745.

PART II.

A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE (745-539 B.C.).

Tiglath Pileser or Pul, king of Assyria. 742-740. Death of Uzziah, and consecration of Isaiah.

738.

736.

734.

732.

731. 728.

Tribute paid by Menahem, king of Israel, to Assyria.
Ahaz ascends the throne of Jerusalem.
Campaign against Philistia.

Ahaz to Assyria.

Defeat of Pekah. Tribute of

Capture of Damascus, and death of Rezin.
Merodach-Baladan does homage to Assyria.

Death of Pekah. Appointment of Hoshea as last king of

Israel.

727-722. Reign of Shalmaneser IV., King of Assyria.

724-722. Siege and capture of Samaria begun by Shalmaneser, finished by Sargon.

722.

Hezekiah succeeds Ahaz.

722-705. Reign of Sargon, in Nineveh.

Battle of Raphia, in which Shabak (So), king of Egypt,

was defeated.

Capture of Carchemish by Sargon.

Foreign peoples brought into Samaria.

Ashdod taken after a siege of three years. Hezekiah's re

ception of embassy from Babylon.

Fall of Babylon. Invasion of Judah by Assyria.

Sargon builds Dur-Sarrukin, and palaces in Nineveh.
Death of Sargon. Accession of Sennacherib.

Campaign against Judah and Egypt. Siege of Jerusalem.
Defeat of Egypt at El-Tekeh.

Death of Hezekiah. Manasseh ascends the throne.

720.

717.

715.

711.

710.

707.

705.

701.

693.

681.

Death of Sennacherib.

Esar-Haddon succeeds.

Manasseh pays tribute to Assyria.

Destruction of Thebes. Noph, i.e., Memphis, had fallen earlier (680?).

Defeat of Jerusalem at Megiddo by Egypt.

Fall of Nineveh.

Defeat of Egypt at Carchemish.

(P. 11.)

PART III.

GLOSSARY OF NAMES AND NOTES.

(Arranged as they occur in the text.)

Isaiah, the son of Amoz: born about 765: begins ministry 742: dies early in Manasseh's reign, say 693, aged seventy-two, probably by martyrdom. Lineage unknown, but of noble parentage.

Judah and Jerusalem, the sphere of Isaiah's ministry. Isaiah was confined to the capital, while his contemporary, Micah, laboured in the provinces. Both prophets dwelt on the latter-day glory. Hosea was the last prophet sent with a divine message to Ephraim, or the kingdom of the Ten Tribes.

Uzziah, called also Azariah, reigned in Jerusalem, 810 to 758, i.e., fifty-two years. During this period great prosperity was enjoyed: but in 758 an act of guilty interference with the Temple worship brought condign punishment. He lived in a separate house till his death in 742.

Jotham became regent in 758, when his father was laid aside: assumed full power in 742, and died in 736. Not specially distinguished. He was regent for sixteen years, and king for twelve.

Ahaz reigned from 736 to 722. He formed an alliance with Assyria, and introduced idolatrous customs into Judah. His full name was Jehoahaz, but his prefix is significantly discarded by the sacred historian, as he would not make Jehovah his help. He reigned about sixteen years. A pupil

Hezekiah reigned from 722 to 693, i.e., twenty-nine years. of Isaiah, who entertained highest hopes on his accession. His alliance with Egypt and reception of the Babylonian embassy grieved the prophet. But his zeal for a pure worship was praiseworthy.

Eloth, or Elath, a seaport on the Gulph of Akabah, important in connection with the Red Sea trade, and especially with the gold mines of Ophir.

Zechariah, a prophet in Uzziah's reign, who has left no prophetic writings.

The Philistines, originally inhabiting the centre of Palestine, but driven towards the coast by the children of Israel. They were a powerful tribe, and a continual source of trouble to Judah: and in Gath, Ashdod, Ashkelon had strongly fortified towns. Philistia lay right on the highway between the rival powers of Assyria and Egypt, then contending for supremacy. It is west and south-west of Judah.

M

(Pp. 12-28.)

Gur Baal, a town on borders of Judah, occupied by Arabians. Mehunim, an Arabian tribe, probably on borders of Judah= Maon. Ammon, an idolatrous tribe due east from Judah.

The Lowland, a geographical term for the low country south of Jerusalem, as Negeb is also.

Ophel, an elevated place, strongly fortified, south-east of Jerusalem, with a tower.

City of David, the part of Jerusalem which had the Royal Residence and the Sepulchres of the kings.

House of Jacob, used as a designation of Judah, while Ephraim is described as Israel. The distinction of Israel and Judah should be observed.

Lebanon, a magnificent range of mountains in the north.

Bashan, a country known for its mountains; and very fertile; beyond the Jordan.

Tarshish ships, i.e., merchant vessels generally. The class is named from a particular. Ships engaged in trade with Tarshish or Tartessus, on the south coast of Spain, were most important—thence even those trading on the Red Sea were named as above.

Samaria. The country and capital town of the kingdom of the Ten Tribes, or Northern kingdom. Established as a seat of a dynasty in 972 by Jeroboam, who revolted from Judah, and made Israel to sin. Carried into captivity in 722, after lasting as an independent kingdom 250 years.

Rezin, last king of Syria, with his capital in Damascus. This kingdom was overthrown by Assyria in 732. Syria is also Aram, whence Aramaic as the term for the lingua franca of the country of Palestine.

Manasseh and Ephraim, the two leading tribes of the Ten that revolted from Judah. Internecine strife among the tribes had been the bane of their history.

Valley of the Sons of Hinnom-in N. T. Gehenna. This beautiful valley below Jerusalem had been desecrated by the cruel rites of the worship of Moloch. A heated brazen arm received children, who then fell into a burning caldron. Hinnom in Hebrew means groaning.

