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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 37:8

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So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

8. Libnah ] another of the “defenced cities” of Judah (Jos 10:29). Its situation is not known.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

So Rabshakeh returned – Returned from Jerusalem to the camp of his master. He had received no answer to his insulting message Isa 36:21; he saw there was no prospect that the city would surrender; and he therefore returned again to the camp.

And found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah – He had departed from Lachish. Why he had done this is unknown. It is possible that he had taken it, though this is not recorded anywhere in history. Or it is possible that he had found it impracticable to subdue it as speedily as he had desired; and had withdrawn from it for the purpose of subduing other places that would offer a more feeble resistance. Libnah was a city in the south of Judah Jos 15:42, given to the priests, and declared a city of refuge 1Ch 6:54, 1Ch 6:57. Eusebius and Jerome say it was in the district of Eleutheropolis (Calmet). It was about ten miles to the northwest of Lachish. This city was taken by Joshua, and all its inhabitants put to the sword After taking this. Joshua next assaulted and took Lachish Jos 10:29-32.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 8. Rabshakeh returned] From Isa 36:2, we learn that the king of Assyria had sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem; now it is likely that Rabshakeh had besieged that place, and that the king of Assyria had taken his station before this city, and despatched Rabshakeh against Jerusalem. But, as in the verse above it is said, “he had departed from Lachish,” probably he had been obliged to raise the siege, and sat down before Libnah, which promised an easier conquest.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

8. returnedto the camp of hismaster.

Libnahmeaning”whiteness,” the Blanche-garde of theCrusaders [STANLEY].EUSEBIUS and JEROMEplace it more south, in the district of Eleutheropolis, ten milesnorthwest of Lachish, which Sennacherib had captured (see on Isa36:2). Libnah was in Judea and given to the priests (1Ch 6:54;1Ch 6:57).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

So Rabshakeh returned,…. To the king of Assyria his master, to give him an account how things went at Jerusalem, and that he could get no direct answer from the king of Judah, and to consult with him what was proper to be done in the present situation of things; leaving the army before Jerusalem, under the command of the other two generals. For that he should take the army with him does not seem reasonable, when Hezekiah and his people were in such a panic on account of it; besides, the king of Assyria’s letters to Hezekiah clearly suppose the army to be still at Jerusalem, or his menacing letters would have signified nothing; and after this the destruction of the Assyrian army before Jerusalem is related:

and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; a city in the tribe of Judah, Jos 10:29, and lay nearer to Jerusalem than Lachish, where Rabshakeh left him; so that he seemed to be drawing his army towards that city, on which his heart was set. Josephus u makes him to be at this time besieging Pelusium, a city in Egypt, but wrongly; which has led some into a mistake that Libnah and Pelusium are the same:

for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish; where he was, when he sent him to Jerusalem, Isa 36:2, having very probably taken it.

u Antiqu. l. 10. c. 1. sect. 4.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Rabshakeh, who is mentioned alone in both texts as the leading person engaged, returns to Sennacherib, who is induced to make a second attempt to obtain possession of Jerusalem, as a position of great strength and decisive importance. “Rabshakeh thereupon returned, and found the king of Asshur warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he had withdrawn from Lachish. And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, (K. Behold) , he has come out to make war with thee; and heard, and sent (K. and repeated, and sent) messengers to Hizkiyahu, saying.” Tirhakah was cursorily referred to in Isa 18:1-7. The twenty-fifth dynasty of Manetho contained three Ethiopian rulers: Sabakon , Sebichos ( = ), although, so far as we know, the Egyptian names begin with Sh ), and Tarakos ( Tarkos ), Egypt. Taharka , or Heb. with the tone upon the penultimate, Tirhaqah . The only one mentioned by Herodotus is Sabakon, to whom he attributes a reign of fifty years (ii. 139), i.e., as much as the whole three amount to, when taken in a round sum. If Sebichos is the biblical So’ , to whom the lists attribute from twelve to fourteen years, it is perfectly conceivable that Tirhakah may have been reigning in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah. But if this took place, as Manetho affirms, 366 years before the conquest of Egypt by Alexander, i.e., from 696 onwards (and the Apis-stele, No. 2037, as deciphered by Vic. de Roug, Revue archol. 1863, confirms it), it would be more easily reconcilable with the Assyrian chronology, which represents Sennacherib as reigning from 702-680 (Oppert and Rawlinson), than with the current biblical chronology, according to which Hezekiah’s fourteenth year is certainly not much later than the year 714.

(Note: On the still prevailing uncertainty with regard to the synchronism, see Keil on Kings; and Duncker, Geschichte des Alterthums. pp. 713-4.)

