922 JOB XXXII-ELIHU INTERVENES 11 Behold, I waited for your words; I gave ear to your reasons, whilst ye searched out what to say. 12 Yea, I attended unto you, and, behold, there was none of you that convinced Job, or that answered his words: 13 Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom: God thrusteth him down, not man. 14 Now he hath not directed his words against me: neither will I answer him with your speeches. 15 They were amazed, they answered no more: they left off speaking. 16 When I had waited, (for they spake not, but stood still, and answered no more;) 17 I said, I will answer also my part, I also will shew mine opinion. 18 For I am full of matter, the spirit within me constraineth me. 19 Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles. 20 I will speak, that I may be refreshed: I will open my lips and answer. 21 Let me not, I pray you, accept any man's person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man. 22 For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my Maker would soon take me away. Chapter 33 1 Elihu offereth himself instead of God, with sincerity and meekness, to reason with Job. 8 He excuseth God from giving man an account of his ways, by his greatness. 14 God calleth man to repentance by visions, 19 by afflictions, 23 and by his ministry. 31 He inciteth Job to attention. HEREFORE, Job, I pray thee, hear my speeches, and hearken to all my words. 2 Behold, now I have opened my mouth, my tongue hath spoken in my mouth. 3 My words shall be of the uprightness of my heart: and my lips shall utter knowledge clearly. 4 The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. 5 If thou canst answer me, set thy words in order before me, stand up. 6 Behold, I am according to thy wish in God's stead: I also am formed out of the clay. 7 Behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee. 8 Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing, and I have heard the voice of thy words, saying, 9 I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me. God's Vengeance on Sennacherib BY P. J. DE LOUTHERBOURG, R. A., AN ENGLISH + "The angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred four score and five thousand." —II. Kings, 19, 35. I N HIS resistance to Sennacherib, King Hezekiah was upheld and guided by the celebrated prophet Isaiah, whose book has been preserved in the Bible. Isaiah assured his sovereign that God's fiat of destruction was gone forth against the Assyrians for their blasphemy. Their host was at that moment gathering for the second time under the walls of Jerusalem; their camp lay close at hand. Yet Isaiah declared they should not shoot one arrow against the walls. Even so it came to. pass. Just what were the earthly means used for the divine vengeance we do not know. It may have been some deadly plague, some poisonous gas inhaled. The Bible tells us only that the angel of the Lord "smote" them, "cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains." Sennacherib and a few hundred fled back in terror into Assyria. When the people of Jerusalem looked forth next morning, there was nothing left of the mighty Assyrian army but the empty camps, and a vast host of dead bodies. As Byron sings of this stupendous supernal intervention in the affairs of men: "And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord." |