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( Comp. <a href="/2_kings/18-13.htm" title="Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.">2Kings 18:13</a> to <a href="/2_kings/19-37.htm" title="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.">2Kings 19:37</a>. ) The Assyrian monarch’s own record of the campaign may be read on his great hexagonal prism of terra-cotta, preserved in the British Museum, containing an inscription in 487 lines of cuneiform writing, which is lithographed in the <span class= "ital">Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia,</span> III. 38, 39, and printed in G. Smith’s <span class= "ital">History of Sennacherib.</span><p>(1) <span class= "bld">After these things, and the establishment thereof.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">After these matters, and this faithfulness</span> (<a href="/2_chronicles/31-20.htm" title="And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and worked that which was good and right and truth before the LORD his God.">2Chronicles 31:20</a>). For the date, see Note on <a href="/2_kings/18-13.htm" title="Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.">2Kings 18:13</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Sennacherib.</span>—So the Vulg. The LXX. gives <span class= "greekheb">Σενναχηριμ</span> or <span class= "greekheb">είμ</span>; Herodotus, <span class= "greekheb">Σαναχάριβος</span>; Josephus, <span class= "greekheb">Σενναχήριβος</span>. The Hebrew is S<span class= "ital">anchērib.</span> The real name as given by the Assyrian monuments is <span class= "ital">Sin-ahi-iriba,</span> or <span class= "ital">erba</span> (“Sin,” i.e.,the moon-god,”multiplied brothers”).<p><span class= "bld">And thought to win them for himself.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">and said to himself that he would break them open</span> (<a href="/2_chronicles/21-17.htm" title="And they came up into Judah, and broke into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.">2Chronicles 21:17</a>), or <span class= "ital">and commanded to break them open for himself.</span> Kings states that he fulfilled his purpose; he “came up against all the fenced cities of Judah, <span class= "ital">and took them.”</span> Sennacherib himself boasts as follows: “And Hazakiyahu of the country of the Jews who had not submitted to my yoke, forty-six strong cities of his, fortresses, and the small cities of their neighbourhood, which were without number . . . I approached, I took.” The chronicler’s object is to relate the mighty deliverance of Hezekiah. Hence he omits such details as would weaken the impression he desires to produce. For the same reason nothing is said here of Hezekiah’s submission and payment of tribute (<a href="/context/2_kings/18-14.htm" title="And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which you put on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.">2Kings 18:14-16</a>); and perhaps for the further reason (as suggested by Keil) that “these negotiations had no influence on the after-course and issue of the war,” but <span class= "ital">not</span> because (as Thenius alleges) the chronicler was unwilling to mention Hezekiah’s (forced) sacrilege. They are omitted also in Isaiah, where the account is in other respects abridged as compared with Kings.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-2.htm">2 Chronicles 32:2</a></div><div class="verse">And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem,</div><span class= "bld">PREPARATIONS FOR THE DEFENCE</span> (<a href="/context/2_chronicles/32-2.htm" title="And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem,">2Chronicles 32:2-8</a>).<p>This section is peculiar to the Chronicles. Its contents are “perfectly credible” (<span class= "ital">Thenius</span>)<span class= "ital">,</span> and are borne out by <a href="/context/isaiah/22-8.htm" title="And he discovered the covering of Judah, and you did look in that day to the armor of the house of the forest.">Isaiah 22:8-11</a>, and <a href="/2_kings/20-20.htm" title="And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?">2Kings 20:20</a>, and by the inscription of Sennacherib.<p>(2) <span class= "bld">And that he was purposed to fight.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">and his face was for the war.</span> (Comp. <a href="/2_chronicles/20-3.htm" title="And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.">2Chronicles 20:3</a>; <a href="/luke/9-53.htm" title="And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.">Luke 9:53</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">To stop.</span>—<span class= "ital">To close in</span> with masonry, so as to conceal. (But comp. <a href="/2_kings/3-19.htm" title="And you shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.">2Kings 3:19</a>; <a href="/2_kings/3-25.htm" title="And they beat down the cities, and on every good piece of land cast every man his stone, and filled it; and they stopped all the wells of water, and felled all the good trees: only in Kirharaseth left they the stones thereof; however, the slingers went about it, and smote it.">2Kings 3:25</a>.) LXX., <span class= "greekheb">ἐμφράξαι τά ὕδατα</span>.<p><span class= "bld">They did help him.</span>—By “gathering much people together” (<a href="/2_chronicles/32-4.htm" title="So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the middle of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?">2Chronicles 32:4</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-4.htm">2 Chronicles 32:4</a></div><div class="verse">So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?</div>(4) <span class= "bld">The fountains.</span>—<span class= "ital">Ma‘yānôth.</span> <a href="/2_chronicles/32-3.htm" title="He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.">2Chronicles 32:3</a> has “springs” (<span class= "ital">‘ayānôth</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span><p><span class= "bld">The brook.</span>—<span class= "ital">Nàchal.</span> “The <span class= "ital">wâdy.”</span> The Gihon is meant, a watercourse in the Valley of Hinnom, supplied with water by the springs which Hezekiah closed in and diverted. See Note on <a href="/2_chronicles/32-30.htm" title="This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works.">2Chronicles 32:30</a>, and <a href="/2_kings/20-20.htm" title="And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?">2Kings 20:20</a>; comp. <a href="//apocrypha.org/ecclesiasticus/48-17.htm" title="Ezekias fortified his city, and brought in water into the midst thereof: he digged the hard rock with iron, and made wells for waters.">Ecclesiasticus 48:17</a>, “Hezekiah fortified his city, and brought into their midst the Gog” (LXX., Vat.), or, “into its midst water” (LXX., Alex.).<p><span class= "bld">That ran.</span>—<span class= "ital">That was flowing over</span> (<a href="/isaiah/30-28.htm" title="And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the middle of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.">Isaiah 30:28</a>; <a href="/isaiah/8-8.htm" title="And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.">Isaiah 8:8</a>). The overflow of the springs formed the stream.