The Second Book of the Kings, commonly called the Fourth Book of the Kings
2 Kings 19
Chapter XIX · Vol. II, pp. 795–796
1 Hezekiah mourning sendeth to Isaiah to pray for them. 6 Isaiah comforteth them. 8 Sennacherib, going to encounter Tirhakah, sendeth a blasphemous letter to Hezekiah. 14 Hezekiah's prayer. 20 Isaiah's prophecy of the pride and destruction of Sennacherib, and the good of Zion. 35 An angel slayeth the Assyrians. 36 Sennacherib is slain at Nineveh by his own sons.
1 And ita 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.
a Is.37.1. 2 Ch.32.20; 20.3-9; 7.15.
2 And he sent bEliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiahc the prophet, the son of Amoz.
b Is.22.20-24; 37.2-5. ch.18.18,37. Jonah 3.5.
c Is.1.1; 13.1. Lu.3.4. ch.3.11. 2 Ch.32.20.
3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is da day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy:1 for the echildren are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
4 It fmay be the LORD thy God will 2hear all the words of Rab-shakeh, 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 glift up thy prayer3 for the remnant that are hleft.
f Nu. 22. 33. Jos.14. 12. 1 Sa. 14. 6. 2 Sa. 16. 12. Ps.50.21.
2 Not doubting that God would hear, in the sense of knowing they were spoken—but hear, in the sense of regarding, to punish their insolence and blasphemy.—C.
g Ja. 5. 16. Ps.50.15; 106. 23,30. Is. 37. 4; 45. 11. 1 Sa.12.19,23.
3 True prayer is a lifting up, as it raises the thoughts above all earthly objects, and fixes its desires, and its hopes, and its confidence upon God.—C.
h ch.17.5,6; 18.13. 2 Ch.28.5,6.
5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, iBe not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
i Ex.14.13. ch.6.16. 2 Ch.20.15,17. Mar.5.36. Mat.14.31. Is.37.6,7.
7 Behold, I will send a kblast4 upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to 5fall by the sword in his own land.
k Ps.11.6; 48.5,6; 50. 3. ver.35,37; ch.7.6.
4 Some think this refers to the pestilential wind, the simoom, by means of which they suppose the host of Sennacherib was destroyed. Others think it signifies that God would fill his heart with terror: 'I will infuse a spirit into him.' 'The phrase never signifies anything but putting a spirit into a person; this was a spirit of fear' (Lowth). Boothroyd has, will 'I put another spirit in him.' The rumour was, that Tirhakah was about to invade Assyria.—I.
5 Not by prompting or causing his assassination—that were to make God the author of sin; but by adjudging him for his crimes, to have the passions of the wicked men he has cherished in ambitious wickedness let loose against him.—C.
8 So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against lLibnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
l Is.37.8. ch.8.22; 14 9 Jos.12.11,15.
9 And when mhe heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee; he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying,
m 1 Sa.23.27. Is.37.9.
10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, nLet not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11 Behold,o thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?
o Is 37. 11; 10. 7-14. ch.18 33, 34 2 Ch 32. 13.
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as pGozan, and qHaran, and Rezeph, and the children of rEden which were in Thelasar?
13 Where is the king of sHamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?
14 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 tspread it before the LORD.6
t 1 Ki.8 28. Ps.123.1. 2 Ch. 20. 4, 9. Is.37.14-20.
6 Before the mercy-seat, which was to the believer a visible sign and seal of providence and grace; a memorial to sense, and an encouragement to faith. C.——By this action Hezekiah referred the matter entirely to God, intimating that as his honour was immediately assailed, he was chiefly concerned to defend it; and by this appeal the king meant to shelter himself and his people under the shadow of the Almighty.—Scott.
15 And Hezekiah uprayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which xdwellest between the cherubims,7 thou art ythe God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.
u 2 Sa.7.18. Eze.36. 37. Da.9.2,3. Ps.50.15; 91.15; 109.4. Ja.5.13.
x Ps. 80. 1. 1 Sa. 4.4. Ex.25.22.
7 Not as confined locally, but dwelling visibly 'between the cherubims;' and thence, from 'the mercy-seat,' as the emblem of Christ, Ro. 3. 25, answer the prayer of faith and the cry of distress.—C.
y Is.44.6; 45.22. Je. 10.11,12. Da.4.34,35.
16 LORD, zbow 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.
z Is. 37. 17. Ps.31.2; 86.2; 88.2; 130.2; 141.1; 142.1,6; 143.1,7. Da.9. 17-19.
18 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they bwere no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
19 Now therefore, O cLORD 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.
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, dThus saith the LORD God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib8 king of Assyria I have heard.
d Is.37.21-29; 58.9. Da.9.20-23. Ps.65.2.
8 The Old Testament authorizes prayer against an enemy: the New Testament commands us to pray for him. Are these contradictory? are they of different spirits? Is the New Testament a new law? By no means. The command that enjoins us to pray for our enemies, requires us to pray for his conversion: the example that authorizes us to pray against him, is not against him personally, but against his wicked designs and plans. We pray for the spiritual welfare of the most wicked enemy, but we pray against the diabolical plots, and plans, and combinations of his subtlety, malice, and cruelty.—Note, To pray for the conversion of a sinner, is to pray with God—to pray for the success of a sinner in his sinful purposes, would be to pray against God.—C.
