2 Kings 19

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE

2 Kings 18:1 to 2 Kings 20:21

Three Chapter s of Kings are devoted to the reign of good King Hezekiah. After a somewhat lengthy introduction to the reign of this king (2 Kings 18:1-12), the author discusses a political crisis (2 Kings 18:13 to 2 Kings 19:37) and a personal crisis (2 Kings 20:1-19) during which Hezekiah manifested exemplary faith. A brief and stereotyped conclusion brings the discussion of this reign to a conclusion (2 Kings 20:20-21). The theme throughout these Chapter s is that of tiny Judah attempting to extricate itself from the shackles of tributary allegiance to mighty Assyria.

REVIEW OF CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

I. FACTS TO MASTER

A. Identify each of the following:

1. Abi

2. Rabsaris

3. Esarhaddon

4. Nehushtan

5. Rab-shakeh

6. Nisroch

7. Shalmaneser

8. Eliakim

9. Adram-melech

10. Sennacherib

11. Shebna

12. Berodach-baladan

13. Hezekiah

14. Joah

15. Sharezer

16. Tartan

12: Tirhakah

B. Of what significance are each of the following places?

1. Gaza

2. Egypt

3. Libnah

4. Samaria

5. Hamath

6. Ethiopia

7. Halah

8. Arpad

9. Lebanon

10. Habor

11. Sepharvaim

12. Carmel

13. River Gozan

14. Hena

15. Armenia

16. Lachish

17. Ivah

18. Babylon

C. Of what significance was each of the following?

1. a pool

2. figs

3. a conduit

4. cherubim

5. letters and a present

6. bronze serpent

7. sundial

8. bruised reed

9. boil (sore)

10. a letter

D. How do the following numbers fit into the narrative?

1. Fifteen years

2. Third day

3. Ten degrees (steps)

4. Three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold

5. Two thousand horses

II. QUESTIONS TO PONDER

The sixth year of Hezekiah was the ninth year of Hoshea (2 Kings 18:10)that is, 722 B.C. But in the fourteenth year of Hezekiahwhich must be 701 B.C.Sennacherib invaded Judah (2 Kings 18:13). How would you explain this chronological discrepancy?

In what way does the Assyrian account of Sennacherib’s invasion supplement the Biblical account? What problems are raised by the secular account?

Why do some scholars feel that Sennacherib must have invaded Judah twice? Is this reconstruction necessary?

For what purpose did Sennacherib send his officers to the walls of Jerusalem? Why did they deliver their ultimatum in Hebrew rather than Aramaic, the language of diplomacy?

What are the major arguments put forth by Rab-shakeh to induce the Jews to surrender?

What position did Isaiah take with regard to the invasion of Sennacherib in 701 B.C.

On what occasions did Hezekiah pray? Why did he on one occasion spread the letter of the Assyrian king be fore the Lord?

Two signs were granted to Hezekiah. What were they? How did these signs differ from one another?

How did the Assyrian threat against Judah come to an end? What is the chronological relationship between the decimation of the Assyrian army and the death of Sennacherib?

Why did God reveal to Hezekiah that he would die of illness? Besides the natural desire to live, what other factors contributed to Hezekiah’s earnest prayer regarding his illness?

Chronologically, when did Hezekiah’s illness occur?

If you knew you had only fifteen more years to live, how would you reorder your life? How did Hezekiah use his fifteen grace years?

For what purpose did Isaiah order a lump of figs to be put on Hezekiah’s sore?

Why did Hezekiah ask for a sign to verify the promise of his speedy recovery? Is it wrong for believers to ask for miraculous signs from God?

How was it that the shadow on the sundial went back ten steps? What evidence is there that the effects of this miracle were observable only in Palestine?

What motivated the king of Babylon to send an embassy to Hezekiah? Why did Hezekiah show these visitors all his treasures?

How was Hezekiah rebuked for his indiscretion with regard to the Babylonians?

Why did Hezekiah regard the negative prophecy of Isaiah as good? 2 Kings 20:19

Describe the water tunnel constructed during the reign of Hezekiah.

2 Kings 19:1-7

B. SENNACHERIB’S INITIAL SURRENDER DEMANDS 18:17-19:7

The Assyrian king was not satisfied with the tribute paid by Hezekiah. He wanted nothing less than the total surrender of Jerusalem. While he himself was engaged in military operations in the lowland region of Palestine, he sent an embassy to Jerusalem to demand capitulation (2 Kings 18:17-37). In response to the bombastic demands and blasphemous assertions of these pagans, Isaiah delivered an oracle promising deliverance for Judah (2 Kings 19:1-7).

