Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green,
That host with their banners at sun-set was seen;
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strewn.
For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved—and forever grew still.
And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock beating surf.
And there lay the rider, distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow and the rust on his mail;
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.
And the widows of Asshur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!
—Byron.
Hezekiah was so affected by his marvellous deliverance, that he listened to the voice of Isaiah throughout the remainder of his days, and instigated both social and religious reforms. These were so radical that ere long a reaction set in. All religious practices were again tolerated and Isaiah and his followers were forbidden to preach to the people. This forced the prophet to give permanency to his messages by writing them down for future generations. It was now that the book of Deuteronomy was produced, known later as the Book of Law. Many of the rules therein laid down had cause for being in the conditions of the times. For example, every locality had possessed its own peculiar form of sacrifice and its own priesthood. To insure regularity of worship it was now provided that religious festivals should be solemnized only at the temple of Jerusalem, which city should be the religious center of the land. When in the time of Josiah another period of religious reform set in, this Book of Law, or Deuteronomy, was discovered in the temple where it had lain unnoticed. This gave occasion for a complete overturning of social and religious customs. As in previous periods of prosperity, the Hebrews had sunk into reckless extravagances and hopeless poverty; into idolatrous worship and gross immorality. The reforms instituted by Josiah were designed to recall the masses to paths outlined for them by their greatest teachers and prophets.
"The full significance of this sweeping innovation can be appreciated only by a comparison with the practices which it supplanted. Hitherto sacrifices appear to have been offered anywhere and by any one; in fact, every animal slain was regarded as shared with the deity. At every town there was a high place to which the people went, not only on feast days, but whenever they wished, through the priest, to have a disputed case settled, or to ascertain the divine will respecting their private matter. Religion entered into all their life. The enactments of Deuteronomy swept away the high places, placed a ban upon private sacrifice, and restricted all offerings to the Temple. A sharp distinction was thereby drawn between the laity and the priests, between secular and holy things. Religion henceforth became something formal, above and apart, rather than in all which concerned the nation or individual. Conventionality took the place of the old freedom and joyousness which had so often degenerated into laxness. The end desired by the reformers was attained. The narrowing of religion saved it from the shallowness of heathenism. The Jehovah who was worshipped in the Temple with jealously guarded forms was not in danger of being degraded to a level with the surrounding deities. That which henceforth constituted the Jewish church was divorced from the state, and so survived the downfall of the nation. Unfortunately the narrowing process did not cease after the crisis was past, so that its later effects were deplorable; but, measured in the light of existing circumstances, the reformation of Josiah marks the beginning of that movement which ultimately resulted in the complete elimination of the practical heathenism which had long threatened the extinction of the pure worship of Jehovah."[1]
After the fall of Nineveh, Egyptian forces attempted to cross Palestine on their way to the east. Their progress was forbidden by the Judean king. In the battle which ensued Josiah was slain. This has been called the "most tragic event in Hebrew history." In the crude judgment of his day, the masses regarded his death as punishment for the destruction of the high places throughout the land. These were re-established, and for the moment it seemed that all the results of the late reformation were swept away.
Egypt held Judah in tribute for three or four years. Then Babylonia defeated the Egyptian army and appropriated its conquests for the new Chaldean empire.