Isaiah 37:1
XXXVII. (1) COVERED HIMSELF WITH SACKCLOTH. — The king was probably accompanied by his ministers, all in the penitential sackcloth of mourners (Joel 1:8; Jonah 3:5).... [ Continue Reading ]
XXXVII. (1) COVERED HIMSELF WITH SACKCLOTH. — The king was probably accompanied by his ministers, all in the penitential sackcloth of mourners (Joel 1:8; Jonah 3:5).... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO ISAIAH THE PROPHET. — At last, then, the people did “see their teacher” (Isaiah 30:20). In that supreme hour of calamity the prophet, who had been despised and derided, was their one resource. What could he do to extricate them from the evil net which was closing round them, and to vindicate th... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHILDREN ARE COME TO THE BIRTH. — The bold language of the text stands where we should use an adjective of which we half forget the meaning. Things had come to such a pass that all plans and counsels were literally _abortive._ (Comp. Isaiah 26:17, and Hosea 13:13 for a like simile.)... [ Continue Reading ]
LIFT UP THY PRAYER FOR THE REMNANT... — Isaiah’s characteristic words (Isaiah 1:9; Isaiah 10:21) had impressed itself on the king’s mind. Now that town after town of Judah had fallen into Sennacherib’s hands (forty-six, according to his inscriptions — _Records of the Past,_ i. 38), those who were ga... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THE SERVANTS... — Literally, _And_ ... The Authorised Version suggests that there was only one coming of the messengers. Possibly. however, the words imply a withdrawal between the delivery of their message and their coming a second time to receive his answer.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SERVANTS OF THE KING OF ASSYRIA. — Not the usual word for “servants,” which might include high officers of state, but a less honourable one (_na‘arâ_)_,_ like _puer_ in Latin, or _garçon_ in French. He speaks of Rabshakeh (probably the king’s cup-bearer) as though he were only, after all, a _val... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL SEND A BLAST UPON HIM. — Better, _I will put a spirit in him._ The Authorised Version suggests the idea of some physical calamity, like that which actually destroyed the Assyrian army. Here, however, the “spirit,” stands for the impulse, strong and mighty, which overpowers previous resolves.... [ Continue Reading ]
WARRING AGAINST LIBNAH... LACHISH. — Both names occur in Joshua 15:39; Joshua 15:42, as belonging to Judah. The step would seem to indicate a strategic movement, intended to check the march of Tirhakah’s army; but in our ignorance of the topography, we can settle nothing further. By some writers Lib... [ Continue Reading ]
TIRHAKAH. — The third of the twenty-fifth, or Ethiopian dynasty of kings, So, or Sabaco, with whom Hoshea, the last king of Israel, allied himself, being the first (2 Kings 17:4). He is described in Assurbanipal’s inscriptions (_Records of the Past,_ i. 60) as king of Mizr and Cush — _i.e._, Egypt a... [ Continue Reading ]
GOZAN... — The induction drawn from the enumeration of conquered nations is continued. Strictly speaking, Sargon, the father of Sennacherib, was the founder of a new dynasty; but the “fathers” are, as commonly in the formulæ of Eastern kings, the predecessors of the reigning king. The position of Go... [ Continue Reading ]
WHERE IS THE KING OF HAMATH... — The question which had been asked in Isaiah 36:19 as to the gods of the cities named is now asked of their kings, and the implied answer is that they are in the dungeons of Nineveh. HENA, AND IVAH. — The sites have not been identified, but Anah is found as the name... [ Continue Reading ]
HEZEKIAH RECEIVED THE LETTER. — The Hebrew noun is plural, as though the document consisted of more than one sheet. AND SPREAD IT BEFORE THE LORD. — The act was one of mute appeal to the Supreme Arbiter. The _corpus delicti_ was, as it were, laid before the judge, and then the appellant offered up... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT DWELLEST BETWEEN THE CHERUBIMS. — A like phrase in Psalms 18:10 refers, apparently, to the dark thunder-clouds of heaven. Here, probably, the reference is to the glory-cloud which was the symbol of the Divine presence, and which rested, when it manifested itself, between the cherubim of the ark... [ Continue Reading ]
OF A TRUTH, LORD... — The facts of Rabshakeh’s induction are admitted, but the inference denied, on the ground that the cases were not parallel. The gods of the nations had been cast into the fire (an alternative to their being taken as trophies for the temples of Asshur and Ishtar), but this could... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN ISAIAH THE SON OF AMOZ... — According to the rectified chronology, the grand burst of prophecy which follows was the last of Isaiah’s recorded utterances. As such, it will be interesting to note any points of contact that present themselves either with his earlier prophecies or with the great p... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VIRGIN, THE DAUGHTER OF ZION. — The same phrase had been used in Isaiah 23:12 of Zidon. There the virgin had been “oppressed,” _i.e., “_ravished” by the invaders, but Zion was to escape the ravisher, and laugh his lust to scorn.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOM HAST THOU REPROACHED... — The manifold iteration of the question emphasises the force of the answer. The “Holy One of Israel,” at whom the scornful revellers had sneered (Isaiah 30:11), was now seen to be the one mighty deliverer.... [ Continue Reading ]
