Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
2 Kings 13:23

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 2 Kings 13:23. And the Lord was gracious unto them — ויחן vaiyachon, he had tender affection for them, as a husband has for his wife, or a father for his own children.

And had compassion on them — וירחמם vairachamem, his bowels yearned over them; he felt for them, he sympathized with them in all their distress: Therefore are my bowels troubled; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord, Jeremiah 31:20.

And had respect unto them — ויפן vaiyiphen, he turned face towards them, he received them again into favour; and this because of his covenant with their fathers: they must not be totally destroyed; the Messiah must come from them, and through them must come that light which is to enlighten the Gentiles, and therefore he would not make an entire end of them.

Neither cast he them from his presence as yet. — But now they are cast out from his presence; they have sinned against the only remedy for their souls. They sit in darkness and the shadow of death; the veil is upon their face; but if they yet turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

13:1-17:41 HISTORY TO THE FALL OF ISRAEL

After the anti-Baal revolution (13:1-14:22)

Jehu’s son Jehoahaz followed the sins of earlier Israelite kings, and so did his people. The Syrian attacks foreseen by Elisha were so severe that, had God not mercifully intervened, the whole population would have been left homeless and the entire army destroyed (13:1-9).
The next king, Jehoash, learnt from Elisha that he would win three battles against Syria. He would have won more, had he not lacked faith in God (10-19). During Jehoash’s reign Elisha died, but dramatic events at Elisha’s tomb showed that the God who had worked through him was still alive and powerful (20-21). Jehoash won three battles as Elisha had foretold, and thereby regained some of Israel’s lost territory (22-25).

After the murder of his father Joash, Amaziah came to the throne of Judah. Once firmly in control, he executed his father’s murderers (14:1-6). He planned to attack Edom, but when a census of his army revealed that he had not enough soldiers, he hired trained men from Israel. A prophet told him to send the Israelites back, for God would not give Judah’s army victory while it contained men from the ungodly northern kingdom. Angry at missing out on the chance to raid the Edomites, the northerners raided the cities of Judah instead. Amaziah, meanwhile, attacked and defeated Edom (7; 2 Chronicles 25:5-13).

Foolishly, Amaziah brought back to his palace some idols of the defeated Edomites. His military victory gave him such self-assurance that he thought he could act independently of God and ignore the warnings of God’s prophet (2 Chronicles 25:14-16). Confident in his increased military experience, he decided to attack Israel. The Israelite king warned him that Judah would be defeated, but Amaziah persisted. Judah was defeated, Amaziah was taken captive and Jerusalem was plundered (8-16; cf. 13:12). Later he was allowed to return to his throne, but apparently he was unpopular and, like his father, was assassinated (17-22).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

THE FULFILLMENT OF ELISHA'S PROMISE OF
VICTORIES OVER SYRIA BY JOASH

"And Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. But Jehovah was gracious unto them, and had compassion on them, and had respect unto them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither did he cast them from his presence, as yet. And Hazael king of Syria died; and Benhadad his son reigned in his stead. And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times did Joash smite him, and recovered the cities of Israel."

The last sentence here records the exact fulfillment of Elisha's prophecy of a triple victory of Joash over Syria.

We also have here a recapitulation. 2 Kings 13:22 refers back to 2 Kings 13:3, and 2 Kings 13:23 refers back to 2 Kings 13:4-5.

"As yet" (`until now' in margin) These are among the most significant words in the passage. "The author here had in mind that the Northern Israel would ultimately be cast away, rejected, and removed out of God's sight (2 Kings 17:18-23), but, as yet, there still remained an interval of about a century before the blow would fall and the northern kingdom would end."The Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., p. 266.

