This chapter is clear and explicit, because it contains a simple narration of the story of how Sanherib besieged Jerusalem. But the reader must be reminded here not to be too careless in the treatment of history, following the example of Origen, Jerome, and others, and, because such things are told that happened long ago, not to think that there is nothing in them but secret interpretation that we can make use of. But the author of the letter to the Hebrews shows another use of the histories
as he draws all the histories of this people to faith. "By faith," he says [Heb. 11:33.], "they conquered kingdoms. "etc. We follow this rule here also. But those who delight in secret interpretations, and set aside history, hunt only chaff and husks. 1) For the use of the secret interpretations is no other than that they serve for adornment and that the
1) Instead of aesrss in the editions, acern (from i neu", netzrik) must be read.
The history of the world is of immense importance for increasing and strengthening the faith. The histories, however, have an immense importance for increasing and strengthening the faith.
In this present history, one must therefore mainly look at the faith, which struggles fiercely and almost succumbs. But since it is very close to falling, God's help comes and saves those who are in danger. By this example we are also reminded that we should learn to hold on to hope all the more tenaciously when there is the least hope in danger. For this is called "believing in hope when there is nothing to hope for" [Rom. 4:18]. For "God is a helper in due time" [Ps. 9, 10. Vulg.] and "his power is mighty in the weak" [2 Cor. 12, 9.]. So also the weakness of Christians is the highest strength. Again, the unbelievers who afflict the godly come to fall just when they have victory in their hands, as we see in Sanherib.... Therefore, neither our weakness nor the power of the adversaries should cause us to despair in danger; rather, we should encourage ourselves to believe and, because we are very close to destruction and the enemies are very close to victory, we should believe that God will pull us out, who has promised that He is the kind of God who exalts the lowly and humbles the high.
But this is easier said than done, so stubbornly does the flesh and the judgment of reason resist it. For the flesh cannot turn away its eyes from the present danger and cannot imagine salvation, which is nowhere to be seen but in the mere word of God, who promises that he is a savior in due time. This is why flesh and blood cannot rise to faith, which has to do with things that are not seen, but is only based on the present and is moved by it.
Furthermore, if one carefully observes the circumstances, they will greatly praise the faith of Hezekiah and the other believers. First, look at the person who is covering the land with war. It is the ruler of the whole world, the king of Assyria, the
attacked the city of Jerusalem. But he was puffed up by the unbelievable success of manifold victories, which extraordinarily depressed the courage of the besieged. He had captured the ten tribes of Israel and led them away to Media. In addition, the cities of Judah were before his eyes, which were miserably plundered. In short, compared to the king of Assyria, Hezekiah was, as it were, a real king of dirt.
Then Satan added to these thoughts: "What will you do, you who are alone? Do you think that there were no holy people in the ten tribes of Israel? Are you alone holy? But even in your kingdom many of them, who were holy and not tainted with any idolatry, were captured and laid waste. God has abandoned them. Faith and holiness were of no use to them, nothing of the right worship, nothing that they were the seed of Abraham. Thus Satan, with One arrow that he shot into the heart of Hezekiah, nullified all the promises and trust in the promises: If God had looked upon the seed of Abraham, He would also have looked upon the kingdom of Israel and the cities of Judah. But as they were forsaken by God, so He will also forsake you; it is in vain that you promise yourself help etc. For Satan's purpose is to snatch from us the word, faith and prayer, so that when he has snatched from us these weapons of ours, we may be exposed to his harm and tyranny.
In this way, one must first look at the faith in the histories with all the secondary circumstances. If someone paid careful attention to these, he would see that this history is not less than the one that took place at the Red Sea. For the faith of Hezekiah and Isaiah alone defeated this exceedingly powerful enemy.
V. 1. Sanherib, the king of Assyria, went up.
Here one must pay attention to all the thunderbolts that fight against faith. The first is that he says this king is coming up against Judah. Here this comes to the mind of the godly: He goes up against us! Why does the Lord not stop him?
