After this, Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem, (now he was before Lachish, and all his power with him), to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah who were at Jerusalem, saying,
Parallel Translations
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After this, Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem, (now he was before Lachish, and all his power with him), to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah who were at Jerusalem, saying,
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After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem, (but he himself laid siege against Lachish, and all his power with him,) unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying,
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After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem — now he was before Lachish, and all his power with him — unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying:
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to 2 Chronicles 32:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Joshua 10:31 Joshua passed from Libnah, and all Israel with him, to Lachish, and encamped against it, and fought against it.
- 2 Kings 18:17 The king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army to Jerusalem. They went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller’s field.
- Joshua 12:11 the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one;
- Joshua 15:39 Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon,
- Isaiah 36:2 The king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a large army. He stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool in the fuller’s field highway.
- Isaiah 37:8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
- Micah 1:13 Harness the chariot to the swift steed, inhabitant of Lachish. She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; For the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain While he besieged Lachish.
While he besieged Lachish.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Ch 32:9 After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria…
2Ch 32:9 After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem, (but he [himself laid siege] against Lachish, and all his power with him,) unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that [were] at Jerusalem, saying,
Ver. 9. Sent his servants to Jerusalem.] See 2Ki 18:9. Antichrist, in like sort, sendeth his legates and nuncios to solicit people to a defection from Christ; as he did Vergerius to Saxony, Campeius to the princes of Germany, Sadoletus to Geneva, Pool hither, &c.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Of this and the following verses, See Poole "2Ki…
Of this and the following verses, See Poole "2Ki 18:17", &c.; See Poole "2Ki 19:10", &c.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain This story of the rage and blasphemy of Sennacherib,…
This story of the rage and blasphemy of Sennacherib, Hezekiah's prayer, and the deliverance of Jerusalem by the destruction of the Assyrian army, we had more at large in the book of Kings, 2 Kings 18 and 19. It is contracted here, yet large enough to show these three things: -
I. The impiety and malice of the church's enemies. Sennacherib has his hands full in besieging Lachish (Ch2 32:9), but hears that Hezekiah is fortifying Jerusalem and encouraging his people to stand it out; and therefore, before he come in person to besiege it, he sends messengers to make speeches, and he himself writes letters to frighten Hezekiah and his people into a surrender of the city. See, 1. His great malice against the king of Judah, in endeavouring to withdraw his subjects from their allegiance to him. He did not treat with Hezekiah as a man of honour would have done, nor propose fair terms to him, but used mean and base artifices, unbecoming a crowned head, to terrify the common people and persuade them to desert him. he represented Hezekiah as one who designed to deceive his subjects into their ruin and betray them to famine and thirst (Ch2 32:11), as one who had done them great wrong and exposed them already to the divine displeasure by taking away the high places and altars (Ch2 32:12), and who, against the common interest of his people, held out against a force that would certainly be their ruin, Ch2 32:15. 2. His great impiety against the God of Israel, the God of Jerusalem he is called (Ch2 32:19), because that was the place he had chosen to put his name there, and because that was the place which was now threatened by the enemy and which the divine Providence had under its special protection. This proud blasphemer compared the great Jehovah, the Maker of heaven and earth, with the dunghill gods of the nations, the work of men's hands, and thought him no more able to deliver his worshippers than they were to deliver theirs (Ch2 32:19), as if an infinite and eternal Spirit had no more wisdom and power than a stone or the stock of a tree. He boasted of his triumphs over the gods of the nations, that they could none of them protect their people (Ch2 32:13-15), and thence inferred not only, How shall your God deliver you? (Ch2 32:14), but, as if he were inferior to them all, How much less shall your God deliver you? as if he were less able to help than any of them. Thus did they rail, rail in writing (which, being more deliberate, is so much the worse), on the Lord God of Israel, as if he were a cipher and an empty name, like all the rest, Ch2 32:17. Sennacherib, in the instructions he gave, said more than enough; but, as if his blasphemies had been too little, his servants, who learned insolence from their master, spoke yet more than he bade them against the Lord God and his servant Hezekiah, Ch2 32:16. And God resents what is said against his servants, and will reckon for it, as well as what is said against himself. All this was intended to frighten the people from their hope in God, which David's enemies sought to take him off from (Psa 11:1; Psa 42:10), saying, There is no help for him in God, Psa 3:2; Psa 71:11. Thus they hoped to take the city by weakening the hands of those that should defend it. Satan, in his temptations, aims to destroy our faith in God's all-sufficiency, knowing that he shall gain his point if he can do that; as we keep our ground if our faith fail not, Luk 22:32.
