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sayest I have counsel and strength for the war, Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? Now, behold thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man bear, it will go into his hand and pierce it; so is Pharaoh, king of Egypt unto all that trust on him. Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give over yourselves to die by famine and by thirst, saying; Jehovah, our God, shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Is not that he whose high places and altars the same Hezekiah has taken away, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying; Ye shall worship before one altar in Jerusalem, and burn incense upon it? Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all the people of other lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands any ways able to deliver their lands out of mine hand? Who was there amongst all the gods of those nations, that my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of mine hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of mine hand? Now, therefore, let not Hezekiah deceive you nor persuade you on this manner, neither yet believe him; for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of mine hand, and out of the hand of my fathers; how much less shall your God deliver you out of mine hand? I pray thee, therefore, give pledges to my lord, the king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee 2,000 horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. How wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust or Egypt for chariots and for horsemen ? Am I now come up without Jehovah against this place to destroy it? Jehovah said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.”+ And the Assyrians spake even more violently against

2 Kings; xviii. 17-22. 2 Chron. xxxii. 9—15. † 2 Kings, xviii. 23-25. Isaiah, xxxvi. 8-10.

Jehovah, and against his servant, Hezekiah; and Sennacherib wrote railing or blasphemous letters against Jehovah, the God of Israel, to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people out of mine hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of mine hand.*

Eliakim and his companions having entreated Sennacherib's officers to speak in the Syrian, and not in the Hebrew language, in order that the people might not be affected by their harangue; Rabshakeh said to them, in order to affright them and to trouble them, that they might take the city, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? Hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own excrements, and drink their own urine with you?†

Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice, in the Jew's language, and spake, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria: thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand: neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. Hearken not to Hezekiah; for thus saith the king of Assyria: Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern: until I come and take you away to a land like your land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil-olive, and of honey, that

* 2 Chron. xvxii. 16, 17.

+ 2 Kings, xviii. 26, 27. Isaiah, xxxvi. 11. 12. That is, that they may be fully apprized of the dreadful extremities to which the city will be reduced by siege, if they continue their allegiance to Hezekiah. A. Clarke, on 2 Kings, xviii. 27.

ye may live, and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? Have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand? Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand? But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.* And they spake against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, which were the work of the hands of man.†

Eliakim and his companions having presented themselves before Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and repeated the boasting threats of Rabshakeh, the pious monarch rent his clothes also, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Jehovah. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna, the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz: and they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy; for the children are come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring forth. It may be Jehovah, thy God, will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which Jehovah, thy God, hath heard; wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left. So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah: and Isaiah said unto them, thus shall ye say to your master, thus saith Jeho

2 Kings, xviii. £8-36. Isaiah, xxxvi. 12-21.
† 2 Chron. xxxii. 18, 19.

vah; Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will send a blast* upon him, and he shall hear a rumour,† and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Lib nah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.‡ Soon afterwards, however, Sennacherib sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying: Let not thy God in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my Fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden, which were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? And Hezekiah received

+"A pestilential wind, such as the Arabians call Smum, or Simoom, which instantly suffocates both man and beast; and which is afterwards called the angel of the Lord, or the messenger of death." See Isaiah, xxxvii. 36. A. Clarke, Gray's Key, 189, Burder, O. C. 430, extracting from Bruce and Niebuhr. But all these learned commentators should recollect that whilst it may be true that God might condescend, upon this and other occasions, to make use of some human and natural instruments, yet that there is no evidence that he actually did so; and that all the powers of nature are under his control; and that it is equally easy for him to call into instant existence, new and unheard of agents and instruments, as to apply those, already formed by his almighty hand, to some unusual and immediate purpose.

† Viz.—That Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, had invaded Assyria, See the whole of this war of the Assyrian monarch, who probably was then besieging Pelusium, fully elucidated in P、id. i. 41—51. and Un. Hist. i. 894.

2 Kings, xix. 1-8. Isaiah, xxxvii. 1—8.

the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up unto the house of Jehovah, and spread it before Jehovah: and Hezekiah prayed unto Jehovah, saying; O Jehovah 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 Jehovah, and hear; open thine eyes, O Jehovah, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to reproach the living God. Of a truth, O Jehovah, 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 Jehovah, our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art Jehovah, even thou only.

Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent unto Hezekiah, saying; "Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria; this is the word which Jehovah hath spoken concerning him.

The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn: the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed; and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. By thy servants hast thou reproached Jehovah, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel.† I have digged, and drunk water;

Addressed to Sennacherib.

The forest and his fruitful field. Marg.

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