This is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: 'The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind you. Sermons
I. ZION'S DERISION OF THE INVADER. The introductory picture is very striking. The city Jerusalem is represented as a maiden, standing on a height, derision imprinted on every feature, shaking her head, and sending out bursts of mocking laughter after the retreating Sennacherib. Is she insane? So to the world it might have seemed. Insane at least it might appear to draw such a picture at a time when the condition of the city seemed past salvation. But faith's manifestations often seem like madness to the worldly (Acts 26:24; 2 Corinthians 5:13). Faith triumphs beforehand over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19, 20). It does not need to wait to see their overthrow; it is assured of it as if it had already happened. The strength of faith is seen in the degree in which it enables its possessor to rise above adverse circumstances. In its higher reaches it cannot only hope and wait, but exults and treats the threats of the enemy with ridicule and scorn (cf. Psalm 2:4). II. SENNACHERIB AS GLASSED IN HIS OWN EYES. Jehovah next asserts himself as "the Holy One of Israel," and takes Sennacherib to task for his blasphemies against him. He puts language into Sennacherib's lips poetically expressive of that monarch's lofty ideas of his own power. Alluding both to what he has done and to what he intends to do, Sennacherib boasts, "With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains I have digged and drunk strange waters; and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt." The meaning is that no obstacles of nature can prevent the accomplishment of his designs. Mountains like Lebanon cannot stop his march; he will find water even in the desert; Egypt's rivers will be trodden disdainfully underfoot. His chariots pass over all heights; cedar trees and fir trees fall before him; he penetrates to the farthest lodging-place and most fruitful region of the country. It is "I," Sennacherib says, "who do all this." Such boasting is: 1. Extravagant. In his inflated self-consciousness, Sennacherib sets no bounds to what he can accomplish. His language is exaggerated and hyperbolical. It is a man puffing himself up to the dimensions of a god (cf. Isaiah 10:13, 14; Isaiah 14:13, 14; Daniel 4:30). Napoleon was accustomed to use similar language to impress the minds of his ignorant enemies (Bahr's 'Commentary on 2 Kings,' p. 226). Only in part is this extravagant self-assertion delusion. Those who give vent to it know very well that much of it is theatrical and unreal - mere froth and foam. But it gratifies their pride to indulge in it. 2. Irrational This on two grounds: (1) Even granting that these boastings rested on real exploits, such self-exaltation is unbecoming in any mortal. The mightiest conqueror has only to reflect how soon he will become weak as other men (Isaiah 14:10-17), to see how foolish is his self-glorying. (2) The past is an unsafe ground for boasting as to the future. Because his arms had hitherto been so uniformly successful, Sennacherib imagined that it was impossible any reverse could now befall him. He had got into his head the idea of Ms own invincibility. Napoleon had the same confidence in the invincibility of his arms. Experience shows the baselessness of such confidence. A long run of victories, intoxicating the conqueror with his own success, is generally followed by a disastrous calamity. The castle gets built up too high, and in the end topples over. Napoleon learnt this at Moscow and Waterloo. Excess of pride usually ends in an overthrow. 3. Impious. Boastings, finally, were impious. It was the creature arrogating to himself the power of God. Any reference to Asshur Sennacherib may have made in his inscriptions was but a thin veil to cover his self-glorying. His particular blasphemies against the God of Israel arose from ignorance of Jehovah's true character. He thought he was contending against the petty god of a small tribe, whereas he had to deal with "the Holy One" who made heaven and earth. Men's mistakes as to God do not alter the realities of their relation to him. Because God is "the Holy One," he cannot overlook men's impieties. Holiness is the principle which guards the Divine honor. It "guards the eternal distinction between Creator and creature, between God and man, in the union effected between them; it preserves the Divine dignity and majesty from being infringed upon" (Martensen). III. SENNACHERIB AS BEHELD BY GOD. Vastly different from Sennacherib's view of himself was the view taken of him by God his Maker. 