432 L. xxn, M-zgi. Short interpretation on Isaiah, cap. 36, 1. 4. 6. 7. W. vi, 67S-682. 433
For his allowing him to come out is a sign that he will not stand by us, but will leave us. The name is also ominous, for "Sanherib" means "a thief of shrubs," a desolator who comes out of the bushes.
V. 4. And Radsake said to them.
Now follow the blasphemies, which are well understood by those who have been in prison for a while and who have been challenged by the spirit of blasphemy. He makes all difficulties exceedingly great with pompous words in order to overthrow faith. For the devil is not satisfied when he has taken the life of the body, unless he also takes away the faith and the word of life and promises. But it is very useful to know this in the time of temptation, so that we may know the nature of Satan's tongue, with which he speaks into the heart of the godly in order to overthrow them.
Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria.
He starts with a commandment. He speaks this as if he were God. But right at the beginning he makes a very significant and annoying comparison between the great and the small king, and presents the whole army power of the enemies as it were before the eyes and visible. "The great king," he speaks, as if to say: If you compare your little king (regulum) with him, he will hardly be a bailiff (satrapa). Similarly, he says, "The king of Assyria," by whose forces Israel was previously devastated and carried away. Here reason immediately concludes: There is no comparison between the small and the great king, therefore it is done with us.
What is this defiance?
This is a strong reason of proof, based on the fact that everything is sufficiently indicated (a sufficienti enumeratione), by which he takes away all confidence from Hezekiah. Thou hearest how great is the power of our king, and hast experienced it; in what then dost thou trust that thou darest oppose him? On your teams, perhaps? But they are nothing
compared to ours. Are you relying on Egypt's auxiliary troops? But even they could not help you. Do you trust in God? But he hates you. So there is no help available anywhere. This is really the devil's tongue, and not Rabshakeh's words, but the devil himself, with which he assaults not the walls of the city, but the innermost marrow of Hezekiah, that is, his extremely tender faith, in the part where it is weakest. For this is what Satan is wont to do. He does not challenge a minister of the word because of his profession, but looks around to see if a very small affliction might not cause offense; he presses on this so hard, and makes it so great, that he also depresses and obscures all good works. Thus he says here that God is angry with Hezekiah because of the destruction of the altars of the idols.
V. 6. Do you rely on the broken reed stick of Egypt?
As I have said, he takes away the carnal help that reason would gladly allow. But here Satan has slipped out an excellent description of the human help and the carnal protection. For he compares it to the pipe, which is beautiful to look at but weak. Thus the arm of flesh arouses great hope by its beautiful appearance, but it is deceptive, and its end is ruin and disgrace. Therefore, we should base ourselves on the Word alone, otherwise we will fall like those who lean on a reed.
V. 7 But do you mean to say to me, "We rely on the Lord our God?
We see that the prophet has worked earnestly with many sermons to make the heart of Hezekiah firm by the word that he should believe God and trust in him. Against this faith, which is like a brazen wall, Satan attacks here with a mighty wall-breaker. He says: You have less help to expect from God than from yourself or from Pharaoh. I prove it like this:
Is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken away?
As if to say: Hezekiah has an angry God who neither wants to help him nor can help him, and even if he could help him, he would not want to help him. For Hezekiah is a ruin to this innocent people, and contends against his God, and challenges the majesty against himself. This is the utmost and highest battle of faith. But here you must notice the artifice in slandering, that he twists the best work of Hezekiah as if it were the highest (ungodliness. As if he wanted to say: You have sinned grievously, that you have destroyed the high places and broken the altars. For do you think that people are so foolish that they should worship stones or wood? All these people have worshipped the true God. Therefore, you have rejected his worship. This is a very serious challenge with which Satan attacks faith, that it should begin to doubt what it has done. When this happens, it is over. But we must not think that Hezekiah alone was struck by these devilish calumnies. For how many people do you think there are today who, because they are without the Word, are sometimes challenged about the monasteries being abandoned, the masses being stopped, and other abominations of the priesthood being done away with? Therefore, the hearts must be well fortified with the word of God, so that they can again reproach Satan for the exceedingly great blasphemy and ungodliness that the Pabstacy has established: that the death of Christ and the merit of Christ are entirely abolished, and [this merit] is attributed to a filthy cap and other works done without the command of God.
