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Assyria, the rod of God's anger, shall itself be brought low.

1 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;

2 To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!

3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?

4 Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. 6 I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

7 Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

8 For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?

9 Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus ?

10 As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria ;

11 Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?

12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the LORD hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

13 For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:

14 And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.

15 Shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.

16 Therefore shall the LORD, the LORD of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.

17 And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;

18 And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth.

19 And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.

LECTURE 1109.

God glorified in overruling man's evil for good.

We read in the last chapter, how the Israelites were to be. devoured at once by "the Syrians before, and the Philistines behind." And because when thus chastised they would not turn to God, He would cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush," their great men and their false prophets, their rulers, and the misruled people. And further for their wickedness He would give them up to intestine strife, "no man shall spare his brother." See Ch. 9. 12, 14, 19. And further amongst the wickedness which prevailed both in Israel and in Judah, we here find mention of injustice on the part of those who put the laws into execution. The poor, the widow, and the orphan, were robbed of their rights. And this oppression was one of the things which chiefly provoked the wrath of the righteous Judge of all the earth. Let the oppressor then take timely warning. Let all those who share in making or administering our laws watch that as far as in them lies no man be thereby wronged. For whither can those flee for help, whom God pursues for vengeance? And in the day of his retribution, what will avail them all the gain or glory they may have got by such gross violation of his will?

The monarch of Assyria was the rod chiefly made use of by Jehovah to chastise his offending people. And from the passage before us we may profitably learn, how God is pleased to overrule the evil which is in the hearts of sinful men, for forwarding his own righteous purposes. The Assyrian invader would little think of this prophetic commission to spoil and to lay low a people, who had provoked the wrath of the Most High. He would come in the pride of his own heart, counting up the cities he had already laid waste, and glorying in the thought, that he should with equal ease take possession of Samaria and Jerusalem. And because God foreknew that this would be the spirit of the invader's mind, therefore the prophet is inspired to foretel, that when this vain and haughty temper should have done its work, then it also should receive its punishment. God, who made use of it to chastise the "hypocritical nation," which pretended to serve Him by worshipping images, would in due season make it to know, that the instrument must not boast itself against the hand that uses it. He would in a very signal manner discomfit the host of the Assyrians "in one day;" a discomfiture set forth under the figures of making lean, and burning with fire, and hewing down the glory of a forest. It is then no excuse for wickedness, that it is overruled by God for a good end. The wisdom and goodness of God are thereby glorified. But the vanity, the cruelty, the covetousness, or the ambition of man, remain no less sinful in God's sight, no less liable to God's vengeance. There is no evil man can do which He cannot turn to a wise purpose; none for which He will not call the doer to a strict account.

The remnant in Zion need not fear the Assyrian.

20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Is rael, in truth.

21 The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.

22 For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteous

ness.

23 For the Lord GOD of hosts shalt make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.

24 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.

25 For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their de

struction.

26 And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of

Egypt.

27 And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

28 He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:

29 They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.

30 Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.

31 Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.

32 As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

33 Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.

34 And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.

LECTURE 1110.

It is for Christ's sake that we are spared to repent. The Assyrian invader, commissioned as he was to spoil the kingdom of the ten tribes, is forbidden by prophecy to lay his hand upon Jerusalem. And the remnant of Israel, which would be left in Zion at the time of the invasion, are here bidden not to be "afraid of the Assyrian," are assured that "the Lord of hosts"

would inflict a very signal chastisement on him, and are encouraged by a most lively prophetic description of his sudden arrest and destruction in the midst of his victorious career. This is one of the cases in which prophecy is so explicit, as to seem like history written beforehand. As we read in the prophetic vision of this remnant no longer trusting in their heathen neighbours, but staying upon the Holy One of Israel, we readily call to mind the behaviour of Hezekiah when invaded by Sennacherib, taking the defiance of his adversary, and spreading the letter before the Lord, with prayer for his assistance. In that remnant returning to their God, in that consumption overflowing with righteousness, we see the revival of true religion, and the passover kept in sincerity and truth, within the straitened realms of Hezekiah, when the kingdom of Samaria had been completely overthrown. And when we read of a miracle to be wrought after the manner of Egypt, and think of the death of the firstborn of the Egyptians, what could better prepare us for that awful stroke of divine power, inflicted on the host of Sennacherib, when so great a multitude were found in the morning "all dead corpses?" 2 Kings 19. 35. "The slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb," was remarkable for the death of the princes of Midian; and is probably here mentioned with reference to the dreadful end of Sennacherib, slain as he was afterwards by his own sons, " in the house of Nisroch his god." 2 Kings 19. 37. And after the account of the invader's progress from one place to another in Judea, the sudden mention of a terrible lopping of boughs, and humbling of haughty ones, points at once to the extinction of the army, and to the flight of its presumptuous leader. But whence the difference in the chastisements of the Lord? Why is Samaria given up and Judah saved? When Aiath and Migron, Anathoth, and Madmenah, Gebim, and Nob are taken, why does the voice of prophecy proclaim to the victorious invader, hitherto shalt thou go and no further? Why does it promise to the remnant about to be besieged in Jerusalem, that the yoke of their oppressor shall be broken? It is "because of the anointing." A mysterious expression; yet pregnant with important meaning. Because of the promise made to David, God's anointed, because of all the kings of David's line, and yet more because of Him for whose sake David reigned, and in whom his reign continues evermore; for his sake, for Christ's sake, "because of the anointed," Judah and Jerusalem are spared somewhat longer; for his sake we his people have yet a season to repent. May we use the time God gives us, for his glory, and for our own eternal gain, by turning to Him with all our hearts, and serving Him truly with all our power!

The Messiah, his kingdom, and its glory.

1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;

3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:

4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.

9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which

shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

13 The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.

14 But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.

15 And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.

16 And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

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