2 Kings 19:1
XIX. (1) WENT INTO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD. — To humble himself before Jehovah and pray for help. (Comp. 2 Chronicles 32:20.)... [ Continue Reading ]
XIX. (1) WENT INTO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD. — To humble himself before Jehovah and pray for help. (Comp. 2 Chronicles 32:20.)... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SENT ELIAKIM... — See the Note on 2 Kings 3:12; and comp. 2 Kings 13:14; 2 Kings 22:14; Jeremiah 37:3. Knobel (on Isaiah) remarks that this distinguished embassy speaks for the high estimation in which the prophet stood. THE ELDERS OF THE PRIESTS — _i.e.,_ the heads of the sacerdotal caste ... [ Continue Reading ]
REBUKE. — Rather, _chastisement_ (Hosea 5:9). The verb means _to give judgment, punish,_ &c. It occurs in the next verse, “will reprove the words,” or rather, _punish for the words._ BLASPHEMY. — Comp. Isaiah 1:4; Isaiah 5:24, where the cognate verb is used; and Nehemiah 9:18; Nehemiah 9:26, where... [ Continue Reading ]
IT MAY BE. — The old commentator Clericus well remarks: “Non est dubitantis sed sperantis.” AND WILL REPROVE THE WORDS. — See Note on 2 Kings 19:3. The LXX. and Vulg. read, “and to rebuke with the words which the Lord,” &c, but the Syriac and Targum agree with the Authorised Version as regards the... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THE SERVANTS ... — This verse merely resumes the narrative in a somewhat simple and artless fashion.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SERVANTS. — Or, _attendants._ The word is rather more special in sense than _servant,_ denoting Apparently _personal attendant._ Delitzsch renders “squires.”. (Comp. 2 Kings 4:12; 2 Kings 5:20; 2 Kings 8:4; Exodus 33:11; Judges 7:10; 2 Samuel 9:9; 1 Kings 20:15.) BLASPHEMED. — Not the same root... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, I WILL SEND A BLAST UPON HIM. — _Behold, I am about to put a spirit within him._ “ ‘A spirit’ is probably not to be understood personally (comp. 1 Samuel 18:10; 1 Kings 22:21 _seq_.)_,_ but in the weaker sense of _impulse, inclination._ (Comp. Isaiah 19:14; Isaiah 29:10; Numbers 5:14; Hosea... [ Continue Reading ]
SO RAB-SHAKEH RETURNED. — This takes up the narrative from 2 Kings 18:37. It is not said, but is probably to be understood, that Tartan and Rabsaris and the “great host” (2 Kings 18:17) departed with him, having been foiled of their purpose. LIBNAH. — See Note on 2 Kings 8:22. The great King had ta... [ Continue Reading ]
HEARD SAY OF TIRHAKAH. — For the construction, comp. Psalms 2:7; Psalms 3:2. TIRHAKAH. — Called in Egyptian inscriptions _Taharka,_ in Assyrian _Tarqû;_ the Ταρακὺς of Manetho, and _Teapxwws_ of Strabo. He was the last king of the 25th, or _Ethiopian_ (Cushite) dynasty, and son of Shabataka the son... [ Continue Reading ]
LET NOT THY GOD... DECEIVE THEE. — Through prophets, or dreams, or any other recognised medium of communication.... [ Continue Reading ]
(10-13) Sennacherib’s second message repeats the arguments of 2 Kings 18:29.... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL LANDS, BY DESTROYING THEM UTTERLY. — _All the countries, by putting them under the ban, i.e.,_ solemnly devoting all that lived in them to extermination.... [ Continue Reading ]
MY FATHERS. — Sargon his father founded the dynasty; but he speaks of his predecessors generally as his “fathers.” GOZAN. — 2 Kings 17:6. HARAN. — Also a west Aramean town, mentioned by Tiglath Pileser I. (circ. 1120 B.C.) Shalmaneser II. speaks of its conquest. It had a famous sanctuary of the mo... [ Continue Reading ]
