Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 18:5
He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor [any] that were before him.
5. the Lord God [R.V. the God ] of Israel ] The usual change.
after him was none like him nor any [R.V. among them ] that were before him ] The comparison is with individual kings. The plural expression of the latter half of this sentence in A.V. is correct.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
After him was none like him – The same is said of Josiah (marginal reference). The phrase was probably proverbial, and was not taken to mean more than we mean when we say that such and such a king was one of singular piety.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Ki 18:5-6
He trusted in the Lord God of Israel.
Three stages in the devout life
This is the writers summing up of the character of Hezekiah, before he enters on the details of his reign. It is a lofty and unconditioned eulogium, making no reference to faults. There are no shadows in the picture, and, of course, in so far it may be taken to be a too favourable likeness. But that is the way that God judges, about men, by the general, drift of their lives, and He does not grudge to praise them.
1. He trusted in the Lord. Now, people sometimes say that there is nothing about faith in the Old Testament, and that it is only in the New that we find such strong emphasis laid upon it, as the root and measure of all kinds of goodness. But that is a pure delusion. There never has been but one way to God, and the man that wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews, whoever he was, had seen a great deal deeper into the genius of the Old Testament religion than some very wise men of modern times, when he had not the smallest hesitation in pointing his finger to all that army of witnesses in the past and saying, These all died in faith. One other remark may be made about this trust, which is the basement story of Hezekiahs character, and that is that the word which is here employed, like all the Old Testament expressions for spiritual and mental acts and things, has a very distinct material signification, and is in itself a lesson and a picture. For the word employed, and rightly employed here, for trusting in the Lord means, literally, leaning upon something, as one might do upon a strong stay. We may also note that the Old Testament sometimes speaks of trusting to, sometimes of trusting on, sometimes of trusting in, the Lord, and sometimes simply of trusting the Lord, just as the New has a similar variety of expression in reference to the act of faith. These variations indicate varying aspects of that act, considered as a going forth of heart and will towards their object, or a repose of heart and will upon, or an abiding of heart and will in, God or Christ, which would prove profitable to dwell upon, but which I can only indicate here. If you will duly ponder the metaphor which is inherent in the word of some feeble or lame man leaning upon a strong staff, or some tottering one leaning his hand upon a rock, and resting all his weight upon that, I think you will understand a great deal more about faith, and what it means, than if you had read a whole library of theological discussion. It is not believing, but it is the act of leaning on what we believe in. It is not your head but your heart and your will that trust. There must be, of course, knowledge before there can be faith, but there was never a greater or more disastrous mistake in Christendom than that which says that the essential part of Christian faith is correct belief. That is the beginning of it no doubt, but there may be plenty of incorrectness in the belief, and yet if there is the earnest reality in the leaning then that trust is fight. Only lean hard. A lame man does not lay a light arm on his crutch. You are weak enough to need a very strong support. Let us learn from Hezekiah when it is the time to lean hardest. When Sennacheribs insulting letter came to him he was sore troubled, but he did not content himself with unavailing sorrow. He turned to his counsellors, but he did not content himself with bespeaking human advice and human help. He had built the walls of Jerusalem anew, and made extensive and wise arrangement in prospect of a siege, but he did not rely on these things. What did he do with the letter? He went and spread it before the Lord. Is that what you do with the disagreeable letters that come to yon, with the difficulties and annoyances, great or small, with the perplexities and the burdens, whether they be burdens of sorrow or of work that come to you? Take them into Gods house, and spread them out before Him. Sennacheribs letter does not look half so bad when it is spread out before the cherubim as it does when we read it in some corner away from God. If a man will lean on God, the unseen Helper, he must make up his mind to have plenty of scoffs and ridicule from people that have no notion of a Helper that is not visible and material. Do you remember how the messenger of the King of Assyria came to Hezekiah, or, rather, to his servants, and taunted them with the very fact that they were trusting? Speak ye now to Hezekiah, thus saith the great King, the King of Assyria. What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? On whom dost thou trust that thou rebellest against me? Now, behold! thou trustest on the staff of this bruised reed but if ye say to me, We trust in the Lord our God . . . hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the King of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath? and so on, and so on. Yes; and then it came to pass that night that the angel of the Lord went out . . . and when they arose early in the morning, behold they were all dead corpses. So was vindicated the faith that looked so foolish, so presumptuous, with so little to build upon, and so little to warrant it. Did you ever notice the contrast between what came to Hezekiah when he prayed in the house of his God, and what came to Sennacherib when he prayed in the house of his God? Hezekiah spread the letter before the Lord, and he received the triumphant answer from Isaiahs lips which was the flash of the lightning, followed by the roll of the thunder in the death of the host. That was what faith got when it prayed in the house of the Lord. What did the other man get when he prayed in the house of his God? It came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, smote him with the sword. That is what the man gets that bows down to idols, and puts his trust in a refuge of lies.
