28 Because 'thy rage against me and thy tumult1 is come up into mine ears, Therefore I will put my hook2 in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips,

And I will turn thee back 'by the way by which thou camest.

And this shall be a sign unto thee,3

Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves,

And in the second year that which springeth of the same;
And in the third year sow ye, and reap,

And plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof.

30" And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah

Shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. 31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant,

Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria,
He shall not come into this city nor shoot an arrow there,
Nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.4
33 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return,
And shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.

34 For I will defend this city, to save it,

'For mine own sake, and "for my servant David's sake.

And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD3 went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand and 36 when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So P 76 5-7. Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at 37 Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia8 [or, Ararat]. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

Hezekiah's sickness and recovery; visit and reception of ambassadors from Babylon. 20 IN those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order [Give charge concerning thine house/]; for thou shalt die, and not 2 live.10 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying, 3 I beseech thee, O LORD, * remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with * a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

4 And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court,11 that the 5 word of the LORD came to him, saying, Turn again, and tell Hezekiah 'the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, "I have heard thy prayer, I have seen "thy tears: behold, I will heal thee; on 6 the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my 7 servant David's sake. And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

B. c. 713-698. U.]

8

And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the LORD will 9 heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the LORD the third day? And Isaiah said, 'This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go 10 back ten degrees? And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. 11 And Isaiah the 'prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial1 of Ahaz.

12

23

2

At that time Berodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah: for he had heard that Hezekiah had been 13 sick. And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and showed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold,5 and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour [or, jewels], and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not.6

14

ch. 24 13; 25. 1315; Jer. 27. 21, 22; 52. 17-19.

Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, 15 They are come from a far country, even from Babylon. And he said, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All the things that are in ver. 13; Pro. 28, 13. mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them. 16, 17 And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD. Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, 18 saith the LORD. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the ch. 24. 12; 2 Chr. 19 king of Babylon. Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. And he said, Is it not good, if peace and truth be [or, shall there not be peace and truth] in my days? And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made parallel, 3 Chr. a pool, and a conduit, and 'brought water into the city, are they not written in 21 the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And Hezekiah slept with his fathers and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.

21

Wicked reign of Manasseh.

h

MANASSEH 'was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty 2 and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hephzi-bah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the 3 heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel. For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and P wor4 shipped all the host of heaven, and served them. And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the Lord said, "In Jerusalem will I put my name. 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven 'in the two courts of the house of 6 the LORD. 'And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed "times,

0

1 The same Hebrew word is translated 'degrees' in vers. 9, 10; and in other passages 'steps.' Hence many commentators have supposed that the dial consisted of a stair, or series of steps, so constructed that the shadow upon it marked the hours. The phenomenon was clearly miraculous, in whatever way it was effected. God alone could infallibly predict or effect it.

2 He is called, in Isa. xxxix. 1, 'Merodach-baladan :' deriving his name from a Babylonian idol (see Jer. 1. 2). Babylon continued, until after this period, to be a province of Assyria; but it was just at this time held by an usurper of this name, who would naturally desire to enter into friendly connection with a neighbouring king who had, like himself, thrown off the Assyrian yoke. Such an embassy would also be peculiarly welcome to Hezekiah, who would be glad to form an alliance with the king of Babylon against the Assyrians; which, however, was repugnant to the Divinely ordained laws of the Hebrew government.

3 We learn, from 2 Chron. xxxii. 31, that an account of the miracle connected with this event had reached Babylon. Such a wonder was peculiarly fitted to excite the curiosity of a scientific people like the Chaldeans.

4 Or, 'rejoiced at their arrival' (see Isa. xxxix. 2). This embassage and present from Babylon proved too powerful

33. 11.

e fulfilled, Dan. 1. 3. 1 Sam. 3 18; Job 1. 21; Pa. 39. 9.