THE KING. — Comp. 2 Kings 18:34, from which, as well as from the sequence of thought in 2 Kings 19:12 here, it is clear that “king” is here used as a synonym of _local god._ (Comp. Amos 5:26; Psalms 5:2 : “My King, and my God.”)... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LETTER. — The Hebrew word is plural, like the Latin _litterae._ The first “it” is plural, the second singular. 2 Kings 19:10 may be regarded as embodying the substance of the letter, which the envoys first delivered orally, and then presented the letter to authenticate it. But perhaps the conten... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH DWELLEST BETWEEN THE CHERUBIMS. — Rather, _which sittest above the cherubim,_ or, _the cherub-throned._ (Comp. Exodus 25:22; 1 Samuel 4:4; Psalms 18:10; Ezekiel 1:26.) THOU ART THE GOD. — With emphasis on _Thou. Thou art the true God, thou alone, unto all the kingdoms,_ &c. THOU HAST MADE. —... [ Continue Reading ]
BOW DOWN THINE EAR, AND HEAR. — Not so much my prayer as the words of Sennacherib. OPEN, LORD, THINE EYES, AND SEE. — Referring, as Thenius says, to Sennacherib’s letter; not, however, as if Jehovah’s eyes were closed before this prayer. To treat the figurative language of the Old Testament in such... [ Continue Reading ]
OF A TRUTH. — It is even as Sennacherib boasteth. DESTROYED. — Rather, _laid waste._ Perhaps _put under the ban_ — the expression of 2 Kings 19:11 — should be read. THEIR LANDS. — Heb., _their land,_ referring to _each_ conquered country.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HAVE CAST (_put_) THEIR GODS INTO THE FIRE. — Comp. 1 Chronicles 14:12. The Assyrian’s emphatic question, “_Where_ are the gods?” implied their annihilation. FOR THEY WERE NO GODS. — This idea is common in the latter half of the Book of Isaiah. The question has been raised whether the compiler o... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN ISAIAH ... — The prophet, as Hezekiah’s trusted adviser, may have counselled the king to “_go_ up into the house of the Lord,” or, at least, would be cognisant of his intention in the matter. AGAINST. — Hebrew text, _in regard to_.... _touching._ I HAVE HEARD. — The verb has fallen out in Isa... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS THE WORD ... — The prophecy which follows is well characterised by Cheyne as one “of striking interest, and both in form and matter stamped with the mark of Isaiah.” CONCERNING HIM. — Or, _against him._ THE VIRGIN THE DAUGHTER OF ZION. — A poetic personification of place. Zion here, as Jer... [ Continue Reading ]
ON HIGH — _i.e.,_ towards heaven (Isaiah 40:26). (Comp. Isaiah 14:13.) THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL. — A favourite expression of Isaiah’s, in whose book it occurs twenty-seven times, and only five times elsewhere in the Old Testameut (Psalms 71:22; Psalms 78:41; Psalms 89:19; Jeremiah 50:29; Jeremiah 51:... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MULTITUDE. — The reading of the Hebrew margin, of many MSS., Isaiah, and all the versions. The Hebrew text has “with the chariotry of my chariotry” — obviously a scribe’s error. I AM COME UP ... MOUNTAINS. — _I_ (emphatic) _have ascended lofty mountains._ Such boasts are common in the Assyrian... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE DIGGED AND DRUNK STRANGE WATERS. — Scarcity of water has hitherto been no bar to my advance. In foreign and hostile lands, where the fountains and cisterns have been stopped and covered in (2 Chronicles 32:3), I have digged new wells. AND WITH THE SOLE ... PLACES. — Rather, _and I will dry up... [ Continue Reading ]
HAST THOU NOT HEARD ...? — _Hast thou not heard? In the far past it I made; in the days of yore did I fashion it; now have I brought it to pass._ The “it” — the thing long since foreordained by Jehovah — is defined by the words: “that thou shouldest be to lay waste,” &c. (Comp. Isaiah 22:11; Isaiah... [ Continue Reading ]
