The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 196

r,ublicly e.nil unitedly to confess him, the.t time is the present. Wickedness abounds. l'he love of me.ny waxes cold. Many of Christ's professing people seem utterly indifferent to the claims of their MMter and his cause. False doctrines are taught; and under the show of religion there is a growing conformity to the world. A faithful, strong, united testimony for Christ is urgently needed. How, then, are we to carry out this duty of malcing a public covenant with Uod 1 There is one way which is available to us all, and that is the Lord's Supper. It is an act of commemoration, communion, and consecration. In partaking of the Lord's Supper we enter into e. covenant with God. It is a public covenant. The eyes of the world are upon us. They see us make a profession to be Christ's. Do they see that our practice corresponns with our profession? Each communion ought to be a personal covenant with God on the part of each individual believer. It ought to be a public covenant with God on th&part of families. It ought to be a public covenant with God on the part of congregations. II. THE COVENANT KEPT. Jehoiada and the people had entered into a covenant or engagement that they would be the Lord's. And they kept their promise. The first way in which they showed it was by breaking in pieces the idols and their altars, which were so abundant in the land. So, if we take Christ's vows upon us at his table, let us show that we mean what we profess. Let us show that we are on the Lord's side. "Better not to vow, than to vow and not pay." Let us begin with our own hearts. Are there no idols there that need to be thrown down, no besetting sins that need to be put away, no evil passions that need to be crucified? "If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and .Ashtaroth from among you, anil prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only" (1 Sam. vii. 3). III. THE BLESSINGS OF THE COVENANT. ".And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was in quiet." God kept them in perfect peace, because their minds were ete.yed on him. They kept their part of the covenant. God kept his. We find in Scripture that God promises special blessings to those who enter into a covenant with him. Before he gave the Law on Mount Sinai, he said to the children of Israel, "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people : for all the earth is mine." Then again God says, "Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing ; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you. and ye shall be my sons and daughters, se.ith the Lord God .Almighty." We also find that more than once these promises were fulfilled. In the days of Asa, when the people of Judah made a covenant with God, we read that " it was a time of great rejoicing, for they had sought the Lord with all their heart, and he was found of them; and the Lord gave them rest round about." So in the days of Josiah, when they made the covenant and put away the strange gods, we read, "Surely there was not holden such a Passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah." It was the same in more recent times. The covenanters, whose motto was "For Christ's crown and covenant," and who shed their blood in defence of Christ's authority, were a great means of preserving pure and undefiled religion in Scotland. Let us all, then, faithfully witness for him by our lives. "Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten" (Jer. 1. 5).-C. H. I. Vera. 1-21.-The history of Athaliah. "And when Athaliah the mother of .Ahaziah saw that her son was dead," etc. Among the blackest names in the Jong· roll of the world's infamy are those of kings and queens, and amongst them Athaliah is not the least abhorrent and revolting. She was the daughter of .Ahab King of Israel, and of Jezebel, his notorious wife. She married Joram (or Jehoram) Kin~ of Judah. She was the mother of Abaziah, anil advised him in bis wickedness. After Jebu had slain him, she reso\ ved to put an end to all the children of her husband by bis former wives, and then mount tho throne of Judah herself. But the half-sister of Ahaziab, Jehosheba, secured Joash, one of the children and heir to the throne, nwl secreted him with bis nurse for six long years. In the seventh year the young prince was brought forth and :placed on the throne. Crowds of people assembled to witness the ceremony, e.nd Athnliah, hearing the shouts of the r,rowd, hastened to the temple, utterly unsuspicious even of the existence of the young king. When, however, she caught a sight of the  288 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. [oH, XI. 1-21,