The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 8

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. ~era. 1-22.--:--He~kiah and tlie .Assyrian. The .Assyrian king made a campaign ng111nst Judah, Lach1sh was taken, and the cveut was commemorated on bas-reliefs in Sennacherib's palace. The place commanded the direct road from Egypt to Judah. Hence the Rabshakeh, one of the chief officers of the .Assyrians, was sent against Hezekiah, and by the "conduit of the upper pool "-the very spot where .Ahaz had spoken with Isaiah (vii. 8)-he took up his quart.era. "Unbelief was then represented by an Israelite, now more naturally by an Assyrian" (Cheyne). To meet him there go fort.h Eliakin1, son of Bilkiab, disciple of Isaiah; Shebna, the secretary (cf. eh. xxii. 15-25); and J oah, the annalist. I. TH~: PRIDE Al>"D POWER OF THE AssYRU.N. It seems to be the very type of worldly pride and power. 1. His title. He is the sarru rabu, the great king, or the strong king, or the king of hosts. The ruler of Judah is no king at all in his thought, but a name and shadow, or a mere puppet in the bands of a giant. 2. Bis contemptuous trust in force. Hezekiah trusts in a "mere word of the lips," according to the insolent con- queror. What of the alliance of Egypt 1 On the banks or the Nile grow abundance of reeds; a" cracked reed" is the symbol of that alliance, and of the Pharaoh's help (cf. Ezck. xxix. 6, 7). The Assyrian predicts that the nl liance will be broken asunder, and that crushing defeat will follow. But what of the protection of Jehovah 1 The Assyrian taunts Hezekiah with inconsistency, and tnrns his own conduct as a reformer against himself. The latter had abolished the "high places" (2 Kings xviii. 4; 2 Chron. xxx.i. 1), and had centred worship at Jerusalem. 'l'o a superficial observer it looked as if the God of Israel had been robbed of his altars and a part of his due rites. How, then, could Judah expect the countenance of Jeho\'ah? A reformation is always attended by evils, and it is a weapon in the hands of the enemy to charge these evils upon tho reformation itself, instead of upon the human passions stirred up in the course of any great change. So the heathen charged the calamities of the Roman empire on Christianity, and the disorders attending the great Reformation of the sixteenth century were laid at the door of the reformers. .Against these weaknesses in the position of Hezekiah, as the Assyrian deems them, he himself opposes brute force. He is strong in cavalry, and Judah is weak. Judah may have two thousand horses if she can find riders for them. How can sbe resist the attack of a single .Assyrian satrap? She may well look to Egypt for chariots and horsemen. IL H.rs APPEAL TO THE WEAKNESS OF DOUBTFtJL MINDS, 1. The Assyrian pretends that he has even an oracle from Jehovah himself to destroy the land of Judah, because of the violation of the high places. Our spiritual enemies would not be so mighty if we were not so weak. I □ times of trial, it is the doubtful conscience which makes us weak; the self-betraying heart. The reaction and revival even from righteous efforts may be felt by good men. What if when they thought to serve God they have been displeas- ing him? And now, when danger and opposition have to be encountered, suppose that tJ,ese assume the aspect, not of obstacles to be overcome in his strength, but of judg- rncnts sent in his wrath, to be withstood? There is, after all, no enemy to be feared like the traitor in our bosom, no force against UB so formidable as that which is cloudily projected from an uneasy imagination; no bulwark so strong as a conscience void of offence toward God. 2. He endeavours to undermine the source of spiritual confidence. Hezekiah had encouraged the people, as he himself was encouraged by Isaiah-by point- ing t,o the Divine Saviour of the nation: "Jehovah wiU surely deliver us, and the city shall not fall into the .Assyrian's hands" ( cf. eh. xxxvii. 35). How typical this of spiritual temptation I If the devil can get men to question the words of God, his victory is assured. It is not so much the open warfare, the battles about the outposts and fortifications of the faith, that we have to dread, as the aapping and mining opera- on, ll.XVL 1-22.] THE BOOK Ob' THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 0