When king Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into Yahweh’s house. 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. They said to him, “Hezekiah says, ‘Today is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to give birth. 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 rebuke the words which Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”
So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘Yahweh says, “Don’t be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”
So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. He heard news concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come out to fight against you.” When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem won’t be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?’ ”
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 to Yahweh, saying, “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, who is enthroned among the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 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 God. 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 no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them. Now therefore, Yahweh our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are Yahweh, even you only.”
Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Yahweh, the God of Israel says, ‘Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word which Yahweh has spoken concerning him. The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you. Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel. By your servants, you have defied the Lord, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees. I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field. I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt.”
“ ‘Have you not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities, turning them into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like a field before its crop has grown. But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against me. Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.
“ ‘This shall be the sign to you. You will eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from it; and in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. The remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and survivors will escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.’
“Therefore Yahweh says concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither will he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. He will return the way that he came, and he won’t come to this city,’ says Yahweh. ‘For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.’ ”
Then Yahweh’s angel went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, went away, returned to Nineveh, and stayed there. As he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 12, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 35, 37, 38 In sign of grief and repentance.
In sign of grief and repentance.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On v1 Isa 37:1 And it came to pass, when king…
Isa 37:1 And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard [it], that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.
Ver. 1. See 2Ki 18:1-37 2Ki 19:1-37 with the notes; See also 2Ch 32:1-33.
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 v38 For the understanding of this, and the foregoing chapter,…
For the understanding of this, and the foregoing chapter, the reader is desired to consult my notes upon 2Ki 18:1-20:21.
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 On vv1, 8, 21 We may observe here, 1. That the best way…
We may observe here, 1. That the best way to baffle the malicious designs of our enemies against us is to be driven by them to God and to our duty and so to fetch meat out of the eater. Rabshakeh intended to frighten Hezekiah from the Lord, but it proves that he frightens him to the Lord. The wind, instead of forcing the traveller's coat from him, makes him wrap it the closer about him. The more Rabshakeh reproaches God the more Hezekiah studies to honour him, by rending his clothes for the dishonour done to him and attending in his sanctuary to know his mind. 2. That it well becomes great men to desire the prayers of good men and good ministers. Hezekiah sent messengers, and honourable ones, those of the first rank, to Isaiah, to desire his prayers, remembering how much his prophecies of late had plainly looked towards the events of the present day, in dependence upon which, it is probable, he doubted not but that the issue would be comfortable, yet he would have it to be so in answer to prayer: This is a day of trouble, therefore let it be a day of prayer. 3. When we are most at a plunge we should be most earnest in prayer: Now that the children are brought to the birth, but there is not strength to bring forth, now let prayer come, and help at a dead lift. When pains are most strong let prayers be most lively; and, when we meet with the greatest difficulties, then is a time to stir up not ourselves only, but others also, to take hold on God. Prayer is the midwife of mercy, that helps to bring it forth. 4. It is an encouragement to pray though we have but some hopes of mercy (Isa 37:4): It may be the Lord thy God will hear; who knows but he will return and repent? The it may be of the prospect of the haven of blessings should quicken us with double diligence to ply the oar of prayer. 5. When there is a remnant left, and but a remnant, it concerns us to lift up a prayer for that remnant, Isa 37:4. The prayer that reaches heaven must be lifted up by a strong faith, earnest desires, and a direct intention to the glory of God, all which should be quickened when we come to the last stake. 6. Those that have made God their enemy we have no reason to be afraid of, for they are marked for ruin; and, though they may hiss, they cannot hurt. Rabshakeh has blasphemed God, and therefore let not Hezekiah be afraid of him, Isa 37:6. He has made God a party to the cause by his invectives, and therefore judgment will certainly be given against him. God will certainly plead his own cause. 7. Sinners' fears are but prefaces to their falls. He shall hear the rumour of the slaughter of his army, which shall oblige him to retire to his own land, and there he shall be slain, Isa 37:7. The terrors that pursue him shall bring him at last to the king of terrors, Job 18:11, Job 18:14. The curses that come upon sinners shall overtake them.
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 On vv1–36 And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard…
And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard it,.... The report that his ministers made to him of the blasphemies and threatenings of Rabshakeh, the general of the Assyrian army:
that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth; the one because of the blasphemies he heard; the other cause of the destruction he and his people were threatened with:
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and went into the house of the Lord; the temple, to pray to him there: he could have prayed in his own house, but he chose rather to go to the house of God, not so much on account of the holiness of the place, but because there the Lord promised, and was used to hear the prayers of his people,
1Ki 8:29,30 as also because it was more public, and would be known to the people, and set them an example to follow him in. Trouble should not keep persons from, but bring them to, the house of God; here the Lord is to be inquired of, here he is to be found; and from hence he sends deliverance and salvation to his people. Nothing is more proper than prayer in times of affliction; it is no ways unbecoming nor lessening the greatest king on earth to lay aside his royal robes, to humble himself before God, in a time of distress, and pray unto him. Hezekiah does not sit down to consider Rabshakeh's speech, to take it in pieces, and give an answer to it, but he applies unto God.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v1 Hezekiah mourns and sends to Isaiah to pray for…
Hezekiah mourns and sends to Isaiah to pray for them, ver. 1-5. He comforts them, ver. 6, 7. Sennacherib called away against the king of Ethiopia, sends a blasphemous letter to Hezekiah, ver. 8-13. His prayer, ver. 14-20. Isaiah's prophecy, ver. 21-35. An angel slays the Assyrians, ver. 36. Sennacherib is slain at Nineveh by his own sons, ver. 37, 38.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 36, 38 Hezekiah is greatly distressed, and sends to Isaiah the…
CHAPTER XXXVII
Hezekiah is greatly distressed, and sends to Isaiah the prophet
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to pray for him, 1-4.
Isaiah returns a comfortable answer, and predicts the
destruction of the king of Assyria and his army, 5-7.
Sennacherib, hearing that his kingdom was invaded by the
Ethiopians, sends a terrible letter to Hezekiah, to induce him
to surrender, 9-13.
Hezekiah goes to the temple, spreads the letter before the
Lord, and makes a most affecting prayer, 14-20.
Isaiah is sent to him to assure him that his prayer is heard;
that Jerusalem shall be delivered; and that the Assyrians shall
be destroyed, 21-35.
That very night a messenger of God slays one hundred and
eighty-five thousand Assyrians, 36.
Sennacherib returns to Nineveh, and is slain by his own sons,
37, 38.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXXVII
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 When king Hezekiah heard it - Heard the account…
When king Hezekiah heard it - Heard the account of the words of Rabshakeh Isa 36:22.
That he rent his clothes - (See the note at Isa 36:22).
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He covered himself with sackcloth - (See the note at Isa 3:24).
And went into the house of the Lord - Went up to the temple to spread out the case before Yahweh Isa 37:14. This was in accordance with the usual habit of Hezekiah; and it teaches us that when we are environed with difficulties or danger and when the name of our God is blasphemed, we should go and spread out our feelings before God, and seek his aid.
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 vv1, 7, 18, 24, 25, 29, 30, 35, 36 Sackcloth. Emblems of repentance. Sennacherib’s boasting (ver. 13.) was…
Sackcloth. Emblems of repentance. Sennacherib’s boasting (ver. 13.) was chastised, ver. 36. (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).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On vv1, 8, 14, 21, 36 1And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard…
2. HEZEKIAH’S MESSAGE TO ISAIAH
Isa_37:1-7
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1And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. 2And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the 1scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. 3And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of 2blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. 34It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, 4whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will 5reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard: 6wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that Isaiah 7 left. 5So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah 6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the 8servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7Behold, I will 9send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor, and return to his own land; and 10I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isa_37:3. יום צדה comp. Ps. 20:2; 1:15; Obad. 12:14; Nah_1:7, etc.—The expression יום תוכחה is taken from Hos_5:9.—נאצה from נָאַץ contemnere, aspernari (Isa_1:4; Isa_5:24; Isa_60:14. contemtus, opprobrium occurs only here. In Neh_9:18; Neh_9:26 נֶאָצָה is found in the sense of βλασφημία, blasphemy. Our present word must be taken in this sense (comp. Isa_37:4).—The expression the “children are come עד־משׁבר” occurs again only 2Ki_19:3. But comp. Hos_13:13.—לדהinf. nom. again only Jer_13:21.
Isa_37:4. שׁלח ,אשׁר שׁלחו with double acc. like verbs of teaching, commanding: comp. Isa_55:11; Exo_4:28, etc.—אלהים חי, except here and Isa_37:17, the expression always reads א׳ חיים (Deu_5:23; 1Sa_17:26; 1Sa_17:36; Jer_10:10; Jer_23:36). The constant absence of the article in the expression is noteworthy. Thus it appears to me to designate God, not as the only living God, but only in general as living God in contrast with the dead idols, whereby is not expressly excluded that there may be still other א׳ חיים (comp. δόξας βλασφημεῖν Judges 8).—The two perfects והוכיח and ונשׂאת connect with the imperfect ישׁמע. Many older expositors have explained והוכיח to be an infinitive, and have taken it as the continuation of לחרף. But then one must make the word mean “to contemn,” which it does not. It must therefore be construed as perfect. The meaning is direct causative: “exercise reproof,” (comp. Isa_2:4; Isa_11:4). The prefix בְּ before דברים has a causal sense: “and he will use reproof (judicial decision) (moved) by the words, etc.” Comp. Isa_50:1; Isa_57:17.—The perf. ונשׂאת formally connects with the Imperf. ישׁמע although materially the reverse is the proper relation.—הנמצאה השׁארית is the remnant in fact as opposed to that which ought to be. Comp. Isa_13:15; Isa_22:3.
Isa_37:6. גדף occurs only in Piel (Num_15:30; Psa_44:17; Eze_20:27; 2Ki_19:6; 2Ki_19:22); it means “to wound, insult, blaspheme.”
Differences between the text of Isaiah here and 2 Kings 18 appear in 2Ki_18:2; 2Ki_18:4; 2Ki_18:6. Isa_37:6 has אליהם instead of לָהֶם because the former is the more usual, at least in these chapters (comp. 2Ki_18:19; 2Ki_18:22; 2Ki_18:25-27; 2Ki_19:3; 2Ki_19:10; 2Ki_20:1; 2Ki_20:8; 2Ki_20:14; 2Ki_20:16; 2Ki_20:19). The simple לְ after אמר occurs only once, 2Ki_18:22.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. And it came—Amoz.