2 Kings 13:25 may be read to mean that Benhadad had captured those cities which Joash recovered. However, strictly speaking, Hazael is the antecedent of the pronoun "he." But, if Benhadad was Hazael's general in the conquering campaign, then, Hazael, as king, had taken those cities from Jehoahaz, or Benhadad his son and commanding general had done so.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The writer regards the captivity of Israel as God’s “casting them out of His sight” (see 2 Kings 17:18, 2 Kings 17:20); and notes that this extreme punishment, though deserved, was by God’s mercy not allowed to fall on them as yet.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 13

Now we're going to move north again to the reign of Jehoahaz over Israel in chapter thirteen. So up in Israel, Jehu has died and his son Jehoahaz begins to reign over Israel there in Samaria, and he reigned for seventeen years.

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD ( 2 Kings 13:2 ),

Now, I told you before that Israel did not have one decent king. Of every king of Israel, it is declared, "He did evil in the sight of the Lord." Not one of them followed after the Lord. How tragic.

continued in the sins of Jeroboam [the first king who had led the people away from Jehovah to the worship of the calves.] And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, he delivered them into the hand of Hazael the king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad who was the son of Hazael. And Jehoahaz sought the LORD, and the LORD hearkened unto him: for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria was oppressing them. (And the LORD raised up a saviour for Israel, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians: and the children of Israel began to dwell in their own cities, their own tents, as beforetime. Nevertheless they did not depart from their sins, but they walked in them: and there remained the grove, [the place of pagan worship] in the city of Samaria.) ( 2 Kings 13:2-6 ).

And so the people were really cut down. And the death of Jehoahaz is recorded in verse eight.

The rest of his deeds are in the books of the chronicles of the kings of Israel ( 2 Kings 13:8 ).

Now we're going to come back. We have his death recorded, but we're going to come back to Jehoahaz in chapter fourteen. So try and hold that in your mind. We get his death here, but as we get back to Amaziah because Amaziah related to Jehoahaz, we'll come back to Jehoahaz.

And the rest of the acts of Joash [who is also Jehoahaz], and all that he did, the fighting against Amaziah king of Judah, are written in the books of the chronicles of the king of Israel ( 2 Kings 13:12 ).

We don't have that in the Chronicles, but we will have more of that in the next chapter.

Now we turn to Elisha and the death of Elisha.

Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father! the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof ( 2 Kings 13:14 ).

So this is what is called parenthetical. We're still... Joash is still king. We already reported his death, but now we're recording about Elisha. And he is... he came down when Elisha was sick. Now this to me is interesting. As far as the Old Testament is concerned, two men stand out as having great faith for miracles. One is Elijah and the other is Elisha. As Elisha was or... as Elijah was ready to be caught up into heaven, he said to Elisha, "What do you want?" He said, "I like a double portion of the Spirit that is upon me." He said, "If you see me when I go, it will be granted. If you don't, then it won't be granted." So Elisha was there, and he saw Elijah caught up into heaven. And his life was a life of miracles. Marvelous miracles of God were wrought by this man Elisha. A man of great faith. But this particular verse of scripture, "Now Elisha fell sick of this sickness whereof he died."

Let me tell you something; people of great faith get sick. People of tremendous faith die. And it is folly to believe that sickness or death results from a lack of faith or commitment to God. Sickness and death happen to everybody. But there are always those who are trying to sell snake oil. From the days of the early prairie. The cure-all. From bunions to earaches. And there always seems to be someone offering the spiritual snake oil or the panacea or the cure-all to all of the problems that a Christian faces. And these panaceas are offered to people and they go through various stages. When they are offered, you know, the book is written and all you have to do is praise the Lord. And if you just praise the Lord for anything and everything, then that's going to be a cure-all, once you learn to really praise the Lord. It's all going to work out smoothly, you know. All of these people and all these horrible problems, until they begin to praise the Lord for the problem, and once they start praising the Lord, the problem went away.

Let me tell you something. There are some problems you can praise the Lord for from now to eternity, and they're not going to go away. And I think it's absolute idiocy to praise the Lord for some of the things that happen. My uncle died as an alcoholic, oh, praise the Lord! No, that's tragic that he should die an alcoholic. But people are offering these cure-alls. Enough faith, you never need to be sick. Enough faith, you'll always be prosperous. And the spiritual cure-alls that are offered. And they go for a while, but soon there are people who try it and it doesn't work and then all of a sudden as they share their failure, they find that other people have experienced the same failures. They've been praising the Lord for a long time, nothing's happening to their situation and they've been believing; nothing's happened. Who really can understand the ways of God?

