2 Kings 18

4 brake in pieces the brazen serpent. The destruction of so venerable a memorial of a remarkable fact in the national history shows the wisdom and energy of Hezekiah’s piety. “The superstitious veneration paid to sacred relics in the Christian Church, especially the adoration paid to the form of the cross, and even in express words to the wood and the nails of it, with all the impostures which have arisen from that absurd idolatry, have been exactly parallel to the worship of the brazen serpent; and Hezekiah’s example fully authorises the total abolition or disuse of everything of that kind in religious worship."—Scott.

he called it. Rather, “it was called.” Nehush-tan means “a copper thing.”

5 none like him. A usual phrase for remarkable excellence; the same expression being used respecting Josiah (xxiii. 25). David is commonly represented as the model of a Hebrew king.

7 served him not. Entering into the spirit of the theocracy, and depending upon the help of the Eternal (ver. 5), he refused the submission which his father had yielded to the king of Assyria. To do this, when that monarch’s power was growing and his attention was directed to Palestine, was an act of unusual faith.

10 they took it. i.e., the Assyrians under Sargon: see note, xvii. 6.

13 the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah. On the chronological difficulty of this statement, see note on Isa. xxxvi. 1. The invasion by Sennacherib was probably in the twenty-fourth year of Hezekiah’s reign. In the fourteenth, Sargon, father of Sennacherib, appears from the Assyrian inscriptions to have been still upon the throne.

Monumental inscriptions discovered at Kouyun-jik (the probable site of Nineveh), and now in the British Museum, record Sennacherib’s campaigns against Judah. “Hezekiah, king of Judah,” says the Assyrian king, “who had not submitted to my authority, forty-six of his principal cities and fortresses, and villages depending upon them, of

14. Lachish. Lachish was identified by Flinders Petrie in 1890 as Tel-el-Hesy. It is between Jerusalem and Gaza. Sennacherib was now besieging this place (2 Chron. xxxii. 9); and, while there, he sent part of his forces to Jerusalem, to summon Hezekiah to surrender.

15. Hezekiah gave him, etc. Hezekiah’s faith, when put to a severe test, at first failed; and he purchased an expensive and ignominious peace, becoming again a vassal of the Assyrian king; but his faith soon regained its power: see 2 Chron. xxxii. 2-8.

17. And the king of Assyria, etc. This invasion by Sennacherib followed that by Sargon at an interval of some years; and it is supposed that the illness of Hezekiah, related in xx. 1-19, occurred in the interval.

Tartan and Rabsaris and Rab-shakeh. These three names are official, not personal. “The Tartan,” was the general commanding the royal body-guard; “the Rabsaris” the chief eunuch, or chamberlain; and “the Rab-shakeh” the chief cupbearer.

21 this bruised reed. That is, not broken, but cracked; really though not apparently injured, and thus incapable of yielding the support expected from it. The reed was a peculiarly fit symbol of Egypt, as it grew plentifully in that country.

22 hath taken sway. This refers to the removal of the “high places,” which had been effected by Hezekiah, and which to the heathen must have appeared an act of impiety towards the God of the land.

23 give pledges. Or, “make a bargain: if you can find the horsemen I will find them horses.” A taunt aimed at their military feebleness.

25. The Lord said to me, etc. The Rab-shakeh may have heard that the prophets had announced the Assyrian invasions as a judgement on Judah; or he may have made the false boast to terrify the people into submission.

26 the Syrian language. Or, “Aramaic.” Through a great part of the Assyrian monarchy, especially on the west of the Euphrates, the Aramaic or Syriac was spoken by the people; and the Assyrians must have been familiar with it.

the Jews’ language. That is, the Hebrew.

27 that they may eat, etc. The utmost extremities of famine, to which the people should be reduced in the threatened siege.

30 neither let Hezekiah, etc. The Assyrian had before endeavoured to excite fears of Jehovah’s anger; he now insinuates mistrust of Divine protection. The enemies of God’s people can only succeed by shaking their confidence in His grace and power.

34. Hamath, and of Arpad. See xvii. 24.

37 their clothes rent. See note on Gen. xxxvii. 34.

which Sennacherib dared to employ. No obstacle had hitherto impeded him in his progress.

the lodgings, etc. R.V., “his farthest lodging-place, the forest of his fruitful field.” Carmel means orchard or fruitful field as in Isa. xxix. 17.