3. He clave unto the Lord; that is the stage that follows on faith. Now, that is another picturesque expression. Let me just run over in a sentence or two, three connections in which it is employed in Scripture in order that you may see what it means. It is the same word which is used to express the adherence of the bone to the skin, or to express the way in which a tightly-braced girdle sticks to the loins of a man, or to express the way in which, when one is burning with thirst, the tongue adheres to the roof of the mouth. And when you come into the region of its reference to mens relation to men, it is the word which is used for the closest, sweetest, sacredest of all human relationships. For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife. It is the word that is employed to express the loyalty of obedient subjects to their king. It is the word which is used in that tenderest of all stories to contrast the clinging love of the one daughter-in-law with the less self-abandoning affection of the other. Orphah kissed her . . . Ruth clave unto her. Now, that is what faith should lead us to do. Loyalty as of subjects to a king; love as of husband and wife; as of Ruth and Naomi, the close adherence as of the girdle braced round the loins of a man. For in the words there lie, not only these thoughts of close adhesion by mind and will and heart, but also the thought of a vigorous resistance to all the separating agencies, which are so busy in the lives of every one of us, and find their allies in the hearts of us all. Now, lastly, the top-stone of the whole fabric is obedience, which will follow upon such close communion with, and trust in, God. There are two great corruptions of Christianity; the one which attaches all importance to the initial act of trust, and to the inward experience of the devout soul, is strong in spiritual emotions and very Weak in daily righteousness. There is a strange connection between fervent emotion of a spiritual kind and a shady life in regard to common virtues. So do you take care to avoid a Christianity which is all faith and fellowship, and not obedience. And, on the other hand, do not try to begin at the roof of the house, and build garrets and top-floor first–to have a righteous life without the substratum, the faith which is the basement and the fellowship with God which comes between faith and obedience. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Trust in God
1. Hezekiah was one of Judahs best kings. He is classed with David and Josiah. All, except David and Ezekias and Josias, were defective (Sir 49:4). In his zeal for God he brake in pieces the brasen serpent which had become an object of superstition, and sought to carry into effect the Mosaic prohibition of heathen sanctuaries (Exo 23:24; Exo 34:13). Moreover, he removed the high places, thus showing the sweeping nature of his reformation. These high places were local sanctuaries, which some good kings had tolerated, contenting themselves with uprooting the worship of false gods; for at these local shrines there was, it is supposed, some sort of worship of Jehovah carried on, which was to satisfy the religious instinct without going up to Jerusalem. It shows Hezekiahs thoroughness and determination.
2. But Hezekiahs greatness shines out still more vividly in the hour of trial. Jerusalem was threatened by Assyrian forces. Their generals were at the gates, demanding submission. He stood alone, and yet not alone, for God was his Refuge and Strength, a very present Help in trouble; He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, and he did not trust in vain. Let us first note some of the grounds upon which this confidence in God is based; and, secondly, mark some of its features.
I. Some grounds upon which trust in God is based.
1. The first is the goodness of God. Thus moral theology places trust in God in connection with hope, and not directly with faith.
2. Another ground of trust in God is His faithfulness to His promises. He is faithful that promised (Heb 10:23). In order to impress upon us this truth, God confirmed His word by an oath, as men when they bind themselves more strictly to a compact (Heb 6:1-20.). Goodness, when combined with almightiness and fidelity, affords a triple basis upon which to rest.
3. Experience may be added to the former. Thus David, when he drew near to the giant, recollected past deliverances. The Lord, he said, that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, etc. (1Sa 17:37).
II. Some features of this confidence must now be noted.
1. To have confidence in God, it must be entire. In foul weather as well as fair, in the storm when Christ is asleep, as well as on the land when He is awake. Christ tested this confidence in the case of His disciples, and He does so still. It must extend both to temporal as well as spiritual things, as we are reminded in to-days Gospel–to the necessaries of life, as well as to graces and gifts from heaven. This was laid down clearly in the definition of trust at the beginning. Such trust, it need hardly be said, must not be a cause of idleness, but a stimulant of effort: God helps those who help themselves. Hezekiah knew that; and so went into the house of the Lord, and spread the letter before the Lord which the Assyrian foe had sent him, and prayed earnestly to the Lord.
2. Trust, too, must be prompt. To ask for Divine help when all things have been tried in vain, savours rather of despair than of confidence. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, in point of time as well as order, and turn to all else as means which are only of avail when they have the Divine blessing.
III. Lessons.
1. The whole subject is so eminently practical that the lessons are obvious. All must have some object in which to confide. Our trust must be, not in self, not in others, but in God. It was to Him Hezekiah at once turned in his terrible need.
