The Story of the Bible
- Автор: Hurlbut Jesse Lyman
- Год: 1904
- Язык: английский
- Год: Heritage History
- Жанр: Культурология
Электронная книга - «The Story of the Bible». Краткое содержание книги:
"The Lord God was angry with Judah, and gave its people into your hand. But do you now intend to keep your brothers of Judah as slaves? Have not you also sinned against the Lord? Now listen to the word of the Lord, and set your brothers free and send them home."
Then the rulers of Israel gave clothing to such of the captives as were in need, and set food before them; and they sent them home to their own land, even giving to those that were weak among them asses to ride upon. They brought them to Jericho, in the valley of the Jordan, and gave them to their own people.
When the Edomites came against Judah, King Ahaz sent to the Assyrians, a great people far away, to come and help him. The Assyrians came, but they did not help him, for they made themselves the rulers of Judah, and robbed Ahaz of all that he had, and laid heavy burdens upon the land. At last Ahaz died, leaving his people worshippers of idols and under the power of the king of Assyria.
In the days of these three kings, Uzziah, Jotham and Ahaz, God raised up a great prophet in Judah, whose name was Isaiah. The prophecies that he spoke in the name of the Lord are given in the book of Isaiah. In the ear that King Uzziah died, Isaiah was a young man. One day, while he was worshipping in the temple, a wonderful vision rose suddenly before his sight. He saw the form of the Lord God upon a throne, with the angels around him. He saw also strange creatures called seraphim, standing before the throne of the Lord. Each of these had six wings. With two wings he covered his face before the glory of the Lord, with two wings he covered his feet, and with two he flew through the air to do God's will. And these seraphim called out to one another, "Holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"
And the young Isaiah felt the walls and the floor of the Temple shaking at these voices; and he saw a cloud of smoke covering the house. Isaiah filled with fear. He cried out saying:
"Woe has come to me! for I am a man of sinful lips, and I live among a people of sinful lips: and now my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts!"
Then one of the seraphim took into his hand the tongs that were used in the sacrifices. He flew to the altar, and with the tongs took up a burning coal. Then he flew to the place where Isaiah was standing, and pressed the fiery coal to Isaiah's lips: and he said, "This coal from God's altar has touched your lips, and how your sin is taken away, and you are made clean."
Then Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord saying: "Whom shall I send to this people? Who will bear the message of the Lord to them?"
And Isaiah said, "Here am I, Lord; send me!"
And the Lord said to Isaiah, "You shall be my prophet, and shall go to this people, and shall give to them my words. But they will not listen to you, nor understand you. Your words will do them no good, but will seem to make their hearts hard, and their ears heavy, and their eyes shut. For they will not hear with their ears, nor see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor will they turn to me and be saved."
And Isaiah said, "How long must this be, O Lord?"
And the Lord said:
"Until the cities are left waste without people, and the houses without men to live in them; and the land shall become utterly desolate; and the people shall be taken far away into another land. But out of all this there shall be a few people, a tenth part, to come back, and to rise like a new tree from the roots where the old tree has been cut down. This tenth part shall be the seed of a new people in the times to come."
By this Isaiah knew that, though his words might seem to do no good, yet he was to go on preaching, for long afterward a new Judah should arise out of the ruins of the old kingdom, and should serve the Lord.
Isaiah lived for many years, and spoke the word of the Lord to his people until he was a very old man. He preached while four kings, perhaps also a fifth, were ruling. Some of these kings were friendly, and listened to his words: but others were not willing to obey the prophet and do the will of God; and the kingdom of Judah gradually fell away from the worship of the Lord, and followed the people of the Ten Tribes in the worship of idols.
The Good King Hezekiah
II Kings xviii: 1, to xx: 21; II Chronicles xxix: 1, to xxxii: 33; Isaiah xxxvi: 1, to xxxviii: 22.
After Ahaz, the wickedest of the kings of Judah, came Hezekiah, who was the best of the kings. He listened to the words of the prophet Isaiah, and obeyed the commands of the Lord. In the first month of his reign, when he was a young man, he called together the priests and the Levites, who had the charge of the house of the Lord, and he said to them:
"My sons, give yourselves once more to the service of the Lord, and be holy, as God commands you. Now open the doors of the house of the Lord, which have been shut for these many years; and take out of the house all the idols that have been placed in it; and make the place clean, and pure from all evil things. Because the people have turned away from the Lord, he has been angry with us, and has left us to our enemies; now let us go back to the Lord, and promise again to serve him. God has chosen you, my sons, to lead in his worship; do not neglect the work that the Lord has given you to do."
Then the Temple was opened as of old; the idols were taken away; the altar was made holy to the Lord, and the daily offering was laid upon it; the lamps were lighted in the holy place; the priest stood before the golden altar offering incense; the Levites in their robes sang the psalms of David, while the silver trumpets made music; and the people came up to worship in the Temple as they had not come in many years. (For an account of the services of worship see Part First, Story Twenty-eight.)
You remember that the great Feat of the Passover kept in mind how the children of Israel had come out of Egypt. (See Part First, Story Twenty-three.) For a long time the people had ceased to keep this feast, both in Judah and in Israel. King Hezekiah sent commands through all Judah for the people to come up to Jerusalem, and to worship the Lord in this feast. He also sent men through the land of Israel, the Ten Tribes, to ask the men of Israel also to come up with their brothers of Judah to Jerusalem, and to keep the feast. At that time Hoshea, the last king of Israel, was on the throne, the land was overrun by the Assyrians, and the kingdom was very weak, and nearing its end. (See Part Fourth, Story Eighteen.) Most of the people in Israel were worshippers of idols, and had forgotten God's law. They laughed at Hezekiah's messengers, and would not come to the feast. But in many places in Israel there were some who had listened to the prophets of the Lord, and these came up to worship with the men of Judah. For each family they roasted a lamb, and with it ate the unleavened bread made without yeast, and they praised the Lord who had led their fathers out of Egypt to their own land.
After the feast, when the people had given themselves once more to the service of God, King Hezekiah began to destroy the idols that were everywhere in Judah. He sent men to break down the images, to tear in pieces the altars to the false gods, and to cut down the trees under which the altars stood. You remember that Moses made a serpent of brass in the wilderness. (See Part First, Story Thirty-two.) This image had been brought to Jerusalem, and was still kept there in the days of Hezekiah. The people were worshipping it as an idol; and were burning incense before it. Hezekiah said, "It is nothing but a piece of brass," and he commanded that it should be broken up. Everywhere he called upon his people to turn from the idols, to destroy them, and to worship the Lord God.
When Hezekiah became king, the kingdoms of Israel, and Syria, and Judah, with all the lands near them, were under the power of the great kingdom of the Assyrians. Each land had its own king, but he ruled under the king of Assyria; and every year a heavy tax was laid upon the people, to be paid to the Assyrians. After a few years, Hezekiah thought that he was strong enough to set his kingdom free from the Assyrian rule. He refused to pay the tax any longer, and gathered an army, and built the walls of Jerusalem higher, and made ready for a war with the Assyrians. But Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, came into the land of Judah with a great army, and took all the cities in the west of Judah, and threatened to take Jerusalem also. Then Hezekiah saw that he had made a mistake. He was not able to fight the Assyrians, the most powerful of all the nations in that part of the world. He sent word to the king of Assyria, saying: