Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 19:8
So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
8 13. Sennacherib’s letter to Hezekiah (2Ch 32:17; Isa 37:8-13)
8. So Rab-shakeh returned ] i.e. Southward, towards Lachish, but during his absence Sennacherib had undertaken to attack Libnah, and there Rab-shakeh found him.
Libnah ] See above on 2Ki 8:22. Libnah was almost in a direct line eastward from Lachish.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
On Lachish and Libnah, see Jos 10:3, note; Jos 10:29, note. The phrase, he was departed from Lachish is suggestive of successful resistance.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. Libnah – Lachish.] These two places were not very distant from each other; they were in the mountains of Judah, southward of Jerusalem.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Rab-shakeh returned to the king, to give him an account of the treaty, and to advise with him what was further to be done; leaving behind him the army under the other commanders, mentioned 2Ki 18:17, as is most probable from the other threatening message here following; which would have been very unsuitable, if his siege had been raised.
He was departed from Lachish; not being able to take it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. So Rab-shakeh . . . found theking of Assyria warring against LibnahWhether Lachish hadfallen or not, is not said. But Sennacherib had transferred hisbattering-rams against the apparently neighboring fortress of Libnah(Jos 10:29; compare Jos 10:31;Jos 15:42), where thechief-cup-bearer reported the execution of his mission.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
[See comments on 2Ki 19:1]
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In the meantime Rabshakeh had returned to his king at Libnah (see at 2Ki 8:22), to which he had gone from Lachish, probably after having taken that fortress.
2Ki 19:9 There Sennacherib heard that Tirhakah was advancing to make war against him. Tirhakah, (lxx), king of Cush, is the of Manetho, the successor of Sevechus (Shebek II), the third king of the twenty-fifth (Ethiopian) dynasty, described by Strabo (xv. 687), who calls him , as a great conqueror. His name is spelt Thlqa or Tharqo upon the monuments, and on the Pylon of the great temple at Medinet-Abu he is represented in the form of a king, cutting down enemies of conquered lands (Egypt, Syria, and Tepop, an unknown land) before the god Ammon (see Brugsch, hist. d’Egypte, i. pp. 244,245).
(Note: According to Jul. Afric. (in Syncell. i. p. 139, ed. Dind.) he reigned eighteen years, according to Euseb. (in Syncell. p. 140) twenty years. Both statements are incorrect; for, according to an Apis-stele published by Mariette, the birth of an Apis who died in the twentieth year of Psammetichus fell in the twenty-sixth year of Tirhakah, so that the reign of Tirhakah may be supposed to have lasted twenty-eight years (see Brugsch, l.c. p. 247). But the chronological conclusions respecting the date of his reign are very uncertain. Whereas M. v. Niebuhr ( Gesch. Ass. p. 72) fixes his expedition against Sennacherib in the thirty-seventh aer. Nab., i.e., 710 b.c., and the commencement of his reign over Egypt in 45 aer. Nab., i.e., 702 b.c., and assumes that he marched against Sennacherib before he was king of Egypt, which is apparently favoured by the epithet king of Cush, not of Egypt; Brugsch ( l.c. p. 292) has given the year 693 b.c. as the commencement of his reign. It is obvious that this statement is irreconcilable with the O.T. chronology, since the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, in which Sennacherib invaded Judah, corresponds to the year 714 or 713 b.c. These diversities simply confirm our remark (p. 411), that the chronological data as to the kings of Egypt before Psammetichus cannot lay any claim to historical certainty. For an attempt to solve this discrepancy see M. v. Niebuhr, pp. 458ff.)