21 This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; eThe virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
22 Whom fhast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against gthe Holy One of Israel.
23 By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, hWith 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;9 and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into ithe forest of his Carmel.
h Ps.20.7. ch.18.33,34. Is.10.7-14; 37.24,25. 2 Ch.32.13-17.
9 These formed the most valuable article of internal consumption and foreign trade, as is manifest from 1 Ki. 5.6. Their destruction, either for the mere wantonness of invasion, or for the necessary camp-fires, would inflict a deep injury upon the resources and beauties of the kingdom. Industry may soon repair the ravaging of a city: it requires centuries to restore the beauty and grandeur of a forest.—C.
i Or, the forest and his fruitful field, Is.10.18. My forces have drunk up or turned aside whole rivers.
24 I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged1 places.
1 Or, fenced.
25 Hast thou not heard long ago khow 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.2
k Is.10.5,6. Je.51.20-23.
2 Or, Hast thou not heard how I have made it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Should I now bring it to be laid waste, and fenced cities to be ruinous heaps?
26 Therefore their inhabitants were of lsmall power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house-tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
27 But mI know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
m Ps.139.2,3; 10.11-14. De.28.6,19.
28 Because nthy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore oI will put my hook in thy nose,3 and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
n Ps.76.10; 7.6; 2.1; 46.6. Pr.14.16; 29.9; 27.3,4; 18.3,6,7.
o Eze.29.4. Job 41.2. Ps.32.9. Ja.3.3. ver.36. Is.30.28.
3 Oxen and dromedaries are usually guided by a ring which runs through the division between the nostrils, and which abides permanently, only requiring the fastening of a rein, or by means of an open hole in the same place, into which a hook with a rein is occasionally inserted.—C.
29 And this shall be a psign unto thee, Ye shall eat qthis year such things as grow of themselves,4 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.
A.M. 3294. B.C. 710.
p Of fulfilling, ver. 21,30,31,34. Is.37.30; 7.14; 38.8,22.
q Le.25.4,5, with 1 Ki.3.13. Ep.3.20.
4 Such as figs, grapes, apples, melons, cucumbers, and many such vegetables, as, in eastern countries, require little or no cultivation.—Note, The temporary prohibition of agriculture was first a trial of Hezekiah's faith; and, secondly, a means of repelling the Assyrians, by withholding the means of subsistence.—C.
30 And rthe remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
31 For sout of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: tthe zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.
32 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.
33 Byu the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.
u ver.7,28. Is.37.34; 10.12,21-27,32,33; 37.34.
34 Forx I will defend this city, to save it, yfor mine own sake,5 and for my servant David's sake.6
x Is.10.32; 31.5; 37.35; 26.1.
y ch.20.6. Is.48.9,11. Eze.36.22.
5 For the sake of my mercy and honour.—C.
6 Not for any personal merit in David, but for the sake of the covenant confirmed with him, 2 Sa. 7.18-29.—C.
35 And zit came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out,7 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.8
z 1 Th.5.2,3. Job 20.5; 34.20. Ex.12.29. 2 Sa.24.16. 2 Ch.32.21,22. Is.37.36; 10.12,16-19,24-34; 14.25; 17.12-14; 24.21,22; 25.4,5,9-12; 27.1; 29.5-8; 30.27-33; 31.4,8,9; 33.1,3-5,11,12,23.
7 It is customary to account for this destruction, by supposing it effected by the wind called 'simoom.' Such attempts are not philosophy, but presumption. True philosophy stands upon evidence. The evidence here says the agent was an angel, and the angels of the Scriptures are always persons.—C.
8 That is, when the Jews arose, the Assyrians were dead.—C.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and areturned, and dwelt at bNineveh.
a ver.7,28. Is.37.7,29.
b Ge.10.11,12. Jonah 1.2. Na.2.8.
Notes
Reflections.—Sore in calling upon God for relief. But while our helper is almighty we ought never to despair. Let us, however, always interest in our behalf the prayers of Jesus Christ and his ministers and people. Thus trusting in God we shall never be confounded; while those who lift up their tongues against him shall bring down swift vengeance on their own heads. Wicked men dare to defy God, and are fond of trumpeting forth their own praise. Just before their ruin their blasphemy and pride ordinarily swell to the highest. But while we have a prayer-hearing God to address in our trouble let us always be confident. If the great object of our requests be the manifestation of his glory, we shall certainly be heard; and often God's returns to the prayers of faith are speedy as well as comfortable. How honourable, in God's view, are his people in their greatest distress! and contemptible in his sight are the greatest of his opposers—an empty noise, a proud puff, and no more! Nor hell nor earth can rage any further than his limits permit them. He protects, delivers, and provides for his people above what they think or ask, and all for Jesus' sake. But what a speedy regard to his promise! What terrible majesty is with him! How fearful to fall into his hands! How great the power of his angels! and how safe those who have millions of such guardians and protectors! But miserable is the end of blasphemers! Often their very gods or children, from whom they expected support, become the instruments of their ruin.