2. To kindle this spirit of confidence, let us meditate upon the Divine goodness, the fidelity of God to His promises, and call up remembrances of His past mercies.
3. Finally, let this trust extend to all circumstances and difficulties whether of soul or body; and we shall find, like the good king, that the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord, and He is their strength in the time of trouble (Psa 37:39).
IV. Lessons.
1. To grasp still more firmly the fundamental truth of Christianity–the union of the human nature with the Divine nature in the One person of the Word, or Son of God, who for our sakes became poor.
2. To learn the lesson of detachment from all external possessions, after the pattern of His life on earth.
3. To seek by every means in our power to obtain the true riches which Christ, through His poverty, has purchased for us.
4. So to use the mammon of unrighteousness, if we have it, as to lay up treasure in heaven; for where your treasure is there win your heart be also (Mat 7:20-21). (W. H. Hutchings, M. A.)
The foundation of a true life
The reign of Hezekiah was a halo of sacred glory to relieve the gloom of the darkest period in Jewish history. So estimable a character was Hezekiahs that the sacred penman assigns to him the highest place among the worthies of the covenant, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. Of such a charactor we ask, What was the secret of its power? What was the basis of its operation? Is such a character possible to us? Our text is the answer: He trusted in the Lord God of Israel.–Herein is the foundation; everything noble in life springs from trust in God. This, we observe, is the source of all virtue, the correct inspiration of every act, the unerring guide in moments of perplexity, and the only satisfactory finality to human life.
I. Trust in God is the virtuous source of character. A character of such sterling worth and paramount influence, which, after the lapse of ages, is so immortal, drew its vital force from the Divine source. The first trait in his life, and one which claims the preeminence, is virtue. It is the undying element which gave stability, vitality, and nobility to his deportment. Moral purity can only flow from one source–trust in God. The language of that trust is, Be ye holy, for I am holy. His thoughts, his motives, his desires, and his acts were pure, because he communed with God. You cannot build a character without virtue, and virtue is impossible without faith. The brightest intellect without virtue is only a meteor that will be lost in the darkness of its own sin-clouds. The most loving heart without virtue is only an electric spark which kills where it intended to give life. The highest endowments of life–birth, education, society, wealth, and friends–like the branches of a tree, will soon wither if the worm of impurity is at the root. Lives, otherwise noble, have come to the ground with a crash because there was no holiness in thought. The first act of trust is to give our own hearts to God, to be washed from sin. The experience which arises from this act leads us to seek, not a momentary discharge from guilt, but a life of perpetual purity. The only character worth having is that built on God.
II. Trust in God is the true inspiration of character. When Hezekiah came to the throne the people had no fixed religious views. Their hold upon the land was precarious, for they owed a stricter allegiance to a foreign king than to their own, The court was disorganised, the priesthood was neglected, and the people were intellectually and morally degraded. Reform was difficult; to bring back the hearts of the people to the God of their fathers was a great task. Trust in God as a source of action is the universal experience of the Church. That faith is a receptive medium of grace and power is evident, but it is power to be set forth in action. As rest resuscitates the strength of the body, so faith derives fresh supplies of grace from Christ Jesus. This state of comparative passivity, however, is but a link which unites the inner energies of the spiritual life to the corresponding outward activities. Soul-refreshing meditation and prayer result in wisdom and power; those who trust in God are partakers of the Divine nature. Faith lifts them up into participation of infinite wisdom and strength.
III. Trust in God is the souls stay in trial. Trials bear either directly on our persons or on our circumstances.
IV. Trust in God is the finality of character. Hezekiah slept with his fathers after he had fulfilled his mission and finished the work the Lord had given him to do. His life, like a graceful sentence, ended with a full stop. On what foundation are you building? The best materials will not make a safe building if built on the sand; your most sincere desires and efforts will not stand unless built on the Rock. The rock is Christ. Character is everything, and Christ is everything to character. Trust in God. (T. Davies, M. A.)
Trust in God
The late Rev. Hugh Stowell Brown of Manchester, at a public meeting, related an incident which very touchingly illustrates this hymn of Cowpers: God moves in a mysterious way. One of the Lancashire mill-owners, who had struggled to keep his hands employed during the cotton famine, arising from the American war in 1865, at last found it impossible to proceed; and calling his workpeople together, told them he would be compelled, after the usual notice, to close his mills. The news was received with sadness and sympathy. To them it meant privation and suffering, to him it might be ruin. None cared to speak in reply; when suddenly rose the voice of song from one of the girls, who was a Sunday school teacher, and who, feeling it to be an occasion requiring Divine help and guidance, gave out the verse of Cowpers hymn:
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
All the mill hands joined in singing the verse, amidst deep emotion.
