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GENERAL INDEX TO THE HOLY BIBLE.

13 B. C. prophet one of three plagues. David chooseth to fall into the hands of God, rather than into the hands of men; and God sends a pestilence, so that seventy thousand die on one day. An angel was ready to smite Jerusalem; but on David's deep repentance, and intreaty that God would punish him and his house, rather than the people, the judgment was averted. 2 Sam. xxiv. 1 Chron. xxi,

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Rehoboam is born to Solomon, by Naamah, an Ammonitess. 1 Kings xiv. 21.,

David being now seventy years of age, and extremely infirm, Abishag is procured to sleep with him, as his concubine, that he might have warmth. Adonijah, assisted by Joab and Abiathar, makes himself king; but by the activity of Nathan and Bathsheba, David gives orders to anoint Solomon his successor. 1 Kings 1. On Adonijah hearing this, he betakes himself to the sanctuary and is pardoned.

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David had made great preparations for building the temple, and having given Solomon a plan of it, and a charge concerning it, he fixes the order of the priests, levites, singers, and porters of the temple; and either now or sometime before, he regulates the troops, and the royal property; and then having solemnly charged Solomon, and the princes of Israel, to cleave to the Lord, he soon after dieth. 1 Kings ii. 1-10, 1 Chron. xxii-xxix. David reigned in Hebron seven years and a half; and in Jerusalem thirty-two years.

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Pharaoh, king of Egypt, gives his daughter in marriage to Solomon. 1 Kings iii. 1, 2. 2 Chron viii. 11. Gezer, a frontier city was given with her. 1 Kings ix. 16.

The Lord appears to Solomon in a dream, and bids him ask what he will, and promises it shall be given him, Solomon asks for wisdom; and God gives it to him, together with riches and honour. In his decision respecting the two harlots, he displays his wisdom; and no less so in his admirable proverbs, songs, and various works on natural history, and in the administration of his government. He becomes the admiration of the princes and nations around. 1 Kings iii, iv. 2 Chron. i.

After securing the friendship and assistance of Hiram, king of Tyre, and making great preparations, Solomon, in the four hundred and eightieth year, from the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt, lays the FOUNDATION OF THE TEMPLE. It was finished in seven years and six months, about three thousand years from the Creation, and one thousand and four years before Christ. 1 Kings iv, v, vi. 2 Chron. ii, iii.

Solomon now in a most solemn manner dedicates the Temple, by offering a multitude of sacrifices, and by presenting one of the most suitable prayers ever offered at the throne of mercy. God accepted his prayer, and the structure which he had erected to the honour of his name, and gave a sensible token of his favour. 1 Kings viii. 2 Chron, v-vii.

Near to this time Solomon finishes his own magnificent palace; and continued for some years, building and repairing various cities; and in connexion with Hiram, king of Tyre, he carried on a lucrative trade, sending ships from Ezion-geber, on the Red Sea, to Ophir, most probably, some part of the East Indies. 1 Kings ix. 2 Chron. ix.

In the midst of his prosperity, the queen of Sheba visits him, and is amazed at his wisdom, establishments, and riches. 1 Kings x. 2 Chron ix.

Solomon, wise and serious in the earlier parts of his reign, in the latter part, indulged great licentiousness with heathen women, and apostatized to their idolatries, 1 Kings xi. Neh. xiii. 26. In consequence of this conduct he was threatened with judgments on his house; and several enemies rose up to disturb the peace of his reign towards its close. He at length dies after a reign of forty years. 2 Chron. ix. 30.

The Israelites assemble at Shechem, to crown Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king over all Israel. The people sue for some diminution of their burdens, and a redress of grievances; to whom Rehoboam, neglecting the advice of his father's old and experienced counsellors, and following that of his own young and head-strong companions, returning a harsh and insulting answer, ten tribes revolt from him, and from the pure worship of God, choosing Jeroboam the son of Nebat to reign over them. 1 Kings xii. Jeroboam, in the beginning of his reign, repairs Shechem, and dwells there; but afterwards passing over the Jordan, he builds Penuel, and at length makes Tirzah the capital of his kingdom. Fearing lest his subjects by going up to Jerusalem to worship, should be induced to revolt from him, he wickedly contrives a new form of religion, setting up two golden calves, one at Bethel, and the other at Dan, as objects for the people to worship. Nor could the reproof of the man of God, nor the miracle attending it, bring him to repentance. 1 Kings xii, xiii. 2 Chron. x.

