22 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.
23 By thy messengers thou hast reproached the LORD, and hast said, With 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: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.
24 I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.
25 Hast thou not heard long ago how 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.
26 Therefore their inhabitants were of small 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 I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
28 Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
29 And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, 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.
30 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the 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 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.
34 For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, 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.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
22 Whom hast thou reproached H2778 and blasphemed? H1442 and against whom hast thou exalted H7311 thy voice, H6963 and lifted up H5375 thine eyes H5869 on high? H4791 even against the Holy H6918 One of Israel. H3478
23 By H3027 thy messengers H4397 thou hast reproached H2778 the Lord, H136 and hast said, H559 With the multitude H7230 of my chariots H7393 H7393 I am come up H5927 to the height H4791 of the mountains, H2022 to the sides H3411 of Lebanon, H3844 and will cut down H3772 the tall H6967 cedar trees H730 thereof, and the choice H4004 fir trees H1265 thereof: and I will enter H935 into the lodgings H4411 of his borders, H7093 and into the forest H3293 of his Carmel. H3760
24 I have digged H6979 and drunk H8354 strange H2114 waters, H4325 and with the sole H3709 of my feet H6471 have I dried H2717 up all the rivers H2975 of besieged places. H4693
25 Hast thou not heard H8085 long ago H7350 how I have done H6213 it, and of ancient H6924 times H3117 that I have formed H3335 it? now have I brought H935 it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste H7582 fenced H1219 cities H5892 into ruinous H5327 heaps. H1530
26 Therefore their inhabitants H3427 were of small H7116 power, H3027 they were dismayed H2865 and confounded; H954 they were as the grass H6212 of the field, H7704 and as the green H3419 herb, H1877 as the grass H2682 on the housetops, H1406 and as corn blasted H7711 before H6440 it be grown up. H7054
27 But I know H3045 thy abode, H3427 and thy going out, H3318 and thy coming in, H935 and thy rage H7264 against me.
28 Because thy rage H7264 against me and thy tumult H7600 is come up H5927 into mine ears, H241 therefore I will put H7760 my hook H2397 in thy nose, H639 and my bridle H4964 in thy lips, H8193 and I will turn thee back H7725 by the way H1870 by which thou camest. H935
29 And this shall be a sign H226 unto thee, Ye shall eat H398 this year H8141 such things as grow H5599 of themselves, and in the second H8145 year H8141 that which springeth H7823 of the same; and in the third H7992 year H8141 sow H2232 ye, and reap, H7114 and plant H5193 vineyards, H3754 and eat H398 the fruits H6529 thereof.
30 And the remnant H7604 that is escaped H6413 of the house H1004 of Judah H3063 shall yet again H3254 take root H8328 downward, H4295 and bear H6213 fruit H6529 upward. H4605
31 For out of Jerusalem H3389 shall go forth H3318 a remnant, H7611 and they that escape H6413 out of mount H2022 Zion: H6726 the zeal H7068 of the LORD H3068 of hosts H6635 shall do H6213 this.
32 Therefore thus saith H559 the LORD H3068 concerning the king H4428 of Assyria, H804 He shall not come H935 into this city, H5892 nor shoot H3384 an arrow H2671 there, nor come before H6923 it with shield, H4043 nor cast H8210 a bank H5550 against it.
33 By the way H1870 that he came, H935 by the same shall he return, H7725 and shall not come H935 into this city, H5892 saith H5002 the LORD. H3068
34 For I will defend H1598 this city, H5892 to save H3467 it, for mine own sake, and for my servant H5650 David's H1732 sake.
35 And it came to pass that night, H3915 that the angel H4397 of the LORD H3068 went out, H3318 and smote H5221 in the camp H4264 of the Assyrians H804 an hundred H3967 fourscore H8084 and five H2568 thousand: H505 and when they arose early H7925 in the morning, H1242 behold, they were all dead H4191 corpses. H6297
36 So Sennacherib H5576 king H4428 of Assyria H804 departed, H5265 and went H3212 and returned, H7725 and dwelt H3427 at Nineveh. H5210
37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping H7812 in the house H1004 of Nisroch H5268 his god, H430 that Adrammelech H152 and Sharezer H8272 his sons H1121 smote H5221 him with the sword: H2719 and they escaped H4422 into the land H776 of Armenia. H780 And Esarhaddon H634 his son H1121 reigned H4427 in his stead.
22 Whom hast thou defied and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high? `even' against the Holy One of Israel.
23 By thy messengers thou hast defied the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir-trees thereof; and I will enter into his farthest lodging-place, the forest of his fruitful field.