V. 8. Come now, accept it with my Lord.
Here he comes back to the first part about trusting in one's own strength. Well, let us try the matter. I will give you two thousand horses, and you will see that you lack horsemen for them. Why then do you oppose our king, since you cannot even be like one of his captains?
V. 9. and you rely on Egypt.
This is a bitter mockery. Let it be the same that the Egyptian would be more powerful than
we, nevertheless, have a gracious God. Thus, he mainly insists on this: God does not want to help you, God is angry with you. Satan holds the same word against Christ on the cross [Matth. 27, 43]: "God now redeems him, lusts after him." But here the heart must be strengthened by faith in Christ, so that we think: "Even though I have sinned, God does not hate me and is not angry with me. Christ has reconciled me to him through his death, he has forgiven my sins, he has given me his merits and his righteousness etc. This faith overcomes in temptation and triumphs. Because Satan knows this, he sets himself so earnestly against it.
Therefore, such passages must be carefully considered, so that we may see in how many ways Satan attacks the conscience, so that when we are particularly (privately) challenged, we may be reminded and fortified by these examples to recognize Satan's arrows. For one part of victory is to know one's enemy, and it is by this that Satan does the most harm, in that the weak conscience, tormented and frightened by the fear of punishment and the multitude of sins, cannot firmly believe that it is Satan who gives the thoughts of despair, but believes that God is angry, and cannot easily be dissuaded from this thought.
Thus he does not call Hezekiah a bad sinner, a thief or an adulterer, but an enemy of God and guilty in the highest degree, a blasphemer and despiser of God. In this way, he manages to find nothing in himself but the worst, namely the greatest sins against the first and second commandments. Secondly, he ascribes holiness to himself and says that he was called by God to be a scourge. From this you can see what Paul means when he says sEph. 6, 16.]: "The fiery darts of the wicked."
Now here is a great danger for the conscience. Dear one, what is to be done when faith, which should overcome temptation and sins, is thus challenged? First of all, we must not agree with Satan, who puts such blasphemous thoughts into our minds, but, even though he may be
accuses us of being sinners, but with certainty of faith resist his slander, with which he insults the faith and our profession and our good works, as when he accuses us of the doctrine, saying that the doctrine is evil because so many aversions have arisen from it. Here the heart should resist and, even though many offences have arisen from it, firmly hold that this has not happened through the fault of doctrine (which is holy and is God's word, not ours), but of men. We have therefore taught rightly from the gospel, even though many have misused it.
But how? if the things which Satan accuses you of are such that you cannot deny them, yes, even in truth they are sins, and you have committed them, as when David is challenged for adultery, Peter for denying Christ? Here are two witnesses that convict us, namely the law of God and the conscience, and it is not possible for me to deny sin. Therefore, if I confess that I have sinned here, the punishment is there, namely eternal death, which the law threatens, and Satan is intent on bringing us to despair like Cain and Judas. In this extreme danger it is necessary that God's help be there.
Therefore, either a brother must be with you to comfort you with the word of God and take away the despair through the divine promise, or the Holy Spirit must hold the word of promise before you in your heart and speak it: You have confessed and not denied. Satan has wrested from you the confession of sin, that you have done evil and deserve eternal death, as Judas did; but do not follow Judas, straighten up, and look here at Christ, as Peter did, and see what Christ suffered for you. For Christ has blotted out [Col. 2:14] and nullified this confession of yours and that sad handwriting with his blood, so that your sins, however great they may be, atoned for by his blood, cannot harm you, if you only believe this with firm faith. For if you were apart from Christ, you would have nothing to defend yourself against sin and Satan.