The priests and levites, and other Israelites who feared God, adhere to Rehoboam, and during three years he reigns prosperously; but afterwards apostatizes to idolatry, and walks no more in the ways of David and Solomon. On this God in his providence raises up Shishak, king of Egypt, against him, who

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B. C. cometh to Jerusalem and plundereth both the city and temple; but the king and people repenting under the preaching of Shemaiah the prophet, God does not give them up to utter ruin. 1 Kings xiv. 25. 2 Chron. xii.

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After the division of the kingdom, Rehoboam reigned over Judah and Benjamin seventeen years; and Jeroboam, over the other ten tribes, twenty-two years. 1 Kings xiv. 20, 29.

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Abijam, the son of Rehoboam, succeeds his father in the kingdom of Judah. He obtaineth a signal victory over Jeroboam, killing a vast number of his men, and takes Bethel, and other cities from him. He reigned only three years. 1 Kings xv. 1-7. 2 Chron. xiii.

955 Asa, in the twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, succeeds his father Abijah in the kingdom of Judah, and reigns forty-one years. He was a pious king, who extirpated idolatry, and walked in the ways of David. He was prudent and vigorous in his government, strengthening his kingdom by building fenced cities and forts; and he defeated Zerah the Ethiopian with immense slaughter; and deposed his idolatrous grand-mother. He zealously seconded the efforts of Obed the prophet, exhorting the people to repentance, and to a solemn renewal of their covenant with God. 1 Kings xv. 9-15. 2 Chron. xiv. xv. Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, in the second year of Asa, succeeds his father in the kingdom of / Israel; but reigneth not two full years. For Baasha, of the tribe of Issachar, one of his chief officers, conspires against him, while besieging Gibbethon, a town of the Philistines; and the same year having vanquished all opposition, he became king over Israel, and reigned twenty-four years. In his time lived the prophets, Jehu, Hanani, and Azariah; and he destroyed the whole family of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. 1 Kings xv. 25-34. & xvi. 1—7.

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Baasha soon engaged in a war with Asa, king of Judah, who from mistaken policy, hired the Syrians to invade the kingdom of Israel, and imprisons the prophet who reproves his conduct. 1 Kings xv. 16-22. 2 Chron. xvi. 1-10.

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930 Elah, the son of Baasha, succeeds his father in the kingdom of Israel. In the second year of his reign, and the twenty-seventh of Asa's, Zimri, one of his captains, conspires against him, kills him, and reigneth in his stead. To prevent all future claimants on the crown, he immediately cuts off the whole family of Baasha; but the army, which then lay before Gibbethon, make Omri their king, who hastens to besiege Zimri in Tirzah; and having taken the city, Zimri sets fire to the king's palace, and perisheth amidst the flames. On this the people of Israel were divided into two parties, the one endeavouring to make Tibni, the son of Ginath, king; the other adhere to Omri. After this civil war had lasted near four years, Tibni dieth, and Omri reigns alone, in the thirty-first year of Asa. 1 Kings xvi. 16-22.

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Omri, having bought the hill belonging to one Shamar, or Samar, built on it a city, and called it Samaria; and after reigning six years in Tirzah, he removes, and makes Samaria the seat of his kingdom. 1 Kings xvi. 23, 24.

Ahab, the son of Omri, succeeds his father in the kingdom of Irael, in the thirty-eighth year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigneth twenty-two years in Samaria. Ahab was more wicked than any of the kings of Israel. He married Jezebel, a Zidonian princess, and by her advice introduced the worship of Baal. 1 Kings xvi. 29—34.