<p><span class= "bld">The kings of Assyria.</span>—A vague rhetorical plural, as in <a href="/2_chronicles/28-16.htm" title="At that time did king Ahaz send to the kings of Assyria to help him.">2Chronicles 28:16</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-5.htm">2 Chronicles 32:5</a></div><div class="verse">Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised <i>it</i> up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo <i>in</i> the city of David, and made darts and shields in abundance.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">Also he strengthened himself.</span>—<span class= "ital">And h</span><span class= "bld">e</span> <span class= "ital">took courage.</span> (<a href="/2_chronicles/15-8.htm" title="And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD.">2Chronicles 15:8</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/18-1.htm" title="Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance, and joined affinity with Ahab.">2Chronicles 18:1</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Built up all the wall that was broken.</span>—<a href="/context/isaiah/22-9.htm" title="You have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and you gathered together the waters of the lower pool.">Isaiah 22:9-10</a>, where “many breaches” are spoken of, and it is said that “houses were pulled down to fortify the wall.”<p><span class= "bld">Raised it up to the towers.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">and went up on the towers,</span> or, <span class= "ital">and caused to go up on the towers.</span> A different division of the Hebrew letters will give the sense “and raised upon it towers,” which is probably correct. Thenius prefers to keep the ordinary reading, which he understands to mean, <span class= "ital">and heightened the towers;</span> alleging that <a href="/2_chronicles/26-9.htm" title="Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them.">2Chronicles 26:9</a> shows that the wall was already furnished with towers. The LXX. has simply <span class= "greekheb">καί πύργους</span><span class= "ital">,</span> “and towers;” the Vulgate, “et exstruxit turres desuper.” The Syriac renders, “Let them show themselves strong, and make another wall opposite the wall, and let them stop up the ditch which David made.”<p><span class= "bld">Another wall without.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">and on the outside of the wall</span> (he built) <span class= "ital">another</span>—viz., the wall enclosing the lower city or Aera, which he “built,” that is, repaired and strengthened. (See <a href="/isaiah/22-11.htm" title="You made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but you have not looked to the maker thereof, neither had respect to him that fashioned it long ago.">Isaiah 22:11</a>, “the two walls.”)<p><span class= "bld">Repaired.</span>—<a href="/2_chronicles/11-11.htm" title="And he fortified the strong holds, and put captains in them, and store of victual, and of oil and wine.">2Chronicles 11:11</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Millo.</span>—<span class= "ital">The rampart.</span> See Note on <a href="/1_chronicles/11-8.htm" title="And he built the city round about, even from Millo round about: and Joab repaired the rest of the city.">1Chronicles 11:8</a>.<p><span class= "bld">In the city of David.</span>—To <span class= "ital">wit, the city of David.</span><p><span class= "bld">Darts.</span>—<span class= "ital">Shelah.</span> See Note on <a href="/2_chronicles/23-10.htm" title="And he set all the people, every man having his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the temple to the left side of the temple, along by the altar and the temple, by the king round about.">2Chronicles 23:10</a>, and comp. <a href="/2_chronicles/26-14.htm" title="And Uzziah prepared for them throughout all the host shields, and spears, and helmets, and habergeons, and bows, and slings to cast stones.">2Chronicles 26:14</a>. The Hebrew is “missiles in abundance, and shields.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-6.htm">2 Chronicles 32:6</a></div><div class="verse">And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city, and spake comfortably to them, saying,</div>(6) <span class= "bld">Captains of war.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">captains of battles:</span> a phrase found here only.<p><span class= "bld">In the street.</span>—<span class= "ital">Into the open space.</span> In like manner, “the open space that was before the water gate” is mentioned in <a href="/nehemiah/8-1.htm" title="And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spoke to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.">Nehemiah 8:1</a>; <a href="/nehemiah/8-16.htm" title="So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one on the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim.">Nehemiah 8:16</a>.<p><span class= "bld">The gate.</span>—Which gate we are not told; but the<p>LXX. reads, <span class= "greekheb">τὴν πλατεῖαν τῆς πύλης τῆς φάραγγος</span><span class= "ital">,</span> “the broad place of the gate of the ravine.”<p><span class= "bld">Spake comfortably to them.</span>—<span class= "ital">Encouraged them.</span> <a href="/2_chronicles/30-22.htm" title="And Hezekiah spoke comfortably to all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the LORD: and they did eat throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings, and making confession to the LORD God of their fathers.">2Chronicles 30:22</a>. (See margin.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-7.htm">2 Chronicles 32:7</a></div><div class="verse">Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that <i>is</i> with him: for <i>there be</i> more with us than with him:</div>(7) <span class= "bld">Be not afraid . . . the multitude.</span>—Comp. <a href="/2_chronicles/20-15.htm" title="And he said, Listen you, all Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you king Jehoshaphat, Thus said the LORD to you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.">2Chronicles 20:15</a>, “Be not afraid nor dismayed for this great multitude.” “Be strong and courageous, be not afraid” occurs in <a href="/deuteronomy/31-6.htm" title="Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD your God, he it is that does go with you; he will not fail you, nor forsake you.">Deuteronomy 31:6</a> (Heb.).<p><span class= "bld">For there be more with us than with him.</span>—A reminiscence of <a href="/2_kings/6-16.htm" title="And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.">2Kings 6:16</a>, “Be not thou afraid; for more are they that are with us than they that are with them.” It is not necessary to suppose that the chronicler professes to give the exact words of Hezekiah’s exhortation, but only the substance and spirit of it.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-8.htm">2 Chronicles 32:8</a></div><div class="verse">With him <i>is</i> an arm of flesh; but with us <i>is</i> the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">With him is an arm of flesh.