Isa_37:1-2. It is perhaps not unimportant to note that, except here, when Isaiah speaks of putting on sackcloth he uses the expression חגר שׂק (Isa_3:24; Isa_15:3; Isa_22:12) and never employs the general article that occurs in Kings, and elsewhere also (2Ki_6:30, comp. 1Ki_21:27). The expression “elders of the priests” beside here and 2Ki_19:2, occurs only Jer_19:1. Œhler (Herz.,R.-Encycl. XII. p. 182 sq.), distinguishes these priest-elders from the שָׂרֵי or רָאשֵׁי הַכֹּהֲנִים (2Ch_26:14; Ezr_10:5; Neh_12:7), and understands by the latter the overseer of the priestly class, and by the former only “the most respected priests on account of their age.” The embassy to Isaiah as one sees from those composing it, was one commensurate with the importance of the subject, and also very honorable for Isaiah.
[“Hezekiah resorted to the temple, not only as a public place, but with reference to the promise made to Solomon (1Ki_8:29) that God would hear the prayers of His people from that place when they were in distress.” On Isa_37:2. “The king applies to the Prophet as the authorized expounder of the will of God. Similar applications are recorded 1Ki_22:9; 2Ki_22:14; Jer_37:3.”—J. A. Alex.].
2. And they said—in his own land.
Isa_37:3-7. One may say that צרה “anguish” relates only to the Jews, תוכחה “rebuke” is received from the Lord through the Assyrians, and the object of נאצה, “contempt,” is Israel and their God. Thus it appears, they intimate that the matter concerns, not them only, but also God, and that in an active and in a passive sense. [The metaphor in the last clause expresses, in the most affecting manner, the ideas of extreme pain, imminent danger, critical emergency, utter weakness, and entire dependence on the aid of others.—J. A. Alex.]. Judah had done all in its power to keep away the supreme power of Assyria. But the latter has taken the whole land (Isa_36:1); and moreover an immense sum of gold has been sacrificed (2Ki_18:14). But the Assyrian demands the capital itself, and Judah is powerless to hold him back. There is no going backwards, i.e., what was done in vain to ward off the Assyrian cannot be made a thing not done; and there is no going forwards, i.e., there are no means left to ward off the worst. Therefore the very life is in peril. Such is the meaning of the figurative language. In Isa_37:4 the messengers present their request. It begins timidly with אולי,“peradventure.” It refers to two things: 1) that Jehovah will hear and punish the words of Rabshakeh, 2) that Isaiah will make supplication. The order may seem an inverted one. But they produce the things sought for, not in the order in which they are to be realized, but according to their importance. The most important is that Jehovah hears and punishes. The means to this is Isaiah’s intercession. [“The preterite שׁמע denotes a past time only in reference to the contingency expressed by ישׁמע. Perhaps he will hear and then punish what he has heard. The reproach and blasphemy of the Assyrian consisted mainly in his confounding Jehovah with the gods of the surrounding nations (2Ch_32:19), in antithesis to whom, as being impotent and lifeless, He is here and elsewhere called the living God.—J. A. Alex.]. Comp. Isa_8:9; Psa_104:28; Psa_115:4 sqq. “To reproach the living God,” strongly reminds one of the blasphemy of Goliath, 1Sa_17:26; 1Sa_17:36; 1Sa_17:45. Such an one the Assyrian here appears. “The remnant extant” (see Text. and Gram.). The deportation of the Ten Tribes, and Isa_36:1 show that Jerusalem was at that time only a weak remnant of the theocracy.
[Isa_37:5 “is a natural and simple resumption of the narrative, common in all inartificial history. It affords no ground for assuming a transposition in the text, nor for explaining ויאמרו Isa_37:3, as a subjunctive.”—J. A. Alex.]. Isa_37:6-7, contain Isaiah’s answer. The Assyrian messengers are contemptuously called נערים, i.e., “boys, striplings” of the king of Assyria. The expression Behold, I am putting a spirit in him designates the subjective side of a resolve accomplished in the king of Assyria, and he shall hear a report the objective cause. It had manifestly been the purpose of the king of Assyria to go immediately at that time against Jerusalem. Sending Rabshakeh was the prelude to it. On the return of the latter with Hezekiah’s refusal, the advance on Jerusalem was instantly to be made. This is confirmed Isa_37:9-10 by the warning to Hezekiah not to cherish unwarranted expectations from the unlooked for diversion made by the Ethiopian army. Thus the Prophet says here, “I impart to him a spirit, i.e. I occasion him a mind, a tendency of the will (comp. Isa_19:14; Isa_29:10, etc.), and he shall hear a report.” This is the first stage of the deliverance. It intimates that the Assyrian’s next intention now at once to advance on Jerusalem shall not be realized. But that only wards off the immediate danger. Perhaps to reprieve is not to relieve. Thus the Assyrian himself seems to have thought according to Isa_37:10-13. But there is no danger. He shall not come before Jerusalem at all (Isa_37:33), but shall return into his land, and there fall by the sword. Let those believe that, “and I will fell him by the sword,” etc., is ascribed to Isaiah by the narrator post eventum, who cannot believe that there may be such a thing as a spirit of God, that can look freely into the future, and, when it seems good to him, can declare the future.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa_36:4 sqq. “Haec proprie est Satanae lingua et sunt non Rabsacis sed ipsissimi Diaboli verba, quibus non muros urbis, sed medullam Ezechiae, hoc est, tenerrimam ejus fidem oppugnat.”—Luther. “In this address the chief-butler, Satan performs in the way he uses when he would bring about our apostacy. 1) He urges that we are divested of all human support, Isa_36:5; Isaiah 2) We are deprived of divine support, Isa_36:7; Isaiah 3) God is angry with us because we have greatly provoked Him by our sins, Isa_36:7; Isaiah 4) He decks out the splendor, and power of the wicked, Isa_36:8-9; Isaiah 5) He appeals to God’s word, and knows how to turn and twist it to his uses. Such poisonous arrows were used by Satan against Christ in the desert, and may be compared with this light (Mat_4:2 sqq.). One needs to arm himself against Satan’s attack by God’s word, and to resort to constant watching and prayer.”—Cramer.
The Assyrian urges four particulars by which he would destroy Hezekiah’s confidence, in two of which he was right and in two wrong. He was right in representing that Hezekiah could rely neither on Egypt, nor on his own power. In this respect he was a messenger of God and announcer of divine truth. For everywhere the word of God preaches the same (Isa_30:1-3; Isa_31:1-3; Jer_17:5; Psa_118:8-9; Psa_146:3, etc.). But it is a merited chastisement if rude and hostile preachers must preach to us what we were unwilling to believe at the mild and friendly voice of God. But in two particulars the Assyrian was wrong, and therein lay Hezekiah’s strength. For just on this account the Lord is for him and against the Assyrian. These two things are, that the Assyrian asserts that Hezekiah cannot put his trust in the Lord, but rather he, the Assyrian is counseled by the Lord against Hezekiah. That, however, was a lie, and because of this lie, the corresponding truth makes all the deeper impression on Hezekiah, and reminds him how assuredly he may build on the Lord and importune Him. And when the enemy dares to say, that he is commissioned by the Lord to destroy the Holy Land, just that must bring to lively remembrance in the Israelite, that the Lord, who cannot lie, calls the land of Israel His land (Joel 4:2; Jer_2:7; Jer_16:18, etc.), and the people of Israel His people (Exo_3:7; Exo_3:10; Exo_5:1, etc.).
2. On Isa_36:12. [“In regard to the indelicacy of this passage we may observe: 1) The Masorets in the Hebrew text have so printed the words used, that in reading it the offensiveness would be considerably avoided. 2) The customs, habits and modes of expression of people in different nations and times, differ. What appears indelicate at one time or in one country, may not only be tolerated, but common in another. 3) Isaiah is not at all responsible for the indelicacy of the language here. He is simply an historian. 4) It was of importance to give the true character of the attack which was made on Jerusalem. The coming of Sennacherib was attended with pride, insolence and blasphemy; and it was important to state the true character of the transaction, and to record just what was said and done. Let him who used the language, and not him who recorded it bear the blame.”—Barnes in loc.].
3. On Isa_36:18 sqq. “Observandum hic, quod apud gentes olim viguerit πολύθεια adeo, ut quaevis etiam urbs peculiarem habuerit Deum tutelarem. Cujus ethnicismi exemplum vivum et spirans adhuc habemus apud pontificios, quibus non inscite objici potest illud Jeremiae: Quot civitates tibi, tot etiam Dei (Jer_2:28).”—Foerster.
4. On Isa_36:21. Answer not a fool according to his folly (Pro_26:4), much less the blasphemer, lest the flame of his wickedness be blown into the greater rage (Sir_8:3). Did not Christ the Lord answer His enemies, not always with words, but also with silence (Mat_26:62; Mat_27:14, etc.)? One must not cast pearls before swine (Mat_7:6). After Foerster and Cramer.
5. On Isa_36:21. “Est aureus textus, qui docet nos, ne cum Satana disputemus. Quando enim videt, quod sumus ejus spectatores et auditores, tum captat occasionem majoris fortitudinis et gravius premit. Petrus dicit, eum circuire et quaerere, quem devoret. Nullum facit insidiarum finem. Tutissimum autem est non respondere, sed contemnere eum.”—Luther.
6. [On Isa_37:1-7. “Rabshakeh intended to frighten Hezekiah from the Lord, but it proves that he frightens him to the Lord. The wind, instead of forcing the traveler’s coat from him, makes him wrap it the closer about him. The more Rabshakeh reproaches God, the more Hezekiah studies to honor Him.” On Isa_37:3. “When we are most at a plunge we should be most earnest in prayer. When pains are most strong, let prayers be most lively. Prayer is the midwife of mercy, that helps to bring it forth.”—M. Henry, in loc.]
7. On Isa_37:2 sqq. Hezekiah here gives a good example. He shows all princes, rulers and peoples what one ought to do when there is a great and common distress, and tribulation. One ought with sackcloth, i. e., with penitent humility, to bring prayers, and intercessions to the Lord that He would look on and help.
8. On Isa_37:6 sq. “God takes to Himself all the evil done to His people. For as when one does a great kindness to the saints, God appropriates it to Himself, so, too, when one torments the saints, it is an injury done to God, and He treats sin no other way than as if done to Himself. He that torments them torments Him (Isa_64:9). Therefore the saints pray: ‘Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily’ (Psa_74:22).”—Cramer.
9. On Isa_37:7. “God raises up against His enemies other enemies, and thus prepares rest for His own people. Example: the Philistines against Saul who pursued David, 1Sa_23:27.”—Cramer.
10. On Isa_37:14. Vitringa here cites the following from Bonfin Rerum Hungar. Dec. III. Lib. VI. p. 464, ad annum Isaiah 1444: “Amorathes, cum suos laborare cerneret et ab Vladislao rege non sine magna caede fugari, depromtum e sinu codicem initi sanctissime foederis explicat intentis in coelum oculis. Haec sunt, inquit ingeminans, Jesu Christe, foedera, quae Christiani tui mecum percussere. Per numen tuum sanctum jurarunt, datamque sub nomine tuo fidem violarunt, perfide suum Deum abnegarunt. Nunc Christe, si Deus es (ut ajunt et nos hallucinamur), tuas measque hic injurias, te quaeso, ulciscere et his, qui sanctum tuum nomen nondum agnovere, violatae fidei poenas ostende. Vix haec dixerat .… cum proelium, quod anceps ac dubium diu fuerat, inclinare coepit, etc.”
