The Pulpit Commentary — Nahum — Section 25

indeed oan be " (Rom. viii. 7). It involves: 1. The b&.sest ,:,,,,g,'lltttude; for to him we 0we everything. 2. The greatest vnjustice; for he hM eupreme cla.ima to our devotion and ob<>dience. 8. Impious p'f'68TJ,mptwn, Fra.il worma raising their heads against the Infinite! • II. THE BEAT OF BIN IS BUGGES'l'ED: IT IS IN THE MIND. "What do ye imagine against the Lord?" Sin is not language, however bad; not actions, however apparently wicked. Words and deeds are no more sin than branches are the sap of the tree, They are the mere effects and expression of sin. Sin is in the mind-in the deep, ~ecret, mote thoughts of the heart. God's legislation extends to thought, reaches it in the pro. foundest abyss. " As a man thinketh in his heart, so i& he" (Prov. xxili. 7). Christ. in his sermon on the monnt, taught this. Adultery, robbery, murder, are ail perpetrated on the arena of the heart. How necessary the prayer, "Create within us clean hearts, 0 God"! III. THE FOLLY OF SIN IS SUGGESTED: IT IS OPPOSITION TO OHNIPOTENOE, "What do ye irna.gine against the Lord ? He will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up a second time." " How mad is your attempt, 0 ABsyrians, to resist so powerful a God! What can ye do against snch an Adversary, successful though ye have been against all other adversaries? Ye imagiM ye have to do merely with mortals, and with a weak people, and that so yon will gain an easy victory; but you have to encounter God, the Protector of his people" (Fausset). In opposing him: 1. He will c1Jmpktily 'T"Uin you. "He will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time." The literal meaning of this is that the overthrow of Sennacherib's host was so complete that Judah's affliction ea.used by this invasion would never be repeated. The man who opposes God will be utterly ruined. 2. He will corn,pletely ndn you, whatever the kind of resista'll,ce you 'TTUl,y offer. " For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drnnken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry." You may be combined like a bundle of thorns, offering resistance; you may have all the daring and temerity of drunkards, albeit you " shall be devoured as stubble fully dry." All this was realized in the destruction of ,his enemy. Oh the folly of sin! Fighting against God is a mad fight. "What do ye imagine against the Lord," then? Sinners, submit.-D. T. • ' Vers. 11-14.-0orrupt kings. "There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the Lord, a wicked connsellor. Thus saith the Lord ; Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pa.se through," etc. These words suggest. a few thoughts concerning human kings a.lid kingdoms. L HUJUN KINGS ABE SOMETIMES TEBBIBLY COBBUPT.· "There is one come· out of thee, that imagineth evil against the Lord, a wicked coun~eUor."· This evidently means Sennacherib, the King of Nineveh. He was one of the·great moral monsters of the world. "He invaded the land of Judah with an immense army, besieged Lachisb, and having reduced that city, threatened to invade Jerusalem itself. Hezekiah, dreading hiB power, sent him an obsequious embassy, and by paying three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold, .purchased an inglorious peace. But no sooner had Sennacherib received the money than, disdaining his engagements, he prosecuted the war with as much vigour as ij no treaty had been in exiRtence, sending three of his generals and a powerful army to besiege Jerusalem. Being i~formed th.at Tirhakah King or Ethiopia joined by the power of Egypt, was advancing to assist Hezekiah, he marched to meet the approaching armies, defeated them in &·general engagement, ravaged their country, and returned with the, spoil to finish the siege of Jerusalem. Hezekiah, in the extremity of hie distress, implored the succour of Heaven; aod the insolence and blasphemy of Senua.cherib drew upon the Assyria.ns the vengeance of God. And, in perfect accordance with the proph~cy of Isaiah, the ,acred historian informs us that the angel of the Lord slew, in one mght, one hundred 1.nd eighty-five thousand of the Assyrian army." Such is a. b~ef and very partial sketch of this monster. Alas! he is only a type of the vast maJonty of men who have found their way to thrones! They have been in all ages the chief devils of the world. There are kings that have powers ordained of God; b11t such kings, and those oaly, arc" a. terror to evil-doers and a praise to those that do welL" We a.re commanded cD, I, 1-16,] THE BOOK OF NAHUM. 23