32. 32, 33.
A2 Chr. 32. 4: No.
3. 16.

i 2 Chr. 32. 31,
* 2 Chr. 32 33

I see parallel, 2 Chr. 33. 1-9.

mch. 16. 3.

n ch. 18. 4.
1 Ki. 16. 31-33

P ch. 17. 16; Deu. 4
19; 17. 3

9 Jer. 32. 34.

Den. 12. 5; 2 Sam. 7. 13; 1 Ki. & 29; 9.3

1 Ki. 6. 36; 7. 12 fch, 16.3; 17. 17; Le. 18. 21: 20. 2.

Ie. 19. 26, 31; Deu. 18. 10, 11.

an assailant for Hezekiah's heart, and put him off his guard. See 2 Chron. xxxii. 31.

5 How these riches had been amassed so rapidly is not stated. Not long before Hezekiah had been obliged to empty his treasury, and had even stripped the temple, to meet the demand of the king of Assyria. He had probably obtained large spoils from the Assyrian camp (see ch. xix. 35); and he had also subsequently received considerable presents, both for his own use and for the service of the temple. See 2 Chron. xxxii. 23.

6 Hezekiah's vanity was particularly culpable, as the ostensible reason of this embassy afforded a good opportunity of honouring Him who had wrought the miracle and the cure; but this he seems to have neglected to do.

7 The punishment was to be inflicted through the very people who had occasioned his sin. This is the first explicit prediction of the Babylonian exile, although it had been hinted at before. It was partly fulfilled in the captivity of Manasseh (2 Chron. xxxiii. 11); and in the reign of Zedekiah it was fully accomplished (2 Chron. xxxvi. 18). Hezekiah's fault in this matter is not to be considered as the cause of this national calamity, but rather as the occasion of its denunciation at this time. Kings xv. 13. The 8 See notes on Judg. ii. 11, 13; worship of stars seems to have been of Chaldean origin.

407

b

с

2

1 Chr. 10. 13.

y ver. 4; eh. 23: 2 Sam. 7. 13; 1 KL 8.29; 93; Pa. 132 13, 14; Jer. 31 34

Sam. 7. 10. Le. 2. 3

81 KL. 14. 16; Pro

29. 12

eb. 23. 26, 27: 243, 4; Jer. 15. 4

and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought 7 much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which 8 I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them. 9 But they hearkened not:1 and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did | the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel. 10, 11 And the LORD spake by his servants the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh d king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin 12 with his idols: therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am ch. 22. 16; Dan. 9.12. bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both 13 his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab :3 and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man 14 wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. And I will 'forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; 15 and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, " since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day.

16

17

Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.

d1 Ki. 21. 25
ever. 9.

81 Sam. 3 11; Jer. 19 3

A see ch. 17. 6; Is 34 11: Lam. 28; Am 7.7,8

KL. 2. N-A

14.23 Le 17,36-3

Den. 31. 17.

"Deu. 9. 24; Judg. 2. 11-13

ch. 24. 2,4

P vers. 7, 11.

33. 18-20

Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh,5 and all that he did, and his sin that he see parallel, 2 Chr. sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 18 And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza. And Amon his son reigned in his stead.

'AMON was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Meshullemeth, the daughter 20 of Haruz of Jotbah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, 21 as his father Manasseh did. And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them: 22 and he forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the 23 LORD. And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in 24 his own house. And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon. And the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.

25

2

Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the 26 book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And he was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his stead.

с

Reign of Josiah; his reformations, and suppression of idolatry.

d

с

2 Chr. 3 20.
see 2 Chr. 21. 20; 24
16, 25.

t see parallel, 2 Chr. 3321-2

" ver. 2, ete.

Den. 15; 1 KL 11. 33

Feb. 12 20; 2 Chr. 33. 24. 25.

ch. 14. 5.

4 ch. 14. 1; 1 Sam. 11. 15

b ver. 18

Mt. L. 10, called
Jenar.

d see parallel, ? Chr. 34. 1, 2; see also l Ki 13 2

22 JOSIAH was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty
and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter
2 of Adaiah of Boscath. And he did that which was right in the sight of the
LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to s
the right hand or to the left.

