Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, [that] Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. Ver. 1. _Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea._] Reckoning as 2 Kings 17:1. _See Trapp on "_ 2Ki 17:1 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also [was] Abi, the daughter of Zachariah. Ver. 2. _Twenty and five years old was he, &c._] And therefore born in the eleventh year of his father Ahaz - who was twenty years... [ Continue Reading ]
And he did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did. Ver. 3. _And he did that which was right._] See 1 Kings 14:8 .... [ Continue Reading ]
He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. Ver. 4. _He removed the high places._] He neglected no time, but in t... [ Continue Reading ]
He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor [any] that were before him. Ver. 5. _He trusted in the Lord God of Israel_] His confidence was the cause of his courage - faith feareth no colours; his motto might have been that of the Roman... [ Continue Reading ]
For he clave to the LORD, [and] departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses. Ver. 6. _For he clave to the Lord._] _Indivulse:_ and this he knew to be his duty, from Deuteronomy 4:4; Deuteronomy 10:20; Joshua 23:8, _sc., _ to embrace the Lord with faith... [ Continue Reading ]
And the LORD was with him; [and] he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not. Ver. 7. _And the Lord was with him._] The Lord is with all those that are with him. 2Ch 15:3 Ezr 8:22 _ And he prospered._] Or, He dealt prudently. _ And he... [ Continue Reading ]
He smote the Philistines, [even] unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. Ver. 8. _He smote the Philistines._] A warlike people, and therefore his glory was the greater: as Plutarch praiseth the Romans above Alexander, because he subdued Asiatics that w... [ Continue Reading ]
And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which [was] the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, [that] Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it. Ver. 9. _In the fourth year, &c._] See on 2 Kings 18:1 . _ That Shalmaneser, &c._] At which time... [ Continue Reading ]
And at the end of three years they took it: [even] in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that [is] the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. Ver. 10. _And at the end of three years._] See 2 Kings 17:6 .... [ Continue Reading ]
And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor [by] the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes: Ver. 11. _And the king of Assyria, &c._] See 2 Kings 17:6 .... [ Continue Reading ]
Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, [and] all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear [them], nor do [them]. Ver. 12. _Because they obeyed not._] See 2 Kings 17:7,17 .... [ Continue Reading ]
Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them. Ver. 13. _Now in the fourteenth year, &c._] Not long after Hezekiah's great sickness and signal recovery: whereupon he received that gracious promise, 2Ki 20:6... [ Continue Reading ]
And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. Ver. 14. _And Hezekiah kin... [ Continue Reading ]
And Hezekiah gave [him] all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house. Ver. 15. _And Hezekiah gave him._] See on 2 Kings 18:14 .... [ Continue Reading ]
At that time did Hezekiah cut off [the gold from] the doors of the temple of the LORD, and [from] the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria. Ver. 16. _At that time did Hezekiah cut off._] If Ahaz, that church robber, had done this, it would better hav... [ Continue Reading ]
And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which [is] in the highway of the fuller's field.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which [was] over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder._ Ver. 18. Eliakim … which was over the household.] In the place of false Shebna, who had been controller in Ahaz's... [ Continue Reading ]
And Rabshakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence [is] this wherein thou trustest? Ver. 19. _Thus saith the great king._] An expression that savoureth of intolerable pride, and, as some think, uttered in way of deriding the proph... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou sayest, (but [they are but] vain words,) [I have] counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? Ver. 20. Thou sayest (but they are but vain words).] Heb., Words of the lips, _i.e., _ frothy and fruitless, forasmuch as thou hast neither counsel n... [ Continue Reading ]
Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, [even] upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so [is] Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him. Ver. 21. _Now thou trustest upon the staff, &c._] This Hezekiah did not, that we read of: but... [ Continue Reading ]
But if ye say unto me, We trust in the LORD our God: [is] not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem? Ver. 22. _But if ye say unto me, We trust in the Lord our God._] Thus he thinks... [ Continue Reading ]
Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. Ver. 23. _Give pledges._] _Pignora certa._ Tremellius rendereth it, _Misce bellum,_ fight with my master, the king of Assyria, i... [ Continue Reading ]
How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? Ver. 24. _And put thy trust in Egypt._] See on 2 Kings 18:21 .... [ Continue Reading ]
Am I now come up without the LORD against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it. Ver. 25. _Am I now come up without the Lord?_] Without his secret impulse, as 2 Samuel 16:10. The villainous gunpowder plotters pretended that God set them to work to pu... [ Continue Reading ]
Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand [it]: and talk not with us in the Jews' language in the ears of the people that [are] on the wall. Ver. 26. Speak, I pray thee, … in the Syrian l... [ Continue Reading ]
But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? [hath he] not [sent me] to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you? Ver. 27. _Hath he not sent me to the men that sit on the wall?_] The... [ Continue Reading ]
Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spake, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria: Ver. 28. _Hear the word of the great king._] See on 2 Kings 18:19 .... [ Continue Reading ]
Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand: Ver. 29. _Let not Hezekiah deceive you._] He warneth them to beware of Hezekiah as an impostor, and to make sure work for themselves, by yielding up all to Sennacherib, and accepting of him f... [ Continue Reading ]
Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. Ver. 30. _Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord._] Of whom these pagans had the like base and bald conceits as they had of t... [ Continue Reading ]
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make [an agreement] with me by a present, and come out to me, and [then] eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern: Ver. 31. _Make an agreement, &c._] Heb., Make with... [ Continue Reading ]
Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Ver. 32. _To a land like you... [ Continue Reading ]
Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Ver. 33. _Hath any of the gods of the nations._] These were no gods, and Hezekiah might better say than that heathen once did, _Contemno minutulos istos deos, modo, Iovem (Iehovam) mihi propitium h... [ Continue Reading ]
Where [are] the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where [are] the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand? Ver. 34. _Where are the gods?_] _Os ferreum!_ This is a most insolent insultation, and might well become an _Aiax flagellifer,_ who knew no god but his own... [ Continue Reading ]
Who [are] they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand? Ver. 35. _Who are they among all the gods?_] See 2 Kings 18:30 .... [ Continue Reading ]
But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not. Ver. 36. _But the people held their peace._] They punished him with silence, as Isaac did Ishmael. _Sile, et funestam dedisti plagam,_ saith Chrysostom. Silence is the best answer t... [ Continue Reading ]
Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which [was] over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with [their] clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh. Ver. 37. _With their clothes rent._] To show how deeply they were affected with and offend... [ Continue Reading ]