</span>—A reminiscence of <a href="/jeremiah/17-5.htm" title="Thus said the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the LORD.">Jeremiah 17:5</a>, “the man that maketh flesh his arm.” (Comp. <a href="/isaiah/31-3.htm" title="Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helps shall fall, and he that is helped shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.">Isaiah 31:3</a> : “Their horses are flesh and not spirit.”) His power is human, ours superhuman.<p><span class= "bld">To fight our battles.</span>—<a href="/1_samuel/8-20.htm" title="That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.">1Samuel 8:20</a>, “a king . . . to fight our battles.”<p><span class= "bld">Rested themselves upon.</span>—<span class= "ital">Leaned on</span>—<span class= "ital">e.g.,</span> a staff, <a href="/isaiah/36-6.htm" title="See, you trust in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; where on if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.">Isaiah 36:6</a>; and so <span class= "ital">trusted in,</span> <a href="/isaiah/48-2.htm" title="For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his name.">Isaiah 48:2</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-9.htm">2 Chronicles 32:9</a></div><div class="verse">After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem, (but he <i>himself laid siege</i> against Lachish, and all his power with him,) unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that <i>were</i> at Jerusalem, saying,</div>(9-21) A brief summary of what is related in 2Ki 18:17 to 2Ki 19:37.<p>(9) <span class= "bld">After this did Sennacherib . . . send.</span>—See <a href="/2_kings/18-17.htm" title="And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field.">2Kings 18:17</a>.<p><span class= "bld">But he himself . . . Lachish.</span>—The verb <span class= "ital">nilkham, “</span>fought,” has perhaps fallen out. The great inscription of Sennacherib says nothing about the siege of Lachish; but a bas-relief, now in the British Museum, represents him seated on his throne receiving a file of captives who issue from the gate of a city. Over the king’s head is written “Sennacherib, the king of multitudes, the king of the land of Asshur, on a raised throne sate, and caused the spoils of the city of Lachish (<span class= "ital">Lakisu</span>) to pass before him.”<p><span class= "bld">His power.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">his dominion</span> or <span class= "ital">realm.</span> Comp. <a href="/jeremiah/34-1.htm" title="The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying,">Jeremiah 34:1</a>, “all the kingdoms of the lands of the dominion of his hand.” The word <span class= "ital">h</span>ê<span class= "ital">l,</span> “army,” may have fallen out.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-10.htm">2 Chronicles 32:10</a></div><div class="verse">Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria, Whereon do ye trust, that ye abide in the siege in Jerusalem?</div>(10) <span class= "bld">Whereon . . . the siege.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">Whereon are ye trusting, and why are ye sitting in distress in Jerusalem?</span> The phrase <span class= "ital">sitting</span> or <span class= "ital">abiding in distress</span> occurs in <a href="/jeremiah/10-17.htm" title="Gather up your wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress.">Jeremiah 10:17</a>. (Comp. also <a href="/deuteronomy/28-53.htm" title="And you shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, which the LORD your God has given you, in the siege, and in the narrow place, with which your enemies shall distress you:">Deuteronomy 28:53</a>.)<p><a href="/context/2_chronicles/32-10.htm" title="Thus said Sennacherib king of Assyria, Where on do you trust, that you abide in the siege in Jerusalem?">2Chronicles 32:10-15</a> reproduce in brief the leading ideas of <a href="/context/2_kings/18-19.htm" title="And Rabshakeh said to them, Speak you now to Hezekiah, Thus said the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein you trust?">2Kings 18:19-25</a>; <a href="/context/2_kings/18-28.htm" title="Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spoke, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria:">2Kings 18:28-35</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-11.htm">2 Chronicles 32:11</a></div><div class="verse">Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give over yourselves to die by famine and by thirst, saying, The LORD our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Doth not Hezekiah persuade you.</span>—<span class= "ital">Is not Hezekiah inciting you</span> (<a href="/2_kings/18-32.htm" title="Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and of honey, that you may live, and not die: and listen not to Hezekiah, when he persuades you, saying, The LORD will deliver us.">2Kings 18:32</a>; <a href="/1_chronicles/21-1.htm" title="And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.">1Chronicles 21:1</a>). The, verb recurs in <a href="/2_chronicles/32-15.htm" title="Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you on this manner, neither yet believe him: for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of my hand?">2Chronicles 32:15</a>.<p><span class= "bld">To give over yourselves . . . by thirst.</span>—<span class= "ital">In</span> <span class= "ital">order to deliver you to dying </span>. . . <span class= "ital">by thirst.</span> A softening down of the coarse expression recorded in <a href="/2_kings/18-27.htm" title="But Rabshakeh said to them, Has my master sent me to your master, and to you, to speak these words? has he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own urine with you?">2Kings 18:27</a>. Esarhaddon in the record of his Egyptian campaign uses similar language: “siege-works against him I constructed, and food and water, the life of their souls, I cut off.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-12.htm">2 Chronicles 32:12</a></div><div class="verse">Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before one altar, and burn incense upon it?</div>(12) <span class= "bld">The same Hezekiah.</span>—<span class= "ital">Hezekiah himself.</span><p><span class= "bld">Ye shall worship . . . upon it.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">before one altar shall ye worship, and thereon shall ye burn incense.</span> Comp. <a href="/2_kings/18-22.htm" title="But if you say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?">2Kings 18:22</a> : “Is it not He whose high places and altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, Before this altar shall ye worship in Jerusalem?” The chronicler is even more emphatic than Kings in asserting the sole validity of the Brazen Altar in the Temple Court.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-13.htm">2 Chronicles 32:13</a></div><div class="verse">Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all the people of <i>other</i> lands? were the gods of the nations of those lands any ways able to deliver their lands out of mine hand?