

22 For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;

23 Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So 'was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.

24 And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon," and from Cuthah, and from Ava," and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria, instead of the children of Israel and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.

25 And so it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD; therefore the LORD Sent Plions among them, which slew some of them.

26 Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and

e Jer. 3. 8. f Jer. 6. 30. g c. 13. 3. 15. 29. Neh. 9. 27, 28. A1 Kings 11. 11. i1 Kings 12. 20, 28. k1 Kings 14. 16. I ver. 6. m Ezra 4. 2, 10. ver. 30. o c. 18. 34, Ivah.

commandment. They served idols, (v. 12,) the works of their own hands, and creatures of their own fancy, though God had warned them particularly not to do this thing. (6.) They burned incense in all the high places, to the honour of strange gods, for it was to the dishonour of the true God, v. 11. (7.) They followed vanity; idols are called so, because they could do neither good nor evil, but were the most insignificant things that could be; they that worshipped them, were like unto them, and so they became vain and good for nothing, (v. 16;) vain in their devotions, which were brutish and ridiculous, and so became vain in their whole conversation. (8.) Beside the molten images, even the two calves, they worshipped all the host of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars, for it is not meant of the heavenly host of angels, they could not rise so far above sensible things as to think of them; and withal, they served Baal, the deified heroes of the Gentiles, v. 16. (9.) They caused their children to pass through the fire, in token of their dedicating of them to their idols; and lastly, they used divinations and enchantments, that they might receive directions from the gods to whom they paid their devotions.

III. What means God used with them, to bring them off from their idolatries, and to how little purpose; he testified against them, showed them their sins, and warned them of the fatal consequences of them by all the prophets, and all the seers, (for so the prophets had been formerly called,) and had pressed them to turn from their evil ways, v. 13. We have read of prophets, more or less, in every reign; though they had forsaken God's family of priests, he did not leave them without a succession of prophets, who made it their business to teach them the good knowledge of the Lord, but all in vain, (v. 14;) they would not hear, but hardened their necks, persisted in their idolatries, and were like their fathers, that would not bow their necks to God's yoke, because they did not believe in him, did not receive his truths, nor would venture upon his promises: it seems to refer to their fathers in the wilderness; the same sin that kept them out of Canaan, turned these out, and that was, unbelief.

IV. How God punished them for their sins; he was very angry with them, (v. 18;) for, in the matter of his worship, he is a jealous God, and resents nothing more deeply than giving that honour to any creature, which is due to him only. He afflicted them, (v. 20,) and delivered them into the hands of spoilers, in the days of the judges and of Saul, and afterward, in the days of most of their kings, to see if they would be awakened by the judgments of God to consider and amend their ways; but when all these corrections did not prevail to drive out the folly, God first rent Israel from the house of David, under which they might have been happy. As Judah was hereby weakened, so Israel was hereby corrupted; for they made king a man who drove them from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin, v. 21. This was a national judgment, and the punishment of their former idolatries; and, at length, he removed them quite out of his sight, (v. 18, 23,) without giving them any hopes of a return out of their captivity.

Lastly, Here is a complaint against Judah in the midst of all; (v. 19,) Also Judah kept not the commandments of God; though they were not as yet quite so bad as Israel, yet they walked in the statutes of Israel; and this aggravated the sin of Israel, that they communicated the infection of it to Judah; see Ez. 23.

27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence, and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.

28 Then one of the priests, whom they had carried away from Samaria, came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

29 Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.

30 And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,

31 And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt 'their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim.

32 So they feared the LORD," and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.

33 They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.

p 1 Kings 13. 26. Jer. 5. 6. Ez. 14. 21. q Mic. 4. 5. T ver. 24. e Ezra 4. 9. Deut. 12. 31. u 1 Kings 12. 31. v ver. 41. Zeph. 1.5. or, who carried them away from thence.

11. Those that bring sin into a country or family, bring a plague into it, and will have to answer for all the mischief that follows.

V. 24-41. Never was land lost, (we say,) for want of an heir. When the children of Israel were dispossessed, and turned out of Canaan, the king of Assyria soon transplanted thither the supernumeraries of his own country, such as it could well spare, who should be servants to him, and masters to the Israelites that remained; and here we have an account of these new inhabitants, whose story is related here, that we may take our leave of Samaria, as also of the Israelites that were carried captive into Assyria.

I. Concerning the Assyrians that were brought into the land of Israel, we are here told,

1. That they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof, v. 24. It is common for lands to change their owners, but sad that the holy land should become a heathen land again; see what work sin makes.