But now, because you are in Christ and call upon him, sealed with his baptism, the confession of sin is changed into a denial of it, so that you can also stand up against Satan and boast against him and say: Though I am a sinner, yet am I not a sinner. I am a sinner for my own sake and apart from Christ, but in Christ and apart from me I am not a sinner, because by his holy blood he has taken away all my sins. This I believe for certain; for this I am baptized and absolved by the word and fed with the sacrament of his body and blood as a certain sign of the forgiveness of sins, which is earned by the blood of Christ etc.
Therefore, the heart must be fortified in such a way that, although you have sinned as your conscience accuses you, you do not despair because of it, but when it has come to the point that you must agree with the accusation of conscience, then the struggle (paroxysm) of conscience has come to the highest. For it is a great thing to persevere in this battle, which reason and the flesh cannot endure, but it is the gift of the Holy Spirit who fortifies and encourages our hearts by His inspiration, so that we do not consent to the accusation of Satan or our conscience in such a way that we despair because of it.
Thus, when we are challenged about doctrine, he strengthens us to firmly believe that our doctrine is true. If we still have some private sins, we include them in the holy Our Father and pray: "Forgive us our trespasses. In this way Satan is overcome and goes away. Thus Satan is described here very well, who is overcome when we put aside all these words and things with which he attacks us, when we stand firm and say [Ps. 9:12]: "The Lord dwells in Zion."
V. 11. Dear one, speak to your servants in Syriac.
This is an excellent passage, which contains a very great lesson on how we should conduct ourselves in temptations. For since Eliakim
and Sebena take the advice to pacify Rabshakeh, and think that he will be alleviated if they humble themselves and condescend before him, they are completely mistaken. For in this way they only inflame him more, and pour oil on the fire, and sharpen the tongue of Satan. Therefore Hezekiah will also remind them later [v. 21] that they should not answer the blasphemous enemy.
We should do the same in our temptations, whether we are challenged in body or in spirit. For although reason cannot refrain from looking around for bodily help, as the king's servants do here, we must nevertheless become accustomed to it, and with the utmost diligence guard against answering the devil or disputing with him. For I speak from experience: the more you pursue the thoughts with which he troubles you, the more fiercely he stands up against you, until he brings you to despair. Behold the lesser temptations than that of unchastity, wherewith youthful age hath most to do. For the more an impure heart thinks of wooing, the more fiercely it is kindled and inflamed, and just as a little spark is often kindled into a very great conflagration by the force of the winds: so a dull desire, when set in motion, receives power through thought. So it is with hatred, so with envy; if one thinks very diligently of revenge, thoughts drive the human heart, as it were, to frenzy.
Therefore, just as there is only one way to overcome these carnal temptations, namely, to turn the heart away from the thoughts that plague it, so there is no other advice, no other more effective help in the spiritual struggle than to throw those thoughts out of the heart in whatever way one can, and rather to think of other things. Although this goes far beyond human strength, certain ways can be prescribed by which, even if not all thoughts are overcome, they are nevertheless subdued.
The best thing, therefore, whatever temptation may trouble the heart, is to read the
The only way to do this is to take refuge in the Holy Scriptures and in the Word of God. But even if the heart should have no desire to read and consider the Word of God (for Satan tries to prevent this and teaches a disgust for reading), you must still force yourself to do so, so that, if not the heart, then in the meantime the tongue, the ears and the eyes may see, hear and create something different than the heart thinks. But you will certainly feel that the heart, when the external senses are occupied with God's words, will then easily come to rest.
And especially here the power and might of the word of God is seen, that it restores the heart, which is wounded by the arrows of Satan, and makes it finely healthy. Therefore, in the 9th chapter of Isaiah [v. 6], among the names of Christ is also placed this one, that he is a "counselor" of the afflicted. For he comforts by the word, as he speaks, Isa. 50:1) 4: "The Lord hath given me a learned tongue, that I may know how to speak in season to him that is weary." And Paul teaches in his letter to the Romans Cap. 15, 4. that through the comfort of the Scriptures hope is created and increased, which Satan in his temptations seeks to snatch from the hearts of the godly alone. Therefore, since there is no more effective means in temptations than to cast the burdensome thoughts out of the heart in any way, there is only one way to do this, namely to read the Word of God diligently. For this is the best way to extinguish the fiery darts of the devil.
