=1‒8= (compare 2 Kings xviii. 13‒16).
SENNACHERIB’S THREATENED INVASION. HEZEKIAH’S PRECAUTIONS.
The Chronicler introduces us somewhat abruptly to the Assyrian crisis.
From 2 Kings we learn that Hezekiah renounced the suzerainty of Assyria
(xviii. 7), which his father Ahaz had acknowledged (2 Kings xvi. 7).
Thereupon Sennacherib invaded Judah, and Hezekiah was obliged to
acknowledge with a heavy payment of tribute his dependence on the
Assyrian king (2 Kings xviii. 13‒16). Sennacherib having discovered the
weakness of Judah, next demanded an unconditional surrender, intending
to transport the Jews to another country (2 Kings xviii. 31, 32).
This demand Hezekiah resisted, being strengthened thereto by Isaiah.
The Chronicler does not refer to the earlier invasion or to the
tribute――such a humiliation of the pious and devoted king being in
his belief unthinkable. That any invasion should have taken place
“after these things and this faithfulness” was sufficiently astonishing,
until the issue showed that the anxiety and distress were only for the
greater glory of Israel’s God and for the further proof of Hezekiah’s
trust in Him.
¹After these things, and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king
of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against
the fenced cities, and thought to win them¹ for himself. ²And
when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was
purposed² to fight against Jerusalem,
¹ Hebrew _to break them up_.
² Hebrew _his face was to fight_.
=1.= _After these things, and this faithfulness_] The phrase is a
_hendiadys_ and stands for, “After these faithful dealings.”
_Sennacherib_] This king (_Sanḥērib_ in Hebrew, _Sin-aḥi-irib_
[_-irba_] in Assyrian, the Σαναχάριβος of Herod. II. 141) reigned
705‒681 B.C. He was the son of Sargon (Isaiah xx. 1), father of
Esar-haddon (2 Kings xix. 37; Ezra iv. 3), and grandfather of
Asshur-bani-pal, the well-known Σαρδανάπαλλος of Herod. II. 150, who
is commonly identified with Osnappar (compare Ezra iv. 10). Under this
dynasty Assyria reached the height of its power. The empire included
Babylonia (which, however, was frequently in revolt), Assyria proper,
Syria as far north as Cilicia (inclusive), and (under Esar-haddon and
Asshur-bani-pal) Egypt. After Asshur-bani-pal’s death (about 626 B.C.)
the Assyrian power was speedily destroyed. The form _Sennacherib_ is
derived from the LXX. through the Vulgate.
_to win them_] Literally _to make breaches in them_. According to
2 Kings xviii. 13 Sennacherib took these cites; and the Assyrian
account on the “Prism Inscription” of Sennacherib which is preserved
in the British Museum states that they were forty-six in number
(compare Driver in Hogarth, _Authority and Archaeology_, pp. 104‒107;
or Handcock, _Latest Light on Bible Lands_, pp. 153 ff.).
³he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the
waters of the fountains which were without the city; and they
helped him.
=3.= _to stop the waters_] Compare 2 Kings xx. 20 “[Hezekiah] made the
pool and the conduit and brought water into the city,” and Isaiah xxii.
9, 11.
At the present day there is an underground tunnel cut through the rock
leading from St Mary’s Well down to the Lower Pool of Siloam (Bädeker,
_Palestine_⁵, pp. 25, 83). It is rudely constructed and owing to its
windings is 586 yards long, though the distance in a straight line is
only 368 yards. As therefore the Lower Pool was probably within the
ancient walls, while St Mary’s Well was outside, this tunnel may be
Hezekiah’s conduit. If the well were stopped, the besiegers would lose
the water, which would collect in the Pool for the use of the besieged.