24 I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt.
25 Hast thou not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? now have I brought it to pass, that it should be thine to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
26 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as grain blasted before it is grown up.
27 But I know thy sitting down, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy raging against me.
28 Because of thy raging against me, and because thine arrogancy is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
29 And this shall be the sign unto thee: Ye shall eat this year that which groweth of itself, 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 fruit thereof.
30 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of mount Zion they that shall escape: the zeal of Jehovah shall perform this.
32 Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come unto this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it.
33 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come unto this city, saith Jehovah.
34 For I will defend this city to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.
22 Whom hast thou reproached and reviled? And against whom lifted up a voice? Yea, thou dost lift up on high thine eyes -- Against the Holy One of Israel!
23 By the hand of thy messengers Thou hast reproached the Lord, and sayest: In the multitude of my chariots I have come up to a high place of mountains -- The sides of Lebanon, And I cut down the height of its cedars, The choice of its firs, And I enter the lodging of its extremity, The forest of its Carmel.
24 I have digged, and drunk strange waters, And I dry up with the sole of my steps All floods of a bulwark.
25 Hast thou not heard from afar, it I made, From days of old that I formed it? Now I have brought it in, And it becometh a desolation, Ruinous heaps `are' fenced cities,
26 And their inhabitants `are' feeble-handed, They were broken down, and are dried up, They have been the herb of the field, And the greenness of the tender grass, Grass of the roofs, And blasted corn -- before it hath risen up!
27 And thy sitting down, and thy going out, And thy coming in, I have known, And thine anger towards Me;
28 Because of thine anger towards Me, And thy noise -- it came up into Mine ears, I have put My hook in thy nose, And My bridle in thy lips, And have caused thee to turn back, In the way in which thou camest.
29 And this to thee `is' the sign, Food of the year `is' the spontaneous growth, And in the second year the self-produced, And in the third year sow ye, and reap, And plant vineyards, and eat their fruits.
30 And it hath continued -- The escaped of the house of Judah That hath been left -- to take root beneath, And hath made fruit upward.
31 For from Jerusalem goeth out a remnant, And an escape from mount Zion; The zeal of Jehovah `of Hosts' doth this.
32 Therefore, thus said Jehovah, Concerning the king of Asshur: He doth not come in unto this city, Nor doth he shoot there an arrow, Nor doth he come before it with shield. Nor doth he pour out against it a mount.
33 In the way that he cometh in -- In it he turneth back, And unto this city he doth not come in, The affirmation of Jehovah --
34 And I have covered over this city, To save it, for Mine own sake, And for the sake of David My servant.'
35 And it cometh to pass, in that night, that a messenger of Jehovah goeth out, and smiteth in the camp of Asshur a hundred eighty and five thousand, and they rise early in the morning, and lo, all of them `are' dead corpses.
36 And Sennacherib king of Asshur journeyeth, and goeth, and turneth back, and dwelleth in Nineveh;
37 and it cometh to pass, he is bowing himself in the house of Nisroch his god, and Adramelech and Sharezar `his sons' have smitten him with the sword, and they have escaped to the land of Ararat, and Esar-Haddon his son reigneth in his stead.
22 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted the voice? Against the Holy one of Israel hast thou lifted up thine eyes on high.
23 By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots have I come up To the height of the mountain, to the recesses of Lebanon, And I will cut down its tall cedars, the choice of its cypresses; And I will enter into its furthest lodging-place, [into] the forest of its fruitful field.
24 I have digged, and have drunk strange waters, And with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the streams of Matsor.
25 Hast thou not heard long ago that I have done it? And that from ancient days I formed it? Now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest lay waste fortified cities [into] ruinous heaps.
26 And their inhabitants were powerless, They were dismayed and put to shame; They were [as] the growing grass, and [as] the green herb, [As] the grass on the housetops, and grain blighted before it be grown up.
27 But I know thine abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, And thy raging against me.
28 Because thy raging against me and thine arrogance is come up into mine ears, I will put my ring in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, And I will make thee go back by the way by which thou camest.
29 And this [shall be] the sign unto thee: They shall eat this year such as groweth of itself, And in the second year that which springeth of the same; But in the third year sow ye and reap, And plant vineyards and eat the fruit thereof.
30 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward;
31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, And out of mount Zion they that escape: The zeal of Jehovah [of hosts] shall do this.
32 Therefore thus saith Jehovah 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 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, And shall not come into this city, saith Jehovah.