I will frankly confess I don't understand the ways of God. Now don't let that surprise you. If I stood up here and told you I understood the ways of God, then I would be a first-class liar. Any man tells you, "Well, I understand the ways of God," he doesn't know what he's talking about. And he is contradicting God because God said, "My ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts" ( Isaiah 55:8 , Isaiah 55:9 ). For "my ways are beyond your finding out" ( Romans 11:33 ).

And I frankly confess I do not know the mysteries of God. I do not know why God allows certain beautiful Christians to be sick. I do not know why God allows many beautiful Christians to suffer. I do not know why many beautiful Christians are in prison in Siberia and in China and been tortured for their faith. I do not know why James was beheaded and Peter was crucified upside down. And Paul was beheaded and the early disciples all suffered martyrdom, because they believed God just as much as any of these pseudo prophets today. And if God wanted us to all be wealthy and prosperous and all, then He would have declared it plainly in the Scripture, and there would be a consistency to it within the Christian body.

It's a tragedy the way that these doctrines have proliferated through the country. People so anxious to believe. Let me tell you something, these doctrines haven't really had an effect upon the Siberian Christians yet. If you went up there and said, "Hey, you know, God wants you all to be prosperous and wealthy. You all ought to be driving Cadillacs up here." And yet, because of the hardships, they have been forced to a much deeper commitment than we even dream about. Their commitment to Christ caused them the slavery that they experience in Siberia. And there are thousands of Christians enslaved in Siberia today because they dare to proclaim their faith and commitment to Jesus Christ.

I wonder just how strong the commitment would be if God began to take away some of the Cadillacs. Well, He has actually. That's the problem with this thing; it's beginning to die out, thank God. Because too many people who went out on the basis on this and began to charge their Cadillacs and their caviar and all, and when the bills came due, they didn't have enough faith to pay them.

"Elisha was fallen sick of the sickness whereof he died." It doesn't mean that God doesn't love you. It doesn't mean that God is opposed to you. It doesn't mean that you've done something wrong and God is punishing you because you are sick. It isn't a sign of second-class spiritual development or growth. The best of God's children get sick. And it is tragic to lay that kind of a thing on, "Well, there's something wrong in your life or you know, if you only had enough faith." Or you know, "Just confess your sin, whatever you've been doing, and God will heal you." We'll be getting to the book of Job soon and we'll learn about this kind of doctrine.

So he came to Elisha who was there really sort of on his deathbed.

And Elisha said to the king Joash, Take your bow and your arrows. And he said, Put your hand in your bow and draw back. And Elisha put his hands upon the king's hand. He said, Now open the window towards the east. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the LORD'S deliverance, the deliverance from Syria: for you will smite the Syrians in Aphek, until you have consumed them. He said, Now take your arrows. And he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, Now smite the arrows on the ground. And the king smote the arrows on the ground three times. And Elisha became upset, he said, Why did you just strike three times; why didn't you smite five or six times; because then you would have utterly consumed the Syrians: but now you will only defeat them three times. So Elisha died, and they buried him. And at this time the Moabites began to send their bands into the land, [sort of marauding bands]. [And there were there was a man who had died and as they were getting ready to bury him, they saw this band of Moabites coming in; and so they just dropped the guy into the grave and began to ran], and they dropped him into the grave where Elisha was buried: and when this [guy's] body hit the bones of Elisha, he came to life, and stood up ( 2 Kings 13:15-21 ).

That to me is interesting and exciting. Such power in Elisha that even the bones there in the grave, this guy's body hitting them, the guy comes back to life.

Hazael the king of Syria was harassing Israel during the whole time of Jehoahaz. But the LORD was gracious, had compassion on them, and respect, because of his covenant with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and he would not destroy them, neither cast him out of his presence as yet. So Hazael the king of Syria died; Benhadad his son reigned in his stead. And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the cities, which had been taken from Jehoahaz his father by war. And three times Joash beat him, and recovered the cities of Israel ( 2 Kings 13:22-25 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

5. Jehoash’s evil reign in Israel 13:10-25

Again two kings with the same name ruled over the Northern and Southern Kingdoms at the same time, though they ruled contemporaneously for only about two years (798-796 B.C.). Jehoash of Israel’s dates are 798-782 B.C., and Jehoash of Judah’s are 835-796 B.C.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Jehoash of Israel’s victories 13:22-25

The basis of God’s continuing mercy to Israel was not her goodness but God’s in remaining faithful to the Abrahamic Covenant (2 Kings 13:23; cf. 1 Kings 8:44-50; Genesis 13:14-17). As Elisha had predicted, Jehoash defeated the Arameans three times (2 Kings 13:25; cf. 2 Kings 13:18-19), but he did not destroy them completely (cf. 2 Kings 13:19).

Why did the writer place the record of the resuscitation (2 Kings 13:20-21) within the story of the Aramean army’s defeat (2 Kings 13:14-25)? Probably he intended the resuscitation incident to illustrate the fact that God would also revive Israel by defeating Aram, as he had revived the dead man. One writer argued that the man who revived was only apparently dead, which is possible since in that culture people were buried almost immediately after they died. [Note: H. L. Ellison, The Prophets of Israel, p. 54.]

In this record of his life, Jehoash appears to have been a spiritually sensitive man whose confidence in God was weak, but he also perpetuated the Jeroboam cult.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And the Lord was gracious to them,.... To Israel, notwithstanding their apostasy from him, and the idolatry of the calves they were guilty of:

and had compassion on them; being in oppression and distress:

and had respect unto them; looked upon them with an eye of pity and mercy:

because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; made so long ago he still remembered:

and would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence as yet; or suffered them to be carried captive into another land, as he afterwards did in the times of Hoshea.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      20 And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.   21 And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.   22 But Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.   23 And the LORD was gracious unto them, and had compassion on them, and had respect unto them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence as yet.   24 So Hazael king of Syria died; and Benhadad his son reigned in his stead.   25 And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities, which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times did Joash beat him, and recovered the cities of Israel.

      We must here attend,

      I. The sepulchre of Elisha: he died in a good old age, and they buried him; and what follows shows, 1. What power there was in his life to keep off judgments; for, as soon as he was dead, the bands of the Moabites invaded the land--not great armies to face them in the field, but roving skulking bands, that murdered and plundered by surprise. God has many ways to chastise a provoking people. The king was apprehensive of danger only from the Syrians, but, behold, the Moabites invade him. Trouble comes sometimes from that point whence we least feared it. The mentioning of this immediately upon the death of Elisha intimates that the removal of God's faithful prophets is a presage of judgments coming. When ambassadors are recalled heralds may be expected. 2. What power there was in his dead body: it communicated life to another dead body, 2 Kings 13:21; 2 Kings 13:21. This great miracle, though very briefly related, was a decided proof of his mission and a confirmation of all his prophecies. It was also a plain indication of another life after this. When Elisha died, there was not an end of him, for then he could not have done this. From operation we may infer existence. By this it appeared that the Lord was still the God of Elisha; therefore Elisha still lived, for God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And it may, perhaps, have a reference to Christ, by whose death and burial the grave is made to all believers a safe and happy passage to life. It likewise intimated that though Elisha was dead, yet, in virtue of the promises made by him, Israel's interests, though they seemed quite sunk and lost, should revive and flourish again. The neighbours were carrying the dead body of a man to the grave, and, fearing to fall into the hands of the Moabites, a party of whom they saw at a distance near the place where the body was to be interred, they laid the corpse in the next convenient place, which proved to be Elisha's sepulchre. The dead man, upon touching Elisha's bones, revived, and, it is likely, went home again with his friends. Josephus relates the story otherwise, That some thieves, having robbed and murdered an honest traveller, threw his dead body into Elisha's grave, and it immediately revived. Elijah was honoured in his departure. Elisha was honoured after his departure. God thus dispenses honours as he pleases, but, one way or other, the rest of all the saints will be glorious, Isaiah 11:10. It is good being near the saints and having our lot with them both in life and death.