</div>(13) <span class= "bld">What I and my fathers have done.</span>—The Assyrian kings are fond of such references to their predecessors.<p><span class= "bld">The people of other lands.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">the peoples of the countries.</span><p><span class= "bld">Those lands.</span>—<span class= "ital">The countries.</span><p><span class= "bld">Their lands.</span>—<span class= "ital">Their country.</span> The chronicler omits the names of the vanquished states given in <a href="/2_kings/18-34.htm" title="Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?">2Kings 18:34</a>, some of which had probably become obscure by lapse of time.<p>Assurbanipal relates that in his eighth campaign he carried off the gods of Elam with the other spoils: “His gods, his goddesses, his furniture, his goods, people small and great, I carried off to Assyria;<span class= "ital">”</span> and he adds the names of nineteen of these deities.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-14.htm">2 Chronicles 32:14</a></div><div class="verse">Who <i>was there</i> among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of mine hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of mine hand?</div>(14) <span class= "bld">Who was there among all the gods.</span>—Comp. <a href="/2_kings/18-35.htm" title="Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?">2Kings 18:35</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Utterly destroyed.</span>—<span class= "ital">Put under the ban, devoted</span> to destruction.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-15.htm">2 Chronicles 32:15</a></div><div class="verse">Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you on this manner, neither yet believe him: for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of mine hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of mine hand?</div>(15) <span class= "bld">Neither yet believe him.</span>—<span class= "ital">And believe him not.</span><p><span class= "bld">How much less . . . deliver you.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">much less will your gods deliver you;</span> or, <span class= "ital">much more will your gods not deliver you.</span> (Comp. <a href="/context/isaiah/37-10.htm" title="Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not your God, in whom you trust, deceive you, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.">Isaiah 37:10-11</a>.) According to ancient conceptions the gods of strong nations were strong gods. Now the Assyrians had vanquished stronger nations than Judah, and therefore, as they ignorantly supposed, stronger deities than the God of Judah. (Some Hebrew MSS. and all the versions have the verb in the singular, which gives the sense, “much less will your god deliver you.”)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-16.htm">2 Chronicles 32:16</a></div><div class="verse">And his servants spake yet <i>more</i> against the LORD God, and against his servant Hezekiah.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">Spake yet more.</span>—See the parallel passages in Kings and Isaiah. The verse shows that the chronicler does not profess to give a full report.<p><span class= "bld">Against the Lord God.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">against Jehovah the</span> (true) <span class= "ital">God. “</span>Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? . . . the Holy One of Israel” (<a href="/isaiah/37-23.htm" title="Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? and against whom have you exalted your voice, and lifted up your eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.">Isaiah 37:23</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-17.htm">2 Chronicles 32:17</a></div><div class="verse">He wrote also letters to rail on the LORD God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of <i>other</i> lands have not delivered their people out of mine hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of mine hand.</div>(17) <span class= "bld">He wrote also letters to rail on.</span>—<span class= "ital">And letters wrote he to reproach</span> (<a href="/isaiah/37-23.htm" title="Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? and against whom have you exalted your voice, and lifted up your eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.">Isaiah 37:23</a>). Sennacherib wrote to Hezekiah demanding submission, <span class= "ital">after</span> the failure of the mission of the Tartan and his companions (<a href="/context/2_kings/19-8.htm" title="So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.">2Kings 19:8-14</a>). If, therefore, the chronicler had been careful about the strictly chronological sequence of events, this verse would have followed rather than preceded 18, 19. As it is, the remark is thrown in here as a parenthesis, in the middle of the account of the behaviour of the Assyrian envoys. Something must be allowed for the necessities of abbreviation, which the author has studied in the entire narrative.<p><span class= "bld">As the gods . . . have not delivered.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">Like the gods of the nations of the countries, which have not delivered.</span> (Comp. <a href="/2_kings/19-10.htm" title="Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.">2Kings 19:10</a>; <a href="/2_kings/19-12.htm" title="Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar?">2Kings 19:12</a> : “Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee,” &c.) “Have the gods of the nations delivered them,” &c.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-18.htm">2 Chronicles 32:18</a></div><div class="verse">Then they cried with a loud voice in the Jews' speech unto the people of Jerusalem that <i>were</i> on the wall, to affright them, and to trouble them; that they might take the city.</div>(18) <span class= "bld">They cried . . . on the wall.</span>—LXX. and Vulg., “he cried” (<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> the Rab-sak). (See <a href="/context/2_kings/18-26.htm" title="Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, to Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray you, to your servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews' language in the ears of the people that are on the wall.">2Kings 18:26-28</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">To affright them, and to trouble</span> (<span class= "ital">terrify, scare</span>) <span class= "bld">them; that they might take the city.</span>—This is the chronicler’s own statement of the purpose of the words of the Rab-sak reported in <a href="/context/2_kings/18-28.htm" title="Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spoke, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria:">2Kings 18:28-35</a>.<p><span class= "bld">To affright.