The thorough pitiableness of one born to a high estate is the lesson of the text; but we must wait to learn -

I. THAT MEN SUFFER AS THEY SIN. It appears that Ahaziah was the only son left to the house of Jehoram; all the eldest had been slain by the invaders (ver. 1). Thus we find that the man who with shameful selfishness murdered his own brothers, had to suffer the loss, by violence, of his own sons. It was a fitting penalty - fitting that he who used the sword remorselessly should suffer from the sword; fitting that the man whose darkest crime was committed "under his own roof" should bear his penalty in his own kindred. We do not, of course, invariably find such "poetic justice" dealt in the providence of God; but we do find that men not only suffer because they sin, but they suffer as they sin. If they sin as husbands or fathers, they suffer as such; if they sin as sons, they suffer through their children; if they sin in the flesh, they suffer in the flesh; or if they sin in the spirit, they suffer in the spirit. There is a close, a plain, a righteous correspondence between guilt and penalty.

II. THAT PARENTAGE GOES A VERY LONG WAY TO ACCOUNT FOR HUMAN CHARACTER AND FOR THE CAREERS OF MEN. Ahaziah was the grandson on his mother's side, of Ahab and of Jezebel. What may he not have inherited from them? He was the son of Athaliah. And, apart from the consideration of heredity, what evil did he not drink in from the counsels of that wicked woman? She was "his counsellor to do wickedly" (ver. 3).

1. We may well bless God for all the good we and others have derived from godly parents, especially from a holy mother, from the "counsels" received at "the mother's knee." The blessing thus conferred upon the world is quite inestimable.

2. Those who are parents may well realize the sacred burden of responsibility which rests upon them; for it rests with them, very largely indeed, to determine what their sons and daughters shall he - whether a blessing or a bane to the world.

3. We do well to try and elevate those who are, or will be, the mothers of the future. There is no worthier Christian enterprise than the Zenana Mission, in which the aim is to reach and to raise the women who will be "the counsellors" of the men and women of the next generation.

4. Evil counsel may extenuate, but it will not excuse, our individual folly and wrong-doing. Not even a mother may lead us into paths of sin. .

III. THAT FAVORABLE CIRCUMSTANCES WILL NOT GUARANTEE ANY MAN'S WELL- BEING.

1. Who so fortunate in Judah as Ahaziah? Heir to the throne, and succeeding at an early age (see 2 Kings 8:26 with ver. 17 of that chapter); married while he was young; with little children soon about him; with every prospect of power, wealth, domestic affection, royal estate, for many years.

2. And who more pitiable than this young prince? Educated and trained in the belief of error, in the practice of folly, with a mother whose whole influence was against moral worth, seeking and forming a dangerous alliance, cut off after a very brief reign (ver. 2), leaving a reputation of ill odour behind him. It is certain that no man can count on a future of prosperity and joy simply because the circumstantial outlook is favourable. The child of fortune, like Ahaziah, proves to be one of the most unfortunate of men. Whom all his young contemporaries were disposed to envy, we who look back unite to pity with a most genuine and deep compassion. Who, let us ask, is the man to be envied, or rather to be congratulated? Surely it is he who is born of Christian parents, who has about him in childhood and in youth "counsellors" who will know what is true, and do what is really kind and wise; it is he whom his human father trains in the way of righteousness, and whom his heavenly Father disciplines, according to his Divine wisdom, building him up in purity, in integrity, in strength, in love. - C.

A distinguished authority on European history is fond of pointing to the evil effects of royal marriages as one of the chief drawbacks to the monarchical system of government. A crown may at any time devolve upon a woman, and by her marriage with a powerful reigning prince her country may virtually be subjected to a foreign yoke. If it happens that the new sovereign professes a different religion from that of his wife's subjects, the evils arising from the marriage are seriously aggravated. Some such fate befell the Netherlands as the result of the marriage of Mary of Burgundy with the Emperor Maximilian, and England was only saved from the danger of transference to Catholic dominion by the caution and patriotism of Queen Elizabeth. Athaliah's usurpation was a bold attempt to reverse the usual process and transfer the husband's dominions to the authority of faith of the wife's family. It is probable that Athaliah's permanent success would have led to the absorption of Judah in the northern kingdom. Our own history furnishes numerous illustrations of the evil influences that come in the train of foreign queens. Edward II suffered grievously at the hands of his French queen; Henry VI.'s wife, Margaret of Anjou, contributed considerably to the prolonged bitterness of the struggle between York and Lancaster; and to Henry VIII's marriage with Catherine of Aragon the country owed the miseries and persecutions inflicted by Mary Tudor. But no foreign queen of England has had the opportunities for mischief that were enjoyed and fully utilised by Athaliah. The peace and honour and prosperity of godly families in all ranks of life have been disturbed, and often destroyed, by the marriage of one of their members with a woman of alien spirit mad temperament.

(W. H. Bennett, M.A.).