The Bible Story Part 207

And he set the graven image of the idol, which he had made, in the house of G.o.d, of which G.o.d said to David {318} and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from off the land which I have appointed for your fathers; if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them, even all the law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses."

But they hearkened not: and Mana.s.seh seduced them to do that which is evil more than did the nations, whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel. And the Lord spoke by his servants the prophets, saying, "Because Mana.s.seh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: therefore thus saith the Lord, the G.o.d of Israel, 'Behold, I bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. And I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; because they have done that which is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day.'"

Moreover Mana.s.seh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, so that they did evil more than did {319} the nations, whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel. And the Lord spoke to Mana.s.seh, and to his people: but they gave no heed. Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of a.s.syria, who took Mana.s.seh in chains, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. And when he was in distress, he besought the Lord his G.o.d, and humbled himself greatly before the G.o.d of his fathers. And he prayed unto him; and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.

Then Mana.s.seh knew that the Lord he was G.o.d.

(G.o.d forgave his sin, and he went back to his kingdom to serve him all the rest of his life.)

Now after this he built an outer wall to the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate; and he compa.s.sed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height: and he put valiant captains in all the fenced cities of Judah.

And he took away the strange G.o.ds, and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.

And he built up the altar of the Lord, and offered thereon sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the G.o.d of Israel. Nevertheless the people sacrificed still in the high places, but only unto the Lord their G.o.d. So Mana.s.seh died and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.

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THE PRAYER OF MANa.s.sEH.

(In the Apocrypha is found a prayer which is said to have been the prayer of Mana.s.seh, king of Judah, while he was in captivity in Babylon. It is certainly a very beautiful prayer for forgiveness and pardon.)

[Footnote: Apocrypha--See note at the end of the volume.]

"O Lord Almighty, that art in heaven, thou G.o.d of our fathers, of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and of their righteous race; who hast made heaven and earth, with all the ornament thereof; who hast bound the sea by the word of thy commandment; who hast shut up the deep, and sealed it by thy terrible and glorious name; whom all things fear, yea, tremble before thy power; for the majesty of thy glory cannot be borne, and the anger of thy threatening toward sinners is irresistible: thy merciful promise is unmeasurable and unsearchable; for thou art the Lord Most High, of great compa.s.sion, longsuffering and abundant in mercy, and repentest of bringing evils upon men. Thou, O Lord, according to thy great goodness hast promised repentance and forgiveness to them that have sinned against thee: and of thine infinite mercies hast appointed repentance unto sinners, that they may be saved. Thou therefore, O Lord, that art the G.o.d of the just, hast not appointed repentance to the just, to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, who have not sinned against thee; but thou hast appointed repentance unto me that am a sinner: for I have sinned above the number of the sands of the sea. My transgressions are multiplied, O Lord: my {321} transgressions are multiplied, and I am not worthy to behold and see the height of heaven for the mult.i.tude of mine iniquities. I am bowed down with many iron bands, that I cannot lift up mine head by reason of my sins, neither have I any respite: for I have provoked thy wrath, and done that which is evil before thee: I did not thy will, neither kept I thy commandments: I have set up abominations, and have multiplied detestable things. Now therefore I bow the knee of mine heart, beseeching thee of grace. I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I acknowledge mine iniquities: but, I humbly beseech thee, forgive me, O Lord, forgive me; and destroy me not with mine iniquities. Be not angry with me for ever, by reserving evil for me; neither condemn me into the lower parts of the earth. For thou, O Lord, art the G.o.d of them that repent; and in me thou wilt show all thy goodness: for thou wilt save me, that am unworthy, according to thy great mercy. And I will praise thee forever all the days of my life: for all the host of heaven doth sing thy praise, and thine is the glory for ever and ever. Amen."

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AMON.

(Amon failed to profit by his father's experience, but turned again to idolatry. After only two years on the throne, he was a.s.sa.s.sinated by his own courtiers, who probably expected to make one of their own number king. In this, however, they were disappointed, for the people insisted upon making the son of Amon, Josiah, a little boy only eight years old, the king.)

Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as did Mana.s.seh his father: and Amon sacrificed unto all the graven images which Mana.s.seh his father had made, and served them. And he humbled not himself before the Lord, as Mana.s.seh his father had humbled himself; but this same Amon trespa.s.sed more and more. And his servants conspired against him, and put him to death in his own house. But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against King Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.

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JOSIAH.

_The Story of the Little Boy Who Became a Good King_.

(The reign of Josiah was marked by one of the most sweeping and important reforms in the history of Judah. For the first ten years of his reign, until the king reached the age of eighteen, things went in much the old idolatrous way. Then the young king began to a.s.sert himself with spirit. First he ordered repairs made upon the temple, which had fallen into decay and ruin. While these repairs were going on, Hilkiah, the high priest, made a great discovery. He found an old book of the law. He hastened to tell Shaphan the scribe, who in turn told the king. When the king read this book, and discovered how the nation had disobeyed the law he was in great distress. He called an a.s.sembly of all the people and the law was read to them. Then he ordered a great reform. The idols were all swept away, and the old law was established everywhere. But after all, this good king met a sad fate. A great army of the Egyptians advanced against the country. They were not intending to destroy Judah, but Josiah, fearing that the nation was in danger, went out to fight them. They met in the great battle of Megiddo. The army of Judah was destroyed, and Josiah, mortally wounded by the arrows of the Egyptian archers, was taken back to Jerusalem to die.)

