And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard [it], that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD. Ver. 1. _And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it._] And a great deal more, against the Lord and himself, than is recorded in the former cha... [ Continue Reading ]
And he sent Eliakim, which [was] over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. Ver. 2. _And he sent Eliakim._] This good Josiah did not, when Pharaohnechoh came up against him - though he had at hand the famo... [ Continue Reading ]
And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day [is] a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and [there is] not strength to bring forth. Ver. 3. _For the children are come to the birth._] We are greatly pained and perplexed, our hearts do even a... [ Continue Reading ]
It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up [thy] prayer for the remnant that are left. Ver. 4. _It may be._] We nothing dou... [ Continue Reading ]
So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. Ver. 5. _So the servants of Hezekiah came._] They came, and did their master's message. _Acta legatorum laconice uno verbo (venerunt) proponuntur._... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me._ Ver. 6. _With which the servants._] Heb., The lads, younkers, or striplings: so they are called by... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. Ver. 7. _Behold, I will send a blast upon him._] A spirit, some render it. God "maketh his angels spirits." An evil messenger was sent again... [ Continue Reading ]
So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. Ver. 8. _So Rabshakeh returned._] But left his army, likely, still before Jerusalem. _ That he was departed from Lachish._] Which he had taken; or, as some think, out of... [ Continue Reading ]
And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying, Ver. 9. _Of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia._] A potent prince. See 2 Chronicles 14:9. Strabo _a_ called him _Tearkon_ the Ethiopian; and further relateth out... [ Continue Reading ]
Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. Ver. 10. _Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee._] Sennacherib and Rabshakeh are both in a song. Rec... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered? Ver. 11. _Behold, thau hast heard._] See 2 Kings 18:33,35 . _ To all lands, by destroying them utterly._] Not all, nor utterly neither; but the tongue, that little mem... [ Continue Reading ]
_Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; [as] Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which [were] in Thelasar?_ Ver. 12. _Have the gods of the nations, &c._] See on 2 Kings 19:10 . _ Which my fathers have destroyed._] God was not in all this man... [ Continue Reading ]
Where [is] the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah? Ver. 13. _Where is the king of Hamath, &c.?_] See 2 Kings 18:33. Only there it is gods of those places, and here kings. The heathens commonly called their gods kings - as Fοιβε αναξ, βασ... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD._ Ver. 14. _And read it._] Heb., Them: and spread it. That which had the blasphemies in it: or, if it was all but one letter, he spread that p... [ Continue Reading ]
And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest [between] the cherubims, thou art the God, [even] thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. Ver. 15. _And Hezekiah prayed._] He made intercession to God against Sennacherib, as o... [ Continue Reading ]
LORD, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God. Ver. 16. Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear: open thine eyes, &c.] This is to pray with utmost intention of spirit, and extension of speech; this i... [ Continue Reading ]
Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, Ver. 17. _Of a truth, Lord._] See how this good king filleth his mouth with arguments, and learn to do the like when we come before the Lord in prayer.... [ Continue Reading ]
And have cast their gods into the fire: for they [were] no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. Ver. 18. _Wood and stone._] _Olim truncus eram ficulnus, &c._ What strange stupidity, therefore, was it to set up such! See Isaiah 44:16,17 .... [ Continue Reading ]
Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou [art] the LORD God, [even] thou only. Ver. 19. _Save us out of his hand._] Hezekiah had a promise before; but he knew that he was to put it in suit, as here he doth ver... [ Continue Reading ]
Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, [That] which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. Ver. 20. _Then Isaiah the son of Amos._] God suffered him not to stay for an answer, but prevented his sending again to the... [ Continue Reading ]
This [is] the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, [and] laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. Ver. 21. _The virgin, the daughter of Zion._] A weak virgin she may seem; but she hath a strong champ... [ Continue Reading ]
Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted [thy] voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? [even] against the Holy [One] of Israel. Ver. 22. _Against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high?_] God is "jealous for Jerusalem with a great jea... [ Continue Reading ]
By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, [and] the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his border... [ Continue Reading ]
I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places. Ver. 24. _I have digged and drunk strange waters,_] _a_ _i.e., _ Newly found waters, though thou hast endeavoured to stop from me and mine army the waters of the fountains. 2Ch 32... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hast thou not heard long ago [how] I have done it, [and] of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities [into] ruinous heaps._ Ver. 25. _Hast thou not heard?_] Here God himself taketh Sennacherib in hand, and schooleth him c... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were [as] the grass of the field, and [as] the green herb, [as] the grass on the housetops, and [as corn] blasted before it be grown up. Ver. 26. _Therefore their inhabitants were of small power._] Heb., Short... [ Continue Reading ]
But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. Ver. 27. _But I know thine abode, &c._] Figurative terms taken from huntsmen, saith Diodate; the meaning is, I know all thy designs, and do overrule them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest. Ver. 28. _Because thy rage against me and thy tumult._] Such as was also that of the proud Spaniard i... [ Continue Reading ]
_And this [shall be] a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof._ Ver. 29. _Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of... [ Continue Reading ]
And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. Ver. 30. _And the remnant that is escaped,_] _sc., _ From the sword of the Assyrian, which had devoured much flesh, and drunk much blood amongst them.... [ Continue Reading ]
For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD [of hosts] shall do this. Ver. 31. _And out of Jerusalem shall go forth._] Those that are now cooped and pent up in the besieged city, shall freely and fearlessly walk whither they please. _... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it._ Ver. 32. _He shall not come into this city._] Because dear to God, who had appointed salvation for walls and bulwar... [ Continue Reading ]
By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. Ver. 33. _By the way that he came, &c._] See on 2 Kings 19:28 .... [ Continue Reading ]
For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. Ver. 34. _For I will defend this city._] I will cover it as with a shield, - so the word signifieth see 2 Kings 19:32, - I will fence and protect it. The like God hath done for Geneva, a small city besieged... [ Continue Reading ]
And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they [were] all dead corpses. Ver. 35. _That night._] When the Assyrians were fitting themselves to a... [ Continue Reading ]
So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. Ver. 36. _So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed._] Being glad he had escaped with the skin of his teeth, with the safeguard of his life. But his preservation was but a reservation only; and the rather, because h... [ Continue Reading ]
And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead. Ver. 37. _In the house of Nisroch his god._] Jupiter Belus haply, whom... [ Continue Reading ]