The Arrogant Axe

Bill Brown .. Xiamen University
"Does the axe raise himself above him who swings it, or the saw boast against him who uses it?" Isaiah 10:15, (speaking of Sennacherib, King of Assyria).

"The superior man is modest in speech but excellent in action." Confucius

"High steps, haughty bearing" (Chi gao qi yang). Chinese saying.

More fatal than flattery is pride, which is but self-flattery. We may be suspect of other's flattery, but we trust implicitly our own opinion of ourselves, and only to our own convictions even when others are starting to have doubts about us. About the time of Sennacherib's inglorious defeat, an arrogant Chinese general learned, like Sennacherib, that overly inflated egos are puncture-prone.

General Chu Xia served the Prince of Chu during the spring and autumn period (770-476 B.C.) . General Chu was unlearned and unskilled, and most people considered him worthless, but he was proud and arrogant, and the smallest victory went to his head. General Chu was very concerned about his external appearance, but when General Tou Taipei saw Chu strutting around, he knew Chu thought too highly of himself. General Tou told his charioteer, "General Chu will be defeated this time. He carries himself as if everyone else were beneath him, with a high step, nose in the air, and a disdainful expression. He is not preparing to fight but to impress the enemy!" General Tou begged the Prince to send another General. The Prince ignored him, but that night talked it over with his wife (the Prince was as henpecked as most of us), and decided to send extra troops to help Chu Xia. Still, he was utterly defeated, and committed suicide.

Pride indeed goes before the fall, because our victories so easily inflate our ego, but as God warned King Sennacherib in Isaiah 10:15, "Does the axe raise himself above him who swings it?"

God used this pagan Assyrian king Sennacherib to chasten an unrepentant Israel, but instead of learning from his successes, the king's power went to his head, and he boasted that the world was his for the taking. He said of himself:

'By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, because I have understanding. I removed the boundaries of nations, I plundered their treasures, like a mighty one I subdued their kings.' Isaiah 10:12b, 13

God's response was, "I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes. For he says: 'By the strength of my hand I have done this..."

In 701 B.C., the angel put to death 185,000 of his soldiers. Sennacherib returned home, and was later killed by his own sons (see end note).

Over the past few centuries, one nation after another has dominated the globe or parts of it, amassed great wealth, and then succumbed to its own arrogance as it prospered at the great expense of others. And each in turn has fallen, for they have neglected two recurring themes of the Bible, which are 1) humility and 2) caring for the poor and oppressed. They have invariably become not humble but proud, and boasted, like the king of Assyria, that the world was theirs for the taking--and quite often claimed a divine mandate to do so.

I hope that those few nations who possess such power today will use their wealth for good and not evil, lest they face the fate of General Chu of China, or the king of Assyria, who tripped over their own pride.

F.B. Meyer, in "Our Daily Homily" (London, 1894) wrote:
We are only instruments of God's husbandry, implements through which He fulfils his plans (1 Cor. 3). It dates an era in the life, when we cease to work for God, and allow God to work through us.

Thoughts like these correct alike pride and despondency. Pride, because whatever is the result of our work, we can no more take the credit of it than the pen that wrote the "Paradise Lost" could take to itself the credit of its production. At the best, it is not you, but the grace of God that was with you. You are only a pipe in the organ, but the breath that educed your music was divine. And in despondency it is very helpful to remember that if we are nothing, God is all-sufficient, if we have failed, it is the more needful for Him to exert more power. Throw back the responsibility of all results on God. Only see to it that you are a polished shaft, and unblunted saw, and leave Him to do through you what He will.

Notes:
Sennacherib's Assyrian name was Sîn-ahhe-eriba ("moon god"). In his own accounts of his war with Judah, he does not mention losing 185,000 men, but rather claims it was a complete victory. But he was slain by his son or sons.
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