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.

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And it came to pa.s.s in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the Lord, saying, "Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may make account of the money which is brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people: and let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen that have the oversight of the house of the Lord: and let them give it to the workmen which are in the house of the Lord, to repair the breaches of the house; unto the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons; and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the house."

Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered in to their hand; for they dealt faithfully.

And Hilkiah the priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord."

And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, "Thy servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen that have the oversight of the house of the Lord."

And Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, "Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book."

And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pa.s.s, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and the king's officers, saying, {325} "Go ye, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us."

So Hilkiah the priest, and the king's officers went to Huldah the prophetess, who said, "Thus saith the Lord, 'Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read: because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other G.o.ds, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched.' But unto the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall ye say to him, 'Thus saith the Lord, the G.o.d of Israel: As touching the words which thou hast heard, because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spoke against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Therefore, behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil which I will bring upon this place.'"

And they brought the king word again. And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. And the king went up to the house {326} of the Lord, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and all his soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book: and all the people consented to the covenant. And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Beth-el.

And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast the dust thereof upon the graves of the common people. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to {327} Beer-sheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city. Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat bread among their brethren. And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pa.s.s through the fire to Molech. And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. And the altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Mana.s.seh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, did the king break down, and beat them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for heathen G.o.ds, did the king defile.

Moreover the altar that was at Beth-el, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and beat it to dust, and burned the Asherah.

And the king commanded all the people, saying, "Keep the pa.s.sover unto the Lord your G.o.d, as it is written in this book of the covenant."

Surely there was not kept such a pa.s.sover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah.

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But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah was this pa.s.sover kept to the Lord in Jerusalem. And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him. Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Mana.s.seh had provoked him. And the Lord said, "I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, 'My name shall be there.'"

After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him. But he sent amba.s.sadors to him, saying, "What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war; and G.o.d hath commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with G.o.d, who is with me, that he destroy thee not."

Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Neco, from the mouth of G.o.d, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. And the archers shot at King Josiah; and the king said to his servants, "Take me away; for I am sore wounded." So his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him in {329} the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in the sepulchers of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations, unto this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.

(Another account of the reformation of Josiah and his death is taken from the Apocrypha.)

[Footnote: See note at the end of the volume.]

And Josiah held the pa.s.sover in Jerusalem unto his Lord, and offered the pa.s.sover the fourteenth day of the first month; having set the priests according to their daily courses, being arrayed in their vestments, in the temple of the Lord. And he spoke unto the Levites, the temple-servants of Israel, that they should hallow themselves unto the Lord, to set the holy ark of the Lord in the house that King Solomon the son of David had built: and said, "Ye shall no more have need to bear it upon your shoulders: now therefore serve the Lord your G.o.d, and minister unto his people Israel, and prepare you after your fathers' houses and kindreds, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the magnificence of Solomon his son: and standing in the holy place according to the several divisions of the families of you the Levites, who minister in the presence of your brethren the children of Israel, offer the pa.s.sover in order, and make ready the sacrifices {330} for your brethren, and keep the pa.s.sover according to the commandment of the Lord, which was given unto Moses."

Thus were the things that belonged to the sacrifices of the Lord accomplished in that day, in holding the pa.s.sover, and offering sacrifices upon the altar of the Lord, according to the commandment of King Josiah. So the children of Israel which were present at that time held the pa.s.sover, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. And such a pa.s.sover was not held in Israel since the time of the prophet Samuel. Yea, all the kings of Israel held not such a pa.s.sover as Josiah, and the priests, and the Levites, and the Jews, held with all Israel that were present in their dwelling place at Jerusalem. In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this pa.s.sover held. And the works of Josiah were upright before his Lord with a heart full of G.o.dliness. Moreover the things that came to pa.s.s in his days have been written in times past, concerning those that sinned, and did wickedly against the Lord above every people and kingdom, and how they grieved him exceedingly, so that the words of the Lord were confirmed against Israel.

Now after all these acts of Josiah it came to pa.s.s, that Pharaoh the king of Egypt came to raise war at Carchemish upon Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him. But the king of Egypt sent to him, saying, "What have I to do with thee, O king of Judah? I am not sent out from the Lord G.o.d against thee; for my war is upon Euphrates: and now the Lord is with me, yea, the Lord is with me hasting me forward: depart from me, and be not against the Lord."

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Howbeit Josiah did not turn back unto his chariot, but undertook to fight with him, not regarding the words of the prophet Jeremiah spoken by the mouth of the Lord: but joined battle with him in the plain of Megiddo, and the princes came down against King Josiah. Then said the king unto his servants, "Carry me away out of the battle; for I am very weak." And immediately his servants carried him away out of the host.

Then got he up upon his second chariot; and being brought back to Jerusalem he died, and was buried in the sepulcher of his fathers. And in all the land they mourned for Josiah; and Jeremiah the prophet lamented for Josiah, and the chief men with the women made lamentation for him, unto this day: and this was given out for an ordinance to be done continually in all the nation of Israel.