</span>—The <span class= "ital">pi‘el</span> of <span class= "ital">yārē, “</span>to fear,” occurs besides, thrice in <a href="/nehemiah/6-9.htm" title="For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.">Nehemiah 6:9</a>; <a href="/nehemiah/6-14.htm" title="My God, think you on Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear.">Nehemiah 6:14</a>; <a href="/nehemiah/6-19.htm" title="Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.">Nehemiah 6:19</a>; and once in <a href="/2_samuel/14-15.htm" title="Now therefore that I am come to speak of this thing to my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid: and your handmaid said, I will now speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his handmaid.">2Samuel 14:15</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-19.htm">2 Chronicles 32:19</a></div><div class="verse">And they spake against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, <i>which were</i> the work of the hands of man.</div>(19) <span class= "bld">They spake against.</span>—Or, <span class= "ital">spake of</span> Literally, <span class= "ital">unto.</span> (Comp. <a href="/psalms/2-7.htm" title="I will declare the decree: the LORD has said to me, You are my Son; this day have I begotten you.">Psalm 2:7</a>; <a href="/psalms/3-2.htm" title="Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.">Psalm 3:2</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">People.</span>—<span class= "ital">Peoples.</span><p><span class= "bld">The work.</span>—The versions have “works.” Instead of repeating the offers which the Assyrian envoys made to the people of Jerusalem, to induce them to submit, the chronicler dwells on that blasphemy against the God of Israel which was the cause of the Assyrian overthrow.<p><span class= "bld">The work of the hands of man.</span>—A reminiscence of <a href="/2_kings/19-18.htm" title="And have cast 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.">2Kings 19:18</a> : “And they put their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of human hands, wood and stone” (part of Hezekiah’s prayer).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-20.htm">2 Chronicles 32:20</a></div><div class="verse">And for this <i>cause</i> Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven.</div>(20) <span class= "bld">For this cause.</span>—Upon <span class= "ital">this</span> (<span class= "ital">‘al zôth</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span> The reference is to the Assyrian blasphemies against Jehovah, which Hezekiah urged in his prayer for deliverance (<a href="/2_kings/19-16.htm" title="LORD, bow down your ear, and hear: open, LORD, your eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which has sent him to reproach the living God.">2Kings 19:16</a>), and to which Isaiah referred in his prophetic answer (<a href="/isaiah/37-23.htm" title="Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? and against whom have you exalted your voice, and lifted up your eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.">Isaiah 37:23</a>). The prayer of Hezekiah is given in <a href="/context/2_kings/19-15.htm" title="And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwell between the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.">2Kings 19:15-19</a>; <a href="/context/isaiah/37-15.htm" title="And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying,">Isaiah 37:15-20</a>. The parallel passages do not say that Isaiah also prayed; but <a href="/context/2_kings/19-2.htm" title="And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.">2Kings 19:2-4</a>, and <a href="/context/isaiah/37-2.htm" title="And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.">Isaiah 37:2-4</a>, report that the king sent a deputation of nobles to the prophet, requesting his prayers “for the remnant that were left.”<p><span class= "bld">Cried to</span> <span class= "bld">heaven.</span>—Comp. <a href="/2_chronicles/30-27.htm" title="Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even to heaven.">2Chronicles 30:27</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/5-12.htm" title="And the men that died not were smitten with the tumors: and the cry of the city went up to heaven.">1Samuel 5:12</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-21.htm">2 Chronicles 32:21</a></div><div class="verse">And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword.</div>(21) <span class= "bld">And the Lord sent an angel.</span>—See <a href="/2_kings/19-35.htm" title="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.">2Kings 19:35</a>, <span class= "ital">seq.;</span> <a href="/isaiah/37-36.htm" title="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.">Isaiah 37:36</a>, <span class= "ital">seq.</span> Hitzig thinks that Psalms 46-48. were composed by Isaiah to commemorate this great natural miracle, an hypothesis which is borne out by the similarity observable between the language and ideas of these psalms and those of Isaiah’s prophecies.<p><span class= "bld">Which cut off . . . valour.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">and he hid</span> (<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> caused to disappear, destroyed; the Greek <span class= "greekheb">άφανίζειν</span><span class= "ital">;</span> <a href="/exodus/23-23.htm" title="For my Angel shall go before you, and bring you in to the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.">Exodus 23:23</a>) <span class= "ital">every valiant warrior, and leader and captain.</span> (Comp. <a href="/psalms/76-5.htm" title="The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: and none of the men of might have found their hands.">Psalm 76:5</a>, a psalm which in the LXX. bears the title <span class= "greekheb">ᾠδὴ πρὸς τὸν Ἀσσύριον</span><span class= "ital">.</span>) Kings gives the number of those who perished as 185,000.<p><span class= "bld">With shame of face.</span>—<a href="/psalms/44-15.htm" title="My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face has covered me,">Psalm 44:15</a>, “The shame of my face hath covered me.” (<a href="/ezra/9-7.htm" title="Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass to this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.">Ezra 9:7</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">And when he was come</span> <span class= "bld">. . .</span> <span class= "bld">with the sword.</span>—<span class= "ital">And he went into the house of his god, and certain of his own offspring there felled him with the sword.</span> <a href="/2_kings/19-37.htm" title="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.">2Kings 19:37</a> gives the names of the parricides—viz., Adrammelech and Sharezer; and the name of the god—viz., Nisroch—which is probably corrupt. It is added that the assassins “escaped into the land of Ararat.” The chronicler as usual suppresses unfamiliar foreign’names.<p><span class= "bld">They that came forth.