Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to Yahweh’s house, and spread it before Yahweh. Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh, and said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, Yahweh, and hear. Open your eyes, Yahweh, and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to defy the living God. Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, 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. Now therefore, Yahweh our God, save us, I beg you, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Yahweh, are God alone.”
Parallel Translations
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Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to Yahweh’s house, and spread it before Yahweh.
Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh, and said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
Incline your ear, Yahweh, and hear. Open your eyes, Yahweh, and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to defy the living God.
Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,
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.
Now therefore, Yahweh our God, save us, I beg you, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Yahweh, are God alone.”
-
And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.
LORD, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God.
Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,
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.
Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only.
Show all 3 translations
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And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said: 'O LORD, the God of Israel, that sittest upon the cherubim, Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; Thou hast made heaven and earth.
Incline Thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open Thine eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, wherewith he hath sent him to taunt the living God.
Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,
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.
Now therefore, O LORD our God, save Thou us, I beseech Thee, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art the LORD God, even Thou only.'
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (76)
- 2 Kings 19:4 (v16) It may be Yahweh your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and…
- 2 Chronicles 6:40 (v16) “Now, my God, let, I beg you, your eyes be open, and let your ears be attentive, to the prayer that is made in this place.
- Psalms 31:2 (v16) Bow down your ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be to me a strong rock, a house of defense to save me.
- Psalms 83:18 (v19) that they may know that you alone, whose name is Yahweh, are the Most High over all the earth.
- Isaiah 37:14 (v14) Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to Yahweh’s house, and spread it before…
Show all 76 cross-references
- Isaiah 37:17 (v16) Turn your ear, Yahweh, and hear. Open your eyes, Yahweh, and behold. Hear all of the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to defy the living…
- Exodus 25:22 (v15) There I will meet with you, and I will tell you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the…
- 1 Kings 8:29 (v16) that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there;’ to…
- 1 Kings 8:43 (v19) hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may…
- 1 Kings 18:39 (v15) When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces. They said, “Yahweh, he is God! Yahweh, he is God!”
- 2 Kings 5:15 (v15) He returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him; and he said, “See now, I know that there is no God…
- Psalms 91:1-2 (v14) He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of Yahweh, “He is my refuge and my…
- Psalms 123:1-4 (v14) I lift up my eyes to you, you who sit in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a…
- Isaiah 44:6 (v15) This is what Yahweh, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies, says: “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there…
- Isaiah 44:8 (v15) Don’t fear, neither be afraid. Haven’t I declared it to you long ago, and shown it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me?…
- Jeremiah 10:10-12 (v15) But Yahweh is the true God. He is the living God, and an everlasting King. At his wrath, the earth trembles. The nations aren’t able to…
- Daniel 4:34-35 (v15) At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High,…
- Daniel 9:3-4 (v15) I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to Yahweh my God, and made…
- Daniel 9:18 (v16) My God, turn your ear, and hear. Open your eyes, and see our desolations, and the city which is called by your name; for we do not present…
- Acts 17:29 (v18) Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design…
- Genesis 1:1 (v15) In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
- Genesis 2:4 (v15) This is the history of the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made the earth…
- 2 Samuel 7:18-28 (v15) Then David the king went in, and sat before Yahweh; and he said, “Who am I, Lord Yahweh, and what is my house, that you have brought me…
- 1 Kings 8:23 (v15) and he said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keeps covenant and loving…
- 1 Kings 8:28-30 (v14) Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant, and for his supplication, Yahweh my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your…
- 2 Chronicles 14:11 (v15) Asa cried to Yahweh his God, and said, “Yahweh, there is no one besides you to help, between the mighty and him who has no strength. Help…
- 2 Chronicles 20:6 (v15) and he said, “Yahweh, the God of our fathers, aren’t you God in heaven? Aren’t you ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and…
- Ezra 9:5 (v14) At the evening offering I arose up from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn; and I fell on my knees, and spread out my…
- Psalms 67:1-2 (v19) May God be merciful to us, bless us, and cause his face to shine on us. That your way may be known on earth, and your salvation among all…
- Psalms 74:10-11 (v14) How long, God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever? Why do you draw back your hand, even your right…
- Psalms 102:25 (v15) Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the work of your hands.
