2 Kings 19:1-7. Hezekiah sends messengers to Isaiah. Isaiah's answer in the name of the Lord. (Not in Chronicles. Isaiah 37:1-7) 1. _Hezekiah … covered himself with sackcloth_ No doubt the words which his messengers reported were such as to tell upon the king, especially that saying of Rab-shakeh -... [ Continue Reading ]
_he sent … to Esai_ R.V. ISAIAH. The historian has up to this time never mentioned the name of the great prophet. But we know from Isaiah's own writings that as early as the reign of Uzziah (Isaiah 6:1) the Lord had revealed His majesty to the son of Amoz, and had sent him to bear witness unto Judah... [ Continue Reading ]
_This day_is _a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy_ R.V. CONTUMELY. The words refer to the condition of Hezekiah and his people. First they are in great anguish, kept in and surrounded by a threatening and mighty enemy, this is the trouble: then they are reminded of their offences and f... [ Continue Reading ]
_It may be_ The Hebrew word introduces expressions of uncertainty but yet of hope. Cf. Numbers 23:3 where Balaam says to Balak, - _Peradventure_the Lord will come and meet me"; and Joshua 14:12 where Caleb entreats for the possession of Hebron, in hope to drive out the Anakim, - _If so be_the Lord w... [ Continue Reading ]
_Be not afraid of the words which_[R.V. THAT] _thou hast heard_, with _which_[R.V. WHEREWITH] &c. These slight changes make the rendering like that in Isaiah, where the Hebrew corresponds exactly. God's prophet sets down the threats and insults of Rab-shakeh as -words" and no more. That there is a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, I will send a blast upon him_ R.V. PUT A SPIRIT IN HIM. -Blast" in this verse is often wrongly accepted as referring to the destroying angel of verse 35 below. The true sense is represented in R.V. God would give to Sennacherib and his soldiers such an inward motion or impulse that the news... [ Continue Reading ]
Sennacherib's letter to Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 32:17; Isaiah 37:8-13) 8. _So Rab-shakeh returned_ i.e. Southward, towards Lachish, but during his absence Sennacherib had undertaken to attack Libnah, and there Rab-shakeh found him. _Libnah_ See above on 2 Kings 8:22. Libnah was almost in a direct l... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when he heard say of Tirhakah_ Tirhakah is called by Manetho, _Tarakos_. He was the third and last king of the 25th dynasty, which was Ethiopian. The duration of his reign is not accurately known. The news of Tirhakah's advance caused Sennacherib to feel the importance of getting Jerusalem into... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying_ These words are unrepresented in the LXX. _Let not thy God … deceive thee_ This was the sort of railing on the God of Israel, and the speaking against Him on which the Chronicler dwells so strongly. _Jerusalem shall not be delivered_ R.V. GIV... [ Continue Reading ]
_by destroying them utterly_ The verb implies -dooming", -devoting as if to a curse". Hence the LXX. represents it by ἀναθεματίσαι.... [ Continue Reading ]
as _Gozan_ The R.V. omits the italic -as" both here and in the parallel place in Isaiah. On _Gozan_see above 2 Kings 17:6 note. _and Haran_ The LXX. gives for this place Χαῤῥὰν, as in Genesis 27:43, thus identifying it with the place where Abraham dwelt after leaving Ur of the Chaldees. The town of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Where is the king of Hamath_ On all the places named here, see above in the notes on 2 Kings 17:34.... [ Continue Reading ]
Hezekiah spreads the letter before the Lord, and prays for deliverance (2 Chronicles 32:20; Isaiah 37:14-20) 14. _Hezekiah received the letter_ Though bringing a written document the messengers of Sennacherib may be supposed to have also enforced their message by words of their own. _went up_into... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord_ The Chronicler says -Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven". _O Lord God_[R.V. THE GOD] _of Israel, which dwellest_between _the cherubims_ R.V. WHICH SITTEST UPON THE CHERUBIM. On the cherubim and their position a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear_ R.V. INCLINE THINE EAR, O LORD, AND HEAR. This is the translation in Isaiah of the same Hebrew. Both should be alike, and the form chosen by R.V. seems preferable as the words are addressed to God. The king can only speak in the figures which men would use to one... [ Continue Reading ]
_the kings of Assyria have destroyed_[R.V. LAID WASTE] _the nations_ The change is in conformity with the rendering in Isaiah, where the Hebrew, however, says - _all_the countries and their land" (R.V.) The Hebrew word translated -destroyed" in the next verse is different from this.... [ Continue Reading ]
_have cast their gods into the fire_ A conquering heathen would shew his contempt for the nations which he overcame by destroying the objects of their worship, thus practically telling the vanquished that his gods were superior to theirs. Moreover such destruction would very often be a source of boo... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech thee, save_thou _us_ The R.V. puts -I beseech thee" after -save thou us" that being the order of the Hebrew sentence. There is no Hebrew in Isaiah for -I beseech thee". _that all the kingdoms of the earth may know_ It is remarkable how the loftiest souls am... [ Continue Reading ]
