Isaiah 37 - Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Critical, Doctrinal and Homiletical - Bible Commentaries

Verses 1-7

2. HEZEKIAH’S MESSAGE TO ISAIAH

Isaiah 37:1-7

1And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. 2And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the 1scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. 3And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of 2blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. 34It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, 4whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will 5reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard: 6wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that Isaiah 7:0 left. 5So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah 6:0 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the 8servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7Behold, I will 9send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor, and return to his own land; and 10I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

Isaiah 37:3. יום צדה comp. Psalms 20:2; 1:15; Obadiah 1:12:14; Nahum 1:7, etc.—The expression יום תוכח‍ה is taken from Hosea 5:9.—‌‌‌‌‌‌‌נאצה‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌ from נָאַץ contemnere, aspernari (Isaiah 1:4; Isaiah 5:24; Isaiah 60:14. contemtus, opprobrium occurs only here. In Nehemiah 9:18; Nehemiah 9:26 נֶאָצָה is found in the sense of βλασφημία, blasphemy. Our present word must be taken in this sense (comp. Isaiah 37:4).—The expression the “children are come עד־משׁבר” occurs again only 2 Kings 19:3. But comp. Hosea 13:13.—לדהinf. nom. again only Jeremiah 13:21.

Isaiah 37:4. שׁלח ,אשׁר שׁלחו with double acc. like verbs of teaching, commanding: comp. Isaiah 55:11; Exodus 4:28, etc.—אלהים חי, except here and Isaiah 37:17, the expression always reads א׳ חיים (Deuteronomy 5:23; 1 Samuel 17:26; 1 Samuel 17:36; Jeremiah 10:10; Jeremiah 23:36). The constant absence of the article in the expression is noteworthy. Thus it appears to me to designate God, not as the only living God, but only in general as living God in contrast with the dead idols, whereby is not expressly excluded that there may be still other א׳ חיים (comp. δόξας βλασφημεῖν Judges 8:0).—The two perfects והוכיח and ונשׂאת connect with the imperfect ישׁמע. Many older expositors have explained והוכיח to be an infinitive, and have taken it as the continuation of לחרף. But then one must make the word mean “to contemn,” which it does not. It must therefore be construed as perfect. The meaning is direct causative: “exercise reproof,” (comp. Isaiah 2:4; Isaiah 11:4). The prefix בְּ before דברים has a causal sense: “and he will use reproof (judicial decision) (moved) by the words, etc.” Comp. Isaiah 50:1; Isaiah 57:17.—The perf. ונשׂאת formally connects with the Imperf. ישׁמע although materially the reverse is the proper relation.—הנמצאה השׁארית is the remnant in fact as opposed to that which ought to be. Comp. Isaiah 13:15; Isaiah 22:3.

Isaiah 37:6. גדף occurs only in Piel (Numbers 15:30; Psalms 44:17; Ezekiel 20:27; 2 Kings 19:6; 2 Kings 19:22); it means “to wound, insult, blaspheme.”

Differences between the text of Isaiah here and 2 Kings 18:0 appear in 2 Kings 18:2; 2 Kings 18:4; 2 Kings 18:6. Isaiah 37:6 has אליהם instead of לָהֶם because the former is the more usual, at least in these chapters (comp. 2 Kings 18:19; 2 Kings 18:22; 2 Kings 18:25-27; 2 Kings 19:3; 2 Kings 19:10; 2Ki 20:1; 2 Kings 20:8; 2 Kings 20:14; 2 Kings 20:16; 2 Kings 20:19). The simple לְ after אמר occurs only once, 2 Kings 18:22.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. And it came—Amoz.

Isaiah 37:1-2. It is perhaps not unimportant to note that, except here, when Isaiah speaks of putting on sackcloth he uses the expression חגר שׂק (Isaiah 3:24; Isaiah 15:3; Isaiah 22:12) and never employs the general article that occurs in Kings, and elsewhere also (2 Kings 6:30, comp. 1 Kings 21:27). The expression “elders of the priests” beside here and 2 Kings 19:2, occurs only Jeremiah 19:1. Œhler (Herz.,R.-Encycl. XII. p. 182 sq.), distinguishes these priest-elders from the שָׂרֵי or רָאשֵׁי הַכֹּהֲנִים (2 Chronicles 26:14; Ezra 10:5; Nehemiah 12:7), and understands by the latter the overseer of the priestly class, and by the former only “the most respected priests on account of their age.” The embassy to Isaiah as one sees from those composing it, was one commensurate with the importance of the subject, and also very honorable for Isaiah.

[“Hezekiah resorted to the temple, not only as a public place, but with reference to the promise made to Solomon (1 Kings 8:29) that God would hear the prayers of His people from that place when they were in distress.” On Isaiah 37:2. “The king applies to the Prophet as the authorized expounder of the will of God. Similar applications are recorded 1 Kings 22:9; 2 Kings 22:14; Jeremiah 37:3.”—J. A. Alex.].

