_Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea._ A STRIKING REFORMATION, A RUTHLESS DESPOTISM, AND AN UNPRINCIPLED DIPLOMACY I. A striking reformation (2 Kings 18:3). 1. The perverting tendency of sin. The brazen serpent was a beneficent ordinance of God to heal those in the wilderness who had... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord._ GOODNESS AND PROSPERITY It is impossible to read these words without some surprise. First of all, we are surprised at the fact of a good king reigning over either of the kingdoms of the Israelites, and secondly we are surprised at the asse... [ Continue Reading ]
_He removed the high places, and brake the images._ ICONOCLAST The First Commandment instructs us that there is but one God, who alone is to be worshipped; and the Second Commandment teaches that no attempt is to be made to represent the Lord, neither are we to bow down before any form of sacred s... [ Continue Reading ]
_He trusted in the Lord God of Israel._ THREE STAGES IN THE DEVOUT LIFE This is the writer’s summing up of the character of Hezekiah, before he enters on the details of his reign. It is a lofty and unconditioned eulogium, making no reference to faults. There are no shadows in the picture, and, of... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went._ THE SECRET OF WELL-BEING That is a grand summing-up of a life. It is Hezekiah’s experience which is thus gathered together in a couple of clauses. It may be ours if we like. Hezekiah fought his way to it, for his father was one of th... [ Continue Reading ]
_At the end of three years they took it._ THE GAINS OF PERSEVERANCE I do admire the perseverance of Shalmaneser and his successor. For three years they battered at its doors and waited patiently for success. Preaching the other night at Portsmouth, an unknown Christian came up to me after the servi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah._ THE FOLLY OF DEFYING GOD As you stood some stormy day upon a sea-cliff, and marked the giant billow rise from the deep, to rush on with foaming crest, and throw itself thundering on the trembling shore, did you ever fancy that you could stay its cours... [ Continue Reading ]