CHAP. XXXVII.
Hezekiah sends to Isaiah entreating him to pray for the people, 1-5. Isaiah encourages him, 6, 7. Sennacherib, going to meet the Ethiopian king, sends a blasphemous letter to Hezekiah, who spreads it before God with fervent prayer, 7--20. Isaiah describes the arrogant impiety, and predicts the ruin, of Sennacherib, 21-35. An angel slays 185,000 of the Assyrians; and Sennacherib is murdered at Nineveh by two of his own sons, 36-38.
ND it 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.
2 And dhe sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of * blasphemy; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
4 & It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, 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 lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is + left.
V. 11-22. Notes, 2 Kings 18:26-37.- Syr ian. (11) 'The Syrian tongue is what we now 'call Chaldee. Dan . 2:4. Ezra 4:7. Lowth. Bewure lest , &c. (18) In Kings we read, after "a land of bread and vineyards." (17) "A land of oil-olive and of honey; that ye may live and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you." (2 Kings 18:32.)
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS.
Infidels, in every age, deride the dependence placed by believers on an invisible protection: but their own self-confidence will terminate in shame, when the hope, which rests on the word of God, shall be found to praise, and honor, and glory." The afflicted servant of God will generally find it best to leave ungodly men to revile, boast, insult, and menace, with
5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from $ Lachish.
9 And the heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it , he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, "Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.tro
11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and a Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?
13 Where is the king of d Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?
m 2 Kings 19:5-7. 22:15-20. n 7:4. 10:24,25. 35:4. 41:10-14. 51:12,13. Ex. 14:13. Lev. 26:8. Josh. 11:6. 2 Chr. 20: 15-20. Mark 4:40. 5:36.
ο 10:16-18,33,34. 17:13,14. 29:
5-8.30:28-33.31:8,9.33:1012. 2 Kings 7:6. Job 4:9. 15: 21. Ps. 58:9.
Or, put a spirit into him. p 36-53. 2 Chr. 32:21.
q 2 Kings 19:8,9.
r Josh. 10:29. 2 Kings 8:22. s Josh. 12.11. 15:39.
t 1 Sam. 23:27,28.
u 36:4,15,20. 2 Kings 18:5. 19: 10-13. 2 Chr. 32:7,8,15-19. Ps. 22:8. Matt. 27:43.
x 18,19. 10:7-14.36:18-20.2 Kings 17:4-6. 18:33-35. y 36:20. 46:5-7.
z Kings 17:6. 18:11. 19:12. a Gen. 11:31.29:4. Acts 7:2. b . Gen. 2:8. Ez. 27:23. 28:13. c 2 Kings 19:12. Thelasar. d 36:19.
e 2 Kings 17:24,30,31. Ava. Avites. 18:34. 19:13.
sons of personal or public distress. And, however men attempt to discourage or exasperate us, they will not do us any real harm; unless they can prevail with us to neglect or violate the commandments of our Lord and Master NOTES.
CHAP. XXXVII. V. 1-3. Notes, 2 Kings 19:1-3.- The children , &c. (3) 'We are in as 'great sorrow, as a woman that travaileth of 'child, and cannot be delivered.' ( Note , Hos. 13:12,13.)
V. 4-13. Notes , 2 Kings 19:4-13. 2 Chr . 32:9-16.- Eden , &c. (12) The country where 'Paradise was situate, was in Mesopotamia, as learned men are generally agreed: and one 'good proof of that opinion is taken from this 'text, and from Ez . 27:23. in both of which it is joined with Haran, a noted city in Mesopota 14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the LORD.
out making any reply: for humiliation, faith, 'mia.' Lowth . (Notes, Gen. 2:8-14.11:28-32, and prayer are our proper employment, in sea- || vv . 31,32.)
15 And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying,
16 O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.
17 "Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open open thine eyes, O Lord, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God.
18 Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the * nations, and their countries;
19 And have tcast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
20 Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only.
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:
22 This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; * The virgin, y the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
23 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed; and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on
f 2 Kings 19:14.
g 1. 1 Kings 8:28-30,38. 9:3 2 Chr. 6:20,&c. Ps. 27:5. 62: 1-3.74:10,11. 76:1-3. 123:1 -4. 143:6.
h 1 Sam. 7:8,9. 2 Sam. 7:1829. 2 Kings 19:15-19. 2 Chr. 14:11. 20:6-12. Dan. 9:3,4. Phil. 4:6,7. Jam. 5:13.
i 6:3. 8:13. 2 Sam. 7:26. 46:7,11.
k Ex. 25:22. 1 Sam. 4:4. 80:1. Heb. 4:16.
Ps.
Ps.
V. 14-20. Notes, 2 Kings 14-19. 2 Chr . 32:17-22.- That all the kingdoms, &c. (20) 'He declareth for what cause he prayed, that
lugh? cven against d the Holy One of Israel. 24 By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, 'By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon: and I will cut down the stall cedars thereof, and the choice fir-trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest || of his Carmel.