Asa dying of diseased feet, Jehoshaphat his son succeeds him. He reforms his kingdom, fortifies his cities, and forms a large body of militia for defence or aggression. He first made friendship with the kings of Israel, and took Ahab's daughter to be the wife of Jehoram his son, 1 Kings xxii. 41–46. Jehoshaphat began to reign in the fourth year of Ahab, and reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem.

During Ahab and Jehoshaphat's reign, Elijah, the Tishbite, the zealous prophet of God, appeared and exercised his office in the kingdom of Israel. At his prayer a drought of three years and a half occurs to the kingdom of Israel, and a grievous famine is the consequence. He withdraws to the brook Cherith, where ravens feed him for a season; and then to a poor widow of Zarephath, whose barrel of meal and cruise of oil, were miraculously increased until the Lord sent rain. He abides with her many days, and her son dying he restores him to life. 1 Kings xvii. 1—24.

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After three years he returns to the land of Israel, shows himself to Ahab, proposes an assembly of the people, and that all the prophets of Baal, who were supported by Jezebel, should be called; and then offers to them, that they should take one steer, and slay it, and put wood on the altar, but no fire, and ́ that he would take another, and slay it, and put wood on the altar, but no fire; and that the God, who should consume the wood and the sacrifice should be acknowledged the Only True God. The proposal is accepted, and the priests of Baal, cry to him in vain; at length Elijah insults them, and then orders a large quantity of water to be poured on his sacrifice, and prays to Jehovah, who instantly sends fire from heaven, which consumes the sacrifice, and licks up the water. The people acknowledge Jehovah to be

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B. C. God; and he orders the priests of Baal to be slain, and then prays for rain which God sends in abundance. 1 Kings xviii. 1-46.

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Jezebel incensed at the prophet for the slaughter of her priests and prophets, threatens to take away his life; and alarmed by her menaces, Elijah retires far southward, into the wilderness of Sinai, where he wished to die; but God by an angel comforts him, and afterwards appears to him in a still small voice at Horeb, orders him to depart, and to anoint Jehu to be king over Israel, Hazael, over Syria, and Elisha prophet in his stead. 1 Kings xix. 1-21.

Benhadad, king of Syria, having arrogantly threatened the destruction of Samária, God punishes him with a signal defeat by a handful of Israelites. Next year to punish his captains' blasphemy, his army is almost utterly cut off. He submits to Ahab, who makes a treaty of peace with him, which proves his own ruin. 1 Kings xx. 1-43. a polod

3105 899 Ahab, desiring the vineyard of Naboth, which he refuses to sell as being the patrimony of his house, he becomes sick at the refusal; but Jezebel soon contrives to cut off Naboth, by false accusation, and Ahab seizeth on his vineyard. For this complicated wickedness he draws upon himself and his family awful denunciations of wrath; but on his outward repentance the execution is deferred for a season. 1 Kings xxi. 1-29.

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Having in the preceding year associated their eldest sons Ahaziah and Jehoram, in power with themselves, Ahab and Jehoshaphat, encouraged by false prophets, march against the Syrians for the recovery of Ramoth-Gilead, though faithfully warned what would be the event, by the honest prophet Micaiah. Ahab is slain in battle, and Jehoshaphat escapes with great difficulty. 1 Kings xxii. 1—40. On the death of Ahab the Moabites revolt from Israel, to whom they had been subject ever since the days of David. 2 Kings i. 1.9

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Ahaziah, king of Israel, lying ill of a fall, sends to consult Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, concerning his recovery. Elijah meeteth the messenger, and sends him back, to inform Ahaziah, that he shall assuredly die. He is so offended at the prophet, that he sends two captains with fifty men to seize him; but he calls for fire from heaven and they are consumed. A third captain being sent, and behaving with great A submission, Elijah goes with him, and assures the king of his speedy death. So he dieth, having governed partly with his father, and partly alone, two years. 1 Kings xxii. 50-53. His brother Jehoram succeeds him, I

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Jehoshaphat, returning from the battle at Ramoth-Gilead, is met by a prophet, and reproved for his alliance with the family of Ahab. He zealously begins and prosecutes the reformation of his kingdom, both as to its civil and religious affairs. 2 Chron. xix. 1-11. And he resumes the same trade, by which Solomon acquired so much wealth; but from his alliance with the house of Ahab, he was disappointed in his hopes; for God as a punishment sent a storm and broke his ships. 2 Chron. xx. 35-37. Elijah is taken up to heaven. 2 Kings ii. 1-11. Elisha succeeds him.

