The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 351

is the true counsellor of men who gets bis wisdom from rtbove. Whence do tho ad \·isers of soYerPigns get their instructions? From hoary precedents or the fallible oonclusions of their own feeble minds; and not directly from above. Hence the incessant blunders of cabinets, and the scandal in these days of one political party denouncing the blunders and professing to correct the mistakes of the other. 2. Whal he received from heaven he communicated to men. In the communication: (1) "Sen- nacherib is apostrophized in a highly poetic strain admirably descriptive of the turgid Yanity, haughty pretensions, and heartless impiety of this despot. 'The virgin the daughter of Zion bath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the danghter of Jerusalem bath shak0n her head at thee,' etc. (vers. 21-28). (2) Hezekiah himself is personally addressed, :md a sign given him of coming deliverance. He is told that for two years the presence of the enemy would interrupt the peaceful pursuits of husbandry, but in the third year the people would be in circumstances to till the earth, plant the vineyards, and reap the fruits, as formerly. 'And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and phmt Yineyards, and eat the fruits thereof,' etc. (vers. 29-31). (3) The iRSue of Sennacherib's inYasion is announced. 'Thus saith the Lord concerning the King of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall be return,' etc. (vers. 32-34)" (Dr. Jamieson). Such was the communication which, in language passionate, poetic, and powerful, Isaiah made to this perplexed and terrified nation. It involves two things: (a) the deliverance of his country; (b.) the ruin of the despot. IV. THE STRENGTH OF A NATION THAT HAS G-Oo ON ITS BIDE. Who delivered the imperilled nation? Who ovenvhelmed the despot? "The zeal of the Lord of hosts." "And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred four score and five thou~and: and when they a.rose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses," etc. (vers. 35-37). Who was the "angel of the Lord"? Was it some transcendent personality, or some tremendous force in nature, such as a pestiferous blast, or an electric bolt? It matters not; the «angel" was but the instrument in the hand of God. 1. How swiftly was the ddiverance effected! "That night." What a night was that !-one of the most memorable nights of the world. Perhaps the whole was effected even in one single hour, or even in one instant of that night. 2. How terrible the ruin which that deliverance ejfected I "An hundred four score and five thousand men" destroyed. At night, a glittering array; in the morning, "dead corpses." "Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green, That host with their banners at sunset were seen: Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hn.th blown, That host on the morrow lay wither'd and s.rown." How rapidly God can do bis work! be can annihilate a uni verse in the t.wlnkling of an eye. Behold a mystery! Why should these hundred and eighty-five thousand be thus destroyed on account of the conduct of one man-Sennacherib? "God is his own Interpreter, And he will make it pbin." The forty-sixth psalm is supposed to be the triumphant outburst of the delivered people. "God is our Refuge and Strength, a very present Help in trouble . . . . The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted." This Sennacherib, this ruthless despot, does not seem to have fallen with the others. His body was not found amongst the dead corpses. Albeit, he did not escape. "So Sennacherib King of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pAss, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his God, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons emote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in hie stead" (vers. 36, 37). What greater calamity could befall a man than to be murdered by his own aons ?-D. T. orr, XIX, 1-37.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 399