CHAPTER IX.

ASSYRIAN INVASION-CONTINUED.

EVERY man has some object of supreme regard, to which, in the ordinary condition of his affairs, he looks for happiness. This is his god. In the case of one, it is wealth; of another, honor; of another, sensual gratification. Some make a god of chance, and hush the accusations of conscience by trying to believe that the world is a thing of accident-that there is no moral Governor of the universe to whom they owe allegiance, or who will bring them to account for their misdeeds. But the day of trial usually dissipates these delusions. When sickness or danger comes, such men look to their gods for help; but there is none to answer, nor any that regardeth." They fail to sustain their votaries just when support is most needed. In affliction, he who makes "gold his hope," the ambitious man, the lover of pleasure, the infidel, find no satisfaction in the objects of their trust.

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But it is far different with those who make Jehovah their confidence. "The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble." At such times his presence is nearest, his aid the surest, his friendship the most endearing. So Hezekiah found, from experience, in "a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and

of blasphemy." The message of Sennacherib did not drive him to despair, nor did he show hollowness of faith by deserting Jehovah, in whom he had professed to confide in the day of prosperity. He did not, like the scoffer in the hour of bitterness, cry for help to one whose overruling providence he had denied and derided; but rending his garments and covering himself with sackcloth, he "went into the house of the Lord." Happy was it for Hezekiah, in such a crisis, that the way to the temple was familiar to his feet; happy for him that the voice of prayer was not strange to his lips, till he was compelled by calamity to seek relief in the sanctuary. If, when pressed by his enemies, he had for the first time uttered supplications before the mercy-seat, well might it have been asked, "Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?"

While Hezekiah went up to the temple, as the place where God had promised to hear the prayers of his people in their distress, he sent the elders of the priests, together with Eliakim and Shaphan, who had just returned from their interview with Rabshakeh, to the prophet Isaiah. The purport of their request was, that the prophet would intercede with Jehovah to avenge his own honor against the blasphemies of the Assyrians, and spare the remnant of the nation. And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast

heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land."

Interpreters differ in their explanation of what is here meant by sending a blast. Some suppose it refers to a pestilential blast or a destructive tempest, while others refer it to some effect produced by divine influence on the mind of Sennacherib. The "rumor" which God would cause him to hear, some think, was the news that Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, who was one of the most famous conquerors of ancient times, was coming forth to make war with him. Others suppose that the "rumor" refers to the destruction of the Assyrian host before Jerusalem, while Sennacherib, with the rest of his forces, was besieging Libnah.

The report being spread abroad that the Ethiopian king was on his march to attack him, Sennacherib wished to bring the war to a close before the arrival of this new enemy, perhaps even before the approach of relief was known to the Jews. He would probably have concentrated his forces, and endeavored to finish the campaign by a vigorous attack on Jerusalem; but the hilly country around that city was unfavorable to the operations of cavalry, in which the main strength of his army consisted, and the want of water would have im

peded his progress. He sent messengers, therefore, to Hezekiah, with a fresh defiance against Jerusalem, and a repetition of blasphemies against the God of the nation.

The design of this message, unlike that conveyed by Rabshakeh, seems to have been not to destroy the confidence of the people in their king, but to weaken the confidence of Hezekiah in Jehovah. It was more open and direct in its blasphemy than the previous communication, and breathes a spirit of haughtiness, as if the Assyrian king disdained even to put himself in comparison with the God of Israel.

Hezekiah received the letter from the hands of

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the messengers and read it; and as any man would carry an open letter which troubled and perplexed him to a friend for sympathy and counsel," he went up again to the temple and spread it before the Lord. "And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open thine eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to reproach the living God. Of a truth, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their countries, and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; therefore

they have destroyed them. Now, therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hands, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only."

The destruction of Jerusalem, with all its inhabitants, would in itself have been comparatively a small evil; but the destruction of the sincere worshippers of Jehovah, whom he had been impiously challenged to protect, Hezekiah regarded as an evil of indescribable magnitude. The scoffer, destitute himself of any concern for the divine honor, sets down the profession of such a sentiment by the pious as hypocrisy-as only an attempt to flatter the vanity of the object of their worship. But no trait more distinguishes holy men, in every age, than a lively susceptibility to the honor of their Maker and Sovereign. Their most importunate supplications for themselves, or for others, are grounded on the glory which will redound to God in performing their requests. Our Saviour, when on earth, gave us an example of pleading such a motive before the throne of his Father: "Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee." "Increase the influence, magnify the name, the love, the gospel of thy Son, that he may lay all at the feet, and glorify the name of his Father." Basing its plea, therefore, for the interference of Jehovah, on the manifestation of his own glory, the prayer of Hezekiah, brief, comprehensive, pertinent to the occasion, and