Isai. X. 12 — 17. Ii shall come to pass, that, when the Lord hath performed his ivhole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the King of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks : for he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the hounds of the people, and have rohhed their treasures, and I have put doum the in- habitants like a valiant man : and, my hand hatli found as a nest the riches of the people : and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth ; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. Shall
the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith ? or shall the saio magnify itself against him that shaketh it ? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it nj), or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no loood. Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send amotig his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burn- ing, like the burning of a fire : and the light of Israel shall be for afire, and his Holy One for aflame : and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day.
THE doctrine of an all-disposing Providence is most consolatory to the mind of man. If every thing were left to chance, or were at the disposal of mortal men, we should have nothing to cheer us in adversity, or to moderate our overweening conceit in prosperity. But the thought, that all things are directed by an all-wise Being, who " does according to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth," and " whose covmsel," what- ever the designs of men may be, " shall surely stand," preserves our minds composed and equable, in every situation, and in every condition. The situation of Jerusalem at the time when the prophet wrote this was very afflictive : but by God's command he addressed them thus, in a few verses following our text : " O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian : he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt (at the Red Sea) : for yet a very little while, and (as in the case of Pharaoh and his host) the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction''." To the same effect does he speak also in the text itself; which we shall consider,
I. As fulfilled in Sennacherib —
Sennacherib was a proud and haughty monarch —
[The Assyrian empire was the most powerful at that time existing in the world : and Sennacherib was dignified with the title of, THE Great King^ He himself too conceived that he was omnipotent, a rival of Jehovah, or rather, his superior ''.
Strange it is that mortal man should entertain such wild conceits : but such is frequently the effect of power : it
^ ver. 24, 25. •' 2 Kings xviii. 19, 28.
c 2 Kings xviii. 33—3'). with Isai. xiv. 13, 14.