[The desire of Hezekiah was not primarily his own personal safety, or the safety of his kingdom. It was that Jehovah might vindicate His great and holy name from reproach, and that the world might know that He was the only true God. We have here a beautiful model of the object which we should have in view when we come before God. This motive of prayer is one that is with great frequency presented in the Bible. Comp. Isa_42:8; Isa_43:10; Isa_43:13; Isa_43:25; Deu_32:39; Psa_83:18; Psa_46:10; Neh_9:6; Dan_9:18-19. Perhaps there could have been furnished no more striking proof that Jehovah was the true God, than would be by the defeat of Sennacherib. The time had come when the great Jehovah could strike a blow which would be felt on all nations, and carry the terror of His name, and the report of His power throughout the earth. Perhaps this was one of the main motives of the destruction of that mighty army.”—Barnes, on Isa_37:2].
11. On Isa_37:15. “Fides Ezechiae verba confirmata magis ac magis crescit. Ante non ausus est orare, jam orat et confutat blasphemias omnes Assyrii. Adeo magna vis verbi est, ut longe alius per verbum, quod Jesajas ei nunciari jussit, factus sit.”—Luther.
12. On Isa_37:17. [“It is bad to talk proudly and profanely, but it is worse to write so, for this argues more deliberation and design, and what is written spreads further and lasts longer, and does the more mischief. Atheism and irreligion, written, will certainly be reckoned for another day.”—M. Henry].
13. On Isa_37:21 sqq. [“Those who receive messages of terror from men with patience, and send messages of faith to God by prayer, may expect messages of grace and peace from God for their comfort, even when they are most cast down. Isaiah sent a long answer to Hezekiah’s prayer in God’s name, sent it in writing (for it was too long to be sent by word of mouth), and sent it by way of return to his prayer, relation being thereunto had: ‘Whereas thou hast prayed to me, know, for thy comfort, that thy prayer is heard.’ Isaiah might have referred him to the prophecies he had delivered (particularly to that of chap. 10), and bid him pick out an answer from thence. The correspondence between earth and heaven is never let fall on God’s side.”—M. Henry.].
14. On Isa_37:31 sqq. “This is a promise of great extent. For it applies not only to those that then remained, and were spared the impending destruction and captivity by the Assyrians, but to all subsequent times, when they should enjoy a deliverance; as after the Babylonish captivity, and after the persecutions of Antiochus. Yea, it applies even to New Testament times from the first to the last, since therein, in the order of conversion to Christ, the Jews will take root and bring forth fruit, and thus in the Jews (as also in the converted Gentiles) will appear in a spiritual and corporal sense, what God at that time did to their fields in the three following years.”—Starke.
15. On Isa_38:1. “Isaiah, although of a noble race and condition, does not for that regard it disgraceful, but rather an honor, to be a pastor and visitor of the sick, I would say, a prophet, teacher and comforter of the sick. God save the mark! How has the world become so different in our day, especially in our evangelical church Let a family be a little noble, and it is regarded as a reproach and injury to have a clergyman among its relations and friends, not to speak of a son studying theology and becoming a servant of the church. I speak not of all; I know that some have a better mind; yet such is the common course. Jeroboam’s maxim must rather obtain, who made priests of the lowest of the people (1Ki_12:31). For thus the parsons may be firmly held in rein (sub ferula) and in political submission. It is not at all good where the clergy have a say, says an old state-rule of our Politicorum.” Feuerlein, pastor in Nuremberg, in his Novissimorum primum, 1694, p. 553. The same quotes Spener: “Is it not so, that among the Roman Catholics the greatest lords are not ashamed to stand in the spiritual office, and that many of them even discharge the spiritual functions? Among the Reformed, too, persons born of the noblest families are not ashamed of the office of preacher. But, it seems, we Lutherans are the only ones that hold the service of the gospel so low, that, where from a noble or otherwise prominent family an ingenium has an inclination to theological study, almost every one seeks to hinder him, or, indeed, afterwards is ashamed of his friendship, as if it were something much too base for such people, by which more harm comes to our church than one might suppose. That is to be ashamed of the gospel.”
16. On Isa_38:1. [“We see here the boldness and fidelity of a man of God. Isaiah was not afraid to go in freely and tell even a monarch that he must die. The subsequent part of the narrative would lead us to suppose that, until this announcement, Hezekiah did not regard himself as in immediate danger. It is evident here, that the physician of Hezekiah had not informed him of it—perhaps from the apprehension that his disease would be aggravated by the agitation of his mind on the subject. The duty was, therefore, left, as it is often, to the minister of religion—a duty which even many ministers are slow to perform, and which many physicians are reluctant to have performed.
No danger is to be apprehended commonly from announcing to those who are sick their true condition. Physicians and friends often err in this. There is no species of cruelty greater than to suffer a friend to lie on a dying bed under a delusion. There is no sin more aggravated than that of designedly deceiving a dying man, and flattering him with the hope of recovery, when there is a moral certainty that he will not and cannot recover. And there is evidently no danger to be apprehended from communicating to the sick their true condition. It should be done tenderly and with affection; but it should be done faithfully. I have had many opportunities of witnessing the effect of apprising the sick of their situation, and of the moral certainty that they must die. And I cannot now recall an instance in which the announcement has had any unhappy effect on the disease. Often, on the contrary, the effect is to calm the mind, and to lead the dying to look up to God, and peacefully to repose on Him. And the effect of that is always salutary.” Barnes in loc.]
17. On Isa_38:2. It is an old opinion, found even in the Chald., that by the wall is meant the wall of the temple as a holy direction in which to pray, as the Mahometans pray in the direction of Mecca. But הקיר cannot mean that. Rather that is correct which is said by Forerius: “Nolunt pii homines testes habere suarum lacrymarum, ut eas liberius fundant, neque sensu distrahi, cum orare Deum ex animo volunt.”
18. On Isa_38:8 :—
Non Deus est numen Parcarum carcere clausum.
Quale putabatur Stoicus esse Deus.
Ille potest Solis cursus inhibere volantes,
At veluti scopulos flumina stare facit.”
—Melanchthon.
19. On Isa_38:12. “Beautiful parables that picture to us the transitoriness of this temporal life. For the parable of the shepherd’s tent means how restless a thing it is with us, that we have here no abiding place, but are driven from one locality to another, until at last we find a resting-spot in the church-yard. The other parable of the weaver’s thread means how uncertain is our life on earth. For how easily the thread breaks.” Cramer. “When the weaver’s work is progressing best, the thread breaks before he is aware. Thus when a man is in his best work, and supposes he now at last begins really to live, God breaks the thread of his life and lets him die. The rational heathen knew something of this when they, so to speak, invented the three goddesses of life (the three Parcas minime parcas) and included them in this little verse:
Clotho colum gestat, Lachesis trahit,
Atropos occat
But what does the weaver when the thread breaks? Does he stop his work at once? O no! He knows how to make a clever weaver’s knot, so that one cannot observe the break. Remember thereby that when thy life is broken off, yet the Lord Jesus, as a master artisan, can bring it together again at the last day. He will make such an artful, subtle weaver’s-knot as shall make us wonder through all eternity. It will do us no harm to have died.” Ibid.—Omnia sunt hominum tenui pendentia filo.
[“As suddenly as the tent of a shepherd is taken down, folded up, and transferred to another place. There is doubtless the idea here that he would continue to exist, but in another place, as the shepherd would pitch his tent in another place. He was to be cut off from the earth, but he expected to dwell among the dead. The whole passage conveys the idea that he expected to dwell in another state.” Barnes in loc.].
20. On Isa_38:17. [“Note 1) When God pardons sin, He casts it behind His back as not designing to look upon it with an eye of justice and jealousy. He remembers it no more, to visit for it. The pardon does not make the sin not to have been, or not to have been sin, but not to be punished as it deserves. When we cast our sins behind our back, and take no care to repent of them, God sets them before His face, and is ready to reckon for them; but when we set them before our face in true repentance, as David did when his sin was ever before him, God casts them behind His back. 2) When God pardons sin, He pardons all, casts them all behind His back, though they have been as scarlet and crimson. 3) The pardoning of sin is the delivering the soul from the pit of corruption. 4) It is pleasant indeed to think of our recoveries from sickness when we see them flowing from the remission of sin; then the cause is removed, and then it is in love to the soul.” M. Henry in loc.]
21. On Isa_38:18. [Cannot hope for thy truth. “They are shut out from all the means by which Thy truth is brought to mind, and the offers of salvation are presented. Their probation is at an end; their privileges are closed; their destiny is sealed up. The idea is, it is a privilege to live because this is a world where the offers of salvation are made, and where those who are conscious of guilt may hope in the mercy of God.” Barnes in loc.] God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2Pe_3:9). Such is the New Testament sense of these Old Testament words. For though Hezekiah has primarily in mind the preferableness of life in the earthly body to the life in Hades, yet this whole manner of representation passes away with Hades itself. But Hezekiah’s words still remain true so far as they apply to heaven and hell. For of course in hell, the place of the damned, one does not praise God. But those that live praise Him. These, however, are in heaven. Since then God wills rather that men praise Him than not praise Him, so He is not willing that men should perish, but that all should turn to repentance and live.
22. On Isa_39:2. “Primo (Deus) per obsidionem et bellum, deinde per gravem morbum Ezechiam servaverat, ne in praesumtionem laberetur. Nondum tamen vinci potuit antiquus serpens, sed redit et levat caput suum. Adeo non possumus consistere, nisi Deos nos affligat. Vides igitur hic, quis sit afflictionum usus, ut mortificent scilicet carnem, quae non potest res ferre secundas.” Luther.
23. On Isa_39:7. “God also punishes the misdeeds of the parents on the children (Exo_20:5) because the children not only follow the misdeeds of their parents, but they also increase and heap them up, as is seen in the posterity of Hezekiah, viz.: Manasseh and Amon.”—Cramer.
HOMILETICAL HINTS
[The reader is referred to the ample hints covering the same matter to be found in the volume on 2 Kings 18-20. It is expedient to take advantage of that for the sake of keeping the present volume within reasonable bounds. Therefore but a minimum is here given of what the Author offers, much of which indeed is but the repetition in another form of matter already given.—Tr.]
1. On Isa_37:36. “1) The scorn and mockery of the visible world. 2) The scorn and mockery of the unseen world.” Sermon of Domprediger Zahn in Halle, 1870.