Whereas older commentators viewed the actions and words of the Assyrian envoys in this section as improbable, more recent scholars have been forced to concede the historical verisimilitude of 2 Kings 18:17 to 2 Kings 9:7.[605] The details of this section and the diplomatic arguments of Rab-shakeh have an analogy in a siege of Babylon by Tiglath-pileser III.[606]

[605] Gray, OTL, p. 684. [606] See Childs, IAC, pp. 69-103.

1. THE ARROGANT ASSYRIAN DEMANDS (2 Kings 18:17-37)

**TRANSLATION

(17) And the king of Assyria sent Tartan, Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish unto King Hezekiah with a heavy force to Jerusalem; and they went up, and came to Jerusalem, and stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool which is in the highway of the fuller’s field. (18) And they called unto the king; and Eliakim the son of Hilkiah who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the remembrancer went out unto them. (19) And Rab-shakeh said unto them, Say now unto Hezekiah, Thus says the Great King, the king of Assyria: What is this confidence in which you trust? (20) You have said (but they are merely words), Counsel and might for war! Now upon whom do you trust that you have rebelled against me? (21) Now behold you trust for your sake upon the staff of this bruised reed, upon Egypt, on which if a man leans it will go into his hand and pierce it. Thus is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. (22) And if you say unto me, Upon the LORD our God we will trust: Is it not He whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem? (23) And now make a wager, I pray you, with my lord, the king of Assyria, and I will give to you two thousand horses if you are able on your part to set riders upon them. (24) And how will you turn away the face of one captain of the least of the servants of my lord, and trust for your part in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? (25) Now have I come up without the LORD against this place to destroy it? The LORD said unto me, Go up against this land and destroy it. (26) Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah and Shebna and Joah said unto Rab-shakeh, Speak unto your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; do not speak with us in the language of the Jews in the presence of the people who are upon the wall. (27) And Rab-shakeh said unto them, Did my master send me to speak these words unto your master and unto you? Did he not send me unto the men who sit on the wall, that they might eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you? (28) And Rab-shakeh stood and cried in a loud voice in the Jew’s language, and spoke, and said, Hear the word of the Great King, the king of Assyria: (29) Thus says the king: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you for he is not able to deliver you from my hand. (30) Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, the LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. (31) Do not hearken unto Hezekiah for thus says the king of Assyria: Negotiate with me by a present, and go out unto me, that each may eat from his vine and each from his fig tree, and each may drink water of his cistern, (32) until I come and take you unto a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey that you might live and not die. Do not hearken to Hezekiah, for he has enticed you, saying, the LORD will deliver us. (33) Have the gods of the nations delivered each his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? (34) Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? (35) Who is it among all the gods of the lands that has delivered their land from my hand that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from my hand? (36) But the people were silent and answered him not a word for it was a commandment from the king, saying, Do not answer him. (37) Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe and Joah the sons of Asaph the recorder to Hezekiah with their clothing rent; and they told him the words of Rab-shakeh.

COMMENTS**

Historians and Biblical commentators are not in agreement as to the time setting of 2 Kings 18:17-37. Some think that even after receiving the tribute money from Hezekiah, Sennacherib was not satisfied, and that he was determined to punish this rebellious vassal. Consequently he sent a contingent of troops to Jerusalem in an effort to get Hezekiah to surrender. Others think that a time gap may exist between 2 Kings 18:16-17. According to this view, Sennacherib withdrew from Palestine in 701 B.C. Because of certain overtures from Egypt. Hezekiah determined again to extricate himself from the Assyrian grip. Sennacherib then reappeared in the region about 688 B.C. marching through the Philistine plain to confront any Egyptian force that might attempt to march northward. A small contingent was dispatched to Jerusalem to hold Hezekiah in check and to wage psychological warfare against him.[607]

[607] Among recent Evangelical writers, Finley (BBC, p. 480-81) has presented a powerful defense of the two invasion theory.

At the head of the contingent which was dispatched to Jerusalem were three officers bearing the titles Tartan, Rabsaris and Rab-shakeh. All three titles are known from Assyrian records. The Tartan was the commander-in-chief of the field army. It is not certain what the precise functions of the other two officers might have been.[608] The Assyrian officers positioned themselves by the aqueduct (KJV, conduit)[609] which carried water from the spring Gihon, the main source of water for the city, to the upper pool, probably the Pool of Siloam. This aqueduct was located on the road which led to the fuller’s field, an area adjacent to En-rogel south of Jerusalem[610] (2 Kings 18:17).

