Worthy.Bible » STRONG » 2 Kings » Chapter 19 » Verse 3

2 Kings 19:3 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

3 And they said H559 unto him, Thus saith H559 Hezekiah, H2396 This day H3117 is a day H3117 of trouble, H6869 and of rebuke, H8433 and blasphemy: H5007 for the children H1121 are come H935 to the birth, H4866 and there is not strength H3581 to bring forth. H3205

Cross Reference

2 Kings 18:29 STRONG

Thus saith H559 the king, H4428 Let not Hezekiah H2396 deceive H5377 you: for he shall not be able H3201 to deliver H5337 you out of his hand: H3027

Psalms 39:11 STRONG

When thou with rebukes H8433 dost correct H3256 man H376 for iniquity, H5771 thou makest his beauty H2530 to consume away H4529 like a moth: H6211 surely every man H120 is vanity. H1892 Selah. H5542

Psalms 95:8 STRONG

Harden H7185 not your heart, H3824 as in the provocation, H4808 and as in the day H3117 of temptation H4531 in the wilderness: H4057

Psalms 123:3-4 STRONG

Have mercy H2603 upon us, O LORD, H3068 have mercy H2603 upon us: for we are exceedingly H7227 filled H7646 with contempt. H937 Our soul H5315 is exceedingly H7227 filled H7646 with the scorning H3933 of those that are at ease, H7600 and with the contempt H937 of the proud. H3238 H1343 H1349

Isaiah 26:17-18 STRONG

Like H3644 as a woman with child, H2030 that draweth near H7126 the time of her delivery, H3205 is in pain, H2342 and crieth out H2199 in her pangs; H2256 so have we been in thy sight, H6440 O LORD. H3068 We have been with child, H2029 we have been in pain, H2342 we have as it were H3644 brought forth H3205 wind; H7307 we have not wrought H6213 any deliverance H3444 in the earth; H776 neither H1077 have the inhabitants H3427 of the world H8398 fallen. H5307

Isaiah 66:9 STRONG

Shall I bring to the birth, H7665 and not cause to bring forth? H3205 saith H559 the LORD: H3068 shall I H589 cause to bring forth, H3205 and shut H6113 the womb? saith H559 thy God. H430

Jeremiah 30:5-7 STRONG

For thus saith H559 the LORD; H3068 We have heard H8085 a voice H6963 of trembling, H2731 of fear, H6343 and not of peace. H7965 Ask H7592 ye now, and see H7200 whether a man H2145 doth travail with child? H3205 wherefore do I see H7200 every man H1397 with his hands H3027 on his loins, H2504 as a woman in travail, H3205 and all faces H6440 are turned H2015 into paleness? H3420 Alas! H1945 for that day H3117 is great, H1419 so that H369 none is like it: it is even the time H6256 of Jacob's H3290 trouble; H6869 but he shall be saved H3467 out of it.

Hosea 13:13 STRONG

The sorrows H2256 of a travailing woman H3205 shall come H935 upon him: he is an unwise H2450 son; H1121 for he should not stay H5975 long H6256 in the place of the breaking forth H4866 of children. H1121

Hebrews 3:15-16 STRONG

While G1722 it is said, G3004 To day G4594 if G1437 ye will hear G191 his G846 voice, G5456 harden G4645 not G3361 your G5216 hearts, G2588 as G5613 in G1722 the provocation. G3894 For G1063 some, G5100 when they had heard, G191 did provoke: G3893 howbeit G235 not G3756 all G3956 that came G1831 out of G1537 Egypt G125 by G1223 Moses. G3475

Commentary on 2 Kings 19 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


CHAPTER 19

2Ki 19:1-5. Hezekiah in Deep Affliction.

1-3. when king Hezekiah heard it, he rent his clothes—The rending of his clothes was a mode of expressing horror at the daring blasphemy—the assumption of sackcloth a sign of his mental distress—his entrance into the temple to pray the refuge of a pious man in affliction—and the forwarding an account of the Assyrian's speech to Isaiah was to obtain the prophet's counsel and comfort. The expression in which the message was conveyed described, by a strong figure, the desperate condition of the kingdom, together with their own inability to help themselves; and it intimated also a hope, that the blasphemous defiance of Jehovah's power by the impious Assyrian might lead to some direct interposition for the vindication of His honor and supremacy to all heathen gods.

4. the living God—"The living God" is a most significant expression taken in connection with the senseless deities that Rab-shakeh boasted were unable to resist his master's victorious arms.

2Ki 19:6, 7. Comforted by Isaiah.

6. Isaiah said … Be not afraid—The prophet's answer was most cheering, as it held out the prospect of a speedy deliverance from the invader. The blast, the rumor, the fall by the sword, contained a brief prediction that was soon fulfilled in all the three particulars—namely, the alarm that hastened his retreat, the destruction that overtook his army, and the violent death that suddenly ended his career.

2Ki 19:8-13. Sennacherib Sends a Blasphemous Letter to Hezekiah.

8. So Rab-shakeh … found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah—Whether Lachish had fallen or not, is not said. But Sennacherib had transferred his battering-rams against the apparently neighboring fortress of Libnah (Jos 10:29; compare Jos 10:31; 15:42), where the chief-cup-bearer reported the execution of his mission.

9-13. when he heard say of Tirhakah …, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee, &c.—This was the "rumor" to which Isaiah referred [2Ki 19:7]. Tirhakah reigned in Upper Egypt, while So (or Sabaco) ruled in Lower Egypt. He was a powerful monarch, another Sesostris, and both he and Sabaco have left many monuments of their greatness. The name and figure of Tirhakah receiving war captives, are still seen in the Egyptian temple of Medinet Abou. This was the expected succor which was sneered at by Rab-shakeh as "a bruised reed" (2Ki 18:21). Rage against Hezekiah for allying himself with Egypt, or the hope of being better able to meet this attack from the south, induced him, after hearing the rumor of Tirhakah's advance, to send a menacing letter to Hezekiah, in order that he might force the king of Judah to an immediate surrender of his capital. This letter, couched in the same vaunting and imperious style as the speech of Rab-shakeh, exceeded it in blasphemy, and contained a larger enumeration of conquered places, with the view of terrifying Hezekiah and showing him the utter hopelessness of all attempts at resistance.