2. And they said—in his own land.

Isaiah 37:3-7. One may say that צרה “anguish” relates only to the Jews, תוכחה “rebuke” is received from the Lord through the Assyrians, and the object of נאצה, “contempt,” is Israel and their God. Thus it appears, they intimate that the matter concerns, not them only, but also God, and that in an active and in a passive sense. [The metaphor in the last clause expresses, in the most affecting manner, the ideas of extreme pain, imminent danger, critical emergency, utter weakness, and entire dependence on the aid of others.—J. A. Alex.]. Judah had done all in its power to keep away the supreme power of Assyria. But the latter has taken the whole land (Isaiah 36:1); and moreover an immense sum of gold has been sacrificed (2 Kings 18:14). But the Assyrian demands the capital itself, and Judah is powerless to hold him back. There is no going backwards, i.e., what was done in vain to ward off the Assyrian cannot be made a thing not done; and there is no going forwards, i.e., there are no means left to ward off the worst. Therefore the very life is in peril. Such is the meaning of the figurative language. In Isaiah 37:4 the messengers present their request. It begins timidly with אולי,“peradventure.” It refers to two things: 1) that Jehovah will hear and punish the words of Rabshakeh, 2) that Isaiah will make supplication. The order may seem an inverted one. But they produce the things sought for, not in the order in which they are to be realized, but according to their importance. The most important is that Jehovah hears and punishes. The means to this is Isaiah’s intercession. [“The preterite שׁמע denotes a past time only in reference to the contingency expressed by ישׁמע. Perhaps he will hear and then punish what he has heard. The reproach and blasphemy of the Assyrian consisted mainly in his confounding Jehovah with the gods of the surrounding nations (2 Chronicles 32:19), in antithesis to whom, as being impotent and lifeless, He is here and elsewhere called the living God.—J. A. Alex.]. Comp. Isaiah 8:9; Psalms 104:28; Psalms 115:4 sqq. “To reproach the living God,” strongly reminds one of the blasphemy of Goliath, 1 Samuel 17:26; 1Sa 17:36; 1 Samuel 17:45. Such an one the Assyrian here appears. “The remnant extant” (see Text. and Gram.). The deportation of the Ten Tribes, and Isaiah 36:1 show that Jerusalem was at that time only a weak remnant of the theocracy.

[Isaiah 37:5 “is a natural and simple resumption of the narrative, common in all inartificial history. It affords no ground for assuming a transposition in the text, nor for explaining ויאמרו Isaiah 37:3, as a subjunctive.”—J. A. Alex.]. Isaiah 37:6-7, contain Isaiah’s answer. The Assyrian messengers are contemptuously called נערים, i.e., “boys, striplings” of the king of Assyria. The expression Behold, I am putting a spirit in him designates the subjective side of a resolve accomplished in the king of Assyria, and he shall hear a report the objective cause. It had manifestly been the purpose of the king of Assyria to go immediately at that time against Jerusalem. Sending Rabshakeh was the prelude to it. On the return of the latter with Hezekiah’s refusal, the advance on Jerusalem was instantly to be made. This is confirmed Isaiah 37:9-10 by the warning to Hezekiah not to cherish unwarranted expectations from the unlooked for diversion made by the Ethiopian army. Thus the Prophet says here, “I impart to him a spirit, i.e. I occasion him a mind, a tendency of the will (comp. Isaiah 19:14; Isaiah 29:10, etc.), and he shall hear a report.” This is the first stage of the deliverance. It intimates that the Assyrian’s next intention now at once to advance on Jerusalem shall not be realized. But that only wards off the immediate danger. Perhaps to reprieve is not to relieve. Thus the Assyrian himself seems to have thought according to Isaiah 37:10-13. But there is no danger. He shall not come before Jerusalem at all (Isaiah 37:33), but shall return into his land, and there fall by the sword. Let those believe that, “and I will fell him by the sword,” etc., is ascribed to Isaiah by the narrator post eventum, who cannot believe that there may be such a thing as a spirit of God, that can look freely into the future, and, when it seems good to him, can declare the future.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. On Isaiah 36:4 sqq. “Haec proprie est Satanae lingua et sunt non Rabsacis sed ipsissimi Diaboli verba, quibus non muros urbis, sed medullam Ezechiae, hoc est, tenerrimam ejus fidem oppugnat.”—Luther. “In this address the chief-butler, Satan performs in the way he uses when he would bring about our apostacy. 1) He urges that we are divested of all human support, Isaiah 36:5; Isaiah 2:0) We are deprived of divine support, Isaiah 36:7; Isaiah 3:0) God is angry with us because we have greatly provoked Him by our sins, Isaiah 36:7; Isaiah 4:0) He decks out the splendor, and power of the wicked, Isaiah 36:8-9; Isaiah 5:0) He appeals to God’s word, and knows how to turn and twist it to his uses. Such poisonous arrows were used by Satan against Christ in the desert, and may be compared with this light (Matthew 4:2 sqq.). One needs to arm himself against Satan’s attack by God’s word, and to resort to constant watching and prayer.”—Cramer.