[608] The Rabsaris was probably the chief of the king’s bodyguard. Rab-shakeh means *chief officer.

[609]* This aqueduct is mentioned also in Isaiah 7:3.

[610] On the location of En-rogel, see comments on 1 Kings 1:9-10. According to Finley (BBC, p. 482) this field was the place where newly shorn wool and woven cloth were processed by the use of an alkaline cleanser.

From their vantage point on the east side of the city, the Assyrian officers shouted to the Jewish guards that they had a message for the king. Hezekiah sent out to the wall three of his highest officials: Eliakim who was over the household, i.e., prime minister;[611] Shebna the scribe, perhaps something equivalent to a secretary of state; and Joah the recorder or remembrancer.[612]

[611] Eliakim had displaced Shebna in this office just as Isaiah the prophet had predicted (Isaiah 22:15-23).

[612] On the duties of the remembrancer see comments on 1 Kings 4:3.

Rab-shakeh took the lead in speaking for the Assyrians probably because he could speak Hebrew fluently. His rude and abrupt order to the Jewish officers was stripped of all diplomatic niceties. Throughout the address he spoke of Sennacherib as the Great King while to Hezekiah he ascribed no title whatsoever. Rab-shakeh came right to the point: What was this confidence in which the Jews trusted? (2 Kings 18:19). Hezekiah had withheld tribute. He had fortified his capital (2 Chronicles 32:2-5); he had collected arms and soldiers and had shut himself up in Jerusalem, having made every preparation for a siege. How had he dared take those steps? What was the basis for his confidence?

Beginning in 2 Kings 18:20, Rab-shakeh attempts to eliminate one by one the possible grounds upon which Hezekiah based his rebellion. First, he imagines Hezekiah boasting of his counsel and strength for war, i.e., of the wisdom of his advisers and his military capabilities. Such boasts were merely words, or one might say in modern idiom, so much hot air (2 Kings 18:20). Sennacherib apparently knew of Hezekiah’s efforts to secure an alliance with Egypt (Isaiah 30:2-7) and rightly judged that he was expecting to receive aid from that quarter. Rab-shakeh ridiculed this expectation. Egypt was nothing but a bruised reed[613] which will snap the moment any weight is applied to it. The sharp jagged casing of that broken reed might well injure the man who tried to use it for a staff (2 Kings 18:21). The Assyrians were entirely justified in their contempt for the military capabilities of Egypt. Pharaoh had never yet given effective aid to any state which had come under attack by Assyria.[614]

[613] This characterization of Egypt is repeated in Ezekiel 29:6.

[614] King So gave no aid to Samaria in 722 B.C. Though Pharaoh came to the aid of Gaza in 720 B.C., the city fell easily to Sargon. Egyptian efforts to aid Ashdod in 711 B.C. and Ashkalon in 701 B.C. were equally unsuccessful.

Sennacherib had also heard of Hezekiah’s great religious reformation and of his boasts concerning the God of Israel (cf. 2 Chronicles 32:8). He either had been told or had concluded that this reformation was not popular with all segments of the population, and therefore Rab-shakeh was instructed to attempt to exploit this issue. How could Hezekiah confidently rely on the protection of the God of the nation when he had for years been desecrating and destroying the high places and altars of this God? To the pagan Sennacherib it seemed inconceivable that any deity could condone such action.

Were it not for the explicit command of the Law of Moses concerning a centralized place of worship, the argument of the Assyrian would make excellent sense. Certainly there would have been many of those who were within earshot of Rab-shakeh who probably would have agreed with his line of thinking. Jews from rural areas would have flocked to Jerusalem during the emergency and no doubt many of them resented the fact that Hezekiah had made a determined effort to centralize the worship of Yahweh in Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:22). The illicit high places had been winked at for so long that they had become in the eyes of many a perfectly legitimate facet of formal worship.

To this point Rab-shakeh proceeded with logical precision. He could not, however, resist the temptation to ridicule the military capabilities of the Jews. If Hezekiah would wager two thousand men, Sennacherib would supply horses for them to ride upon (2 Kings 18:23). By this remark Rab-Shakeh was mocking the fact that the Jewish army lacked any cavalry. He was also suggesting that Hezekiah was facing a shortage of fighting men. Without such a force the Jews could not hope to be able to turn back even one unit of the Assyrian army, and for such a force the Jews were dependent upon undependable Egypt (2 Kings 18:24). Furthermore, the Assyrian armies were invincible because, boasted Rab-Shakeh, Yahweh Himself had dispatched Sennacherib against Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:25). Perhaps the Assyrian king had heard of the prophecies of Isaiah (Isaiah 7:17-24; Isaiah 10:5-12) which foretold the Assyrian invasion of Judah.

