and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places. Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it ;* and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants were of small power: they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up. But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.† And this shall be a sign unto thee, ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself;§ and the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward: for out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of Jehovah of Hosts shall do this. Therefore thus saith Jehoval, concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith Jehovah. For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.|| Viz.-Prophesied of it by Isaiah himself, ch. x. 5: † A most wonderful prediction, and much resembling the exploits and fate of the Corsican adventurer of our own times. Addressed to Hezekiah. § That is, it shall be a sabbatic year, or year of jubilee. Whiston, ii. 47. And it came to pass that night, that the angel of Jehovah went out, and smote* in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000, and cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria;† and when they arose early in the morning, behold they were all dead corpses.+ So Sennacherib returned with shame of face to his own land, and dwelt at Nineveh.§ And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch, his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, See note p. 197. + See this whole account as related by Berosus, the Chaldean, apud Whiston, ii. 48. Whiston has collected together all the various predictions relating to this signal overthrow which are to be found in the different prophets, and has then enumerated the historical notices of their literal and exact fulfilment, which are interspersed throughout the Old Testament and Apocrypha, as well as several curious extracts from the writings of numerous ancient writers. Authent. Rec. vol. ii. 858. And to the house of Judah I will be tenderly merciful: And I will not save them by the bow; Nor by sword, nor by battle; By horses, nor by horsemen. Hosea, i. 7. A. CLARKE. This city was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, and most probably founded by Ninus, the son of Nimrod. As to its antiquity, extent, riches, and strength, see Wells's Scrip. Geog. i. 122-125. ii. 146. It was besieged and destroyed by Nabopolassar, in the reign of Josiah. Un. Hist. 1.949. Diod. Sicul. lib. ii. ch. 2. The remains or suburbs of it are now called Mosul, on the west bank of the Tigris. Buckingham's Travels in Mesopotamia, p.p. 49. 51.62. See the fulfilment of the various prophecies relating to this city illustrated in Prid. i. 75. and Keith's Evidence from Prophecy, 251. 255. See also a splendid engraving of the fall of Nineveh by Martin. smote him with the sword:* and they escaped into the land of Armenia; and Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his stead. Thus Jehovah saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side. And many brought gifts unto Jehovah to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah, king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.† And Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honour; and he made himself treasures for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of pleasant jewels; storehouses also, for the increase of corn, and wine, and oil; and stalls for all manner of beasts; and cotes for flocks. Moreover, he provided him cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance, for God had given him substance very much. This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper water-course of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works.‡ This well intentioned prince also discovered or republished a portion of the Proverbs of Solomon.§ During his reign, besides Isaiah, the prophets Micah and Hosea flourished.|| Having reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem, this monarch slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the *If, according to Tobit, i. 18, this hardened monarch, notwithstanding the signal display of the power of Jehovah, under which he had so lately smarted, immediately on his arrival at Nineveh, persecuted and destroyed all the Jews in his power, we need not wonder that the vengeance of that same Jehovah still pursued him. † 2 Kings, xix. 35-37. Isaiah, xxxvii, 36-38. 2 Chron. xxxii. 21-23. 2 Chron. xxxii. 27-30. 2 Kings, xx. 20. § Prov. xxv. 1. chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his death; and he was succeeded by his son,* MANASSEH. THIS monarch is constantly referred to, equally as A. C. an instance of enormous wickedness, and a signal 710. monument of the grace and mercy of God. His mother's name was Hephzibah, and he began his reign by doing that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, after the abominations of the heathen, whom Jehovah cast out before the children of Israel. For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah, his father, had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove,† as did Ahab, king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. And he built altars in the house of Jehovah.‡ And he built altars for all the host of heaven, in the two courts of Jehovah. And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom : also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger. And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God.§ So Manassch made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom Jehovah had destroyed before the children of Israel.[] 2 Chron. xxxii. 33. Kings, xx. 21. + It seems pretty generally admitted that the Hebrew word rendered grove, in this and similar places, means Astarte, or an idol of Venus. 2 Kings, xxi. 1-4. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 1-4. § 2 Chron. xxxiii. 5-7. 2 Kings, xxi. 5—7, And Jehovah spake by his servants, the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh, king of Judah, hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols. Therefore, thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel; Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day. Moreover, Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah.† Wherefore Jehovah brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. And when he was in affliction, he besought Jehovah his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Jehovah Namely, Hosea, Joel, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Isaiah, which last is said to have been sawn asunder, with a wooden saw, by this monarch's order. A. CLARKE. † 2 Kings, xxi. 10-16. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 10. 2 Kings, xxiv. 4. Josephus says, they caught him by treachery." Et vinctum |