the ancient burial-place of his family, and from this time no prince of the royal house was interred within the walls. 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 "inheritance." And to this responds the 87th Psalm, probably of the same epoch. "Glorious things are "spoken of thee, O city of God. "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 Isa. xix. 23-25 (Ewald). Rahab and Babylon LECTURE XXXIX. 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 there 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,2 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 name of Manasseh. On Manasseh. his father's death he was but a boy of twelve 697-642. years old. It would seem that the Jewish aristocracy, always inclining to the worship and belief of the sur 1 Josephus, Ant. x. 3, § 1. B. C. 3 See Gesenius; also Professor 2 Isa. lxi. 10; lxii. 3, 4, 5. (See Plumptre in Dictionary of the Bible, Blunt, Undes. Coincidences, Part on MANASSEH. 8, v.) rounding nations, took possession of the young Prince, and not only turned his mind to the ancient Polythe ism, but also excited him to an almost fanatical hatred against the True Religion, possibly exasperated by the hollowness of the ceremonial system, as Julian was by the Christian controversies. All the strange rites of the surrounding nations were practised with an ardor before unknown.2 The King seems to have formed with Egypt a connection closer than any since the time of Solomon. His son was called "Amon," the only name of an Egyptian divinity that we find in the Jewish annals. He plunged into all the mysteries of sorcery, auguries, and necromancy. The sacred furnace of Tophet was built up on an enlarged scale.3 He himself undertook the sacrifice of his own children.* The worship of the heavenly bodies, begun by Ahaz, was restored and eagerly followed everywhere.5 In the gardens and on the flat roofs of the houses were built brick altars," from which little clouds of incense were perpetually ascending. The name of Molech became a common oath.7. There was a succession of small furnaces in the streets, for which the children gathered wood, and in which their parents baked cakes as offerings to Astarte. Even the practice of human sacrifice became general. Return of 9 8 So bold an intrusion of Paganism could not but involve a displacement of the True Worship. Paganism Before this time the two forms of worship, when they had existed in the kingdom of Judah, had 1 2 Chr. xxiv. 17, 18; Jer. viii. 1, 2.. 22 Chr. xxxiii. 6; 2 Kings xxi. 6. 3 Jer. vii. 31; xix. 5, 6; xxxii. 35. 4 2 Chr. xxxiii. 6. Jer. viii. 2; xix. 13. 6 Zeph. i. 5; Jer. xix. 13; Isa. lxv. 3. 7 Zeph. i. 5. 8 Jer. vii. 17, 18. 9 Ibid. xxxii. 35; Ezek. xxiii. 87 flourished side by side. 8 Even Athaliah had not ventured to supersede the Temple-ritual. Not only were the high places in the country restored, but two altars were set up in the two courts of the Temple 2 to the heavenly bodies. In the same sacred precincts was a statue of Astarte.3 Close by were houses of those who lent themselves to the abominable rites with which that divinity was worshipped, and of the women who wove hangings for the sanctuary.* Vessels too were consecrated in the Temple to the use of Baal.5 Manasseh was amongst the Kings of Judah what Ahab had been amongst the Kings of Israel, the first persecutor. The altar in front of the Temple was desecrated. The ark itself was removed out of the Holy of Holies. The name of Jehovah is said to have been erased from all public documents and inscriptions. The nation at large was thoroughly cowed by this fanatical outburst. Only here and there, in this struggle for life and death, faithful voices were lifted One, whose name has been almost obliterated, Hozai,10 who survived Manasseh's reign and recorded its chief events,-probably launched the terrible invectives which denounced on Jerusalem the doom of Samaria." A reign of terror commenced against all who ventured to tion. resist the reaction. Day by day a fresh batch 12 of the Prophetic order were ordered to execution. It seemed as if a devouring lion 13 were let loose against them. From end to end 14 of Jerusalem were to be seen the 1 2 Kings xxi. 3. 2 Ibid. xxi. 5; xxiii. 12. 3 Ibid. xxi. 7; xxiii. 6. 4 Ibid. xxiii. 6, 7. 5 Ibid. xxiii. 4. 6 Ibid. xxi. 3, 13. 72 Chr. xxxiii. 16. 18 8 Ibid. xxxv. 3; Jer. iii. 16 (?). up. Persecu 9 Rabbinical tradition, quoted by Patrick, ad loc. 10 Translated "the Seers," 2 Chr xxxiii. 18, 19. 11 2 Kings xxi. 10-15. 12 Josephus, Ant. x. 3, § 1. 13 Jer. ii. 30. 14 2 Kings xxi. 16. The King, as if bulwark of the law, Moses had said, "No traces of their blood. The nobles who took their part were thrown headlong from the rocky cliffs of Jerusalem. It was in this general massacre that, according to a Jewish tradition, of which, however, there is no trace either in the sacred books or in Josephus, the Martyrdom great Prophet of the time, Isaiah, now nearly of Isaiah. ninety years old, was cruelly slaughtered. The story, as given in the Talmud,2 brings out an aspect of Isaiah's mission not altogether alien to the authentic representations of it. It is the never-ending conflict between the letter and the spirit. entrenching himself behind the charges the Prophet with heresy. "man shall see God's face and live." Isaiah had said, "I saw the Lord." Moses had said, "The Lord is "near." Isaiah had said, "Seek the Lord till ye find "him."4 Moses had said, "The number of thy days will "I perfect." Isaiah had said, "I will add to thy days "fifteen years."5 With a true sense of the hopelessness of a controversy between two wholly uncongenial souls, the Prophet is represented as returning no answer except by the name of God. The hollow cedar-tree or carob-tree, to which he escaped for refuge, closed upon him. They pursued him, and sawed the tree asunder with a wooden saw, till they came to his mouth. Then the blood flowed, and he died. 66 6 With this tradition the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews closes the roll of the martyrs of faith in the Jewish history. It was long received in the earlier Christian Churches. "The mulberry-tree of Isaiah" still marks the alleged spot of the martyrdom in the 1 Ps. cxli. 7 (see Ewald). 2 Gemara on Jebamoth, iv., quoted in Gesenius, Jesaia, i. 11, 12. Isa. vi. 1. 4 Isa. lv. 6. 5 Ibid. xxxviii. 5. |