THE LATTER PART OF HEZEKIAH'S REIGN. MICAH THE PROPHET IS SENT. MANASSEH'S REIGN.
AFTER these things, the king of Assyria came into Judah with his army, and took some of the cities of the land. When Hezekiah heard of it he built up the walls of Jerusalem, where they had been broken down, and made shields and darts in abundance. And he gathered the men of Judah together, and set captains over them and spoke to them, saying, Be strong and brave, fear not the king of Assyria or the multitude that is with him, for there are more on our side than on his. He has men to fight for him, but we have God to fight for us.
And the king of Assyria stopped at a city called Lachish, to besiege it, but he sent his servants on before him to Jerusalem, to tell the people he was coming there also. And his servants came and said to the people, Thus saith the king of Assyria, Do not listen to Hezekiah when he tells you that he is able to fight against me, and that the Lord will save you out of my hand. Listen not to his words, but make an agreement with me; pay me now tribute money of gold and silver, and come out and be my servants. Then I will do you no harm, but will let you alone until I return to take you to another land. Then the servants of the king of Assyria cried with loud voices to the people who were on the walls of Jerusalem, to frighten them and make them willing to give up the city. And they spoke against God, as though he were like the idols that the heathen nations worshipped.
When Hezekiah heard what they said, he rent his clothes and put on sackcloth, and went up to the temple to pray to the Lord. And he sent priests and elders to Isaiah, the prophet, telling him of the message of the king of Assyria, and asking him to pray for the people. And the priests and elders came and told Isaiah. Then Isaiah sent word to the king, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Be not afraid of the words which the king of Assyria has spoken against me; for I will send a great punishment upon him, and he shall turn and go back to his own land, and there I will cause him to be put to death with the sword.
So Hezekiah would not obey the command of the king of Assyria, and that king's servants went back to their master, and told him that Hezekiah refused to give up the city. Then the king sent his servants again to Hezekiah with a letter, saying, Do not let thy God make thee believe that I cannot take Jerusalem. Thou hast heard how the kings of Assyria have destroyed other nations; their gods were not able to save them, and can thy God save thee?
And Hezekiah read the letter which the king of Assyria had sent, and he took it and went up to the temple and there spread it open before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed and said, O Lord, thou art the only God over all the kingdoms of the earth; for it was thou who didst make the heaven and the earth. Lord, open thy eyes and see, and turn thy ears and hear the words which the king of Assyria has spoken against thee. It is true that he has destroyed the other nations and cast their gods into the fire, for those gods were only dumb idols, made out of wood and stone; therefore he was able to destroy them. But now, O Lord, he is seeking to destroy Jerusalem. Save us, I pray thee, out of his hands, so that all the kingdoms may know that thou art not like the idols of the heathen nations, but that thou art the Lord, and that there is no other God beside thee.
And the Lord heard Hezekiah's prayer, and commanded Isaiah, the prophet, to send a messenger to him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I have heard the words which thou hast prayed to me against the king of Assyria, and I will do to him as thou hast asked. He shall not come before the city with shields and spears, nor build forts around it, neither shall he shoot an arrow into it. By the way that he came he shall return again, for I will save Jerusalem out of his hand. And what Isaiah said came true, for that night the Lord sent his destroying angel into the camp of the Assyrians, and the angel slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand of them. Then the king of Assyria went back with shame to his own land. There, while he was worshipping in the house of his idol, two of his own sons put him to death. So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the people of Judah from the king of Assyria and from all their other enemies.
In those days king Hezekiah was sick, and the prophet Isaiah went to him, and said, The Lord hath sent thee word to make all things ready, for thou shalt die and not live. After the prophet had spoken these words, he came out from Hezekiah's chamber. Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed, saying, O Lord, remember, now, how I have served thee with all my heart, and have done those things that pleased thee. And Hezekiah wept greatly. And the Lord commanded Isaiah to go back to Hezekiah, and say, Thus saith the Lord, I have heard thy prayer, and seen thy tears; behold, I will make thee well; in three days thou shalt go up to the temple, and I will add to thy life fifteen years. So Isaiah went back and spoke these words to the king. And he said to the king's servants, Take a lump of figs and lay it upon the boil. And they took the figs, and laid them upon the boil of which the king was sick, and he grew well again.