3

And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the 4 LORD, saying, Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door 5 have gathered of the people: and let them 'deliver it into the hand of the

1 This national relapse into idolatry, so quickly after Hezekiah had laboured earnestly to root it out, indicates that the reformation which he effected amongst the people was in most cases only external, without a real change of heart.

2 It is supposed that, besides Isaiah, some of the minor prophets were living in this reign, and perhaps others whose predictions have not been preserved.

3 As they had followed Ahab's sins (see ver. 3), so they should share the doom of his family and kingdom.

4 Apostasy is usually accompanied by a fierce and per

secuting spirit. The Jews say that the prophet Isaiah was put to death, being sawn asunder by the king's command. Josephus says that Manasseh cruelly slew all the righteous men among the Hebrews; nor would he spare the prophets, but every day slew some of them: so that Jerusalem was overflowed with blood (Antiq. x. 3).

5 We learn from 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11, that Manasseh was taken prisoner by the Assyrians, and carried to Babylon; and that there he repented and sought God, and was afterwards restored to his kingdom, probably as a tributary to the king of Assyria. See ch. xxiii. 29.

doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the LORD," to 6 repair the breaches of the house, unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and 7 to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house. Howbeit "there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully.

8

And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to 9 Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, 10 that have the oversight of the house of the LORD. And Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And 11 Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard 12 the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king's, 13 saying, Go ye, inquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.

14

26

So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the 15 college [or, in the second part];) and they communed with her. And she said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me, 16 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath 17 read: because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands;5 therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched. 18 But to the king of Judah which sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, As touching the words which 19 thou hast heard; Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard 20 thee, saith the LORD. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace:6 and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.

เ

23 And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of 2 Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant" which was found in the house of the LORD. 3 And the king "stood by a pillar,” and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes, with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.

1 This may have been the original copy of the law of Moses (see 2 Chron. xxxiv. 14), or of the covenant which was renewed with the people in the plains of Moab; for they were laid up beside the ark (see Deut. xxxi. 24 -26). It is probable that, during the reigns of Manassch and Amon, the reading of the Scriptures had been prohibited, and generally given up; and if some of the people had copies for their own private use, these would be concealed from fear of persecution.

2 Heb., 'melted;' or, 'poured forth: that is, paid out. 3 The passages read to the king were probably, among others, the threatenings and curses of the law against its transgressors (Lev. xxvi., or Deut. xxviii.) It would seem that Josiah had never before heard them, though many copies of the law had been made under the direction of Hezekiah. To account for this, it is supposed that the people generally at that time were satisfied with abstracts, containing only a sort of ritual directing them in the outward observances of religion.

ch. 12. 5.

" eh. 12. 15.

• Deut. 31. 24, etc.; 2 Chr. 34. 14, etc.

P Deu. 17. 18-20.

9 see Num. 14. 6. Abdon, 2 Chr. 34. 20. 'or, Micah,

Deu. 29. 23-28; 31. 17, 18.

"see refs. Ex. 15. 20. Tikvath, 2 Chr. 34. 22.

yor, Harrah.

ch. 20. 17: Deu. 29. 27; Dan. 9. 11–14.

a Deu. 29. 24-28.

b Deu. 32. 22; Jer. 7.
20.
ey Chr. 34. 26, etc.
d Is. 3. 10.

Ps. 51. 17; Is. 57. 15
Le. 26. 40, 41: 1 Ki.
21. 29; Mic. 6. 8.
Le. 26. 31, 32.

A Jer. 26. 6; 44. 22.
í ch. 19. 20.

* Ps. 37. 37; Is. 57. 1, 2.

see parallel, 2 Chr. 34. 29-32.

mch. 22. 8.

"ch. 11. 14, 17.

Den. 10. 12. P Jos. 24. 24.