The three Jewish officials stood on the wall and listened to the threats and boasts of Rab-shakeh. They could sense the uneasiness of the soldiers who manned the wall. The propaganda of Rab-shakeh was having its intended effect. Eliakim, Shebna and Joah interrupted the Assyrian officer at this point and requested that he speak to them in the diplomatic language of the daythe Aramaic tongue. Hebrew and Aramaic are closely related languages, but sufficiently different to be distinct languages which were only intelligible to those who had learned them. The common people of Jerusalem would not know Aramaic; the diplomats would. The Jewish officials desperately desired that any further negotiations be conducted in the international language of the time (2 Kings 18:26). Rab-shakeh, of course, refused to comply with this request. The very purpose of his coming to Jerusalem was to intimidate the soldiers and weaken the resolve of the citizens to resist. He had come to make the men who defended Jerusalem’s walls realize that before long they would be brought to the last extremity of hunger and thirstthey would be forced even to consume their own excrement (2 Kings 18:27).

The urgent request of the Jewish diplomats only stirred Rabshakeh to greater efforts. He rosehe must heretofore have been seatedand addressed himself directly to the citizens on the walls (2 Kings 18:28). He urged the people not to allow Hezekiah to deceive them particularly with his assurances of supernatural deliverance (2 Kings 18:29). The Assyrians knew that Hezekiah had been stirring up the people to militant resistance with promises that God would not allow Jerusalem to fall to the Assyrians (2 Kings 18:30). Hezekiah based these assurances on the definite prophecies of Isaiah (Isaiah 31:4-6; Isaiah 33:20-22).

From threat Rab-shakeh turned to grandiose promises. If Jerusalem would but come to terms with Sennacherib and surrender, everybody in the city would be allowed to return to his own land where for a time he might live a peaceful and happy life (2 Kings 18:31). Then after a time, Sennacherib would come and transplant them to a new land. Such national deportations were so common in the Assyrian empire that Rab-shakeh knew he must mention it if his remarks were to enjoy any measure of credibility. So he attempted to place this practice in the best possible light. He tried to persuade the Jews that being transported hundreds of miles from their homes really would not be so badthat they were to be envied rather than pitied for being about to experience it. The king of Assyria would see to it that they were taken to a land as nearly as possible like their own land. In describing the land of Judah the Assyrian used glowing terminology which was designed to win the sympathy of the Jews within earshot. If they followed Rab-Shakeh’s advice they would live; if Hezekiah’S, they would die (2 Kings 18:32).

Again Rab-shakeh repeated his warning: Do not let Hezekiah persuade you that your God will deliver you (2 Kings 18:32). Recent history provided crushing evidence that Hezekiah’s faith was fanatical and unrealistic. No local deity thus far had been able to deliver his people from the mighty Assyrian army (2 Kings 18:33). From the Assyrian point of view it was sheer madness to think that the insignificant god of this insignificant people could do what the mighty Moloch, Chemosh, Baal and Bel had been unable to do. To make his point more emphatically, Rabshakeh ticked off the recent victories of the Assyrian war machine: Hamath and Arpad in Syria had been conquered about 720 B.C. by Sargon. The Syrian cities of Sepharvaim, Ivah (Ava in 2 Kings 17:24), and Hena[615] also had easily been conquered, probably about 710 B.C. The idols of Samaria had not been able to deliver that city either when the Assyrians conquered it in 722 B.C. (2 Kings 18:34). Rab-shakeh challenged his auditors to produce a single example of a national god who had been able to withstand the Assyrian might. If no such example could be produced then the Jews should have abandoned their hope of supernatural deliverance from Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:35). Rabshakeh could not conceive of the idea of Yahweh being anything but a local god, on a par with the idols of surrounding nations.

[615] Hena and Ivah are problematical. They are not mentioned in the parallel account in Isaiah 36 nor in the Greek translation of the present passage. The Targum renders these words as though they were verbal forms, he sent them wandering and caused them to stray.

In the face of these outrageous and blasphemous assertions, the Jews of Jerusalem maintained a resolute silence. Rabshakeh’s efforts to generate some sort of insurrection within the city failed. Upon hearing of the arrival of this Assyrian psychological warfare team, Hezekiah had given strict orders that no matter what was said, his subjects were to maintain strict silence (2 Kings 18:36). Horrified at the blasphemies of Rabshakeh, Hezekiah’s three ministers ripped their robes and returned to the royal palace to report all that had been said (2 Kings 18:37).

2. THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF ISAIAH THE PROPHET (2 Kings 19:1-7)

**TRANSLATION

(1) And it came to pass when King Hezekiah heard, that he tore his garments, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went to the house of the LORD. (2) And he sent Eliakim who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. (3) And they said unto him, Thus says Hezekiah: A day of trouble, chastisement and abhorrence is this day, for children have come to the time of birth and there is no strength to bring forth. (4) Perhaps the LORD your God will hearken unto all the words of Rab-shakeh who was sent by the king of Assyria his master to revile the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD your God heard, now lift up a prayer on behalf of the remnant that is left. (5) And the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. (6) And Isaiah said unto them, Thus say unto your master: Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words which you have heard with which the lackeys of the king of Assyria blaspheme Me. (7) Behold I am about to send a blast against him and he shall hear a report, and return to his land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his land.

COMMENTS**

When Hezekiah heard the report of his ministers, he too was terribly upset. Following their example, he tore his garments and donned sackclotha sign of grief and self-humiliation.[616] He then took his troubles to the Lord as he went to the Temple to seek divine counsel and solace (2 Kings 18:1). At the same time the king dispatched an embassy to the great prophet Isaiah[617] who resided in Jerusalem. Isaiah had been an adviser to Ahaz and most certainly would have been among the counselors of Hezekiah. The embassy wore sackcloth to emphasize the horror and grief which Rab-shakeh’s threatening boasts had engendered (2 Kings 18:2).

[616] By this action the king may have initiated a public fast. [617] Isaiah is the first canonical (writing) prophet to be mentioned in the historical books of the Old Testament.

The king’s message to the prophet is summed up in 2 Kings 18:3-4. This, said the king, is a day of trouble for the nation, a day of rebuke or chastisement for the sins we have committed against God, and a day of abhorrence in which God has allowed His people to be insulted by their enemies. The expression children are come to birth, and there is not strength to bring forth is a proverbial expression, probably meaning that the nation is facing a dangerous crisis and has no strength to face up to it (2 Kings 18:3). Perhaps, suggested the king, the Lord would take note of the contemptuous words which Rab-shakeh had spoken against the living God and then reprove those words in some mighty act of judgment. To this end Hezekiah urged Isaiah to pray on behalf of the remnant who had not yet fallen into the hands of Sennacherib. The Assyrian king claims to have carried away 200,150 persons in this expedition. He also had taken away from Hezekiah certain cities and assigned them to more friendly monarchs. Thus, only a remnant of the people of Judah were left (2 Kings 18:4). With this message the embassy came to seek the help of the prophet (2 Kings 18:5).

Isaiah seems to have already formulated a reply to the king even before the delegation arrived at his home. Hezekiah did not need to be afraid of the blasphemous words which the lackeys (lit., foot-boys) of the king of Assyria had spoken (2 Kings 18:6). God would send a blast (lit., a wind) against Sennacheribthe destruction of his army. The report of this disaster would send the Assyrian king into full retreat.[618] When he returned to his own land Sennacherib would be assassinated (2 Kings 18:7).

[618] Keil thinks the report or rumor which Sennacherib heard was the news of Tirhakah’s advance from Egypt.

2 Kings 19:8-34

C. SENNACHERIB’S SECOND SURRENDER DEMAND 19:8-34

By means of a personal letter to Hezekiah King Sennacherib intensified the pressure to secure the surrender of Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:8-13). This new development sent Hezekiah to the Temple and to his knees in prayer (2 Kings 19:14-19). Because of this letter, Isaiah delivered a more lengthy oracle promising the safety of Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:20-34).

1. THE LETTER OF SENNACHERIB (2 Kings 19:8-13)

**TRANSLATION

(8) So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish. (9) And he heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, saying, Behold he has gone out to fight with you. And he sent messengers unto Hezekiah, saying, (10)Thus say unto Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Do not let your God in whom you are trusting deceive you, say ing, Do not give Jerusalem into the hand of the king of Assyria. (11) Behold you certainly have heard that which the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, utterly destroying them, and shall you surely escape? (12) Have the gods of the nations which my fathers destroyed delivered themGozan, and Haran and Rezeph and the children of Edom which are in Thelasar? (13) Where is the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena and Ivah?

