No : he will be a man, and not God, in the hand of him that slayeth him^."]
Our text is yet further worthy of attention, III. As speaking to men in all ages —
Divested of all those particular circumstances which give it more than ordinary interest at this time, it suggests many lessons of great, and general, and per- petual utility. It teaches us,
1. To receive afflictions as from the hand of God —
[The Jews probably ascribed their troubles to the insatiable ambition of the Assyrian monarch ; as we also have traced ours to the ruler of France. But God has told us, that, in the triumphs of Sennacherib, he himself was " performing a gracious work upon Mount Zion, and on Jerusalem :" and we know that Nebuchadnezzar also, and Cyrus, in their victories, were nothing more than " God's sword" and " battle-axe y." In this light then we should view all our 2'>Mic calamities. By whomsoever they may be occasioned, they come from God himself, and are sent by him for our good. As the Jews were sent by him into captivity in Babylon " for their good "," so are our severest losses and defeats intended to humble us, and to bring us to the footstool of our God. The same may be said also of our personal afflictions. When the Chaldeans and Sabeans plun- dered all the property of Job, and the elements conspired to augment and complete his misery, Job saw in every part of his trials the hand of God : " The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away : blessed be the name of the Lord ^." And after- wards he prayed, " Shew me wherefore thovi contendest with me*^." This is precisely what the text teaches us also to do in every affliction. We should receive it as from God ; and, having done so, we should " hear the rod, and him that appointed it." Were we but attentive to God's voice in afflictive dispensations, we should say to the instruments of our trouble, as Joseph did to his brethren, " It was not you that sent me hither, but God:" and, instead of quarrelling with second causes, we should kiss the hand that smote us, and say, " I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him."]
2. To acknowledge God in our successes —
[Certainly the interposition of God in the destruction of Sennacherib could admit of no doubt : it was as clear as that of Pharaoh, who was brought into the Red Sea for that very
^ Ezek. xxviii. 3 — 10.
y Jer. XXV. 9. Isai. xli. 25. and xlv. 1. with Jer. li. 20.
z Jer. xxiv, 5. » Job i. 13 — 21. ^ Jobx. 2.