2. That at their first coming God sent lions among them. They were probably insufficient to people the country, which occasioned the beasts of the field to multiply against them, (Ex. 23. 29;) yet, beside the natural cause, there was a manifest hand of God in it, who is Lord of hosts, of all the creatures, and can serve his own purposes by which he pleases, small or great, lice or lions. God ordered them this rough welcome, to check their pride and insolence, and to let them know that though they had conquered Israel, the God of Israel had power enough to deal with them, that he could have prevented their settling here, by ordering lions into the service of Israel, and that he permitted it, not for their righteousness, but the wickedness of his own people, and that they were now under his visitation: they had lived without God in their own land, and were not plagued with lions; but if they do so in this land, it is at their peril.

3. That they sent a remonstrance of this grievance to the king their master, setting forth, it is likely, the loss their infant colony had sustained by the lions, and the continual fear they were in of them, that they looked upon it to be a judgment upon them for not worshipping the God of the land, which they could not, because they knew not how, v. 26. The God of Israel was the God of the whole world, but they ignorantly call him the God of the land, apprehending themselves therefore within his reach, and concerned to be upon good terms with him; herein they shamed the Israelites, who were not so ready to hear the voice of God's judgments as they were, and who had not served the God of that land, though he was the God of their fathers, and their great Benefactor, and though they were well instructed in the manner of his worship. Assyrians beg to be taught that which Israelites hated to be taught.

4. That the king of Assyria took care to have them taught the manner of the God of the land, (v. 27, 28,) not out of any affection to that God, but to save his subjects from the lions. On this errand he sent back one of the priests whom he had carried away captive: a prophet would have done them more good, for this was but one of the priests of the calves, and therefore chose to dwell at Bethel for old acquaintance' sake, and though he might teach them to do better than they did, he was not likely to teach them to do well, unless he had taught his own people better; however, he came and dwelt among

CHAPTER XVIII.

34 Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after When the prophet had condemned Ephraim for lies and deceit, he comforted him. their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, "whom he named Israel;

35 With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:

36 But the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, with great power and a stretchedout arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.

37 And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods.

38 And the covenant that I have made with you, ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods. 39 But the LORD your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.

40 Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.

41 So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.

wo Gen. 32. 28.

Judg. 6. 10.

y Ex. 20. 25. = Ex. 6. 6. a Deut. 10. 20. b Deut. 5. 32. e Deut. 4. 23. d Jer. 13, 23. e ver. 32, 33. them, to teach them how they should fear the Lord; whether he taught them out of the book of the law, or only by word of mouth, is uncertain.

5. That, being thus taught, they made a mongrel religion of it, worshipped the God of Israel for fear, and their own idols for love; (v. 33,) They feared the Lord, but they served their own gods; they all agreed to worship the God of the land, according to the manner, to observe the Jewish festivals and rites of sacrificing, but every nation made gods of their own besides, not only for their private use in their own families, but to be put in the houses of their high places, v. 29. The idols of each country are here named, v. 30, 31. The learned are at a loss for the signification of several of these names, and cannot agree by what representations these gods were worshipped. If we may credit the traditions of the Jewish doctors, they tell us, that Succoth-Benoth was worshipped in a hen and chickens, Nergal in a cock, Ashima in a smooth goat, Nibhaz in a dog, Tartak in an ass, Adrammelech in a peacock, Anammelech in a pheasant. Our own tell us, more probably, That SuccothBenoth, signifying the tents of the daughters, was Venus; Nergal, being worshipped by the Cuthites or Persians, was the fire; Adrammelech and Anammelech were only distinctions of Moloch; see how vain idolaters were in their imaginations, and wonder at their sottishness. Our very ignorance concerning these idols teaches us the accomplishment of that word which God has spoken, That these false goods should all perish, (Jer. 10. 11;) they are all buried in oblivion, while the name of the true God shall continue for ever.

This medley superstition is here said to continue until this day, (v. 41,) till the time when this book was written, and long after, above 300 years in all, till the time of Alexander the Great, when Manasse, brother to Jaddus the high priest of the Jews, having married the daughter of Sanballat, governor of the Samaritans, went over to them, got leave of Alexander to build a temple in mount Gerizzim, drew over many of the Jews to him, and prevailed with the Samaritans to cast away all their idols, and to worship the God of Israel only; yet their worship was mixed with so much superstition, that our Saviour tells them they knew not what they worshipped, John 4. 22.