1. Sennacherib a mere instrument in God's hands for the execution of his purposes. "Hast thou not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Now have I brought it to pass that thou shouldest be to lay waste," etc. Sennacherib was defying Jehovah, but it was this God who from everlasting had decreed the events that were taking place, and had assigned to Sennacherib the part he was to bear in them. Here was a strange reversal of Sennacherib's ideas! It was the axe boasting itself against him that heweth herewith, and the saw magnifying itself against him that shaketh it, and the rod shaking itself against them that lift it up (Isaiah 10:16). This is the truth which ungodly men constantly ignore. They exalt themselves against God, forgetful that, without God, they could not think a thought or move a finger; that it is he who gave them their being, and continually sustains them; that his providence girds them round, and uses them as executors of its purposes; and that they have only as much power as he chooses to give them. 2. His successes due to God. "Therefore their inhabitants were of small power," etc. Sennacherib ascribed all his victories to his own prowess, and founded on them an argument for despising Jehovah, whereas it was because Jehovah had prospered him that he had gained these victories. It is God who brings low, and lifts up (1 Samuel 2:7). When he is against a people, their strength is small, they are dismayed and confounded, they are like grass that withers, and blasted grain. Sennacherib did not understand this, and took all the glory to himself. 3. God prescribes the limits of his power. As the Assyrian was thus an instrument in God's hand, it was for God to say how far he would be permitted to go. The limit was reached when he began to rage and blaspheme against the power which controlled him. God had heard his words and seen his doings. "I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me." He had done enough. The curb was now to be applied. Drawing a metaphor from Sennacherib's own treatment of his captives, the oracle declared, "I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest. The prediction was soon to be fulfilled. No comfort can be greater, in times of "trouble, and rebuke, and blasphemy," than to know that the hostile powers are under absolute Divine control, and that they cannot take one step beyond what God allows. "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain" (Psalm 76:10). When men turn against God in open blasphemy, their power is nearly at an end. IV. A SIGN TO THE PEOPLE. 1. A pledge of God's favor. The immediate sign of the truth of this oracle would be the destruction of the invading army, which was to take place that very night. But as a further pledge of complete deliverance from the Assyrian - a token that he would not return - it was foretold that within three years the whole land would be again under cultivation. In the interval the people would be provided for by that which grew of itself. Material blessings are withdrawn when God frowns; restored when he smiles. 2. The remnant would take root and increase. The land had been deplorably thinned by invasion and captivity. Had the process gone on much longer, Judah would have disappeared, as Israel had done. A remnant, however, would be saved, and this, taking root downward, and bearing fruit upward, would by God's blessing so multiply and strengthen as speedily to renew the population. 3. God's zeal engaged for the fulfillment of his promises. They were great things which God had promised, but the "zeal" of the Lord of hosts - his jealousy for his own honor, and for his people and his land - would perform it. When God's "zeal" is engaged in any undertaking, can we doubt that it will prosper? "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:39). God's zeal is engaged in giving effect to all efforts for the extension of his gospel, the salvation of men, and the triumph of righteousness in the world. V. THE SAFETY OF THE CITY. Finally, a definite assurance is given that, let Sennacherib rage as he may, the city would not be harmed. He should neither come into it, nor shoot an arrow into it, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it, as once before he had done. Instead, he would return by the way he came. This God would do (1) for his own sake, i.e. for the vindication of his own honor from the reproaches of Sennacherib; and (2) for his servant David's sake. Succeeding generations little know how much they owe to God's regard for his holy servants in days past. As was Jerusalem, so is the Church safe under God's protection (Matthew 16:18). For the higher David's sake, he will not let it perish. But for God's care and shielding power, it would long ere this have been destroyed. - J.O.
