Isaiah 36:6
Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
Sermons
Satire on Our Human ConfidencesW. Clarkson Isaiah 36:6
The Broken StaffW.M. Statham Isaiah 36:6
Treacherous TrustsW. Clarkson Isaiah 36:6
Hezekiah and the AssyrianE. Johnson Isaiah 36:1-22
War OratorsSerrasalmo, Scientific Illustrations and Symbols.Isaiah 36:4-20
ContemptuousnessW. Clarkson Isaiah 36:4-21














Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, in Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it. Man must lean. He is constituted to rest on some object outside himself, and it would be a wise though painful study to review the false resting-places of the human heart. Egypt stands in the Scripture for the world outside God - its pleasure, its skill, its science, its entire wealth of means and appliances. For Egypt was once the repository of the world's wealth, and skill, and science, and beauty, and glory.

I. THIS IS HISTORICAL TRUTH. How eagerly the Jews turned from the true God to idols! Their life was dishonoured during a long part of their history by idolatry, for which they were punished by captivities, and against which they were warned by prophets. Still they rebelled against God, and vexed and grieved his Holy Spirit. Delivered from Egypt and its slaveries and wrongs, as their fathers were, they yet turned in heart to all that was represented by Egypt.

II. THIS IS SYMOBLIC TRUTH. Men lean still on reeds, that in time become broken reeds. They trust in wealth, friendship, fortune; and these at last give way, and the reed pierces them to the heart. This is the story often told of the world's disappointed conditions - broken health and lost fortunes. Having no God to turn to, men are left desolate and deserted in the hour when heart and flesh faint and fail. We see all this in Byron and Shelley, and in the "Midases" of the world, who love wealth and all that wealth can bring. Nothing in the world answers to the deep necessities of man's immortal nature, and the "rest under the shadow of Egypt" is not broad and deep enough for the soul of man.

III. THIS IS SURPRISING TRUTH. "Lo!" we may well exclaim. Is this world a lunatic asylum, alter all, full of men and women who have lost the fine balances of judgment? or is it a blind asylum, where they have lost the clear vision of truth? After all the records of observation and of history, has it come to this - that each succeeding generation takes up the old lie and forsakes the living God? Even now and here, where the Saviour says, "Come unto me and rest," how many seek "rest" out of God! Some find human love itself a broken reed, and in their hours of sad discovery turn cynical and despairing, whilst to others friendship itself has proved superficial and fickle. There are many who have drawn out the broken reed, and dressed the wound as well as they may; but it remains unhealed. What they really want is the balm of Gilead and. the great Physician of souls. - W.M.S.

Now on whom dost thou trust?
That question may not be without importance in matters of ordinary life. We have all to trust our fellows, more or less, and I suppose we have all had to smart in some degree, as the result of it. We may trust the mass of men in trifles without any serious consequences; but when it comes to large sums, when the whole of a man's fortune, for instance, is staked upon the character and reputation of someone else, then it is not altogether an unimportant question, "On whom dost thou trust?" Many have rested on some choice friend, and found him play the Judas! How often have our dearest counsellors turned away from us as Ahithophel did from David! How frequently have we confidently rested upon the integrity, friendship, and fidelity of some person whom we thought we knew and could trust, and we have found that "Cursed is he that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm." Use discretion in all your transactions in life, as to how far you will trust the sons of men.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

I. Let us put this question, and collect A LITTLE BUNDLE OF ANSWERS.

1. I think I hear some answer, "I do not know that I have thought about the matter at all; I hope it is a long time before I shall die, and there is no need to trouble myself before it is necessary, and, therefore, I put the matter off." Do not you think that you are very foolish? There is a gate to death, ay! and to hell, too, from the place where you are now sitting. Suppose you were sure of a long life, would you wish to delay being happy?

2. I hear one say, "I thank God I am about as good as most people; when my poor neighbours have needed charity, they have never found a churl in me. I hope I can say it will go well with me, and if it does not, sir, it will go badly with a good many." I am afraid it will go badly with a great many; but I do not see what consolation you ought to get out of that, for company in being ruined will not decrease, but rather increase the catastrophe. The sum and substance of your confidence is, that you are trusting in yourself. Now, do you really and honestly think that you are of yourself sufficient to bring yourself safe to God's right hand? I think your conscience can remind you of some slips and flaws.

3. "I trust in my priest; he has been regularly ordained; he belongs to an Apostolic Church; he tells me that he will forgive my sins if I confess them to him, and that when I come to die he will give me my viaticum." Do not be misled; your priest might as well trust in you as you trust in him.

4. "Well, God is merciful. He is not so severe as to be unkind towards us, and we dare say, though we may have a good many faults, yet as He is a very good and gracious God, He will forgive our sins and accept us." If you go to God out of Christ, you will find Him to be a consuming fire, and instead of mercy you shall receive justice.

5. "Well, sir, I do not say that I can trust to my works, but I am a good-hearted man; I am a man of good intentions, and though I have a great many faults, yet I am good-hearted at bottom, and I think God will look at my heart, and will put me right at the end, notwithstanding my slips and wanderings by the way." It will turn out, I am afraid, to be a delusion and a snare. Your heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Do not talk about its goodness any more, for when you do, you give God the lie, and how can you expect to go to the heaven where God is, when you are thus insulting Him all the while?