The Assyrian urges four particulars by which he would destroy Hezekiah’s confidence, in two of which he was right and in two wrong. He was right in representing that Hezekiah could rely neither on Egypt, nor on his own power. In this respect he was a messenger of God and announcer of divine truth. For everywhere the word of God preaches the same (Isaiah 30:1-3; Isaiah 31:1-3; Jeremiah 17:5; Psalms 118:8-9; Psalms 146:3, etc.). But it is a merited chastisement if rude and hostile preachers must preach to us what we were unwilling to believe at the mild and friendly voice of God. But in two particulars the Assyrian was wrong, and therein lay Hezekiah’s strength. For just on this account the Lord is for him and against the Assyrian. These two things are, that the Assyrian asserts that Hezekiah cannot put his trust in the Lord, but rather he, the Assyrian is counseled by the Lord against Hezekiah. That, however, was a lie, and because of this lie, the corresponding truth makes all the deeper impression on Hezekiah, and reminds him how assuredly he may build on the Lord and importune Him. And when the enemy dares to say, that he is commissioned by the Lord to destroy the Holy Land, just that must bring to lively remembrance in the Israelite, that the Lord, who cannot lie, calls the land of Israel His land (Joel 4:2; Jeremiah 2:7; Jeremiah 16:18, etc.), and the people of Israel His people (Exodus 3:7; Exodus 3:10; Exodus 5:1, etc.).

2. On Isaiah 36:12. [“In regard to the indelicacy of this passage we may observe: 1) The Masorets in the Hebrew text have so printed the words used, that in reading it the offensiveness would be considerably avoided. 2) The customs, habits and modes of expression of people in different nations and times, differ. What appears indelicate at one time or in one country, may not only be tolerated, but common in another. 3) Isaiah is not at all responsible for the indelicacy of the language here. He is simply an historian. 4) It was of importance to give the true character of the attack which was made on Jerusalem. The coming of Sennacherib was attended with pride, insolence and blasphemy; and it was important to state the true character of the transaction, and to record just what was said and done. Let him who used the language, and not him who recorded it bear the blame.”—Barnes in loc.].

3. On Isaiah 36:18 sqq. “Observandum hic, quod apud gentes olim viguerit πολύθεια adeo, ut quaevis etiam urbs peculiarem habuerit Deum tutelarem. Cujus ethnicismi exemplum vivum et spirans adhuc habemus apud pontificios, quibus non inscite objici potest illud Jeremiae: Quot civitates tibi, tot etiam Dei (Jeremiah 2:28).”—Foerster.

4. On Isaiah 36:21. Answer not a fool according to his folly (Proverbs 26:4), much less the blasphemer, lest the flame of his wickedness be blown into the greater rage (Sir 8:3). Did not Christ the Lord answer His enemies, not always with words, but also with silence (Matthew 26:62; Matthew 27:14, etc.)? One must not cast pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6). After Foerster and Cramer.

5. On Isaiah 36:21. “Est aureus textus, qui docet nos, ne cum Satana disputemus. Quando enim videt, quod sumus ejus spectatores et auditores, tum captat occasionem majoris fortitudinis et gravius premit. Petrus dicit, eum circuire et quaerere, quem devoret. Nullum facit insidiarum finem. Tutissimum autem est non respondere, sed contemnere eum.”—Luther.

6. [On Isaiah 37:1-7. “Rabshakeh intended to frighten Hezekiah from the Lord, but it proves that he frightens him to the Lord. The wind, instead of forcing the traveler’s coat from him, makes him wrap it the closer about him. The more Rabshakeh reproaches God, the more Hezekiah studies to honor Him.” On Isaiah 37:3. “When we are most at a plunge we should be most earnest in prayer. When pains are most strong, let prayers be most lively. Prayer is the midwife of mercy, that helps to bring it forth.”—M. Henry, in loc.]

7. On Isaiah 37:2 sqq. Hezekiah here gives a good example. He shows all princes, rulers and peoples what one ought to do when there is a great and common distress, and tribulation. One ought with sackcloth, i. e., with penitent humility, to bring prayers, and intercessions to the Lord that He would look on and help.

8. On Isaiah 37:6 sq. “God takes to Himself all the evil done to His people. For as when one does a great kindness to the saints, God appropriates it to Himself, so, too, when one torments the saints, it is an injury done to God, and He treats sin no other way than as if done to Himself. He that torments them torments Him (Isaiah 64:9). Therefore the saints pray: ‘Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily’ (Psalms 74:22).”—Cramer.

9. On Isaiah 37:7. “God raises up against His enemies other enemies, and thus prepares rest for His own people. Example: the Philistines against Saul who pursued David, 1 Samuel 23:27.”—Cramer.