The secret of a successful life
Matthew Arnolds description of God used to be A power not ourselves which makes for righteousness. We need not have so vague a thought of God as that, but God is a Power, not ourselves, making for righteousness; and he who heartily thrusts himself into the sweep of this current will be surely borne on by it, as a river bears a ship, into the success of righteousness.
I. Hezekiah availed himself of the force of the divine righteousness working in the world, and so struck the secret of a successful life, by a distinct choice of God. But he clave unto the Lord. And he did it notwithstanding all sorts of oppositions. His father, Ahaz, was one of the worst kings who ever sat upon the throne of Judah. Hezekiahs heredity was against him. Oriental and degrading idolatry was the atmosphere enwrapping his earlier years. His fathers court was abominably corrupt. But he clave unto the Lord. The first step in a genuinely successful life is Hezekiahs step–a distinct, self-surrendering, irreversible choice of God in the face of whatever oppositions.
II. Hezekiah carried out his decision. Having decided to cleave to the Lord, he kept cleaving to Him by constant action according to his decision (2Ch 29:30.). Having come to the throne, he immediately begins to rule in the fashion a man cleaving to the Lord should. In every way he ranged his influence on the Lords side. There was no waiting in Hezekiah; no putting off to a more politic or convenient season. What action his decision for God called for, that action got quickly begun.
III. Hezekiah maintained unwavering trust in the Lord to whom he clave. Read the account of Hezekiahs trust in the crisis of the Sennacherib invasion (Isa 36:1-22; Isa 37:1-38.). And the Lord to whom he clave honoured his trust. To be sure Hezekiah made some slips. But it is no wonder the Lord to whom he clave brought him to such shiningly successful end as this. (W. Hoyt, D. D.)
Cleave unto the Lord
We may follow out the metaphor of the word in many illustrations. For instance, here is a strong prop, and here is the trailing, lithe feebleness of the vine. Gather up the leaves that are creeping all along the ground, and coil them around that support, and up they go straight towards the heavens. Here is a limpet, in some pond or other, left by the tide, and it has relaxed its grasp a little. Touch it with your finger, and it grips fast to the rock, and you will want a hammer before you can dislodge it. There is a traveller groping along some narrow, broken path, where the chamois would tread cautiously, his guide in front of him. His head reels, and his limbs tremble, and he is all but over, but he grasps the strong hand of the man in front of him, or lashes himself to him by the rope, and he can walk steadily. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Adhesiveness
I have seen a heavy piece of solid iron hanging on another not welded, not linked, not glued to the spot; and yet it cleaved with such tenacity as to bear not only its own weight, but mine, too, if I chose to seize and hang upon it. A wire charged with an electric current is in contact with its mass, and hence its adhesion. But cut that wire through, or remove it by a hairs-breadth, and the piece drops dead to the ground, like any other unsupported weight. A stream of life from the Lord, brought into contact with a human spirit, keeps the spirit cleaving to the Lord so firmly, that no power on earth or hell can wrench the two asunder. From Christ the mysterious life-stream flows, through the being of a disciple it spreads, and to the Lord it returns again. In that circle the feeblest Christian is held safely; but if the circle be broken the dependent spirit instantly drops off. (W. Arnot.)
Weakness linked to power
The Rev. F. B. Meyer remarked that he wanted to be merely their bigger brother–no shadow of D.D.s between–only a little older, for he was within a week of his 57th year. He continued: We who live in this part of London are very proud of our electric tramcars. They run heavily and swiftly. When in my own massive church (Christ Church, Westminster) I feel a tremor as they pass. I was riding in one with great composure the other day. It was five oclock in the afternoon, and, looking out, I noticed on the left-hand side a young working-man, evidently on his way back from his days toil, his kit on his shoulder, riding on a bicycle of a very antiquated character, without tyres, and wobbling backwards and forwards. Presently the ticketcollector went on top, and the young fellow saw his chance. He sidled his bicycle against the swift, steady tram, caught the iron rail, and at once began to move along with a velocity and smoothness that startled the bicycle itself. It was beautiful to see how the massive strength of that huge tram was connected with the bicycle by a touch. Presently we came to a curve and the man swept with it. As the tram went round the curve the bicycle went too. And I said in my heart, to Christ, Lord, I have had a good deal of the wobbling motion about my life, but from to-day I want to link myself for evermore with Thy mighty redemptive movement, that Thou and I may sweep on together
Nearness produces resemblance
The eye by gazing into the day becomes more recipient of more light; the spirit cleaves closer to a Christ, more fully apprehended and more deeply loved; the whole being, like a plant reaching up to the sunlight, grows by its yearning towards the light, and by the light towards which it strains–lifts a stronger stem, and spreads a broader leaf, and opens into immortal flowers, tinted by the sunlight with its own colours. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. He trusted in the Lord] See the character of this good king:
1. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel;
2. He clave to the Lord;
3. He was steady in his religion; he departed not from following the Lord;
4. He kept God’s commandments. And what were the consequences?
1. The Lord was with him;
2. He prospered whithersoever he went.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, without calling in foreign and heathenish succours to stablish or help him; which his father Ahaz did, 2Ki 16:7; Isa 7; and before him Asa, 1Ki 15:18,19, with reflection upon whom this seems to be noted.
