Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-06-06
HEZEKIAH A GOOD KING.
LESSON X, SECOND QUARTER, IN
TERNATlONAL SERIES, JUNE 7.

Text of the Lesson, ii ChrOn. xxx, Ill.
Commit Verses, 10, 11-GOlden Text, 1
Sam. ii, 3O-Commentary by the Rev.
ID. NJ. Stearns.
Compiled from Lesson Helper Quarterly by per
mission Of II. S. Hoffman, publisher, Philadei-
phia.
|. "Hezekiah began to reign when he
was five-and-twenty years old, and he
reigned Internationally years in Jeru-
salem"
Having in the last lesson stepped back
aasssS da3 JeeSs 10 GaISiGszT tho revival i1
:hs days Of JOash, we nOw rcturn to about
the time of the lesson Of two weeks ago,
for it was in the beginning of the reign OF
Hezekiah that the ten tribes were carried
into captivity or Kings, xviii, 10y, He vas
the last but one of the good kings of Ju-
dab His father Ahaz was wicked king,
and his son Manasseh was the worst of
all (xxviii, 10, %; xxxiii, $40.
And his mothers name was Abijah, the
daughter of Zechariah"
?. And he did that which was right in
the sight of the Lord. according to all that
David, his father, had done"
3. "He, in the first year of his reign, in
the first month, opened the doors of the
house of the Lord, and repaired them"
What grand beginning he makes and
how promptly He does not allow month
to pass after he becomes king without at
tending to the house of the Lord. Ahaz,
his father had destroyed the vessels, shut
up the doors, and made affairs in every cor
ner of Jerusalem (xXviii, 24). IIezekiAh
now seeks to undo his fathers sin, and he
loses no time about it.
4. And he brought in the priests and
the Levites, and gathered them together
into the east street"
There was a time when the head of each
family acted as the priest of the household,
Offering sacrifice unto the Lord Dob /, 5;
Gen. viii, 20; xii, :, s.. But since the build
ing of the tabernacle Mt Sinai the house of
Aaron and the tribe of Levi were set apart
to stand between the people and God and
to offer sacrifice.
s. And said unto them, Hear me, ye
Levites; sanctify now yourselves, and
sanctify the house of the Lord God of your
fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out
of the holy place"
1t took them sixteen days to cleanse
the temple on this occasion Tvs. l5-lO
but it takes much longer than that to
cleanse some believers from the dizziness
of flesh and spirit which clings so closely
g. For our fathers have trespassed, and
done evil in the eyes of the Lord our God,
and have forsaken him, and have turned
away their faces from the habtation Of
the Lord, and turned their backs"
So, also, said jeremiah little later in
their history der. ii, 10, Ia, and so said
Moses ere the nation was yet forty years
old (Deut. tx, 8, 80. Their history might
be called continued forsakingof the Lord
who redeemed them.
T. also they have shut up the doors Of
the porch, and put out the lamps, and
have not burned incense, nor offered burnt
offerings in the holy place, unto the God
OF Israel"
s. Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was
upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath
delivered them to trouble, to astonish-
ment, and to Kissing. as ye see with your
eyes"
In Lev. XVI and Deut. xviii IL was
clearly foretold that the wrath Of the Lord
would thus come upon them II they were
disobedient, and Moses added, 81 call
heaven and earth TO record this day against
you, that | have set before you life and
death, blessing and cursing; therefore
choose life that both thou and thy seed may
live {Deut. xxx, l9). As God by His ser
want foretold SO it came to pass.
9. For. 10, our fathers have fallen hy