  HEZEKIAH AND JOSIAH. FIRST READING.
YOU have heard of many bad kings. There is a good king to tell you of at last—good King Hezekiah. He cared for nothing so much as to please God. He would not have any idols, but he cleared them all away, and had the holy Temple all set to rights, and made beautiful as God had commanded; and he had all the services at the Temple at the right times, and used to go and pray there himself constantly. And he did all he could to make his people good too. But there came a great danger. There was a king of Assyria named Sennacherib, who had quantities of soldiers and horses and chariots, and he used to conquer towns, and carry all the people in them away to live far from home. He thought he would seize Hezekiah and his people in this way, and he did come and do much harm all over the country. He did not come at once to Jerusalem; but he sent three boasting men, with an army, to stand outside the walls, and call out to the people inside, that Sennacherib was coming to conquer them and carry them away, and that they need not believe their king Hezekiah when he said that God would help them, for no god had ever yet saved a country from Sennacherib. Hezekiah's people were terribly afraid. Some wanted him to get help from the king of Egypt; but Hezekiah knew that God Next Sunday morning you will hear what happened. RABSACES BEFORE SENNACHERIB. QUESTIONS.
SECOND READING.
HEZEKIAH was king of Jerusalem. He was very good, and always served God and prayed to Him. But a great fierce king named Sennacherib brought an army into his land, and ruined all his towns and villages except Jerusalem, and shut up Hezekiah in his town, so that his people could not dare to come out. And Sennacherib wrote a letter to tell Hezekiah that it was no use to hope to escape, he was coming to take away the Jews and ruin Jerusalem; and this wicked man even said that Hezekiah need not think that his God would save him, for no nation had ever yet been saved by its gods, so the God of Hezekiah could not help him. HEZEKIAH'S PRAYER. In his great distress Hezekiah went up to the Temple, and told God all his trouble. And he said, "Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: Thou hast made heaven and earth." He said he knew the gods of those nations could not save them, for they were no gods, only wood and stone; but he trusted that God would save him and his people, though they were far too weak to defend themselves against this terrible king and his people. God heard the good king's prayer, and sent him a promise that his enemy should not even come before Jerusalem, nor shoot one arrow at it. And God kept His word. The fierce soldiers of Sennacherib all lay down to sleep one night, but they never woke up again. God sent His angel, with a deadly blast, and all the army that wanted to destroy His people died in one single night. It was because they and their king had fancied God could THE ANGEL SLAYING THE ASSYRIANS.—2 Kings 19:35. QUESTIONS.
THIRD READING.
THERE is one more good king to tell you about, whose name was Josiah. He was great-grandson to good King Hezekiah. The two kings who had come between Josiah's grandfather and father, had both been very bad men. His grandfather repented when he fell into trouble, and God forgave him; but his father never repented, and died in his wickedness when Josiah was only eight years old. But Josiah was very different. He made his people break down their idols, and clear out the Temple of the unholy things they had brought in, and worship God rightly once more. THE BOOK OF THE LAW OF MOSES. While they were cleaning out the Temple, they found a book that nobody knew—the Book of the Law of Moses—that is, the first five books in the Bible. All the time of these two bad kings nobody had minded it, or read it; it had been lost, and everyone had forgotten all about it. When Josiah knew what it was, and that it was the Law that God had spoken to Moses, he made the priests read it to him and all his people. They were very much frightened when they heard it; for they found they were doing all the very things that God had said He would punish them for, and turn them out of their good land. So Josiah sent to a holy prophetess to ask her whether, if they left off their sins, and were very sorry, and prayed with all their might, God would still forgive them. But God told her to answer that the people had done so wrong, and grown so wicked, that now their punishment must come; but that, as But they had not been really good, they only pretended, just to please him, and went back to their wicked ways, in spite of all the pains he had taken with them; and his own sons were as bad as the rest. So the punishment was obliged to come. THE BOOK OF THE LAW FOUND.—2 Kings 22:10, 11. What I wish you to mind to-day is how these people lost their Book of the Law for want of attending to it. If you have not got a Bible of your own, I dare say you soon will have one. And then, pray, do not do like these people of Israel. Do not let it lie by till you forget to look at it, and forget what is in it, and then forget even where it is. If you do, you will grow as bad as these people were, and God will be forced to punish you as He was forced to punish them. QUESTIONS.
AN ASSYRIAN KING. |
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