its risible King. The names begin io the past, advance to the present, aod end in the for future. They first bespeak our reverence and awe, the fuunda.tions of religious feeling. They then call forth oul' trust, showing Christ to us all-wise, almighty. They end by eliciting our love towards him as e. protecting "Father," who will at last conduct us to perfect peace, :Vere. 8~21.-Persistent impenitena brings repeated chasti.mnents. One would naturally expect that so weak a creature as man, when chastised by the Divine anger, would readily and at once" humble himself under the almight.v hand of God," accept the chastisement as deserved, and entreat for mercy and forgiveness. But, weak a.s he is, man is unwilling to acknowledge his wea.kness, and, faulty as he is, dislikes nothing so much e.e acknowledging his faults. God's jndgments he will not allow to be jndgments, but attributes them to any cause but God; as, for instance, (1) to his own mistak~s;' (2) to accident or chance; (3) to fate; (4) to some combination of circum- stances not likely to recur. God brought upon Israel four great chastisements, placing intervals betweeu them, so that after each they might have repented and turned to him, had they so willed. But they would not. These chastisements were- '!.· 'l'HE A~SYRIA?i INVASION UNDER TIGLATH-PILESER. This was a comparatively "lignfaffliction," as. God's earlier judgments commonly are. It fell, not on the whole land, but' only on a portion-" the land of Zebulun and the land of Na.phtali;" and it resulted in the loss, not of national life or national independence, but only of a province or two not very highly valued. "Galilee of the Gentiles" wa.s overrun and annexed by Assyria; but Ephraim and Manasseh, the great tribes which formed the heart of the nation, wel'e untouched. Still, the invasion was a warning which a wise nation would,,have taken to heart. When dismemberment begins, it is apt to be continued; each fresh act of spoliation is easier than the last. And the aggressor is encouraged by his success, and tempted to repeat his aggression. But Israel wa.s not wise. She consoled herself by "pride and stoutness of heart," making light of her losses, and boasting that she would easily repair them (ver. 10). Her pride and impenitence ·provoked God to inflict a. second chastisement. . IL THE. COMBINED PHILISTINE AND STILIAN ATTACK. Of this we know no more J)lan what is told us in the present chapter. Attack._ was made" before" and" behind" ~from the east and from the west. Jehovah" joined the enemies of Israel together" (v'er. 11), and ea.used them. to make a combined, or at any rate a simultaneous, invasion. Hoth enemies were formidable, and Israel was unable to meet either with her full force. Consequently they were successful, and" devoured Israel with open mouth." Could not this s.eeond chastisement arouse the nation 'from its mistaken feeling of security, arid bring it to cast itself down before God? Alas I no. The people " turned not to hii;n. that ,had smitten them, neither did they seek the Lord of hosts" (ver. 13). 'fhe result was tlint. a third chastisement fell. III. THE INTERNAL ANARCHY AND DISTURBANCE. Hostility to the kindred tribe oi Judah lay at the base of Israel's existence as a nation, and was cherished by statesmen as a patriotic feeling. But it was impossible to keep the feeling as closely confined u statesmen would have wished. Within Israel itself one tribe grew jealous of another; and, under the diminished strength of the central authority caused by the external troubles of the time, jealousy led on to open conflict, "no man spa.ring his brother" (ver. 19). As Rome perished by her own strength, when faction became arrayed again~t faction in the forum and the field, so it seems to have been with Israel. I,nternal quarrel supervened upon foreign attack ; ~nd the weakened state, when a (resh assault from without came, necessarily succumbed to it. Repentance, even at this advanc;ed hour, might have ea.used God to avert the danger and turn the current of Assyrian conquest in some other direction; but once more, there was no sub- mission, no sign of any change of heart. And at last the dread fiat went forth for Samaria's final destruction. '!'he fourth and last chastisement was - IV. 'l'IIE CONQUEST OF SAMARIA, AND CARRYING AWAY OF ISRAEL D"TO CAPTIVITY, BY THE AsSYnIANS UNDER SHALMANESER AND SARGON. The same instrument, Assyria, was employed for the first chastisement and the. last. Shalmaneser, the successor of Tiglath-Pilcser, towards the middle of his short reign, having " found conspiracy in Hoshea "-who had murdered Pekah aud succeeded him-" ce.rue up 112 TRE BOOK. OF TIIE PROPIIE'l' tSAtAtl. [olt, IX. 1-21.
throughout all the land of Israel, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it tbree years" (2 Kin~ xdi. 6). At the end of the three years the city foll, about the same timo (e.o. 722) thnt Sargon, having murdered Shalmaneser at Nineveh, caused himself to be proclaimed supreme ruler of the Assyrian empire. Sargon, following a recognized Assyrian practice, deported the principal part of the population, and settled it partly in Upper Mesopotamia, partly in the cities of Media (2 Kings xvii. 0). 'l'he life of the nation t.hus came to an end. God had borne with it for two centuries and a half-tried it, tested it, sent it prophets and seers (2 Kings xvii. 13), chastened it, corrected it; but all in vain. Notwithstanding all that he could do and did," they would not hea.r, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, and rejected hie etf\tutes, and his covenant that he ma.de with their father&, and his testimonies which be testified against them; and followed vanity, and beca.me va.in, and went after the heathen that were round ab0ut them, and left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger" (2 Kings xtii. 14-17). Nothing, therefore, remained but to" remove them out of his 11ight "-to sweep them away with the besom of destruction. The fate of Israel is a warning, primarily, to nations; but also, secondarily, to indi- viduals. God lays his chastisement.q on them too, for the purpose of bringing them to repentance. If they resist and are impenitent, he follows up blow with blow. If they remain obdurate, he breaks their pride and crushes them.