The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 355

person whose faith had remained unshaken through all this crisis. But it is not merely Isaiah's confidence which speaks in this composition. He brought to the king a direct " word of God." His oracle is one of surpassing beauty, grand and sustained in eLyle, e.nd expressing the greatest truths. I. ~10N's DERISION OF THE INVADER. The introductory picture is very striking. The city Jerusalem is represented e.s a maiden, standing on a height, derision imprinted on ewry feature, shaking her head, e.nd sending out bursts of mocking laughter after the retreating Sennacherib. Is she insane? So to the world it might have seemed. Insane at least it might appear to draw such a picture at a time when the condition of the city seemed past salvation. But faith's manifestations often seem like madness to the worldly (Acts xxvi. 24; 2 Cor. v. 13). Faith triumphs beforehand over e.ll the power of the enemy (Luke x. 19, 20). It does not need to wait to see theil' overthrow; it is assured of it as if it had already happened. 'l'he strength of faith is seen in the <lrgree in which it enables its possessor to rise above adverse circumstances. In its higher reaches it can not only hope and wait, but exults and treats the threats of the enemy with ridicule and scorn (cf. Ps. ii. 4). II. SENNACHERIB AS GLASSED IN ms OWN EYES. Jehovah next asserts himself as " the Holy One of Israel." and takes Sennacherib to te.sk for his blasphemies age.inst him. He puts language into Sennacherib's lips poetice.lly expressive of that monarch's lufty ideas of bis own power. .Alluding both to whe.t he has done and to what he intends to do, Sennacherib boasts," With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains.... I have digged and drunk strange waters; and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt." The meaning is that no obstacles of nature can prevent the accomplishment of his designs. Mountains like Lebanon cannot stop his march; he will find water even in the desert; Egypt's rivers will be trodden disdainfully underfoot. His chariots pass over all heights; cedar trees and fir trees fall before him ; he penetrates to the farthest lodging-place and most fruitful region of the country. It is "I," Sennacherib says, "who do all this." Such boasting is : 1. Extravagant. In his inflated self-consciousness, Sennacherib sets no bounds to what he can accomplish. His language is exaggerated and hyperbolical. It is a man puffing himself up to the dimensions of a god (cf. Isa. x. 13, 14; xiv. 13, 14; Dan. iv. 30). Napoleon was accustomed to use similar language to impress the minds of his ignorant enemies (Bii.br's 'Commentary on 2 Kings,' p. 226). Only in part is this extra- vagant self-assertion delusion. Those who give vent to it know very well that much of it is theatrical and unreal-mere froth and foam. But it gratifies their pride to indulge in it. 2. Irrational. This on two grounds: (1) Even granting that these boastings rested on real exploits, such self-exaltation is unbecoming in any mortal. The mightiest conqueror has only to reflect how soon he will become weak as other men (Isa. xiv. 10-17), to see bow foolish is his self-glorying. (2) The past is an unsafe ground for boasting as to the future. Because his arms had hitherto been so uniformly successful, Sennacherib imagined that it was impossible any reverse could now befall him. He had got into his head the idea of his ow11 invincibility. Napoleon bad the same con- fidence in the invincibility of his arms. Experience shows the baselessness of such confidence. .A long run of victories, intoxicating the conqueror with his own success, is generally followed by a disastrous calamity. The castle gets built up too high, and in the end topples over. Napoleon learnt this at Moscow and Waterloo. Excess of pride usnallyends in an overthrow. 3. Impious. Sennacherib's boastings, finally, were impious. It was the creature arrogating to himself the power of God. .Any reference to .A.sshur Sennacherib may have made in his inscriptions was but a thin veil to cover his self. glorying. His particular blasphemies against the God of Israel arose from ignorance of Jehovah's true character. He thought he was contending against the petty god of a small tribe, whereas he had to deal with "the Holy One" who made heaven and earth. Men's mistakes as to God do not alter the realities of their relation to him. Because God is "the Holy One," he cannot overlook men's impieties. Holiness is the principle which guards the Divine honour. It" guards the eternal distinction between Creator and creature, between God and man, in the union effected between them; it preserves the Divine dignity and majesty from being infringed upon" (Martensen). III. SENNACHEBIR AS BEHELD BY Gon. Vastly different from Sennacherib's view of himself was the view taken of him by God his Maker. 1. Sennacherib a mere OH, XIX, 1-37.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 403