</span>—Some <span class= "ital">of the issue</span> (<span class= "ital">yâçî,</span> a verbal noun only found here). (For the whole phrase, comp. <a href="/genesis/15-4.htm" title="And, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, This shall not be your heir; but he that shall come forth out of your own bowels shall be your heir.">Genesis 15:4</a>; <a href="/2_samuel/7-12.htm" title="And when your days be fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, which shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.">2Samuel 7:12</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-22.htm">2 Chronicles 32:22</a></div><div class="verse">Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all <i>other</i>, and guided them on every side.</div>(22) <span class= "bld">Thus.</span>—<span class= "ital">And.</span> The whole verse is the chronicler’s own comment on the preceding narrative. (Comp. <a href="/2_kings/18-7.htm" title="And the LORD was with him; and he prospered wherever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.">2Kings 18:7</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">The hand of all.</span>—Some MSS. appropriately add <span class= "ital">his enemies,</span> an expression which may have fallen out of the text.<p><span class= "bld">And guided them on every side</span> (<span class= "ital">round about</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span>—A somewhat unusual phrase. The conjecture, “and gave them rest round about (<span class= "ital">wayyānah Iāhem</span> for <span class= "ital">wayyĕnahālēm</span>)<span class= "ital">,</span> appears correct. (See <a href="/2_chronicles/14-6.htm" title="And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because the LORD had given him rest.">2Chronicles 14:6</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/15-15.htm" title="And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about.">2Chronicles 15:15</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/20-30.htm" title="So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about.">2Chronicles 20:30</a>; <a href="/1_chronicles/22-18.htm" title="Is not the LORD your God with you? and has he not given you rest on every side? for he has given the inhabitants of the land into my hand; and the land is subdued before the LORD, and before his people.">1Chronicles 22:18</a>.) So the LXX. and Vulg.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-23.htm">2 Chronicles 32:23</a></div><div class="verse">And many brought gifts unto the LORD to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.</div>(23) <span class= "bld">Brought.</span>—<span class= "ital">Were bringing</span> =used to bring.<p><span class= "bld">Gifts.</span>—<span class= "ital">An offering</span> (<span class= "ital">minchah</span>)<span class= "ital">,</span> or <span class= "ital">tribute.</span><p><span class= "bld">Presents to Hezekiah.</span>—Among those who brought such were the envoys of Meroaach Baladan, king of Babylon (<a href="/2_kings/20-12.htm" title="At that time Berodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.">2Kings 20:12</a>). Probably also the neighbouring peoples—<span class= "ital">e.g.,</span> the Philistines—relieved from the pressure of the Assyrian invaders, would thus evince their gratitude to the God of Israel. (Comp. <a href="/2_chronicles/18-11.htm" title="And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramothgilead, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king.">2Chronicles 18:11</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">So that he was magnified . . . nations.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">and he was lifted up, to the eyes of all the nations.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-24.htm">2 Chronicles 32:24</a></div><div class="verse">In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death, and prayed unto the LORD: and he spake unto him, and he gave him a sign.</div><span class= "bld">HEZEKIAH’S SICKNESS—HIS PRIDE AND WEALTH—THE BABYLONIAN EMBASSY—CONCLUSION</span> (<a href="/context/2_chronicles/32-24.htm" title="In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death, and prayed to the LORD: and he spoke to him, and he gave him a sign.">2Chronicles 32:24-33</a>).<p>(24) <span class= "bld">In those days Hezekiah was sick.</span>—This single verse epitomises <a href="/context/2_kings/20-1.htm" title="In those days was Hezekiah sick to death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, Thus said the LORD, Set your house in order; for you shall die, and not live.">2Kings 20:1-11</a>; Isaiah 38<p><span class= "bld">To the death.</span>—<span class= "ital">Unto dying.</span><p><span class= "bld">He spake unto him.</span>—By the mouth of Isaiah.<p><span class= "bld">And he gave him a sign.</span>—The recession of the shadow on the dial of Ahaz. Literally, <span class= "ital">and a sign He gave him;</span> the emphatic word first.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-25.htm">2 Chronicles 32:25</a></div><div class="verse">But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit <i>done</i> unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.</div>(25) <span class= "bld">But Hezekiah.</span>—For Hezekiah’s pride, see the account of his reception of the Babylonian embassy (<a href="/context/2_kings/20-12.htm" title="At that time Berodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.">2Kings 20:12-19</a>; Isaiah 39).<p><span class= "bld">According to the benefit done unto him.</span>—In his illness he promised to walk humbly all his days (<a href="/isaiah/38-15.htm" title="What shall I say? he has both spoken to me, and himself has done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.">Isaiah 38:15</a>); but when he had recovered, “his heart was lifted up.”<p><span class= "bld">Therefore there was wrath upon him.</span>—<span class= "ital">And wrath fell upon him.</span> The token of this was seen in Isaiah’s prophetic rebuke, foretelling that the royal treasures would be carried away to Babylon, and that some of Hezekiah’s sons would be eunuchs in the palace there (<a href="/context/2_kings/20-16.htm" title="And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD.">2Kings 20:16-18</a>; <a href="/context/isaiah/39-5.htm" title="Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:">Isaiah 39:5-7</a>).<p><span class= "bld">And upon Judah and Jerusalem.</span>—Which shared in the king’s guilty pride and confidence in the arm of flesh. (Comp. <a href="/1_chronicles/27-24.htm" title="Joab the son of Zeruiah began to number, but he finished not, because there fell wrath for it against Israel; neither was the number put in the account of the chronicles of king David.">1Chronicles 27:24</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/19-10.htm" title="And what cause soever shall come to you of your brothers that dwell in your cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments, you shall even warn them that they trespass not against the LORD, and so wrath come on you, and on your brothers: this do, and you shall not trespass.">2Chronicles 19:10</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-26.htm">2 Chronicles 32:26</a></div><div class="verse">Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, <i>both</i> he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.</div>(26) <span class= "bld">Notwithstanding.</span>—<span class= "ital">And.