– On hearing the report of the advance of Tirhakah, Sennacherib sent ambassadors again to Hezekiah with a letter (2Ki 19:14), in which he summoned him once more to give up his confidence in his God, and his assurance that Jerusalem would not be delivered into the hands of the king of Assyria, since the gods of no other nation had been able to save their lands and cities from the kings of Assyria who had preceded him. The letter contained nothing more, therefore, than a repetition of the arguments already adduced by Rabshakeh (2Ki 18:19.), though a larger number of the lands conquered by the Assyrians are given, for the purpose of strengthening the impression intended to be made upon Hezekiah of the irresistible character of the Assyrian arms. – To offer a successful resistance to Tirhakah and overcome him, Sennacherib wanted above all things a firm footing in Judah; and for this the possession of Jerusalem was of the greatest importance, since it would both cover his back and secure his retreat. Fortifications like Lachish and Libnah could be quickly taken by a violent assault. But it was very different with Jerusalem. Salmanasar had stood before Samaria for three years before he was able to conquer it; and Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem for two years before the city was starved out and it was possible to take it (2Ki 25:1.). But as Tirhakah was approaching, Sennacherib had no time now for so tedious a siege. He therefore endeavoured to induce Hezekiah to surrender the city quietly by a boastful description of his own power. Instead of (2Ki 19:9), we have in Isaiah , “when he heard this he sent,” which is probably the more original, and indicates that when Sennacherib received the intelligence he sent at once (Drechsler).
2Ki 19:10-11 : “let not thy God deceive thee,” i.e., do not allow yourself to be deceived by your confidence in your God. , to say, i.e., to think or believe, that Jerusalem will not be given, etc. To shatter this confidence, Sennacherib reminds him of the deeds of the Assyrian kings. , to ban them, i.e., by smiting them with the ban. The verb is chosen with emphasis, to express the unsparing destruction. : and thou shouldst be saved? – a question implying a strong negative.
2Ki 19:12-13 “Have the gods of the nations delivered them?” is not a pronoun used in anticipation of the object, which follows in (Thenius), but refers to in 2Ki 19:11, a specification of which is given in the following enumeration. Gozan may be the province of Gauzanitis in Mesopotamia, but it may just as well be the country of Gauzania on the other side of the Tigris (see at 2Ki 17:6). The combination with Haran does not force us to the first assumption, since the list is not a geographical but a historical one. – Haran (Charan), i.e., the Carrae of the Greeks and Romans, where Abraham’s father Terah died, a place in northern Mesopotamia (see at Gen 11:31), is probably not merely the city here, but the country in which the city stood. – Rezeph ( ), the Arabic rutsafat , a very widespread name, since Jakut gives nine cities of this name in his Geographical Lexicon, is probably the most celebrated of the cities of that name, the Rusapha of Syria, called in Ptol. v. 15, in Palmyrene, on the road from Racca to Emesa, a day’s journey from the Euphrates (cf. Ges. Thes. p. 1308). – “The sons of Eden, which (were in Telassar,” were evidently a tribe whose chief settlement was in Telassar. By we might understand the of Amo 1:5, a city in a pleasant region of Syria, called by Ptol. (v. 15), since there is still a village called Ehden in that locality (cf. Burckhardt, Syr. p. 66, and v. Schubert, Reise, iii. p. 366), if we could only discover Telassar in the neighbourhood, and if the village of Ehden could be identified with and the Eden of the Bible, as is done even by Gesenius on Burckhardt, p. 492, and Thes. p. 195; but this Ehden is spelt hdn in Arabic, and is not to be associated with (see Rob. Bibl. Res. pp. 586, 587). Moreover the Thelseae near Damascus (in the Itin. Ant. p. 196, ed. Wess.) is too unlike Telassar to come into consideration. There is more to be said in favour of the identification of our with the Assyrian Eden, which is mentioned in Eze 27:23 along with Haran and Calneh as an important place for trade, although its position cannot be more certainly defined; and neither the comparison with the tract of land called (Syr.) maad e n , Maadon, which Assemani ( Biblioth. or. ii. p. 224) places in Mesopotamia, towards the Tigris, in the present province of Diarbekr (Ges., Win.), nor the conjecture of Knobel that the tribe-name Eden may very probably have been preserved in the large but very dilapidated village of Adana or Adna, some distance to the north of Bagdad (Ker Porter, Journey, ii. p. 355, and Ritter, Erdk. ix. p. 493), can be established as even a probability. , Telassar, is also quite unknown. The name applies very well to Thelser on the eastern side of the Tigris ( Tab. Peut. xi. e), where even the later Targums on Gen 10:12 have placed it, interpreting Nimrod’s Resen by , , though Knobel opposes this on the ground that a place in Assyria proper is unsuitable in such a passage as this, where the Assyrian feats of war outside Assyria itself are enumerated. Movers ( Phniz. ii. 3, p. 251) conjectures that the place referred to is Thelassar in Terodon, a leading emporium for Arabian wares on the Persian Gulf, and supposes that Terodon has sprung from Teledon with the Persian pronunciation of the , which is very frequent in the names of Mesopotamian cities. This conjecture is at any rate a more natural one than that of Knobel on Isa 37:12, that the place mentioned in Assemani ( Bib. or. iii. 2, p. 870), (Arabic) tl b – srsr , Tel on the Szarszar, to the west of the present Bagdad, is intended. – With regard to the places named in 2Ki 19:13, see at 2Ki 18:34.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Sennacherib Sends to Hezekiah. | B. C. 710. |
8 So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. 9 And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying, 10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah? 14 And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. 16 LORD, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God. 17 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, 18 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. 19 Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only.