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II. The duty as well as the interest of the church's friends, and that is in the day of distress to pray and cry to Heaven. So Hezekiah did, and the prophet Isaiah, Ch2 32:20. It was a happy time when the king and the prophet joined thus in prayer. Is any troubled? Is any terrified? Let him pray. So we engage God for us; so we encourage ourselves in him. Praying to God is here called crying to Heaven, because we are, in prayer, to eye him as our Father in heaven, whence he beholds the children of men, and where he has prepared his throne.
III. The power and goodness of the church's God. He is able both to control his enemies, be they ever so high, and to relieve his friends, be they ever so low.
1. As the blasphemies of his enemies engage him against them (Deu 32:27), so the prayers of his people engage him for them. They did so here. (1.) The army of the Assyrians was cut off by the sword of an angel, which triumphed particularly in the slaughter of the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains, who defied the sword of any man. God delights to abase the proud and secure. The Targum says, The Word of the Lord (the eternal Word) sent Gabriel to do this execution, and that it was done with lightning, and in the passover night: that was the night in which the angel destroyed the first-born of Egypt. But that was not all. (2.) The king of the Assyrians, having received this disgrace, was cut off by the sword of his own sons. Those that came forth of his own bowels slew him, Ch2 32:21. Thus was he mortified first, and then murdered - shamed first, and then slain. Evil pursues sinners; and, when they escape one mischief, they run upon another unseen.
2. By this work of wonder, (1.) God was glorified, as the protector of his people. Thus he saved Jerusalem, not only from the hand of Sennacherib, but from the hand of all others, Ch2 32:22; for such a deliverance as this was an earnest of much mercy in store; and he guided them, that is, he guarded them, on every side. God defends his people by directing them, shows them what they should do, and so saves them from what is designed or done against them. For this many brought gifts unto the Lord, when they saw the great power of God in the defence of his people. Strangers were thereby induced to supplicate his favour and enemies to deprecate his wrath, and both brought gifts to his temple, in token of their care and desire. (2.) Hezekiah was magnified as the favourite and particular care of Heaven. Many brought presents to him (Ch2 32:22, Ch2 32:23), in token of the honour they had for him, and to make an interest in him. By the favour of God enemies are lost and friends gained.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria, whereon do ye…
Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria, whereon do ye trust,.... On what power in heaven or on earth?
that ye abide in the siege in Jerusalem? hold out against the siege of it, and do not deliver it up.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 9. After this did Sennacherib] Having received the…
Verse 9. After this did Sennacherib] Having received the silver and gold mentioned above, he withdrew his army, but shortly after he sent Rab-shakeh with a blasphemous message. This is the fact mentioned here.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 2Ch 32:9-10. After this did Sennacherib send his servants…
2Ch 32:9-10. After this did Sennacherib send his servants to Jerusalem —
Of this and the following verses, see notes on 2Ki 18:17, &c., and 2Ch 19:10, &c. Whereon do ye trust, that ye abide in the siege, &c. — Or rather, why do ye stay till Jerusalem is besieged; or, resolve to stand a siege? For the city was not yet besieged.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The author of Chronicles compresses into 13 verses the…
The author of Chronicles compresses into 13 verses the history which occupies in Kings a chapter and a half (2Ki 18:17-19; where see the notes).
2Ch 32:10
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In the siege - Perhaps “in straitness” (compare Jer 19:9). Jerusalem is thought by some to have been not so much besieged at this time, as distressed and straitened for supplies, because the Assyrians were masters of the open country.
2Ch 32:13
fathers - i. e. “predecessors.” Sennacherib really belonged to a dynasty that had only furnished one king before himself.
