Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 4.djvu/69

Rh gods, and had found out the kingdoms of their idols, and found out ways to make them his own, v. 10. Their kingdoms took denominations from the idols they worshipped; the Moabites are called the people of Chemosh, (Jer. xlviii. 46.) because they imagined their gods were their patrons and protectors; and therefore Sennacherib vainly imagines that every conquest of a kingdom was the conquest of a god. Fourthly, He had enlarged his own dominions, and removed the bounds of the people, (v. 13.) enclosing many large territories within the limits of his own kingdom, and shifting a great way further the ancient landmarks which his fathers had set; he could not bear to be hemmed in so close, but must have more room to thrive. By his removing the border of the people, Mr. White understands his arbitrary transplanting of colonies from place to place, which was the constant practice of the Assyrians in all their conquests; this is a probable interpretation. Fifthly, He had enriched himself with their wealth, and brought it into his own exchequer; I have robbed their treasures. In that, he said truly. Great conquerors are often no better than great robbers. Lastly, He had mastered all the opposition he met with; "I have put down the inhabitants as a valiant man: those that sat high, and thought they sat firm, I have humbled, and made to come down."

He boasts, 1. That he had done all this by his own policy and power; (v. 13.) By the strength of my hand, for I am valiant; and by my wisdom, for I am prudent: not by the permission of providence, and the blessing of God: he knows not that it is God that makes him what he is, and puts the staff into his hand, but sacrifices to his own net, Hab. i. 16. It is all gotten by my might, and the power of my hand, Deut. viii. 17. Downright atheism and profaneness, as well as pride and vanity, are at the bottom of men's attributing their prosperity and success thus to themselves and their own conduct, and raising their own character upon it. 2. That he had done all this with a great deal of ease, and had made but a sport and diversion of it, as if he had been taking birds' nests; (v. 14.) My hand has found as a nest the riches of the people; and when he had found them, there was no more difficulty in taking them than in rifling a nest, nor anv more reluctance or regret within his own breast, in destroying families and cities, than in destroying crows' nests: killing children was no more to him than killing birds. "As one gathers the eggs that are left in the nest by the dam, so easily have I gathered all the earth;" (like Alexander, he thought he had conquered the world;) and whatever prey he seized, there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped, as birds do when their nests are rifled; they durst not make any opposition, no, nor any complaint; such awe did they stand in of this mighty conqueror; they were so weak, that they knew it was to no purpose to resist; and he was so arbitrary, that they knew it was to no purpose to complain. Strange! that ever men, who were made to do good, should take a pride and a pleasure in doing wrong, and doing mischief to all abqut them without control; and should reckon that their glory which is their shame! But their day will come to fall, who thus make themselves the terror of the mighty, and much more of the feeble, in the land of the living.

[2.] He threatens what he will do to Jerusalem, which he was now about to lay siege to, v. 10. 11. He would master Jerusalem and her idols, as he had subdued other places and their idols, particularly Samaria. First, He blasphemously calls the God of Israel an idol, and sets him on a level with the false gods of other nations, as if none were the true God but Mithras, the sun, whom he worshipped. See how ignorant he was, and then we shall the less wonder that he was so proud. Secondly, He prefers the graven images of other countries before those of Jerusalem and Samaria, when he might have known that the worshippers of the God of Israel were expressly forbidden to make any graven images, and if any did, it must be by stealth, and therefore they could not be so rich and pompous as those of other nations. If he mean the ark and the mercy-seat, he speaks like himself, very foolishly, and as one that judged by the sight of the eye, and might therefore be easily deceived in matters of spiritual concern. Those who make external pomp and splendour a mark of the true church, go by the same rule. Thirdly, Because he had conquered Samaria, he concludes Jerusalem would fall of course; "shall not I do so to Jerusalem? Can I not as easily, and may I not as justly?" But it did not follow; for Jerusalem adhered to her God, whereas Samaria had forsaken him.

III. See how God, in his justice, rebukes his pride, and reads his doom. We have heard what the great king, the king of Assyria, says, and how big he talks; let us now hear what the great God has to say by his servant the prophet, and we shall find that, wherein he deals proudly, God is above him.

1. He shows the vanity of his insolent and audacious boasts; (v. 15.) Shall the axe boast itself against him that hews therewith? Or, Shall the saw magnify itself against him that draws it? So absurd are the boasts of this proud man. "O what a dust do I make!" said the fly upon the cart-wheel in the fable. "What destruction do I make among the trees!" says the axe. Two ways the axe may be said to boast itself against him that hews with it; (1.) By way of resistance and opposition. Sennacherib blasphemed God, insulted him, threatened to serve him as he had served the gods of the nations; now this was as if the axe should fly in the face of him that hews with it. The tool striving with the workman is no less absurd than the clay striving with the potter: and as it is a thing not to be justified, that men should fight against God with the wit, and wealth, and power, which he gives them, so it is a thing not to be suffered; but if men will be thus proud and daring, and bid defiance to all that is just and sacred, let them expect that God will reckon with them; the more insolent they are, the surer and sorer will their ruin be. (2.) By way of rivalship and competition. Shall the axe take to itself the praise of the work it is employed in? So senseless, so absurd, was it for Sennacherib to say, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, v. 13. It is as if the rod, when it is shaken, should boast that it guides the hand which shakes it; whereas when the staff is lifted up, is it not wood still? So the last clause may be read. If it be an ensign of authority, (as the nobles of the people carried staves, Numb. xxi. 18.) if it be an instrument of service, either to support a weak man, or to correct a bad man, still it is wood, and can do nothing but as it is directed by him that uses it. The psalmist prays that God would make the nations know that they were but men, (Ps. ix. 20.) the staff to know that it is but wood.

2. He foretells his fall and ruin.

(1.) That when God hath done his work by him, he will then do his work upon him, v. 12. For the comfort of the people of God, in reference to Sennacherib's invasion, though it was a dismal time with them, let them know, [1.] That God designed to do good in Zion and Jerusalem by his providence; there is a work to be done upon them, which God intends, and which he will perform. Note, When God lets loose the enemies of his church and people, and suffers them for a time to prevail, it is in