| THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB |
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 forever grew still! And there lay the steed with his nostrils all wide, But through them 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. |
| HYMN BY THE EUPHRATES |
O Thou that wilt not break the bruised reed, Nor heap fresh ashes on the mourner's brow, Nor rend anew the wounds that inly bleed, The only balm of our afflictions Thou, Teach us to bear Thy chastening wrath, O God! To kiss with quivering lips--still humbly kiss Thy rod! We bless Thee, Lord, though far from Judah's land; Though our worn limbs are black with stripes and chains; Though for stern foes we till the burning sand; And reap, for others' joy, the summer plains; We bless Thee, Lord, for Thou art gracious still, Ev'n though this last black drop o'erflow our cup of ill! Forgive, forgive,--even should our full hearts break; The broken heart Thou wilt not, Lord, despise; Ah! Thou art still too gracious to forsake, Though Thy strong hand so heavily chastise. Hear all our prayers, hear not our murmurs, Lord; And, though our lips rebel, still make Thyself adored. |
| --Henry Hart Milman. |
MANASSEH.
(Manasseh began his reign by doing every evil thing he could possibly think of; he sacrificed to all the heathen idols and made his own children "pass through the fire." In the book of Chronicles it is said that he was taken captive and carried away to Babylon. Here he repented of his many sins, and became a good and holy man.)
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars for the idols of Baal, and made Asheroth, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord said, "In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever." And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. He also made his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: and he practiced augury, and used enchantments, and practiced sorcery, and dealt with them that had familiar spirits, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.
And he set the graven image of the idol, which he had made, in the house of God, of which God said to David [{318}] and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from off the land which I have appointed for your fathers; if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them, even all the law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses."
But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do that which is evil more than did the nations, whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel. And the Lord spoke by his servants the prophets, saying, "Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: therefore thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. And I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; because they have done that which is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day.'"
Moreover Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, so that they did evil more than did [{319}] the nations, whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel. And the Lord spoke to Manasseh, and to his people: but they gave no heed. Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. And when he was in distress, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And he prayed unto him; and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God.