      II. The sword of Joash king of Israel; and we find it successful against the Syrians. 1. The cause of his success was God's favour (2 Kings 13:23; 2 Kings 13:23): The Lord was gracious to them, had compassion on them in their miseries and respect unto them. The several expressions here of the same import call upon us to observe and admire the triumphs of divine goodness in the deliverance of such a provoking people. It was of the Lord's mercies that they were not consumed, because he would not destroy them as yet. He foresaw they would destroy themselves at last, but as yet he would reprieve them, and give them space to repent. The slowness of God's processes against sinners must be construed to the honour of his mercy, not the impeachment of his justice. 2. The effect of his success was Israel's benefit. He recovered out of the hands of Benhadad the cities of Israel which the Syrians were possessed of, 2 Kings 13:25; 2 Kings 13:25. This was a great kindness to the cities themselves, which were hereby brought from under the yoke of oppression, and to the whole kingdom, which was much strengthened by the reduction of those cities. Thrice Joash beat the Syrians, just as often as he had struck the ground with the arrows, and then a full stop was put to the course of his victories. Many have repented, when it was too late, of their distrusts and the straitness of their desires.

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

But not merely this. "Elisha died and they buried him" (2 Kings 13:20). Was not Elisha gone then? Not so. There was to be even a more glorious witness in his death than in his life. In his life, no doubt, he had witnessed; but with what great toil and anxiety and pains! stretching himself over the dead youth, he had breathed, and put his face upon the child's face; and so it was, laboriously and with effort in appearance, that God raised him up. For God would show the magnitude of the deed that he was doing then, and although it was in no wise because of all the labour of the prophet, since God could have done it in an instant as truly at the beginning as at the end, yet still it was the way of God. But not so now. Even in death what a witness of the power of life, in Elisha, for, as we are told, "It came to pass as they were burying a man that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood upon his feet." And so will Israel another day not more truly that dead man then, than Israel by-and-by, when all seems forgotten and Israel as good as dead, and buried in response to the prophets, in answer to that voice which will never be truly extinguished, though it may be forgotten or despised, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it, and the hand of the Lord had written it. And according to the prophets Israel will rise again.

They may be, as now they are politically, in the dust of the earth, but they will rise again. This is the portion of Israel. There are those who suppose that nations shall not rise. Alas! it is a common error. And there is no error more common in this day than the denying the resurrection of the body, but we know that the resurrection of the body is the most essential truth of God and the most sacred truth and the peculiar one of the gospel. For if the dead rise not, then is Christ not risen, and God's testimony is denied, for God's testimony is that He raised Christ from the dead which He has not done if the dead rise not. But contrariwise He raised Him up, and so the dead will be raised; and as the dead man here undoubtedly rises, so truly Israel will rise again, and, in truth, it will be "life from the dead" for all the nations. Such is the clear voice of prophecy, and it will be accomplished.

But we find that Hazael still pursues his oppression. Such is the literal history; such is the fact, for the present; such it was then.

And then in the next chapter (2 Kings 14:1-29), whatever might be the measure of right, evil takes its way even in Judah. "And it came to pass, as soon as the kingdom was confirmed in his hands, that he slew his servants which had slain the king his father. But the children of the murderers he slew not; according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein Jehovah commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin. He slew of Edom, in the valley of salt, ten thousand, and took Selah by war, and called the name of it Joktheel unto this day." Amaziah thus shows a measure of righteousness, but his heart becomes, at last, lifted up within him, and he challenges the king of Israel; and the solemn fact appears that God will never sanction the presumption of a righteous man, that God will rather take the part of the bad man who is challenged presumptuously than of the righteous man that challenges him presumptuously. It is a solemn thing when the folly of God's people thus makes it necessary for God so to deal. It was so then, but the truth is, God will always be where righteousness is, and there is not a single failure in righteousness though it be in God's own people, where God does not set His face against it.