BY THE MULTITUDE OF MY CHARIOTS. — The words refer apparently to the taunt of Isaiah 36:8. The inscriptions of the Assyrian king are full of like boasts. Shalmaneser, “Trackless paths and difficult mountains ... I penetrated” (_Records of the Past, iii._ 85): and Assumacirpal, “Rugged mountains, dif... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE DIGGED, AND DRUNK WATER... — This, again, was one of the common boasts of the Assyrian conquerors. It was Sennacherib’s special glory, as recorded in his inscriptions, that he had provided cities with water which were before scantily supplied, that he had made wells even in the deserts (_Reco... [ Continue Reading ]
HAST THOU NOT HEARD... — The speech of Sennacherib ends, and that of Jehovah begins. The adverb “long ago” should be connected with the words that follow. The events of history had all been foreseen and ordered, as in the remote past, by the counsels of Jehovah. Kings and armies were but as His pupp... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE. — Better, _and._ THEY WERE AS THE GRASS OF THE FIELD. — One symbol of weakness follows after another. The “grass upon the housetops” was, in this respect, a proverbial emblem (Psalms 129:6). The italics in _as corn_ seem to suggest some error in transcription. The words as they stand giv... [ Continue Reading ]
THY ABODE... — The three words include, in the common speech of the Hebrews, the whole of human life in every form of activity (Psalms 121:8; Psalms 139:2).... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE WILL I PUT MY HOOK IN THY NOSE... — The Assyrian sculptures represent both beasts and men as dragged in this way (Ezekiel 38:4). (Comp. the same image in Isaiah 30:28.)... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THIS SHALL BE A SIGN UNTO THEE. — The prophet now turns to Hezekiah, and offers, as was his wont (Isaiah 7:11; Isaiah 38:8), a sign within the horizon of the nearer future as the pledge of the fulfilment of a prediction which had a wider range. It was then autumn, probably near the equinox, whic... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE REMNANT THAT IS ESCAPED. — We note the “remnant” of the familiar formula of Isaiah’s earlier days. The name of Shear-jashub had not ceased to be an omen of good (Isaiah 7:3). And that remnant should be as the scion from which should spring in due course the goodly tree of the future (Isaiah... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ZEAL OF THE LORD OF HOSTS SHALL DO THIS. — Here, again, the prophet returns in his old age to the formula of the earlier days of Isaiah 9:7, with an implied reference to the grand promise with which it had then been associated.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOR COME BEFORE IT WITH SHIELDS. — The clause points to the two forms of attack: (1) the invaders marching to the assault, protected by their serried shields against the darts and stones which were flung by hand or from engines by the besieged; and (2) the earthworks which were piled up to make the... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR MINE OWN SAKE... — The words set forth, as it were, the two motives of Jehovah’s action: “for His own sake,” as asserting His majesty against the blasphemy of the Assyrians; for “David’s sake,” as mindful of the promise made to him, showing, in the spirit of the second commandment, that the good... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE ANGEL OF THE LORD. — The words do not exclude — rather, as interpreted by 1 Chronicles 21:14, they imply — the action of some form of epidemic disease, dysentery or the plague, such as has not seldom turned the fortunes of a campaign, spreading, it may be, for some days, and then, aggravate... [ Continue Reading ]
SO SENNACHERIB... — We have to remember that the Assyrian king had been engaged in the siege of Libnah, probably also in an Egyptian expedition, which from some cause or other was unsuccessful. The course of events was probably this: that in Egypt he heard of the ravages of the pestilence, returned... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS. — The Assyrian inscriptions fill up the gap of twenty years between the events which appear here, as if in immediate sequence, with five campaigns in the north and east of the Assyrian Empire, chiefly against the Babylonians, who revolted again under the son of Merôdach-baladan.... [ Continue Reading ]