25 I have digged and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.
26 Hast thou not heard ** long ago, h 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 defenced cities into ruinous heaps.
27 Therefore their inhabitants were tt 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.
28 But I know thy # abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
29 Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult 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.
30 And this shall be a sign unto thee: Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and 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. 31 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:
32 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth
d 10:20. 12:6. 17:7. 30:11,12. 41: i 19:16. Num. 14:9. 2 Kings 14,16. 43:3, 14. Ex. 15:11. Ez. 19:26. Ps. 127:1,2. Jer. 5:10. 37:10.
39:7. Hab. 1:12,13.
Heb. the hand of thy.
e 4. 36:15-20. 2 Kings 19:22,
g 36:12. 1 Kings 20:10. 2 Kings 19:23,24.
Or, fenced and closed. ** Or, how I have made it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Should I now bring it to be laid waste, and defenced cities to be ruinous heaps?
h 10:5,6,15. 45:7. 46:10,11. Gen. 50:20. Ps. 17:13. 76:10. Am. 3:6. Acts 2:23. 4:27,28. 1 Pet. 2:8. Jude 4.
†† Heb. short of hand. k 40:6-8. Ps. 37:2.90:5,6. 92: 7. 103:15.129:6. Jam. 1:10,11. 1 Pet. 1:24.
1 Ps. 139:2-11. Prov. 5:21. 15S. Jer. 23:23,24. Rev. 2:13 Or, sitting.
m 10. 36:4,10. 2 Kings 19:27,28. Job 15:25,26. Ps. 2:1-3.46: 6. 93:3,4. Nah. 1:9-11. John 15:22,23. Acts 9:4.
n Ps. 74:4,23. 83:2. Matt. 27 24. Acts 22:22.
o 30:28. Job 41:2. Ps. 32:9. Ez. 29:4. 38:4. Am. 4:2.
p 7:14. 38:7. Ex. 3:12. 1 Kings 13:3-5. 2 Kings 19:29. 20:9. q 7:21-25. Lev. 25:4,5,20-22. I Heb. escaping of the house of Judah that remaineth. 1:9. 6: 6:13. 10:20-22. Jer. 44:28. r 27:6. 65:9. 2 Kings 19-30,31. Ps. 80:9. Jer. 30:19. Rom. 9:27. 11:5. Gal. 3:29.
'they might be delivered; to wit, that God 'might be glorified thereby, throughout the 'world.'
a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord Of hosts shall do this.
33 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 shields, nor u cast a bank against it.
34 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord.
35 For I will defend this city to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
36 Then the angel of the LORD went forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went, and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
38 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his в. с.7 sons smote him with the sword; and 709] they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.
z 43:25. 48:9-11. Deut. 32:27. Ez. 20:9. 36:22. Eph. 1:6,14. a 1 Kings 11:12,13,36. 15:4. Jer. 23:5,6. 30:9. 33:15,16. Ez. 37: 24,25.
8.33:10-12. Ex. 12:23. 2 Sam. 24:16. 2 Kings 19:35. 1 Chr. 21:12,16. 2 Chr. 32:21, 22. Ps. 35:5,6. Acts 12:23. c Ex. 12:30. Job 20:5-7.24:24. Ps. 46:6-11.76:5-7.1 Thes. 5:2,3.
d 7,29. 31:9.
e Gen. 10:11, 12. Jon, 1:2. 3:3. Nah. 1:1. Matt: 12:41.
f 10. 36:15,18. 2 Kings 19:36, 37. 2 Chr. 32:14,19,21.
Heb. Ararat . Gen. 8:4. Jer. 51:27.
b 10:16-19,33,34.30:30-33.31: g Ezra 4:2.
V. 21-35. Notes , 2 Kings 19:20-34.-The forest of his Carmel . (24) "The forest and his fruitful field." Marg. -Notes, 10:16-19. 29:17 -19.- Hast thou, &c. (26) 'These are the 'words of God in answer to the boasts of the 'proud Assyrian, wherein he puts him in mind 'that all his successes ought to be ascribed to 'God: that it was his providence predetermined 'these events, and brought them to pass in their 'appointed time; and made him the instrument 'of the divine vengeance upon such cities as 'deserved utter destruction, and weakened the 'hands of their inhabitants, so that they were 'not able to defend themselves.' Lowth . There fore will , &c. (29) Just as at this day, they put a ring into the nose of the bear, the buffalo, and other wild beasts, to lead them, and to govern them when they were unruly.' Bp . Lowth. (Notes , Job 41:1-11. Ez . 29:3-5.)
V. 36-38. Notes , 10.16-19,21–34. 30:29 -33. 33:10-13,23,24. 2 Kings 19:35-37. Hos . 1:6,7.
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. Tempters and persecutors are effectually subservient to our highest interest, when their endeavors to terrify us, or seduce us from God, make us more simple in our dependence, and VOL. IV. 17