10. On Isaiah 37:14. Vitringa here cites the following from Bonfin Rerum Hungar. Dec. III. Lib. VI. p. 464, ad annum Isaiah 1444: “Amorathes, cum suos laborare cerneret et ab Vladislao rege non sine magna caede fugari, depromtum e sinu codicem initi sanctissime foederis explicat intentis in coelum oculis. Haec sunt, inquit ingeminans, Jesu Christe, foedera, quae Christiani tui mecum percussere. Per numen tuum sanctum jurarunt, datamque sub nomine tuo fidem violarunt, perfide suum Deum abnegarunt. Nunc Christe, si Deus es (ut ajunt et nos hallucinamur), tuas measque hic injurias, te quaeso, ulciscere et his, qui sanctum tuum nomen nondum agnovere, violatae fidei poenas ostende. Vix haec dixerat .… cum proelium, quod anceps ac dubium diu fuerat, inclinare coepit, etc.”

[The desire of Hezekiah was not primarily his own personal safety, or the safety of his kingdom. It was that Jehovah might vindicate His great and holy name from reproach, and that the world might know that He was the only true God. We have here a beautiful model of the object which we should have in view when we come before God. This motive of prayer is one that is with great frequency presented in the Bible. Comp. Isaiah 42:8; Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 43:13; Isaiah 43:25; Deuteronomy 32:39; Psalms 83:18; Psalms 46:10; Nehemiah 9:6; Daniel 9:18-19. Perhaps there could have been furnished no more striking proof that Jehovah was the true God, than would be by the defeat of Sennacherib. The time had come when the great Jehovah could strike a blow which would be felt on all nations, and carry the terror of His name, and the report of His power throughout the earth. Perhaps this was one of the main motives of the destruction of that mighty army.”—Barnes, on Isaiah 37:2].

11. On Isaiah 37:15. “Fides Ezechiae verba confirmata magis ac magis crescit. Ante non ausus est orare, jam orat et confutat blasphemias omnes Assyrii. Adeo magna vis verbi est, ut longe alius per verbum, quod Jesajas ei nunciari jussit, factus sit.”—Luther.

12. On Isaiah 37:17. [“It is bad to talk proudly and profanely, but it is worse to write so, for this argues more deliberation and design, and what is written spreads further and lasts longer, and does the more mischief. Atheism and irreligion, written, will certainly be reckoned for another day.”—M. Henry].

13. On Isaiah 37:21 sqq. [“Those who receive messages of terror from men with patience, and send messages of faith to God by prayer, may expect messages of grace and peace from God for their comfort, even when they are most cast down. Isaiah sent a long answer to Hezekiah’s prayer in God’s name, sent it in writing (for it was too long to be sent by word of mouth), and sent it by way of return to his prayer, relation being thereunto had: ‘Whereas thou hast prayed to me, know, for thy comfort, that thy prayer is heard.’ Isaiah might have referred him to the prophecies he had delivered (particularly to that of chap. 10), and bid him pick out an answer from thence. The correspondence between earth and heaven is never let fall on God’s side.”—M. Henry.].

14. On Isaiah 37:31 sqq. “This is a promise of great extent. For it applies not only to those that then remained, and were spared the impending destruction and captivity by the Assyrians, but to all subsequent times, when they should enjoy a deliverance; as after the Babylonish captivity, and after the persecutions of Antiochus. Yea, it applies even to New Testament times from the first to the last, since therein, in the order of conversion to Christ, the Jews will take root and bring forth fruit, and thus in the Jews (as also in the converted Gentiles) will appear in a spiritual and corporal sense, what God at that time did to their fields in the three following years.”—Starke.

15. On Isaiah 38:1. “Isaiah, although of a noble race and condition, does not for that regard it disgraceful, but rather an honor, to be a pastor and visitor of the sick, I would say, a prophet, teacher and comforter of the sick. God save the mark! How has the world become so different in our day, especially in our evangelical church Let a family be a little noble, and it is regarded as a reproach and injury to have a clergyman among its relations and friends, not to speak of a son studying theology and becoming a servant of the church. I speak not of all; I know that some have a better mind; yet such is the common course. Jeroboam’s maxim must rather obtain, who made priests of the lowest of the people (1 Kings 12:31). For thus the parsons may be firmly held in rein (sub ferula) and in political submission. It is not at all good where the clergy have a say, says an old state-rule of our Politicorum.” Feuerlein, pastor in Nuremberg, in his Novissimorum primum, 1694, p. 553. The same quotes Spener: “Is it not so, that among the Roman Catholics the greatest lords are not ashamed to stand in the spiritual office, and that many of them even discharge the spiritual functions? Among the Reformed, too, persons born of the noblest families are not ashamed of the office of preacher. But, it seems, we Lutherans are the only ones that hold the service of the gospel so low, that, where from a noble or otherwise prominent family an ingenium has an inclination to theological study, almost every one seeks to hinder him, or, indeed, afterwards is ashamed of his friendship, as if it were something much too base for such people, by which more harm comes to our church than one might suppose. That is to be ashamed of the gospel.”