An inscription in ancient Hebrew characters (“The Siloam Inscription”)
discovered _in situ_ describes briefly the digging of the tunnel,
but does not enable us to fix the date of it with certainty. For the
original text and an English translation see G. A. Smith, _Jerusalem_,
I. 95 f., or Driver, _Notes on Hebrew Text of Samuel_, viii. ff.
⁴So there was gathered much people together, and they stopped
all the fountains, and the brook that flowed through the midst
of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and
find much water?
=4.= _the brook that flowed_] The Hebrew verb means “flow with strong
stream” (as a flood). We naturally look for such a brook either east
of Jerusalem in the valley of Kidron or south in the valley of the son
of Hinnom, but no perennial stream runs in either valley now. Possibly
(owing to physical changes in the configuration of the country)
the waters which fed such a brook in the Chronicler’s day now lose
themselves in the soil.
⁵And he took courage, and built up all the wall that was broken
down, and raised _it_ up to the towers¹, and the other² wall
without, and strengthened Millo _in_ the city of David, and made
weapons and shields in abundance.
¹ Or, _heightened the towers_ Or, _went up upon the towers_ The
Vulgate has, _built towers thereon_.
² Or, _another_.
=5.= _broken dozen_] Compare xxv. 23 (note).
_raised_ it _up to the towers_] Hebrew _vayya‘al ‘al_. Read =and he
heightened the towers=, i.e. omitting the second _’al_ as a dittography.
_the other wall_] In Isaiah xxii. 9‒11 the preparations to meet the
Assyrian attack are described by the prophet who speaks of a “ditch”
(Revised Version “reservoir”) made at this time between “the two
walls.” In _Excavations at Jerusalem, 1894‒1897_, Dr Bliss describes a
buttressed wall (pp. 96 ff.) built without lime (see his frontispiece
for an illustration of it) and enclosing the pool of Siloam on the
south-east, which, he says, “may date back as far as Hezekiah” (pp.
325 f.). Dr Bliss also, following up a clue given by earlier explorers,
found a second wall (running at an angle to the first) enclosing the
pool on the west. This second wall was probably due to Herod, but Dr
Bliss suggests that the line it follows may have been defended by a
wall as early as Hezekiah’s day (p. 326). For further discussion see
G. A. Smith, _Jerusalem_, I. 182, 207.
_Millo_] compare 1 Chronicles xi. 8, note.
_weapons and shields_] Properly, _darts and shields_. These were meant,
not for such trained soldiers as Hezekiah could collect, but for the
levy _en masse_ with which the king proposed to man the walls. A dart
to throw and a shield to protect the thrower as he threw were all that
the citizen-soldier needed. The Hebrew word (_shelaḥ_) means “dart,
missile”; the more general rendering “weapons” obscures the precise
nature of Hezekiah’s preparations.
⁶And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them
together to him in the broad place at the gate of the city,
and spake comfortably to them, saying, ⁷Be strong and of a good
courage, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor
for all the multitude that is with him: for there is a greater¹
with us than with him:
¹ Or, _there be more_.
=6.= _in the broad place at the gate_] Compare xxix. 4; Nehemiah
viii. 16. There is nothing here to show which of the two broad places
mentioned in Nehemiah is meant, or whether some third place is intended.
⁸with him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God
to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested
themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
=8.= _an arm of flesh_] Compare Jeremiah xvii. 5. Contrast the frequent
phrase “a mighty hand and a stretched out arm” (of Jehovah). An “arm”
is an ally or helper.
_with us is the LORD_] Compare xv. 2, xx. 17; Isaiah viii. 10.
=9‒19= (compare 2 Kings xviii. 17‒35).
SENNACHERIB’S THREATENING MESSAGES.
In this section Chronicles briefly and freely summarises 2 Kings.
⁹After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants
to Jerusalem, (now he was before Lachish, and all his power with
him,) unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that were
at Jerusalem, saying,
=9.= _his servants_] Three of these are specified in 2 Kings by their
titles, viz. the Tartan (“Commander-in-chief”), the Rabsaris (perhaps
“Chief of the Princes”), and the Rabshakeh (“Chief of the officers _or_
cup-bearers”).