- Psalms 146:6 (v15) who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever;
- Isaiah 43:10 (v15) “You are my witnesses,” says Yahweh, “With my servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he.…
- Isaiah 44:9-20 (v18) Everyone who makes a carved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don’t see, nor know, that…
- Isaiah 45:22 (v15) “Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
- Jeremiah 10:3-9 (v18) For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax. They…
- John 1:1-3 (v15) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were…
- Exodus 9:15-16 (v19) For now I would have stretched out my hand, and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth;…
- Joshua 7:9 (v19) For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. What…
- 1 Samuel 4:4 (v15) So the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh of Armies, who sits above the cherubim; and the…
- 1 Samuel 17:45-47 (v19) Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of Yahweh…
- 2 Samuel 5:21 (v18) They left their images there; and David and his men took them away.
- 1 Kings 18:36-37 (v19) At the time of the evening offering, Elijah the prophet came near, and said, “Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it…
- 1 Kings 20:28 (v19) A man of God came near and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “Yahweh says, ‘Because the Syrians have said, “Yahweh is a god of the…
- 2 Kings 16:9 (v17) The king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried its people captive to Kir,…
- 2 Kings 17:6 (v17) In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the…
- 2 Kings 17:24 (v17) The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, from Cuthah, from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of…
- 1 Chronicles 5:26 (v17) So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath Pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them…
- Job 9:2 (v17) “Truly I know that it is so, but how can man be just with God?
- Psalms 79:12 (v16) Pay back to our neighbors seven times into their bosom their reproach with which they have reproached you, Lord.
- Psalms 115:4-8 (v18) Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they don’t speak. They have eyes, but they don’t see. They…
- Isaiah 5:9 (v17) In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: “Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied.
- Isaiah 7:17-18 (v17) Yahweh will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from…
- Isaiah 10:9-11 (v17) Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?” As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose…
- Isaiah 37:4 (v16) It may be Yahweh your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will…
- Isaiah 37:18-19 (v18) Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the countries and their land, and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were…
- Isaiah 46:1-2 (v18) Bel bows down. Nebo stoops. Their idols are carried by animals, and on the livestock. The things that you carried around are heavy loads, a…
- Jeremiah 10:14-16 (v18) Every man has become brutish and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is…
- Jeremiah 26:15 (v17) Only know for certain that, if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its inhabitants; for…
- Daniel 2:47 (v17) The king answered to Daniel, and said, “Of a truth your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you…
- Daniel 4:34-37 (v19) At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High,…
- Luke 22:59 (v17) After about one hour passed, another confidently affirmed, saying, “Truly this man also was with him, for he is a Galilean!”
- Acts 4:27 (v17) “For truly, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together against your holy servant,…
- 1 Corinthians 14:25 (v17) And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed. So he will fall down on his face and worship God, declaring that God is among you indeed.
- Hebrews 11:26 (v16) considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
- Genesis 32:28 (v15) He said, “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
- Genesis 33:20 (v15) He erected an altar there, and called it El Elohe Israel.
- 2 Kings 19:15 (v19) Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh, and said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone,…
- 1 Chronicles 4:10 (v15) Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my border! May your hand be with me, and may you…
- 2 Chronicles 5:7-8 (v15) The priests brought in the ark of Yahweh’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, even under…
- 2 Chronicles 32:20 (v15) Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, prayed because of this, and cried to heaven.
- Psalms 33:9 (v15) For he spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood firm.
- Psalms 80:1 (v15) Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who sit above the cherubim, shine out.
- Psalms 99:1 (v15) Yahweh reigns! Let the peoples tremble. He sits enthroned among the cherubim. Let the earth be moved.
- Isaiah 41:17 (v15) The poor and needy seek water, and there is none. Their tongue fails for thirst. I, Yahweh, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will…
- Matthew 14:33 (v17) Those who were in the boat came and worshiped him, saying, “You are truly the Son of God!”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv14, 15, 16, 19 Before the Ark of the covenant.
