Lesley.] ^-'-'^ [May, 



Amaziali (a Hebrew name) succeeded to the throne. His mother was 

 Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. He served Jehovah ; defied Joash of Israel ; was 

 defeated and ruined, and afterwards assassinated. His piety towards Jeho- 

 vah stood him as little in stead as did his descendant's, Josiah. 



Azariah {Uzziah), his son, had a long, pious and prosperous reign of 

 fifty-two years. Jecholiah of Jerusalem was his mother. He became a 

 leper, and his son Jotham acted as regent . 



Jotham's mother was Jerusha, daughter of Zadok (a priestly name), 

 and he worshiped Jehovah, like his father. One would not expect any- 

 thing non-semitic in his name, tutov (lOThM), and it is probably rightly 

 translated "Jehovah (is) upright;" but it is constructed precisely on the 

 Egyptian plan in all those cartouches containing nefer and tat. It is an 

 ancient name also, for it occurs in the history of the times of the Judges 

 (9: 5) as the name of a son of Gideon (LXX yEdsiuv^ \'^V~^^i perhaps "tree- 

 cutter," or impetuous warrior. Ges.). 



Ahaz, his son, succeeded, and sent for Tiglath Pilezar to come and carry 

 off the Beni-Israel. He sacrificed his own son to Moloch ; and one is sorry 

 not to find his mother's name recorded, for she was probably a foreigner, 

 and gave him his name. 



The curious thing about this word jnN, LXX ^a/a^ (Joseplius ^a-/a.^-/]c) 

 in this case is, that it stands alone, pure and simple ; whereas in the cases 

 of Ahaziah the sixth King of Judali, his direct ancestor, and Ahasiah 

 the seventh King of Israel, the word is joined to the name of Jah, "whom 

 Jehovah sustains," exactly equivalent in sense to the Pharaonic Ba-tat-ka, 

 16th cartouche on the 2d tablet of Abydos, Sol sustains life ; and Ra-tat-f, 

 32d cartouche on the same, Sol Ms sustainer. 



Ahaz would represent the tat standing alone in the cartouche. 



It is very remarkable to find Asa and Ahaziah connected in Judah, and 

 Assa the Pharaoh of Egypt with the surname of Tatkara. 



Ahaz reigned sixteen years, and seems to have been an exceedingly 

 heathenish prince, respecting neither Jehovah, the priesthood, nor the 

 prophetic schools. He closed the temple of Solomon. No wonder he 

 dropped the Jah from the name which he inherited from his ancestor 

 AhazjaJi five generations back. Under his auspices the Phynicean Baal 

 and Astarte-worship flourished, as it did at that time in the Delta of Egypt. 



His politics, however, were not Egyptian. He called in to his aid, not 

 the power of Egypt, but the army of Pul, King of Assyria, and became 

 his vassal. In consequence, Pul's successor, Tilgath Pilezar, added Gilead 

 and Galilee to his empire, wiping out the true Children of Israel from the 

 Promised Laud. The hoarded wealth of Judah was the price paid for a 

 merely nominal security against the same fate. From this date of Ahaz's 

 reign in Judah we hear no more of Ephraim ; the lands of which were now 

 crowded with forced colonists from Mesopotamia, bringing their languages 

 and religions with them, and mixing these up with the Hebrew language 

 and the worship of Jehovah. 



Hezekiali followed Ahaz on the throne of Judah, and reigned twenty 



