The spokesman for the a.s.syrians began:

"Thus saith the great king, the King of a.s.syria, 'What confidence is this which you cherish? You, indeed, think, a simple word of the lips is counsel and strength for the war!'

Now, on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?

"Indeed, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, which, if a man lean on it, will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh King of Egypt to all who trust in him."

Eliakim, speaking of his king, attempted to make clear to the a.s.syrians that they were misjudging Hezekiah. He did not lean upon Egypt; no alliance had been entered into between the two nations; Judah did not desire to enter into this quarrel at all and relied upon neither Egypt nor a.s.syria. "We trust in the Lord our G.o.d," concluded Eliakim.

Quick as a flash came back the reply from a.s.syria:

"If you say to me, 'We trust in the Lord our G.o.d,' is not _he_ the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, 'You shall worship on this altar in Jerusalem?'

"Now, therefore, give pledges to my master and King of a.s.syria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders upon them.

"How can you repulse one of the least of my master's servants?

And yet you trust in Egypt for chariots and hors.e.m.e.n! Have I now come up against this place to destroy it without G.o.d's approval? G.o.d it was who said to me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it'"

Shaken a little bit in their argument, and a great deal in their faith, Eliakim, Shebnah and Joah held a short consultation. Then Eliakim said to the spokesman, in a whisper:

"Speak, I pray you, to your servants in the Aramaic language, for we understand it; but do not speak with us in the Jewish language in the hearing of the people who are on the wall."

The a.s.syrian caught the drift of this request at once. He understood that the people had evidently not given up their idolatrous practices very graciously and that their trust in the Lord their G.o.d was not as great as that of Hezekiah. He, therefore, answered Eliakim, so that all could hear:

"Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words? Is it not rather to the men who sit on the wall, that they shall eat their own refuse and drink their own water together with you?"

Then, walking away from the official group and facing the a.s.sembly on the walls, he cried with a loud voice in the Jewish language, saying:

"Hear the message of the great king, the King of a.s.syria.

Thus saith the king, 'Let not Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand.'

"Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in G.o.d by saying, 'G.o.d will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the power of the King of a.s.syria.'

"Hearken not to Hezekiah, for thus saith the King of a.s.syria, 'Make your peace with me and come over to me; thus shall each one of you eat from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink the waters of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land full of grain and of new wine, a land full of bread and vineyards, a land full of olive trees and honey, that you may live and not die.'

"But hearken not to Hezekiah, when he misleads you, saying, 'G.o.d will deliver us!' Has any of the G.o.ds of the nations ever delivered his land out of the power of the King of a.s.syria? Where are the G.o.ds of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the G.o.ds of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Where are the G.o.ds of the land of Samaria that they have delivered Samaria out of my power? Who are they among all the G.o.ds of the countries, that have delivered their country out of my power, that G.o.d should deliver Jerusalem out of my power!'"

This speech cast a deep gloom upon the people gathered upon the wall.

All were silent. Not a single man, not even the representatives of the king, could answer the a.s.syrians' arguments.

Then Eliakim, Shebnah and Joah hastened back to Hezekiah and repeated to him the message of Sennacherib through his Commander-in-Chief. As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the Temple. He sent Eliakim, Shebnah and the eldest of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah, and they said to him:

Thus saith Hezekiah:

"This is a day of trouble and of discipline and of contumely.

It may be G.o.d, thy G.o.d, will hear all the words of the high official, whom his master, the King of a.s.syria, has sent to defy the living G.o.d, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your G.o.d has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left."

When Isaiah heard the message of the king, he sent back this reply of hope and courage to the palace:

"Thus saith the Lord: 'Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, with which the servants of the King of a.s.syria have blasphemed me. Behold I will put forth a spirit in him so that he shall hear tidings and shall return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.'"

Hezekiah, acting upon the advice of Isaiah, then sent Sennacherib's emissaries back to Lachish with a flat refusal to do what the King had asked him.

When the Commander-in-Chief returned to Lachish, to his great amazement, Sennacherib and his army were not there. An officer who was left behind, however, told him that Sennacherib had broken camp and had marched against Libnah.

The next that was heard of the a.s.syrian armies in Jerusalem was that a plague had fallen upon the camp of Sennacherib and that, in great disgust and disappointment, the king and what remained of his forces, had returned to Nineveh.

It was at that time that Isaiah gave expression to a conception of G.o.d's relationship to the nations of the earth that was entirely different from that held by the people up to this time.

According to Isaiah, G.o.d had used a.s.syria as a rod with which to whip the people of Judah, G.o.d's chosen people, into an understanding of His law and commandments, by which they should live.

Now that Hezekiah and his people had thoroughly reformed and were following in the ways of G.o.d and His commandments, a.s.syria's work was done. Because a.s.syria, however, had prided herself that she had become a great power in the world on account of her own strength, G.o.d would now destroy a.s.syria.

This is the dirge that Isaiah sang regarding a.s.syria and G.o.d's hand in the life and death of nations, while Sennacherib was retreating toward Nineveh, his capital:

"Woe, a.s.syria, rod of mine anger, The staff in whose hand is mine indignation.

Against an impious nation am I wont to send him.

And against the people of my wrath I give him charge, To take spoil and gather booty, And to tread them down like the mire in the streets.

But he--not so doth he plan; And his heart--not so doth it purpose.

For destruction is in his heart, And to cut off nations not a few.

For he saith, By the strength of my hand have I done it, And by my wisdom, for I have discerned it; And I have removed the bounds of thy peoples, And I have robbed their treasuries, And like a mighty man I have brought down those who sit enthroned.

And my hand hath seized, as on a nest, The riches of the peoples.

And as one gathers eggs that are unguarded, I, indeed, have carried off all the earth."

To this boasting of a.s.syria, G.o.d answers, speaking through Isaiah:

"Before me is thy rising up and thy lying down, Thy going out and thy coming in.

I know thy raging against me And thine arrogance hath come to my ears.

Therefore I will put my ring through thy nose, And my bridle between thy lips, And will make thee return, By the way in which thou hast come."

Not long after this, while Sennacherib was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch, in Nineveh, he was attacked by his own sons and killed, and Esarhaddon, one of his sons, succeeded him on the throne of a.s.syria.

CHAPTER IX.

_The Fruit of His Labor._

Blessed is the man whose toil and striving of a lifetime bring results, even though he, himself, does not live to see them!

Thrice blessed is the man, the fruit of whose labor is garnered while he is among the living, to see and enjoy it!

The prophet Isaiah was a thrice-blessed man. Although no one knows where or how he died, every one knows where and how he lived, and how his life was fruitful in blessings for his people.

He saw kings come and go on the throne of Judah. He pa.s.sed through many crises in the history of his country. He experienced many woes because of his patriotic devotion to the welfare of his land and people.

But through it all he remained, uncomplainingly, staunch in his faith and true to his G.o.d. He believed, implicitly, in the justness of G.o.d and, therefore, in His demand of righteousness as the standard of living for the people. Isaiah's own strength, in time of trial and tribulation, came from his trust in G.o.d; and that same trust he urged upon Jerusalem and Judah in his day and, through his discourses, upon all men, for all time.