The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 295

the obt11i11ing of his favourable regard. In this way he would probably have secured to himself a long and quiet reign ; and his country would have been spared for many a year the horrors of war, and his people the misery of being carried into captivity. II. HE MIGHT LOOK FOR A HUMAN PROTECTOR AGAINST ASSYRIA, Human helps, negotiations, treaties, alliances, are the natural and ordinary resort of weak states when menaced by a stronger. Cannot a counterpoise be raised up against the monster com- munity which threatens the existence of all its neighbours? Cannot a "balance of power'' be established? Hoshea was particularly tempted at the time by the rise to greatness of a new dynasty in Egypt, which seemed to have greater strength and greater resources than had been possessed by its predecessors. It was probably regarded by his advisers as a wonderfully clever stroke of policy when they suggested that alliance with Shebek, the new King of Egypt, might be the salvation of Samaria under the circumstances. So .2Etolia called in the aid of Rome against Macedon; and so recently, with better results, Sardinia called in the aid of France against Austria. Hoshea caught at the suggestion. '!'hough pledged to Assyria, though actually owing his throne to an Assyrian monarch (' Eponym Canon,' pp. 123, 124), he accepted the advice, made alliance with Shebek, and broke with Shalmaneser, to his own destruction an,l that of his country. HI. HE MIGHT DISCARD II ARMS OF FLESH," AND LOOK WHOLLY TO JEHOVAH. The prophets were calling Israel to repentance. They were denouncing the calf-worship and the other idolatries. They were condemning reliance on either Egypt or Assyria (Hos. vii. 11; xii. 1). They were threatening the destruction of the kingdom unless Israel truly repented and turned to the Lord. They were pointing to a possible restora- tion to God's favour if these conditions were fulfilled (Hos. ii. 14-23; vii. 1---3; xiv. 1-9; Amos v. 4-9, and 14, 15), and urging compliance before it was too late. They taught that God could save by his own power, and "not by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen" (Hos. i. 7). 'l'rue wisdom would have taught Hoshea and his advisers to look for salvation to this quarter; but they were so infatu- ated with their trust in the strength of Egypt that they seem not even to have given the alternative course a thought. 'fhe result showed that their (supposed) worldly wisdom was the extremest unwisdom, their perfection of policy the worst policy tbat could possibly have been adopted. Vers. 7-23.-The lessons to be learnt from the destruction of the kingdom of Samaria. 'l'he first and ma.in lesson is, of course, the great fact- I. THAT NATIONS ARE TREATED BY Goo AS RESPONSIBLE UNITS, AND ARE PUNISHED, EVEN DESTROYED, FOR THEIR BINS. It was their "evil ways," their transgression against the commandments of God, that lay at the root of Israel's rejection. The prophets Hosea and Amos paint an awful picture of the condition of S,imaria under its later kings. Luxury, oppression, lewdness, drunkenness, idolatry, prevailed. The service of God was a lip-service, which "his soul hated." There was no truth, no mercy, no real "knowledge of God," in the land (Hos. iv. 1). "By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing . . . they broke out, and blood touched blood" (Hos. iv. 2). "Whoredom and wine and new wine had taken away their heart n (Hos. iv. 11). "A man and his father would go in unto the same maid" (Amos ii. 7). False balances were employed (Amos viii. 6). "Companies of priests murdered in the way by consent" (Hos. vi. 9). Therefore was the doom pronounced against the nation- they $hould "go into captivity beyond Damascus" (Amos v. 27). "The Lord swore by his holiness . .. that he would talte them away with hooks, aud their po,terity with fish-hooks" (Amos iv. 2). "The end came upon them; they could not br passed by any more" (Amos viii. 2). Minor lessons are- II. THAT SINS ARE GREATLY AGGRAVATED IN Goo's SIGHT WHE~ THEY AU INFRACTIONS OF A COVENANT MADE WITH HIM. Israel was under covenant with God -had been made God'9 "peculiar people" on the express condition of keeping his etatutes, testi•t'\Dllies. commandments, and judgments (Exod. xix. 5-8). 'l'his they had bound themselves t 1 do; but they had done the exact opposite. Hence the reproaches in vers. 15 am1 35--4.0. It is the breach of the covenant by the northern 1tingdom that, in the view of the writer of Kings, is the main and special cause of its (all. All else might have l"!N!. for~iven, but not that. A covenant is a holy thing,  842 THE Sll}COND BOOK OF TIIE KINGS. (oa. xvn. 1--41,