II. THE CHRISTIAN'S ANSWER. "I trust," says the Christian, "a triune God-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." To some this does not look like a real trust. "Why, we cannot see God," says one. "How do we know all about this Trinity? Is this a real trust?" Cannot you trust in a thousand things you have never seen or heard? Some of you may be earning your living by electricity, but you never saw it. Some have said, "But does God interfere to help His people? Is the trust you impose in Him so really recognised by Him that you can distinctly prove that He helps you?" Yes, we can. We can say, also, by way of commending our God to others, that we feel we can rest upon Him for the future.

III. SOME WORDS OF ADVICE TO THOSE WHO ARE SO TRUSTING.

1. Drive out all unbelief. If we have such a God to trust to, let us trust with all our might.

2. Let us seek the Holy Spirit's help in this matter. The Author of our faith must be the Finisher of it also.

3. Let us try to bring others to trust where we have trusted.

4. We must prove our faith by our works.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

That is a very silly thing which people say of men when they die, "Oh, he was rather loose in his morals, but he was a good-hearted man at bottom." It reminds me of Rowland Hill's saying, "Yes, but when you go to market to buy apples, and you see a number of rotten ones at the top, if the market-woman says, 'Oh, never mind, it is only the rotten apples at the top, they are very good at bottom,' you will say to her, 'My good soul, I will be bound to say the best are on the top, and they will not improve as you go down, for generally they will get far worse.'" And so if a man is bad on the surface, I cannot tell how much worse he may be down below. It is said there was a man who used to swear and drink, who, nevertheless, applied for membership with Mr. Hill, and gave this reason for it, that though he did drink occasionally and frequently swear, yet he was good at bottom. Mr. Hill said, "Then you think I am going grovelling down through the dirty foul filth of your life to get the little good that is somewhere at the bottom of you! Why, sir, it will not pay for the risk of digging out, and I am not going to do it."

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

People
Asaph, Eliakim, Hezekiah, Hilkiah, Isaiah, Joah, Pharaoh, Rabshakeh, Sennacherib, Shebna
Places
Arpad, Assyria, Egypt, Hamath, Jerusalem, Lachish, Samaria, Sepharvaim, Washer's Field
Topics
Basing, Behold, Broken, Bruised, Crushed, Depend, Egypt, Enter, Faith, Goes, Hast, Hope, Lean, Leaneth, Leans, Makes, Man's, Pharaoh, Pierce, Pierced, Pierces, Reed, Reliest, Rely, Relying, Rod, Splintered, Staff, Support, Trust, Trusted, Trustest, Trusting, Whereon, Wounds
Outline
1. Sennacherib invades Judah
2. Rabshakeh, sent by Sennacherib, solicits the people to revolt
22. His words are told to Hezekiah

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 36:6

     4502   reed
     4512   staff
     8331   reliability

Isaiah 36:1-18

     5305   empires

Isaiah 36:1-20

     8833   threats

Isaiah 36:1-22

     7240   Jerusalem, history

Isaiah 36:4-6

     5973   unreliability

Isaiah 36:4-10

     8027   faith, testing of

Isaiah 36:5-6

     8224   dependence

Library
A Sermon on Isaiah xxvi. By John Knox.
[In the Prospectus of our Publication it was stated, that one discourse, at least, would be given in each number. A strict adherence to this arrangement, however, it is found, would exclude from our pages some of the most talented discourses of our early Divines; and it is therefore deemed expedient to depart from it as occasion may require. The following Sermon will occupy two numbers, and we hope, that from its intrinsic value, its historical interest, and the illustrious name of its author, it
John Knox—The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2 and 3.

Jesus Heals Multitudes Beside the Sea of Galilee.
^A Matt. XII. 15-21; ^B Mark III. 7-12. ^a 15 And Jesus perceiving it withdrew ^b with his disciples ^a from thence: ^b to the sea [This was the first withdrawal of Jesus for the avowed purpose of self-preservation. After this we find Jesus constantly retiring to avoid the plots of his enemies. The Sea of Galilee, with its boats and its shores touching different jurisdictions, formed a convenient and fairly safe retreat]: ^a and many followed him; ^b and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Sennacherib (705-681 B. C. )
The struggle of Sennacherib with Judaea and Egypt--Destruction of Babylon. Sennacherib either failed to inherit his father's good fortune, or lacked his ability.* He was not deficient in military genius, nor in the energy necessary to withstand the various enemies who rose against him at widely removed points of his frontier, but he had neither the adaptability of character nor the delicate tact required to manage successfully the heterogeneous elements combined under his sway. * The two principal
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 8

The Holy City; Or, the New Jerusalem:
WHEREIN ITS GOODLY LIGHT, WALLS, GATES, ANGELS, AND THE MANNER OF THEIR STANDING, ARE EXPOUNDED: ALSO HER LENGTH AND BREADTH, TOGETHER WITH THE GOLDEN MEASURING-REED EXPLAINED: AND THE GLORY OF ALL UNFOLDED. AS ALSO THE NUMEROUSNESS OF ITS INHABITANTS; AND WHAT THE TREE AND WATER OF LIFE ARE, BY WHICH THEY ARE SUSTAINED. 'Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God.'-Psalm 87:3 'And the name of the city from that day shall be, THE LORD IS THERE.'-Ezekiel 48:35 London: Printed in the year 1665
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Isaiah
CHAPTERS I-XXXIX Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he bore testimony, as
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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