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He that dasheth, etc. "He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face." "The disperser hath come up before thee" (Henderson); "A dasher in pieces comes against thee" (Keil). Who is "he that dasheth in pieces "? The Medo-Babylonish army. This mighty army, under the command of Cyaxares and Nabopolassar, composed of Modes and Babylonians, wrought the terrible destruction so graphically predicted in these chapters. And beneath its triumphant power Nineveh fell, between B.C. 626 and 608 - fell to rise no more. Both these powers - the Medes and the Babylonians - were pre-eminently wicked, as bad in every respect, if not worse, than the Assyrians. These were the battle axe with which God broke in pieces the Assyrian power. As a rule, in the government of the world, God employs one wicked nation to destroy another. Who destroyed Edom and Egypt, and Persia and Moab, and Greece and Rome? These were all destroyed by the hands of wicked men. Why this? Why does not the Almighty punish wicked nations by some other way? Why does he not destroy them without any instrumentality whatever, by a mere volition; or, if he employs instrumentality, why not the blind forces of nature, or wild beasts, or poisonous reptiles? Why should he employ wicked men as his instruments? The method clearly answers certain purposes.

I. IT MAKES THE PUNISHMENT APPEAR MORE TERRIBLE. Who would not sooner die by a flash of lightning, or a pestilential blast, or a predatory beast, than in deadly conflict with a man with whom he has measured his strength? In such a death passions are roused that burn in the centre of the soul, and a terrible humiliation is felt. A wicked man can have no greater tormentor than a wicked man. The greatest tormentors of fiends are fiends. In punishing wicked men in this way the Almighty declares to their consciences that they are so wicked that the wicked shall destroy them. Those of their own flesh and blood and character shall wreak vengeance on their head.

II. IT REVEALS THE ENORMITY OF SIN. Man was made to love his brother. His social instincts, his physical relationships, and the law of interdependence, as well as the laws of God, demonstrate this. But when you see him flaming with malign emotions towards his fellows, and wrestling in a deadly conflict, what a revelation of the enormity of sin! The battlefield is at once the product and the type of hell. Such a manifestation of sin is surely hideous enough to make us stand aghast with horror and hate.

III. IT SHOWS GOD'S MASTERY OVER HUMAN ACTIONS. The wicked engage in bloody wars, and thus become the instruments in administering the just penalties of sin; not to obey the Divine will, but to gratify their own avarice, ambition, malice, and greed. They do not serve Providence by their will, but against it. God is such a Master of human souls that he "maketh the wrath of man to praise him". It is not optional with man whether he shall serve God or not; serve him he must; the option is whether he shall serve him willingly or unwillingly, as an agent or as an instrument. God links the devil himself to that providential chariot which is bearing on his great purposes to their fulfilment.

CONCLUSION. Two things should be remembered in connection with this subject.

1. That the wickedness of nations does not necessarily imply wickedness in all their members. There are good men in every nation under heaven, even in the worst. There are Noahs, Lots, Daniels, Jobs, amongst the corruptest people.

2. That the ruin of nations does not necessarily imply the ruin of all their members. Nations are but assemblages of individuals - abstractions, nothing more. They have no future existence; there is no Egypt, Persia, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Rome, Germany, Italy, England, etc., in eternity. Nor are there any Churches there, Papal or Protestant, Conformist or Nonconformist. "Public bodies and communities of men, as such, can only be rewarded and punished in this world. This world is the only season for national punishments."

"The individual culprit may sometimes
Unpunished to his after reckoning go.
Not thus collective man; for public crimes
Draw on their proper punishment below
When nations go astray, from age to age
The effects remain, a fatal heritage."

(R. Southey.)

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KJV: He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.

WEB: He who dashes in pieces has come up against you. Keep the fortress! Watch the way! Strengthen your waist! Fortify your power mightily!