34 And I will defend this city, to save it, For mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
35 And it came to pass that night, that an angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead bodies.
36 And Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and abode at Nineveh.
37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer [his sons] smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
22 Whom have you defied and blasphemed? and against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? [even] against the Holy One of Israel.
23 By your messengers you have defied the Lord, and have said, With the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars of it, and the choice fir trees of it; and I will enter into his farthest lodging-place, the forest of his fruitful field.
24 I have dug and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt.
25 Haven't you heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? now have I brought it to pass, that it should be yours to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
26 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as grain blasted before it is grown up.
27 But I know your sitting down, and your going out, and your coming in, and your raging against me.
28 Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance is come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.
29 This shall be the sign to you: You shall eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs of the same; and in the third year sow you, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of it.
30 The remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion those who shall escape: the zeal of Yahweh shall perform this.
32 Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it.
33 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come to this city, says Yahweh.
34 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
35 It happened that night, that the angel of Yahweh went forth, and struck in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred eighty-five thousand: and when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and lived at Nineveh.
37 It happened, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.
22 Against whom have you said evil and bitter things? against whom has your voice been loud and your eyes lifted up? even against the Holy One of Israel.
23 You have sent your servants with evil words against the Lord, and have said, With all my war-carriages I have come up to the top of the mountains, to the inmost parts of Lebanon; its tall cedars will be cut down, and the best trees of its woods; I will come up into his highest places, into his thick woods.
24 I have made water-holes and taken their waters, and with my foot I have made all the rivers of Egypt dry.
25 Has it not come to your ears how I did it long before, purposing it in times long past? Now I have given effect to my design, so that by you strong towns might be turned into masses of broken walls.
26 This is why their townsmen had no power, they were broken and put to shame; they were like the grass of the field and the green plant, like grass on the house-tops.
27 But I have knowledge of your getting up and your resting, of your going out and your coming in.
28 Because your wrath against me and your words of pride have come up to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my cord in your lips, and I will make you go back by the way you came.
29 And this will be the sign to you: you will get your food this year from what comes up of itself; and in the second year from the produce of the same; and in the third year you will put in your seed and get in the grain and make vine-gardens and take of their fruit.
30 And those of Judah who are still living will again take root in the earth and give fruit.
31 For from Jerusalem those who have been kept safe will go out, and those who are still living will go out of Mount Zion: by the fixed purpose of the Lord of armies this will be done.
32 For this cause the Lord says about the king of Assyria, He will not come into this town, or send an arrow against it; he will not come before it with arms, or put up an earthwork against it;
33 By the way he came he will go back, and he will not get into this town, says the Lord.
34 For I will keep this town safe, for my honour, and for the honour of my servant David.
35 And that night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death in the army of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand men; and when the people got up early in the morning, there was nothing to be seen but dead bodies.
36 So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, went back to his place at Nineveh.
37 And it came about, when he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to death with the sword; and they went in flight into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son became king in his place.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on 2 Kings 19
Commentary on 2 Kings 19 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
When Hezekiah had heard from his counsellors the report of Rabshakeh's words, he rent his clothes with horror at his daring mockery of the living God (2 Kings 19:4), put on mourning clothes as a sign of the trouble of his soul and went into the temple, and at the same time sent Eliakim and Shebna with the oldest of the priests in mourning costume to the prophet Isaiah, to entreat him to intercede with the Lord in these desperate circumstances.
(Note: “ But the most wise king did not meet his blasphemies with weapons, but with prayer, and tears, and sackcloth, and entreated the prophet Isaiah to be his ambassador. ” - Theodoret.)
The order of the words: Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, is unusual (cf. 2 Kings 14:25; 2 Kings 20:1; 1 Kings 16:7, etc.), and is therefore altered in Isaiah into Isaiah the son of Amoz, the prophet.
“A day of distress, and of chastisement, and of rejection is this day.” תּוכחה : the divine chastisement. נאצה : contemptuous treatment, or rejection of the people on the part of God (compare נאץ , Deuteronomy 32:19; Jeremiah 14:21; Lamentations 2:6). “For children have come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.” A figure denoting extreme danger, the most desperate circumstances. If the woman in travail has not strength to bring forth the child which has come to the mouth of the womb, both the life of the child and that of the mother are exposed to the greatest danger; and this was the condition of the people here (see the similar figure in Hosea 13:13). For לדה instead of לדת , see Ges. §69, 2 Anm.
