lcnoe" of most other commentators, seem to Kings xix. 37). It hae been supposed to bo o.Iike preoluderl by the terms of the narra- represent Naska, an Assyrian god of a some-. tive, wh~'.lh imply the silent <lcath in one what low poaitinn, who, however, does n9t night of a hundre<l and eighty-five tl,ouaan<l obtain mention in the hiatoricRI inscriptions persons by what English juries call" the visi- until the time of Asshur-bani-pal. Probalily tution of God." The neo.reat po.mile! which the no.me has snffcrccl corruption. Asshur Holy Scripture offers is the destruction of was, in fact, Sennacherib's fo.vonrite deity, the flrstbom in Egypt; but tho.t was not, as and it is remarkable that the LXX. give this, without disturbance (seo Exod. xii. ao). in this place, nnt Nisroch, but Asarach. 'fhore a "grE,o.t cry" broke the silence of the "Asarach" would seem to be "Asshur" night; here it wo.s not till morning, when with a guttural suffix. Ad:rammelech and men woke from their peaceful slumlJ1.,rs, that Bharezer his sons emote him. The murder the discovery was made that " they were all of Sennacherib by a son, whom he callul dead corpses." ".Ardnmazanes," was relatccl by Polyhistor Ver. 37.-Bo Sennacherib , , , departed; (ap. Enseb.,' Chron. Can.,' i. 5, § I). Esar- rather, broke up his camp. The word URed haddon's annals are imperfect at the com- for all the removals of the children of Israel mencement, but show that his authority was in the wildemess (Numb. x.uiii. 3-48). at first contested, and that he had to establish The loss of even an entire corps d'arm~e it by force of arms(' Records of the Past,' vol. would not have caused an Assyrian king, at iii. pp. 103, 104). Adrammelech seuil.i! to the head of an intact main army, to break have assumed the title of king (Abyden. ap. up his camp and abandon his enterprise. Enseb., 'Chron. Can.,' i. 9, § 1), an,! to have And dwelt at Nineveh. Sennacherib lived . been put to death by his brother. Bliarezcr some eighteen or twenty years from the prob- is not elsewhere mentioned. The name is able date of his discomfiture, dying in B.c. Assyrian, as far as it goes, but is incomplete. 681. His ordinary residence was at Nineveh, Its full form was probably N abu-sar-uzur or which he greatly adorned and beautified Nergal-sar-nzur (see 'Eponym Canon,' p. (' Records of the Past,' vol. xi. pp. 55-57). 63, B.o. 682 and 678). And escaped into the His father, Sargon, on the contrary, dwelt land of Armenia. So Mosca of Chorrne commonly at Khorsabed (Dur-Sargina), and (' Hist. Armen.,' i. 22). The Hebrew word his son, Esarhaddon, dwelt, during the latter is .drarat(Assyrian Urardu or Urartu), which part of his reign, at Babylon. We must not was the more eastern portion of Armenia, suppose, however, that Sennacherib was shut and lay beyond the sphere of Assyrian in- up in Nineveh during the remainder of his fluence. Esarhaddon his 10n reigned ill his life. On the contrary, he made frequent stead. Esarhaddon (Asshnr-akh idclina) ap- expeditions towards the south, the east, and pears to ha·rn ascended the throne in e.c. 681. the north. But he made no further expedi- It is highly improbable that Isaiah was then tion to the south-west, no further attack on living, and therefore the verse can scarcely Jerusalem, or attempt on Egypt. The Jews be from his pen. It has probably been trans- had peace, so far as the Assyrians were con- ferred from 2 Kings (xi.x. 3i) in order to cerned, from the event related in ver. 36 to finish off the no.rrative. Eso.rhaddon out- o. late date in the reign of Esarho.cldon. lived Hezekiah many years, and was brought Ver. 38.-Nisrooh his god. 'l'he name into contact with l\fannsseh (' EponyD.L Nisroch ho.s not been found in the Assyrian Canon,' p. 139), whom he reckoned among inscriptions, and is, in fact, rco.d only in this his tributaries (comp. 2 Chron. n.x.iii. 11). place and the po.rallel passage of Kings (2
HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-5.-Spiritual advice in time of neecl not to be de1pised even by great lcings. 'l'he great of the co.rth-kinge, princcK, nobles, statesmen, generals-are too apt to rest upon their own interno.1 gifts of wisdom, talent, sagacity, cleverness, and to place little reliance upou others, Especially are they apt to feel a jealousy towards "tho spiri- tualty," and to hold themHclvos o.bove tho necessity of seeking o.id from persons whom they view ns unpractical, ignorant of worldly business, flighty, enthusiastic, fanatical. Ahnb, when he determined to renew the Syrian war, o.nd to attempt the recovery of Rumoth-Gileo.d, took no counsel, so far as appears, with any one but himself, and certainly neglected to ask the advice of the only true prophet of Jehovah Ii Yin~ within reach (1 Kings xxii. 3-8). Josiah Paileu. to take the advice of Jeremiah before goiu~ out to meet Necho (2 Chron. xxxv. 20-2-!); Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, o.nd Zcdekiah went against his advice in resisting Nebuchadnezzar. It has become almost a principle of modem politics that the epiritualty are not to o.dvise cxccrt ou matter:, closely coJl- 24 TRE BOOK OF THE PROPHE'l' ISAIAH. [cu. xxxm 1--38.