Rabshakeh, having delivered his message and received no answer (whether he took this silence for a consent or a slight does not appear), left his army before Jerusalem, under the command of the other generals, and went himself to attend the king his master for further orders. He found him besieging Libnah, a city that had revolted from Judah, ch. viii. 22. Whether he had taken Lachish or no is not certain; some think he departed from it because he found the taking of it impracticable, v. 8. However, he was now alarmed with the rumour that the king of the Cushites, who bordered upon the Arabians, was coming out against him with a great army, v. 9. This made him very desirous to gain Jerusalem with all speed. To take it by force would cost him more time and men than he could well spare, and therefore he renewed his attack upon Hezekiah to persuade him tamely to surrender it. Having found him an easy man once (ch. xviii. 14), when he said, That which thou puttest on me I will bear, he hoped again to frighten him into a submission, but in vain. Here,
I. Sennacherib sent a letter to Hezekiah, a railing letter, a blaspheming letter, to persuade him to surrender Jerusalem, because it would be to no purpose for him to think of standing it out. His letter is to the same purport with Rabshakeh’s speech; there is nothing new offered in it. Rabshakeh had said to the people, Let not Hezekiah deceive you, ch. xviii. 29. Sennacherib writes to Hezekiah, Let not thy God deceive thee, v. 10. Those that have the God of Jacob for their help, and whose hope is in the Lord their God, need not fear being deceived by him, as the heathen were by their gods. To terrify Hezekiah, and drive him from his anchor, he magnifies himself and his own achievements. See how proudly he boasts, 1. Of the lands he had conquered (v. 11): All lands, and destroyed utterly! How are the mole-hills of his victories swelled to mountains! So far was he from destroying all lands that at this time the land of Cush, and Tirhakah its king, were a terror to him. What vast hyperboles may one expect in proud men’s praises of themselves! 2. Of the gods he had conquered, v. 12. “Each vanquished nation and its gods, which were so far from being able to deliver them that they fell with them: and shall thy God deliver thee?” 3. Of the kings he had conquered (v. 13), the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad. Whether he means the prince or the idol, he means to make himself appear greater than either, and therefore very formidable, and the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.
II. Hezekiah encloses this in another letter, a praying letter, a believing letter, and sends it to the King of kings, who judges among the gods. Hezekiah was not so haughty as not to receive the letter, though we may suppose the superscription did not give him his due titles; when he had received it he was not so careless as not to read it; when he had read it he was not in such a passion as to write an answer to it in the same provoking language; but he immediately went up to the temple, presented himself, and then spread the letter before the Lord (v. 14), not as if God needed to have the letter shown to him (he knew what was in it before Hezekiah did), but hereby he signified that he acknowledged God in all his ways,–that he desired not to aggravate the injuries his enemies did him nor to make them appear worse than they were, but desired they might be set in a true light,–and that he referred himself to God, and his righteous judgment, upon the whole matter. Hereby likewise he would affect himself in the prayer he came to the temple to make; and we have need of all possible helps to quicken us in that duty. In the prayer which Hezekiah prayed over this letter, 1. He adores the God whom Sennacherib had blasphemed (v. 15), calls him the God of Israel, because Israel was his peculiar people, and the God that dwelt between the cherubim, because there was the peculiar residence of his glory upon earth; but he gives glory to him as the God of the whole earth, and not, as Sennacherib fancied him to be, the God of Israel only, and confined to the temple. “Let them say what they will, thou art sovereign Lord, for thou art the God, the God of gods, sole Lord, even thou alone, universal Lord of all the kingdoms of the earth, and rightful Lord, for thou hast made heaven and earth. Being Creator of all, by an incontestable title thou art owner and ruler of all.” 2. He appeals to God concerning the insolence and profaneness of Sennacherib (v. 16): “Lord, hear; Lord, see. Here it is under his