2Ki 19:14-34. Hezekiah's Prayer.

14-19. Hezekiah received the letter … and went up into the house of the Lord—Hezekiah, after reading it, hastened into the temple, spread it in the childlike confidence of faith before the Lord, as containing taunts deeply affecting the divine honor, and implored deliverance from this proud defier of God and man. The devout spirit of this prayer, the recognition of the Divine Being in the plenitude of His majesty—so strikingly contrasted with the fancy of the Assyrians as to His merely local power; his acknowledgment of the conquests obtained over other lands; and of the destruction of their wooden idols which, according to the Assyrian practice, were committed to the flames—because their tutelary deities were no gods; and the object for which he supplicated the divine interposition—that all the kingdoms of the earth might know that the Lord was the only God—this was an attitude worthy to be assumed by a pious theocratic king of the chosen people.

20. Then Isaiah … sent—A revelation having been made to Isaiah, the prophet announced to the king that his prayer was heard. The prophetic message consisted of three different portions:—First, Sennacherib is apostrophized (2Ki 19:21-28) in a highly poetical strain, admirably descriptive of the turgid vanity, haughty pretensions, and presumptuous impiety of the Assyrian despot. Secondly, Hezekiah is addressed (2Ki 19:29-31), and a sign is given him of the promised deliverance—namely, that for two years the presence of the enemy would interrupt the peaceful pursuits of husbandry, but in the third year the people would be in circumstances to till their fields and vineyards and reap the fruits as formerly. Thirdly, the issue of Sennacherib's invasion is announced (2Ki 19:32-34).

33. shall not come into this city—nor approach near enough to shoot an arrow, not even from the most powerful engine which throws missiles to the greatest distance, nor shall he occupy any part of the ground before the city by a fence, a mantelet, or covering for men employed in a siege, nor cast (raise) a bank (mound) of earth, overtopping the city walls, whence he may see and command the interior of the city. None of these, which were the principal modes of attack followed in ancient military art, should Sennacherib be permitted to adopt. Though the army under Rab-shakeh marched towards Jerusalem and encamped at a little distance with a view to blockade it, they delayed laying siege to it, probably waiting till the king, having taken Lachish and Libnah, should bring up his detachment, that with all the combined forces of Assyria they might invest the capital. So determined was this invader to conquer Judah and the neighboring countries (Isa 10:7), that nothing but a divine interposition could have saved Jerusalem. It might be supposed that the powerful monarch who overran Palestine and carried away the tribes of Israel, would leave memorials of his deeds on sculptured slabs, or votive bulls. A long and minute account of this expedition is contained in the Annals of Sennacherib, a translation of which has recently been made into English, and, in his remarks upon it, Colonel Rawlinson says the Assyrian version confirms the most important features of the Scripture account. The Jewish and Assyrian narratives of the campaign are, indeed, on the whole, strikingly illustrative of each other [Outlines of Assyrian History].

2Ki 19:35, 36. An Angel Destroys the Assyrians.

35. in the morning … they were all dead corpses—It was the miraculous interposition of the Almighty that defended Jerusalem. As to the secondary agent employed in the destruction of the Assyrian army, it is most probable that it was effected by a hot south wind, the simoon, such as to this day often envelops and destroys whole caravans. This conjecture is supported by 2Ki 19:7 and Jer 51:1. The destruction was during the night; the officers and soldiers, being in full security, were negligent; their discipline was relaxed; the camp guards were not alert, or perhaps they themselves were the first taken off, and those who slept, not wrapped up, imbibed the poison plentifully. If this had been an evening of dissolute mirth (no uncommon thing in a camp), their joy (perhaps for a victory), or "the first night of their attacking the city," says Josephus, became, by its effects, one means of their destruction [Calmet, Fragments].

36. So Sennacherib king of Assyria … went and returned—the same way as he came (2Ki 19:33). The route is described (Isa 10:28-32). The early chariot track near Beyrout is on the rocky edge of Lebanon, which is skirted by the ancient Lycus (Nahr-el Kelb). On the perpendicular face of the limestone rock, at different heights, are seen slabs with Assyrian inscriptions, which having been deciphered, are found to contain the name of Sennacherib. Thus, by the preservation of these tablets, the wrath of the Assyrian invaders is made to praise the Lord.

dwelt at Nineveh—This statement implies a considerable period of time, and his Annals carry on his history at least five years after his disastrous campaign at Jerusalem. No record of his catastrophe can be found, as the Assyrian practice was to record victories alone. The sculptures give only the sunny side of the picture.

2Ki 19:37. Sennacherib Slain.

37. as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch—Assarae, or Asshur, the head of the Assyrian Pantheon, represented not as a vulture-headed figure (that is now ascertained to be a priest), but as a winged figure in a circle, which was the guardian deity of Assyria. The king is represented on the monuments standing or kneeling beneath this figure, his hand raised in sign of prayer or adoration.

his sons smote him with the sword—Sennacherib's temper, exasperated probably by his reverses, displayed itself in the most savage cruelty and intolerable tyranny over his subjects and slaves, till at length he was assassinated by his two sons, whom, it is said, he intended to sacrifice to pacify the gods and dispose them to grant him a return of prosperity. The parricides taking flight into Armenia, a third son, Esar-haddon, ascended the throne.