II. Concerning the Israelites that were carried into the land of Assyria; the historian has occasion to speak of them, v. 33, showing that their successors in the land did as they had done, (after the manner of the nations whom they carried away,) they worshipped both the God of Israel and those other gods; but what did the captives do in the land of their affliction? Were they reformed, and brought to repentance, by their troubles? No, they do after the former manner, v. 34. When the two tribes were afterward carried into Babylon, they were cured by it of their idolatry, and therefore, after 70 years, they were brought back with joy; but the ten tribes were hardened in the furnace, and therefore were justly lost in it, and left to perish. This obstinacy of theirs is here aggravated by the consideration, I. Of the honour God had put upon them, as the seed of Jacob, whom he named Israel, and from him they were so named, but were a reproach to that worthy name by which they were called. 2. Of the covenant he made with them, and the charge he gave them upon that covenant, which is here very fully recited, that they should fear and serve the Lord Jehovah only, who had brought them up out of Egypt, (v. 36;) that, having received his statues and ordinances in writing, they should observe to do them for evermore, (v. 37,) and never forget that covenant which God had made with them, the promises and

self with this, that Judah yet ruled with God, and was faithful with the moet huly, Hus. 11. 12. It was a very melancholy view which the last chapter gave us of the desolations of Israel; but this chapter shows us the affairs of Judah in a good posture at the same time, that it may appear God has not quite cast off the seed of Abraham, Rom. 11. 1. Hezekiah is here upon the throne, 1. Reforming his kingdom, v. 1-6. II. Prospering in all his undertakings, (v. 7, 8,) and this, at the same time when the ten tribes were led captive, v. 9-12. III. Yet invaded by Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, v. 13. His country put under contribution, v. 14-16. Jerusalem besieged, v. 17. God blasphemed, himself reviled, and his people solicited to revolt, in a virulent speech made by Rabshakeh, v. 18-37. But how well it ended, and how much to the honour and comfort of our great reformer, we shall find in the next chapter.

NOW it came to pass, in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.

2 Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.

3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did.

4 He removed the high places, and brake the *images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it 'Nehushtan.

5 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.

a 2 Chr. 28. 27. 29. 1. He is called Ezekias, Matt. 1. 9. b 2 Chr. 29. 1, Abijah. ⚫ statues. c Num. 21.9.ti.e. a piece of brass, d c. 23. 35. conditions of that covenant, especially that great article of it which is here thrice repeated, because it had been so often inculcated, and so much insisted on, that they should not fear other gods. He had told them that if they kept close to him, he would deliver them out of the hand of all their enemies, (v. 39;) yet, when they were in the hand of their enemies, and stood in need of deliverance, they were so stupid, and had so little sense of their own interest, that they did after the former manner, (v. 40,) they served both the true God, and false gods, as if they knew no difference. Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone; so they did, and so did the nations that succeeded them: well might the apostle ask, What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise, for both Jews and Gentiles are all | under sin, Rom. 3. 9.

NOTES TO CHAPTER XVIII.

V. 1-8. We have here a general account of the reign of Hezekiah; it appears, by comparing his age with his father's, that he was born when his father was about 11 or 12 years old, Divine Providence so ordering that he might be of full age, and fit for business then, when the measure of his father's iniquity should be full. Here is,

1. His great piety, which was the more wonderful, because his father was very wicked and vile, one of the worst of the kings, yet he one of the best, which may intimate to us, 1. That what good there is in any, is not of nature, but of grace, free grace, sovereign grace, which, contrary to nature, grafts into the good olive, that which was wild by nature, Rom. 11. 24. 2. That that grace gets over the greatest difficulties and disadvantages: Ahaz, it is likely, gave his son a bad education as well as a bad example; Urijah, his priest, perhaps, had the tuition of him; his attendants and companions, we may suppose, were such as were addicted to idolatry; and yet Hezekiah became eminently good; when God's grace will work, what can hinder it?

(1.) He was a genuine son of David, who had a great many degenerate ones, v. 3. He did that which was right, according to all that David his father did, with whom the covenant was made, and therefore he was entitled to the benefit of it. We have read of some of them, who did that which was right, but not like David, (ch. 14. 3;) they did not love God's ordinances, nor cleave to them, so as he did; but Hezekiah was a second David, had such a love for God's word, and God's house, as he had. Let us not be frightened with an apprehension of the continual decay of virtue, as if, when times and men are bad, they must needs, of course, grow worse and worse; that does not follow, for, after many bad kings, God raised up one that was like David himself.