2Ch 32:22
Guided them ... - A slight alteration of the existing text gives the sense - “gave them rest round about;” a common expression in Chronicles 2Ch 15:15; 2Ch 20:30.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Lachis, whence he sent Rabsaces. Other blasphemous letters were…
Lachis, whence he sent Rabsaces. Other blasphemous letters were dispatched from Lobna, (v. 17) when Sennacherib was forced to go to meet Tharaca, 4 K. xix. 9.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain (See on 2Ki. 18:17-35; also 2Ki. 19:8-34).
(See on 2Ki. 18:17-35; also 2Ki. 19:8-34).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 9. his servants] Three of these are specified in…
9. his servants] Three of these are specified in 2 Kin. by their titles, viz. the Tartan (“Commander-in-chief”), the Rab-saris (“Chief of the Heads”), and the Rab-shakeh (“Chief of the officers”).
but he himself laid siege against Lachish] R.V. now he was before Lachish. The capture of Lachish by Sennacherib and its spoliation are shewn on an Assyrian relief now in the British Museum. The king himself besieged Lachish because it was of more importance for the main object of the campaign than Jerusalem. Sennacherib’s objective was Egypt (Herod. ii. 141), and Lachish (Tell-el-Ḥesy, Bädeker, p. 154), lay directly in his path.
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9–19 (cp. 2Ki_18:17-35). Sennacherib’s Threatening Messages
In this section Chron. briefly summarizes 2 Kin.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (9) After this did Sennacherib . . . send.—See…
(9) After this did Sennacherib . . . send.—See 2Ki_18:17.
But he himself . . . Lachish.—The verb nilkham, “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 (Lakisu) to pass before him.”
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His power.—Literally, his dominion or realm. Comp. Jer_34:1, “all the kingdoms of the lands of the dominion of his hand.” The word hêl, “army,” may have fallen out.
(9-21) A brief summary of what is related in 2Ki_18:17 to 2Ki_19:37.
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The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The passage beginning with this verse and ending with…
The passage beginning with this verse and ending with ver. 21 represents the much fuller parallel, (2Ki_18:17-37; 2Ki_19:1-37) fifty-eight verses in all This much greater fulness is owing to the greater length at which the language of defiance on the part of Sennacherib and his appointed officers is narrated, and the matter of his subsequent letter; also the prayer of Hezekiah; and his application to Isaiah, with the reply of the latter to it. On the other side, there is very little additional in our narrative, a few words heightening the effect in our vers. 18, 20, 21, constituting the whole of such additional matter. The vague mark of time, after this, with which our present verse opens, merely says that in due course of Sennacherib"s invasion of Judah, and attack of the fenced cities (ver. 1), he proceeds to send his servants and his insolent defiances to the metropolis, Jerusalem itself. The three words in italics, "himself laid "siege," should evidently give place to the single word "remained" or "was;" i.e. he and all his host with him remained at, or opposite to, Lachish, while his servants went to defy Jerusalem in his name.
Vers. 9-23.
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Sennacherib and Hezekiah: abasement and exaltation.
We have here brought out in very vivid contrast
I THE HISTORY OF THE HAUGHTY.
1. Appearances are all on its side. It has apparently overwhelming numbers, superior military training and equipments, the prestige of previous success and acknowledged worldly power.
2. It is honeycombed with spiritual evil. It is
(1) lamentably ignorant of the truth which it distorts (ver. 12);
(2) scornful (ver. 11), indulging in a contemptuous spirit and correspondingly contemptuous language;
(3) pride, and its accompanying vain-gloriousness (vers. 13-15);
(4) impiety, speaking of the living God as if he were to be classed with the gods of the heathen (vers. 13, 15). All these evil tempers and baneful utterances are serious sins, either against self or against others, or directly against God.
3. It draws down upon itself the decisive displeasure of the Divine Ruler.For the vauntful Sennacherib, who made so sure of an easy victory and an added honour, there was reserved, in the righteous providence of God, a calamitous disaster (ver. 21; and see 2Ki_19:15) and bitter shame. "So he returned with shame of face to his own land" (ver. 21). Thus he that exalted himself was abased; and thus the haughty may expect to be brought low, for there are two powers working against them.
