Vers. 20, 21.-Earnestness. Perhaps the characteristic of Hezekiah was moral earnestness. There was no hesitation or half-heartedness about him. What he did he did "with all bis heart," as is stated in the text. Under his direction everything was carried out and completed with a vigour and determination that showed that bis heart as well as his hand was in bis work. Hence bis success in accomplishing that in which even Asa, Jehoshaphat, and Jotham, failed; by him" the high places were removed" (ver. 1); and hence the historian could say, shortly but significantly, of him that " he prospered." Regarding earnestness it~elf, we may consider- I. !Ts ESSENTIALLY SPIRITUAL NATURE. It is not a question of mere temperament; it is a distinctly moral quality. Men may be endowed with a very ardent nature, and they may, as a consequence of their natural disposition, without o.ny praise or blame attaching to them, espouse any and every ea.use they adopt with the greatest warmth, throwing into it an almost consuming energy. Yet they may be far from being earnest men. Such mornl earnestness as Hezekiah had, which was the glory and crown of his character, was more than this, was different from this. It was the consecration and concentration of his powers to the full performance of that which he saw to be right. It was the conscientious and determined keeping to the front, holding in full view of bis soul those things which he knew to be of the first importance, which he felt entailed the weightiest obligation. Earnestness was with him, as it should be with us, not a constitutional peculiarity, but a spiritual force. II. THE DIRECTIONS IT SHOULD TAKE. Just those which it took with the wise King of Judah; he sought and wrought the good and the right and the true thing-. 1. The pursuit of truth. The first thing for a man to know is-What- is the truth? Who is rioht? What is our life? Who and what are we ourselves? ·what can we accomplish on the earth? What is the range and what are the limits of our powers? 8i8 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CRRONICLES. [ott. xltu. 1-21,
T0 whom are we accountable for all we are and do? When we die, shall we live RZR.in? Has God spoken to us now in the Person of Jesus Christ? H bocomee el"er)· man patiently, diligently, iletenninRtely, earnes!ly, to seek R.n R.nswer to these questions until he finds it. 2. The a.cquisition of rectitude of charo,cter. 'l'o become right with God, to be right at heart, to be governed by right principles, to be moved and prompted by a right spirit, to have a ch11.racter that is sound aud strong,-thie also is a thing to be eR.rnestly endeavoured after until it is attained. 3, The a.ccompli,h- rnent ~l that which is good and f/,Seful. It should be our most earnest hope R.lld effort to live a life that will be one of faithful service; and, in particular, to be the servants of God. Here the earnestness of Hezekiah shone forth most brightly. "In every work that he began in the servioe of the house of God . . . to seek his God, he did it with all his heart." To promote the cause and kingdom of Jesus Christ, and in this way to contribute toward the elevation and well-bei~ of our kind,-this is a direction in which our earnestness should stand out strong and clear. Let us be unmistakably in earnest in all the work we do for our Divine Saviour-for him who gave himself for us. Let us live and labour "with all our heart, " and with all our st,rength, never flagging nor failing, maintaining our devotedness through the heats of youth, and through the vigour of manhood, past the golden days of prime, still " bringing forth fruit in old age." III. ITS succEss: Hezekiah" prospered;" he prospered generally because God loved him and smiled upon him, and was" with him." He prospered also in those particular spheres in which he manifested so much earnestness. It is earnestness that does prosper. Indifference does not leave the starting-post. Impulsiveness soon turns back. Half-heartedness is weary long before the course is run. But earnestness clasps the goal and wini, the prize.-C.
Vers. 1-4.-..4. 'l'digious reformation in the days of Hezekiah. I. A POPUL.\R CRUSADE AGAINST IDOLATRY. (Ver. 1.) L When begun. "When all this was finished," i.e. after the temple had been purified and rededicated (eh. xxix.), and the Passover celebrated (eh. xxx.). Everything in its order. "To everything there is a season, and a time to ei;ery purpose under the heaven;" "a time to pluck up that which is planted; " " a time to break down; " "a time to rend" (Eccles. iii. 1, 2, 3, 7). This time had arrived in Judah, and partially also in Israel, in the days of Hezekiah. 2. By whom undertaken. "All Israel that were present," i.e. all the members of the two kingdoms (Juda.hand Israel proper) that were in the metropolis observing the Passover. That thev felt themselves sti1Ted to such a vigorous assault upon the instruments and instituti;ns of idol.a.try was an indication of the depth to which they had been moved by the high ceremonial in which they had borne a part. A pity was it that the nation's zeal for the trne religion was so evanescent, not in Judah alone (eh. xxxiii. 2, 9), but also in Ephraim (Hos. vi. 4). It is no contradiction to this that the Book of Kings ascribes this destruction of the altars, etc., to the king (2 Kings xviii. 4). 3. To whut extent carried. (1) Geographically, the wave of reformation swept over nil Judah and Benjamin, i.e. all the southern kingdom, and over Ephraim and Manasseh, i.~ a considerable portion of the northern kingdom-that portion which had furnished feast-pilcrrims to Jerusalem. (2) Religiously, it paused not until within .those terri- tories it"'he.d swept away every vestige of idol-worship. The iconoclastic zeal of the people "brake in pieces the pillars or obelisks, hewed down the Asherim, and brake down the high places and the a~tars, until it had destroyed them all." A simil~r outbreak against the symbols of idolatry, only on a smaller scale, bad taken place m the days of J ehoiada, immediately after the fall of Athaliah and the coronation of J oash (eh. xxiii. 17, which see); never before had the land experienced such a purgation of idolatrous institutions and instruments. So thorough-11:oing was it that even the brazen serpent made by Moses in the w_ildernese (Numb. x.xi. 9), an~, in ~czekiah's daf become an object of idolatrous veneration, was called Nehushtan, a piece of brass,' and ground to pieces (2 Kings xviiL 4). II. A KINGLY ESTABLISH.II.ENT OF THE TBUE RELIGION. (Vere. 2-4.) 1. The public ordinancu of reUgiun arranged. (1) The priests and the Levites were divided into courses according to the plan of David (1 Chron. xxiv. 3, etc.), as in the reformation under Jehoiada. (2) Each man was appointed to the special service for which he wu on. xxxr. 1-21.) THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 379