OF SMALL POWER. — Literally, _short-handed._ (Comp. Isaiah 1:2; Isaiah 59:1.) Keil compares the well-known title of Artaxerxes I., _Longimanus,_ the “long-handed,” as if that epithet meant far-reaching in power. Thenius says that a frightened man draws in his arms (?) AS THE GRASS ... — The _as_ may... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I KNOW THY ABODE ... — Literally, _and thy down sitting, and thy going out, and thy coming in I know._ Clearly something has fallen out at the opening of the sentence. Probably the words _before me is thine uprising_ have been omitted by some copyist, owing to their resemblance to the words whic... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THY RAGE... IS COME UP. — Literally, _Because of thy rage_... _and of thy self confidence_ (Isaiah 32:9; Isaiah 32:11; Isaiah 32:18) _which hath come up._ Or else the construction is changed: _Because of thy rage_... _and because that thy self-confidence is come up_ ... I will put my hook...... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THIS SHALL BE A SIGN UNTO THEE. — The prophet now addresses Hezekiah. A SIGN. — Rather, _the sign;_ namely, of the truth of this prophetic word. “The sign consists in the foretelling of natural and nearer events, which serve to accredit the proper prediction. The purport of it is that this and... [ Continue Reading ]
THE REMNANT THAT IS ESCAPED OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH. — Rather, _the survival_ (_survivors_)_ of the house of Judah that are left._ (Comp. Isaiah 11:11.) SHALL YET AGAIN TAKE ROOT. — Literally, _shall add root, i.e.,_ shall take firmer root, like a tree after a storm. The figure naturally follows on t... [ Continue Reading ]
(31)A REMNANT. — Isaiah’s favourite doctrine of the remnant (Isaiah 4:2; Isaiah 10:20). THEY THAT ESCAPE. — _A survival._ OUT OF JERUSALEM. — The ravaged land was to be newly stocked from thence. THE ZEAL (jealousy) OF THE LORD OF HOSTS SHALL DO THIS. — Another of the phrases of Isaiah. (See Isai... [ Continue Reading ]
INTO THIS CITY. — Or, _unto this city._ Sennacherib shall not come hither to make his intended attack. NOR SHOOT AN ARROW THERE (at it). — In open assault. NOR COME BEFORE IT WITH SHIELD. — As a storming party advances to the walls under cover of their shields. NOR CAST A BANK AGAINST IT. — In re... [ Continue Reading ]
(32-34) This may be, as Mr. Cheyne supposes, an after _addition_ to the original prophecy. Isaiah may have spoken it a little later, in which case it was quite natural for an editor to append it here, as belonging to the same crisis. But it seems better to see here a return to the subject of the kin... [ Continue Reading ]
HE CAME. — So the versions and Isaiah, rightly. The Heb. text here has “he cometh,” or “shall come.” With the thought comp. 2 Kings 19:28 : “I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.” AND SHALL NOT COME INTO THIS CITY. — _And unto this city he shall not come_ (2 Kings 19:32).... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I WILL DEFEND. — _And I will cover_ (_with a shield_). (Comp. Isaiah 31:5; Isaiah 38:6; 2 Kings 20:6.) FOR MY SERVANT DAVID’S SAKE. — See 1 Kings 11:12, and the promise in 2 Samuel 7.... [ Continue Reading ]
(35-37) THE CATASTROPHE. SENNACHERIB’S RETREAT, AND HIS “VIOLENT END. (35) AND IT CAME TO PASS (in) THAT NIGHT. — This definition of time is wanting in the parallel text; but it is implied by the phrase in the morning (Isaiah 37:36; 2 Kings 19:35). The night intended can hardly be the one which foll... [ Continue Reading ]
DEPARTED, AND WENT. — _Broke up camp, and marched._ There should be a stop at _returned._ AND DWELT AT NINEVEH. — Or, _and he abode in Nineveh,_ implying that he did not again invade the west. Sennacherib records five subsequent expeditions to the east, north, and south of his dominions, but these... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS. — Twenty years afterwards. NISROCH. — This name appears to be corrupt. The LXX. gives Νεσεραχ and Μεσορὰχ; Josephus, ἐν Αράσαη_,_ “in Araskè,” as if the name were that of the temple rather than the god. The Hebrew version of Tobit (1:21) gives Dagon as the god. Dagon (_Da-kan,... [ Continue Reading ]