And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord. Hezekiah the King of Judah was in very great trouble. For some time the forces of the Assyrian had overcome the land and had taken the fenced cities: Jerusalem had been spared only on payment of a ransom that had greatly impoverished it. But that sufficed for a time only: and now the hosts of the enemy had gathered again and demanded its surrender. The city of Samaria had fallen and all the land was possessed by Assyria. It was an insult to the proud conqueror that Jerusalem alone should defy him. Round about the walls gathered their forces, and Rab-shakeh the commander had come near to the city and Cried aloud in the ears of all the people his threats against them and his summons to surrender. To his blasphemies Hezekiah had given no answer. Leaving forces enough behind him to sustain the siege Rab-shakeh had marched off then to join his royal master elsewhere. But now Egypt was marching up to fight the Assyrian. Of that Jerusalem could know nothing; but Rab-shakeh was anxious to withdraw the army from Jerusalem in order to strengthen his own forces; and he wrote a letter, impudent and blasphemous, thinking to frighten Hezekiah into surrender1. The first thing for us to look at is this, — A king in trouble. Troubled soul, do not think within yourself that your case is peculiar, — all men have their troubles. Do not go envying any man, for no position will bring escape from trouble. But further, here is a good man in trouble. Turn to the beginning of the previous chapter and read the record of this man. The worst thing that could befall us in this world would be for us to have in anything our own way. 3. Again, here was a very great trouble. Net for himself was it that Hezekiah thought only or even mostly, though this was quite enough to think about. A crown and throne and all the proud position of king is quite enough to lose at one blow. But that was swallowed up in his concern about his people and the perils that beset them. 4. And it was a trouble for which there seemed to be no help. Samaria had fallen, and they looked in vain towards the north. (M. G. Pearse.) (G. F. Prescott, M. A.) II. LET US CONSIDER HEZEKIAH'S CONDUCT AND PRAYER AS A TEST OF THE REAL STATE OF THE HEART. We are told, in verse 1, what was his great resource. Prayer was his habit; not the mere exclamation, nor sudden feeling when danger threatened, which men have by instinct, no! we are told "Hezekiah trusted in the Lord," "he clave to the Lord"; such expressions imply the habit of prayer; when trouble came he had not to commence an acquaintance with God. III. Let us consider Hezekiah's prayer AS AN EXAMPLE OF THE MANNER OF PRAYER. But let us take Hezekiah as a model for our imitation. How did he particularise? "he spreads the letter before the Lord"; he takes each part, and reasons on it; and if we compare the particulars of the letter with what is specified in the prayer, we shall see the meaning of his spreading the letter before the Lord. His was not a general prayer for deliverance, but a specifying of particulars; thus had he abundant matter for his petitions, thus by opening all his case, he disburdened his own heart, thus he put God in remembrance, and involved His glory with His people's safety. Such should be the manner of prayer, then there will not be wandering or coldness. (B. Jacob, A. M.) I. First, A SPECIMEN OF THREATENING COMMUNICATION is alluded to in my text, and recorded in the verses immediately preceding it. In introducing it to your notice, I admonish you, first, that the historical parts of the Scriptures are the records of Cod's dealings with His Church mainly, conveying only so much generally of the history of the world, as is needful to illustrate these dealings with the Church; and consequently that every event is to be viewed in accordance with this plan; otherwise we become bewildered and lost in reading the narrative of Holy Scripture, and we lose the object for which that narrative is perpetuated and recorded. If you look into the threatening letter of the haughty Assyrian, you will find it remarkable, as containing three of the topics, which are commonly dwelt upon by persecutors, when they desire to trouble the Church and people of God. The first of these three topics is the mockery of Hezekiah's faith, as mere fancy. A second particular in the letter is this: here is an attempt to work upon Hezekiah's fears. For the world, like faithful servants of the wicked one, will try, and do try, experiment after experiment, for the injury of the Lord's people; if ridicule will not prevail, terror will be used. Here is, further and thirdly, an attempt to confound the true religion with the superstitions of men, and the Lord Jehovah with the idols of the heathen: that So the visitations of judgment, with which the enemies of Cod are often permitted to vex and destroy each other, might be held forth as an additional discouragement from the exercise of faith in those who are "joined to the Lord."II. In the second place, my text affords us A SPECIMEN OF WISE DEMEANOUR IN THE PEOPLE OF GOD, WHEN THEY ARE ASSAILED BY PERSECUTIONS OR THREATENINGS FROM THE WORLD. No business whatever will detain us from the house and ordinances of God, if we have the fear and love of God in our hearts; because we need His blessing in all our transactions. And if at all other times, then especially we need it in seasons of affliction. III. In the third place, A SPECIMEN OF SIMPLE FAITH IS ALSO HERE PRESENTED; to which the spiritually-minded among you will do well to take heed, as to that plan whereby we may most effectually remove our anxious cares off our own shoulders, and honour that word of grace and truth, given to every adopted child of God: "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee" (Psalm 55:22). That phraseology is very remarkable, in the superabundance of the promise above the matter involved in the exhortation — "Cast thy burden upon the Lord"; the answer to that would be — "And He shall sustain it, He will bear it for thee"; but the answer is more — "He shall sustain thee," thee and thy burden too. 1. Simplicity of faith is shown in the act under contemplation. It is left on record for the instruction of those who in after ages would glorify God in a troublesome world. 