TAKING OF LACHISH. (2 Kings xviii.)]

For much of Solomon's wisdom was of the earthly sort. He stood first
among all the learned men of his day. He would now be called a
'scientific' man. But all science which is limited to mere human
wisdom grows quickly out of date. The cleverest men of to-day will be
thought very ignorant in a few years.

Whereas David's writings live. His love for God, and his faith in God,
made him able to write those words of trust and hope and praise which
are as sweet and fresh to-day as when they were written, and which go
right home to our hearts.

How many cold hearts have not David's psalms warmed into life, how many
wounded spirits have they not comforted! There is not a grief or
anxiety in our lives to-day that could not be met and softened by the
words of the Jewish writer of long ago. Yes, the work done for God and
inspired by His Spirit never grows old.

And now, as we open the books of the kings, the great empires of the
days of old, of Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt, Persia, seem to start into
vivid life once more.

How strong they were--how terrible! What defence had the little
kingdom of Judah against such overwhelming power, such mighty armies,
such merciless rulers?

She had the best defence of all--God's holy promises chronicled in His
Book. While her people loved and served their God they would be safe.

But, alas! they soon forgot to read and obey His Book, and neither
loved nor served Him any more. Then came sorrow and trouble exactly as
Moses had foretold. Cities were sacked, and many hundreds of people
led away into slavery; yet, until the days of Hezekiah, no one tried to
understand the reason for all this.

King Hezekiah understood and trembled; he prayed earnestly that God
would pardon the nation's sin, and when the Book of the Law was lying
forgotten in the Temple he had it brought out and read before him. (2
Chronicles xxxiv. 14-18.)

Under his direction the Proverbs of Solomon were collected and copied
(Proverbs xxv. i), and the Psalms of David sung in the Temple once
again.

The wonderful story of the King of Assyria's campaign against
Jerusalem, followed shortly after by the defence of the Holy City by
God Himself in answer to Hezekiah's prayer, can be read at length in
the story of 'Hezekiah the King.'[1]

Although Sennacherib of Assyria was one of the mightiest rulers the
world has ever seen, he was utterly discomfited when he set his power
a