16. On Isaiah 38:1. [“We see here the boldness and fidelity of a man of God. Isaiah was not afraid to go in freely and tell even a monarch that he must die. The subsequent part of the narrative would lead us to suppose that, until this announcement, Hezekiah did not regard himself as in immediate danger. It is evident here, that the physician of Hezekiah had not informed him of it—perhaps from the apprehension that his disease would be aggravated by the agitation of his mind on the subject. The duty was, therefore, left, as it is often, to the minister of religion—a duty which even many ministers are slow to perform, and which many physicians are reluctant to have performed.

No danger is to be apprehended commonly from announcing to those who are sick their true condition. Physicians and friends often err in this. There is no species of cruelty greater than to suffer a friend to lie on a dying bed under a delusion. There is no sin more aggravated than that of designedly deceiving a dying man, and flattering him with the hope of recovery, when there is a moral certainty that he will not and cannot recover. And there is evidently no danger to be apprehended from communicating to the sick their true condition. It should be done tenderly and with affection; but it should be done faithfully. I have had many opportunities of witnessing the effect of apprising the sick of their situation, and of the moral certainty that they must die. And I cannot now recall an instance in which the announcement has had any unhappy effect on the disease. Often, on the contrary, the effect is to calm the mind, and to lead the dying to look up to God, and peacefully to repose on Him. And the effect of that is always salutary.” Barnes in loc.]

17. On Isaiah 38:2. It is an old opinion, found even in the Chald., that by the wall is meant the wall of the temple as a holy direction in which to pray, as the Mahometans pray in the direction of Mecca. But הקיר cannot mean that. Rather that is correct which is said by Forerius: “Nolunt pii homines testes habere suarum lacrymarum, ut eas liberius fundant, neque sensu distrahi, cum orare Deum ex animo volunt.”

18. On Isaiah 38:8 :—

Non Deus est numen Parcarum carcere clausum.
Quale putabatur Stoicus esse Deus.

Ille potest Solis cursus inhibere volantes,

At veluti scopulos flumina stare facit.”

—Melanchthon.

19. On Isaiah 38:12. “Beautiful parables that picture to us the transitoriness of this temporal life. For the parable of the shepherd’s tent means how restless a thing it is with us, that we have here no abiding place, but are driven from one locality to another, until at last we find a resting-spot in the church-yard. The other parable of the weaver’s thread means how uncertain is our life on earth. For how easily the thread breaks.” Cramer. “When the weaver’s work is progressing best, the thread breaks before he is aware. Thus when a man is in his best work, and supposes he now at last begins really to live, God breaks the thread of his life and lets him die. The rational heathen knew something of this when they, so to speak, invented the three goddesses of life (the three Parcas minime parcas) and included them in this little verse:

Clotho colum gestat, Lachesis trahit,

Atropos occat

But what does the weaver when the thread breaks? Does he stop his work at once? O no! He knows how to make a clever weaver’s knot, so that one cannot observe the break. Remember thereby that when thy life is broken off, yet the Lord Jesus, as a master artisan, can bring it together again at the last day. He will make such an artful, subtle weaver’s-knot as shall make us wonder through all eternity. It will do us no harm to have died.” Ibid.—Omnia sunt hominum tenui pendentia filo.

[“As suddenly as the tent of a shepherd is taken down, folded up, and transferred to another place. There is doubtless the idea here that he would continue to exist, but in another place, as the shepherd would pitch his tent in another place. He was to be cut off from the earth, but he expected to dwell among the dead. The whole passage conveys the idea that he expected to dwell in another state.” Barnes in loc.].

20. On Isaiah 38:17. [“Note 1) When God pardons sin, He casts it behind His back as not designing to look upon it with an eye of justice and jealousy. He remembers it no more, to visit for it. The pardon does not make the sin not to have been, or not to have been sin, but not to be punished as it deserves. When we cast our sins behind our back, and take no care to repent of them, God sets them before His face, and is ready to reckon for them; but when we set them before our face in true repentance, as David did when his sin was ever before him, God casts them behind His back. 2) When God pardons sin, He pardons all, casts them all behind His back, though they have been as scarlet and crimson. 3) The pardoning of sin is the delivering the soul from the pit of corruption. 4) It is pleasant indeed to think of our recoveries from sickness when we see them flowing from the remission of sin; then the cause is removed, and then it is in love to the soul.” M. Henry in loc.]

21. On Isaiah 38:18. [Cannot hope for thy truth. “They are shut out from all the means by which Thy truth is brought to mind, and the offers of salvation are presented. Their probation is at an end; their privileges are closed; their destiny is sealed up. The idea is, it is a privilege to live because this is a world where the offers of salvation are made, and where those who are conscious of guilt may hope in the mercy of God.” Barnes in loc.] God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Such is the New Testament sense of these Old Testament words. For though Hezekiah has primarily in mind the preferableness of life in the earthly body to the life in Hades, yet this whole manner of representation passes away with Hades itself. But Hezekiah’s words still remain true so far as they apply to heaven and hell. For of course in hell, the place of the damned, one does not praise God. But those that live praise Him. These, however, are in heaven. Since then God wills rather that men praise Him than not praise Him, so He is not willing that men should perish, but that all should turn to repentance and live.

