LXXIII.]

THE ROD OF JESSE.

For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease,
And mine anger in their destruction.

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.

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.
He is come to Aiath,* he is passed to Migron;+

At Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:

They are gone over the passage:

They have taken up their lodging at Geba;
Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.
Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim:

Cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.
Madmenah is removed;

The inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.

As yet shall he remain at Nob that day :

95

He shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion,
The hill of Jerusalem.

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.

And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron,

And Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse,

And a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

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;

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:
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.
And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins,

And faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

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.

And the cow and the bear shall feed;

Their young ones shall lie down together :

And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp,

*

And the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.
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.

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.

:

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.

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.

LESSON LXXIV.

SENNACHERIB IN JUDEA.

B.C. 714.-2 CHRON. xxxii. 1— -8 ; 2 KINGS xviii. 14--16;
ISAIAH xxii. 15-23.

After these things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself.

And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem,

He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.

So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?

Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David, and made darts and shields in abundance.

And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city, and spake comfortably to them, saying,

Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him:

* A serpent.

LXXIV.]

SENNACHERIB IN JUDEA.

97

With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house.

At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Thus saith the LORD GOD of hosts,

Go, get thee unto this treasurer,

Even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say,
What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here,
That thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here,

As he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high,

And that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock?

Behold, the LORD will carry thee away with a mighty captivity,
And will surely cover thee.

He will violently turn and toss thee like a ball

Into a large country:

There shalt thou die,

And there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord's

house.

And I will drive thee from thy station,

And from thy state shall he pull thee down.

And it shall come to pass in that day,

That I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah :

And I will clothe him with thy robe,

And strengthen him with thy girdle,

And I will commit thy government into his hand :

And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the

house of Judah.

And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder;
So he shall open, and none shall shut ;

And he shall shut, and none shall open.

And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place;

And he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.

Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help;

And stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many;

And in horsemen, because they are very strong;

But they look not unto the Holy One of Israel,

Neither seek the LORD!

Yet he also is wise,

And will bring evil,

And will not call back his words;

But will arise against the house of the evil-doers,
And against the help of them that work iniquity.
Now the Egyptians are men, and not God;
And their horses flesh, and not spirit.

When the LORD shall stretch out his hand,
Both he that helpeth shall fall,

And he that is holpen shall fall down,

And they all shall fail together.

For thus hath the LORD spoken unto me,

Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey,

When a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him,

He will not be afraid of their voice,

Nor abase himself for the noise of them :

So shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion,
And for the hill thereof.

As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem;
Defending also he will deliver it;

And passing over he will preserve it.

Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.

For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold,

Which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.

Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword,

Not of a mighty man;

And the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him :

But he shall flee from the sword,

And his young men shall be discomfited.

And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear,

And his princes shall be afraid of the ensign,

Saith the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.

LESSON LXXV.

THE CUP-BEARER'S DEFIANCE.

B.C. 714.-2 KINGS xviii. 17-27; ISAIAH Xxxvi. 13—22.

*

And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris + and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field.

* 'The general.

The chief of the eunuchs.

The chief cup-bearer.

LXXV.]

THE CUP-BEARER'S DEFIANCE.

99

And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.

And Rabshakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou

trustest?

Thou sayest (but they are but vain words), 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 lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.

But if ye say unto me, We trust in the LORD our God is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem ?

Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges * to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.

How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen ? Am I now come up without the LORD against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it and talk not with us in the Jews' language in the ears of the people that are on the wall.

But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall?

Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear ye the words 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.

Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us: 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 eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;

Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

* Hostages.