COMMENTS**

Failing in his mission to secure the surrender of Jerusalem, Rab-shakeh returned to his master. Sennacherib successfully had taken Lachish and was at that time warring against Libnah, the exact location of which is uncertain (2 Kings 19:8). When the Assyrian king heard that the Ethiopian general Tirhakah was marching against him, he knew that he might be forced to make a strategic retreat from Palestine. For this reason he made one last effort to bring about the immediate surrender and consequent punishment of Hezekiah. Messengers were dispatched to Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:9) who, in accord with the custom of that day, carried a written communication which would first be read aloud and then handed over to the recipient, in this case Hezekiah.

Sennacherib’s letter suggested that Hezekiah had been deceived by the prophets of God who were promising that Jerusalem would be delivered from the hand of Assyria (2 Kings 19:10). It reminded Hezekiah of the fact that every other nation which had tried to match might with Assyria had been utterly crushed. How then could Hezekiah entertain any hope of deliverance? (2 Kings 19:11). As if to underscore this point, Sennacherib rattled off a list of Assyrian conquests: Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the children of Eden, i.e., the inhabitants of the city called Bit-Adini located in the region of Thelasar, i.e., the hill or fort of Asshur. All of these Aramean cities had fallen according to Assyrian records over a century prior to this attack against Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:12). More recent conquests over the king of Hamath, Arpad and the kings of the cities of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivah were also mentioned (cf. 2 Kings 18:34).

2. THE PRAYER OF HEZEKIAH (2 Kings 19:14-19)

**TRANSLATION

(14) And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. (15) And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, to all kingdoms of the earth; You surely have made the heavens and the earth. (16) O LORD, incline Your ears and hear! Open Your eyes, O LORD, and see, and hearken to the words of Sennacherib which he has sent to revile the living God. (17) Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have made desolate the nations and their lands, (18) and they have thrown their gods into the fire, for they are not gods, but the work of the hands of men, wood and stone; therefore, they have destroyed them. (19) And now, O LORD our God, deliver us, I pray you, from his hand, that all kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD, God alone.

COMMENTS**

Hezekiah received the letter from the Assyrian messengers and, when he had read it, took it to the Temple and spread it before the Lord. By this action, Hezekiah, as it were, laid his evidence before the Judge of all the earth (2 Kings 19:14). Then the king prayed. He addressed God as the One who dwells between the cherubim, i.e., in the Holy of Holies of the Temple. But he went beyond that, addressing the Lord as universal God, Creator of heaven and earth (2 Kings 19:15). Petition followed praise in this lovely prayer. Hezekiah called upon God to take cognizance with both eye and ear, i.e., take full cognizance, of that which Sennacherib had now dared to do. The Assyrian had directly challenged the authority and power of the living God! (2 Kings 19:16).

In his prayer, Hezekiah admitted that the Assyrian monarchs had an impressive list of conquests to their credit (2 Kings 19:17). The gods of these numerous conquered nations had been carried off as trophies of war and had, on occasion, been burned as worthless. But this only proved that the gods of the nations were nothing but the creation of man’s hands. Gods of wood and stone could not help themselves let alone their worshipers. It was no wonder then that these deities had been destroyed (2 Kings 19:18). But Yahweh the God of Israel was not to be put in the same category with the idols of men. The living God was our God. He was bound to Israel by a covenant. For this reason Hezekiah called upon the Lord to intervene and save His people from the blasphemous invader. But the king’s prayer went beyond mere parochialism. He prayed for such a dramatic act of vengeance against Sennacherib, not so much for the sake of Israel, as for the vindication of God’s honor among the nations of the earth. He did not desire that Yahweh would be acknowledged as a mighty God, but as the only mighty God in all the earth (2 Kings 19:19). God’s people desire nothing so much as that His glory should be recognized in ever widening circles.