Nor any that were before him to wit, of the kings of Judah only; for David and Solomon were kings of all Israel.
Object. The like is said of Josiah, 2Ki 23:25.
Answ. Each of them excelled the other in several qualities or actions: Hezekiah in this, that he fell upon this work with great expedition, even in the beginning of his reign, which Josiah did not, 2Ki 22:1,3; and with no less resolution, undertaking to do that which none of his predecessors durst do, even to remove the high places, wherein Josiah did only follow his example, 2Ki 23.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5, 6. He trusted in the Lord God ofIsraelwithout invoking the aid or purchasing the succor offoreign auxiliaries like Asa (1Ki 15:18;1Ki 15:19) and Ahaz (2Ki 16:17;Isa 7:1-25).
so that after him was nonelike him among all the kings of JudahOf course David andSolomon are excepted, they having had the sovereignty of the wholecountry. In the petty kingdom of Judah, Josiah alone had a similartestimony borne to him (2Ki23:25). But even he was surpassed by Hezekiah, who set about anational reformation at the beginning of his reign, which Josiah didnot. The pious character and the excellent course of Hezekiah wasprompted, among other secondary influences, by a sense of thecalamities his father’s wicked career had brought on the country, aswell as by the counsels of Isaiah.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He trusted in the Lord God of Israel,…. To be his protector and defender, and had no dependence on idols as an arm of flesh; the Targum is, he trusted in the Word of the Lord God; not in Nehushtan, but in him the brasen serpent was a type of, even in the Word and Son of God, his alone Saviour and Redeemer:
so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah: for though Josiah was like him in some things, yet not in all:
nor any that were before him; from the times of the division of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah; and Ben Gersom and Abarbinel think that David and Solomon are not to be excepted; David sinning in the case of Uriah, and Solomon falling into idolatry, crimes that Hezekiah was not guilty of.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(5) He trusted . . . Israel.In Jehovah, the God of Israel he trusted. Hezekiah is thus contrasted with idolatrous kings, such as those who trusted in the Nehushtan.
After him was none like him among all the kings of Judah.This does not contradict what is said of Josiah (2Ki. 23:25). Hezekiah was preeminent for his trust in Jehovah, Josiah for his strict adherence to the Mosaic Law.
Nor any that were before him.Rather, nor among those that were before him.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. None like him According to Keil, “this verdict refers to Hezekiah’s confidence in God, ( ,) in which he had no equal; whereas in the case of Josiah, his conscientious adherence to the Mosaic law is extolled in the same words; so that there is no ground for saying that there is a contradiction between our verse and 2Ki 23:25.” But Josiah’s “confidence in God” was also great, for he “turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might,” (2Ki 23:25,) and Hezekiah also adhered to the Mosaic law, (2Ki 18:6,) so that Keil’s distinction has hardly a sufficient basis in the two passages. Better, therefore, to understand the form of expression in both passages after the manner of Oriental hyperbole, as in a measure proverbial of any one who was very conspicuous for certain qualities, and not to be explained with literal precision.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 18:5. After him was none like him, &c. This same commendation is given to Josiah, chap. 2Ki 23:25 so that it must relate to some particular virtue wherein Hezekiah stood distinguished from the rest of the kings of Judah; and that this was his trusting in the Lord God of Israel, as it is in the beginning of the verse, and not in the help of any foreign forces, as all the other kings, even the most renowned for their piety, are known to have done in some measure. See Calmet.
REFLECTIONS.Though Israel was gone into captivity, Judah yet remained, and in a state of great prosperity, under the pious Hezekiah.
1. He copied after the best of his progenitors, though the son of the worst; and was, like David in heart and temper, devoted to God’s worship and service: nor did he, as some before him, begin well and end ill, but persevered to the last in constant dependance upon God, and unshaken fidelity to him under all his trials: so that in this, neither before nor after him was any like him of the kings of Judah. Note; (1.) God, in the darkest times, can raise up in his church the most burning and shining lights; let not his people therefore despair. (2.) The more obstacles are in the way, the more does the grace of God appear great and glorious in overcoming them. (3.) Perseverance in the truth, is the crown of fidelity.
2. His zeal for God’s glory immediately appeared on his accession to the throne. He applied no palliatives to the deep and prevailing idolatry, but laid the axe to the root of the tree. Undismayed through fear of oppo-sition; he not only destroyed the groves and images, but also removed the high places, which had so long been abused, and which the most pious of his predecessors connived at. Note; (1.) They need not fear, who boldly trust on God in the path of duty. (2.) No length of custom can consecrate an evil practice. (3.) If our parents have dishonoured God, it is our honour to be unlike them.