2. On the entire 38. chapter, beside the 22 sermons in FEUERLEIN’S Novissimorum primum, there is a great number of homiletical elaborations of an early date; Walther Magirus, Idea mortis et vitae in two parts, the second of which contains 20 penitential and consolatory sermons on Isaiah 38. Danzig, 1640 and 1642. Daniel Schaller (Stendal) 4 sermons on the sick Hezekiah, on Isaiah 38. Magdeburg, 1611. Peter Siegmund Pape in “Gott geheilighte Wochenpredigten,” Berlin, 1701, 4 sermons. Jacob Tichlerus (Elburg) Hiskiae Aufrichtigkeit bewiesen in Gesundheit, Krankheit und Genesung, 18 sermons on Isaiah 38. (Dutch), Campen, 1636. These are only the principal ones.
3. On Isa_38:1. “I will set my house in order. This, indeed, will not be hard for me to do. My debt account is crossed out; my best possession I take along with me; my children I commit to the great Father of orphans, to whom heaven and earth belongs, and my soul to the Lord, who has sued for it longer than a human age, and bought it with His blood. Thus I am eased and ready for the journey.” Tholuck, Stunden der Andacht, p. 620.
4. On Isa_38:1. “Now thou shouldest know that our word ‘order his house’ has a very broad meaning. It comprehends reconciliation to God by faith, the final confession of sin, the last Lord’s Supper, the humble committing of the soul to the grace of the Lord, and to death and the grave in the hope of the resurrection. In one word: There is an ordering of the house above. In reliance on the precious merit of my Saviour, I order my house above in which I wish to dwell. Moreover taking leave of loved ones, and the blessing of them belongs to ordering the house. And finally order must be taken concerning the guardianship of children, the abiding of the widow, and the friend on whom she must especially lean in her loneliness, also concerning earthly bequests.” Ahlfeld, Das Leben im Lichte des Wortes Gottes, Halle, 1867, p. 522.
5. On Isa_38:2-8. This account has much that seems strange to us Christians, but much, too, that quite corresponds to our Christian consciousness. Let us contemplate the difference between an Old Testament, and a New Testament suppliant, by noticing the differences and the resemblances. I. The resemblances. 1) Distress and grief there are in the Old, as in the New Testament (Isa_38:3). 2) Ready and willing to help beyond our prayers or comprehension (Isa_38:5-6) is the Lord in the Old as in the New Testament. II. The differences. 1) The Old Testament suppliant appealed to his having done nothing bad (Isa_38:3). The New Testament suppliant says: “God be merciful to me a sinner,” and “Give me through grace for Christ’s sake what it pleases Thee to give me.” 2) The Old Testament suppliant demands a sign (Isa_38:7-8; comp. Isa_38:22); the New Testament suppliant requires no sign but that of the crucified Son of man, for He knows that to those who bear this sign is given the promise of the hearing of all their prayers (Joh_16:23). 3) In Hezekiah’s case, the prayer of the Old Testament suppliant is indeed heard (Isa_38:5), yet in general it has not the certainty of being heard, whereas the New Testament suppliant has this certainty.
Footnotes:
[1]chancellor.
[2]Or, provocation.
[3]peradventure.
[4]with which the king commissioned him.
[5]administer punishment for the words.
[6]and thou wilt lift up a prayer.
[7]Heb. found.
[8]the boys.
[9]Or, put a spirit into him.
[10]I fell him.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 unto Isaiah--implying the importance of the prophet's position at…
unto Isaiah--implying the importance of the prophet's position at the time; the chief officers of the court are deputed to wait on him (compare Kg2 22:12-14).
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 vv1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 37 1. When king Hezekiah heard it — The narrative…
1. When king Hezekiah heard it — The narrative continues, but the scene is shifted, and what occurs inside the walls of Jerusalem is brought to view. On hearing the report of his returned commissioners, the king Hezekiah acted his grief in the accustomed way — rending his garments and putting on a mourning garb of coarse linen. A deep sorrow is thus expressed; such as, in this extremity, he thought only Jehovah, whom he truly honoured and loved, could assuage.
Went into the house of the Lord — Where, according to the prayer of Solomon, (1Ki_8:29,) sincere prayer should be heard. As this was done publicly, it could not well fail of suitably affecting the people.
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 vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 1. went into the house of the Lord] See…
1. went into the house of the Lord] See Isa_37:14-15. Cf. 1Ki_8:33-34.
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 vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38 (1) Covered himself with sackcloth.—The king was probably accompanied…
XXXVII.
(1) Covered himself with sackcloth.—The king was probably accompanied by his ministers, all in the penitential sackcloth of mourners (Joe_1:8-13; Jon_3:5-6).
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 vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 This chapter is the sequel of the preceding, and…
This chapter is the sequel of the preceding, and is so closely connected with it that the two really constitute but one narrative. Ver. 22 of ch. 36. is more closely connected with ch. 37, than with the position of the narrative to which it is attached.
When King Hezekiah heard it; rather, heard them; i.e. the "words of Rabshakeh," which his officials reported to him. He rent his clothes. He did as they had done. (Isa_36:22; see the comment on that verse) But he went further, showing a deeper sense of horror and affliction than the officials had shown by being covered with sackcloth. (on the combination of the two modes of showing grief or horror, see Gen_37:34 2Sa_3:31 1Ki_21:27 Est_4:1, etc.) And went into the house of the Lord. The temple was not only a place for offering praise and sacrifice, but also a "house of prayer". (infra, Isa_56:7; comp. 1Ki_8:28-30) Hezekiah can, on this occasion, have gone up to the house of the Lord only to pray.
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Vers. 1-5. Spiritual advice in, time of need not to be despised even by great kings.
The great of the earth kings, princes, nobles, statesmen, generals are too apt to rest upon their own internal gifts of wisdom, talent, sagacity, cleverness, and to place little reliance upon others. Especially are they apt to feel a jealousy towards "the spiritualty," and to hold themselves above the necessity of seeking aid from persons whom they view as unpractical, ignorant of worldly business, flighty, enthusiastic, fanatical. Ahab, when he determined to renew the Syrian war, and to attempt the recovery of Ramoth-Gilead, took no counsel, so far as appears, with any one but himself, and certainly neglected to ask the advice of the only true prophet of Jehovah living within reach. (1Ki_22:3-8) Josiah failed to take the advice of Jeremiah before going out to meet Necho; (2Ch_35:20-24) Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah went against his advice in resisting Nebuchadnezzar. It has become almost a principle of modern politics that the spiritualty are not to advise except on matters closely connected with religion or morals, and even on such matters their advice is looked upon with suspicion. The cuckoo-cry of "priestcraft" is raised, and the spiritualty is bidden to confine its, If strictly to its own sphere, and not to intermeddle in the ordinary politics of a nation. Hezekiah"s conduct suggests a contrary lesson, seeming to teach
I THAT THE SPIRITUALTY ARE THE BEST ADVISERS EVEN IN TEMPORAL MATTERS. For, first, they have a less direct interest in such matters, and so are likely to give more unbiased counsel. Secondly, they are accustomed to take into account remoter eventualities, as well as immediate results, and are therefore likely to entertain broader views than others. Thirdly, they are more keenly alive than laics to the moral aspect of political questions, which is often a most important aspect, and one that deserves to have a preponderating weight in determining action.
II THAT IN CONSULTING THEM IT IS WELL TO SHOW THEM DUE RESPECT. Disrespect is the ordinary rule when the politicians of the world condescend to make any reference at all to the spiritualty. "Hasten hither Micaiah, the son of Imlah," strikes the keynote of their utterances. (1Ki_22:9) It is not uncommon for them even to dictate what the spiritualty shall say. (1Ki_22:13) Hezekiah was more respectful, and more wise. He sent his highest officers of state to the house of the prophet, and humbly asked his prayers and his advice. No doubt there is a wide difference between such a prophet as Isaiah and a modern bishop, or archbishop, or conclave of bishops. Still, if there is to be consultation of these last, a show of respect for them should at least be maintained. It cannot be expected that otherwise they will regard their advice as of importance, or apply their minds very carefully to give the best advice in their power.
III THAT IN THE WORST STRAITS THEY CAN GIVE VALUABLE HELP, IF NOT BY ADVICE, YET BY PRAYER. "Wherefore lift up thy prayer," said Hezekiah, "for the remnant that is left" (ver. 4). God might not have thought fit to "reprove the words of Sennacherib." His patience might have been exhausted, and he might have been about to allow the conquest of Judaea by Sennacherib, as he afterwards allowed its conquest by Nebuchadnezzar. Hezekiah could not be sure that there was any escape. But in the worst case, "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man would avail much." It would avail to mitigate, if not to prevent, the sufferings of the people, to support them under misfortune, it not to save them from it. In times of national Deed and distress, wise kings and governments do well to ask the prayers of the Church, not that God will not hear them if they address themselves directly to him, but that he may be besieged, as it were, on all sides by prayer, and so prevailed upon to have mercy. The force of prayer is greatly augmented by the prayer being multiplied. "Where two," or more, "agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven". (Mat_18:19)
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Vers. 1-4. Our highest solicitude.
A very graphic scene is here sketched. The highest personages in the realm are moved to the strongest feelings of indignation and concern. Dignity is entirely forgotten; the profound agitations which have stirred their souls are expressed in actions which, to less excitable and imaginative people, seem violent and unbecoming. But the rent garments and the coarse sackcloth best uttered, for them, the distracted heart and a deep sense of shame. It was eloquence in action, and was more forcible than the most impassioned speech. Doubtless many feelings mingled in this strong emotion, but we prefer to think (and by the fourth verse are justified in thinking) that what most kindled the indignation of king," of statesman, and of priest, was the "blasphemy" which had been spoken against the Lord; the earnest solicitude on their part that the Name of Jehovah should not be shamefully dishonoured among men. There are
I SOLICITUDES WHICH ARE GOOD, BUT NOT HIGH. We do well to be solicitous to discharge our pecuniary obligations, to take and to hold an honourable position among our fellows, to enjoy a good reputation among men, to see that which is most beautiful, to hear that which is most harmonious, and to read that which is most delightful. But this appeals to those instincts and ambitions which are common to all but the lowest among men; they are desires or anxieties which are good but not high.
II SOLICITUDES WHICH ARE HIGH, BUT NOT THE HIGHEST. It is in a very high degree desirable, it is indeed urgent, that we should show a patient, practical solicitude
(1) to gain the forgiveness of our sin, and acceptance with God;
(2) to maintain our Christian consistency and conformity of conduct to the will of Christ;
(3) to attain to the nobler ranges of Christian excellency, to reach the goal which is set before us;
(4) to serve our generation to the height of our ability and opportunity;
(5) to be ready for the last hour of life and the first hour of immortality. These are high and worthy aspirations, but they are not
III THE SOLICITUDE WHICH IS THE HIGHEST OF ALL. It is that commanding and consuming desire for the glory of God which filled the hearts of Hezekiah and his people, and which called forth such powerful and even passionate emotion when his Name was blasphemed.