Those who do not want to follow this advice and who, with a sorrowful heart, pursue their thoughts, do nothing but carry fuel to the conflagration until they, wearied and overcome by Satan, who is an artist in a thousand ways, succumb. For this one kind of battle he wages against us, that he seeks to make our faith waver through thoughts of divine wrath. If you call upon carnal help in this spiritual battle, except for the word
In text: 49.
God, then you do nothing else than that you expose yourself naked and bare to the powerful spirit. Now, if you wish, make a comparison between your powers and the power of Satan, and it will easily become clear how unequal this battle is, if you want to fight with human powers and attacks against the devil, who has won so many victories and gained so much experience in warfare from the beginning of the world, ignoring the word (in which only "God's power" is, Rom. 1:16).
Therefore, let go of the thoughts with which he occupies your heart, and beware of disputing with him, for he can disguise himself as an angel of light [2 Cor. 11:14] and put on the glorious robe of Christ. And because he also knows the holy Scriptures, as can be seen from the fourth chapter of Matthew, he sometimes uses Christ's own words, which are the very sweetest, against Christ and against your faith. If you do not turn your mind from this and say: I know no other Christ than the one who was given to me by the Father and died for me and for my sins; of this I know that he is not angry with me, but loves me, otherwise he would not have taken it upon himself to die for me etc., - if you do not hold this against him, I say, and at the same time set about reading the holy Scriptures diligently, you will certainly be defeated. For it is easy for him to suffocate the weak little spark of our faith if we do not nourish it with the word of God.
This, too, is an easy and yet necessary and useful commandment, that sorrowful hearts should flee loneliness and hold some conversations with friends. For conversation also serves to turn the heart away from heavy thoughts. Therefore, being alone is especially dangerous, as he [Eccl. 4:10] says: "Woe to him who is alone! If he falls, there is no other to help him up." For the word of the brethren has great power, and those who are challenged should be mindful that they hear the voices of the brethren as the voice of God and believe them. Now, if there is no one to teach us about God's word, it is still better to find some
what other people's speeches than to listen to Satan talking his blasphemies and fiery darts into our hearts.
I have presented these as general rules in spiritual temptations, and all that remains is for each one to prepare his heart against Satan in such a way that he may feel that this counsel of ours has helped him somewhat. For it is nothing that anyone who follows the faith in Christ should think that he will overcome without temptations. For the word of Paul is true [2 Tim. 3:12], "All who would live godly in Christ JEsu must suffer persecution." And the bodily temptations, such as poverty, lust for fame and riches, shame and the like, are of course more easily overcome.
But here there is effort, that is work, when Satan holds the wrath of God before our eyes. In addition, there is also the testimony of our conscience, which Satan then reinforces through the various examples of divine wrath that can be found here and there in the Holy Scriptures and which experience in everyday life presents daily. This is by far the most difficult battle in which the devil summons all his powers and arts and disguises himself in the image of the wrathful God. If you start to follow your thoughts, which he himself gives you, then you are lost. And because many people do this, we see where they end up. For they wish in every way to be relieved of the exceedingly heavy burden of these thoughts from the wrath of God. Therefore, they take their own lives either by rope or by sword or in some other way. This is the end of Satan's plots, and this is what he intends, that when he has torn Christ out of our sight, he will plunge us into despair.
Therefore, one should cast the thought of sin and the wrath of God out of one's heart and rather think of the opposite, as we read in the biographies of the Fathers about a certain man. When this man, because of a sin he had committed, was sorely afflicted with this temptation to despair, he finally said with a confident heart, "I have not sinned. Not that he had denied his sin, but because he saw that he had been saved from the sin.