Perhaps Jehovah thy God will hear the blasphemies of the living God on the part of Rabshakeh. ישׁמע : hear, equivalent to observes, take notice of, and in this case punish. חי אלהים : the living God, in contrast to the gods of the heathen, who are only lifeless idols (cf. 1 Samuel 17:26, 1 Samuel 17:36). והוכיח is not to be taken in connection with לחרף , as if it stood for להוכיח , “and to scold with words” (Luth., Ges., etc.), but is a perf. rel. or a progressive perfect (Ewald, §234, a .), and the continuation of ישׁמע : “and will chastise (punish, sc. him) for the words which He has heard.” תף ונשׂאת “therefore lift up prayer (to heaven) for the (still) existing remnant, sc. of the people of God;” nearly all Judah having come into the power of Sennacherib since the carrying away of the ten tribes.
Isaiah replied with this comforting promise: Hezekiah was not to be afraid of the blasphemous words of the Assyrian king; the Lord would frighten him with a report, so that he would return to his own land, and there would He cause him to fall by the sword. מלך א נערי , the servants or young men of the Assyrian king, is a derogatory epithet applied to the officials of Assyria. “Behold, I put a spirit into him, so that he shall hear a report and return into his own land.” שׁמוּעה does not refer to the report of the destruction of his army (2 Kings 19:35), as Thenius supposes, for Sennacherib did not hear of this through the medium of an army, but was with the army himself at the time when it was smitten by the angel of the Lord; it refers to the report mentioned in 2 Kings 19:9. For even if he made one last attempt to secure the surrender of Jerusalem immediately upon hearing this report, yet after the failure of this attempt to shake the firmness of Hezekiah his courage must have failed him, and the thought of return must have suggested itself, so that this was only accelerated by the blow which fell upon the army. For, as O. v. Gerlach has correctly observed, “the destruction of the army would hardly have produced any decisive effect without the approach of Tirhakah, since the great power of the Assyrian king, especially in relation to the small kingdom of Judah, was not broken thereby. But at the prayer of the king the Lord added this miracle to the other, which His providence had already brought to pass. - For the fulfilment of the prophecy of Sennacherib's death, see 2 Kings 19:37.
In the meantime Rabshakeh had returned to his king at Libnah (see at 2 Kings 8:22), to which he had gone from Lachish, probably after having taken that fortress.
2 Kings 19:9
There Sennacherib heard that Tirhakah was advancing to make war against him. Tirhakah, Θαρακά (lxx), king of Cush, is the Ταρακός of Manetho, the successor of Sevechus (Shebek II), the third king of the twenty-fifth (Ethiopian) dynasty, described by Strabo (xv. 687), who calls him Τεάρκων , as a great conqueror. His name is spelt Tåhålqa or Tåharqo upon the monuments, and on the Pylon of the great temple at Medinet-Abu he is represented in the form of a king, cutting down enemies of conquered lands (Egypt, Syria, and Tepopå , an unknown land) before the god Ammon (see Brugsch, hist. d'Egypte , i. pp. 244,245).
(Note: According to Jul. Afric. (in Syncell. i. p. 139, ed. Dind.) he reigned eighteen years, according to Euseb. (in Syncell. p. 140) twenty years. Both statements are incorrect; for, according to an Apis-stele published by Mariette, the birth of an Apis who died in the twentieth year of Psammetichus fell in the twenty-sixth year of Tirhakah, so that the reign of Tirhakah may be supposed to have lasted twenty-eight years (see Brugsch, l.c. p. 247). But the chronological conclusions respecting the date of his reign are very uncertain. Whereas M. v. Niebuhr ( Gesch. Ass. p. 72) fixes his expedition against Sennacherib in the thirty-seventh aer. Nab ., i.e., 710 b.c., and the commencement of his reign over Egypt in 45 aer. Nab ., i.e., 702 b.c., and assumes that he marched against Sennacherib before he was king of Egypt, which is apparently favoured by the epithet king of Cush, not of Egypt; Brugsch ( l.c. p. 292) has given the year 693 b.c. as the commencement of his reign. It is obvious that this statement is irreconcilable with the O.T. chronology, since the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, in which Sennacherib invaded Judah, corresponds to the year 714 or 713 b.c. These diversities simply confirm our remark (p. 411), that the chronological data as to the kings of Egypt before Psammetichus cannot lay any claim to historical certainty. For an attempt to solve this discrepancy see M. v. Niebuhr, pp. 458ff.)