(2.) He was a zealous reformer of his kingdom, and as, we find, (2 Chr. 29. 3,) he began betimes to be so, fell to work as soon as ever he came to the crown, and lost no time; he, found his kingdom very corrupt, the people in all things too superstitious; they had always been so, but in the last reign worse than ever; by the influence of his wicked, father, a deluge of idolatry had overspread the land; his spirit was stirred against it, we may suppose, as Paul at Athens, while his father lived, and therefore, as soon as ever he had power in his hands, he set himself to abolish it, (v. 4,) though, considering how the people were wedded to it, he might think it could not be done without opposition.

[1] The images and the groves were downright idolatrous, and of heathenish original; those he brake and destroyed;

6 For he clave to the LORD, and departed not | Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of from following him, but kept his commandments, the Medes; which the LORD commanded Moses.

12 Because they obeyed not the voice of the

7 And the LORD was with him; and he pros-LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, and pered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebel-all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, led against the king of Assyria," and served him not. and would not hear them, nor do them.

8 He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and 13 Now, in the fourteenth year of king Hethe borders thereof, from the tower of the watch-zekiah, did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up men to the fenced city. against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.

9 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged

it.

10 And at the end of three years they took it: even in the sixth year of Hezekiah (that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel) Samaria was taken.

14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

15 And "Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the 16 At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold

11 And the king of Assyria did carry away Is-treasures of the king's house. rael unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in

e Deut. 10. 20. Josh. 23. 8. after him. f 2 Chr. 15. 2. 1 Sam. 18. 14. 60. 12. Rom. 8. 31. h c. 16. 7. 1 Azzah. i c. 17. 3, &c.

g Ps. though his own father had set them up, and showed an affection for them, that should not protect them. We must never dishonour God, in honour to our earthly parents. [2.] The high places, though they had sometimes been used by the prophets upon special occasions, and had been hitherto connived at by the good kings, yet, (because they were an affront to the temple, and a breach of the law which required them to worship there only, and being from under the inspection of the priests, gave opportunity for the introducing of idolatrous usages,) Hezekiah, who made God's word his rule, not the example of his predecessors, removed them, made a law for the removal of them, the demolishing of the chapels, tabernacles, and altars, there erected, and the suppressing of the use of them, which law was put in execution with vigour and, it is probable, the terrible judgments which the kingdom of Israel was now under for their idolatry, made Hezekiah the more zealous, and the people the more willing to comply with him. It is well, when our neighbours' harms are our warnings.

[3.] The brazen serpent was originally of divine institution, and yet, because it had been abused to idolatry, he brake it to pieces. The children of Israel had brought that with them to Canaan; where they set it up, we are not told, but, it seems, it had been carefully preserved, as a memorial of God's goodness to their fathers in the wilderness, and a traditional evidence of the truth of that story, Num. 21. 9, for the encouragement of the sick to apply themselves to God for a cure, and of penitent sinners to apply themselves to him for mercy. But, in process of time, when they began to worship the creature more than the Creator, they that would not worship images borrowed from the heathen, as some of their neighbours did, were drawn in by the tempter to burn incense to the brazen serpent, because that was made by order from God himself, and had been an instrument of good to them. But Hezekiah, in his pious zeal for God's honour, not only forbade the people to worship it, but, that it might never be so abused any more, he showed the people that it was Nehushtan, nothing else but a piece of brass, and that therefore it was an idle wicked thing to burn incense to it; he then brake it to pieces; that is, as Bishop Patrick expounds it, ground it to powder, which he scattered in the air, that no fragment of it might remain. If any think that the just honour of the brazen serpent was hereby diminished, they will find it abundantly made up again, John 3. 14, where our Saviour makes it a type of himself; good things, when idolized, are better parted with than kept.

(3.) Herein he was a nonsuch, (v. 5 ;) none of all the kings of Judah were like him, either before or after him. Two things he was eminent for, in his reformation; [1.] Courage and confidence in God: in abolishing idolatry, there was danger of disobliging his subjects, and provoking them to rebel; but he trusted in the Lord God of Israel to bear him out in what he did, and save him from harm: a firm belief of God's all-sufficiency to protect and reward us, will conduce much to make us sincere, bold, and vigorous, in the way of our duty, like Hezekiah; when he came to the crown, he found his kingdom compassed with enemies, but he did not seek for succour to foreign aids, as his father did, but trusted the God of Israel to be the keeper of Israel. [2.] Constancy and perseverance in his duty; for this, there was none like him, that he clave to the Lord with a fixed resolution, and never departed from following him, v. 6. Some of his predecessors that began well, fell off, but he, like Caleb, followed the Lord fully; he not only abolished all idolatrous usages, but kept God's commandments, and, in every thing, made conscience of his duty.