3. THE ORACLE OF ISAIAH (2 Kings 19:20-34)

4. **TRANSLATION

(20) And Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus says the LORD the God of Israel: That which you have prayed unto Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. (21) This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you, laughed at you; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head after you. (22) Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised a voice and lifted your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel! (23) By your messengers you have reproached the Lord and you have said, With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the height of the mountains, to the extremities of Lebanon, and will cut down its tall cedars, the choice of its cypress trees, and I will enter the lodge of its borders, the forest of its Carmel. (24) I have dug and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet I have dried up all the rivers of besieged places. (25) Have you not heard from afar that I have done it, from ancient days that I formed it? Now I have brought it to pass that you should lay waste fortified cities as ruinous heaps. (26) And their inhabitants were of small power, they were confounded and dismayed; they were as the grass of the field and as the green herb, as the grass of roof tops, blighted before it has grown up. (27) But your abode, your going out and your coming in, I know; and your raging against Me. (28) Because your raging against Me and your arrogancy has come up into My ears, therefore I will put My hook in your nose and My bridle in your lips, and I will cause you to return in the way in which you came. (29) And this will be a sign for you: You shall eat this year the things which grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springs from it; but in the third year you shall sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. (30) And the remnant of the house of Judah who remain shall again take root downward and produce fruit upward. (31) For from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out, and they who escape from Mt. Zion. The zeal of the LORD shall perform this. (32) Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come unto this city, nor shall he shoot there an arrow, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a mound against it. (33) In the way which he came, he shall return, and unto this city he shall not come (oracle of the LORD). (34) For I will defend this city to save it for My sake and for the sake of David My servant.

COMMENTS**

As Hezekiah prayed, Isaiah was made cognizant of his prayer through divine revelation, and the prophet was instructed to answer it favorably. In accordance with his high status as God’s representative, Isaiah sent the message to Hezekiah rather than taking it himself. First of all, Hezekiah was assured that God had heard his prayer (2 Kings 19:20). The answer itself follows in fourteen verses, which, according to Rawlinson, are arranged in four stanzas.

The first stanza (2 Kings 19:21-24) is addressed to Sennacherib. The tone here is one of scorn and contempt. The prophet pictured Jerusalem personified as a fragile virgin daughter laughing at the threats of Sennacherib and contemptuously wagging her head at the once ominous monarch (2 Kings 19:21). Does this Assyrian know who it is that he had blasphemed and lifted up his eyes on high, i.e., looked down upon? It is none other than the Holy One of Israel (2 Kings 19:22). By the boisterous and blasphemous conduct of Rab-shakeh and his other servants, Sennacherib had reviled Yahweh. Furthermore, he had offended the Lord by the proud thoughts within his heart. Isaiah attributes to Sennacherib the impossible dream of taking his huge chariot force into the most remote areas of Lebanon and cutting down the magnificent trees there to be taken back to the woodless plain of Assyria. The lodge of its borders may refer to some palace in the vicinity of the Lebanon forest region. The forest of its Carmel probably refers to the choicest part of the Lebanon forest (2 Kings 19:23). Mountains cannot stop the mighty Sennacherib, nor can deserts either. He digs wells in them, and drinks water strange to the soilnever before seen there. If rivers try to stop him, he will find a way of drying them up (2 Kings 19:24). Thus the essential thrust of 2 Kings 19:23-24 is that no natural barrier can stand in the way of this mighty king.

The second stanza of the oracle (2 Kings 19:25-28) is again addressed to the proud Assyrian ruler. Was this king so ignorant that he did not realize that Yahweh was the One who determined the rise and fall of kingdoms? Long ago the Almighty planned the Assyrian conquests; more recently He had brought these plans to fruition, thus enabling Sennacherib to lay waste fortified cities (2 Kings 19:25). This was the reason that the peoples of the world were not able to make effectual resistance to the Assyrian advance. God had placed a terrible fear within the hearts of the peoples whom the Assyrians attacked. These peoples had been as weak as grass which swiftly withers in the face of the hot Eastern sun; or as frail as grain which contacts some disease and dwindles without even asserting itself (2 Kings 19:26).

The omniscient God of Israel knew every movement of Sennacherib and every thought of his heart. He knew of the rage of the Great King against Hezekiah and against the God in whom Hezekiah put his trust (2 Kings 19:27). Because this rage and arrogancy had come to the attention of Yahweh, He would take action against the Assyrian. He would treat Sennacherib just as Assyrian Kings were wont to treat their captives. He would force a hook through his nose and a bridle through his lips. Assyrian monuments depict captives being led into the king’s presence by means of ropes attached to rings which had been forced through the cartilage of the nose or through the fleshy part of the lower lip. The threat here is not to be taken literally, but only as a declaration that God would humble this proud king and reduce him to a state of abject abasement. God would turn him back. Sennacherib would not be allowed to come near Jerusalem. He would be forced to return home hastily along the same route by which he had entered Palestine (2 Kings 19:28).