own hand; here it is in black and white.” Had Hezekiah only been abused, he would have passed it by; but it is God, the living God, that is reproached, the jealous God. Lord, what wilt thou do for thy great name? 3. He owns Sennacherib’s triumphs over the gods of the heathen, but distinguishes between them and the God of Israel (2Ki 19:17; 2Ki 19:18): He has indeed cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, unable to help either themselves or their worshipers, and therefore no wonder that he has destroyed them; and, in destroying them, though he knew it not, he really served the justice and jealousy of the God of Israel, who has determined to extirpate all the gods of the heathen. But those are deceived who think they can therefore be too hard for him. He is none of the gods whom men’s hands have made, but he has himself made all things, Psa 115:3; Psa 115:4. 4. He prays that God will now glorify himself in the defeat of Sennacherib and the deliverance of Jerusalem out of his hands (v. 19): “Now therefore save us; for if we be conquered, as other lands are, they will say that thou art conquered, as the gods of those lands were: but, Lord, distinguish thyself, by distinguishing us, and let all the world know, and be made to confess, that thou art the Lord God, the self-existent sovereign God, even thou only, and that all pretenders are vanity and a lie.” Note, The best pleas in prayer are those which are taken from God’s honour; and therefore the Lord’s prayer begins with Hallowed be thy name, and concludes with Thine is the glory.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
C. SENNACHERIBS SECOND SURRENDER DEMAND 19:834
By means of a personal letter to Hezekiah King Sennacherib intensified the pressure to secure the surrender of Jerusalem (2Ki. 19:8-13). This new development sent Hezekiah to the Temple and to his knees in prayer (2Ki. 19:14-19). Because of this letter, Isaiah delivered a more lengthy oracle promising the safety of Jerusalem (2Ki. 19:20-34).
1. THE LETTER OF SENNACHERIB (2Ki. 19:8-13)
TRANSLATION
(8) So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish. (9) And he heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, saying, Behold he has gone out to fight with you. And he sent messengers unto Hezekiah, saying, (10)Thus say unto Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Do not let your God in whom you are trusting deceive you, say ing, Do not give Jerusalem into the hand of the king of Assyria. (11) Behold you certainly have heard that which the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, utterly destroying them, and shall you surely escape? (12) Have the gods of the nations which my fathers destroyed delivered themGozan, and Haran and Rezeph and the children of Edom which are in Thelasar? (13) Where is the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena and Ivah?
COMMENTS
Failing in his mission to secure the surrender of Jerusalem, Rab-shakeh returned to his master. Sennacherib successfully had taken Lachish and was at that time warring against Libnah, the exact location of which is uncertain (2Ki. 19:8). When the Assyrian king heard that the Ethiopian general Tirhakah was marching against him, he knew that he might be forced to make a strategic retreat from Palestine. For this reason he made one last effort to bring about the immediate surrender and consequent punishment of Hezekiah. Messengers were dispatched to Jerusalem (2Ki. 19:9) who, in accord with the custom of that day, carried a written communication which would first be read aloud and then handed over to the recipient, in this case Hezekiah.
Sennacheribs letter suggested that Hezekiah had been deceived by the prophets of God who were promising that Jerusalem would be delivered from the hand of Assyria (2Ki. 19:10). It reminded Hezekiah of the fact that every other nation which had tried to match might with Assyria had been utterly crushed. How then could Hezekiah entertain any hope of deliverance? (2Ki. 19:11). As if to underscore this point, Sennacherib rattled off a list of Assyrian conquests: Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the children of Eden, i.e., the inhabitants of the city called Bit-Adini located in the region of Thelasar, i.e., the hill or fort of Asshur. All of these Aramean cities had fallen according to Assyrian records over a century prior to this attack against Jerusalem (2Ki. 19:12). More recent conquests over the king of Hamath, Arpad and the kings of the cities of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivah were also mentioned (cf. 2Ki. 18:34).
