The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 356

instrument in Gotfs hands/OT' the execution of his pwrposes. "Hast thou not heard how I hflve done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Now have I brought it to pass that thou shouldest bo to lay waste," etc. Sennacherib was defying Jehovah, but it was this God who from everlasting had decreed the events that were taking place, and had assigned to Sennuchcri b the part he was to bear in them. Here was a strange reversal of Sennacherib's ideas I It was the axe boasting itself against him that heweth herewith, and the saw ma<:rnifying itself against him tha.t shaketh it, and the rod shaking itself a~ainst them that lift it up (Isa, x. 16). This is the tmth which ungodly men constantly ignore. They exalt themselves ~gainst God, forgetful that, without God, they could not think a thought or move a finger; that it is he who gave them their being, and continually sustains them; that bis pro·.-id~uce girds them round, and uses them as executors of its purpt,ses; and that they have ouly as much power as he chooses to give them. 2. Hia successes due to God. "Therefore their inhabitants were of small power," etc. Sennacherib ascribed all his victories to his own prowess, and founded on them an argument for despising Jehovah, whereas it was because Jehovah had prospered him that he had gained these victories. It is God who brings luw, and lifts up (1 Sam. ii. 7). When he is against a people, their strength is small, they are dismayed and confound£d, they are like grass that withers, and blasted grain. Sennacherib did not understand this, and took all the glory to himself. 3. God pre- scribes the limits of his power, As the Assyrian was thus an instrument in God's hand, it was for God to say how far he would be permitted to go. The limit was reached when he began to rago and blaspheme against the power which controlled him. God had heard his words and seen his doings. "I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me." He had done enough. The curb was now to be applied. Drawing a metaphor from Sennacherib's own treatment of his captives, the oracle declared, " I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will tum thee back by the way by which thou earnest." The prediction was soon to be fulfilled. No comfort can be greater, in times of" trouble, and rebuke, and blasphemy," than to !mow that the hostile powers are under absolute Divine control, and that they cannot take one step beyond what God allows. "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee : the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain" (Ps. lxxvi. 10). When men turn against God in open blasphemy, their power is nearly at an end. IV. A SIGN TO THE PEOPLE. 1. A pledge of God's favour. The immediate sign of the truth of this oracle would be the destruction of the invading army, which was to take place that very night. But as a further pledge of complete deliverance from the Assyrian-a token that he would not return-it was foretold that within three years the whole land would be again under cullivation, lo the interval the people would be provided for by that which grew of itself. Material blessings are withdrawn when God frowns; restored when he smiles. 2. The remnant would take root and increase. The land had been deplorably thinned by invasion and captivity. Had the process gone on much longer, Judah would have disappeared, as lsrael·had done. A remnant, however, would be saved, and this, taking root downward, and bearing fruit upward, would by God's blessing so multiply ani strengthen as speedily to renew the population, 3. God's zeal engagedfo1· thefulfilment of his promises. They were great things which God had promised, but the "zeal" of the Lord of hosts-his jealousy for his own honour, and for his people and his land-would perform it. When God's "zeal" is engaged in any undertaking, can we clouht that it will prosper? "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. viii. 39). God's zeal is engaged in giving effect to all efforts for the exten- sion of his gospel, the salvation of meu, and the triumph of righteousness in the world. V. THE SAFETY OF THE CITY. Finally, a definite assurance is given that, let Sennacherib rage as he may, the city would not be harmed. He should neither come into it, nor shoot an arrow into it, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it, as once before he b,ad done. Instead, he would return by the way he came. This God would do (1) for his own sake, i.e. for the vindication of his own honour from the reproaches of Sennacherib; and (2) for his servant David's sake. Succeeding gene- rations little know bow much they owe to God's regard for his holy servants in days past, AM was Jerusalem, so is the Church safe under God's protection (Matt. xvi. 18). For tho higher David's sake, he will not let it perish. But for God's ea.re and shieldina power, it would long ere this have been destroyed,-J, 0,  404 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. LOH, xx. 1-21.