CONTENTS
This chapter contains the history of the reign of Ahaz and a
melancholy relation of his wicked reign it furnisheth. He is afflicted
by the Syrians. His death, and successor in the kingdom, is also
related.... [ Continue Reading ]
What a melancholy account is here given in a few verses of the life
and conduct of Ahaz! had we not the authority of God's sacred word it
would be incredible to read of the degeneracy both of king and people
respecting idolatry. But Reader! what must have been the forbearance,
mercy, and long suffer... [ Continue Reading ]
Both Syrians and Israelites shall become instruments in the hand of
God when the Lord will punish Judah. And in the private afflictions of
God's people the severity of our trials is doubly increased when it
comes from a quarter where we least expected. When a man's foes shall
be they of his own hous... [ Continue Reading ]
Was it not most gracious in God to send this message to the sinners in
Israel? And was not the man of God most faithful in the delivery of
it! Here is no congratulation of their victory, but reproof and an
alarming assurance of the Lord's displeasure in consequence of their
sins!... [ Continue Reading ]
I feel delight in the perusal of those verses in that they plainly
manifest the grace of the Lord had not totally departed from Israel.
Certain persons among them still felt the sovereign grace of the Lord.
How precious is it to behold that in the worst of times, there is (as
the apostle expresses i... [ Continue Reading ]
It is hardly possible to read this account of Ahaz's distress, and
behold at the same time the sad cause of all in his multiplied and
aggravated transgressions, without being struck with a renewed
conviction, of the hardness and impenitent state of the heart under
sin. Though he had made Judah naked... [ Continue Reading ]
Observe the progression of sin when the mind is hardened under its
influence. You see Ahaz robs God's house to purchase man's arm against
him; sacrificeth to devil's to gain human interest. And thus goeth on
from bad to worse, until the measure of his iniquity is full. And
observe, Reader! for it is... [ Continue Reading ]
The mind feels relief when arriving at the close of such an history
and such a character. I cannot dismiss the relation of this impious
prince's life without desiring the Reader to compare it with the
seventh chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah; in the perusal of which he
will discover, not only the g... [ Continue Reading ]
REFLECTIONS
PAUSE! my soul, over the perusal of this chapter, and in the conduct
of Ahaz behold the lost, depraved, hardened, and wretched state of
human nature. See, my soul, to what sin hath reduced every man? and
remark also how deluded to his own ruin is the sinner, who, when the
Lord is coming... [ Continue Reading ]