_now he was before Lachish_] The capture of Lachish by Sennacherib
and its spoliation are shown on an Assyrian relief now in the British
Museum. The king himself besieged Lachish because it was of more
importance for the main object of the campaign than Jerusalem.
Sennacherib’s objective was Egypt (Herodotus II. 141), and Lachish
(_Tell el-Ḥesi_, Bädeker, _Palestine_⁵, p. 118) lay directly in his
path (compare Handcock, _Latest Light on Bible Lands_, p. 151).
¹⁰Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria, Whereon do ye trust,
that ye abide the siege¹ in Jerusalem?
¹ Or, _in the strong hold_.
=10.= _in Jerusalem_] Isaiah promised deliverance in Jerusalem; e.g. in
Isaiah xxix. 8, xxx. 19.
¹¹Doth not Hezekiah persuade you, to give you over to die by
famine and by thirst, saying, The LORD our God shall deliver us
out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
=11.= _persuade_] Or “entice”; compare 1 Chronicles xxi. 1 (“provoked”
for the same Hebrew word).
¹²Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and
his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall
worship before one altar, and upon it shall ye burn incense?
=12.= _Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away_] Besides this appeal
to the religious prejudices of the people, Sennacherib’s servants
employed two other arguments, according to 2 Kings――(1) the paucity of
Hezekiah’s soldiers (2 Kings xviii. 23) and (2) possible reliance on
Egyptian help (2 Kings xviii. 21, 25). These two arguments are passed
over by the Chronicler doubtless because they seemed inconsistent both
with the power and the character of a king so God-fearing as Hezekiah.
_his high places_] compare 2 Kings xviii. 4. The “high places”
(_bāmōth_) were properly sanctuaries of Jehovah, and not necessarily
idolatrous in themselves. But since originally all, or almost all,
of these _bāmōth_ had been sacred places of the Canaanite gods, old
idolatrous symbols (e.g. the _ashērah_) and old idolatrous ideas and
rites persisted in the worship there offered. When finally the Jews
restricted sacrificial worship to Jerusalem, the _odium_ attaching to
these “high places” became greater than ever, and hostility towards
them came to be regarded as the mark of any pious monarch. Hezekiah
removed the _bāmōth_ throughout the country.
¹³Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all the
peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of the lands
any ways able to deliver their land out of mine hand? ¹⁴Who
was there among all the gods of those nations which my fathers
utterly destroyed¹, that could deliver his people out of mine
hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of mine
hand? ¹⁵Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade
you on this manner, neither believe ye him: for no god of any
nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of mine
hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall
your God² deliver you out of mine hand? ¹⁶And his servants spake
yet more against the LORD God, and against his servant Hezekiah.
¹ Hebrew _devoted_.
² Or, _gods_.
=13.= _the peoples of the lands_] In 2 Kings xviii. 34 the lands are
specified and include _Samaria_.
¹⁷He wrote also letters¹, to rail on the LORD, the God of Israel,
and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations
of the lands, which have not delivered their people out of mine
hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of
mine hand.
¹ Or, _a letter_.
=17.= _to rail on_] Or, _to defy_ (the same Hebrew word as in 2 Kings
xix. 4, 16, 22, 33, and there rendered “reproach”).
¹⁸And they cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language unto
the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to affright them,
and to trouble them; that they might take the city.
=18.= _in the Jews’ language_] i.e. in Hebrew. From the parallel
passage, 2 Kings xviii. 26 ff., it is evident that the language of
diplomacy at this time in Western Asia was Aramaic (“Syrian,” 2 Kings);
and that, whilst understood by the Jewish leaders and officials, it
was not yet intelligible to the common people. In the negotiations the
Rabshakeh showed clearly that his object was not to treat with Hezekiah,
but to excite a revolt among the Jews against Hezekiah and so gain
possession of the city.