2. THE PRAYER OF HEZEKIAH (2Ki. 19:14-19)
TRANSLATION
(14) And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. (15) And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, to all kingdoms of the earth; You surely have made the heavens and the earth. (16) O LORD, incline Your ears and hear! Open Your eyes, O LORD, and see, and hearken to the words of Sennacherib which he has sent to revile the living God. (17) Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have made desolate the nations and their lands, (18) and they have thrown their gods into the fire, for they are not gods, but the work of the hands of men, wood and stone; therefore, they have destroyed them. (19) And now, O LORD our God, deliver us, I pray you, from his hand, that all kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD, God alone.
COMMENTS
Hezekiah received the letter from the Assyrian messengers and, when he had read it, took it to the Temple and spread it before the Lord. By this action, Hezekiah, as it were, laid his evidence before the Judge of all the earth (2Ki. 19:14). Then the king prayed. He addressed God as the One who dwells between the cherubim, i.e., in the Holy of Holies of the Temple. But he went beyond that, addressing the Lord as universal God, Creator of heaven and earth (2Ki. 19:15). Petition followed praise in this lovely prayer. Hezekiah called upon God to take cognizance with both eye and ear, i.e., take full cognizance, of that which Sennacherib had now dared to do. The Assyrian had directly challenged the authority and power of the living God! (2Ki. 19:16).
In his prayer, Hezekiah admitted that the Assyrian monarchs had an impressive list of conquests to their credit (2Ki. 19:17). The gods of these numerous conquered nations had been carried off as trophies of war and had, on occasion, been burned as worthless. But this only proved that the gods of the nations were nothing but the creation of mans hands. Gods of wood and stone could not help themselves let alone their worshipers. It was no wonder then that these deities had been destroyed (2Ki. 19:18). But Yahweh the God of Israel was not to be put in the same category with the idols of men. The living God was our God. He was bound to Israel by a covenant. For this reason Hezekiah called upon the Lord to intervene and save His people from the blasphemous invader. But the kings prayer went beyond mere parochialism. He prayed for such a dramatic act of vengeance against Sennacherib, not so much for the sake of Israel, as for the vindication of Gods honor among the nations of the earth. He did not desire that Yahweh would be acknowledged as a mighty God, but as the only mighty God in all the earth (2Ki. 19:19). Gods people desire nothing so much as that His glory should be recognized in ever widening circles.
3. THE ORACLE OF ISAIAH (2Ki. 19:20-34)
4. TRANSLATION
(20) And Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus says the LORD the God of Israel: That which you have prayed unto Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. (21) This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you, laughed at you; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head after you. (22) Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised a voice and lifted your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel! (23) By your messengers you have reproached the Lord and you have said, With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the height of the mountains, to the extremities of Lebanon, and will cut down its tall cedars, the choice of its cypress trees, and I will enter the lodge of its borders, the forest of its Carmel. (24) I have dug and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet I have dried up all the rivers of besieged places. (25) Have you not heard from afar that I have done it, from ancient days that I formed it? Now I have brought it to pass that you should lay waste fortified cities as ruinous heaps. (26) And their inhabitants were of small power, they were confounded and dismayed; they were as the grass of the field and as the green herb, as the grass of roof tops, blighted before it has grown up. (27) But your abode, your going out and your coming in, I know; and your raging against Me. (28) Because your raging against Me and your arrogancy has come up into My ears, therefore I will put My hook in your nose and My bridle in your lips, and I will cause you to return in the way in which you came. (29) And this will be a sign for you: You shall eat this year the things which grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springs from it; but in the third year you shall sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. (30) And the remnant of the house of Judah who remain shall again take root downward and produce fruit upward. (31) For from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out, and they who escape from Mt. Zion. The zeal of the LORD shall perform this. (32) Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come unto this city, nor shall he shoot there an arrow, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a mound against it. (33) In the way which he came, he shall return, and unto this city he shall not come (oracle of the LORD). (34) For I will defend this city to save it for My sake and for the sake of David My servant.