2 Kings 19:29 introduces the third stanza (2 Kings 19:29-31). Here the prophet turned from Sennacherib to Hezekiah, and proceeded to give him a sign. In this case the prediction of a near event became the pledge or evidence that God would keep His word with regard to a prediction more distant. Since the Assyrians had come in the spring of the year, the Jews had not been able to plant their crops that year. They would be forced to eat such things as grow of themselves, i.e., such grain as might be found growing in the unsown fields. The next yearprobably a sabbatical yearthey would have to do the same.[619] But in the third year things would return to normal. The sign was not given with reference to the departure of Sennacherib which belonged to the first year, but with reference to the promise that Jerusalem would be free from any further attack on his part. Sennacherib reigned twenty-four years, but never again after 701 B.C. did he come to harass Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:29).

[619] Finley (BBC, p. 486) suggests that the loss in human and natural resources to the Assyrians would be so great that it would be necessary to depend in the second year on such grain as was found in unsown fields.

The gracious promises to Hezekiah continue in 2 Kings 19:30-31. The remnant which had escaped deportation and death at the hands of Sennacherib would again be firmly fixed and established in their land, like a tree that puts forth its roots deeply into the ground. That remnant would once again bear fruit, i.e., exhibit all the outward signs of prosperity (2 Kings 19:30). Those who had taken refuge in Jerusalem during the emergency would gladly go forth to reclaim and recultivate their lands. From the human point of view such a prospect seemed dim indeed at the time Isaiah compiled this oracle, but the zeal of the Lord, i.e., His zealous love and concern for His people, would bring about this restoration to prosperity and glory (2 Kings 19:31).

The fourth stanza of Isaiah’s oracle is a general announcement addressed to all who might be concerned with the present distress. Sennacherib would not come unto Jerusalem to besiege that city. Such operations generally began with a barrage of arrows to clear the walls of defenders. Then the enemy would advance on the walls under the protection of huge shields in order to raise scaling ladders, undermine the walls or set fire to the gates. As a last resort the attackers would build a bank of earth on an incline up to the wall and plant upon them their battering rams for the purpose of making a breach in the walls. But Jerusalem would witness none of those terrible actions (2 Kings 19:32). Sennacherib would be forced to leave off operations in Palestine and retrace his steps to his homeland. He would not, the prophet again emphatically declared, come unto the city of Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:33). God would defend that city because His own honor was at stake, especially in view of the taunts of Sennacherib. Also God would intervene in defense of Jerusalem because of the great love which He had toward David (2 Kings 19:34).

2 Kings 19:35-37

C. THE DELIVERANCE OF JUDAH 19:35-37

**TRANSLATION

(35) And it came to pass in that night that the angel of the LORD went out and smote in the camp of Assyria 185,000 men; and they arose in the morning and behold they were all dead corpses. (36) So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went, and returned, and dwelt in Nineveh. (37) And it came to pass as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, smote him with the sword; and they fled to the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

COMMENTS**

On the very night following Isaiah’s dramatic prediction, the divine stroke fell against the armies of Sennacherib. The angel of the Lord passed over the Assyrian camp and smote 185,000 of the enemy. When the survivors awoke in the morning they found their comrades absolutely dead, not sick or dying (2 Kings 19:35). Various explanations of this calamity have been put forward, the most popular of which is that a pestilence of some sort struck the Assyrian camp. But the narrative points rather to a sudden and silent death during sleep which would be very difficult to explain in purely naturalistic terms. One can only attribute the destruction of Sennacherib’s army to a direct act of divine judgment.[620]

[620] In secular history no parallel account of this destruction has been found. Herodotus (II, 141), however, records a tradition that mice infested the Assyrian camp and caused Sennacherib speedily to withdraw. Since mice are notorious carriers of plague, the tradition in Herodotus may reflect the pagan, face-saving version of the humiliating Assyrian withdrawal.

His army decimated, Sennacherib could do nothing other than beat a hasty retreat to Nineveh (2 Kings 19:36). Some twenty years later as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch[621] he was assassinated by his own sons.[622] Thus was fulfilled the prediction of Isaiah (2 Kings 19:7) that Sennacherib would die by the sword in his own land. Having slain the king, the assassins fled to the land of Armenia (lit., Ararat). Esarhaddon, a younger son of Sennacherib, then assumed the throne (2 Kings 19:37).

[621] Nisroch is thought to be a Hebrew spelling for the southern Mesopotamian fire-god Nisku who is mentioned in Assyrian texts. See Gray, OTL, p. 695. Others identify Nisroch as Marduk whose image had been taken from Babylon to Ashur in 689 B.C. [622] It is not certain whether the two assassins were brothers or father and son. Assyrian sources attest that Sennacherib died by assassination, but do not directly state that it was by the hands of his sons. See ANET, pp. 288-89.