Does this then prove that the one is not a righteous man? Not so. But even where the unrighteous man may be righteous, and where the righteous man may be unrighteous, God will appear to change sides. The truth is, that God holds to righteousness wherever it exists. This is what we find, and to my own mind it is a most wholesome principle, and one that counts for a great deal in practical life, because often one sees the sad spectacle in one truly to be loved and valued, but a mistake is made never without its consequences. An error that is made always bears its fruit. Am I therefore to forget my love and esteem for him who has done it? Nay, I am to judge according to God the particular thing; but to let the heart and its affections flow in their proper channel. God would not have us to abandon, any more than He does Himself, the one who trusts Him, for swerving for a moment. God would not have us to sanction an unrighteous man because in a particular instance he may be right; nor, on the other hand, are we to sanction an unrighteous act because done by a righteous man. Well, all this shows us the nice and jealous care in details in details for righteousness. And this is to my mind the great moral of the dealings of God regarding Amaziah and Joash, and the reason why the comparatively righteous Amaziah was allowed to fall before the certainly unrighteous Joash.

Then we find another remarkable dealing of God in the case of Azariah in the fifteenth chapter. We are told there that he was found smitten of the Lord. "And Jehovah smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a separate house." The details of this are not given. He is called here Azariah. You must remember it is the same person who is called Uzziah in the book of Chronicles. But further, at this time evil was coming in more and more with a flood, and we have the sad and humbling history of Samaria. What brought in this terrible day was Ahaz so it is that the Spirit of God speaks of him for Ahaz was the worst king that had ever reigned in Judah up to this point. He it was that first brought in the Assyrian as a helper. At this time the Assyrian had come in in another way. We are told of Azariah king of Judah that "In the nine and thirtieth year of Azariah king of Judah began Menahem the son of Gadi to reign over Israel, and reigned ten years in Samaria. And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah: he departed not all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. And Pul the king of Assyria came against the land."

The solemn thing that appears in Ahaz that I have referred to was that the conspiracy of Israel with Syria led Judah to call in Assyria against Israel. That is the point. It is not merely the only course of enmity that the Assyrian would have against the land. This is the point of the fifteenth chapter; but in the sixteenth it is a still more solemn thing; it is the union of Judah with the Gentile against Israel. And, accordingly, God marks His deep displeasure of this terrible reign. Indeed in every point of view it was unboundedly evil. What did God do? What marked the way of God in that day? It was the time when God brought out prophecy with a greater brightness and distinctness than He had ever been pleased to give. This is of the greatest moment for our souls to consider.

Prophecy always comes in a time of ruin. When was the first prophecy? When man fell. When was the first continuous prophecy prophecy not merely of a person that was coming, but of the character of him that was coming, and what was to be done that which most of all looks like a prophecy? It was Enoch's, when the world was full of corruption and violence, and the flood was about to be sent upon it. Thus if we look either at the prophecy of the Son, of man the woman's Seed, or look at the first form of prophecy, Enoch's, we see how clearly the time of ruin is the time when God gives prophecy. In the same way it is, when we come lower down the stream of time. The most magnificent burst of prophecy that God ever gave was through Isaiah, and Isaiah began his course under these very kings in the days of Azariah and Ahaz. It was continued, indeed, till the days of Hezekiah, but it was in these very times. And there was not Isaiah alone. We know there were other prophets, commonly called The Minor; but I refer to it now for the great moral principle. A time of evil is not necessarily a time of evil for the people of God. It is evil for those' that are false; it is evil for those that would take advantage. But a time of evil is a time when God particularly works for the blessing of those that may have failed. Therefore let no one find an excuse because things are in a condition of ruin.

