T HE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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PICTORIAL QUESTIONS Who was Hezekiah? II Chron. 28:27. What had taken place in the northern kingdom? II Kings 17:4-6. .Who was the last king in the northern kingdom? II Kings 17:1. What LESSON great prophet was liv- QUESTIONS ing at this time? Isa. W. H. Pike 37:5. Was the temple jclosed when Hezekiah came to the throne? 29:3. Had the public worship of Jehovah nearly ceased? 29:4-5. What year of his reign did Hezekiah make these reforms? 29:3. What edict did Hezekiah send forth? To whom did he send it? Was Israel minded to go to Jerusalem to worship? In what place had they been worshiping under Ahab’s reign? Why did they keep the Passover in the second month? In what month ought it to have been kept? Ex. 12:2, 3, 6, 11. What was' right in the eyes of the king and assembly? Whom did they use to spread abroad the edict? What did the people of Ephraim and Manasseh say to this exhortation? How did the Levites feel? Verse 15. What did they do? Were all in the congregation sanc tified? Who prayed for that unsanc tified company? What did Jehovah do for them? What feast did they keep following the passover? How did Heze kiah speak to the Levites? What did the people do unto . God? What were the results of this keeping of the pass- over? What feeling was in Jerusalem as a result of this passover? Had the passover ever been kept in such detail and by so many people since the days of David? What did the priests and, Levites do at the close? Did God hear their prayer and praise?. Practical Questions Ought a nation to worship God as a nation? Ought our nation to send forth edicts from time to time exhorting the people to repentance and worehip? Of what was the passover a type? Was there
heads with both hands, and shall find that sin brings the worst desolation— that which sheds gloom over the god less soul.R-Maclaren. v. 9. God is gracious and merciful. God’s mercy is a holy mercy which knows how to pardon sin, not to protect it. It is a sanctuary for the penitent, not for the presumptuous.-—Reynolds. As the sun’s rays will irradiate even the murky pool and make its stagnant waters to shine like silver, so God’s grace and tender mercy toward the most rebellious sinners make His own image visible there.— Ballou. They that led captive. Though the ten tribes, as such, had not been deported, yet thousands had been led captive. Hezekiah’s song of degrees refers to this.— Comp. Bible. v. 10. They laughed them to scorn. So, alas, it is with the better message which is either a savor of life unto life or death unto death. The same fire melts wax and hardens clay. — Alex ander. It is ours to sound the warning and leave the results with God.— Riley. v. 11. Divers humbled themselves. The summons to return unto God is ad dressed to us all even more urgently than to Israel. God Himself invites us by His providences, by His voice within, by the voice of Jesus Himself who is ever saying to each of us by His death, resurrection, and ascension, “Turn y e, turn ye.” He has more than endorsed Hezekiah’s messengers’ assurance that Jehovah will not turn away His face from us, by His own gracious promise, “ Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”—Maclaren. v. 12. The hand of God. It is God that works, both to will and to do. When people at any time manifest an unex pected forwardness to do that which is good, we must acknowledge the hand of God in it.— Henry. v. ' 13. Assembled much people. Everything shows that the Spirit of God was in the gr'eat revival. Not since the days of Solomon, when he had dedicated the house, had Jerusalem seen anything like this. Dispensationally, the great revival foreshadows what will take place when the King of Israel will oc cupy the throne and reign; when all Israel is united and back in the land (Ezek. 37); when His people will wor ship and praise the Holy One of Israel. — Gaebelein.
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