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"A mouth speaking great things" (Dan. 7: 8).
"Because of the voice of the great words which the Horn spake, I beheld even till the
Beast was slain" (Dan. 7: 11).
"And he shall speak great words against the Most High" (Dan. 7: 25).
"He shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods" (Dan. 11: 36).
John also informs us similarly:
"There was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies" (Rev. 13: 5).
Paul reveals that this Beast should exalt himself above all that is called God or
worshipped, and Rabshakeh asks:
"Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the King of
Assyria?" (Isa. 36: 18).
Further, we learn that Sennacherib's projected attack upon Jerusalem was diverted by
a rumour:
"He heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war
with thee" (Isa. 37: 9).
So also of the last Assyrian it is written:
"But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him, and he shall go forth
in great fury to destroy" (Dan. 11: 44).
The destruction of the Assyrian host by night, by the Angel of the Lord, foreshadowed
the day when the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and destroy with the
brightness of His coming,
"Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and
lying wonders" (II Thess. 2: 9).
The reader will see how a knowledge of the times of Sennacherib illuminates much
that belongs both to past Biblical history, and to future prophecy. We therefore devote
the remainder of our available space to a resumé of the testimony of antiquity to the life
and times of this great type of the Man of Sin.
The archæological resurrection of Nineveh and its kings reads like a romance, but as
we cannot here traverse the fascinating history, we must be content to establish the
historic accuracy of the Scripture references to Sennacherib. In the mind of students the
name of Layard will always be associated with the recovery of the palace and records of
Sennacherib. Layard turned his attention to the mounds of Kuyunjik, which were
opposite Mosul. Here were unearthed the famous winged, human-headed bulls, with
which visitors to the British Museum are familiar. A palace, paneled with sculptures
slabs, was also excavated. This building had evidently been destroyed by fire, but, while
many of the slabs had been reduced almost to lime, a sufficient number of them were
found to be in a state of preservation good enough to bring Sennacherib and his times
vividly before the mind.