- On hearing the report of the advance of Tirhakah, Sennacherib sent ambassadors again to Hezekiah with a letter (2 Kings 19:14), in which he summoned him once more to give up his confidence in his God, and his assurance that Jerusalem would not be delivered into the hands of the king of Assyria, since the gods of no other nation had been able to save their lands and cities from the kings of Assyria who had preceded him. The letter contained nothing more, therefore, than a repetition of the arguments already adduced by Rabshakeh (2 Kings 18:19.), though a larger number of the lands conquered by the Assyrians are given, for the purpose of strengthening the impression intended to be made upon Hezekiah of the irresistible character of the Assyrian arms. - To offer a successful resistance to Tirhakah and overcome him, Sennacherib wanted above all things a firm footing in Judah; and for this the possession of Jerusalem was of the greatest importance, since it would both cover his back and secure his retreat. Fortifications like Lachish and Libnah could be quickly taken by a violent assault. But it was very different with Jerusalem. Salmanasar had stood before Samaria for three years before he was able to conquer it; and Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem for two years before the city was starved out and it was possible to take it (2 Kings 25:1.). But as Tirhakah was approaching, Sennacherib had no time now for so tedious a siege. He therefore endeavoured to induce Hezekiah to surrender the city quietly by a boastful description of his own power. Instead of ויּשׁלח ויּשׁב (2 Kings 19:9), we have in Isaiah ויּשׁלח ויּשׁמע , “when he heard this he sent,” which is probably the more original, and indicates that when Sennacherib received the intelligence he sent at once (Drechsler).
2 Kings 19:10-11
ישּׁיאך אל : “let not thy God deceive thee,” i.e., do not allow yourself to be deceived by your confidence in your God. לאמר , to say, i.e., to think or believe, that Jerusalem will not be given, etc. To shatter this confidence, Sennacherib reminds him of the deeds of the Assyrian kings. להחרימם , to ban them, i.e., by smiting them with the ban. The verb החרים is chosen with emphasis, to express the unsparing destruction. הנּצל ואתּה : and thou shouldst be saved? - a question implying a strong negative.
2 Kings 19:12-13
“Have the gods of the nations delivered them?” אתם is not a pronoun used in anticipation of the object, which follows in וגו גּוזן (Thenius), but refers to כּל־הארצות in 2 Kings 19:11, a specification of which is given in the following enumeration. Gozan may be the province of Gauzanitis in Mesopotamia, but it may just as well be the country of Gauzania on the other side of the Tigris (see at 2 Kings 17:6). The combination with Haran does not force us to the first assumption, since the list is not a geographical but a historical one. - Haran (Charan), i.e., the Carrae of the Greeks and Romans, where Abraham's father Terah died, a place in northern Mesopotamia (see at Genesis 11:31), is probably not merely the city here, but the country in which the city stood. - Rezeph ( רצף ), the Arabic rutsâfat , a very widespread name, since Jakut gives nine cities of this name in his Geographical Lexicon, is probably the most celebrated of the cities of that name, the Rusapha of Syria, called ̔Ρησάφα in Ptol. v. 15, in Palmyrene, on the road from Racca to Emesa, a day's journey from the Euphrates (cf. Ges. Thes . p. 1308). - “The sons of Eden , which (were in Telassar ,” were evidently a tribe whose chief settlement was in Telassar. By עדן we might understand the בּית־עדן of Amos 1:5, a city in a pleasant region of Syria, called Παράδεισος by Ptol. (v. 15), since there is still a village called Ehden in that locality (cf. Burckhardt, Syr . p. 66, and v. Schubert, Reise , iii. p. 366), if we could only discover Telassar in the neighbourhood, and if the village of Ehden could be identified with Παράδεισος and the Eden of the Bible, as is done even by Gesenius on Burckhardt, p. 492, and Thes . p. 195; but this Ehden is spelt ‛hdn in Arabic, and is not to be associated with עדן (see Rob. Bibl. Res . pp. 586, 587). Moreover the Thelseae near Damascus (in the Itin. Ant . p. 196, ed. Wess.) is too unlike Telassar to come into consideration. There is more to be said in favour of the identification of our עדן with the Assyrian Eden , which is mentioned in Ezekiel 27:23 along with Haran and Calneh as an important place for trade, although its position cannot be more certainly defined; and neither the comparison with the tract of land called (Syr.) ma‛ād e n , Maadon, which Assemani ( Biblioth. or . ii. p. 224) places in Mesopotamia, towards the Tigris, in the present province of Diarbekr (Ges., Win.), nor the conjecture of Knobel that the tribe-name Eden may very probably have been preserved in the large but very dilapidated village of Adana or Adna , some distance to the north of Bagdad (Ker Porter, Journey , ii. p. 355, and Ritter, Erdk . ix. p. 493), can be established as even a probability. תּלאשּׂר , Telassar , is also quite unknown. The name applies very well to Thelser on the eastern side of the Tigris ( Tab. Peut . xi. e), where even the later Targums on Genesis 10:12 have placed it, interpreting Nimrod's Resen by תלסר , תלאסר , though Knobel opposes this on the ground that a place in Assyria proper is unsuitable in such a passage as this, where the Assyrian feats of war outside Assyria itself are enumerated. Movers ( Phöniz . ii. 3, p. 251) conjectures that the place referred to is Thelassar in Terodon , a leading emporium for Arabian wares on the Persian Gulf, and supposes that Terodon has sprung from Teledon with the Persian pronunciation of the תל , which is very frequent in the names of Mesopotamian cities. This conjecture is at any rate a more natural one than that of Knobel on Isaiah 37:12, that the place mentioned in Assemani ( Bib. or . iii. 2, p. 870), (Arabic) tl b - ṣrṣr , Tel on the Szarszar , to the west of the present Bagdad, is intended. - With regard to the places named in 2 Kings 19:13, see at 2 Kings 18:34.
