Lesson 7, February 6-12
Sabbath Afternoon
Memory Text: “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.” Isaiah 37:16
A gaunt man walks barefoot with his two sons. Another family has loaded all their belongings onto an oxcart pulled by emaciated oxen. A man leads the oxen while two women sit on the cart. Less fortunate people have no cart, so they carry their possessions on their shoulders.
Soldiers are everywhere. A battering ram smashes into the city gate. Archers on top of the ram shoot at defenders on the walls. Hectic carnage reigns supreme.
Fast forward. A king sits grandly on his throne, receiving booty and captives. Some captives approach him with hands upraised, pleading for mercy. Others kneel or crouch. Descriptions of these scenes with the king begin with these words: “Sennacherib, king of the world, king of Assyria” and continue with such expressions as “sat in a nemedu-throne and the booty of the city Lachish passed in review before him.” — John Malcolm Russell, The Writing on the Wall (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1999), pp. 137, 138.
This series of pictures, which once adorned the walls of Sennacherib’s “Palace Without a Rival,” are now in the British Museum, and what a story they have to tell about the plight of God’s professed people!