3. God blessed him in all his undertakings. Having delivered the nation from the yoke of idolatry, he bravely threw off the yoke of the king of Assyria’s usurped dominion, and recovered from the hand of the Philistines the cities that his father had lost, 2Ch 28:18. Note; Fidelity in God’s service, will be ever accompanied with his blessing.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Ki 18:5 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor [any] that were before him.
Ver. 5. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel ] His confidence was the cause of his courage – faith feareth no colours; his motto might have been that of the Roman emperor, Ut fiat iustitia ruat caelum; Heaven and earth will be blended together ere I will be wanting to the work of reformation. He had not his name for nought, but fully answered it; as also did Probus the emperor. Hezekiah signifieth, The Lord is my strength, a quasi hoc eius fuerit lemma et symbolum. Such another zealous reformer was good Josiah, who trusted in God, and took away the horses of the sun, with other mawmets and monuments of idolatry, never standing to cast perils. And such also was our English Josiah, king Edward VI: b witness his peremptory denial to grant the Lady Mary the free exercise of the mass – though boldly demanded by the emperor’s ambassador; his slighting of the emperor’s proud threats thereupon; and his stout answer to the rebels of Devonshire, which ran thus: Assure you most surely, that we of no earthly thing under heaven make such reputation as of this one, to have our law (for the putting down of Popery) obeyed, and this cause of God, which we have taken in hand, to be thoroughly maintained: from the which we will never remove one hair breadth, or give place to any creature living, much less to any subject: wherein we will spend our own royal person, our crown, treasure, realm, and all our state; whereof we assure you of our high honour. c And of the like temper was his sweet sister – Temperance, as he used to call her, – Fortitude, he might as well, – Queen Elizabeth: witness her reformations at home; her protecting the Netherlands against the Spaniard; her help extended to Henry King of Navarre, to Geneva, and other Protestant churches, &c.
So that after him was none like him,
a Fortitudo mea Dominus. – Pagnin.
b Sir John Heywood’s Life of Edward VI.
c Act. and Mon., 1189.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2 Kings
HEZEKIAH, A PATTERN OF DEVOUT LIFE
2Ki 18:5 – 2Ki 18:6
Devout people in all ages and stations are very much like each other. The elements of godliness are always the same. This king of Israel, something like two thousand six hundred years ago, and the humblest Christian to-day have the family likeness on their faces. These words, which are an outline sketch of the king’s character, are really a sketch of the religious life at all times and in all places. He realised it; why may not we? He achieved it amid much ignorance; why should not we amid our blaze of knowledge? He accomplished it amid the temptations of a monarchy; why should not we in our humbler spheres?
There are four things set forth here as constituting a religious life. We begin at the bottom with the foundation of everything. ‘He trusted in the Lord God of Israel.’ The Old Testament is just as emphatic in declaring that there is no religion without trust, and that trust is the very nerve and life-blood of religion, as is the New. Only that in the one half of the book our translators have chosen to use the word ‘trust,’ and in the other half of the book they have chosen to use, for the very same act, the word ‘faith.’ They have thus somewhat obscured the absolute identity which exists in the teaching of the Old and of the New Testament as regards the bond which unites men to God. That union always was, and always will be, begun in the simple attitude and exercise of trust, and everything else will come out of that, and without that nothing else will come.
So this king had a certain measure of knowledge about the character of God, and that measure of knowledge led him to lean all his weight upon the Lord. You and I know a great deal more about God and His ways and purposes than Hezekiah did, but we can make no better use of it than he did-translate our knowledge into faith, and rely with simple, absolute confidence on Him whose name we know in Christ more fully and blessedly than was possible to Hezekiah.
And need I remind you of how, in this life of which the outline is here given and the inmost secret is here disclosed, there were significant and magnificent instances of the power of humble trust to bring to an else helpless man all the blessings that he needs, and to put a crystal wall round about him that will preserve him from every evil, howsoever threatening it may seem?
‘It has come addressed to me, but it is meant for Thee. Vindicate Thine own cause by delivering Thine own servant.’ And so, ‘when the morning dawned, they were all dead men,’ and faith rejoiced in a perfect deliverance. And you and I may get the same answer, in the midst of all our trials, difficulties, toils, and conflicts, if only we will go the same way to get it, and let our faith work, as Hezekiah’s worked, and take everything that troubles us to our Father in the heavens, and be quite sure that He is the God ‘who daily bears our burdens.’ Let us begin with the simple act of confidence in Him. That is the foundation, and on that we may build everything besides.