2. Faith suggests the efficacy of prayer. The Lord's people are thereby enabled to judge Him faithful, "who hath promised." 3. Finally, this faith may be exercised, and prayer presented, and that with good success, in the most apparently perilous circumstances. (W. Borrows, M. A.) Homiletic Quarterly. Prayers have their histories. Their ancestry is trouble, struggle with circumstances, and helplessness. They mark epochs in our lives, They are born in those hours which leave an indelible impression upon us. The sublimest strains which men have uttered have been towards God in moments of agony,I. HEZEKIAH PRAYED TO JEHOVAH AS THE GOD OF HIS NATION. "O Lord God of Israel." 1. The nation bore the name of one of its progenitors that "as a prince had prevailed with God." Names and events around which cluster Divine deliverances may encourage us in prayer. Past manifestations of God's power may enlarge our faith. What God has been to our forefathers, our churches, our nations in times of trouble, He will be to us amid the perils of our day. History is a handmaid in the service of Faith. 2. His nation was Jehovah's peculiar dwelling-place — "which dwellest between the cherubims." The Skekinah, the holy light, as a symbol of the Divine presence, ever shone forth from between those weird and colossal figures which Solomon had carved and placed on either side of the mercy-seat. God will protect where He dwells. While He remains, there is perfect safety. When He departs, there is ruin.(1) God dwelling in a nation saves it. God now manifests Himself, not by a material brightness, but by righteousness, purity, and truth.(2) God dwelling in a man saves him. Every Christian is a temple of God. The true cherubim and Shekinah are in the soul.(3) God dwelling in a Church saves it. No enemies can overthrow a Church that has the Divine glory shining in the midst of it.(4) We can appeal to the manifestations of the Divine presence to increase our confidence in God in times of danger. II. HEZEKIAH RECOGNISES, IN HIS PRAYER, THE SOLE SUPREMACY OF JEHOVAH. "Thou art the God," etc.; "and have cast their gods into the fire," etc. Each nation had its gods. Polytheistic ideas and customs prevailed in the nations surrounding Jordan. The gods were often destroyed when the nations fell which they were supposed to protect. The Jews alone asserted the existence of one supreme God. 1. Hezekiah asserted that Jehovah was the only true God. Polytheism was a foolish delusion. It probably arose from men's innate propensity to materialise spiritual things, from the worship of natural objects as the manifestation of the Divine power, from the sinful and insatiate imagination of men's hearts, from the deification of departed heroes, or from the attempt to give visible shape to applauded virtues. But there can be but one infinite and eternal God. 2. That He exercised supreme control over all the kingdoms of the earth. He was not only the God of Israel, but of all nations. III. HE APPEALED TO JEHOVAH AS THE MAKER OF "HEAVEN AND EARTH." Heaven and earth to the Jewish mind included all things. In this sublime idea of God is involved — 1. That He is eternal. He existed before all things; delighting in the glory of His own nature before the worlds were made; no material form nor spiritual existence sharing that eternity with Him. 2. That He is separate from His works. The universe is not He, as the ancient pantheists taught, and as some teach now. He is immanent in all His creations, but independent of them. The maker is not His work. God transcends all beings and worlds. 3. That He is omnipotent. He who made the universe must be Almighty. Its greatness is inconceivable, and the power that produced it must be infinite. 4. That He has an absolute right to control an things. The maker has indefeasible rights in His productions. 5. That He has all things under His direct control. As He has created all forces, an laws, an agencies, all worlds, all angels, all men, He has them under His immediate direction, and can turn them "whithersoever He will." This conception of God afforded solid ground for Hezekiah's faith. IV. HEZEKIAH PRAYED WITH GREAT EARNESTNESS. Earnestness is needed, not to lead God to observe our condition, or to create a disposition in Him to help us, but — 1. That the strength of our desires may be revealed. 