</span><p><span class= "bld">The wrath of the Lord . . . days of Hezekiah.</span>—(Comp. <a href="/isaiah/39-8.htm" title="Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which you have spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.">Isaiah 39:8</a>.) On hearing Isaiah’s prophecy of coming evil, Hezekiah humbly acquiesced in the will of Jehovah. “Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah. Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. And he said, There shall be peace and permanence in my own days” (<a href="/2_kings/20-19.htm" title="Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which you have spoken. And he said, Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?">2Kings 20:19</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-27.htm">2 Chronicles 32:27</a></div><div class="verse">And Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honour: and he made himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of pleasant jewels;</div>(27) <span class= "bld">Had.</span>—Or, <span class= "ital">got.</span><p><span class= "bld">Riches and honour</span> (or, <span class= "ital">wealth; kābôd</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span>—Comp. <a href="/1_chronicles/29-28.htm" title="And he died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honor: and Solomon his son reigned in his stead.">1Chronicles 29:28</a> (David); <a href="/2_chronicles/1-12.htm" title="Wisdom and knowledge is granted to you; and I will give you riches, and wealth, and honor, such as none of the kings have had that have been before you, neither shall there any after you have the like.">2Chronicles 1:12</a> (Solomon), <a href="/2_chronicles/17-5.htm" title="Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presents; and he had riches and honor in abundance.">2Chronicles 17:5</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/18-1.htm" title="Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance, and joined affinity with Ahab.">2Chronicles 18:1</a> (Jehoshaphat).<p><span class= "bld">He made himself treasuries.</span>—Comp. <a href="/2_kings/20-13.htm" title="And Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not.">2Kings 20:13</a>; <a href="/isaiah/39-2.htm" title="And Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not.">Isaiah 39:2</a>, where silver and gold and spices are mentioned among the treasures of Hezekiah.<p><span class= "bld">Shields.</span>—Comp. Solomon’s golden, and Rehoboam’s brazen, shields. No doubt the term is here used to suggest arms in general. Kings and Isaiah mention “his armoury.”<p><span class= "bld">All manner of pleasant</span> <span class= "bld">jewels.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">all vessels of desire.</span> (Comp. <a href="/nahum/2-10.htm" title="She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melts, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness.">Nahum 2:10</a>, “wealth of every vessel of desire.”) Costly implements and utensils of all sorts are included.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-28.htm">2 Chronicles 32:28</a></div><div class="verse">Storehouses also for the increase of corn, and wine, and oil; and stalls for all manner of beasts, and cotes for flocks.</div>(28) <span class= "bld">storehouses also.</span>—<span class= "ital">And magazines</span> (<a href="/2_chronicles/8-4.htm" title="And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath.">2Chronicles 8:4</a>; <a href="/exodus/1-11.htm" title="Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.">Exodus 1:11</a>).<p><span class= "bld">Stalls.</span>—‘<span class= "ital">Urāwôth</span> (Syriac, <span class= "ital">‘ûrâwôthô</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span> (Comp. <span class= "ital">ûryôth,</span> <a href="/2_chronicles/9-25.htm" title="And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.">2Chronicles 9:25</a>; and <span class= "ital">‘</span>ă<span class= "ital">wērôth,</span> “cotes,” a word only found here.)<p><span class= "bld">All manner of beasts.</span>—<span class= "ital">Every kind of cattle.</span><p><span class= "bld">Cotes for flocks.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">and flocks for folds.</span> The words appear to have been transposed by some copyist. (Comp. LXX., <span class= "greekheb">καὶ μάνδρας εἰς τὰ ποίμνια</span>, “and folds for the flocks.” So Vulg., “et caulas pecorum.” Syriac omits.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-29.htm">2 Chronicles 32:29</a></div><div class="verse">Moreover he provided him cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance: for God had given him substance very much.</div>(29) <span class= "bld">Moreover he provided him cities.</span>—<span class= "ital">And he made him watch-towers.</span> The word rendered “cities” (<span class= "ital">ārîm</span>) appears in this connection to mean watch-towers j or forts for the protection of the flocks and herds. <a href="/isaiah/1-8.htm" title="And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.">Isaiah 1:8</a> (“a besieged city “); <a href="/2_kings/17-9.htm" title="And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.">2Kings 17:9</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/26-10.htm" title="Also he built towers in the desert, and dig many wells: for he had much cattle, both in the low country, and in the plains: farmers also, and vine dressers in the mountains, and in Carmel: for he loved husbandry.">2Chronicles 26:10</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Had given.</span>—<span class= "ital">Grave.</span><p><span class= "bld">Substance.</span>—Wealth in kind, especially cattle (<a href="/2_chronicles/31-3.htm" title="He appointed also the king's portion of his substance for the burnt offerings, to wit, for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the sabbaths, and for the new moons, and for the set feasts, as it is written in the law of the LORD.">2Chronicles 31:3</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-30.htm">2 Chronicles 32:30</a></div><div class="verse">This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works.</div>(30) <span class= "bld">This same Hezekiah also stopped.</span>—<span class= "ital">And he, Hezekiah, had closed in the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon.</span> (See <a href="/2_chronicles/32-3.htm" title="He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.">2Chronicles 32:3</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">And brought . . . city of David.</span>—<span class= "ital">And conducted them underground to the west of the city of David.</span> (Comp. <a href="/2_kings/20-20.htm" title="And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?">2Kings 20:20</a>, where also this great work of Hezekiah is referred to in concluding his history: “He made the pool, and the aqueduct, and brought the waters into the city.”) The chronicler gives further details.<p><span class= "bld">Brought it straight.</span>—Directed or <span class= "ital">conducted them</span> (<span class= "ital">wayyashshĕrēm;</span> the form in the Hebrew margin is a peculiar contraction of the ordinary <span class= "ital">piel</span> form which appears in the text).