1. The evidence that this is the highest solicitude is found in:
(1) The fact that it is our supreme obligation. We are bound, first and most of all things, to be concerned for the honour of our heavenly Father, for the glory of our Divine Redeemer: theft he is revered, and that his will is done on earth should be our first consideration.
(2) The fact that it is an unselfish, and therefore pre-eminently Christian and Divine inspiration.
(3) The fact that it is an enlarging and ennobling sentiment. They whose hearts are filled and whose lives are fashioned by this pure and holy solicitude will be lifted up in soul by its elevating influence; they will rise above all that is mean and small; they will attain to loftiness of view and dignity of character.
2. The manifestations which it will assume are
(1) great pain and shame when the Name of God is dishonoured (text);
(2) great joy when his kingdom is seen to be advancing and himself being honoured in the world;
(3) earnest and lifelong effort to bear witness to his presence, his power, his holiness, his love, and the blessedness of his great salvation. C.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK Ver. 1. Carrying troubles to God.
The silence which Hezekiah kept, and commanded, represents only the negative side of his dealing with the Assyrian insults and threatenings. The earnest man can seldom be satisfied with the weak policy of "doing nothing." It may be one side of meeting difficulty, but it needs to be matched with another and a positive side. The earnest man wants to do something. Yet his circumstances may make personal action questionable and almost impossible; but this, at least, he can always do, and this he would be wise always to do first he can carry his trouble to God; he can "cast his care on God." There is a positiveness and a definiteness of action about so doing, which meets the anxiety of the earnest man; there is a sense of propriety in so doing which satisfies the higher feeling of the pious man. From the conduct of Hezekiah on this occasion we learn four ways in which our troubles may be carried to God.
I BY CHERISHED MOODS OF MIND. There is a thought of God; a dependence on God; a heart-appeal to God; a purposed meditating on the Divine relations with the troubled; a recalling of God"s ways in past experience; and an assuring of the heart, which are all voiceless cryings after God, which he knows and heeds. Tennyson gives this view exquisite expression when, describing Mary of Bethany, he says"Her eyes were homes of silent prayer.
There are times when we are "so troubled that we cannot speak," but at such times the trouble speaks, the afflicted soul lies open to God.
II BY ATTITUDES AND BODILY STATES. The appearance of a man may be a prayer. This is more developed in Eastern than in Western lands. Rent clothes, neglected hair and beard, rough sackcloth, ashes cast on the person, were signs of distress, and mute appeals for comfort and help. But we often say of persons, "His face was a prayer;" "The miserable neglected state was an appeal." The widow"s crape is a casting of trouble on God. Attitudes of body naturally express moods of mind; and dress follows suit. Even thus we can pray.
III BY SEEKING AUDIENCE OF GOD. Hezekiah made the effort to go to the place where God revealed himself. It is carrying our trouble to God simply to resolve that we will go to God"s house. A psalmist, with a burdened heart, says, "I went into the sanctuary of God." The worshippers are really this companies of men and women who are rolling their burdens off upon God.
IV BY UNBURDENING THE SOUL. It is often thought strange, and called foolish, for men to tell God in prayer what he well knows. But the free unburdening is the best, and often the only, relief a soul can find. Child to mother, friend to friend, creature to God, nothing helps us so much as being permitted to tell out all that is in our souls, bad and good, worthy and unworthy. R.T.
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 vv1, 3, 4, 10, 14, 23, 31, 33, 36, 38 Hezekiah . . . rent his clothes . .…
Isa_37:1
Hezekiah . . . rent his clothes . . . and went into the house of the Lord
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The distress, of Hezekiah
Hezekiah was probably weak in body, and therefore had lost true courage of soul.
(J. Parker, D. D.)
Peril should drive the soul to God
The best way to baffle the malicious designs of our enemies against us is to be driven by them to God and to our duty, and so to fetch meat out of the eater. Rabshakeh intended to frighten Hezekiah from the Lord, but it proves that he frightens him to the Lord. The wind, instead of forcing the travellers coat from him, makes him wrap it closer about him. (M. Henry.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1
CHAPTER XXIII
THIS IS THE VICTORY OUR FAITH
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701 B.C.
Isaiah 37
WITHIN the fortress of the faith there is only silence and embarrassment. We pass from the Rabshakeh, posing outside the walls of Zion, to Hezekiah, prostrate within them. We pass with the distracted councillors, by the walls crowded with moody and silent soldiers, many of them-if this be the meaning of the kings command that they should not parley-only too ready to yield to the plausible infidel. We are astonished. Has faith nothing to say for herself? Have this people of so long Divine inspiration no habit of self-possession, no argument in answer to the irrelevant attacks of their enemy? Where are the traditions of Moses and Joshua, the songs of Deborah and David? Can men walk about Zion, and their very footsteps on her walls ring out no defiance?
Hezekiahs complaint reminds us that in this silence and distress we have no occasional perplexity of faith, but her perpetual burden. Faith is inarticulate because of her greatness. Faith is courageous and imaginative; but can she convert her confidence and visions into fact? Said Hezekiah, "This is a day of trouble, and rebuke and contumely, for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring them forth." These words are not a mere metaphor for anguish. They are the definition of a real miscarriage. In Isaiahs contemporaries faith has at last engendered courage, zeal for Gods house, and strong assurance of victory; but she, that has proved fertile to conceive and carry these confidences, is powerless to bring them forth into real life, to transform them to actual fact. Faith, complains Hezekiah, is not the substance of things hoped for. At the moment when her subjective assurances ought to be realised as facts, she is powerless to bring them to the birth.
It is a miscarriage we are always deploring. Wordsworth has said, "Through love, through hope, through faiths transcendent dower, we feel that we are greater than we know." Yes, greater than we can articulate, greater than we can tell to men like the Rabshakeh, even though he talk the language of the Jews; and therefore, on the whole, it is best to be silent in face of his argument. But greater also, we sometimes fear, than we can realise to ourselves in actual character and victory. All life thrills with the pangs of inability to bring the children of faith to the birth of experience. The man who has lost his faith or who takes his faith easily, never knows, of course, this anguish of Hezekiah. But the more we have fed on the promises of the Bible, the more that the Spirit of God has engendered in our pure hearts assurances of justice and of peace, the more we shall sometimes tremble with the fear that in outward fact there is no life for these beautiful conceptions of the soul. Do we really believe in the Fatherhood of God-believe in it till it has changed us inwardly, and we carry a new sense of destiny, a new conscience of justice, a new disgust of sin, a new pity for pain? Then how full of the anguish of impotence must our souls feel when they consciously survey one day of common life about us, or when we honestly look back on a year of our own conduct! Does it not seem as if upon one or two hideous streets in some centre of our civilisation all Christianity, with its eighteen hundred years of promise and impetus, had gone to wreck? Is God only for the imagination of man? Is there no God outwardly to control and grant victory? Is He only a Voice, and not the Creator? Is Christ only a Prophet, and not the King?
And then over these disappointments there faces us all the great miscarriage itself-black, inevitable death. Hezekiah cried from despair that the Divine assurance of the permanance of Gods people in the world was about to be wrecked on fact. But often by a death-bed we utter the same lament about the individuals immortality. There is everything to prove a future life except the fact of it within human experience. This life is big with hopes, instincts, convictions of immortality: and yet where within our sight have these ever passed to the birth of fact? Death is a great miscarriage. "The children have come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring them forth." And yet within the horizon of this life at least-the latter part of the difficulty we postpone to another chapter-"faith is the substance of things hoped for," as Isaiah did now most brilliantly prove. For the miracle of Jerusalems deliverance, to which the narrative proceeds, was not that by faith the prophet foretold it, but that by faith he did actually himself succeed in bringing it to pass. The miracle, we say, was not that Isaiah made accurate prediction of the citys speedy relief from the Assyrian, but far more that upon his solitary steadfastness, without aid of battle, he did carry her disheartened citizens through this crisis of temptation, and kept them, though silent, to their walls till the futile Assyrian drifted away. The prediction, indeed, was not, although its terms appear exact, so very marvellous for a prophet to make, who had Isaiahs religious conviction that Jerusalem must survive and Isaiahs practical acquaintance with the politics of the day. "Behold, I am setting in him a spirit; and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return into his own land." We may recall the parallel case of Charlemagne in his campaign against the Moors in Spain, from which he was suddenly and unreasonably hastened north on a disastrous retreat by news of the revolt of the Saxons. In the vast Assyrian territories rebellions were constantly occurring, that demanded the swift appearance of the king himself; and Gods spirit, to whose inspiration Isaiah traced all political perception, suggested to him the possibility of one of these. In the end, the Bible story implies that it was not a rumour from some far-away quarter so much as a disaster here in Syria, which compelled Sennacheribs "retreat from Moscow." But it is possible that both causes were at work, and that as Napoleon offered the receipt of news from Paris as his reason for hurriedly abandoning the unfortunate Spanish campaign of 1808, so Sennacherib made the rumour of some news from his capital or the north the occasion for turning his troops from a theatre of war, where they had not met with unequivocal success, and had at last been half destroyed by the plague. Isaiahs further prediction of Sennacheribs death must also be taken in a general sense, for it was not till twenty years later that the Assyrian tyrant met this violent end! "I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land." But do not let us waste our attention on the altogether minor point of the prediction of Jerusalems deliverance, when the great wonder, of which the prediction is but an episode, lies lengthened and manifest before us-that Isaiah, when all the defenders of Jerusalem were distracted and her king prostrate, did by the single steadfastness of his spirit sustain her inviolate, and procure for her people a safe and glorious future.
The baffled Rabshakeh returned to his master, whom he found at Libnah, "for he had heard that he had broken up from Lachish." Sennacherib, the narrative would seem to imply, did not trouble himself further about Jerusalem till he learned that Tirhakah, the Ethiopian ruler of Egypt, was marching to meet him with probably a stronger force than that which Sennacherib had defeated at Eltekeh. Then, feeling the danger of leaving so strong a fortress as Jerusalem in his rear, Sennacherib sent to Hezekiah one more demand for surrender. Hezekiah spread his enemys letter before the Lord. His prayer that follows is remarkable for two features, which enable us to see how pure and elevated a monotheism Gods Spirit had at last developed from the national faith of Israel. The Being whom the king now seeks he addresses by the familiar name-Jehovah of hosts, God of Israel, and describes by the physical figure-"who art enthroned upon the cherubim." But he conceives of this God with the utmost loftiness and purity, ascribing to Him not only sovereignty and creatorship, but absolute singularity of Godhead. We have but to compare Hezekiahs prayer with the utterances of his predecessor Ahaz, to whom many gods were real, and none absolutely sovereign, or with the utterances of Israelites far purer than Ahaz, to whom the gods of the nations, though inferior to Jehovah, were yet real existences, in order to mark the spiritual advance made by Israel under Isaiah. It is a tribute to the prophets force, which speaks volumes, when the deputation from Hezekiah talk to him of thy God (Isa_37:4). For Isaiah by his ministry had made Israels God to be new in Israels eyes.
