For the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken it.
Micah iii. iv.
“Such prophets as these spoke in the days of Hezekiah, a weak but pious man. When indeed could the word of prophecy be more seasonable or more needed? The doctrine of retribution was now fully developed. Israel had ceased to be; Judah still existed, through the piety of her kings. Had the prophet to speak of judgment—he had only to point to the hills of Ephraim, and to her sons on the banks of Chebar; was the faithfulness of Jehovah—and his recompense of obedience, the theme;—the seed of David still sat upon the throne of Judah, while so many dynasties had successively occupied that of Israel. But there was another occasion for a prophet: for danger threatened on all sides, and Sennacherib with his immense host besieged Jerusalem. To-day the army of the conqueror stood around the terrified city and its trembling king. He goes dejected to the house of the Lord, spreads out before him the letters and demands of the haughty invader, and prays to Jehovah. Isaiah, the prophet, declares to him, ‘He shall not come into this city; for I will defend it to save it, for mine own sake and for David my servant’s sake.’[[53]] And in the morning Sennacherib flees before the angel of the Lord, who had smitten his host during the night. But Jehovah, who was so benign towards those that called upon him in humility, showed himself equally severe towards the proud. When Hezekiah, thoughtless and vain, had shown his treasures to the Babylonians, a nation then of little account in comparison with the Assyrians, Isaiah appears before him, and says, ‘Behold the time cometh, when all that is in thine house and all that thy fathers have collected unto this day shall be carried away to Babylon, nothing shall remain saith Jehovah.’[[54]]
“To Hezekiah succeeded his son Manasseh, a prince wholly unlike his father, who, as a punishment of his offences, was carried away to Babylon, and brought back when he repented and returned to Jehovah. His reign is the picture of the history of the people in this period; sin and punishment, repentance and favour!
“Some time after began the days of Josiah, who was pious and prosperous under the guidance of Hilkiah, as Joash had been under that of Jehoiada, and Uzziah under that of Zechariah. The lost volume of the law was found, the temple purified, the passover kept, and the abominations of the high places, of the valley of Tophet, and the horses of the sun, were removed. The king stood by a pillar in the temple and made a covenant with the Lord, and it is written, ‘There was no king before him like unto him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.’[[55]] For this he was permitted to see the downfal of the hostile kingdom of Assyria, and he and his people were happy.
“But after the death of Josiah, Judah hastened with rapid strides to its destruction under the government of wicked princes. The prophecy of Isaiah to Hezekiah was fulfilled in the days of Jehoiakim. The vessels of the temple and the sons of the chief men of the land were carried away to Babylon. Jehoiakim, his son and successor, was deposed, after a reign of three months, and all the men of valour or property were removed to Babylon. Two prophets, who accompanied their exile, Ezekiel and Jeremiah, were chosen by Jehovah, in these awful times, to make known his word to his people.
“The last king that sat upon the throne of David was Zedekiah, another son of Josiah. He was seduced, in the ninth year of his reign, to rebel against Babylon and to league himself with Egypt. The Chaldeans invested Jerusalem, and it fell, in the three hundred and seventeenth year of the division of the kingdoms. The king was carried to Ribla, and his eyes put out, after he had witnessed the slaughter of his sons. He was then carried captive to Babylon, and awfully was the prophecy of Ezekiel fulfilled: ‘I will bring him to Babel in the land of the Chaldeans, and he shall die there; yet he shall not behold it.’[[56]]
“The vessels of the house of God, small and great, the treasures of the temple and of the palace, and of all the princes, were carried by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon. The youths were slaughtered in the sanctuary, and neither age nor sex was spared; Jehovah gave every thing into his hand. All that remained was carried away to Babylon. They burnt the house of the Lord, and the house of the king and all the houses of Jerusalem. And the army of the Chaldeans broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about.
“Thus Jeshurun, the once beloved people of Jehovah, the once glorious daughter of Zion, lay in desolation and misery. The glory of Solomon was scarcely discernible in its ruins; the blessing of David had vanished from his throne, and even that which Joshua and the Judges had earned with toil and blood was lost. David, Solomon, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah, had called upon them to fear Jehovah, but the superstitions of the neighbouring nations had more powerful attractions, and the law was too heavy a yoke for their untamed necks. Hence this awful punishment and unheard of retribution. Prophets were not wanting, to point out and enforce the lesson. Hear how our Jeremiah pours forth his heart-rending sorrows:
How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people!