Tilgath-Pileser, or Pul, a great military leader who raised the power of Assyria to the rank of a first-rate Empire, and made it felt in all directions. He reigned from 745 to 727, being the contemporary of Jotham and Ahaz.

Kir, a province of Assyria, viz., Georgia, on the north-east of Armenia. Urijah, a priest guilty of obsequious obedience to Ahaz.

Hoshea, Israel's last king, 731 to 722. He rebelled against Assyria, and entered into negotiations with So, or Shabak, king of Egypt, Assyria's rival: hence was punished by captivity.

(Pp. 28-37.)

Shalmaneser succeeded Tilgath-Pileser, and reigned five years, 727 to 722. He began the siege of Samaria, which Sargon, (722 to 705) his great successor, completed.

So, or, fully, Shabak, was a powerful Egyptian king. His negotiation with Hoshea brought down upon himself the anger of Assyria. At Raphia, in 720, Sargon defeated him. He was succeeded by Shabataka, who was followed by Tirhakah, a distinguished sovereign, who eagerly sought an alliance with Hezekiah. In 662, during this king's reign, Thebes fell before Assyria, and Egypt was much crippled, as Isaiah foretold she would be. See also Nahum's prophecy (iii. 8). The South or Negeb, a geographical term for the south country of Judah.

Pekah, the son of Remaliah, the last king but one of Samaria, dethroned by Assyria in 731. He was indeed a smoking torch.

Ben Tabeal, an unknown person, whom it was proposed by Syria and Samaria to place on the throne of Jerusalem.

The Fuller's field, a well-known place on the north of Jerusalem, near the Highway to Samaria, and the Upper Pool.

The Fly, here used for the Egyptian people—insects were common. The Bee, here used for the Assyrian people—as a poetic term. Shear Jashub, Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, and Immanuel, the names of three young men, two of whom certainly were Isaiah's sons, the third probably and each name was significant of a specific prophecy delivered by Isaiah to Ahaz. Shear = Remnant.

Shiloah, a spring and pool south-east of Jerusalem, the waters of which trickled slowly. Here it stands as a symbol for the source of Jerusalem's strength, even Jehovah: as the Euphrates is used for Assyria.

Zebulon and Naphtali, i.e., upper and lower Galilee tribes, dwelling on the sea coast, which had once suffered terribly from the Assyrian invasions. (Gen. xlix. 13.) See Matt, iv. 14.

Midian, signally defeated by Gideon, see Judges vi.-viii.

Moab. This country lay due east from Judah, beyond the Dead Sea, and had played an important part in her time. From time to time she had been subdued by Samaria and Judah, but, in her pride, she continually revolted. Reference is here made to the tribute of sheep and lambs which Jehoram, king of Israel, had imposed on Mesha, the king of Moab. (2 Kings iii. 4; xiv. 7). The prophet here combines several prophetic oracles, and works them up as a prelude to the final message he is instructed to deliver. A most complete and graphic knowledge of Moab is here shown. Sela was a strong town. Others are mentioned with their peculiarities of situation, or cultivation. There appear to have been three places called Eglath, of which Eglaim is the dual, and

(Pp. 37-46.) means the two Eglaths: while Eglath Shelishyah means Eglath the third. Arnon is a boundary stream. Bajith house or temple. Dimon = Dibon, changed to allow of the paranomasia. Dimon in Hebrew suggests the word for blood. Chemosh was the tutelary deity of Moab. She is counselled to submit to Judah: but this counsel being rejected, her destruction is foretold.

Dumab, used by Isaiah as corresponding to the Hebrew for silence, but here the name for Edom, shortened from Idumæa. This is the territory of the children of Esau round Mount Seir, and lies due south from Moab. Edom's doom is not now pronounced: but the destruction of her people, and Bozrah, her chief town, is afterwards set forth (see page 89). It is referred to in Isaiah lxiii., also.

Arabia, lying south of Judah, the land of Steppes, inhabited by numerous nomadic tribes, as Dedan, Tema, Kedar. Such tribes suffered from the wave of Assyrian invasion. The Hebrew word for evening is similar to the name of the country here.

Aroer. There were several towns of the name, one in South Palestine, and two in the district east of the Jordan. It is to this district that reference is here made. One Aroer is in the tribe of Gad; the other in that of Reuben. These tribes respectively occupied the lands of the Amorites and Ammonites.

Valley of Rephaim, a fertile plain on south-west of Jerusalem.

Astartes, or Asherim, or Ashteroth. Astarte was a Phoenician goddess, whose worship was introduced into Samaria by Ahab chiefly. Being worshipped in groves, Asherah was thus rendered in A.V. Asherim is masculine-plural, and Ashteroth the feminine-plural of Asherah. Adonis is the Greek form of this deity.

Hivites and Amorites. This reading is found in the LXX., and makes the text more clear and graphic. These tribes disappeared before Israel. So shall Syria and Samaria disappear before Assyria.

Nehushtan, i.e., a piece of brass. The brazen serpent made by Moses had in itself no efficacy: it was only brass, and should never have been worshipped.

The Kidron, a stream north-west of Jerusalem: its valley is also known as the Valley of Jehoshaphat. It flows into the Dead Sea.

The Steps or Dial of Ahaz, a pyramid composed of steps, introduced by Ahaz in connection with astrology. The remarkable phenomenon of the sun's shadow appearing to go up ten steps may have been caused by refraction in a certain state of the atmosphere. Its unusual character made it a sign to weak faith.

Lachish, a Philistine town south-west from Jerusalem, where the Assyrian armies encamped on their march against Egypt.

Sennacherib reigned over Assyria from 705 to 681, and was therefore