¹⁹And they spake of the God of Jerusalem, as of the gods of the
peoples of the earth, which are the work of men’s hands.
=19.= _the God of Jerusalem_] For this designation compare Psalms
cxxxv. 21.
=20‒23= (compare 2 Kings xix. 1‒4, 14‒19, 35‒37).
HEZEKIAH AND ISAIAH PRAY. THE DELIVERANCE.
This section is a very brief summary of 2 Kings xix.
²⁰And Hezekiah the king, and Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz,
prayed because of this, and cried to heaven.
=20.= _And Hezekiah ... and Isaiah ... prayed_] According to Kings,
Hezekiah prayed, and was answered by God through the medium of a
message delivered by Isaiah the prophet (2 Kings xix. 20‒34).
_heaven_] Here used reverently for “God”; compare xxviii. 9; Daniel
iv. 26; Luke xv. 21.
²¹And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men
of valour, and the leaders and captains, in the camp of the king
of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land.
And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came
forth of his own bowels slew him¹ there with the sword.
¹ Hebrew _caused him to fall_.
=21.= _all the mighty men_] In number 185,000 according to 2 Kings xix.
35 and Isaiah xxxvii. 36. The agency was probably the plague, which is
pictured as a destroying angel in 2 Samuel xxiv. 16.
_And when he was come_] The murder of Sennacherib did not occur till
some 20 years after his Judean expedition (_circa_ 701 B.C.), i.e. not
till 681 B.C.
_they that came forth_] The Chronicler no doubt follows Isaiah xxxvii.
38, “Adrammelech and Sharezer _his sons_ smote him”; but the accuracy
of the present text of this passage of Isaiah is doubtful, for in the
parallel passage (2 Kings xix. 37, _Kethīb_) the words _his sons_ are
missing. The only notice of Sennacherib’s death known to us at present
from the inscriptions reads “Sennacherib king of Assyria was slain by
his son (singular) in a revolt.” No name is given to this son. (Driver
in Hogarth, _Authority and Archaeology_, p. 109.)
²²Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem
from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the
hand of all _other_, and guided them on every side.
=22.= _guided them on every side_] Read, as the LXX., =gave them rest
on every side=; compare xx. 30.
²³And many brought gifts unto the LORD to Jerusalem, and
precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was
exalted in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.
=23.= _brought gifts_] Compare Psalms lxviii. 29; Isaiah xviii. 7;
Haggai ii. 7, 8.
=24‒33= (compare 2 Kings xx.; Isaiah xxxviii., xxxix.).
HEZEKIAH’S SICKNESS. THE AMBASSADORS FROM BABYLON.
HEZEKIAH’S DEATH.
²⁴In those days Hezekiah was sick even unto death: and he
prayed unto the LORD; and he spake unto him, and gave him a
sign¹.
¹ Or, _wonder_.
=24.= Remark that this single verse epitomises 2 Kings xx. 1‒11.
_In those days_] The phrase is taken over from 2 Kings xx. 1, and it
cannot be determined what date is intended, though we may conclude
from 2 Kings xx. 6 that it was a time at which the Assyrian danger was
not yet past, and that it was about the fourteenth year of Hezekiah
(compare Barnes on 2 Kings xx. 1).
_he spake_] The Hebrew word means, in certain connections, “to promise,”
and the idea of “promise” is present here, the sense being “God made
him a promise and confirmed it by a wonder”; compare 2 Kings xx. 5, 6,
8‒11.
_a sign_] Rather, =a wonder= (margin), as in verse 31.
²⁵But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done
unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath
upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
=25.= _his heart was lifted up_] Compare verse 31; 2 Kings xx. 12‒15.
_wrath_] Hebrew _ḳeṣeph_, a visitation of Divine wrath; compare xix.
2, 10, xxiv. 18, xxix. 8.
²⁶Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride¹ of
his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the
wrath of the LORD came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.
¹ Hebrew _the lifting up_.
=26.= _humbled himself_] Compare 2 Kings xx. 19.