He said that he could not be freed from those sad thoughts in any other way than by throwing them away and thinking the opposite. And indeed, if he spoke these words out of trust in the death and merit of Christ, it is an excellent example of faith, which we must imitate in such dangers, so that we too may learn that it is not necessary to argue with Satan. Otherwise, the weak hearts will be so overwhelmed with thoughts that they will kill themselves. For the human heart cannot bear the wrath of God, which Satan holds against us and drives upon us.
Therefore, whatever he may bring in, we must turn away our hearts completely, our eyes and ears must be closed, so that we neither see nor hear anything except the word of the promise of Christ and of the gracious will of the Father, who gave His Son for us, as He says John 3:16: "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" etc. Anything that the devil may put into your heart apart from the will of the reconciled and gracious God, throw it out as flying and useless thoughts.
Almost the same is recalled by Gerson, who alone among the moderns has thought of comforting troubled hearts and weak consciences; all others in general have lived in good peace and quiet and never thought of this matter. But he uses a wonderful simile and compares these thoughts of the devil, with which he troubles godly hearts as with fiery arrows, to a barking dog. If you attack it with a stone or with a sword, you irritate it even more. The same thing, he says, happens with thoughts when you pursue them. But as it is safest to despise a barking dog and pass by, so there is only one way to overcome the thoughts of Satan, namely, to despise them and no longer dispute with them; so it will happen that they will fall out of themselves. For the more one moves them in the heart, the more violently they penetrate, and cannot be overcome in any way. And the devil can bear nothing less than to be despised. That is why the whole
right, who can be strong here and despise the mischievous spirit.
This is not unlike what we read in the biographies of the fathers. When someone had to complain that he was plagued by heavy thoughts, he consulted a brother. He instructed him in this way: that just as thoughts come by themselves without being fetched, so he should let them fall away again and not pursue them. For, he said, as it is not in your power to prevent birds from flying over your head in the air, but it is in your power to prevent them from making a nest on your head, so you cannot beware of devilish thoughts. Be careful that they do not take deeper root in your heart and do not completely take over your heart. For if that happens, you are lost. This one has given a right counsel, and we must by all means keep to it if we do not want to get into certain danger. For the more you dwell on your thoughts, the less you will be able to get out of them, but rather, as if enclosed in a labyrinth, you will never be able to wriggle out.
We see the same thing here. They want to pacify Rabshakeh in the best way and according to the best advice, but in vain; for he only becomes more furious. Therefore I command you this passage, so that you may know how to counsel troubled consciences. I have seen many people who, being very severely challenged, did not know this art of despising these thoughts. That is why they began to rage, because their senses were injured by the violent thoughts; some even killed themselves. But such thoughts are a mere play of Satan. We do not produce them, but suffer them; they are not human actions, but sufferings. Those who do not want to learn this are doomed, for they must succumb. For the devil is such a vicious accuser who does not tire until he has achieved victory. Therefore, those who do not despise him, but become his spectators, to whom he presents one spectacle after another, on whom he drives one thought after another, until they fall to the ground.
be pressed. But those who want to escape from his persecutions should say: I will neither be your spectator nor your actor etc. For so Christ also reminded, Matth. 18, 3: "Unless you become like children" etc. So Rabshakeh, because he has these spectators and disputants, becomes more defiant and angry. But Hezekiah punishes them afterward [v. 21.], Why do ye answer him? etc.
But here you see what the histories teach, and how those do not understand anything who superficially run over it as if it were something that does not concern us, or seek idle spiritual interpretations. For they contain examples of the most important things.
V. 12. Do you think that my Lord sent me to your master or to you?
Eliakim 1) and the others consulted beautifully. Because the despondency of the people became only larger in this way. But notice how the presumption of Rabshakeh gradually increases. He is sure of victory, so he threatens the extreme hardship that seemed imminent. But as I have reminded you before: as often as the devil holds threats against you, remember that you will surely despise them. For the examples of wrath are written for the hopeful and stubborn. You, who are weak and already terrified, should know that this is none of your business, and should know that the devil and not the Holy Spirit reproaches you with this, because it is not reproached in the right place. For the Holy Spirit raises up the afflicted and dejected souls with his consolations and promises. Therefore, the devil imitates the Holy Spirit, but in a wrong way, and comforts the hardened and unintelligent (insensatos [Gal. 3, 1.]) with promises, but he inflicts the humble with the wrath of God and threats.
