Man's wrath bringing praise to God.
The rendering of this verse is uncertain. The LXX. reads the verse, "The wrath of man shall praise thee; the remainder of wrath shall keep festival unto thee." And the idea of the verse seems to be—"the only result of Sennacherib's enmity to God's chosen people will be that the power of the God who overthrows him shall be more widely acknowledged; for vain will it be for the small remnant of the Assyrians to continue the invasion in which their mighty host had been so terribly foiled" (Jennings and Lowe). This idea may be worked out. Be it the seemingly overwhelming wrath of the mighty army, or be it the manifestly helpless and futile enmity of the enfeebled remnant,—God's ways with them will bring praise to his Name. It will often be noticed that the mischief wrought by a remnant is more to be feared than the mischief wrought by a host. Bunyan, in his 'Holy War,' makes a few Diabolians left in Mansoul do greater mischief than Diabolus' army. So there is point in pressing on our attention that remnants are as much in God's power as armies, and he will be glorified in the mastery of both.
I. THE LIFE FOES THAT WE KNOW AND ESTIMATE ARE WELL WITHIN THE CONTROL OF OUR GOD. And a man ought to understand what his besetting sins are, what his circumstances of temptation are. There are spiritual foes which "loom large" to our view—large as the vast host of Assyria did to Hezekiah. But "greater is he who is with us than all who can be against us." Those foes lose their power to affright us when once we can see that God will get his glory in dealing with them, and in delivering us from them.
II. THE LIFE FOES THAT ARE TOO SUBTLE AND INSIGNIFICANT FOR US TO OBSERVE ARE EQUALLY IN THE CONTROL OF OUR GOD. They may be represented by the remnant, or remainder, of the Assyrians. And after the disaster, Sennacherib might have collected his soldiers, stayed in the land, and done much mischief. God controlled that remnant, and sent him ignominiously back to his own country. Subtle foes, small foes, like ichneumon flies, who deposit their eggs in the caterpillar and eat up its life, could ruin us more surely than open foes, were it not that our God will be sure also to get his praise of them.—R.T.