Ahaz was one of the most wicked kings of Judah, He not only passed his children through the lines of fire, but seems to have burnt some of them, 2 Chron. 28:3. He filled Judah with the abominations of the heathen. The hills and woodlands of the Holy Land were contaminated by all the excesses of natureworship. When therefore Syria and Israel confederated against him, Ahaz naturally turned to ecreature-aid. In spite of the remonstrances of Isaiah, he offered a bribe to the king of Assyria to do what God Almighty would have done, under happier conditions. This was the first step toward the utter undoing of Judah.

The first ten or twelve chapters of Isaiah cast a flood of light on the inner polities of this dark epoch. They give a glimpse also of Isaiah’s profound emotions at the evils that threatened his fatherland. No servant of God ean view the present state of civilization without grave concern, and we are bound to resist, so far as we ean, the influences which are engaged in the work of moral disintegration. We are citizens of heaven, but also of earth, and must render to Cesar such things as naturally belong to him.