Let us see what this man further built upon it. The second story, if I may so say, of the temple-fortress of his life, upon the foundation of faith, was, ‘He clave to the Lord.’
That is to say, the act of confidence must be followed and perfected by tenacious adherence with all the tendrils of a man’s nature to the God in whom he says that he trusts. The metaphor is a very forcible one, so familiar in Scripture as that we are apt to overlook its emphasis. Let me recall one or two of the instances in which it is employed about other matters which throw light on its force here.
First of all, remember that sweet picture of the widow woman from Moab and the two daughters-in-law, one sent back, not reluctantly, to her home; and the other persisting in keeping by Naomi’s side, in spite of difficulties and remonstrances. With kisses of real love Orpah went back, but she did go back, to her people and her gods, but ‘Ruth clave unto her.’ So should we cling to God, as Ruth flung her arms round Naomi, and twined her else lonely and desolate heart about her dear and only friend, for whose sweet sake she became a willing exile from kindred and country. Is that how we cleave to the Lord?
More sacred still are the lessons that are suggested by the fact that this is the word employed to describe the blessed and holy union of man and woman in pure wedded life, and I suppose some allusion to that use of the expression underlies its constant application to the relation of the believing soul to Jehovah. For by trust the soul is wedded to Him, and so ‘joined to the Lord’ as to be ‘one spirit.’
Or if we do not care to go so deep as that, let us take the metaphor that lies in the word itself, without reference to its Scriptural applications. As the limpet holds on to its rock, as the ivy clings to the wall, as a shipwrecked sailor grasps the spar which keeps his head above water, so a Christian man ought to hold on to God, with all his energy, and with all parts of his nature. The metaphor implies tenacity; closeness of adhesion, in heart and will, in thought, in desire, and in all the parts of our receptive humanity, all of which can touch God and be touched by Him, and all of which are blessed only in the measure in which, yielding to Him, they are filled and steadied and glorified.
And there is implied, too, not only tenacity of adherence, but tenacity in the face of obstacles. There must be resistance to all the forces which would detach, if there is to be union with God in the midst of life in the world. Or, to recur for a moment to the figure that I employed a moment ago, as the sailor clings to a spar, though the waves dash round him, and his fingers get stiffened with cold and cramped with keeping the one position, and can scarcely hold on, but he knows that it is life to cling and death to loosen, and so tightens his grasp; thus have we to lay hold of God, and in spite of all obstacles, to keep hold of Him. Our grasp tends to slacken, and is feeble at the best, even if there were nothing outside of us to make it difficult for us to get a good grip. But there are howling winds and battering waves blowing and beating on us, and making it hard to keep our hold.
Do not let us yield to these, but in spite of them all let our hearts tighten round Him, for it is only in His sweet, eternal, perfect love that they can be at rest. And let our thoughts keep close to Him in spite of all distractions, for it is only in the measure in which His light fills our minds and His truth occupies our thoughts that our thinking spirits will be at rest. And let our desires, as the tentacles of some shell-fish fasten upon the rock, and feel out towards the ocean that is coming to it, let our desires go all out towards Him until they touch that after which they feel, and curl round it in repose and in blessedness.
The whole secret of a joyful, strong, noble Christian life lies here-that on the foundation of faith we should rear tenacious adherence to Him in spite of all obstacles. So it was a most encyclopaedic, though laconic, exhortation that that ‘good man’ sent down from Jerusalem to encourage the first heathen converts gave, when instead of all other instruction or advice, or inculcation of less important, and yet real, Christian duties, Barnabas exhorted them all ‘that with purpose of heart’-the full devotion of their inmost natures-’they should cleave to the Lord.’
Then the third stage, or the third story, in this building is that, cleaving to the Lord, ‘he departed not from following Him.’ The metaphor of cleaving implies proximity and union; the metaphor of following implies distance which is being diminished. These two are incongruous, and the very incongruity helps to give point to the representation. The same two ideas of union and yet of pursuit are brought still more closely together in other parts of Scripture. For instance, there is a remarkable saying in one of the Psalms, translated in our Bible-’My soul followeth hard after Thee. Thy right hand upholdeth me,’ where the expression ‘followeth hard after’ is a lame attempt at translating the perhaps impossible-to-be-translated fullness of the original, which reads ‘My soul cleaveth after Thee.’ It is an incongruous combination of ideas, by its very incongruity and paradoxical form suggesting a profound truth-viz. that in all the conscious union and tenacious adherence to God which makes the Christian life, there is ever, also, a sense of distance which kindles aspiration and leads to the effort after continual progress. However close we may be to God, it is always possible to press closer. However full may be the union, it may always be made fuller; and the cleaving spirit will always be longing for a closer contact and a more blessed sense of being in touch with God.
