that struggle of whom the world was not worthy, and yet no contrast can be greater than that between the sliort notices in Kings and Chronicles, and the martyr- ologies which belong to those other periods of persecu- tion.
1. The birth of Manasseh is fixed (B.C. 709) twelve years before the death of Hezekiah (2 Kings xxi, 1). We must, therefore, infer either that there had been no heir to the throne up to that comparatively late period in his reign, or that any that had been born had died, or tliat, as sometimes happened in the succession of Jewish and otlier Eastern kings, the elder son was passed over for the younger. There are reasons which make the former the more probable alternative. The exceeding bitterness of Hezekiah's sorrow at the threatened ap- proach of death (2 Kings xx, 2, 3 ; 2 Chron. xxxii, 24 ; Isa. xxxviii, 1-3), is more natural if we think of him as sinking under the thought that he was dying childless, leaving no heir to his work and to his kingdom. Wlien, a little later, Isaiah warns him of the captivity and shame which will ftill on his children, he speaks of those children as yet future (2 Kings xx, 18). This circum- stance will explain one or two facts in the contemporary history. Hezekiah, it Avould seem, recovering from his sickness, anxious to avoid the danger that had threat- ened him, of leaving his kingdom without an heir, mar- ried, at or about this time, Hephzibah (2 Kings xxi, 1), the daughter of one of the citizens or princes of Jerusa- lem (Joseph. Ant. x, 3, 1). The prophets, we may well imagine, would welcome the prospect of a successor named by a king who had been so true and faithfid. Isaiah (in a passage clearly belonging to a later date than the early portions of the book, and apparently sug- gested by some conspicuous marriage), with his charac- teristic fondness for tracing auguries in names, finds in that of the new queen a prophecy of the idtimate resto- ration of Israel and the glories of Jerusalem (Isa. Ixii, 4, 5 ; compare Blunt, Scriptural Coiiicid. part iii, 5). The city, also, should be a Hephzibah, a delightsome one. As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so would Jehovah rejoice over his people. See HEnizinAii. The child that is born from this union is called Manasseh. This name, too, is strangely significant. It appears no- where else in the historj' of the kingdom of Judah. The only associations connected with it were that it belonged to the tribe which was all but the most powerful of the hostile kingdom of Israel. How are we to accoimt for so singular and unlikely a choice? The answer is, that the name embodied what had been for j-ears the cher- ished object of Hezekiah's policy and hope. To take advantage of the overthrow of the rival kingdom by Shalmaneser, and the anarchy in which its provinces had been left, to gather round him the remnant of the population, to bring them back to the worship and faith of their fathers, this had been the second step in his great national rcformatioit (2 Chron. xxx, 6). It was at least partially successful. " Divers of Asher, ]\fanas- sch, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jeru- salem." They were there at the great passover. The work of destroying idols went on in Ephraim and Ma- nasseh as well as in Judah (2 Chron. .xxxi, 1). What could be a more acceptable pledge of his desire to re- ceive the fugitives as on the same footing with his own subjects than that he should give to the heir to his throne the name in which one of their tribes exulted? What could better show the desire to let all past dis- cords and offences be forgotten than the name which was itself an amnesty? (Gescnius).
The last twelve }-ears of Hezekiah's reign were not, however, it will be remembered, thfise which were like- ly to influence for good the character of his successor. Mis policy had succeeded. He had thrown off the yoke of the king of Assyria, which Ahaz had accepted, liad defied his armies, had been delivered from extremest danger, and had made himself the head of an independ- ent kingdom, receiving tribute from neighboring princes instead of paying it to the great king, the king of As-
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Syria. But he goes a step further. Not content with iiulependence, he enters on a policy of aggression. He contracts an alliance with the rebellious viceroy of Bab- j'lon against their common enemy ("2 Kings xx, 12 ; Isa. xxxix). He displays the treasures of his kingdom to the ambassadors, iu the belief tliat this will show them liow powerful an ally he can prove himself. Isaiah pro- tested against this step, but the ambition of being a great potentate continued, and it was to the results of this ambition that the boy jManasseh succeeded at the age of twelve.