CHAPTER II.
NEARLY a quarter of a century had rolled away, and again the city of
Jerusalem was ablaze with light and social gayety. But vastly different
was the moral tone of the government. The good King Josiah had been
called to rest, and his profligate son Jehoiakim was on the throne.
Nightly the walls of the royal palace rang with the sound of high
revelry. Laughter and drunken song echoed through every part of the proud
edifice. Jehoiakim, following the example of some of his predecessors,
did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord and filled the Holy City
with his foul abominations. His counselors also lived in forgetfulness of
the God of Israel. They flattered the king's vanity and encouraged his
excesses. Pride and infidelity promenaded together. Crimes of the darkest
hue were being perpetrated with official sanction, and, although God's
prophets had the courage to rebuke the sinful rulers and warn them of
their fearful doom, the moral standard of the city went lower and lower.
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