The rock of Assyria and the Rock of Israel.
In each case the "rock" was
But in all other respects the contrast between the two was extreme, the difference immeasurable.
I. ASSYRIA'S ROCK—SENNACHERIB. A man, a weak, fallible, ephemeral man—the creature of an hour—mortal, soon wearied, needing rest and sleep, liable to sickness, daily losing strength, approaching nearer and nearer to the grave. And not only a man, but a wicked man—proud, cruel, contemptuous of his foes, blasphemous towards God, merciless, pitiless! What a poor object on which to place reliance, trust, dependence! No doubt to the Assyrians he seemed a grand figure, seated on his throne of carved cedar and ivory, receiving tribute from kings and princes, and surrounded by his army of perhaps two hundred thousand men. But of what avail was his grandeur? He could not save a single soldier out of the two hundred thousand from an ache or a pain, if God sent them—no, nor from death itself, if their lives were required by the Most High. To-night Sennacherib lies down to rest, confident of victory, his camp guarded on every side by nigh a quarter of a million of strong warriors. Tomorrow he is woke up by a sound of universal wailing. More than a hundred and eighty thousand of his soldiers are dead in their tents. His chances of victory are clean gone; and in half an hour he is an alarmed and trembling fugitive.
II. ISRAEL'S ROCK—JEHOVAH. God, and not man—the Strong One, everlasting, he that "inhabiteth eternity" (Isaiah 57:15), that is never wearied, that needs not to slumber or sleep, that knows no sickness, that never loses strength, that has "neither beginning of days nor end of life" (Hebrews 7:3). And One who to all this might adds tenderness, and the deepest love of his own, and the gentlest care of them. A Rock, but not hard or rugged—a Refuge from all foes, a Shadow from the heat, a Refreshment to the weary, a Help to those in need. God is able to save all men, not only from death, but from all suffering or unhappiness. There is no foe that can daunt him, none from whom he will have to flee. And he is willing to save all only let them "return to him" (Isaiah 31:6), "cry to him" (Isaiah 30:19), trust in him, wait on him. He is indeed a "great Rock" (Isaiah 32:2), a "strong Rock" (Psalms 31:2), even "the Rock of our salvation' (Psalms 89:26).
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON