“Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria:
‘He shall not reach this city, nor shoot an arrow at it,
nor come before it with a shield,
nor cast up siege-works against it.
He shall return by the same way he came,
without entering the city, says the LORD.
I will shield and save this city for my own sake,
and for the sake of my servant David.’”
That night the angel of the LORD went forth and struck down
one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp.
So Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, broke camp,
and went back home to Nineveh.
Old Testament Reading-June 21, 2016
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.
For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!
And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.
And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.
And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord.
Lord Byron, The Destruction of Sennacherib (1815)
The Sennacheribs of our day are many. Perhaps the worst is Pope Francis who is destroying the Catholic faith in a mindless attempt to appease the world. Let us hope that our Lord glances his way.
Before the miraculous “melting” unsmote by the sword, Hezekiah had paid much tribute and stayed “like a bird in a cage”. The world was as dangerous as could be with the various competing powers and the King of Judah sent his notes of obeisance and treasure even from the temple in an effort to stay safe. Maybe an apology tour. But he lived and died a vassal, and that was the status of the kings from then one crept for a relatively brief respite won by the Maccabbees.
I do trust in the Providence of the Lord and His power to stop His enemies, but our unwillingness to assert and defend His name makes me remember that
He will not save us without our participation.
Spell check changed “from then on except ” to “one crept”. Sorry