Before the Ark of the covenant.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv14–19 2Ki 19:14 And Hezekiah received the letter of the…
2Ki 19:14 And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
Ver. 14. And read it.] Heb., Them: and spread it. That which had the blasphemies in it: or, if it was all but one letter, he spread that part of it that was most reproachful to the just and jealous God.
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 On vv14, 16 Into the house of the Lord, i.e. into the…
Into the house of the Lord, i.e. into the court of the temple; for further he might not enter.
Before the Lord, i.e. before the ark or temple; which he did, not to acquaint God, but to strengthen his own faith, and quicken himself to prayer.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv15–16 O Lord God of Israel, &c. - He calls…
O Lord God of Israel, &c. - He calls him the God of Israel, because Israel was his peculiar people; but yet the God of the whole earth, not as Sennacherib fancied, the God of Israel only. Let them say what they will, thou art sovereign Lord, the God of gods, even thou alone: Universal Lord of all the kingdoms of the earth; and rightful Lord; for thou hast made heaven and earth. Being creator of all, by an incontestable title thou art owner and ruler of all.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv14–15 Verse 14. Spread it before the Lord] The temple…
Verse 14. Spread it before the Lord] The temple was considered to be God's dwelling-place; and that whatever was there was peculiarly under his eye. Hezekiah spread the letter before the Lord, as he wished him to read the blasphemies spoken against himself.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv14, 15, 16, 19 2Ki 19:14. Hezekiah went up into the house of…
2Ki 19:14. Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord — Into the outward court of the temple, for further he might not go, and at the entrance of the court of the priests, he looked toward the sanctuary, where God was peculiarly present, and spread the letter before him; which he did, not to acquaint God with its contents, but as a token that he appealed to him concerning them, and referred himself and his cause to his righteous judgment, expecting him to answer for himself, and manifest that power which the king of Assyria had so daringly blasphemed. He meant also hereby to affect his own mind, strengthen his own faith, and quicken his desires in prayer, to a greater degree of fervency.
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 On vv14, 15, 18, 19 Hezekiah received the letter - The inscriptions show that…
Hezekiah received the letter - The inscriptions show that scribes accompanied the Assyrian armies, with the materials of their craft, so that such a dispatch might be easily drawn up. As Hezekiah himself “read” it, we may presume that it was in the Hebrew tongue.
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 On vv14–16 Before the Lord, to move him to revenge his…
Before the Lord, to move him to revenge his own cause, (Haydock) and to shew that he looked upon the Lord, as a father, with the utmost confidence (Menochius) and resignation. He spreads the blasphemous letter (Haydock) before the ark, which was the special place for prayer. (Worthington)
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 On v14 HEZEKIAH'S PRAYER. (2Ki. 19:14-34)
HEZEKIAH'S PRAYER. (2Ki. 19:14-34)
Hezekiah received the letter . . . and went up into the house of the Lord--Hezekiah, after reading it, hastened into the temple, spread it in the childlike confidence of faith before the Lord, as containing taunts deeply affecting the divine honor, and implored deliverance from this proud defier of God and man. The devout spirit of this prayer, the recognition of the Divine Being in the plenitude of His majesty--so strikingly contrasted with the fancy of the Assyrians as to His merely local power; his acknowledgment of the conquests obtained over other lands; and of the destruction of their wooden idols which, according to the Assyrian practice, were committed to the flames--because their tutelary deities were no gods; and the object for which he supplicated the divine interposition--that all the kingdoms of the earth might know that the Lord was the only God--this was an attitude worthy to be assumed by a pious theocratic king of the chosen people.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv14, 15, 16, 18, 19 HEZEKIAH’S PRAYER, 2Ki_19:14-19.
HEZEKIAH’S PRAYER, 2Ki_19:14-19.
14. Spread it before the Lord — As containing that which burdens his soul, and brings him in profound humiliation before the most holy place. “The act of spreading out the letter before Jehovah,” says Sisco, “is a symbolic presentation of the great distress into which Hezekiah has been brought by Sennacherib, and to which his prayer refers.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv14–19 14–19. Hezekiah spreads the letter before the Lord, and…
14–19. Hezekiah spreads the letter before the Lord, and prays for deliverance (2Ch_32:20; Isa_37:14-20)
14. Hezekiah received the letter] Though bringing a written document the messengers of Sennacherib may be supposed to have also enforced their message by words of their own.