Hezekiah's prayer. - 2 Kings 19:14. Hezekiah took the letter, read it, went into the temple and spread it out before Jehovah, to lay open its contents before God. The contents of the letter are given in 2 Kings 19:10-13 in the form of the message which the ambassadors delivered to Hezekiah from their king, because the ambassadors communicated to Hezekiah by word of mouth the essential contents of the writing which they conveyed, and simply handed him the letter as a confirmation of their words. ספרים , like litterae , means a letter; hence the singular suffix attached to ויּפרשׂהוּ , whereas in the case of ויּקראם , which stands nearer, the suffix follows the number of the noun to which it refers. The spreading out of the letter before God was an embodiment of the wish, which sprang from a child-like and believing trust, that the Lord would notice and punish that defiance of the living God which it contained. What Hezekiah meant by this action he expressed in the following prayer.
2 Kings 19:15
In opposition to the delusion of the Assyrians, he describes Jehovah, the God of Israel, as the only God of all the kingdoms of the earth, since He was the Creator of heaven and earth. הכּרבים ישׁב (see at 1 Samuel 4:4 and Exodus 25:22) indicates the covenant-relation into which Jehovah, the almighty Creator and Ruler of the whole world, had entered towards Israel. As the covenant God who was enthroned above the cherubim the Lord was bound to help His people, if they turned to Him with faith in the time of their distress and entreated His assistance; and as the only God of all the world He had the power to help. In Isaiah, צבאות , which is very rare in historical prose, but very common in prophetical addresses, is added to the name יהוה , and thus Jehovah at the very outset is addressed as the God of the universe. On the meaning of צבאות , see at 1 Samuel 1:3. On האלהים הוּא אתּה , see 2 Samuel 7:28 and 1 Kings 18:39.
2 Kings 19:16
The accumulation of the words, “bow down Thine ear, Jehovah, and hear; open, Jehovah, Thine eyes and see, and hear the words,” etc., indicates the earnestness and importunity of the prayer. The plural עיניך by the side of the singular אזנך is the correct reading, since the expression “to incline the ear” is constantly met with (Psalms 17:6; Psalms 31:3; Psalms 45:11, etc.); and even in the plural, “incline ye your ear” (Psalms 78:1; Isaiah 55:3), and on the other hand “to open the eyes” (Job 27:19; Proverbs 20:13; Zechariah 12:4; Daniel 9:18), because a man always opens both eyes to see anything, whereas he turns one ear to a person speaking. The עינך of Isaiah is also plural, though written defectively, as the Masora has already observed. The suffix in שׁלחו , which is wanting in Isaiah, belongs to אשׁר , and refers with this to דּברי in the sense of speech: the speech which Sennacherib had made in his letter.
2 Kings 19:17-19
After the challenge, to observe the blasphemies of Sennacherib, Hezekiah mentions the fact that the Assyrians have really devastated all lands, and therefore that it is not without ground that they boast of their mighty power; but he finds the explanation of this in the impotence and nothingness of the gods of the heathen. אמנם , truly, indeed - the kings of Asshur have devastated the nations and their land. Instead of this we find in Isaiah: “they have devastated all lands and their (own) land” - which is evidently the more difficult and also the more original reading, and has been altered in our account, because the thought that the Assyrians had devastated their own land by making war upon other lands, that is to say, had depopulated it and thereby laid it waste, was not easy to understand. “And have cast their gods into the fire, for they are not gods, but works of human hands, wood and stone, and have thus destroyed them.” Hezekiah does not mention this as a sign of the recklessness of the Assyrians (Knobel), but, because Sennacherib had boasted that the gods of no nation had been able to resist him (vv. 12, 13), to put this fact in the right light, and attach thereto the prayer that Jehovah, by granting deliverance, would make known to all the kingdoms of the earth that He alone was God. Instead of ונתנוּ we have in Isaiah ונתון , the inf. absol.; in this connection the more difficult and more genuine reading. This also applies to the omission of אלהים (2 Kings 19:19) in Isaiah 37:20, since the use of Jehovah as a predicate, “that Thou alone art Jehovah,” is very rare, and has therefore been misunderstood even by Gesenius. By the introduction of Elohim , the thought “that Thou Jehovah art God alone” is simplified.
