King's Business - 1927-11

733

November 1927

T h e

K i n g ’ s

B u s i n e s s

tians to aid the former in expelling the Eastern invader. After many of the small walled cities had fallen into the hands of the Assyrian king, Hezekiah in Jerusalem agreed to pay tribute to As­ syria. At this time Sennacherib made his advance toward Egypt, leaving his affairs in the conquered territory to one of his generals, who was to press the warfare in Philistia. Shortly Sennach­ erib returned and demanded the uncon­ ditional surrender of Jerusalem. The of­ ficial demanding the surrender is called “Rabshakeh.” King Hezekiah sent El- iakim, who was over the household, and Shebna, the Scribe, and Joah, the re­ corder, to confer with this Assyrian offjk ficial without the walls. This commit­ tee asked the Assyrian to speak to them in the Assyrian language, since they un­ derstood it, and not in the language of the Jews, lest the Jews who were on the walls might understand the message. To this request the Assyrian turned a deafened ear and shouted to the people on the wall to surrender instead of being deceived by Hezekiah, who could not de­ liver them. As soon as this news was brought to Hezekiah he ordered Eliakim and Shebna, together with the priests, to go to the prophet Isaiah, who he thought would intercede in their behalf and thus bring deliverance, V. 5. Hezekiah means “Jehovah strengthens,” The name of this king is a living testimony to the great funda­ mental truth of the Scriptures which every believer in God may verify in his own experience by trusting God. Isaiah means “Salvation of Jehovah.” God is the one who alone brings deliverance. The servants of Hezekiah, according to this verse, went to Isaiah the prophet and reported the situation to him. Vs. 6 , 7. God replied through Isaiah that Hezekiah should not be afraid of the Assyrian blasphemer. “Be not afraid" is the ever-recurring expression to the people of God whenever they are in dan­ ger. This statement assumes that God, the speaker, is controller of the situa­ tion and that His love for the one to whom He speaks will cause Him to beat back the enemy and protect His children. In the same strain God through Moses spoke to Israel when they were hedged in between mountains, with the sea be­ fore them and the oncoming Egyptians behind them (Ex. 14:13). God can and will rout the most formidable enemy to protect His children against the greatest odds, using, if necessary, a miracle (cf. 1 Sam. 7 :10). "Wherewith the servants of the King of Assyria have blasphemed Me.” “To blaspheme” is “to speak dis­ paragingly of, or to belittle one,” These Assyrians did not realize what they were doing when they blasphemed the living God. Many people today ignorantly blaspheme God. Akin, in a way, to blas­ phemy is the matter of swearing and tak­ ing the name of the Lord in a light and flippant, irreverent manner, which con­ duct is abominable in the sight of God, though blaspheming, and an irreverent use of God’s name will, when one. in real repentance turns from his wickedness to God, because of God’s great loving-kind­ ness, be forgiven (Mark 3:28-30). “Be­ hold, I will put a spirit in him . . . and he . . . shall return into his own land." This promise reminds one of Prov. 21:1, which states: “The King’s heart is in the hands of Jehovah . . . . He turneth it whithersoever He will.” God doubtless

•The Sunday School Teacher’s Prayer By M olly A nderson H aley (In The Churchman)

Make of my heart an upper room, I pray. Szvept clean of pride, let self be but a door Through which young lives may come to Thee this day To know Thee as they have not known before. Speak through my voice that they may hear Thine own. Shine through my life in beauty and in truth, That they may see the Comrade Christ alone, And in the glad impidsiveness of youth, Rise up as did those fisher-lads of Thine Who left their boats and nets to follow Thee. So may they walk beside Thee, these o f mine Whom out of all the world “Thou gavest me!”

ered, since he that cometh to God must believe, and since all things are possible to him that believeth. V. 14. The letter delivered by the mes­ sengers was turned over to Hezekiah, who read it and betook himself immediately to the House of the Lord and spread it before Jehovah, because it was a kind of ultimatum. His spreading the letter be­ fore the Lord was. a symbolic act indi­ cating that he was leaving the matter with the Lord. V. 15. With this verse begins a mem­ orable prayer which extends through Verse 20. In times of distress and dif­ ficulty the first thing to do is to submit the situation to God (Phil. 4:6). V. 16. “O Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, that sitteth above the cher­ ubim.” About the significance of the word “Jehovah,” there is some dispute, but it is quite probable that it is derived from that form of the verb stem which means “to cause to be.” This definition assumes that God is the self-existent one and that by His own volition and power He is the creator and sustainer of all things. God first revealed Himself by this name to Moses (Ex. 6:2, 3). Jehovah of Hosts, means Jehovah of armies, the armies be­ ing the myriads of angels (see Deut. 33: 3; 1 Kings 22:19; Dan. 7:10; Rev. 5:11). God is the God of Israel, having entered into covenant relationship with them and having chosen them to be the channel of blessing to the world. He also is the God of the individual who accepts Christ as his sacrifice. The statement that God sits above the cherubim is probably a ref­ erence to the Shekinah of Glory which rested upon the Mercy seat upon which the cherubim were stationed (see also Ez. 1:26 f). “Thou art God.” The. word translated God originally meant strong or mighty one and came to mean the self- existent, all-mighty one. He is the King of all nations and not alone of Israel (Jer. 10:6-11). V. 17. In this verse King Hezekiah appeals to God to hear and answer his prayer in regard to the blasphemous words of Sennacherib. Vs. 18, 19. In these verses Hezekiah states that the kings of Assyria had wasted the countries t h a t worshiped idols and had burned their images in the fire, since the idols are not gods but are the work of men’s hands.

uses different methods with different ones according to their attitude toward Him. In the case of Cyrus, King of Persia, God “stirred up the spirit of Cy­ rus” to make a proclamation concerning the restoration of the Jews after the Babylonish captivity to their land, and to rebuild the temple (2 Chron. 36:22,23) . Having compared Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, and his army to a great sea mon­ ster which was in the River Nile, Ezekiel said that God would “put hooks in thy jaws . . . . and will bring thee up out of the midst.of thy rivers" (Ez. 29:4). The spirit which God threatened to put in the King ,of Syria probably was one of the lying spirits who puts fear in the hearts, such as mentioned in 1 Kings 22:19-23. The prediction concerning Sennacherib’s death was fulfilled (see vs. 37, 38). V. 8 . Then Rabshakeh returned to his master, who was warring against Libneh, which was southwest of Jerusalem, for the king had left Lachish, which was still farther west. V. 9. Tidings came to Sennacherib that Tirhakah, King of Ethiopia, who, about 688 B. C., mounted the Egyptian throne, was coming against him with a powerful army. This report intimidated Sennacherib, who began his retreat. God, who “worketh all things after the coun­ sel of His will,” used this Ethiopian king to drive back the boastful Assyrians, when He, God, had accomplished his pur­ pose with the Assyrians. God is control­ ling the nations now just as formerly, and none can extend their boundaries beyond the limits of the Divine decree (Psa. 33: 10, 11; Acts 17:26). In His control of the nations and all other events, He has the good of His people at heart (Rom. 8:28). , Vs. 10, 11. These verses give Sennach­ erib’s message to Hezekiah, which he sent hoping to accomplish that which he had not accomplished by force of armies-— namely, the surrender of the city. Sen­ nacherib had no conception of God’s power and of the fact that when one of ■ God’s children trusts Him implicitly, the latter is invincible. In trusting God ab­ solute safety and security is found, and in no other way (Isa. 30:15). In Verse 11, the Assyrian king tried to threaten Hez­ ekiah and cause him to doubt, in which condition he could not possibly be deliv­

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