The answer of the Lord through Isaiah, and the manner of its fulfilment (2 Chronicles 32:21-22; Isaiah 37:21-38) 20. _The Lord God_[R.V. THE GOD] _of Israel_ The LXX. represents here -the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel", a very suitable expression at such a crisis but not in the Hebrew e... [ Continue Reading ]
_The virgin the_[R.V. omits _the daughter of Zion hath despised thee_ The first part of the prophetic word is addressed to Sennacherib. Jerusalem is called -daughter of Sion" because her inhabitants may be counted poetically as the offspring of Sion. She is also called -virgin" because hitherto, sin... [ Continue Reading ]
_and lift_[R.V. LIFTED] _up thine eyes on high_ The name by which Jehovah is often called is -the Most High" (cf. Psalms 56:2). To utter reproaches and blasphemies against Him betrays a great uplifting of the eyes, a terrible excess of arrogancy. _the Holy One of Israel_ This title of God, which oc... [ Continue Reading ]
_By thy messengers_ Rab-shakeh and his companions. _With the multitude of my chariots_ This is the translation of the marginal reading (_Keri_) which stands as _Kethib_in the corresponding verse of Isaiah. Another reading is represented on the margin of the R.V. thus -with the driving of my chariot... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have digged and drunk strange waters_ Probably there is some allusion in this boast which is put into the mouth of Sennacherib to the attempts made by Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 32:3-4) to deprive the Assyrians of a supply of water. Sennacherib means to say: -Do what you may I am able by digging well... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse and the three following contain Jehovah's response to Sennacherib. The boaster is told that in all he has done he has been but God's instrument, and that the events in which he has played that part had been ordained by the divine counsels long before. _Hast thou not heard long ago_how _I... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore_ i.e. Not, as thou thinkest, because of thy might, but because I sent thee; for this reason it is that the people against whom thou camest were dismayed. _of small power_ Literally, as in the margin -short of hand". Cf. the question of Moses (Numbers 11:23) -Is the Lord's hand waxen shor... [ Continue Reading ]
_But I know thy abode_ R.V. SITTING DOWN. The verse expresses to the full, but with wonderful conciseness, how God has observed and is observing every action of Sennacherib. His dwelling, his movements to and fro, and the spirit which actuates them are all open before God's eyes, and He identifies H... [ Continue Reading ]
_is come up into mine ears_ So the cry of Sodom is said (Genesis 18:21) to _come up_unto God, and grieve Him. See also James 5:4 where the cries of the oppressed labourers are said to be -entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth". The R.V. renders the first part of the verse BECAUSE OF THY RAGIN... [ Continue Reading ]
_And this_shall be _a_[R.V. THE] _sign unto thee_ The next portion of the oracle is addressed to Hezekiah. On the giving of a sign to mark the certainty of a prophecy, cf. Isaiah 7:11-14. _Ye shall eat_this _year such things as grow of themselves_ R.V. THAT WHICH GROWETH OF ITSELF. The meaning of th... [ Continue Reading ]
_The remnant … shall_yet _again take rool_ Just as in the case of their crops, so shall it be with the people. God shall preserve a remnant, as He was doing in the shed grain of the harvest, and these shall once more grow up, in spite of their present low estate.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And they that escape out of mount Zion_ R.V. AND OUT OF MOUNT ZION THEY THAT SHALL ESCAPE. The change of order, as well as the change of tense, makes the sense more clear, and improves the parallelism. _The zeal of the Lord_of hosts _shall do_[R.V. PERFORM] _this_ In the Massoretic text there is a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore_ The LXX. makes the same error here with regard to the word -therefore" as was noticed above on 2 Kings 1:3, and renders the Hebrew by οὐχ οὑτῶς. See former note. _He shall not come into_[R.V. UNTO] _this city_ The R.V. renders the preposition correctly, and makes the same change in the... [ Continue Reading ]
_By the way that he came_ Cf. above verse 28, and the fulfilment in verse 36.... [ Continue Reading ]
_for mine own sake_ God's mercy and love to Israel were manifested that in them He might have witness to all the world. Hence the Psalmist often celebrates these qualities, and adds that they were shewn by Jehovah -for His name's sake". Cf. Psalms 106:8, -He saved them for _His name's sake_, that He... [ Continue Reading ]
_And it came to pass that night_ For this the record in Isaiah has only -Then". It would appear from the history that the destruction of his army took place before Sennacherib himself could have reached Jerusalem. _the angel of the Lord went out_ R.V. WENT FORTH. The R.V. assimilates to Isaiah. In... [ Continue Reading ]
_and dwelt at Nineveh_ Apparently, and very naturally, deterred from any of his grander schemes by the terrible calamity which had befallen him, Sennacherib went to his own capital. How long a time elapsed between this overthrow around Jerusalem and the death of the king, spoken of in the next verse... [ Continue Reading ]
in _the house of Nisroch_ The LXX. gives the name as Μεσεράχ. Of Nisroch we have no information except this passage, and it is uncertain whether the name be rightly represented in the Hebrew. Some have connected the word with the Hebrew _nesher_= an eagle, and because on the Assyrian monuments one m... [ Continue Reading ]