22. On Isaiah 39:2. “Primo (Deus) per obsidionem et bellum, deinde per gravem morbum Ezechiam servaverat, ne in praesumtionem laberetur. Nondum tamen vinci potuit antiquus serpens, sed redit et levat caput suum. Adeo non possumus consistere, nisi Deos nos affligat. Vides igitur hic, quis sit afflictionum usus, ut mortificent scilicet carnem, quae non potest res ferre secundas.” Luther.

23. On Isaiah 39:7. “God also punishes the misdeeds of the parents on the children (Exodus 20:5) because the children not only follow the misdeeds of their parents, but they also increase and heap them up, as is seen in the posterity of Hezekiah, viz.: Manasseh and Amon.”—Cramer.

HOMILETICAL HINTS

[The reader is referred to the ample hints covering the same matter to be found in the volume on 2 Kings 18-20. It is expedient to take advantage of that for the sake of keeping the present volume within reasonable bounds. Therefore but a minimum is here given of what the Author offers, much of which indeed is but the repetition in another form of matter already given.—Tr.]

1. On Isaiah 37:36. “1) The scorn and mockery of the visible world. 2) The scorn and mockery of the unseen world.” Sermon of Domprediger Zahn in Halle, 1870.

2. On the entire 38. chapter, beside the 22 sermons in FEUERLEIN’S Novissimorum primum, there is a great number of homiletical elaborations of an early date; Walther Magirus, Idea mortis et vitae in two parts, the second of which contains 20 penitential and consolatory sermons on Isaiah 38:0. Danzig, 1640 and 1642. Daniel Schaller (Stendal) 4 sermons on the sick Hezekiah, on Isaiah 38:0. Magdeburg, 1611. Peter Siegmund Pape in “Gott geheilighte Wochenpredigten,” Berlin, 1701, 4 sermons. Jacob Tichlerus (Elburg) Hiskiae Aufrichtigkeit bewiesen in Gesundheit, Krankheit und Genesung, 18 sermons on Isaiah 38:0. (Dutch), Campen, 1636. These are only the principal ones.

3. On Isaiah 38:1. “I will set my house in order. This, indeed, will not be hard for me to do. My debt account is crossed out; my best possession I take along with me; my children I commit to the great Father of orphans, to whom heaven and earth belongs, and my soul to the Lord, who has sued for it longer than a human age, and bought it with His blood. Thus I am eased and ready for the journey.” Tholuck, Stunden der Andacht, p. 620.

4. On Isaiah 38:1. “Now thou shouldest know that our word ‘order his house’ has a very broad meaning. It comprehends reconciliation to God by faith, the final confession of sin, the last Lord’s Supper, the humble committing of the soul to the grace of the Lord, and to death and the grave in the hope of the resurrection. In one word: There is an ordering of the house above. In reliance on the precious merit of my Saviour, I order my house above in which I wish to dwell. Moreover taking leave of loved ones, and the blessing of them belongs to ordering the house. And finally order must be taken concerning the guardianship of children, the abiding of the widow, and the friend on whom she must especially lean in her loneliness, also concerning earthly bequests.” Ahlfeld, Das Leben im Lichte des Wortes Gottes, Halle, 1867, p. 522.

5. On Isaiah 38:2-8. This account has much that seems strange to us Christians, but much, too, that quite corresponds to our Christian consciousness. Let us contemplate the difference between an Old Testament, and a New Testament suppliant, by noticing the differences and the resemblances. I. The resemblances. 1) Distress and grief there are in the Old, as in the New Testament (Isaiah 38:3). 2) Ready and willing to help beyond our prayers or comprehension (Isaiah 38:5-6) is the Lord in the Old as in the New Testament. II. The differences. 1) The Old Testament suppliant appealed to his having done nothing bad (Isaiah 38:3). The New Testament suppliant says: “God be merciful to me a sinner,” and “Give me through grace for Christ’s sake what it pleases Thee to give me.” 2) The Old Testament suppliant demands a sign (Isaiah 38:7-8; comp. Isaiah 38:22); the New Testament suppliant requires no sign but that of the crucified Son of man, for He knows that to those who bear this sign is given the promise of the hearing of all their prayers (John 16:23). 3) In Hezekiah’s case, the prayer of the Old Testament suppliant is indeed heard (Isaiah 38:5), yet in general it has not the certainty of being heard, whereas the New Testament suppliant has this certainty.

Footnotes:

[1]chancellor.

[2]Or, provocation.

[3]peradventure.

[4]with which the king commissioned him.

[5]administer punishment for the words.