²⁷And Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honour: and he
provided him treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for
precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all
manner of goodly vessels;
=27.= _riches and honour_] Compare 2 Kings xx. 13 (= Isaiah xxxix. 2).
_shields_] Hebrew _māginnōth_, i.e. small round shields. Perhaps, like
Solomon’s (ix. 15, 16), they were overlaid with gold or silver. Barnes
suggested the reading _migdānōth_, “precious things” (as in verse 23),
instead of _māginnōth_. LXX. ὁπλοθήκας, i.e. “armouries”; Peshitṭa
(text being doubtful here) “shields” _or_ “pearls” _or_ “precious
gifts.”
²⁸storehouses also for the increase of corn and wine and oil;
and stalls for all manner of beasts, and flocks in folds.
=28.= _flocks in folds_] The “folds” were enclosures with high stone
walls as a defence against robbers and wild beasts. The text is
probably faulty; Peshitṭa omits the clause.
²⁹Moreover he provided him cities, and possessions of flocks and
herds in abundance: for God had given him very much substance.
=29.= _cities_] The context suggests that these cities were meant
chiefly as places of refuge for the flocks and herds in time of war;
but again it is probable that the text is corrupt, and that this word
should be omitted.
³⁰This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper spring of the waters
of Gihon, and brought them straight down on the west side of the
city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works.
=30.= _stopped_] Compare verses 3, 4.
_Gihon_] The upper spring of Gihon is represented to-day by _St Mary’s
Well_; compare Bädeker, _Palestine_⁵, pp. 25, 83, and note on verse
3 above.
_on the west side of the city_] Render, =westwards to the city=. The
direction followed by the tunnel through which Hezekiah brought the
waters from the upper spring of Gihon (St Mary’s Well outside the city)
to the Pool of Siloam within the walls is roughly west or south-west;
see G. A. Smith, _Jerusalem_, 1. 102 f.
³¹Howbeit in _the business of_ the ambassadors¹ of the princes
of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was
done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know
all that was in his heart.
¹ Hebrew _interpreters_.
=31.= _who sent_] Read rather, with LXX., _who had been sent_.
_to inquire of the wonder_] According to 2 Kings xx. 12; Isaiah xxxix.
1, the ostensible reason of the embassy was to congratulate Hezekiah
on his recovery. The real object was to gain over Judah to an alliance
against Assyria, from which Babylon was constantly seeking to revolt.
_to try him, that he might know_, etc.] The phrase is based on
Deuteronomy viii. 2.
³²Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his good deeds,
behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet the
son of Amoz, in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
=32.= _his good deeds_] Compare xxxv. 26 (of Josiah); Nehemiah xiii. 14
(of Nehemiah).
_the vision of Isaiah ... in the book of the kings_] The reference is
apparently to Isaiah xxxvi. 2‒xxxix. 8 = 2 Kings xviii. 17‒xx. 21.
³³And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in
the ascent of the sepulchres of the sons of David: and all Judah
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his death.
And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.
=33.= _in the ascent of the sepulchres of the sons of David_] What
is implied by “the _ascent_ of the sepulchres,” the phrase being
found only here? Some hold that it means a place outside the royal
burying-ground, and that, since exclusion from the royal sepulchres
was a mark of dishonour otherwise confined to the bodies of wicked
kings (xxi. 20, xxiv. 25, xxvi. 23, xxviii. 27) the statement could
hardly emanate from the Chronicler himself but must be derived from
some old and presumably trustworthy source: an unsatisfactory view.
Certainly the Chronicler cannot have understood the phrase to mean
anything derogatory to Hezekiah, and there is, in fact, no necessity
to interpret it as some place _outside_ the royal sepulchres. On the
contrary, it is reasonable to suppose that it means a definite part of
this royal cemetery, the lower slopes (“ascent”) or possibly the higher
part.
_did him honour_] compare xvi. 14, xxi. 19.