_Cf._ Luke xviii. 8; Isa. xlii. 1. The greater wickedness is employed
by God to be the scourge of the less, until its own time comes to be
scattered as chaff, and destroyed as fire destroys (vers. 11, 12). To
one whose "eyes are in his head," it is sad to hear the ambassador of
Sennacherib saying, "The Lord said unto me, Go up against this land
and destroy it." In the midst of this judgment of God--in which the
righteous suffer most--meted out instrumentally by wicked hands, we
do well to remember the words of Christ: "Knowest thou not, said
Pilate to Him, that I have power to release thee? Jesus answered,
Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given
thee from above."
Note that where the avenging is pictured in this passage, the two
sides spoken of in the former part of it--men and nature--are summed
up in the terrible destruction of the _human._ So terrible is this,
that a burning world is lost sight of! The first picture of
desolation is as nothing to the second; and the woe is seen to reach
its intensity in this regard.--_J. Macrae Simcock._