[6]and thou wilt lift up a prayer.

[7]Heb. found.

[8]the boys.

[9]Or, put a spirit into him.

[10]I fell him.

return to 'Top of Page'

Verses 8-13

3. THE WRITING OF SENNACHERIB TO HEZEKIAH

Isaiah 37:8-13

8So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria 11warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he 12was departed from Lacish. 9And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; 13and shalt thou be delivered? 12Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, 13and the children of Eden which were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

Isaiah 37:9. The variations from 2 Kings 19:9 are slight; על here instead of אל, and a second וישׁמע instead of וישׁב 2 Kings 19:0; which latter is doubtless the correct reading. That second וישׁמע seems to be merely a copyist’s error, unless the reviser of the Isaiah text overlooked the familiar adverbial meaning that the word has here.

Isaiah 37:10. On השׁיא, comp. on Isaiah 36:14.—בוטח בו see on Isaiah 36:7.—לא תנתך ו׳ see on Isaiah 36:15.

Isaiah 37:11. להחרימם (see Isaiah 11:15; Isaiah 34:5) is that verbal form which we translate by the ablative of the gerund.

Isaiah 37:13. The words הנע ועוה are difficult. The Masorets seem to have regarded them as verbs, seeing that they have punctuated the former as perf. Hiph., and the latter as perf. Piel. So also the Chald. (expulerunt eos et in captivitatcm duxcrunt) and Symmachus (ἀνεστάτωσεν καὶ ἐταπείνωσεν). But the context demands names of localities. The LXX. translates 2 Kings 19:13 Ἀνὰ καὶ Ἀουά; also the Vulg. both 2 Kings and our text.

In Isaiah 37:11-13 the variations from the text in 2 Kings 19:0 are inconsiderable. But such as they are they also give evidence of an effort at simplification and accommodation to the prevalent usus loquendi. For example Isaiah, תְּלַשָּׂר (according to sound) instead of 2 Kings תְּלַאשָּׂר (which would correspond to the Assyrian Tul-Assuri, i.e., hill of Assyria).

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. While the events narrated Isaiah 37:1-7 were taking place, Rabshakeh returned to report to his master, whom he found at Libnah. The news received there of the movement of the king of Ethiopia made it impossible to undertake anything against Jerusalem just then. In the event of a prolonged siege, Sennacherib might find himself in the bad situation of having the Jews in his front, and Tirhakah in his rear. This he must not risk. But to check the triumph of Hezekiah, he sends the message of Isaiah 37:10-13, which is virtually a repetition of Rabshakeh’s words Isaiah 36:18-20, except that while the latter warned the people against Hezekiah Sennacherib warns Hezekiah not to let his God deceive him.

2. So Rabshakeh—saying.

Isaiah 37:8-9. Rabshakeh it seems did not tarry long before Jerusalem for a reply. The silence (Isaiah 36:21) that followed his words was itself an answer. He returned, therefore, to his master to report that neither in king nor people did he meet with any disposition to make a voluntary submission. Libnah, in the siege of which he found his master engaged, was an ancient Canaanite royal city (Joshua 10:29 sqq.). It belonged (Joshua 15:42) to the low country of Judah, and was later (Joshua 21:13; 1 Chronicles 6:42) a Levitical and free city. It must have been near to Lacish (Joshua 10:29 sqq.), and between that place and Makkedah. Van de Velde supposes it is identical with the Tell of ‘Arâk-el-Menschîjeh, because “this is the only place in the plain between Sumeil (Makkedah) and Um-Lakhis, that can be recognized as an ancient fortified place” (Herz., R.-Encycl., XIV. p. 753). Isaiah 37:9. The subject of “he heard” beginning Isaiah 37:9 is, of course, Sennacherib. Tirhakah was the third and last king of the twenty-fifth or Ethiopic dynasty. Sabako, or Sevechos, I. and II. were his predecessors. He resided in Thebes, where, on the left bank of the Nile, in the palace of Medenet-Habu, sculptures still exist, that represent Tirhakah wielding the war-mace over bearded Asiatics. See Wilkinson, “Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians,” I. p. 393 sqq. According to Herod., II., 141, there appears as his contemporary, probably as subordinate king (comp. Ewald,Gesch., d. V. Isr. III. p. 678), Sethon, a priest of Hephastos, who ruled over middle and lower Egypt. According to the Assyrian monuments, Sargon conquered Seveh (Sevechos) king of Egypt in the year 720 B. C. at Rephia (comp. on 20). Again in 715, the canon of regents mentions a payment of tribute by the Pharaoh of Egypt. In the arrow-headed inscriptions of Sennacherib’s time, the name of Tirhakah has not been found as yet. But Asurbanipal (Sardanapalus), the grandson of Sennacherib, and successor of his son Esarhaddon, relates, that he directed his first expedition against the rebellious Tar-ku-u of Egypt and Meroe (Schrader, p. 202 sq.). As Sennacherib reigned till 681, and Esarhaddon till 668, the statement of Manetho, that Tirhakah arose 366 years before Alexander’s conquest of Egypt, agrees, of course, better with the Assyrian statement, according to which Sennacherib came to the throne in 705, and undertook the expedition against Egypt in 700, than with the chronology hitherto accepted, that places this expedition in 714 B. C.

