The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 430

why and whence was this? Because God had used Assyria as his instrument. God hed brought it to pass that Assyria should exist "to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants were of 8mall power, they were dismayed and con- founded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house-tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up" (eh. xix. 25, 26). But this time was now gone. Assyria had offended God by her pride and self-trust. She had said "By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent; and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures and I ~a'l'e put _down _the inhabitants like a_ valiant man" (Isa. x. 13). The axe had "boasted itself against him that hewed therewith; and the saw had magnified itself against him that moved it to and fro" (Isa. x. 15). Therefore God thought it time to vindicate hie own honour, and Assyria fell. Two other nations were raised up to break in pieces the proud and haughty conqueror; and, after a short struggle, Assyria sank to rise no more (Nah. iii. 19). ' II. BABYLON'S RISE TO GREATNESS. Babylon had in remote days (Gen. x. 8-10) been a powerful state, and had even possessed an empire; but for the last seven hundred years or more she had been content to play a very secondary part in Western Asia and had generally been either an Assyrian feudatory or an integral part of the Assyrian monarchy. But in the counsels of God it had been long decreed that she, and not Assyria, should be God's instrument for the chastisement of his people (eh. xx. 16-19). Therefore, as the appointed time for Assyria's fall approached, Babylon was made to increase in power and greatness. A wave of invasion (Herod., i.104, 105), which passed over the rest of Western Asia, left her untouched. A great monarch was given her in the person of N abopolassar, who read aright the signs of the times, saw in Media a desirable ally, and, having secured Median co-operation, revolted against the long- established sovereign power. A short, sharp struggle followed, ending in the utter collapse of the great Assyrian empire, and the siege and fall of Nineveh. The two conquering states partitioned between them the Assyrian dominions-Media taking the countries which lay to the north-west and north, Babylon those towards the south-west and south. Thus, 80 far as the Jews were concerned, Babylon, between B.o. 625 and B.o. 608, had stepped into Assyria's place. She had become "the hammer of the whole earth" (Jer. l. 23); God's battle-axe and weapons ofwar(Jer. li. 20), wherewith he brake in pieces nations and kingdoms, man and woman, old and young, captains and rulers (Jer. li. 20-23). The prophecy of Isaiah to Hezekiah (eh. x.x. 16-19), which seemed so unlikely of fulfilment at the time that it was uttered, found a natural and easy accom- plishment, the course of events in the latter part of the seventh century B.o. having transferred to Babylonia, under Divine direction and arrangement, that grand position and dignity which bad previously been Assyria's. When she had served God's pur- pose, Babylon's turn came; and she sank as suddenly as she had risen, because she too bad been" proud against the Lord" (Jer. 1. 29), and had provoked his indignation. Vere. 1-6.-The beginning of the end. It has been already observed (see th& homiletics to eh. xvi.) that God's punishment of a nation, though often long- deferred, when it comes at last comes suddenly, violently, and at once. Nineteen years only intervened-a brief space in the life of a nation-between the first intima- tion which the Jews received of danger impending from a new enemy, and the entire destruction, by that enemy, of temple, city, and nation. Peril first showed itself in B.c. 605; Jerusalem was destroyed and the J ewe carried into captivity in B.o. 686. From first to last they were scarcely given a breathing-space. Blow was struck upon blow; calamity followed close upon calamity. "The beginning of the end" ie to be dated from Nebuchadnezzar's first invasion-when" Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon came up" aaainst Jehoiakim, "and Jehoiakim became hie servant three years" (ver. 1). When ~n iron vessel and an earthen one come into contact and collision, it is not diffi- cult to foresee the result. Nebuchadnezzar's first campaign proved his absolute superi- ority over all the forces that could be brought against him by the nations of the west. Could the Jews have accepted, honestly and loyally, the position which Jeboiakim profesaedly took up-that of a faithful vassal and feudatory, who would keep watoh over the lntereste of bia Buzerain, and aid him to the best of his power-a prolonged though inglorious existence would have beeQ po811ible for the people, But the nation was too !lR, XXIV, 1-20,] THE SECOND BOOK OF 'rHE KINGS. 481