half-tribe of Manasseh were deported, the observance of Jubilee years ceased* (Arakh. 32 b; Fer.

Shebh. 39 c; Fer. Gitt. 45 d).

* That is, as of Biblical institution; not, as afterwards, of Rabbinic ordinance.

Whatever of truth there may be in this notice, other peculiarities connected with this period are of

such interest and importance in this history, alike retrospectively and prospectively, that we group

them together in an orderly form before proceeding with our narrative.*

* In the following summary we are largely following Caspari, Uber d. Syr. Ephraem. Krieg, pp. 1-

When we turn to the first and most prominent factor in this history, Israel, we are impressed with

this, that now, for the first time since the separation of the brother-nations, the northern kingdom

had entered into a formal league against Judah with a heathen nation, and that its hereditary foe,

Syria. And the significance of this fact deepens as we remember that the final object was not

merely to conquer Judah, but to dethrone the house of David, and s ubstitute for it a Syrian,

presumably a heathen ruler. So forgetful had Israel become of its great hope, and of the very

meaning of its national existence. For the first time also, at least in the Biblical record, does the

Assyrian power now appear on the scene of Palestine, first to be bought off by Menahem (2 Kings

15:19, 20); then to be invoked by Ahaz, with the result of rendering Judah tributary, and finally of

overthrowing Israel.

When we pass from Israel to Judah, we find that the country had now attained a state of national

prosperity greater even than in the time of Solomon. But in its train had come luxury, vice,

idolatry, and heathen thoughts and manners, to the utter corruption of the people. In vain did the

prophets call to repentance (Joel 2: 12-14; Isaiah 1:2-9, 16-20); in vain did they speak of nearing

judgment (Micah 2:3; Isaiah 1:24; 3:1-8; 3:16-4:1:5:5-to end); in vain seek to woo by promises of

mercy (Micah 4:1-5; Isaiah 2:2-5). Priests and people boasted in an outward and formal

observance of ritual ordinances, as if these were the substance of religion, and in this trust set

lightly by the warning of the prophets (Isaiah 1:11 - 15). In their overweening confidence as to the

present, and their worldly policy as regarded the future, they brought on themselves the very evils

which had been predicted, but from which they had deemed themselves secure. And so it came

that a people who would not turn to their God while they might, had in the end this as their

judgment of hardening, that they could no longer turn to Him (Isaiah 6:9-13).

Indeed, Judah had so declined that not only idolatry of every kind, but even the service of Molech

- nay, witchcraft and necromancy, expressly denounced in the law (Deuteronomy 18:10-13), were

openly practiced in the land (Isaiah 8:19). The Divine punishment of all this has already appeared

in the preceding history. For if, at the beginning of the reign of Ahaz, Judah had attained its

highest state of prosperity, it had sunk at its close to the lowest level yet reached. In truth all the

three nations engaged in the war described in the previous chapter received meet punishment. The

continuance of the northern kingdom was now only a question of time, and the exile of Israel had

actually begun. Judah had become dependent on Assyria, and henceforth was only able fitfully and

for brief periods to shake off its yoke, till it finally shared the fate of its sister-kingdom. Lastly,

Syria ceased to exist as an independent power, and became a province of Assyria.

But in the history of the kingdom of God every movement is also a step towards the great goal,

and all judgment becomes larger mercy. So was it on this occasion also. Henceforth the whole

historical scene was changed. The prophetic horizon had enlarged. The falling away of Israel had

become already initially the life of the world. The fullest predictions of the Person and work of the

Messiah and of His universal kingdom date from this period. Even the new relations of Israel

formed the basis for wider conceptions and spiritual progression. Those petty wars with Syria,

Edom, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia, which had filled the previous history, now ceased to be

factors in it, and Israel found itself face to face with the great world -power. This contact gave new