COMMENTS
As Hezekiah prayed, Isaiah was made cognizant of his prayer through divine revelation, and the prophet was instructed to answer it favorably. In accordance with his high status as Gods representative, Isaiah sent the message to Hezekiah rather than taking it himself. First of all, Hezekiah was assured that God had heard his prayer (2Ki. 19:20). The answer itself follows in fourteen verses, which, according to Rawlinson, are arranged in four stanzas.
The first stanza (2Ki. 19:21-24) is addressed to Sennacherib. The tone here is one of scorn and contempt. The prophet pictured Jerusalem personified as a fragile virgin daughter laughing at the threats of Sennacherib and contemptuously wagging her head at the once ominous monarch (2Ki. 19:21). Does this Assyrian know who it is that he had blasphemed and lifted up his eyes on high, i.e., looked down upon? It is none other than the Holy One of Israel (2Ki. 19:22). By the boisterous and blasphemous conduct of Rab-shakeh and his other servants, Sennacherib had reviled Yahweh. Furthermore, he had offended the Lord by the proud thoughts within his heart. Isaiah attributes to Sennacherib the impossible dream of taking his huge chariot force into the most remote areas of Lebanon and cutting down the magnificent trees there to be taken back to the woodless plain of Assyria. The lodge of its borders may refer to some palace in the vicinity of the Lebanon forest region. The forest of its Carmel probably refers to the choicest part of the Lebanon forest (2Ki. 19:23). Mountains cannot stop the mighty Sennacherib, nor can deserts either. He digs wells in them, and drinks water strange to the soilnever before seen there. If rivers try to stop him, he will find a way of drying them up (2Ki. 19:24). Thus the essential thrust of 2Ki. 19:23-24 is that no natural barrier can stand in the way of this mighty king.
The second stanza of the oracle (2Ki. 19:25-28) is again addressed to the proud Assyrian ruler. Was this king so ignorant that he did not realize that Yahweh was the One who determined the rise and fall of kingdoms? Long ago the Almighty planned the Assyrian conquests; more recently He had brought these plans to fruition, thus enabling Sennacherib to lay waste fortified cities (2Ki. 19:25). This was the reason that the peoples of the world were not able to make effectual resistance to the Assyrian advance. God had placed a terrible fear within the hearts of the peoples whom the Assyrians attacked. These peoples had been as weak as grass which swiftly withers in the face of the hot Eastern sun; or as frail as grain which contacts some disease and dwindles without even asserting itself (2Ki. 19:26).
The omniscient God of Israel knew every movement of Sennacherib and every thought of his heart. He knew of the rage of the Great King against Hezekiah and against the God in whom Hezekiah put his trust (2Ki. 19:27). Because this rage and arrogancy had come to the attention of Yahweh, He would take action against the Assyrian. He would treat Sennacherib just as Assyrian Kings were wont to treat their captives. He would force a hook through his nose and a bridle through his lips. Assyrian monuments depict captives being led into the kings presence by means of ropes attached to rings which had been forced through the cartilage of the nose or through the fleshy part of the lower lip. The threat here is not to be taken literally, but only as a declaration that God would humble this proud king and reduce him to a state of abject abasement. God would turn him back. Sennacherib would not be allowed to come near Jerusalem. He would be forced to return home hastily along the same route by which he had entered Palestine (2Ki. 19:28).
2Ki. 19:29 introduces the third stanza (2Ki. 19:29-31). Here the prophet turned from Sennacherib to Hezekiah, and proceeded to give him a sign. In this case the prediction of a near event became the pledge or evidence that God would keep His word with regard to a prediction more distant. Since the Assyrians had come in the spring of the year, the Jews had not been able to plant their crops that year. They would be forced to eat such things as grow of themselves, i.e., such grain as might be found growing in the unsown fields. The next yearprobably a sabbatical yearthey would have to do the same.[619] But in the third year things would return to normal. The sign was not given with reference to the departure of Sennacherib which belonged to the first year, but with reference to the promise that Jerusalem would be free from any further attack on his part. Sennacherib reigned twenty-four years, but never again after 701 B.C. did he come to harass Jerusalem (2Ki. 19:29).
[619] Finley (BBC, p. 486) suggests that the loss in human and natural resources to the Assyrians would be so great that it would be necessary to depend in the second year on such grain as was found in unsown fields.
