Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 18:16
At that time did Hezekiah cut off [the gold from] the doors of the temple of the LORD, and [from] the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
16. cut off the gold from the doors of the temple ] Plainly shewing that there was a great scarcity of gold at this time. Hezekiah was the last man to have stripped the temple doors if there had been any other way of raising what was demanded. He had been rejoiced at the purification and adornment of the temple, and must have been very hard driven ere he consented to undo the work which he had so lately done. Josephus adds to the history ( Ant. x. 1. 1) a link which may explain the events which follow in the next section. He says that Sennacherib had promised the ambassadors of Hezekiah to depart on the payment of the impost, but that when he had received the money he paid no regard to what he had promised, but sent his officers to attack Jerusalem. In this way the Biblical record of verse 17 may be joined on to the statements in verse 16. The Chronicler takes no notice of the payment of tribute to Sennacherib, and gives only an account of the siege of Jerusalem and its non-success. And this he does with much more brevity than the compiler of Kings or the parallel record in Isaiah.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ahaz had already exhausted the treasuries 2Ki 16:8; Hezekiah was therefore compelled to undo his own work.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid; so repairing the injury which his father had done to them, and putting them into the same condition in which Solomon left them, 1Ki 6:32.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord,…. The plates of gold with which they were covered; or scraped off the gold from them, as the Targum interprets it:
and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid: or the posts, as the Targum, the lintel or side posts of the doors of the temple; which though covered in Solomon’s time, the gold was worn off, or had been taken off by Ahaz, but was renewed by Hezekiah; and who, in this time of distress, thought he might take it off again, no doubt with a full purpose to replace it, when he should be able. This is one of the three things the Talmudic writers s disapprove of in Hezekiah:
and gave it to the king of Assyria; to make up the thirty talents of gold he demanded.
s T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 10. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(16) Cut off the gold from the doors.Literally, trimmed, or stripped the doors (the word used in 2Ki. 16:17 of the similar proceeding of Ahaz). The leaves of the doors of the sanctuary were overlaid with gold (1Ki. 6:18; 1Ki. 6:32; 1Ki. 6:35). Hard necessity drove Hezekiah to strip off this gold, as well as that with which he had himself plated the pillars or rather the framework of the doors (literally, the supporters; others think that the door-posts only are meant by this term).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Cut off the gold from the doors In the first year of his reign Hezekiah had repaired the doors of the temple, (2Ch 29:3,) but it is not said that he overlaid them with gold, which word our translators have here supplied without sufficient authority. He doubtless used various kinds of metal, gold among the rest; and this cutting it off again to give to the king of Assyria shows how difficult it was for him to raise the required amount.
It is interesting to find the above confirmed in the Assyrian annals by the following inscription of Sennacherib, discovered among the ruins of Nineveh: “Because Hezekiah, king of Judah, would not submit to my yoke, I came up against him, and by force of arms and by the might of my power, I took forty-six of his strong-fenced cities; and of the smaller towns which were scattered about I took and plundered a countless number. And from these places I captured and carried off as spoil two hundred thousand one hundred and fifty people, old and young, male and female, together with horses and mares, asses and camels, oxen and sheep, a countless multitude. And Hezekiah himself I shut up in Jerusalem, his capital city, like a bird in a cage, building towers round the city to hem him in, and raising banks of earth against the gates so as to prevent escape. Then upon this Hezekiah there fell the fear of the power of my arms, and he sent out to me the chiefs and the elders of Jerusalem with thirty talents of gold and eight hundred talents of silver, and divers treasures, a rich and immense booty. All these things were brought to me at Nineveh, the seat of my government, Hezekiah having sent them by way of tribute, and as a token of his submission to my power.” RAWLINSON’S Ancient Monarchies, vol. ii, p. 161 . The discrepancies, whether apparent or real, between the inscription and the biblical narrative are of little moment compared with the unquestionable confirmation hereby given to the historical veracity of the sacred writers. It will be noticed that the inscription tells with pompous gusto of the Assyrian successes and the spoil that was taken, but makes no record of the disasters which befell the army of Sennacherib. This was in perfect keeping with what we know of the pride and arrogance of all the Assyrian kings.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 18:16 At that time did Hezekiah cut off [the gold from] the doors of the temple of the LORD, and [from] the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
Ver. 16. At that time did Hezekiah cut off. ] If Ahaz, that church robber, had done this, it would better have become him. Hezekiah for doing it lost his cost. 2Ki 18:16
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
pillars, or supports.
it = them.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
gold: 1Ki 6:31-35, 2Ch 29:3
it: Heb. them
Reciprocal: 1Ki 15:18 – Asa 2Ki 12:18 – took all the hallowed 2Ki 15:19 – Menahem 2Ki 16:8 – the silver 2Ch 12:9 – took away 2Ch 28:21 – took away Joe 3:5 – ye