Hezekiahs lofty prayer drew forth through the prophet an answer from Jehovah (Isa_37:21-32). This is one of the most brilliant of Isaiahs oracles. It is full of much with which we are now familiar: the triumph of the inviolable fortress "the virgin daughter of Zion," and her scorn of the arrogant foe: the prophets appreciation of Asshurs power and impetus, which only heightens his conviction that Asshur is but an instrument in the hated of God; the old figure of the enemys sudden check as of a wild animal by hook and bridle; his inevitable retreat to the north. But these familiar ideas are flung off with a terseness and vivacity which bear out the opinion that here we have a prophecy of Isaiah, not revised, and elaborated for subsequent publication, like the rest of his book, but in its original form, struck quickly forth to meet the citys sudden and urgent prayer.
The new feature of this prophecy is the sign added to it (Isa_37:30). This sign reminds us of that which in opposite terms described to Ahaz the devastation of Judah by the approaching Assyrians (chapter 7). The wave of Assyrian war is about to roll away again, and Judah to resume her neglected agriculture, but not quite immediately. During this year of 701 it has been impossible, with the Assyrians in the land, to sow the seed, and the Jews have been dependent on the precarious crop of what had fallen from the harvest of the previous year and sown itself - saphiah, or aftergrowth. Next year, it being now too late to sow for next years harvest, they must be content with the shahis- "wild corn, that which springs of itself: But the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards and eat the fruit thereof." Perhaps we ought not to interpret these numbers literally. The use of three gives the statement a formal and general aspect, as if the prophet only meant, It may be not quite at once that we get rid of the Assyrians; but when they do go, then they go for good, and you may till your land again without fear of their return. Then rings out the old promise, so soon now to be accomplished, about "the escaped" and "the remnant"; and the great pledge of the promise is once more repeated: "The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this." With this exclamation, as in Isa_9:7, the prophecy reaches a natural conclusion; and Isa_37:33-35 may have been uttered by Isaiah a little later, when he was quite sure that the Assyrian would not even attempt to repeat his abandoned blockade of Jerusalem.
At last in a single night the deliverance miraculously came. It is implied by the scattered accounts of those days of salvation, that an Assyrian corps continued to sit before Jerusalem even after the Rabshakeh had returned to the headquarters of Sennacherib. The thirty-third of Isaiah, as well as those Psalms which celebrate the Assyrians disappearance from Judah, describe it as having taken place from under the walls of Jerusalem and the astonished eyes of her guardians. It was not, however, upon this force-perhaps little more than a brigade of observation {Isa_33:18} -that the calamity fell which drove Sennacherib so suddenly from Syria. "And there went forth (that night, adds the book of Kings) the angel of Jehovah; and he smote in the camp of Assyria one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when" the camp arose "in the morning, behold all of them were corpses, dead men. And Sennacherib, King of Assyria, broke up, and returned and dwelt in Nineveh." Had this pestilence dispersed the camp that lay before Jerusalem, and left beneath the walls so considerable a number of corpses, the exclamations of surprise at the sudden disappearance of Assyria, which occur in Isaiah 33 and in Psalms 48 and 76, could hardly have failed to betray the fact. But these simply speak of vague trouble coming "upon them that were assembled about Zion," and of their swift decampment. The trouble was the news of the calamity, whose victims were the main body of the Assyrian army, who had been making for the borders of Egypt, but were now scattered northwards like chaff.
For details of this disaster we look in vain, of course, to the Assyrian annals, which only record Sennacheribs abrupt return to Nineveh. But it is remarkable that the histories of both of his chief rivals in this campaign, Judah and Egypt, should contain independent reminiscences of so sudden and miraculous a disaster to his host. From Egyptian sources there has come down through Herodotus (2:14), a story that a king of Egypt, being deserted by the military caste, when "Sennacherib King of the Arabs and Assyrians" invaded his country, entered his sanctuary and appealed with weeping to his god; that the god appeared and cheered him; that he raised an army of artisans and marched to meet Sennacherib in Pelusium; that by night a multitude of field-mice ate up the quivers, bowstrings, and shield-straps of the Assyrians; and that, as these fled on the morrow, very many of them fell. A stone statue of the king, adds Herodotus, stood in the temple of Hephaestus, having a mouse in the hand. Now, since the mouse was a symbol of sudden destruction, and even of the plague, this story of Herodotus seems to be merely a picturesque form of a tradition that pestilence broke out in the Assyrian camp. The parallel with the Bible narrative is close. In both accounts it is a prayer of the king that prevails. In both the Deity sends His agent-in the grotesque Egyptian an army of mice, in the sublime Jewish His angel. In both the effects are sudden, happening in a single night. From the Assyrian side we have this corroboration: that Sennacherib did abruptly return to Nineveh without taking Jerusalem or meeting with Tirhakah, and that, though he reigned for twenty years more, he never again made a Syrian campaign. Sennacheribs convenient story of his return may be compared to the ambiguous account which Caesar gives of his first withdrawal from Britain, laying emphasis on the submission of the tribes as his reason for a swift return to France-a return which was rather due to the destruction of his fleet by storm and the consequent uneasiness of his army. Or, as we have already said, Sennacheribs account may be compared to Napoleons professed reason for his sudden abandonment of his Spanish campaign and his quick return to Paris in 1808.
The neighbourhood in which the Assyrian army suffered this great disaster was notorious in antiquity for its power of pestilence. Making every allowance for the untutored imagination of the ancients, we must admit the Serbonian bog, between Syria and Egypt, to have been a place terrible for filth and miasma. The noxious vapours travelled far; but the plagues, with which this swamp several times desolated the world, were first engendered among the diseased and demoralised populations, whose villages festered upon its margin. A Persian army was decimated here in the middle of the fourth century before Christ. "The fatal disease which depopulated the earth in the time of Justinian and his successors first appeared in the neighbourhood of Pelusium, between the Serbonian bog and the eastern channel of the Nile." To the north of the bog the Crusaders also suffered from the infection. It is, therefore, very probable that the moral terror of this notorious neighbourhood, as well as its malaria, acting upon an exhausted and disappointed army in a devastated land, was the secondary cause in the great disaster, by which the Almighty humbled the arrogance of Asshur. The swiftness, with which Sennacheribs retreat is said to have begun, has been equalled by the turning-points of other historical campaigns. Alexander the Greats decision to withdraw from India was, after victories as many as Sennacheribs, made in three days. Attila vanished out of Italy as suddenly as Sennacherib, and from a motive less evident. In the famous War of the Fosse the Meccan army broke off from their siege of Mohammed in a single stormy night. Napoleons career went back upon itself with just as sharp a bend no less than thrice-in 1799, on Sennacheribs own ground in Syria; in 1808, in Spain; and in 1812, when he turned from Moscow upon "one memorable night of frost, in which twenty thousand horses perished, and the strength of the French army was utterly broken."
The amount of the Assyrian loss is enormous, and implies of course a much higher figure for the army which was vast enough to suffer it; but here are some instances for comparison. In the early German invasions of Italy whole armies and camps were sweet away by the pestilential climate. The losses of the First Crusade were over three hundred thousand. The soldiers of the Third Crusade, upon the scene of Sennacheribs war, were reckoned at more than half a million, and their losses by disease alone at over one hundred thousand. The Grand Army of Napoleon entered Russia two hundred and fifty thousand, but came out, having suffered no decisive defeat, only twelve thousand; on the retreat from Moscow alone ninety thousand perished.
What we are concerned with, however, is neither the immediate occasion nor the exact amount of Sennacheribs loss, but the bare fact, so certainly established, that, having devastated Judah to the very walls of Jerusalem, the Assyrian was compelled by some calamity apart from human war to withdraw before the sacred city itself was taken. For this was the essential part of Isaiahs prediction; upon this he had staked the credit of the pure monotheism, whose prophet he was to the world. If we keep before us these two simple certainties about the great Deliverance: first, that it had been foretold by Jehovahs word, and second, that it had been now achieved, despite all human probability, by Jehovahs own arm, we shall understand the enormous spiritual impression which it left upon Israel. The religion of the one supreme God, supreme in might because supreme in righteousness, received a most emphatic historical vindication, a signal and glorious triumph. Well might Isaiah exclaim, on the morning of the night during which that Assyrian host had drifted away from Jerusalem, "Jehovah is our Judge; Jehovah is our Lawgiver; Jehovah is our King: He saveth us." No other god for the present had any chance in Judah. Idolatry was discredited, not by the political victory of a puritan faction, not even by the distinctive genius or valour of a nation, but by an evident act of Providence, to which no human aid had been contributory. It was nothing less than the baptism of Israel in spiritual religion, the grace of which was never wholly undone.
Nevertheless, the story of Jehovahs triumph cannot be justly recounted without including the reaction which followed upon it within the same generation. Before twenty years had passed from the day, on which Jerusalem, with the forty-sixth Psalm on her lips, sought with all her heart the God of Isaiah, she relapsed into an idolatry that wore only this sign of the uncompromising puritanism it had displaced: that it was gloomy, and filled with a sense of sin unknown to Israels idolatries previous to the age of Isaiah. The change would be almost incomprehensible to us, who have realised the spiritual effects of Sennacheribs disappearance, if we had not within our own history a somewhat analogous experience. Puritanism was as gloriously accredited by event, and seemed to be as generally accepted by England under Cromwell, as faith in the spiritual religion of Isaiah was vindicated by the deliverance of Jerusalem and the peace of Judah under Hezekiah. But swiftly as the ruling temper in England changed after Cromwells death, and Puritanism was laid under the ban, and persecution and licentiousness broke out, so quickly when Hezekiah died did Manasseh his son-no change of dynasty here-"do evil in the sight of Jehovah, and make Judah to sin, building again the high places and rearing up altars for Baal and altars in the house of Jehovah, whereof Jehovah had said, In Jerusalem will I put My name." Idolatry was never so rampant in Judah. "Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood, till he filled Jerusalem from one end to another." It is in this carnage that tradition has placed the death of Isaiah. He, who had been Judahs best counsellor through five reigns, on whom the whole nation had gathered in the day of her distress, and by whose faith her long-hoped-for salvation had at last become substantive, was violently put to death by the son of Hezekiah. It is said that he was sawn asunder. {Hebrews 11}
The parallel, which we are pursuing, does not, however, close here. "As soon," says an English historian, "as the wild orgy of the Restoration was over, men began to see that nothing that was really worthy in the work of Puritanism bad been undone. The whole history of English progress since the Restoration, on its moral and spiritual sides, has been the history of Puritanism."