4 Literally, in the second.' It probably means either the suburbs, or the lower city as distinguished from the upper. See note on ch. xx. 4.

5 From the whole tenor of the history, as well as from the testimony of the prophets Jeremiah and Zephaniah, who lived at this period, it is evident that the zealous reformation of Josiah had not been heartily complied with by the people, especially by the chief men; and that the nation generally were impenitent, and ripening fast for judgment. The earlier prophecies of Jeremiah, which were probably delivered during the time of Josiah, give us much insight into the moral and religious state of the kingdom of Judah, at a time when the worship of God was maintained by the authority of the crown, and idolatry was punishable with death.

6 That is, before the destruction of Jerusalem and the overthrow of the kingdom. These predictions seem to have further quickened the king's zeal. See ch. xxiii. 7 See note on ch. xi. 14.

4

7 ch. 21, 3, 7.

Hes 1a 5; foretold,

Zeph. 1.

And the king commanded1 Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host | of heaven and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and 5 carried the ashes of them unto Beth-el. And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets 5 [or, constella6 tions], and to all the host of heaven. And he brought out the 'grove from the ch. 21.3 house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof 7 upon "the graves of the children of the people. And he brake down the houses ch. 17; 2 Chr. of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.

8

1 ch. 21. 7.

34. 4.
1.K. 14, 24; 15 12
Ex. 35 25: Ese. 16.

16

And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba, and brake 1 152 down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of 9 the city. Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their

10

brethren.

e

C

see Eze. 44. 10-14 1 Sam. 2. X

-13

Tophet; 13 6, 11

And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom,813 that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to 11 Molech. And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to

the sun, at the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the 12 sun with fire. And the altars that were on the top 10 of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and 'cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. 13 And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for 'Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for " Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did 14 the king defile. And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.

Moreover the altar that was at Beth-el, and the high place ? which Jeroboam Ki. 12. 2—3 the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, 16 and burned the grove. And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the 17 LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. Then he said. What title 12 is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the1 sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these

1 This purification appears, from 2 Chron. xxxiv., to have been begun before the finding and public reading of the law; but it was probably not completed till afterwards, and therefore the whole is recorded together here. 2 The inferior priests.

3 Sending the impure to an impure place, which had long ago been polluted by the calf-worship.

4 Heb., Chemarim.' See Zeph. i. 4. The analogous Syriac word means a priest; and seems to have been properly used for the priests of Syrian idols.

5 The Hebrew words 'Mazzaloth' and 'Mazzaroth' are supposed to mean the resting-places of the sun, i.e. the twelve signs of the Zodiac. See Job xxxviii. 32.

6 That is, either drapery to adorn or protect the image of Asherah, or the tent in which the idol was placed.

7 These appear to have been descendants of Aaron, who had officiated at the high places in the kingdom of Judah, professedly worshipping the true God, but in an unlawful manner. That they might not continue to do mischief in the country, they were brought to Jerusalem to reside among their brethren; but they were not suffered to exercise priestly functions, although maintained at the charge of the sanctuary, according to the law in Lev. xxi. 17-23. The idolatrous priests of Samaria were all

1K 12
131, 4, M, N

slain (ver. 20), as the law required (Exod. xxii. 20).

8 Sometimes called 'Gei Hinnom,' whence the Greek Gehenna. This place having been the scene of the cruel worship of Moloch, Josiah caused it to be polluted by throwing into it the dead bodies of animals and the offal of the city. This practice being continued afterwards, fires were lighted in the valley to consume the carcases, and thus prevent the noxious effects which might otherwise have arisen. Hence the place was called the Gehenna of fire; and represented to the Jews the place of punishment for the wicked, where it is emphatically said by our Lord, quoting from Isaiah, 'their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched' (Isa. lxvi. 24; Mark ix. 44). 9 The ancient Persians, who were sun-worshippers, dedicated to that luminary white horses and chariots, which were paraded on solemn occasions.