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went up into [R.V. unto] the house of the Lord] The change brings the words into exact likeness with the verse in Isaiah. It is not likely that the king entered the temple. He would go into no place which was set apart only for priests and Levites. It is more reasonable to suppose that standing at the porch he made his prayer towards the Holy of Holies to which he alludes.
spread it before the Lord] We are not to think of this act as intended by the king to exhibit the letter for the divine inspection. It was rather done that the object being present to his own sight, his prayer might be prompted thereby and rendered more fervent. The letter was no doubt in the Hebrew character, and the sight of its language would help his thoughts.
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 On vv14–18 (14) The letter.—The Hebrew word is plural, like the…
(14) The letter.—The Hebrew word is plural, like the Latin litterae. The first “it” is plural, the second singular. 2Ki_19:10-13 may be regarded as embodying the substance of the letter, which the envoys first delivered orally, and then presented the letter to authenticate it. But perhaps the contents of the letter were not preserved in the Hebrew annals.
Spread it before the Lord.—Commentators have taken offence at this act, as if it betokened some heathenish conception of Jehovah. “Très-naïvement, pour que Dieu la lût aussi” (Reuss). But one who could think of his God as having “made heaven and earth,” and as the only God, would not be likely to imagine Him ignorant of the contents of a letter until it had been laid before Him in His sanctuary. Hezekiall’s act was a solemn and perfectly natural indication to his ministers and people that he had put the matter into the hands of Jehovah.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv14–19 And Hezekiah received the letter. It had not been…
And Hezekiah received the letter. It had not been previously stated that Sennacherib had written a letter. But the author forgets this, and so speaks of "the letter." Kings generally communicated by letters, and not merely by messages (see 2Ki_5:5 2Ki_20:12; 2Ch_2:11; Neh_1:9, etc.) Of the hand of the messengers, and read it. Probably Sennacherib had caused it to be written in Hebrew. And Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. Not as if God would not otherwise know the contents of the letter, but to emphasize his detestation of the letter, and to make it silently plead for him with God. Ewald rightly compares what Judas Maccabaeus did with the disfigured copies of the Law at Maspha, (RAPC 1Macc 3:48) but incorrectly calls it ("History of Israel," vol. 4. p. 183, note 1, Eng. trans.) "a laying down of the object in the sanctuary." Maspha was "over against" the temple, at the distance of a mile or more.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv14–15 And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of…
2Ki_19:14
And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers.
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The history of a letter
How easy to say, the letter; and yet, how much the words may mean! The postman, as he goes his rounds, would become the most melancholy of men if he thought much upon the budget he carries. To some houses joy, to others misery,--nay, to the same house joy treads on the heels of sorrow. We dont know what to-morrow may bring us; the postmans knock may be the knell of doom or the signal for peals of joyous laughter. What a letter was that which Hezekiah received! In form it would be very different to our ideas of a letter. The Assyrians did not use paper, or even skins, but did their writing on clay. You may see, in the British Museum, a conveyance of land, written, not on parchment, but on clay, and then baked hard. So it is very likely that the letter was a tablet of terra cotta. It has been thought by some that Rabshakeh was the writer of these railing letters. This was trouble, but it was trouble that might have been prevented. Hezekiah ought never to have paid tribute to Sennacherib. When first the demand was made, he should have called on the name of the Lord. Let us learn to never submit to the claims of sin. We can never satisfy it. Much will have more. Sin, like Sennacherib, will take all you will give, and then come for more, and when it has got all it will come for you. The devil has no right to a penny of our money, or a moment of our time.