<p><span class= "bld">And Hezekiah prospered.</span>—<a href="/2_chronicles/31-21.htm" title="And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.">2Chronicles 31:21</a>; <a href="/1_chronicles/29-23.htm" title="Then Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him.">1Chronicles 29:23</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-31.htm">2 Chronicles 32:31</a></div><div class="verse">Howbeit in <i>the business of</i> the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was <i>done</i> in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all <i>that was</i> in his heart.</div>(31) <span class= "bld">Howbeit.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">And thus;</span> that is, and when things were thus prosperous with him. In the midst of Hezekiah’s prosperity, God left him for a moment to himself, by way of putting him to the proof.<p><span class= "bld">The princes of Babylon.</span>—The same vague plural which we have already noticed in <a href="/2_chronicles/28-16.htm" title="At that time did king Ahaz send to the kings of Assyria to help him.">2Chronicles 28:16</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/30-6.htm" title="So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, You children of Israel, turn again to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.">2Chronicles 30:6</a>, and <a href="/2_chronicles/32-4.htm" title="So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the middle of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?">2Chronicles 32:4</a>, <span class= "ital">supra.</span> The king who “sent letters and a present “to Hezekiah, with congratulations on his recovery from Sickness, and overtures of alliance against the common enemy, Assyria, was Merodach-baladan (<span class= "ital">Maruduk-abla-iddina,</span> “Merodach gave a son”). (See the account in <a href="/2_kings/20-12.htm" title="At that time Berodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.">2Kings 20:12</a>, <span class= "ital">seq.;</span> Isaiah 39)<p><span class= "bld">Who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder</span> (Hebrew, <span class= "ital">the sign,</span> as in <a href="/2_chronicles/32-24.htm" title="In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death, and prayed to the LORD: and he spoke to him, and he gave him a sign.">2Chronicles 32:24</a>).—This is not mentioned in the parallel passage of Kings and Isaiah. But such an inquiry is quite in harmony with what we know of the Babylonians from their own monuments. Babylon was the home of the arts of divination and augury, from observation of all kinds of signs and portents in every department of nature. Moreover, the sign given to Hezekiah would have a special interest for the astrologers and astronomers of the Babylonian temple-towers.<p><span class= "bld">God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.</span>—“To try,” the same word as “to tempt” (<a href="/isaiah/7-12.htm" title="But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD.">Isaiah 7:12</a>; <a href="/psalms/95-9.htm" title="When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.">Psalm 95:9</a>; and often).<p><span class= "bld">That he might know</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> in order to bring out and make manifest the latent possibilities of Hezekiah’s character. The Searcher of hearts knew the issue beforehand; but we can only conceive of His dealings with man by means of human analogies, such as that of the chemist, who subjects an imperfectly known substance to various combinations of circumstances, by way of ascertaining its nature and affinities. The remark is peculiar to the chronicler.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-32.htm">2 Chronicles 32:32</a></div><div class="verse">Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his goodness, behold, they <i>are</i> written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, <i>and</i> in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.</div>(32) <span class= "bld">Now the rest of the acts.</span>—See <a href="/context/2_kings/20-20.htm" title="And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?">2Kings 20:20-21</a>.<p><span class= "bld">And his goodness.</span>—<span class= "ital">His good deeds.</span> So <a href="/2_chronicles/35-26.htm" title="Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD,">2Chronicles 35:26</a> (Josiah); <a href="/nehemiah/13-14.htm" title="Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof.">Nehemiah 13:14</a>.<p><span class= "bld">And in the book of the kings.</span>—Omit <span class= "ital">and.</span> The “vision of Isaiah” is referred to as a section of the “book of the kings of Judah and Israel.” (See <span class= "ital">Introduction.</span>) Kings <span class= "ital">l.c.</span> says, “are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the Kings of Judah?”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/32-33.htm">2 Chronicles 32:33</a></div><div class="verse">And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.</div>(33) <span class= "bld">And they buried him . . . honour at his death.</span>—Statements peculiar to the chronicler. They go to prove an authority besides the canonical books of Kings.<p><span class= "bld">The chiefest.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">the ascent</span>—i.e., <span class= "ital">the way up to</span> the royal tombs. (Comp. <a href="/2_chronicles/20-16.htm" title="To morrow go you down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and you shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.">2Chronicles 20:16</a>.) “The sons of David” are the kings of the house of David. Hezekiah may have chosen a favourite spot for his burial-place; but, as his successors Manasseh, Amon, and Josiah likewise, were not laid in the tombs of the kings, it would appear that the old royal sepulchres were full.<p><span class= "bld">Did him honour at his death.</span>—The phrase, “did him honour” (<span class= "ital">‘asû kābôd lô</span>) occurs here only. (Comp. “give honour to,” <a href="/1_samuel/6-5.htm" title="Why you shall make images of your tumors, and images of your mice that mar the land; and you shall give glory to the God of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land.">1Samuel 6:5</a>; <a href="/psalms/29-1.htm" title="Give to the LORD, O you mighty, give to the LORD glory and strength.">Psalm 29:1</a>.) Probably a great burning of spices was made in honour of Hezekiah as of Asa. (See <a href="/2_chronicles/16-14.htm" title="And they buried him in his own sepulchers, which he had made for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries' are: and they made a very great burning for him.">2Chronicles 16:14</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/21-19.htm" title="And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.">2Chronicles 21:19</a>.)<p><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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