The calling in of the king of Assyria was fraught with disastrous consequences. ‘*He distressed him and strengthened him not.’’? Well may the Apostle warn us not to be yoked with unbelievers. Such alliances always result in the undoing of God’s children. We cannot serve two masters. Thus in the hour of distress, notwithstanding the increasing and noble remonstrances of Isaiah, this same king Ahaz trespassed yet more against Jehovah.

Tt is remarkable, as showing the folly of the human heart, that in the lowest hour of his degradation before his conqueror Ahaz imitated the altar which he saw at Damascus. For this, the ancient brazen altar in Jehovah’s Temple was displaced; and upon it in the sacred fane sacrifices were offered to the gods of the heathen, Alas, there is too much of this in the present day! Men are going back from the simplicity and spirituality of Christ to exploded philosophies and systems, which have failed in the past to satisfy soul hunger. Let us beware of the vacuum of the soul into which such evil things intrude. It is only as we are filled by the indwelling Spirit that we are immune against these temptations.

2 Kings 17:1-12. This chapter reads like a page from the books of the great white throne. Hoshea, the last king of Israel, did not follow in all the evil deeds of his eighteen predecessors, but the degeneracy of the nation was too far advanced for anything to arrest its collapse. The dry-rot had eaten its way through the specious covering. Worldly policy was the immediate cause of the nation’s downfall. Had they obeyed God simply and absolutely, they could have trusted him to maintain their independence. But they chose to enter into alliances, now with Syria, and then with Egypt, and so became entangled in the wars of their allies. See Hos, 7:11; 923, 6712215 etc:

Let us read carefully the bill of divorce which the Heavenly Husband gave to the recreant people whom he put away. It is a pathetic document from v. 7 onward; but none can say that Jehovah had not good and sufficient cause for acting as he did. The wonder is that he bore so long with the apostate race. Read the first three chapters of Hosea to learn how the divine heart was rent when the hour of separation came: but let us not forget the assurances of Romans 11, that the true Israel shall ultimately be saved.