I. What did Hezekiah do with the letter? He did not send a hasty answer. Many a quarrel might have been prevented if men would spread disagreeable letters before the Lord. Many a family feud would never have been brought about but for the want of this. If you get letters that give you pain, before you pen a reply send a message to God, and He will teach you to indite what may turn away wrath. He did not send to Egypt; he was cured of that now. If some one who reads this is in trouble, let me counsel you to remember what is a command as well as a promise, Call upon Me in the day of trouble. Far too many of us treat God as though He had no existence. We try everybody else before going to the Lord. He went up into the house of the Lord. Where was he so likely to find God as in His house? There is much force in the promise, If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not. It is a model prayer; not like many, which must try the patience of God, going all round the world, instead of fastening upon the thing needed, and asking for that. If our prayers were more like telegrams we should have speedier answers. The prayer of the pious king appealed to God for the sake of His honour--that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art the Lord God. How the Almighty is touched by an appeal of this sort. If we thought more of Gods honour in our prayers, we should be more often answered.
II. Was the letter ever answered? Yes, for Jehovah answered it Himself. He did not trouble Hezekiah to do it; and the answer is worthy of the Lord. There is a postscript to Gods answer (see 2Ki_19:35). It came to pass that night--they were all dead corpses. Fancy if you saw in the newspaper to-morrow Sudden death of 185,000 soldiers! What a stir it would make! What a sight the camp must have been next morning. There has been much discussion as to how it happened. There is no mention of it in the Assyrian record. They were ready enough to boast, but when Sennacherib crept back to his palace, he did not instruct the historian to chronicle his disgrace. Herodotus tells us that the Egyptians, against whom Sennacherib was then at war, ascribed the destruction of their foes to the power of their gods. There has been considerable discussion amongst the learned as to the cause of the destruction of so large an army, and it is generally understood now to have been the simeon. Cambyses, king of the Medea, lost 50,000 men by one of these dreadful winds. But whether the wind was the messenger, or whether an angel had the wind in his power, it matters not; we read of stormy wind fulfilling His word. God willed it, and nature hasted to do His bidding. (T. Champness.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v14 Hezekiah’s Prayer and the Deliverance of Jerusalem
Hezekiah’s Prayer and the Deliverance of Jerusalem
v. 14. And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. This is a fine example to follow in case of every difficulty, namely, to lay the matter before the Lord first.
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v. 15. And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubim, that being the place where the glory of the Lord appeared to His servants, Exo 25:22, Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth, not merely of Judah, Thou hast made heaven and earth.
v. 16. Lord, bow down Thine ear and hear, in the attitude of the most careful attention; open, Lord, Thine eyes and see, the entire form of the prayer showing the importunity of the request; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach, to heap contempt upon, the living God.
v. 17. of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,
v. 18. and have cast their gods into the fire, thereby really wiping out the whole nationality of the conquered peoples, which was connected with their gods; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, Psa 115:4; therefore they had destroyed them. It was the vanity, the nothingness, of the idols of the heathen which made their overthrow such an easy matter, and which also explains the subjection of the nations worshiping them. But the supposition that Jehovah of Israel is also a god like the idols of the heathen will quickly be shown to be foolish.
v. 19. Now, therefore, O Lord, our God, I beseech Thee, save Thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art the Lord God, even Thou only, and not a vain idol of man s imagination. It is a model prayer of confidence in the Lord and the victory of His cause.
v. 20. Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to Me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, I have heard.
v. 21. This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning him. Now follows a prophecy in poetical form, full of powerful beauty. The first section is a scornful rebuke of Sennacherib’s boast. The virgin, the daughter of Zion, the entire city with all its inhabitants, all the true believers in Jehovah being meant, hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee, in utter mockery and derision.
v. 22. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed, and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, when he lifted it up to utter proud words, and lifted up thine eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel, whose majesty cannot be outraged with impunity.
v. 23. By thy messengers, in both delegations, thou hast reproached the Lord and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar-trees thereof, the finest specimens, and the choice fir-trees thereof; and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders and Into the forest of his Carmel, literally, "the forest of his tree-garden," said of the thick forest of cedars near the highest points of the Lebanon.
v. 24. I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged, fortified, places. This was setting forth the measureless boast of the Assyrian with the proper scorn, for he not only prided himself on the fact that he had overrun the entire Lebanon district, subdued Phoenicia, Galilee, and Samaria, but he also asserted, with great boldness, that he would, in overcoming the power of Egypt, dig cisterns in the wilderness, and command the very Nile to dry up before him. This arrogant self-assumption is now properly rebuked.