Take the present time. No man can look upon the face of Christendom without feeling that it is out of joint that it is altogether anomalous that the state of things is inexplicable except to the man who reads it in the light of the word of God that it is confusion, and that the worst confusion is where the highest profession of order is found, and that the truest order is found where people would tax them with disorder; for I believe in point of fact, it really is so. You must remember that in an evil day the external order is always with the enemies of God; the true internal order is always found with those that have faith. Hence it is that now that which has the highest pretension to order is, as we know, the Eastern church the Latin church; but of all the things under the sun in the form of religion, that which is most opposed to God is, surely, the Latin church. And therefore we see clearly how those who make the highest claim to order are precisely those that are most opposed to God's way, and the reason is plain because the great assumption, invariably, of those that stand to outward order is succession a plain continued title from God!

But this is a thing which prophecy so rudely breaks this dream of outward order which is a mere veil thrown over confusion, and every evil work. Hence the immense importance of prophecy in a time of ruin, and so it has been that since the ruin came into Christendom, prophecy has always been the grand support of those who have had faith; as, on the other hand, the Latin church has always been the deadly enemy of prophecy always endeavoured to extinguish the study of it and to destroy all faith in it, and to make people believe that it is impossible to have real light from it that it is an illusion, as indeed they would make you believe the word of God generally is.

Now, then, in this very place I call your attention, beloved friends, to this grand point. When this evil became insupportable, God granted this precious light of His own word the light of prophecy, and I would press this strongly upon all here who love the word of the Lord. Use the same thing, not by any means to make it a kind of study a kind of exclusive occupation, for nothing can be more drying up to spiritual affections than making, what I may call, a hobby of prophecy or of anything else; but I do say that where Christ has the first place, where all the precious hopes of grace, where all our associations with the Lord have their true place and power, a most important part is filled up by the understanding of that light which God gives to judge the present by the future. This was the object of the prophecies of Isaiah, for it is a very important thing to remember that the object of prophecy is, and must be, moral that it is not merely facts; and there is no greater mistake than to suppose that the prediction of events is what makes a prophet. Not so. I admit that prophets did predict events, but prophecy does not mean predicting. Prophecy is always bringing in God to deal with the conscience. If that is not done the grand object of prophecy has failed. And here you have a test, therefore, as to whether you understand and rightly use prophecy. Does it bring your conscience into the presence of God? Does it deal with what you are about? Does it judge the secrets of the heart? Does it shine upon your ways? Where this fails, God's object is not attained. I just draw attention, therefore, by the way, to this beautiful contrast to man's ways on the one hand this flood of evil that was now rising to its height. Nevertheless God, astonishing to say, instead of meeting it by immediate judgment answers it by prophecy. The glorious light that He caused to shine through the prophet Isaiah was His answer. No doubt that made the wickedness of what was going on in the land more apparent, but it had another purpose; it bound up the hopes of every believing soul in Israel with the Messiah that was coming. That was God's great object. It dissociated them from present things, giving them a sound judgment, and means to form an estimate of it, but it bound up their hearts with the Lord.

Therefore I need not say much about the enormous wickedness of Ahaz, which is brought before us in the sixteenth chapter, nor will I do more than just refer to the seventeenth chapter. There the Assyrian comes, but he comes now as an avenger; he comes as a scourge. He sweeps the land, and the ten tribes are carried away never to return till Jesus returns. The ten tribes from that day disappeared from the land of Israel. What took their place what formed the kingdom of Samaria was a mere mass of heathen that took up the forms of Israel that had been left behind, for God in a remarkable way visited the land. When the Assyrians were planted in the devastated cities of Israel they set up their old Assyrian religion, and the Lord sent lions among them. They understood it. Man has a conscience. They understood it; they knew that it was a voice from the God of Israel. It was the God of Israel that claimed that land. No doubt they thought to propitiate Him by renewing the old worship of Israel, and in their folly they sent for a priest of Israel from the captivity, and the old religion, accordingly, was brought in a most strange medley of the nominal worship of Jehovah and real idolatry. But so it was. Thus began not the Samaritan kingdom but the Samaritan religion the mixture of Judaism and idolatry carried on by heathen.

On this I do not now say more than just refer to it. It was a sad succession for a sad people. The ten tribes now dispersed in Assyria awaiting the day when the Saviour will awake them from the dust of the earth when the Saviour will call them back to the land of their inheritance. But we must look at other scriptures before we reach that blessed point.