(1) The moral condition of haughty-heartedness is one that conducts almost certainly to negligence, to imprudence, to some fatal error of either action or inaction.
(2) God"s high displeasure is kindled against them. Again and again has he "revealed his wrath" against this evil and baneful passion. To fall under its power is penalty indeed, but it leads on and down to other sorrows.
II THE HISTORY OF THE HUMBLE. Humility, in the person of the godly Hezekiah, presents an opposite picture to that of his formidable and defiant enemy.
1. It is apparently in great peril. The outward and visible forces those ofthis world are decidedly against it. If the race were always to the swift and the battle to the strong, there would be no chance for humility. It would never clasp the goal, nor win the victory.
2. Its character is one of beauty and of piety. There is no little moral comeliness in humility; it is "fair to see;" it attracts the gaze of the purest eyes above and below. Moreover, its spirit is reverent; it knows its own helplessness, and it looks upward for the aid it needs; it "cries to Heaven" (ver. 20); it leans on God.
3. Its end is not only deliverance, but honour. The Lord saved Hezekiah from the hand of Sennacherib (ver. 22); and to the King of Judah were brought valuable gifts, and "he was magnified in the sight of all nations" (ver. 23). Concerning humility now, as it may appear in all men"s hearts, we may say that
(1) it is a fair and beautiful grace in itself, most worth possessing for its own sake, really enriching its subject;
(2) it brings with it the favour of God our Father (Isa_57:15; Mat_5:3 Mat_18:4 Mat_23:11 1Pe_5:5, 1Pe_5:6)
(3) it will be honoured in due time. Not only is it the case that humility introduces us into the kingdom of Christ, but it is also true that it leads us on to an advanced position in that kingdom. "The lowly heart that leans on thee" is not only "happy everywhere," but it is spiritually prosperous everywhere; it is certain to receive proofs of Divine regard, probably in human estimation (as with Hezekiah); but, if not thus, in some other way of gracious and gladdening enlargement. C.
Vers. 9-16.
The invasion of Sennacherib: 1. A summons to surrender.
I SENNACHERIB"S ENCAMPMENT AT LACHISH. Fifteen or eighteen hours west-south-west of Jerusalem, in the low country of Judah, on the confines of Philistia, fourteen miles north-east of Gaza, Lachish (see 2Ch_11:9 2Ch_25:27) on the monuments Lakis according to a slab in the British Museum, was a walled town with towers and battlements, whose power of resistance was so great as to demand a protracted siege.
1. Sennacheribs route thither. From the north not by the military road through Nazareth, Jezreel, Sichem, Bethel, At, Michmash, Geba, Rama, Gibeah, Anathoth, Nob, (Isa_10:28-32) Sargon"s route (Sayce, "Fresh Light," etc., p. 137), but by Sidon, Akko, Joppa, Bene-berak, Beth-dagon, Ekron, and Ashdod (Schrader, p. 386).
2. Sennacheribs employment there.
(1) Besieging Lachish. Sennacherib"s annals furnish no account of this siege; but some sculptured slabs in the British Museum represent a large city "defended by double walls, with battlements and towers and by fortified outworks," for the capture of which Sennacherib brought up his whole army, "and raised against the fortifications as many as ten banks or mounts, completely built of stones, bricks, earth, and branches of trees" (Layard, "Nineveh and Babylon," p. 149). That this was Lachish is rendered probable by the circumstance that one of these slabs depicts the capture of Lachish, the inscription reading, "Sennacherib, the king of multitudes, the King of Assyria, sat on an upright throne, and the spoil of the city of Lachish passed before him" (ibid., p. 150). "The besieged defended themselves with great determination, thronged the battlements and towers, showering arrows, javelins, stones, and blazing torches upon the assailants," while the Assyrians "poured water with large ladies upon the flaming brands which threatened to destroy their engines" (ibid., p. 149). The stubborn resistance of Lachish no doubt delayed the advance of Sennacherib"s whole force against Jerusalem ("Records," etc., 1:35).