v. 25. Hast thou not heard long ago how I, Jehovah, have done it, that it was in reality God who had planned and executed these decrees upon the nations, the Assyrian king being but a small instrument in His hand, and of ancient times that I have formed it? If the arrogant boaster had never heard it, then it was time now that he knew the Lord to be the one who had fashioned and determined it. Now have I brought it to pass that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps. Without this will and permission of God the Assyrian could have accomplished nothing; he was, without knowing it, carrying out the plan of the Lord.
v. 26. Therefore, because the Lord had so decreed it, their inhabitants were of small power, unable to offer a successful resistance; they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field and as the green herb, tender and easily scorched, as the grass on the housetops, which withers quickly on account of lack of soil, and as corn blasted before It be grown up, having the germ of decay in it before it has fairly begun to grow.
v. 27. But I know thy abode, his quiet resting, and thy going out and thy coming in, all the activity of the ordinary person, and thy rage against Me.
v. 28. Because thy rage against Me and thy tumult is come up into Mine ears, the arrogant security of which he boasted, therefore I will put My hook in thy nose, as is done in taming wild animals, and My bridle in thy lips, as in managing spirited horses, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest, without having reached his object. After this rebuke of the enemy, the Lord, through His prophet, encouraged Hezekiah and Judah.
v. 29. And this shall be a sign unto thee, namely, Hezekiah, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, the volunteer grain growing from kernels lost during harvest, and in the second year that which springeth of the same, the fruit-bearing stalks of grain growing up after harvest; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof, the country by that time having been restored to perfect peace, so that the farmer could do his work in security.
v. 30. And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah, those of Jerusalem and elsewhere who had escaped the destructive hand of the Assyrians, shall yet again take root downward and bear fruit upward, be firmly established in the land.
v. 31. For out of 3erusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of Mount Zion, this being the capital and center of the Old Testament Church. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this. There is a Messianic thought underlying the prophet’s words, of the deliverance of the daughter of Zion, of those chosen by the Lord, to be kept by His power throughout eternity. The Lord now pronounces His decree in the crisis which was upon Judah-Jerusalem.
v. 32. Therefore, thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, not make an attack upon it in closed formation, with the shields held out for protection, nor cast a bank, dig trenches and erect bulwarks, against it. The four statements form a climax showing the utter futility of Sennacherib’s hopes.
v. 33. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord.
v. 34. ForI will defend this city, to save it, for Mine own sake, to uphold His honor against the blasphemy of the Assyrian, and for My servant David’s sake, on account of the promise made to him, 1Ki 11:13.
v. 35. And it came to pass that night, the very same night after Isaiah had pronounced these words, that the angel of the Lord went out, in this case an angel of vengeance, a destroyer, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand, this being an extraordinary destruction and not to be explained by merely natural causes. And when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses, it was a ghastly sight which the comparatively small number of survivors beheld.
v. 36. So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed, and went, and returned, the heaping of similar terms indicating the haste of his departure, and dwelt at Nineveh, his capital city.
v. 37. And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch, his god, the chief Assyrian divinity, shown in human form with double wings and an eagle’s head, that Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, smote him with the sword, as the Lord had foretold, v. 7; and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his stead. Thus all the enemies of the Lord will find all their plans frustrated and themselves the victims of a terrible destruction.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv14, 16, 19 this letter
this letter
This refers to the letter that King Sennacherib of Assyria sent to Hezekiah. (See: 2 Kings 19:8)
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you who sit above the cherubim
You may need to make explicit that the cherubim are those on the lid of the ark of the covenant. The biblical writers often spoke of the ark of the covenant as if it were Yahweh's footstool upon which he rested his feet as he sat on his throne in heaven above. AT: "you who sit on your throne above the cherubim on the ark of the covenant" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
receive
messenger
house of God
pray
Yahweh of hosts
God
Israel
cherub
kingdom
heaven
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv14, 16 19:14-19 Hezekiah received Sennacherib’s blasphemous letter and immediately took…
19:14-19 Hezekiah received Sennacherib’s blasphemous letter and immediately took it to theinto the house of the Lord’s Temple. His prayer to God was a lament of praise (19:15) and petition (19:16-19).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.