II. His great prosperity, (v. 7, 8;) he was with God, and then God was with him, and, having the special presence of God with him, he prospered whithersoever he went, had wonderful success in all his enterprises, in his wars, his buildings, and especially his reformation, for that good work was carried on with less difficulty than he could have expected. They that do God's work, with an eye to his glory, and with confidence in his strength, may expect to prosper in it; great is the truth,

k1 Chr. 5. 26.
Is. 36. 1, &c.

Neh. 9. 26, 27. Ps. 107. 17. Dan. 9. 6, 10. m 2 Chr. 32. 1, &c. Sanherib. n c. 16. 8.

and will prevail. Finding himself successful, 1. He threw off the yoke of the king of Assyria, which his father had basely submitted to; this is called rebelling against him, because so the king of Assyria called it: but it was really an asserting of the just rights of his crown, which it was not in the power of Ahaz to alienate. If it was imprudent to make this bold struggle so soon, yet I see not that it was, as some think, unjust; when he had thrown out the idolatry of the nations, he might well throw off the yoke of their oppression. The surest way to liberty, is, to serve God. 2. He made a vigorous attack upon the Philistines, and smote them even unto Gaza, both the country villages and the fortified towns, the tower of the watchmen, and the fenced cities, reducing those places which they had made themselves masters of in his father's time, 2 Chr. 28. 18. When he had purged out the corruptions his father had brought in, he might expect to recover the possessions his father had lost; of his victories over the Philistines Isaiah prophesied, ch. 14. 28, &c.

V. 9-16. The kingdom of Assyria was now grown considerable, though we never read of it till the last reign; such changes there are in the affairs of nations and families; those that have been despicable, become formidable, and those, on the contrary, are brought low, that have made a great noise and figure. We have here an account,

I. Of the success of Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, against Israel; his besieging Samaria, (v. 9,) taking it, (v. 10,) and carrying the people into captivity, (r. 11;) with the reason why God brought this judgment upon them, (v. 12,) Because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God. This was related more largely in the chapter before, but it is here repeated, 1. As that which stirred up Hezekiah and his people to purge out idolatry with so much zeal, because they saw the ruin which it brought upon Israel: when their neighbour's house was on fire, and their own in danger, it was time to cast away the accursed thing. 2. As that which Hezekiah much lamented, but had not strength to prevent: though the ten tribes had revolted from and often been vexations to, the house of David, no longer ago than in his father's reign, yet being of the seed of Israel, he could not be glad at their calamities. 3. As that which laid Hezekiah and his kingdom open to the king of Assyria, and made it much more easy for him to invade him; it is said of the ten tribes here, that they would neither hear God's commandments, nor do them, v. 12. Many will be content to give God the hearing, that will give him no more, (Ez. 33. 31,) but these, being resolved not to do their duty, did not care to hear of it.

II. Of the attempt of Sennacherib, the succeeding king of Assyria, against Judah, in which he was encouraged by his predecessor's success against Israel, whose honours he would vie with, and whose victories he would push forward. The descent he made upon Judah was a great calamity to that kingdom, by which God would try the faith of Hezekiah, and chastise the people, who are called a hypocritical nation, (Is. 10. 6,) because they did not heartily comply with Hezekiah's reformation, nor willingly part with their idols, but kept them up in their hearts, and, perhaps, in their houses, though their high places were removed. Even times of reformation may prove troublous times, made so by those that oppose it, and then the blame is laid upon the reformers; this calamity will appear great upon Hezekiah, if we consider,

1. How much he lost of his country, v. 13. The king of Assyria took all, or most, of the fenced cities of Judah, the frontier towns, and the garrisons; and then all the rest fell into his hands, of course; the confusion which the country was put into by this invasion, is described by the prophet, Is. 10. 28-32.

2. How dear he paid for his peace; he saw Jerusalem itself in danger of falling into the enemies' hands, as Samaria had done, and was willing to purchase its safety at the expense, (1.) Of a mean submission; "I have offended in denying the usual tribute, and am ready to make satisfaction as shall be demanded," v. 14. Where was Hezekiah's courage? Where

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