For the principles of Isaiah and their victory we may make a claim as much larger than this claim, as Israels influence on the world has been greater than Englands. Israel never wholly lost the grace of the baptism wherewith she was baptised in 701. Even in her history there was no event in which the unaided interposition of God was more conspicuous. It is from an appreciation of the meaning of such a Providence that Israel derives her character-that character which marks her off so distinctively from her great rival in the education of the human race, and endows her ministry with its peculiar value to the world. If we are asked for the characteristics of the Hellenic genius, we point to the august temples and images of beauty in which the wealth and art of man have evolved in human features most glorious suggestions of divinity, or we point to Thermopylae, where human valour and devotion seem grander even in unavailing sacrifice than the almighty Fate that renders them the prey of the barbarian. In Greece the human is greater than the divine. But if we are asked to define the spirit of Israel, we remember the worship which Isaiah has enjoined in his opening chapter, a worship that dispenses even with the temple and with sacrifice, but, from the first strivings of conscience to the most certain enjoyment of peace, ascribes all mans experience to the word of God. In contrast with Thermopylae, we recall Jerusalems Deliverance, effected apart from human war by the direct stroke of Heaven. In Judah man is great simply as he rests on God. The rocks of Thermopylae, how imperishably beautiful do they shine to latest ages with the comradeship, the valour, the sacrificial blood of human heroes! It is another beauty which Isaiah saw upon the bare, dry rocks of Zion, and which has drawn to them the admiration of the world. "There," he said, "Jehovah is glory for us, a place of broad rivers and streams."
"In returning and rest all ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence is your strength." How divine Isaiahs message is, may be proved by the length of time mankind is taking to learn it. The remarkable thing is, that he staked so lofty a principle, and the pure religion of which it was the temper, upon a political result, that he staked them upon, and vindicated them by a purely local and material success-the relief of Jerusalem from the infidel. Centuries passed, and Christ came. He did not-for even He could not-preach a more spiritual religion than that which He had committed to His greatest forerunner, but He released this religion, and the temper of faith which Isaiah had so divinely expressed, from the local associations and merely national victories, with which even Isaiah had been forced to identify them. The destruction of Jerusalem by the heathen formed a large part of Christs prediction of the immediate future; and He comforted the remnant of faith with these words, to some of which Isaiahs lips had first given their meaning: "Ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet in Jerusalem worship the Father. God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."
Again centuries passed-no less than eighteen from Isaiah-and we find Christendom, though Christ had come between, returning to Isaiahs superseded problem, and, while reviving its material conditions, unable to apply to them the prophets spiritual temper. The Christianity of the Crusades fell back upon Isaiahs position without his spirit. Like him, it staked the credit of religion upon the relief of the holy city from the grasp of the infidel; but, in ghastly contrast to that pure faith and serene confidence with which a single Jew maintained the inviolateness of Mount Zion in the face of Assyria, with what pride and fraud, with what blood and cruelty, with what impious invention of miracle and parody of Divine testimony, did countless armies of Christendom, excited by their most fervent prophets and blessed by their high-priest, attempt in vain the recovery of Jerusalem from the Saracen! The Crusades are a gigantic proof of how easy it is to adopt the external forms of heroic ages, how difficult to repeat their inward temper. We could not have more impressive witness borne to the fact that humanity-though obedient to the orthodox Church, though led by the strongest spirits of the age, though hallowed by the presence of its greatest saints, though enduring all trials, though exhibiting an unrivalled power of self-sacrifice and enthusiasm, though beautified by courtesy and chivalry, and though doing and suffering all for Christs sake-may yet fail to understand the old precept that "in returning and rest men are saved, in quietness and in confidence is their strength." Nothing could more emphatically prove the loftiness of Isaiahs teaching than this failure of Christendom even to come within sight of it.
Have we learned this lesson yet? O God of Israel, God of Isaiah, in returning to whom and resting upon whom alone we are saved, purge us of self and of the pride of life, of the fever and the falsehood they breed. Teach us that in quietness and in confidence is our strength. Help us to be still and know that Thou art God.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv1, 14, 15, 20, 31 Isa_37:1. And it came to pass, &c.
A FOOLISH KING AND A WISE ONE
Isa_37:1. And it came to pass, &c.
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The message to which our text refers was sent by a foolish king to a wise one. Look at them both.
I. THE FOOLISH KING.
Sennacherib. Ignorant of God, he fell into various follies.
1. Pride and arrogance. Unaware that he was but an instruments in the hand of God (chap. Isa_10:5-7), he imagined that his triumphs were due entirely to his military genius and the power under his control. Blind as to the true nature of his past career, he looked into the future with boastful confidence; he had no doubt that he would go on conquering and to conquer. His proud survey of the past and this arrogant outlook into the future are follies repeated by many men much smaller than Sennacherib. But every wise man will remember that he owes all his past successes to God (Deu_8:10-18), and that all his future is absolutely in the hand of God (Jas_4:13-15).
2. Blasphemous undervaluing of the power of God (Isa_37:18-20). He therefore imagines that God’s people are in his hand. On this account he presents to them a curious reason why they should surrender (chap, Isa_36:16-17). He promises them a quiet possession of their own vines, which they possessed already but for his disturbance; and in the same breath he adds, “Until I come and take you away;” and then, to soften that sentence, he promises to take them to a land like their own. He promises them no more, after all, than they had already on the safe tenure of their own laws.
This reason for surrender was either a mockery of men whom he believed incapable of resisting him, or an indication of the mental weakness into which pride was betraying him. Ere long there was a terrible demonstration of his folly (Isa_37:36, P. D. 3413), an appalling fulfilment of the prediction concerning him (Isa_10:12-19).
II. THE WISE KING.
Hezekiah. His disposition does not appear to more advantage in any passage of life, nor his conduct exhibit lessons more generally useful, than in the circumstances to which our text alludes. A message is brought from a proud invader; threats mixed with blasphemies are sounded in his ears; a force far superior to his own draws near to his city. In his extremity he sought help, not from man, but from God. In drawing near to God, he testifies his penitence for his own sins and the sins of the people by rending his garments and covering himself with sackcloth, the usual tokens of sorrow in the East; his faith and hope by resorting to the house of God, his accustomed place of prayer. Observe the wisdom of the order of his procedure.
1. He began with demonstrations of repentance. He knew well that without repentance there could be no hope towards God.
(1.) This is the true order for individuals (H. E. I. 145–147).
(2.) For the Church of God.
2. Beginning with repentance’, he could cherish hope (Isa_37:2-4). Why? He felt that the Lord would not permit Sennacherib’s words to pass unpunished; and that, if the sins of the people did not operate to prevent it, help would surely be sent him. But he spoke with caution, “it may be,” &c. The best reasons may be found for what we call “delays” in providential helps. There was room for expectation that help would be given, room for prayer that it might be given, but no room for overweening confidence that it must be so. With his hope there was mingled submission to the will of God, and that doubtless helped to win for his prayer a favourable hearing.
CONCLUSION.—This narrative presents us with the results, on the one hand, of pride and arrogance; and on the other, of repentance and an humbled spirit. In times of extremity let us not entertain hope without an humble and repentant suit to God; and when that ground of penitence is laid for its support, let us not dismiss our confidence. God is always able to help His people. Like Hezekiah, then, to Him let us resort in every time of trouble, whether it be a time of public danger or of domestic affliction.—J. H. Pott: Sermons, vol. ii. pp. 282–299.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 I. Let us weigh this piece of satanic advice:…
Isa 37:10
I. Let us weigh this piece of satanic advice: "Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee." It is a very dangerous temptation for three reasons. (1) Because it appeals to the natural pride of the heart. There is a universal instinct which makes a man abhor the idea of being deceived. There is something in the very idea which rouses all the pride that lies latent in every heart. To take a man’s confidence, to receive all the secret thoughts of his heart, to allow him to confide everything to you, then cold-bloodedly to turn round and leave him in the lurch, having led him on by fair promises, is so cruel an act in its nature, that I marvel not that by a universal instinct every man shudders at the mere supposition of being so treated. (2) There is no disguising the fact that if God did deceive us we are in a hopeless plight, and therefore there is force in the temptation. (3) The methods of God’s government being beyond our comprehension, sometimes appear to incline towards the tempter’s suggestion,—from appearances one might say, "God is going to leave us in the lurch."
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II. Let us turn round and tear the advice up. (1) We may tear it up because it comes too late. If God be a deceiver we are already so thoroughly deceived, and have been so for years, that it is rather late in the day to come and advise us not to be. (2) We may tear it up, because if God deceive us we may be quite certain that there is nobody else that would not. From all we know of our God, His holiness, His righteousness, and His faithfulness, if He can deceive us, then are we quite certain that there are none to be trusted. (3) There is not one atom of evidence to support the libel. Search the world through, and see if you can find a man who will deliberately say, "I have tried God, I have trusted Him, and He has deceived me." (4) There is overwhelming evidence to refute it. Never yet did man trust his God and be put to shame. Heaven and earth and hell declare that Jehovah never hath deceived and never can deceive.
A. G. Brown, Penny Pulpit, No. 1131.
References: Isa 37:22.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 203. Isa 37:30.—S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, vol. ii., Appendix, No. 1.
Isa 37:31
The Christian Church a continuation of the Jewish. Consider one or two difficulties which at first may be felt in receiving this view of God’s dealings with His Church, which in itself is most simple and satisfactory.
I. It may be said that the prophecies have not been, and never will be, fulfilled in the letter, because they contain expressions and statements which do not admit, or certainly have not, a literal meaning. This objection is surely not well grounded, for it stands to reason that the use of figures in a composition is not enough to make it figurative as a whole. We constantly use figures of speech whenever we speak; yet who will say on that account that the main course of our conversation is not to be taken literally? Of course there are in the Prophets figurative words, and sentences, too, because they write poetically; but even this does not make the tenour of their language figurative, any more than occasional similes show an heroic poem to be an extended allegory. Why should we find it a difficulty that Israel does not mean simply the Israelites, but the chosen people, wherever they are, in all ages; and that Jerusalem should be used as a name for the body politic, or state or government of the chosen people, in which the power lies, and from which action proceeds?
II. But it may be asked, whether it is possible to consider the Christian Church, which is so different from the Jewish, a continuation of it, or to maintain that what was promised to the Jewish was fulfilled in substance in the Christian? (1) The chosen people had gone through many vicissitudes, many transformations before the resolution which followed on the coming of the promised Saviour, and which was the greatest of all. It is no objection, rather it gives countenance to the notion of the identity of the Jewish Church with the Christian, that it is so different from it, for the Jewish Church was at various eras very different from itself; and worms of the earth at length gain wings, yet are the same; and man dies in corruption and rises incorrupt, yet without losing his original body. (2) The sacred writers show themselves quite aware of this peculiarity in the mode in which God’s purposes are carried on from age to age. They are frequent in speaking of a "remnant" as alone inheriting the promises. The word "remnant," so constantly used in Scripture, is the token of the identity of the Church in the mind of her Divine Creator, before and after the coming of Christ.