3. Thus shall ye—and Ivah?

Isaiah 37:10-13. [The design to destroy, not the people’s confidence in Hezekiah, but Hezekiah’s confidence in God, makes Sennacherib’s blasphemy much more open and direct than that of Rabshakeh.—J. A. Alex.]. The servant could in flattery ascribe conquests to his master (Isaiah 36:18-20) which the latter (Isaiah 37:11 sqq.), more honestly acknowledges as the deed of his predecessors. [“Others, with more probability, infer that the singular form, employed by Rabshakeh, is itself to be understood collectively, like “king of Babylon” in chap. 14”—J. A. Alex.]. Gozan, in the form Guzanu, is often mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions, and that as a city (Schrader, p. 323, 9), and a province (ibid. p. 327, 11, 12; p. 331, 8). But opinions differ as to its location, some taking it for a Mesopotamian locality (Gesen., Knobel, on the authority of Ptolemaeus V.18, 4, also Schrader, p. 161, because, in an Assyrian list of geographical contents, Guzana is named along with Nisibis, and in our text with Haran and Rezeph. But others, on the authority of Arab geographers, seek for Gozan in the mountainous region northeast of Nineveh. There is a river Chabur there, flowing from the mountain region of Zuzan. This Chabur, a left branch of the Tigris, appears to be the חָבוֹר נְהַר גּוֹזָן mentioned 2 Kings 17:6; 2 Kings 18:11, and must be distinguished from the כְּבָר or Chaboras (Chebar) Ezekiel 1:3, etc., that is a branch of the Euphrates. Comp. Delitzschin loc.Ewald,Gesch. d. V. Isr. III. p. 638, Isaiah 658: “The Nestorians, or the Lost Tribes,” by Asahel Grant. According to 2 Kings 17:6; 2 Kings 18:11, Gozan belongs to the lands into which the Israelites were deported. Now we find these (Ezekiel 1:3; Ezekiel 3:15; Ezekiel 3:23; Ezekiel 10:15; Ezekiel 10:22) settled on the כְּבָר, i.e., Chebar. The subject is not yet cleared up. Haran, occurs often as Harran in the inscriptions as a Mesopotamian city (Schrader, p. 45). It is a very ancient city (Genesis 11:31; Genesis 12:5; Genesis 27:43, etc.), and well-known to Greeks and Romans under the name Κάῤῥαι, Carrae [famous for the great defeat of Crassus.—Tr.], (see Plutarch,vit. Crassi, 25, 27 sq.). Rezeph, too, is a Mesopotamian city, west of the Euphrates, that frequently appears in the inscriptions as Ra-sa-ap-pa or Ra-sap-pa. Later it appears under the name Resafa, or Rosafa (comp. Ewald,l. c. III. p. 639). Regarding the “B’ne Eden in Telasser,” it must be noted that Ezekiel 27:23 mentions a people עֶדֶז, that were merchants dealing between Sheba, i.e., Arabia and Tyre, along with חָרָן and כַּנֵּהi.e., כַּלְנֵה or כַּלְנוֹIsa 10:9). Moreover Amos 1:5 mentions a בית עדן that, as part of the people of Syria, was to emigrate to Kir. Telasser is mentioned only once in the inscriptions, where it is related, that Tiglath-Pileser brought an offering in Tul-Assuri to the god “Marduk (i.e., Merodach) that dwelt at Telassar” (Schrader, p. 203 sq.). We must thus consider Eden and Telassar as Mesopotamian localities, though views differ much as to their precise locations. The question (Isaiah 37:13) “where is the king of Hamath,” etc., is a repetition of Isaiah 36:19, excepting that we have here “king” instead of “the gods.” It is moreover remarkable that here it reads: מֶלֶד לָעִיר ם׳. The reason for this form of expression, if it is not a mere variation, is not clear. For analogies see Joshua 12:18; Numbers 22:4, and in the Chaldee Ezra 5:11. [“Another explanation of these words is that suggested by Luzzatto, who regards them as names of the deities worshipped at Hamath, Arpad and Sepharvaim, and takes מלך in the sense of idol or tutelary deity, which last idea is as old as Clericus. This ingenious hypothesis Luzzatto endeavors to sustain by the analogy of Adrammelech, and Anamelech, the gods of Sepharvaim (2 Kings 17:31), the second of which names he regarded as essentially identical with Hena. In favor of this exposition, besides the fact already mentioned that the names, as names of places, occur nowhere else, it may be urged that it agrees not only with the context in this place, but also with 2 Kings 18:34, in which the explanation of the words as verbs or nouns is inadmissible.”—J. A. Alex.].