800 SECOND CHRONICLES XXVII-JOTHAM'S REIGN 19 Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, from beside the incense altar. 20 And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him. 21 And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the LORD: and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land. 22 Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write. 23 So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead. Chapter 27 1 Jotham reigning well prospereth. 5 He subdueth the Ammonites. 7 His reign. 9 Ahaz succeedeth him. OTHAM was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok. 2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah did: howbeit he entered not into the temple of the LORD. And the people did yet corruptly. 3 He built the high gate of the house of the LORD, and on the wall of Ophel he built much. 4 Moreover he built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers. 5 He fought also with the king of the Ammonites, and prevailed against them. And the children of Ammon gave him the same year an hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. So much did the children of Ammon pay unto him, both the second year, and the third. 6 So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God. 7 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars, and his ways, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. 8 He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. 9 And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead. Solomon's Downfall BY NICHOLAS WLEUGHELS OR VLEUGHELS, AN ARTIST DIRECTOR OF THE FRENCH ACADEMY, DIED 1737. "And the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned from the Lord."—I. Kings, 11, 9. T HUS the causes of dissatisfaction against Solomon increased in Israel. He burdened the people with taxation, and he disobeyed their religious law. A yet graver consequence soon followed. He was persuaded by several of his wives to permit them to worship their own gods, and afterwards he was led to join them in idolatry. The downfall of the chosen servant and friend of the Lord was thus complete. "For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites." His apostasy may have been private at first; but later he displayed it before all his people. He built public altars to Chemosh, the Moabite god, and to Molech, the dread god of fire to whom were offered human sacrifices. These altars stood as landmarks upon the hills surrounding Jerusalem. Thus the wisdom of earth became foolishness; and the outworn, feeble, disheartened old king sank down into a grave of shame, crying out that all life was but vanity. |