J. H. Newman, Sermons on Subjects of the Day, p. 180.
Reference: 37—E. H. Plumptre, Expositor, 2nd series, vol. iv., p. 450.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv14, 15, 33
Isaiah
THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH
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WHERE TO CARRY TROUBLES
Isa 37:14.
When Hezekiah heard the threatenings of Sennacherib’s servants, he rent his clothes and went into the house of the Lord, and sent to Isaiah entreating his prayers. When he received the menacing letter, his faith was greater, having been heartened by Isaiah’s assurances. So he then himself appealed to Jehovah, spreading the letter before Him, and himself prayed God to guard His own honour, and answer the challenge flung down by the insolent Assyrian. It is noble when faith increases as dangers increase.
I. We have here an example of what to do with troubles and difficulties.
We are to lay them out before God, as we can do by praying about them. Hezekiah’s trouble was great. His kingdom could be crushed like an eggshell by the grasp of Sennacherib’s hand. But little troubles as well as great ones are best dealt with by being ‘spread before the Lord.’ Whatever is important enough to disturb me is important enough for me to speak to God about it. Whether the poison inflaming our blood be from a gnat’s bite, or a cobra’s sting, the best antidote is-pray about it.
How much more real and fervid our prayers would be, if we habitually turned all our affairs into materials for petition! That is a very empty dispute as to whether we ought to pray for deliverance from outward sorrows. If we are living in touch with God, we cannot but take Him into our confidence, if we may so say, as to everything that affects us. And we should as soon think of hiding any matter from our dearest on earth as from our Friend in heaven. ‘In everything, by prayer and supplication’ is the commandment, and will be the instinct of the devout heart.
Note Hezekiah’s assurance that God cares about him.
Note his clear perception that God is his only help.
Note his identification of his own deliverance with God’s honour. We cannot identify our welfare, or deliverance in small matters, with God’s fair fame, in such a fashion. But we ought to be quite sure that He will not let us sink or perish, and will never desert us. And we can be quite sure that, if we identify ourselves and our work with Him, He will identify Himself with us and it. His treatment of His servants will tell the world {and not one world only} what He is, how faithful, how loving, how strong.
II. We have here an example of how God answers His servants’ prayers.
It was ‘by terrible things in righteousness’ that Hezekiah’s answer came. His prayer was at one end of the chain, and at the other was a camp full of corpses. One poor man’s cry can set in motion tremendous powers, as a low whisper can start an avalanche. That magnificent theophany in Psa 18:1 - Psa 18:50, with all its majesty and terror of flashing lightnings and a rocking earth, was brought about by nothing more than ‘In my distress I called upon the Lord,’ and its purpose was nothing more than to draw the suppliant out of many waters and deliver him from his strong enemy.
That army swept off the earth may teach us how much God will do for a praying child of His. His people’s deliverance is cheaply purchased at such a price. ‘He reproved kings for their sake.’
One man with God beside him is stronger than all the world. As the psalmist learned in his hour of peril, ‘Thou, Lord, makest me to dwell in safety, thou alone!’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 7. Send.. him] RV 'put a spirit in him.'
7. Send.. him] RV 'put a spirit in him.'
22. Virgin] the figure as in Isa_23:12.
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24. Sides] RV 'innermost parts.' The height.. Carmel] RV 'his farthest height, the forest of his fruitful field.'
25. Digged] Deserts cannot impede his march, for he digs wells there. Have I dried, etc.] RV 'will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt': the Assyrian boasts that he will pass on to conquer Egypt.
26. Jehovah is here the speaker. Done.. formed it] Referring to the ordering of events in the divine providence.
That thou, etc.] The Assyrian is Jehovah's instrument.
28. Abode] RV.' sitting down.'
29. My hook] Assyrian sculptures represent both captives and beasts as led in this way. Jehovah will treat the Assyrian as His captive, or as a beast which must be tamed and restrained.
30. A sign given to the people of Judah that the Assyrian shall not return. This year, the year of the invasion, since the harvest has been destroyed they must eat the after growth. Since they have not been able to sow this year, next year they must depend upon what grows of itself, but the year after they will be able to sow and reap freely, for the land will be free from enemies.
33-35. Another short utterance repeating the promise of deliverance.
36. The striking fulfilment of Isaiah's words. The angel] The expression points to pestilence as the instrument of the Assyrians' overthrow (1Ch_21:14-15; Psa_78:49-50).
38. The death of Sennacherib took place in 681 B.c., so that it did not immediately follow the discomfiture of his army.
With the sword] in fulfilment of Isaiah's words (Isa_37:7).
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv10, 36 (See Scofield "Psa 2:12")
trustest
(See Scofield "Psa 2:12")
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 Hezekiah in the House of the Lord and Sennacherib’s…
CHAPTER 37
Hezekiah in the House of the Lord and Sennacherib’s Second Attempt
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1. Hezekiah’s humiliation and Isaiah sent for (Isa 37:1-5) 2. The message from the prophet (Isa 37:6-7) 3. Rabshakeh’s letter (Isa 37:8-13) 4. Hezekiah’s prayer (Isa 37:14-20) 5. The prayer answered (Isa 37:21-35) 6. The army of Sennacherib judged (Isa 37:36) 7. The judgment upon Sennacherib (Isa 37:38)
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Effect of Sennacherib’s Boast upon Hezekiah
The Effect of Sennacherib’s Boast upon Hezekiah
v. 1. And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard it, namely, the report of his envoys, that he rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth, the depth of his grief and distress being shown by the fact that he wrapped himself in the vestments of mourning, and went into the house of the Lord, seeking help in the place in which God had promised to hear the prayers of His faithful people, 1Ki 8:29.
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v. 2. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, the royal chamberlain, and Shebna, the scribe, a high state officer, and the elders of the priests, a committee of priests selected on account of their age and experience, covered with sackcloth, in the same garments of mourning as the king had donned, unto Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amoz, thus indicating the importance of the prophet’s position at that time.
v. 3. And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, of great affliction, and of rebuke, the king recognizing here a reproof of the Lord on account of the sins of his people, and of blasphemy, namely, of the blasphemous utterances of Rabshakeh; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth, the mother’s labor being inadequate to complete the birth, the reference being to the situation in the nation, which was threatened with destruction on account of its own weakness.
v. 4. It may be the Lord, thy God, will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his master, hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the Lord, thy God, hath heard, namely, the blasphemous statements that Jehovah, after all, was no more than the gods of the surrounding nations, a mistake which others had made before, 1Ki 20:23; wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left, namely, Jerusalem and its inhabitants, everything else having been conquered by the invaders.
v. 5. So the servants of King Hezeikiah came to Isaiah.
v. 6. And Isaiah said unto them, when they had presented their message, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants, literally, "the youths," a disparaging designation characterizing their empty boasting, of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me, that being the real and grievous offense committed by Rabshakeh’s embassy.
v. 7. Behold, I will send a blast upon him, influence his judgments and actions by a spirit which will guide him according to the plans of the Lord, and he shall hear a rumor, an evil report, and return to his own land, instead of attacking Jerusalem, as he evidently intended to do; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land, by the hand of assassins, as related at the end of the chapter.
v. 8. So Rabshakeh returned, marching back to the camp of his master without having accomplished his end, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, a fortified city somewhat nearer to Jerusalem; for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish, withdrawing before the Egyptian advance.
v. 9. And he heard say concerning Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, at that time master of the entire country of Egypt, He is come forth to make war with thee, this being the report which, according to Isaiah’s promise, was to influence Sennacherib to abandon his campaign. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, in a second attempt to get possession of Jerusalem and thus to strengthen his cause against Egypt,
v. 10. Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah, king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. His attempt to intimidate the inhabitants of Jerusalem having failed, Sennacherib hoped to influence Hezekiah himself and cause him to yield.
v. 11. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly, this being a typical example of the boastfulness which characterizes the royal tablets of the Assyrian kings; and shalt thou be delivered?
v. 12. Have the gods of the nations, namely, those subdued up to that time, delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, a province and city on the boundary of Mesopotamia and Armenia, and Haran, in Mesopotamia proper, and Reseph, in the valley of the Euphrates, on the western side, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar? a Mesopotamian locality on the east side of the Tigris.
v. 13. Where is the king of Hamath and the king of Arphad and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Isa 30:19, Hena, and Ivah? the latter being cities in Babylonia.
v. 14. And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, that is, the sheets upon which the message was penned. and read it. And Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord, unrolled the parchment-scroll of writing. He thus brought the blasphemy to the attention of the Lord.
v. 15. And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying,
v. 16. O Lord of hosts, Commander of the heavenly armies, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubim, for that was the place from which the Lord communed with Moses, where He dwelt in the midst of His people, Exo 25:22; Num 7:89, Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth, the one and only supreme Ruler of the universe; Thou hast made heaven and earth, and by virtue of His creation they are subject to Him.
v. 17. Incline Thine ear, O Lord, in the gesture of close attention, and hear; open Thine eyes, O Lord, and see, both of them, as it were, being focused upon conditions as they obtained in Judah at that time, and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God, to heap contempt upon Him.
v. 18. Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their countries, the nations and their land,
v. 19. and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, dead and helpless idols; therefore they have destroyed them, this fact explained the easy victory of the As-Syrians.
v. 20. Now, therefore, O Lord, our God, upon whom Hezekiah and his people based their firm trust for deliverance, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art the Lord, even Thou only, the appeal thus being that the Lord should rescue His honor. That is the strongest argument which we may plead before the Lord in prayer, that lie must hear us for the sake of His holy name, lest His honor be attacked with a show of right by the enemies.
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 vv1, 3, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 19, 21, 24, 26, 28, 30, 31, 33, 35, 36, 38 It came about that
It came about that
This phrase is used here to mark an important event in the story. If your language has a way for doing this, you could consider using it here. (See: Introduction of a New Event)
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he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth
This is a sign of mourning and distress. AT: "he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth because he was very distressed" (See: Symbolic Action)
Eliakim ... Shebna
Translate the names of these men the same as you did in Isaiah 36:03. (See: How to Translate Names)
over the household
This is an idiom that means that he was in charge of the affairs of the palace household. AT: "in charge of the palace" (See: Idiom)
all covered with sackcloth
This is a sign of mourning and distress. (See: Symbolic Action)
translationWords
king
Hezekiah
report
sackcloth
house of God
household
scribe
elder
priest
Isaiah
Amoz
prophet
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 vv1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 14, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 35, 36, 38 37:1 Hezekiah responded to the threats by seeking the…
37:1 Hezekiah responded to the threats by seeking the Lord’s favor. • The king tore his clothes and put on burlap as a sign of mourning and prayer.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.