So, as we climb, new heights reveal themselves, and the further we advance in the Christian life the more are we conscious of the infinite depths that yet remain to be traversed. Hence arises one great element of the blessedness of being a Christian-namely, that we need not fear ever coming to the end of the growth in holiness and the increase of joy and power that are possible to us. So that weariness, and the sense of having reached the limits that are possible on a given path, which sooner or later fall upon men that live for anything but God, can never be ours if we live for Him. But the oldest and most experienced will have the same forward-looking glances of hope and forward-directed steps of strenuous effort as the youngest beginner on the path; and a Paul will be able to say when he is ‘Paul the aged,’ and ‘the time of his departure is at hand,’ that he ‘forgets the things that are behind, and reaches forth unto the things that are before, while he presses towards the mark.’ Let us be thankful for the endless progress which is possible to the Christian, and let us see to it that we are never paralysed into supposing that ‘to-morrow must be as this day,’ but trust the infinite resources of our God, and be sure that we growingly make our own the growing gifts which He bestows.
And so, lastly, the fourth element in this analysis of a devout life is ‘He kept the commandments of the Lord.’ That is the outcome of them all. Faith, adhesion, aspiration, and progress, all vindicate their value and reality in the simple, homely way of practical obedience.
Let us learn two things. One as to the worthlessness of all these others, if they do not issue in this. Not that these inward emotions are ever to be despised, but that, if they are genuine in our hearts, they cannot but manifest themselves in our lives. And so, dear Christian friends! do you not build upon your faith, on your adherence to God, on your aspirations after Him, unless you can bring into court, as witnesses for these, daily and hourly, your efforts after the conformity of your will to His, in the great things and in the small. Then, and only then, may we be sure that our confidence is not a delusion, and that it is to Him that we cleave when our feet tread in the paths of goodness.
And on the other hand, let us learn that all attempts to be obedient to a divine will which do not begin with trust and cleaving to Him are vain. There is no other way to get that conformity of will except by that union of spirit. All other attempts are beginning at the wrong end. You do not begin building your houses with the chimney-pots, but many a man who seeks to obey without trusting does precisely commit that fault. Let us be sure that the foundations are in, and then let us be sure that we do not stop half-way up, lest all that pass by should mock and say, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
How many professing Christians’ lives are half-finished and unroofed houses, because they have not ‘added to their faith’-that is, to their ‘cleaving to the Lord’-endless aspiration and continual progress, and to their aspiration and their progress the peaceable fruit of practical righteousness! If these things be in us and abound, they mark us as devout men after God’s pattern. And if we want to be devout men after God’s pattern, we must follow God’s sequence, which begins with trust and ends with obedience.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
trusted = confided. Hebrew. batah. App-69.
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
none like him: i.e. for trust in Jehovah. Same praise given of Josiah (2Ki 23:25), but in a different respect.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
trusted
(See Scofield “Psa 2:12”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
trusted: 2Ki 19:10, 2Ch 32:7, 2Ch 32:8, Job 13:15, Psa 13:5, Psa 27:1, Psa 27:2, Psa 46:1, Psa 46:2, Psa 84:12, Psa 146:5, Psa 146:6, Jer 17:7, Jer 17:8, Mat 27:43, Eph 1:12
after him: 2Ki 19:15-19, 2Ki 23:25, 2Ch 14:11, 2Ch 16:7-9, 2Ch 20:20, 2Ch 20:35
Reciprocal: 2Ki 18:22 – We trust 2Ki 19:37 – Nisroch 2Ch 13:18 – relied Psa 71:1 – do I Isa 36:4 – What Isa 36:7 – We trust Isa 37:10 – Let not
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 18:5-6. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel In abolishing idolatry, there was danger, as has been intimated, of disobliging his subjects, and provoking them to rebel; but he trusted in the Lord to bear him out, and defend him in what he did. When he came to the crown, he found his kingdom encompassed with enemies; but he did not apply to foreign and heathenish powers for aid or succour, as his father Ahaz had done, but trusted in the God of Israel to be the keeper of Israel, and to establish him in his kingdom. So that after him was none like him, &c. If it be objected that the same is said of Josiah, (2Ki 23:25,) it may be observed, that each of them excelled the other in several qualities or actions; Hezekiah in this, that he set upon the work of reformation with great expedition, even in the first year of his reign, (2Ch 29:3,) which Josiah did not, and with no less resolution undertook to do that which none of his predecessors durst do, even to remove the high places; wherein Josiah only followed his example, 2Ki 22:1-3. Nor any that were before him That is, who had been kings only of Judah: for David and Solomon were kings of all Israel. For he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him In the general course of his life, and especially in the matters of Gods worship. Several of his predecessors that began well, did not persevere; but he, like Caleb, followed the Lord fully, and not only abolished all idolatrous usages, but observed Gods commandments, and in every thing made conscience of doing his duty.