2 Kings 19

Notes on the verses

Chap. XIX. Ver. 3. Children come to the birth.—A proverbial phrase, to mark a crisis of difficulty and danger. <} \eaOE aie Redes - Ver. 9. And when he heard.—(When Sennacherib had levied contributions on Hezekiah, he marched his army into Egypt; where, after several successes, he laid siege to Pelusium, (Josephus,) and spent much time in it; but hearing that Tirhakaly, king of Ethiopia, whom Strabo calls Therchon, was marching against him with a great army, to assist his kinsman, Sevechus, or Sethon, the king of Egypt, he durst not abide his coming, but raised the siege; and returning to Judea, he encamped against Lachish, and afterwards against Libnah. But, finding that Tirhakah pursued him as a fugitive, he marched back to encounter him; and having totally routed his army, he returned to wreak his vengeance on Hezekiah.

| Bagster.— Ethiopia.—Hvb. ** Cush,” which does not always mean the same country; but here, according to some, Ethiopia proper; and to others, Arabia, on the eastern coast of the Red sea. 4 Ver. 12. Rezeph—[Was probably either Rezapha, which Ptolemy places in the Palmyrene, west of the Euphrates; or, rather Rezipha, in Mesopotamia, east of the Euphrates.]—Bagster. Ver. 24. I have digged and drunk strange waters.—That is, in the bombastic language of the East, “I have conquered many foreign countries, and my army has been so numerous, that their feet have dried up the trenches around the places | besieged.” Ver. %. Hast thou not heard, &c.—These are understood to be the words of Jehovah. Our translation is obscure, and the marginal reading little better.

Dr. Boothroyd is more dignified and perspicuous; “Hast thou not heard of old that I disposed this? And that from ancient times I determined it?’ Now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to reduce into heaps of ruin the strongest cities.” A: Vor. 28. A hook in his nose.—(This alludes to the method by which the common people manage their beasts in the East, especially the dromedaries, which are governed by a bridle fastened to a ring, which runs through the nostril of the beast.)—Bagster. Ver. 35. The angel of the Lord.—{This angel, or messenger, was probably the simoom, or hot pestilential wind, which is so frequent in eastern countries, and often destroys vast numbers in a moment.

]—Bagster. Ver. 37. Land of Armenia.—[Armenia or Ararat is a province of Asia, comprising the modern Turcomania and part of Persia; having Georgia on the north, Curdistan, or the ancient Assyria, on the south, Natolia, on the west.]—Bagster.