(2) Receiving Hezekiah"s submission. Hezekiah had rebelled against the Assyrian supremacy in the days of Shalmaneser, (2Ki_18:7) but had again been placed under it by Sargon. On Sargon"s assassination (B.C. 705) the kings of Sidon, Ascalon, and Judah formed an alliance with Egypt and Ethiopia to once more break the oppressive yoke of Assyria. The league was joined by the Ekronites, against the will of Padi their prince, who remained faithful to Assyria, and whom they "placed in chains of iron, and unto Hezekiah King of Judah delivered," who "shut him up in darkness (or prison)." Before the allies could unite their forces, Sennacherib appeared upon the scene, having obtained a hint of the confederacy being formed against him. First he swooped down upon Luliah the King of Sidon, who fled to a distant spot in the middle of the sea, leaving to the mercy of the conqueror "his strong cities and castles, walled and fenced, and his finest garrison towns." Next the kings of Samaria, Sidon, Arvad, Gubal, Ashded, Beth-Ammon, Moab, and Edom, hastened to meet the invader with "great presents," and kiss his feet. Zedek of Ascalon, who, along with Judah, still stood out, was, with his wife, sons, daughters, brothers, and gods, apprehended and deported to Assyria. At Lachish a halt was made to await the Ethiopian and Assyrian kings, who were soon after defeated at Altaku, the Eltekon of Jos_15:59. Dreading the fate he saw approaching, Hezekiah despatched an embassy to Lachish, proffering submission, and agreeing to pay whatever tribute might be asked. (2Ki_18:14) Sennacherib demanded three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. The monuments give the tribute as eight hundred talents of silver and thirty of gold, and state that it was sent to Nineveh after Sennacherib, with "woven cloth, scarlet, embroidered; precious stones of large size, couches of ivory, movable thrones of ivory, skins, and teeth of buffaloes all sorts of treasures, his (Hezekiah"s) daughters, the male and female inmates of his palace, as also male and female slaves." The discrepancy as to the number of silver talents may be explained by supposing different standards of value to have been employed in reckoning, while the biblical account of the place to which the tribute was sent is clearly to be preferred. In order to pay the exaction Hezekiah appropriated all the silver in the temple, and the treasures in the palace, as well as stripped the gold from off the doors and pillars of the former. (2Ki_18:15, 2Ki_18:16) ("Records," etc., 1:33, etc.; Smith, "Assyrian Discoveries," p. 295, etc.; Schrader, "Die Keilinschriften," p. 291, etc.; Sayce, "Fresh Light," etc., p. 139, etc.)
II SENNACHERIB"S COMMISSION TO HIS GENERALS. These generals were three in number.
1. Their titles.
(1) Tartan. In Assyria, tur-ta-nu, commander-in-chief, or field-marshal (2Ki_18:17; Isa_20:1)
(2) Rabsaris, "chief of the eunuchs", (2Ki_18:17) probably Sennacherib"s lord chamberlain, whose duty was to act as official scribe.
(3) Rabshakeh, "chief of the cup-bearers" (2Ki_18:17; Isa_36:2) As the inscriptions never speak of this court official as a military personage, it has been suggested (Schrader, p. 319) that Rabshakeh is a Hebraized or Aramaized form of Rabsak, meaning "upper chief, superior officer," perhaps Sennacherib"s prime minister. Tiglath-Pileser II had a general of this name, whom he sent to Tyre (Smith"s "Assyrian Discoveries," p. 264). The Rabshakeh was obviously the orator of Sennacherib"s three. (2Ki_18:19) The tartan was most likely too exalted a personage to hold either oral or written communications with the king"s enemies.
2. Their commission. To advance, with a detachment of the army, against Jerusalem, with the view of intimidating it into surrender; failing in this, to prosecute against it a siege. Sennacherib was most likely moved to this by the report of the approach of the kings of Egypt and Ethiopia; before encountering these, it was clearly to his advantage to reduce both Ekron and Jerusalem.
