se messengers
of God ceased to be heard in Israel.

The Great Religious Revivals of this Period. The whole history of the
kingdom of Judah is marked by periods of religious decline and
revival. The most striking of these are indicated by the following
outline. (1) A decline under the reign of Rehoboam. (2) A revival
begun under Asa and made complete under the reign of Jehoshaphat; (3)
A decline begun in the reign of Jehoram and continued until the reign
of Ahaz where the lowest spiritual state was reached. (4) A new
revival under Hezekiah, who introduced sweeping social and religious
changes. (5) A decline under Manasseh who reared images to Baal,
defiled the temple and overthrew the good work of his father Hezekiah.
(6) A revival under Josiah, grandson of Manasseh, whose piety began to
manifest itself at the age of sixteen. He began his reforms at the age
of twenty and spent six years in hewing down the altars and images of
idolatry. The temple was repaired, the law found and enjoined upon the
people and the Passover celebrated. (7) A final decline that carried
Judah on downward until her glory was destroyed and she was led away
into Babylon as captive.

The study of these successive efforts at returning to the true worship
of Jehovah and their quick collapse indicate that the kindlings of
spiritual life which they seem to manifest were not real spiritual
revivals. Many people did no doubt turn in truth to God. but the
rapidity with which each effort was followed by a return to deeper
depths of immorality, such as those indicated by Amos 5:l6, 7:17, 8:6;
Is. 1:23, 10:1; and Hos. 9:15 give evidence of the abounding
wickedness of the period.

The Wealth and Luxury. There is much in the discourses to indicate
that wealth abounded and that kings and other influential men lived in
luxury. The upper classes indulged in all the follies of the idle rich
and showed the usual heartlessness toward the poor. The following list
of scriptures will indicate some of the things which they possessed
and which they did: Amos 5:11, 3:15, 6:4; Jer. 22:14; Is. 5:ll-12,
3:18-23, 21:7. To this list the student by comparison and reference
can add many others.

Contemporary Nations. No study of this period would be complete
without a knowledge of the other nations that influenced this time.
Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Phoenicia, Carthage, Greece and Rome
all influenced Judah. From the Bible narratives and from secular
history the st