The divine promise. - 2 Kings 19:20, 2 Kings 19:21. When Hezekiah had prayed, the prophet Isaiah received a divine revelation with regard to the hearing of this prayer, which he sent, i.e., caused to be handed over, to the king. שׁמעתּי (2 Kings 19:21) is omitted in Isaiah, so that וגו התפּלּלתּ אשׁר is to be taken in the sense of “with regard to that which thou hast prayed to me,” whilst שׁמעתּי (I have heard) elucidates the thought and simplifies the construction. The word of the Lord announced to the king, (1) the shameful retreat of Sennacherib as a just retribution for his mockery of the living God (2 Kings 19:21-28; Isaiah 37:22-29); (2) the confirmation of this assurance through the indication of a sign by which Hezekiah was to recognise the deliverance of Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:29-31; Isaiah 37:30-32), and through the distinct promise, that the Assyrian would neither come into the city nor besiege it, because the Lord was sheltering it (2 Kings 19:32-34; Isaiah 37:33-35). In the first part the words are addressed with poetic vivacity directly to Sennacherib, and scourge his haughty boastings by pointing to the ridicule and scorn which would follow him on his departure from the land.
2 Kings 19:21
“The virgin daughter Zion despises thee, the daughter Jerusalem shakes the head behind thee.” By daughter Zion, daughter Jerusalem, we are not to understand the inhabitants of Zion, or of Jerusalem, as though בּת stood for בּנים or בּני (Ges., Hitzig, and others); but the city itself with its inhabitants is pictorially personified as a daughter and virgin, and the construct state בּת־ציּון is to be taken, like פּרת נהר , as in apposition: “daughter Zion,” not daughter of Zion (vid., Ges. §116, 5; Ewald, §287, e .). Even in the case of בּתוּלת the construct state expresses simply the relation of apposition. Zion is called a “virgin” as being an inviolable city to the Assyrians, i.e., one which they cannot conquer. Shaking the head is a gesture denoting derision and pleasure at another's misfortune (cf. Psalms 22:8; Psalms 109:25, etc.). “Behind thee,” i.e., after thee as thou goest away, is placed first as a pictorial feature for the sake of emphasis.
2 Kings 19:22-23
This derision falls upon the Assyrian, for having blasphemed the Lord God by his foolish boasting about his irresistible power. “Whom hast thou despised and blasphemed, and against whom hast thou lifted up the voice? and thou liftest up thine eyes against the Holy One of Israel.” Lifting up the voice refers to the tone of threatening assumption, in which Rabshakeh and Sennacherib had spoken. Lifting up the eyes on high, i.e., to the heavens, signifies simply looking up to the sky (cf. Isaiah 40:26), not “directing proud looks against God” (Ges.). Still less is מרום to be taken adverbially in the sense of haughtily, as Thenius and Knobel suppose. The bad sense of proud arrogance lies in the words which follow, “against the Holy One of Israel,” or in the case of Isaiah, where אל stands for על , in the context, viz., the parallelism of the members. God is called the Holy One of Israel as He who manifests His holiness in and upon Israel. This title of the Deity is one of the peculiarities of Isaiah's range of thought, although it originated with Asaph (Psalms 78:41; see at Isaiah 1:4). This insult to the holy God consisted in the fact that Sennacherib had said through his servants (2 Kings 19:23, 2 Kings 19:24): “With my chariots upon chariots I have ascended the height of the mountains, the uttermost part of Lebanon, so that I felled the tallness of its cedars, the choice of its cypresses, and came to the shelter of its border, to the forest of its orchard. I have dug and drunk strange water, so that I dried up all the rivers of Egypt with the sole of my feet.” The words put into the mouth of the Assyrian are expressive of the feeling which underlay all his blasphemies (Drechsler). The two verses are kept quite uniform, the second hemistich in both cases expressing the result of the first, that is to say, what the Assyrian intended still further to perform after having accomplished what is stated in the first hemistich. When he has ascended the heights of Lebanon, he devastates the glorious trees of the mountain. Consequently in 2 Kings 19:24 the drying up of the Nile of Egypt is to be taken as the result of the digging of wells in the parched desert; in other words, it is to be interpreted as descriptive of the devastation of Egypt, whose whole fertility depended upon its being watered by the Nile and its canals. We cannot therefore take these verses exactly as Drechsler does; that is to say, we