Here it is necessary that we make a distinction between spirit and spirit, and hold that it is not the Holy Spirit, but the devil's inspirations, who wants to turn the gracious and merciful God into a judge and angry executioner.
1) In the editions: -loucUiin either for "Joah" lrmi' Isa. 36, 3.] or by confusing Joachim with "Eliakim".
For the scripture says of God that he looks upon the lowly in heaven [and on earth] and exalts them [Ps. 113, 6. f.]. But Satan saws that he looketh on the high and exalteth them still more, but presseth down and corrupteth the lowly still more. Therefore, whether he challenges us in the highest articles of faith or in small sins, we must remember that we must either cast out all thoughts from our hearts, or, if we want to think anything at all, think the opposite, namely, of Christ, of grace, of the mercy of God, of eternal life, etc., and hold that these promises belong to us who, frightened by sins, groan for mercy. So great and useful is the commandment of which Paul reminds us, that one should rightly divide the word of God [2 Tim. 2, 15], δρ&οτομ£ν, in order that
The afflicted and fainthearted will be uplifted by the promises, while the hard and sure will be frightened by threats.
V. 15. And do not let Hezekiah deceive you.
These are fierce challenges of faith. And always he presses the devilish part (tertiam partem): Hezekiah is godless, God is angry with him etc. They have so irritated the devil that he now rages a hundred times more than before.
V. 16. Thank you.
Finally, he entices them with promises, so that nothing is omitted that belongs to a perfect speaker. He dwells on the best part of his cause, so that all other evils become insignificant before the goodness of this piece, but with his adversary he takes up a little spark and makes a tremendous fire out of it. For this is also what Satan is wont to do: he takes up a small sin, with which he obscures all the good works you have ever done, so that you can see nothing else in yourself but this one sin. But this is what happens when you dispute with him. A Christian will therefore overcome those thoughts by contempt, because the hopeful spirit cannot bear contempt. But for this, the Holy Spirit is needed, and practice in prayer, and that one should
read the Scriptures, as we have said above, for it is not with us that we overcome or cast away these thoughts.
V. 18. do not let Hezekiah persuade you to say.
He cannot forget this little piece; against this he contends, against this he scorns and rages. How can the Lord deliver you? The punishment is at the door. But even if God were merciful, he could not redeem you, even if he wanted to. This is how I prove it:
Have the gods of the heathen also saved every man his land?
This is a conclusion from the greater to the lesser (argumentum a majori). Many gods of the pagans have not been able to resist us, but they have been overcome together with their worshippers: therefore, how will your God, who is only One, be able to resist us, who is hidden like a mouse in a dark cave? From all too great! hope and security, Satan becomes such a fool that he denies the power of God. It is here a perfect art of speech, and all the colors of Satan, which he uses in the highest degree. Least of all, he can suffer faith,
Therefore he challenged him most fiercely, and Hezekiah's heart was stormed far more violently than the walls of the city. So there was a fight on the outside and fear on the inside. But that one has an angry God in such a way and is alone and, as it were, perishes in wrath, that is the weak Christ on the cross, who rises again on the third day and triumphs over his enemies.
V. 21 But they were silent and answered him nothing.
This is a golden text that teaches us that we should not argue with the devil. For when he sees that we are his spectators and listeners, he takes occasion to prove himself all the more valiant, and presses all the harder. Peter says [1 Pet. 5, 8.] that he goes about seeking whom he may devour. He makes no end of his pursuits. But it is safest not to answer, but to despise him, as the Psalm [Ps. 4:5] reminds us: "If ye be angry, sin not. Speak with your heart," and not with the devil. This may be enough of history. For since Paul says [Rom. 15:4] that all things are written for our sake, we must put them into use and follow the faith which such histories indicate to us.