Hezokioh'e greatness. He was one of the greatest of the kings of Judah; not more tho.n two, or three at the most, can be named as being greater than he. 2. Or as to the excellency of his estate (see text, vers. 27.-29). He had all that his heart could wish, so far as temporal possessions were concerned. 3. Or as to the regard in which he was hold by his subjects. They evidently" delighted to honour" him, as they showed by their action when he died (ver. 33). When the restraints of a great man's presence are taken away, we see what his fellows really think, and how they feel about him. But was he a happy man, an enviable man, one with whose condition-" state for state with all attendants "-we should like to exchanf!e our own? That may well be doubted. Consider- !. THE DEEPENING SHADOW THAT LAY ALONG ms PATH. He knew that, from the time of his sickness, he had fifteen years to live (2 Kings xx. 6). Now, with such a sensitive and thoughtful spirit as his was (Isa. xxxviii. 2, 3), we may be sure that he counted the years as they went by, and that he realized with painful force the diminu- tion of those that remained to him. How much more happy are we who are in ignor- ance of the number of the years before us ! To know positively tl,at only so many more remain must cast an ever-darkening ~badow on the path of life. II. 'l'HE LA0K OF THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOW. Hezekiah does not seem to have cherished any hope, to have entertained any expectation that could be truly called a hope, concerning the future (see Isa. xxxviii. 9-20). And to be drawing nearer and nearer, day by day, by a distinctly measurable distance, the hour when the light of life would go out into the thick darkness,-what a saddened life must that have been to a. thoughtful and imaginative spirit! III. THE FEAB HE MUST HA VE FELT CONOEBNING ms COUNTRY'S FUTURE. Manasseh, his son, may have been too young to have given any very decided intimation of bis probable future. But, looking behind him, remembering the imperfections or the reactions and apostasies of Solomon, of J ehoram, of Ahaz, he must have been seriously concerned lest his son should undo what he himself had so laboriously done. What security was there that the evil and idolatrous practices be bad so fearlessly and so faithrully suppressed would not be revived? that the religion of Jehovah he had so carefully re-established would not be set aside, and thus his life-labour lost? Such reflections-especially if he had any insight into, and therefore any foregight of, Manasseh's character and course-must have tinged his thought with a melancholy hue. Yet was there one compensating and reassuring thought, which may have balanced all others, and have brightened his latter days. That was- IV. 'l'HE REVIEW OF ms OWN LIFE, and of the work he had wrought since he had occupied the throne. It was not the recollection of his prosperities (ver. 30) which would gladden his heart in the after-years; they become of continually smaller con- sequence as we leave them behind us. It was the remembrance of his kindnesses (ver. 32, marginal reading) and of his faithfulness as the chief servant of Jehovah, that would give gladness to his heart, as they gave lustre to his reign. Let us remember that physical enjoyments, mental excitements, earthly honours, human congratulations or laudations,-all these melt away into nothingness as time comes between them and our spirit. Soon the one vital and only serious question will be-What have we done of all that God gave us to do? what have we achieved with the faculties and the facilities he placed in our charge? Prosperities and enjoyments do for the passing hour, but kindnesses and fidelities attend us to the dying pillow, and they cross the last stream and await us as we lcmd on the other side.-C.
Vers. 1-8.-An .Assyrian invasion of Judah. I. THE DATE. 1. Indefinitely. "After these things, and this faithfulness" (ver. 1); i.e. after the great Passover, which terminated in the destruction of the symbols of idolatry throughou, the land, with the restoration of the true worship of Jehovah in connection with the reopened and purified temple (eh. xxx., xxxi.), and after the singular display of zeal and piety on the pa.rt of Hezekiah in furthering that good work. Ho~ long after not stated; the juxtaposition of the Passover and the invasion favours the idea that the former fell not in Hezckiah's first year, but after his sixth (see homily on eh. xxx. 2), since the latter cannot be placed earlier than eight years after the fall of Samaria, B.c, ,20. 2. Defi- nitely. "In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah" (2 Kings xviii. 13; Isa. xxxvi. 392 'rHE SECONn BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [ott. x:xxn. 1-33.