III SENNACHERIB"S ADDRESS TO THE KING AND INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM. Not delivered in person, but through "his servants" (ver. 9), and in particular Rabshakeh (2Ki_18:19; Isa_36:2-4) Nor spoken directly to Hezekiah and his people, but to Eliakim, Hilkiah"s son, who was over the household, i.e. the king"s high steward, (Isa_22:20) to Shebna the scribe, or king"s secretary, who had lately been deposed from the office of high steward (Isa_22:15-19) because of favouring the interest of Assyria, and to Joah, Asaph"s son, the recorder, or king"s annalist. Standing by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller"s field, where Isaiah and his son Shear-jashub had met with Ahaz when the Syro-Israelitish invasion was threatened, (Isa_7:3) and where the Assyrian army was now encamped, over against the Gennath Gate, in front of which the envoys of Hezekiah stood, while the inhabitants crowded round it and even sat upon the city wall, observing the scene, (Isa_22:1-13) Rabshakeh, in the name of his master, called upon the king and his subjects to surrender, using the Hebrew tongue, that the inhabitants might understand, and becoming alarmed, induce their rulers to submit. The points in Rabshakeh"s harangue, considerably shortened by the Chronicler, were two.
1. That the hope of deliverance held out by Hezekiah was a delusion. If their confidence was based upon expected assistance from Egypt, they would soon know that Pharaoh was "a bruised reed, upon which, if a man leant, it would go into his hand and pierce it"; (2Ki_18:21) if it was Jehovah to whom Hezekiah was persuading them to turn their gaze (ver. 11; cf. 2Ki_18:22; Isa_36:7) that source of succour would prove as little satisfactory.
(1) Because it was not likely Jehovah would extend aid to one who had so openly insulted him as Hezekiah had done by taking away his high places and altars, and commanding all Jerusalem and Judah to worship at one altar (ver. 12). Either the fame of Hezekiah"s reformation had travelled to Nineveh, or Sennacherib had heard of it since coming into the country. if he had not learnt of it from Sargon his father. But Sennacherib either wilfully, or most likely ignorantly, misrepresented Hezekiah"s action as one that would rather cause him to forfeit than gain the Divine favour. So the best deeds of men are often misunderstood, and their good conversation falsely accused by others who speak against them as evildoers. (1Pe_2:12 1Pe_3:16)
(2) Because, even although Jehovah did extend aid to Hezekiah, it would come to nothing. Jehovah would prove as powerless as the gods of other nations had done. Not one of these had been able to oppose the resistless march of Sennacherib and his predecessors on the Assyrian throne, or to deliver from destruction the peoples that served them; and if these had failed to render effectual aid to their devotees, much more would Jehovah fail in protecting his (vers. 13-15; cf. 2Ki_18:33-35; Isa_36:11-13) Sennacherib forgot, as Sargon had done before him, that the power of himself and his fathers over the nations and their gods arose from this that Assyria was the rod of Jehovah"s anger, (Isa_10:5-19) and that whensoever Jehovah pleased he could cause the Assyrian, who smote with a rod, to be beaten down. (Isa_30:31)
2. That their resistance would entail upon them all the horrors of a siege. They would certainly perish by famine and by thirst (ver. 11), if not by the sword, since their escape was impossible. Neither Sennacherib nor his generals guessed the resources of the God of Judah; had they done so, their attitude would have been less defiant and their language less confident. Events were to teach them that what was impossible for man was both possible and easy for God.
Learn:
1. The presumption of some wicked men.
2. The impotence of all heathen gods.
3. The supremacy of the one living and true God.
4. The security of those whom Jehovah defends. W.
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unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 now he was ... with him
now he was ... with him
The word "now" is used here to mark a break in the main story line. Here the narrator tells background information about the location of Sennacherib and his army. (See: Background Information)
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Lachish
This was a city in Judah. (See: How to Translate Names)
What are you relying on in order to endure a siege in Jerusalem?
Sennacherib uses a rhetorical question to cause the people to think about their situation. The question can be translated as a statement. AT: "You are not able to endure a siege in Jerusalem." (See: Rhetorical Question)
translationWords
send
servant
Jerusalem
siege
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.