Elisha receives the spirit of Elijah, and multiplies the oil of the widow, promises a son to the Shunamitess, and restores him to life; makes poison harmless; multiplies provision; heals Naaman of his leprosy and affects Gehazi with it; makes iron to swim; blinds and opens the eyes of the Syrian soldiers. The Syrians having long besieged Samaria, and reduced it to the greatest distress, are struck with terror from God, and fly, leaving their tents, utensils, and vast stores of provision. 2 Kings. iv—vii.

A mighty host of Moabites, Ammonites, and others, coming against him, he proclaimed a fast, and offered up his fervent supplications to God for his assistance. God heard his prayer; and he obtained a complete victory. 2 Chron. xx. 1, &c. ..

Jehoshaphat, now grown old, gives to his sons many gifts with fenced cities in Judea ; but his eldest son Jehoram he establisheth on the throne, in the fifth year of Jehoram king of Israel. 2 Chron. xxi. 2, 3. 3115 889-2 Kings viii. 16.!

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Jehoram was no sooner fixed on the throne, than he began to abuse the power he possessed, by the slaughter of his own brethren. Those Edomites, who had been subdued by David and rendered tributaries, now revolted from the king of Judah, and according to the ancient prophecy, they shake off his 888 yoke. Gen. xxvii. 40. 2 Chron. xxii. 16.

Jehoram, following the counsel of his wicked wife Athaliah the daughter of Ahab, sets up in Judah, and even Jerusalem itself, the idolatrous worship of Baal, and compels his people to adopt it. A letter is received from Elisha the prophet, reproving him, and denouncing all those calamities which afterwards befal him. The Philistines, Arabs, and other tribes of the desert, invade his kingdom, ravage it, and murder his family. 2 Chron. xxi. 5—20.

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3119 885 Ahaziah succeeds his father Jehoram, being his only surviving son; and having reigned about a year

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B. C. alone, he and Jehoram king of Israel, and other male-descendants of Ahab, together with Jezebel and the priests of Baal, are all slain by Jehu, to whom God had given the kingdom of Israel. Thus were fulfilled God's denunciations against the house of Ahab. 2 Kings viii. 25-29. & ix. x. 2 Chron. xxii. 1—12.

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On the death of Ahaziah, Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, had sufficient art and interest to secure to herself the crown; and immediately destroys all those whom she could find, who had any claim to the succession; Jehoshebath, the daughter of king Joram and wife to Jehoiada the high priest, takes Joash, being then an infant, and son to her brother Ahaziah, and hides him in the temple, and thus secures him from perishing among the rest of the royal family. 2 Chron. xxii. 10.

Athaliah continues to tyrannize over Judah and Jerusalem, and to support idolatry. Joash in the mean while is safe and educated by his uncle, who calls privately the leading men and the priests, and brings forth and anoints Joash, now seven years old, to be king over Judah. Jehoiada orders Athaliah to be slain, and restoreth the worship of God, having destroyed the temple of Baal, and commanded the idolatrous priest Mattan to be killed before his altars. He reforms the nation and renews their covenant with God. Joash began to reign in the seventh year of Jehu, king of Israel, and reigned forty years. 2 Kings xi. 2 Chron. xxiii..

In the twenty-third year of his reign, Joash giveth order for the repairing of the temple, and committeth the charge thereof to Jehoiada the high priest. 2 Kings xii. 7—16.

