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Isaiah—Rezin and Pekah—Ahaz meets Isaiah—He receives a promise of deliverance—He refuses a sign—The sign given him—Immanuel—Birth of Messianic prophecy—Maher-shalal-hash-baz—The promised Deliverer.

  CHAPTER XXIV   THE APOSTASIES OF AHAZ 273  

Moloch-worship—Sacrifice of children—Ahaz appeals to Assyria for help—Ruin of Damascus and death of Rezin—Ahaz does homage to Tiglath-Pileser at Damascus—Records of Tiglath-Pileser—The new altar—Complaisance of the priest Urijah—Unpopularity of Ahaz—Further misgivings—His death.

  CHAPTER XXV   HEZEKIAH (B.C. 715-686) 287  

Dates—Importance of the reign—Hezekiah's age—His character—His reformation—Partial suppression of the bamoth—Removal of the matstseboth and Asherim—Destruction of the brazen serpent—Trust in Jehovah—Psalm xlvi.—Chastisement of the Philistines—Three parties in Jerusalem—1. The Assyrian party—2. The Egyptian party—3. The national party—Its attitude to the others—Micah—Mockery of Egypt—Anger and insults of the priests against Isaiah—Confidence of Isaiah—Waverings of Hezekiah.

  CHAPTER XXVI   HEZEKIAH'S SICKNESS—THE BABYLONIAN EMBASSY 305  

The story of Hezekiah's illness misplaced—At the point of death—Isaiah's message—The king's agony of mind—The prayer—The reprieve—The sun-dial of Ahaz—The king's gratitude and thanksgiving—Merodach-Baladan—Rising power of Babylon—Object of the embassy—The king's action—The prophet's reproof—The king's humble submission.

  CHAPTER XXVII   HEZEKIAH AND ASSYRIA (B.C. 701) 319  

Greatness of Sargon—His campaigns—Defeat of Egypt at the battle of Raphia—Ashdod—Defeat of Merodach-Baladan—Grandeur of Sennacherib—His invasion of Judæa—Earlier collisions—His campaigns—1. Against Babylon—2. Against Elam—3. Against the Hittites and Philistines—Defeat of the Ethiopian Tirhakah at Altaqu—Heavy mulct imposed on Hezekiah—Siege of Lachish—Sennacherib breaks his compact—Distress of Jerusalem.

  CHAPTER XXVIII   THE GREAT DELIVERANCE (B.C. 701) 331  

Embassy of the Turtan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh—Misery and licence in the city—The conference—Oration of the Rabshakeh—Its effect on the king's ministers and on the people—Taunting insults of the Rabshakeh—Faithfulness and self-control of the people—Heroic faith of Isaiah—Failure of the embassy—Sennacherib's threatening letter—Hezekiah's prayer—Isaiah promises deliverance in the name of Jehovah—The sign—The angel of death—Scene of the catastrophe—The Egyptian tradition of Sethos and the mice—Death and burial of Hezekiah—The campaign as recorded on the Assyrian monuments—The triumph of indomitable faith—Grandeur of Isaiah—Wane of Assyria—Beautiful tolerance of Isaiah.

  CHAPTER XXIX   MANASSEH (B.C. 686-641) 351  

The name Manasseh—His tender age—Influence of evil counsellors—Heathenising party—Their dislike of Hezekiah's reformation and of the exclusive worship of Jehovah—Tendency to trust in sacrifices and asceticism—Sanctification of licence—Arguments of the heathenisers—Disparagement of the work of Isaiah—Doubts and disbelief—Influence of the bamoth-priests—Reliance on Assyria—The immoral and idolatrous reaction—1. Restoration of the bamoth, and arguments in their favour—2. Adoption of Phœnician nature-worship—3. Assyrian Sabaism and star-worship—Connivance of the priests—4. Canaanite Moloch-worship—5. Mesopotamian Shamanism—6. The Asherah—Denunciation of the prophets—Persecution and the shedding of innocent blood—Asserted captivity, repentance, and reforming energy of Manasseh—Difficulties of the story—Reign of Amon (b.c. 641-639)—Wretchedness of his reign—Zephaniah and Jeremiah—Murder of Amon.

  CHAPTER XXX   JOSIAH (B.C. 639-608) 374  

Three vast movements—Jeremiah's earlier prophecies—The state of society—The Scythians—Prophecies of Ezekiel—Herodotus—The fate of Nineveh—Rise of the Chaldæans—Habakkuk.

  CHAPTER XXXI   JOSIAH'S REFORMATION 385  

Growth of Josiah's character—Repairs of the Temple—Hilkiah finds the Book of the Law—Intense effect produced on mind of the king—His message to the prophetess Huldah—Great assembly—Renewal of a solemn league and covenant with Jehovah—The bamoth-priests degraded—Defiling of Tophet—He carries the reformation into Samaria—Its stringency and severity—The Passover—Suppression of heathen corruptions—Jeremiah's