And king Hezekiah had great riches and honor. He made for himself treasuries, or strong chambers, in which to keep his gold and silver, his jewels and precious stones. He built store-houses also for his corn and wine and oil; and made stalls for his horses and cattle, and cotes, or pens, for his flocks of sheep; for he had great numbers of all these things. And the Lord helped him so that he prospered in all that he did.
Yet Hezekiah did not keep humble and thankful to God, for his blessings; he grew proud of his riches and power. And the king of Babylon heard of his greatness, and sent messengers with letters and a present for him. When the messengers came to Jerusalem, Hezekiah received them gladly, and in his pride, showed them his silver and gold, his horses and armor, and all the great things of his kingdom.
Then Isaiah the prophet came to Hezekiah, and said, What did these men say? and from whence did they come? Hezekiah answered, They came from a far country, from Babylon. And Isaiah said, What have they seen in thy house? Hezekiah answered, All that is in my house they have seen; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them. Then Isaiah said, Hear what the Lord says to thee, The day is coming when all the riches that are in thy house, which thou and thy fathers have laid up, shall be carried to Babylon. And some of thy own descendants also, shall they take away and make them servants in the palace of the king of Babylon. Hezekiah answered, All that the Lord will do is right; yet it is good in him not to send these troubles while I live, but to send peace and truth in my days.
Yet although Hezekiah persuaded the people to put away their idols and serve the Lord for a time, they did not keep on doing this, but went back to their evil ways again. And God sent the prophet Micah to speak to them. Micah came and said, That God asked what he had done to make them weary of serving him. He Had he not been kind to them in bringing them up out of Egypt? And when the king of Moab sent for Balaam to curse them, did not the Lord make Balaam bless them instead? And what did the Lord ask of the children of Israel, except to do justly, to be kind and merciful to each other, and humble and obedient to the Lord?
But they would not do this, Micah said. Their rich men were cruel to those who were poor; their judges, who should punish the wicked, were wicked themselves. Scarcely any good men were left in the land; all were ready to rob and to kill, so that even friends could not trust one another; and brothers and sisters, and fathers and mothers, had come to be enemies, and to hate one another. On account of these things, Micah told them, the Lord would send a great punishment upon them. Jerusalem, their beautiful city, should be destroyed. Instead of houses in it there would be only heaps of stones. The temple also should be thrown down and taken away, until nothing would be left of it, and the place where it stood should be plowed over like a field where the farmer sows his grain.
Micah, like Isaiah, prophesied of the Saviour, telling where he should be born, that it would be in the city of Bethlehem. And not only Micah and Isaiah, but almost all the prophets that God sent, spoke, or taught, about him, so that the children of Israel might know the Saviour was coming; and so that we, who are living now, after he has come, may know that he is the Son of God, and that it was God who sent him.
Hezekiah was king over Judah twenty-nine years, and he died, and they buried him in Jerusalem, in the best of the sepulchres of the kings; and Manasseh his son was made king in his place. Manasseh was twelve years old when he was made king, and he did wickedly. The Bible tells us that he worshipped all the host of heaven, that is, the sun, the moon, and the stars. He built up again the high places which his father Hezekiah had destroyed, and made idols' altars in the courts around the temple, and even set up an idol in the temple itself. He made his children pass through the fire before his idols, and he talked with familiar spirits, which the Lord had commanded the children of Israel not to do. He put to death also, many innocent persons in Jerusalem, who had done no wrong; so that he did more wickedly, and caused the people to do more wickedly than the heathen nations used to do, that lived in Canaan before the children of Israel came there.
And the Lord spoke to Manasseh and to the people, by his prophets, about their sins, but they would not hear. Therefore the Lord brought against them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who came and took Manasseh, as he was hiding from them among some bushes and thorns; and they bound him with chains, and carried him to Babylon. And when he was far away from his home, and in affliction, he remembered his sins, and repented of them, and prayed with all his heart to the Lord. And the Lord heard him, and was kind to him and brought him back to Jerusalem. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was the only true God, and he took away the idol which he had set up in the temple, and all the altars that he had built in the courts around the temple, and cast them out of the city; and he repaired the altar of the Lord, and offered up sacrifices upon it.
Manasseh was king over Judah for fifty-five years, and he died, and they buried him in the garden of his palace in Jerusalem, and Ammon, his son, was made king.
Ammon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he did evil; for he offered up sacrifices to all the carved images, that his father, Manasseh, had made; yet he did not afterward repent and put them away, as his father had done, but he went on sinning more and more. After he had been king for two years, his servants rebelled against him and killed him, and the people of the land chose Josiah, his son, for their king.