XVIII. — XIX. THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH IN JUDAH. THE GREAT DELIVERANCE FROM SENNACHERIB. (1) HEZEKIAH. — See Note on 2 Kings 16:20 and 2 Chronicles 29:1. The name in this form means, “My strength is Jah” (Psalms 18:2), and its special appropriateness is exemplified by Hezekiah’s history.... [ Continue Reading ]
ABI. — This should probably be Abijah, as in Chronicles and a few MSS.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE REMOVED. — _He it was who removed._ According to this statement, Hezekiah made the Temple of Jerusalem the only place where Jehovah might be publicly worshipped. (Comp. 2 Kings 18:22, and the fuller account in 2 Chronicles 29:3.) BRAKE THE IMAGES. — _Shattered the pillars_ (1 Kings 14:23; Hosea... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TRUSTED... ISRAEL. — _In Jehovah, the God of Israel he trusted._ Hezekiah is thus contrasted with idolatrous kings, such as those who trusted in the Nehushtan. AFTER HIM WAS NONE LIKE HIM AMONG ALL THE KINGS OF JUDAH. — This does not contradict what is said of Josiah (2 Kings 23:25). Hezekiah wa... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE CLAVE. — _And he held fast._ Hezekiah’s pious _feeling._ BUT KEPT. — _And he kept._ Hezekiah’s _practice._ The context shows that the “commandments” specially in the writer’s mind were those against polytheism.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE PROSPERED ... WENT FORTH. — _Whithersoever he would go forth he would prosper._ (The italicised _and_ is needless here, as in 2 Kings 18:6.) PROSPERED. — Comp. 1 Kings 2:3; Proverbs 17:8. _Going forth_ denotes any external undertaking or enterprise, especially going forth to war. (Comp. the... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SMOTE. — _He it was who smote._ The reduction of the Philistines was probably subsequent to the retreat of Sennacherib. (Comp. 2 Chronicles 32:22; Isaiah 11:14.) UNTO GAZA. — The southernmost part of the Philistine territory. FROM THE TOWER OF THE WATCHMEN... CITY. — See Note on 2 Kings 17:9. T... [ Continue Reading ]
(9-12) The account of the captivity of northern Israel is repeated here, because the editor faithfully reproduces what he found in the abstract of the _Judœan_ history of the kings. (Comp. 2 Kings 17:3, and the Notes.) We may also see a contrast between the utter overthrow of the stronger kingdom an... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY TOOK IT_ — i.e.,_ the Assyrians took it. This reading is preferable to that of the LXX., Syriac, and Vulg. (“he took it”), as it was Sargon, not Shalman-eser, who took the city. Schrader is too positive in calling this “a certainly false pronunciation” of the Hebrew verb. (Comp. Note on 2 Kings... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THEY OBEYED NOT ... — Thenius calls this remark, which properly belongs to the historical abstract from which the compiler drew the narrative of 2 Kings 18:1, “the theme” which suggested the reflections of 2 Kings 17:7. They _may_ have been suggested by passages of the Law and Prophets. AND... [ Continue Reading ]
(13-37) THE INVASION OF SENNACHERIB. (13) IN THE FOURTEENTH YEAR OF KING HEZEKIAH. — The fall of Samaria is dated 722-721 B.C., both by the Bible and by the Assyrian inscriptions. That year was the sixth of Hezekiah, according to 2 Kings 18:10. His fourteenth year, therefore, would be 714-713 B.C. S... [ Continue Reading ]
LACHISH. — _Um-Lâkis,_ in the south-west corner of Judah, close to the Philistine border, and near the high road from Judæa and Philistia to Egypt. The fortress was important to Sennacherib, as it commanded this route. In fact, Sennacherib’s chief aim was Egypt, as appears from 2 Kings 19:24, and He... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SILVER — _i.e.,_ the money.... [ Continue Reading ]
CUT OFF THE GOLD FROM THE DOORS. — Literally, _trimmed,_ or _stripped the doors_ (the word used in 2 Kings 16:17 of the similar proceeding of Ahaz). The leaves of the doors of the sanctuary were overlaid with gold (1 Kings 6:18; 1 Kings 6:32; 1 Kings 6:35). Hard necessity drove Hezekiah to strip off... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE KING OF ASSYRIA SENT... — Apparently in careless violation of his word, as Josephus states. TARTAN. — Rather, _the commander-in-chief;_ called in Assyrian _tur-ta-nu,_ a word of Sumerian origin, imitated in the Hebrew _tartân_ here and in Isaiah 20:1. RABSARIS AND RAB-SHAKEN. — Two other of... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THEY HAD CALLED TO THE KING. — They demanded a parley with Hezekiah himself. The king sent out his chief ministers; as to whom see 1 Kings 4:1. For _Eliakim_ and _Shebna_ see further, Isaiah 22:15; Isaiah 22:20 _seq. _... [ Continue Reading ]