2. That we may be raised from the low condition of formal devotion. 3. That we may have all the spiritual culture which the outcries of real need may impart. 4. That we may be prepared to receive Divine deliverances thankfully. Hezekiah was stirred with the most powerful emotions as he prayed. His trouble heated his soul as a fire. V. HEZEKIAH RECOGNISED THE GREATNESS OF THE DELIVERANCE WHICH HE SOUGHT. "Of a truth, Lord," etc. To recognise the greatness of the deliverance we need will — 1. Deepen our sense of helplessness in ourselves 2. Stimulate the exercise of great faith. 3. Prepare us for the manifestation of God's great delivering hand. VI. HEZEKIAH ASSOCIATED THE GLORY OF JEHOVAH WITH THE DELIVERANCE WHICH HE SOUGHT. The reproaches which had been cast upon him had been cast upon God. But it was God's delivering arm put forth in answer to Hezekiah's faith and prayer —(1) that His people might learn to put their trust in Him, and(2) that all the earth might know that none could defy His power and prosper. (Homiletic Quarterly.) Much constant communion will surround us with an atmosphere through which none of the many influences which threaten our Christian life and our Christian work can penetrate. As the diver in his bell sits dry at the bottom of the sea, and draws a pure air from the free heavens far above him, and is parted from that murderous waste of green death that clings so closely round the translucent crystal walls which keep him safe; so we, enclosed in God, shall repel from ourselves all that would overflow to destroy us and our work, and may by His grace lay deeper than the waters some courses in the great building that shall one day rise, stately and many-mansioned, from out of the conquered waves.(A. Maclaren, D. D.) Dr. H. Clay Trumbull, the well-known religious leader of America who passed away the other day, related a story about one of his little daughters. "She brought to me a while ago," he says, "a geography book, having on its cover a picture of fabled Atlas, bearing the globe on his shoulders. Pointing to the overburdened man, with his bowed head, upstrained shoulders, and distended muscles, staggering under the weight that seemed just ready to crush him, she said: 'Papa! Why don't that man lay that thing down?' 'Well, my dear,' I answered, 'it would be a great deal better if he did. But that man has the idea that he must carry the world on his shoulders. There are a good many men of that sort, as you will find when you are older.' That child's question is a pertinent one to any of you who are struggling under oppressive burden of personal anxiety of any nature whatosever. 'Why don't you lay that thing down?' 'Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee.'"People Adrammelech, Amoz, Assyrians, David, Eliakim, Esarhaddon, Haran, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Rabshakeh, Sennacherib, Sharezer, Shebna, TirhakahPlaces Ararat, Arpad, Assyria, Cush, Egypt, Gozan, Hamath, Haran, Hena, Ivvah, Jerusalem, Lachish, Lebanon, Libnah, Mount Zion, Nineveh, Rezeph, Sepharvaim, Telassar, Tigris-Euphrates Region, ZionTopics Behind, Daughter, Despised, Despises, Despiseth, Flee, Jerusalem, Laughed, Laugheth, Mocked, Mocks, Ridiculed, Scorn, Scorns, Shaken, Shaketh, Shamed, Spake, Spoken, Sport, Tosses, Trampled, Virgin, Virgin-daughter, Wags, ZionOutline 1. Hezekiah, in mourning, sends to Isaiah to pray for them.6. Isaiah comforts them. 8. Sennacherib, going to encounter Tirhakah, sends a blasphemous letter to Hezekiah. 14. Hezekiah's prayer. 20. Isaiah's prophecy of the destruction of Sennacherib, and the good of Zion. 35. An angel slays the Assyrians. 36. Sennacherib is slain by his own sons. Dictionary of Bible Themes 2 Kings 19:21 5157 head Library 'He Uttered his Voice, the Earth Melted''Then Isaiah the son of Amos sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. 21. This is the word that the Lord 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. 22. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The Invasion of the Assyrians Whether Charity Requires that we Should Love Our Enemies? The Sinner Arraigned and Convicted. The Power of Assyria at Its Zenith; Esarhaddon and Assur-Bani-Pal The Golden Eagle is Cut to Pieces. Herod's Barbarity when He was Ready to Die. He Attempts to Kill Himself. He Commands Antipater to be Slain. A Discourse of the House and Forest of Lebanon It is Strange that These Delightful Promises Affect us Coldly... Scriptural Types. Letter xxviii (Circa A. D. 1130) to the Abbots Assembled at Soissons A Living Book The First Commandment The Prophet Amos. Kings Links 2 Kings 19:21 NIV2 Kings 19:21 NLT 2 Kings 19:21 ESV 2 Kings 19:21 NASB 2 Kings 19:21 KJV 2 Kings 19:21 Bible Apps 2 Kings 19:21 Parallel 2 Kings 19:21 Biblia Paralela 2 Kings 19:21 Chinese Bible 2 Kings 19:21 French Bible 2 Kings 19:21 German Bible 2 Kings 19:21 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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