cannot assume that the Assyrian is speaking in the first hemistichs of both verses of what he (not necessarily Sennacherib himself, but one of his predecessors) has actually performed. For even if the ascent of the uttermost heights of Lebanon had been performed by one of the kings of Assyria, there is no historical evidence whatever that Sennacherib or one of his predecessors had already forced his way into Egypt. The words are therefore to be understood in a figurative sense, as an individualizing picture of the conquests which the Assyrians had already accomplished, and those which they were still intending to effect; and this assumption does not necessarily exhibit Sennacherib “as a mere braggart, who boastfully heaps up in ridiculous hyperbole an enumeration of the things which he means to perform” (Drechsler). For if the Assyrian had not ascended with the whole multitude of his war-chariots to the loftiest summits of Lebanon, to feel its cedars and its cypresses, Lebanon had set no bounds to his plans of conquest, so that Sennacherib might very well represent his forcing his way into Canaan as an ascent of the lofty peaks of this mountain range. Lebanon is mentioned, partly as a range of mountains that was quite inaccessible to war-chariots, and partly as the northern defence of the land of Canaan, through the conquest of which one made himself lord of the land. And so far as Lebanon is used synecdochically for the land of which it formed the defence, the hewing down of its cedars and cypresses, those glorious witnesses of the creation of God, denotes the devastation of the whole land, with all its glorious works of nature and of human hands. The chief strength of the early Asiatic conquerors consisted in the multitude of their war-chariots: they are therefore brought into consideration simply as signs of vast military resources; the fact that they could only be used on level ground being therefore disregarded. The Chethîb רכבּי רכב , “my chariots upon chariots,” is used poetically for an innumerable multitude of chariots, as גּובי גּוב for an innumerable host of locusts (Nahum 3:17), and is more original than the Keri רכבּי רב , the multitude of my chariots, which simply follows Isaiah. The “height of the mountains” is more precisely defined by the emphatic לבנון ירכּתי , the uttermost sides, i.e., the loftiest heights, of Lebanon, just as בור ירכּתי in Isaiah 14:15 and Ezekiel 32:23 are the uttermost depths of Sheol. ארזיו קומת , his tallest cedars. בּרשׁיו מבחור , his most select or finest cypresses. קצּה מלון , for which Isaiah has the more usual קצּו מרום , “the height of his end,” is the loftiest point of Lebanon on which a man can rest, not a lodging built on the highest point of Lebanon (Cler., Vitr., Ros.). כּרמלּו יער , the forest of his orchard, i.e., the forest resembling an orchard. The reference is to the celebrated cedar-forest between the loftiest peaks of Lebanon at the village of Bjerreh .
2 Kings 19:24
2 Kings 19:24 refers to the intended conquest of Egypt. Just as Lebanon could not stop the expeditions of the Assyrians, or keep them back from the conquest of the land of Canaan, so the desert of et Tih , which separated Egypt from Asia, notwithstanding its want of water (cf. Herod. iii. 5; Rob. Pal . i. p. 262), was no hindrance to him, which could prevent his forcing his way through it and laying Egypt waste. The digging of water is, of course, not merely “a reopening of the wells that had been choked with rubbish, and the cisterns that had been covered up before the approaching enemy” (Thenius), but the digging of wells in the waterless desert. זרים מים , strange water, is not merely water belonging to others, but water not belonging to this soil (Drechsler), i.e., water supplied by a region which had none at other times. By the perfects the thing is represented as already done, as exposed to no doubt whatever; we must bear in mind, however, that the desert of et Tih is not expressly named, but the expression is couched in such general terms, that we may also assume that it includes what the Assyrian had really effected in his expeditions through similar regions. The drying up of the rivers with the soles of the feet is a hyperbolical expression denoting the omnipotence with which the Assyrian rules over the earth. Just as he digs water in the desert where no water is to be had, so does he annihilate it where mighty rivers exist.
(Note: Compare the similar boasting of Alarich, already quoted by earlier commentators, in Claudian, de bello Geth. v. 526ff.:
cum cesserit omnis
Obsequiis natura meis? subsidere nostris
Sub pedibus montes, arescere vidimus amnes.