2 Kings 20:20

And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might,.... Which he exerted in his wars with his enemies, and in the reformation of religion, and abolition of idolatry: and how he made a pool, and

And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

2 Kings 20:20 And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?Ver. 20. How he made a pool and a conduit.] Of these, see 2 Kings 18:17 Nehemiah 3:15 2 Chronicles 32:4; 2 Chronicles 32:30.

(20) His might.—See 2 Chronicles 32; Isaiah 33:18; Psalms 48:12-13. A pool . . . a conduit . . . water.—Rather, the pool . . . the conduit . . . the water. The pool of Hezekiah is now the Birket-Hammâm-el-Batrak. (See Notes on 2 Chronicles 32:4; 2 Chronicles 32:30, and Isaiah 7:3.)

Verse 20. The rest of the acts of Hezekiah] See the parallel places in Isaiah and in 2 Chronicles. In this latter book, 2 Chronicles 32:24-33, we find several particulars that are not inserted here; especially concerning his pride, the increase of his riches, his storehouses of corn, wine, and oil; his stalls for all manner of beasts; his cities, flocks, and herds, in abundance; and the bringing the upper water course of Gihon to the west side of the city of David, by which he brought a plentiful supply of water into that city, c., c., &c. ON the subject of the Babylonian embassy I may say a few words. However we may endeavour to excuse Hezekiah, it is certain that he made an exhibition of his riches and power in a spirit of great vanity and that this did displease the Lord. It was also ruinous to Judea: when those foreigners had seen such a profusion of wealth, such princely establishments, and such a fruitful land, it was natural for them to conceive the wish that they had such treasures, and from that to covet the very treasures they saw. They made their report to their king and countrymen, and the desire to possess the Jewish wealth became general and in consequence of this there is little doubt that the conquest of Jerusalem was projected. History is not barren in such instances: the same kind of cause has produced similar effects. Take two or three notable instances. When the barbarous Goth and Vandal nations saw the pleasant and fruitful plains and hills of Italy, and the vast treasures of the Roman people, the abundance of the necessaries, conveniences, comforts, and luxuries of life, which met their eyes in every direction; they were never at rest till their swords put them in possession of the whole, and brought the mistress of the world to irretrievable ruin. Vortigern, a British king, unhappily invited the Saxons, in 445, to assist him against his rebellious subjects: they came, saw the land that it was good, and in the end took possession of it, having driven out, or into the mountains of Wales, all the original Britons. The Danes, in the ninth century, made some inroads into England, found the land better than their own, and never rested till they established themselves in this country, and, after having ruled it for a considerable time, were at last, with the utmost difficulty, driven out. These nations had only to see a better land in order to covet it, and their exertions were not wanting in order to possess it. How far other nations, since those times, have imitated the most foolish and impolitic conduct of the Jewish king, and how far their conduct may have been or may yet be marked with the same consequences, the pages of impartial history have shown and will show: God's ways are all equal, and the judge of all the earth will do right.

20. And [R.V. Now] the rest of the acts of Hezekiah] The Chronicler enlarges somewhat on Hezekiah’s prosperity, ‘The Lord guided [the king and his people] on every side. And many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah, so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth’. This may account for the abundance of treasure which was ready to be shewn to the Babylonian embassy. all his might] He seems among other things to have had much cattle, which was one of the chief forms of wealth in those days. He had (2 Chronicles 32:28-29) ‘stalls for all manner of beasts, and cotes for flocks. Moreover he provided him cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance: for God had given him substance very much’. he made a [R.V. the] pool, and a [R.V. the] conduit] What Hezekiah did is more definitely described by the Chronicler. ‘He stopped’, it is said, ‘the upper water course of Gihon’. By this is most likely meant what the king did before the invasion of Sennacherib. In some way, by covering over, or diverting, he conveyed the waters of this spring into the city, and made a pool or reservoir to hold a supply for the city at a much lower level, in the valley between the two hills on which Jerusalem was mainly built. This operation the Chronicler describes by ‘he brought it (the water) straight down to the west side of the city of David’. This would be done by an underground passage. in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah] The sources of Hezekiah’s history are called in 2 Chronicles ‘the vision of Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, and the book of the kings of Judah and Israel’. How far these are identical with what is meant by the verse before us is not clear. But from the history which is produced in the prophecy of Isaiah, we feel sure that there cannot have been much difference in the sources whence the accounts were derived, though the Chronicler has dwelt much more fully on the religious reforms of the king, than suited the plan of the compiler of Kings.

Consult the marginal references.

OF ’S REIGN, 2 Kings 20:20-21. 20. His might — His valor or power in battle, by which he smote the Philistines. 2 Kings 18:8.