Jehoahaz succeedeth his father Jehu in the kingdom of Israel, and reigneth seventeen years. Hazael, who had been anointed to reign over Syria, having slain Benhadad, obtains the throne, and terribly ravages both the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, exercising all the cruelties which Elisha had foretold. 2 Kings xiii. 1. & viii. 12.

Joash, king of Judah, after the death of Jehoiada the high priest, turns from God, together with his subjects, to the worship of idols. Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, reproves the king and the people for their folly and sin; and is stoned to death in the court of the temple by the command of Joash. Soon after this, the Syrians invade and ravage his kingdom; and the next year, some of his own servants conspire against, and murder him. 2 Kings xiii. 10-23. 2 Chron. xxiv. 17—27.

Jehoash, grandson of Jehu, who had been associated with his father Jehoahaz in the government some years, now succeeds him. He visits the prophet Elisha, on his death-bed, and according to his prediction he afterwards obtaineth three signal victories over the Syrians. 2 Kings xiii. 10, 14-23.

Amaziah succeeds his father Joash in the kingdom of Judah, and punisheth his father's murderers. He invades and ravages the country of the Edomites with great cruelty; and becoming proud of his success, provokes Jehoash, king of Israel to a war, in which his army is defeated, Jerusalem and the temple pillaged, and himself taken prisoner. 2 Kings xiv. 1-14. 2 Chron. xxv.

Jehoash dies fifteen years before Amaziah, and Jeroboam the second, his son, succeeds him, and reigns in Samaria forty-one years. He is successful against his enemies, and restores the kingdom almost to its ancient glory, according to the predictions of the prophet Jonah. 2 Kings. xiv. 23-28.

· Jonah was commanded to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, and denounce God's judgments against it; but probably being afraid of losing his life in the execution of this charge, he endeavours to flee to Tarshish. A storm arising, he is cast into the sea, swallowed by a fish, vomited up again, and then goes and proclaims the destruction of Nineveh. Jonah i-iv. Matt. xii. 39-41. The king and the people fast and repent; and the judgment threatened is delayed for a season.

Amaziah, king of Judah, finding a conspiracy formed against him, flies to Lachish, where he is murdered; and his son Uzziah, in the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam the second, king of Israel, begins to reign, and reigns fifty-two years in Jerusalem. 2 Kings xiv. 21, 22. & xv. 1-4. 2 Chron. xxvi. 1-15. During Uzziah's long reign, Amos and Hosea prophesy; reprove severely the Israelites for their sins, and foretel the judgments which would assuredly come upon them. Amos i. 1, &c. Hos. i. 1, &c. A ter rible earthquake is felt in Judea. Zech. xiv. 5. Amos i. 1.

Jeroboam the second, after a long and prosperous reign, dying, the kingdom of Israel falls into a state of anarchy, and continues so for the space of eleven years and more, when Zechariah, the fourth in descent from Jehu, obtains the crown and reigns six months. 2 Kings xv. 8-12. Thus was fulfilled the prediction, 2 Kings x. 30.

Shallum, who murders Zechariah, succeeds him and reigns but one month, when he is slain by Menahem, who becomes king and reigns ten years. While he was spreading destruction in his own country, Pul, king of Assyria, invades the kingdom and lays it under tribute. The kingdom of Assyria had flourished for above a thousand years, including Chaldea, Media, Persia, &c. This king is supposed to be the king who repented at the preaching of Jonah, and called by profane writers Sardanapalus, on whose

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About this time. Uzziah, proud of his conquests and wealth, attempts to offer incense in the temple, is withstood by Azariah the high priest, and struck with the leprosy. He is thrust out of the temple as unclean; and his son Jotham governs the kingdom. 2 Kings xv. 5, 6. 2 Chron. xxvi. 16-23. Isaiah and Micah begin now to prophesy.

Pekahiah succeeds his father Menahem, as king over Israel, in the fiftieth year of Uzziah, king of Judah, and reigned two years. Pekah one of his own captains, conspired against him, and kills him, in his own palace in Samaria; and succeeds him in the kingdom of Israel, which he governs twenty years. 2 Kings xv. 23—26.