AND RAB-SHAKEH SAID. — Tiglath Pileser records that he sent a _rab-sak_ as his envoy to Tyre. Thenius supposes the present _rab-sak_ may have been a better master of Hebrew than his companions. Schrader says it would have been beneath the _tartan’s_ dignity to speak, and that such vigorous language... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SAYEST (BUT THEY ARE BUT VAIN WORDS). — Literally, _thou hast said_ — _a mere lip-word it was_ — _i.e.,_ insincere language, an utterance which thou knewest to be false. (Comp. our expression, “lip-service.”) I HAVE COUNSEL ... — The margin is wrong.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE STAFF OF THIS BRUISED REED. — _Cracked_ or _flawed_ would be better than bruised; because, as is clear from the following words, the idea is that of a reed splitting and piercing the hand that rests upon it. (Comp. Isaiah 42:3.) As to the Judæan expectations from Egypt, comp. Isaiah 20:1; Isaiah... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF YE SAY. — The address seems to turn abruptly from Hezekiah to his ministers, and to the garrison of Jerusalem in general. But the LXX., Syriac, Arabic, and Isaiah 36:7 have the singular, “But if thou say,” which is probably original. (Hezekiah is presently mentioned in the third person, to av... [ Continue Reading ]
GIVE PLEDGES TO. — Rather, _make a compact with_... So the Syriac; literally, _mingle with_... _have dealings with_ (Psalms 106:35). Gesenius explains: _join battle with;_ literally, _mingle yourselves with:_ LXX., μίχθητε δὴ. Mr. Cheyne prefers, _lay a wager with_... The _rab-sak_ sneers at Hezekia... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW THEN. — Literally, _And how._ The connection of thought is: _(But thou canst not); and how..._ TURN AWAY THE FACE OF..._ — i.e.,_ repulse, reject the demand of... (1 Kings 2:16.) ONE CAPTAIN OF THE LEAST OF MY MASTER’S SERVANTS. — Rather, _a pasha who is one of the smallest of my lord’s servan... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD SAID TO ME. — Michaelis supposed that Sennacherib had consulted some of the captive priests of the Northern kingdom. Others think some report of the menaces of the Hebrew prophets may have reached Assyrian ears. Thenius makes Rab-shakeh’s words a mere inference from the success which had hi... [ Continue Reading ]
SPEAK, I PRAY THEE... IN THE SYRIAN LANGUAGE. — HezeMah’s ministers naturally dread the effect of Rab-shakeh’s arguments and assertions upon the garrison of the city. The people, many of whom had always been accustomed to worship at the high places, might very well doubt whether there were not some... [ Continue Reading ]
HATH MY MASTER... — Rather, _Is it to thy lord and to thee that my lord hath sent me to speak these words?_ THE MEN WHICH SIT ON THE WALL — _i.e.,_ the soldiers on guard. THAT THEY MAY EAT ... — These coarse words are meant to express the _consequence_ of their resistance: it will bring them to su... [ Continue Reading ]
STOOD. — _Came forward, i.e.,_ nearer to the wall. (Comp. 1 Kings 8:22.) THE WORD. — LXX. and Vulg., _words;_ so Isaiah.... [ Continue Reading ]
LET NOT HEZEKIAH DECEIVE YOU. — Rab-shakeh was quick-witted enough to take instant advantage of Eliakim’s unwary remark, and to come forward in the character of a friend of the people (_Cheyne_). (For the verb, see Genesis 3:13.) HIS HAND. — To be corrected into “my hand,” in accordance with all th... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER LET HEZEKIAH MAKE YOU TRUST IN THE LORD. — Hezekiah cannot save you himself (2 Kings 18:29); Jehovah will not do so (2 Kings 18:25). The “Jewish colouring” of the verse is not apparent to the present writer. If Rab-shakeh could speak Hebrew, he would almost certainly know the name of the god... [ Continue Reading ]
MAKE AN AGREEMENT WITH ME BY A PRESENT. — Literally, _make with me a blessing, i.e._ (according to the Targum and Syriac), “make peace with me.” The phrase does not elsewhere occur. Perhaps it is grounded on the fact that the conclusion of peace was generally accompanied by mutual expressions of goo... [ Continue Reading ]
OIL OLIVE. — The cultivated as distinct from the wild olive, or oleaster (1 Kings 6:23), which yields less and worse oil. THAT YE MAY LIVE. — Or, _and ye shall live;_ a general promise of immunity, if they obey. (There should be, in this case, a stop at “honey.”) WHEN HE PERSUADETH YOU. — Or, _if... [ Continue Reading ]
HATH ANY... HIS LAND. — Literally, _have the gods of the nations at all delivered every one his own Land?_ If this is to be consistent with 2 Kings 18:25, we must suppose the thought to be that the god of each conquered nation had favoured the Assyrian cause, as Jehovah is here alleged to be doing.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHERE ARE THE GODS OF HAMATH, AND OF ARPAD? — Sargon, Sennacherib’s father, had reduced these two cities. The reference to “my fathers” in 2 Kings 19:12, and the use of the general term, “the king of Assyria” (2 Kings 18:33), are against Schrader’s supposition that the historian has confused the cam... [ Continue Reading ]
THE COUNTRIES. — Which I have myself conquered. THAT THE LORD SHOULD DELIVER ... — Ewald explains here, as in the last verse, _much less will Jehovah deliver,_ &c., taking kî, “that,” as equivalent to _‘aph ki._... [ Continue Reading ]