JUDAH'S UNSTEADY COURSE International Sunday School Lauon for Juna 1. 1947 GOLDEN TEXT: ''In quietness and Jh confidence shall be your strength." ? Isaiah 30: 15. L*??on Text: II Kings 19: 5-7; 32-37: 20: 12-17 In our lesson for last week, we learned that Sargon, the Assy rian king, captured the North ern Kingdom and incorporated the Ten Tribes into his empire in 721 C. He lived only four years thereafter and his son, Sen nacherib, ascended to the throne. For more than a quarter of a century the Kingdom of Judah had been menaced by the Assy rians. Ahaz had done homage to the Assyrian king and his son, Hezekiah, who succeeded him, became almost a vassal of the great Assyrian Empire. Thus, Hezekiah, ?t the age of only twenty-five, inherited, not only a throne, but all the difficult pro blems connected with trying to protect a small nation fom the imperialistic plans of larger and more powerful surrounding coun tries." There is a strange parallel in the position in which Hezekiah found himself and the position of some of the smaller nations of the world today. Expediency, rather than wisdom, dictated that Judah enter into an alliance with a stronger power to protect it self against the growing en croachment a neighboring ?>wer. Although the prophet aiah warned vigorously against it, Hezekiah joined in a rebellion against the Assyrian overlord ship in an attempt to throw off the annual tribute. Sennacherib immediately sent his troops westward, and after conquering Phoenecian towns, in vaded Judah and blockaded Jerusalem, but did not take it. Seeing such a state of affairs as ? probable, Hezekiah had prepared for it by having a conduit for water built, and plans made with in the city to withstand a long seige. After some time, Sen nacherib withdrew without secur ing the chief prize of his enter prise. Judah, however, suffered greatly as a result of her alliance with Egypt and Babylonia and Isaiah was not slow in remind ing the king and the people of their losses. While Hezekiah was certainly not without fault, he has been placed at the very top among the kings of Judah after the fall of the monarchy. II Kings 18:5, declares of him, there was "after him, none like him among the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him." In the; first month of his reign, he reversed the policy of his father Ahaz and "opened the doors of the house of the Lord." To his credit, he set out to restore the Mosaic forms of worship, removing every pos sible likeness to God from the places of worship. Even the bra zen serpent, made by Moses, which the people had come to worship, was broken to pieces. He sent letters of invitation to all the tribes, north and south, to attend the official restoration ol the historic liturgy of the He brews. The boldness of his reforma tion was practically nullified by ?he fact that the whole move ment tended to make worship an affair of the state rather than an affair of the heart. Ceremoni al religion, carried even to its hideous extreme of human sacri fice, has never saved anyone. Zeal for God and his righteous ness, not zeal for ritual, will give strength to meet the pro blems and perils of the day. It is to Hezekiah's credit that he kept the prophet Isaiah close to him as his counsellor, al though he did not always heed the warnings of the man of God. Not only was Isaiah a man who had surrendered his life to God's call, he was a real statesman, with the courage to speak his Try BISMAREX for Acid Indigestion. Insist on genuine BISMAREX and refuse other so-called Anti acid Powders, recornmended to be "just as good." fllSMA REX is sold in Watauga county at Boone Drug Co. Th? RF.XALL Stor* For High Quality CLEANING at Lowest Price* O Bring your clothes to the HI-LAND CLEANERS Main St. Boone convictions at all times and in all places, braving the wrath of kings, princes, priests and fal ae prophets. Having the utmost faith in God, Isaiah Relieved that while God would not save a sinning people for their own sakes, in spite of their sins, for grounds sufficient to him, God could and would overrule the evil designs of Jerusalem's enemies in order to further his purpose of bring ing a Saviour to all the peoples of all the earth. (Isa. 40: 18-31). Although living seven hundred years before the birth of Christ, Isaiah gave a picture of Jesus which constitutes the heart of the Old Testament. All the weakness of Judah was of