Jotham succeeds his father Uzziah, in the second year of Pekah, and in the twenty-fifth of his own age, and reigned with wisdom, and piety, and great prosperity, sixteen years. 2 Kings xv. 27—38. 2 Chron. xxvii. 1-9.

Ahaz succeeds Jotham, and reigns sixteen years. He does not follow the conduct of his father, and brings on himself and kingdom heavy judgments. Retzin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, form a league against Ahaz and Judah, which strikes terror into the people; but Isaiah is sent with a gracious message, assuring the king that their designs should be frustrated. Isa. vii. They invade Judah and lay siege to Jerusalem, but are compelled to retreat. They however slay his best troops, and carry off a number of captives, which by order of the prophet Oded, are sent back. In this state of weakness, the Edomites and Philistines from the south and west, invade and plunder Judah. Ahaz at last sends a present and hires Tiglath-pileser, or Arbaces king of Nineveh, to come against his enemies; who accordingly invades Syria, takes Damascus, ravages the kingdom of Israel, and carries a great number of Syrians and Israelites captives to Media. Ahaz goes to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser, and seeing there an altar, he orders one to be made like it, and sets up the Syrian idolatry. 2 Kings xv. 2 Chron. xxviii. Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah, still continue prophesying.

739 Hoshea, the son of Elah, murders Pekah, king of Israel; and after a civil war of nine years, he at length obtains the throne, and reigned nine years in Samaria. Salmaneser, son of Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, comes against Hoshea, and makes him tributary to his own empire. 2 Kings xv. 30. & xvii. 1, 2. This year ROME, destined to become the mistress and ruler of the fairest portion of the earth, was founded by Romulus.

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After being associated with his father one year, Hezekiah begins to reign alone over Judah. He with equal piety and wisdom puts down idolatry, reforms abuses both in church and state, and greatly prospers. He refuses to pay tribute to the Assyrians, and is successful against the Philistines, whom he reduces to subjection. 2 Chron. xxix-xxxi. Isa. xiv. 28.

721 Salmaneser, king of Assyria, finding that Hoshea, king of Israel, had made a league with So, king of Egypt, for the purpose of regaining his independence, and of opposing the growing power of Assyria, marches against him, besieges, and takes, and demolishes Samaria, his capital; makes him a prisoner, and transports the remaining Israelites to Assyria and Media, whence few ever returned to Canaan. 2 Kings xvii. 3-23. xviii. 9—12. 2 Chron. xxx. 6. Neh. ix. 32. Isa. vii, viii, xxiv, xxviii. Hos. iv-xiii, &c. Thus ended the kingdom of Israel, two hundred and fifty-four years from its commencement by the revolt of the ten tribes from the house of David. Salmaneser soon after ravaged Phoenicia, and left his army to besiege Tyre, which lasted five years, and then the siege was raised.

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Salmaneser dying was succeeded by Senacherib his son, who reigned about eight years. As soon as he was fixed on the throne he renewed the demand, which his father had made, on Hezekiah, for tribute; and on his refusal denounced war against him. In this year, the fourteenth of his reign, Hezekiah fell sick of the plague; but on his deep repentance and hearty prayer, his life was in great mercy to his country preserved for fifteen years longer. Isa. xxxix. 2 Kings xx. 12-21. 2 Chron. xxxii. 25—33.

Merodach-Baladan, king of Babylon, hearing of Hezekiah's miraculous recovery, and wishing to form an alliance with him against the growing power of Assyria, sends ambassadors to him, to whom he shows his treasures. He is threatened with the loss of all, and informed, that his seed shall hereafter be carried captive to Babylon.

Senacherib, having speedily subdued the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, and Philistines, comes up against the fenced cities of Judah, lays siege to Lachish, and threatens Jerusalem. Hezekiah had adopted the best means of defence, and formed an alliance with Egypt, to strengthen himself. Senacherib, aware how difficult it would be to take a city so strong and well defended, agreed to depart on condition that Hezekiah should pay a stipulated sum, which he paid; but Senacherib did not regard the agreement

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