The gracious promises to Hezekiah continue in 2Ki. 19:30-31. The remnant which had escaped deportation and death at the hands of Sennacherib would again be firmly fixed and established in their land, like a tree that puts forth its roots deeply into the ground. That remnant would once again bear fruit, i.e., exhibit all the outward signs of prosperity (2Ki. 19:30). Those who had taken refuge in Jerusalem during the emergency would gladly go forth to reclaim and recultivate their lands. From the human point of view such a prospect seemed dim indeed at the time Isaiah compiled this oracle, but the zeal of the Lord, i.e., His zealous love and concern for His people, would bring about this restoration to prosperity and glory (2Ki. 19:31).
The fourth stanza of Isaiahs oracle is a general announcement addressed to all who might be concerned with the present distress. Sennacherib would not come unto Jerusalem to besiege that city. Such operations generally began with a barrage of arrows to clear the walls of defenders. Then the enemy would advance on the walls under the protection of huge shields in order to raise scaling ladders, undermine the walls or set fire to the gates. As a last resort the attackers would build a bank of earth on an incline up to the wall and plant upon them their battering rams for the purpose of making a breach in the walls. But Jerusalem would witness none of those terrible actions (2Ki. 19:32). Sennacherib would be forced to leave off operations in Palestine and retrace his steps to his homeland. He would not, the prophet again emphatically declared, come unto the city of Jerusalem (2Ki. 19:33). God would defend that city because His own honor was at stake, especially in view of the taunts of Sennacherib. Also God would intervene in defense of Jerusalem because of the great love which He had toward David (2Ki. 19:34).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(8) So Rab-shakeh returned.This takes up the narrative from 2Ki. 18:37. It is not said, but is probably to be understood, that Tartan and Rabsaris and the great host (2Ki. 18:17) departed with him, having been foiled of their purpose.
Libnah.See Note on 2Ki. 8:22. The great King had taken Lachish. (See Note on 2Ch. 32:9.) Its position is not yet determined. Schrader thinks it may be Tell-es-Sfieh, west of Lachish, and north north-west of Eleutheropolis; in which case Sennacherib had already begun his retreat.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
SENNACHERIB’S SECOND MESSAGE TO HEZEKIAH, 2Ki 19:8-13.
8. Returned From Jerusalem to the king, who was now at Libnah, but he probably left “the great host” with which he went up to Jerusalem (2Ki 19:17) still encamped against the city, and under command of Tartan, the chief general, Rab-shakeh himself being rather an ambassador and herald than military officer. See note on 2Ki 18:19. Libnah was situated in the great Philistine plain, apparently between Makkedah and Lachish, but its site has not been identified.
He was departed from Lachish Whether he had captured the city or had been forced to raise the siege does not appear from the Scriptures, but on a slab discovered at Nineveh appears a plan of Lachish after its capture, with the Assyrian tents pitched within its walls, and Assyrian worship going on. Compare note on 2Ki 18:14.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Lord was pleased to cause a little pause in the proud attempts of Sennacherib and his general, by diverting his attention elsewhere, both for the more complete destruction of this idolatrous prince, and for the better exercise of his servant’s faith. Very gracious are the Lord’s dealings with his people upon these occasions, could we but exercise faith always in the view of them: but alas! we lose the enjoyment of a thousand mercies, for want of eying them in this point of view.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Ki 19:8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
Ver. 8. So Rabshakeh returned. ] But left his army, likely, still before Jerusalem.
That he was departed from Lachish.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
departed from Lachish. Sennacherib had laid siege against it (2Ch 32:9), but had found it difficult, as Joshua had (Jos 10:31, Jos 10:32, “the second day”); and “left” it untaken (Jer 34:7).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Libnah: 2Ki 8:22, Jos 10:29, Jos 12:15, Jos 15:42
Lachish: 2Ki 18:14, Jos 12:11, Jos 15:39, Isa 37:8, Isa 37:9, Mic 1:13
Reciprocal: Jos 10:31 – Lachish 2Ch 21:10 – Libnah Jer 34:7 – Lachish
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 19:8. Rab-shakeh returned To the king, to give him an account of what had been done, and to receive further orders; leaving behind him the army under the other commanders, mentioned 2Ki 18:17. For it seems most probable, from the other threatening message here following, that the siege was not raised. He was departed from Lachish Not being able to take it.