It is worthy of remark also, that Tirhakah is not described as Pharaoh here, but as the king of Ethiopia ( m elekh Kush ; see at Isa 37:36). Libnah, according to the Onom. a place in regione Eleutheropolitana , is probably the same as Tell es-Safieh (“hill of the pure” = of the white), to the north-west of Bet Gibrin, called Alba Specula ( Blanche Garde) in ten middle ages. The expression (“and he heard”), which occurs twice in the text, points back to what is past, and also prepares the way for what follows: “having heard this, he sent,” etc. At the same time it appears to have been altered from .

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

Prayer of Hezekiah.

B. C. 710.

8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. 9 And 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, 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 given 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 Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? 14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. 15 And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying, 16 O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth. 17 Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God. 18 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries, 19 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. 20 Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only.

We may observe here, 1. That, if God give us inward satisfaction in his promise, this may confirm us in our silently bearing reproaches. God answered Hezekiah, but it does not appear that he, after deliberation, sent any answer to Rabshakeh; but, God having taken the work into his own hands, he quietly left the matter with him. So Rabshakeh returned to the king his master for fresh instructions. 2. Those that delight in war shall have enough of it. Sennacherib, without provocation given to him or warning given by him, went forth to war against Judah; and now with as little ceremony the king of Ethiopia goes forth to war against him, v. 9. Those that are quarrelsome may expect to be quarrelled with; and God sometimes checks the rage of his enemies by giving it a powerful diversion. 3. 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, lasts longer, and does the more mischief. Atheism and irreligion, written, will certainly be reckoned for another day. 4. Great successes often harden sinners’ hearts in their sinful ways and make them the more daring. Because the kings of Assyria have destroyed all lands (though, in fact, they were but a few that fell within their reach), therefore they doubt not but to destroy God’s land; because the gods of the nations were unable to help they conclude the God of Israel is so; because the idolatrous kings of Hamath and Arphad became an easy prey to them therefore they doubt not but to destroy God’s land; because the idolatrous kings of Hamath and Arphad became an easy prey to them therefore the religious reforming king of Judah must needs be so too. Thus is this proud man ripened for ruin by the sunshine of prosperity. 5. Liberty of access to the throne of grace, and liberty of speech there, are the unspeakable privilege of the Lord’s people at all times, especially in times of distress and danger. Hezekiah took Sennacherib’s letter, and spread it before the Lord, not designing to make any complaints against him but those grounded upon his own handwriting. Let the thing speak itself; here it is in black and white: Open thy eyes, O Lord! and see. God allows his praying people to be humbly free with him, to utter all their words, as Jephthah did, before him, to spread the letter, whether of a friend or an enemy, before him, and leave the contents, the concern of it, with him. 6. The great and fundamental principles of our religion, applied by faith and improved in prayer, will be of sovereign use to us in our particular exigencies and distresses, whatever they are; to them therefore we must have recourse, and abide by them; so Hezekiah did here. He encouraged himself with this, that the God of Israel is the Lord of hosts, of all hosts, of the hosts of Israel, to animate him, of the hosts of their enemies, to dispirit and restrain them,–that he is God alone, and there is none that can stand in competition with him,–that he is the God of all the kingdoms of the earth, and disposes of them all as he pleases; for he made heaven and earth, and therefore both can do any thing and does every thing. 7. When we are afraid of men that are great destroyers we may with humble boldness appeal to God as the great Saviour. They have indeed destroyed the nations, who had thrown themselves out of the protection of the true God by worshipping false gods, but the Lord, the God alone, is our God, our King, our lawgiver, and he will save us, who is the Saviour of those that believe. 8. We have enough to take hold of, in our wrestling with God by prayer, if we can but plead that his glory is interested in our case, that his name will be profaned if we are run down and glorified if we are relieved. Thence therefore will our most prevailing pleas be drawn: “Do it for thy glory’s sake.”

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Vs. 8-13: A THREATENING LETTER

1. Conferring with king Sennacherib, at Libnah, the Rabshakeh was turned aside from Jerusalem by word that the king of Ethiopia had come to fight against Assyria, (vs. 8-9).

2. But, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with a threatening letter, (vs. 10-13).

a. He must not permit his God to deceive him into thinking he could escape subjection to the king of Assyria, (vs. 10; Isa 36:15).

b. Just see what the kings of Assyria have done to all who opposed them; can Hezekiah foolishly dream of being delivered from a similar humiliation? (vs. 11; Isa 10:9-11).

c. Hezekiah must consider all those nations whose gods have been helpless before the great power of his Assyrian fathers, (vs. 12-13).

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

8. And Rabshakeh having returned. He now declares how Rabshakeh, without doing anything, returned to his king, not to the same place where he had left him; for he understood that he had raised the siege of Lachish, and had departed into Egypt for the purpose of attacking Libnah. Some think that this city is Pelusium, others choose rather to assign it to Judea. It is, indeed, probable that, in consequence of a report that reached him about the approach of enemies, he moved his camp towards Egypt, that by meeting them he might prevent them from advancing. Though God restrained the violence of the tyrant by a new war, in order to give some relief to the Jews, yet he did not wish to conquer the tyrant by the hand of man, but only to shew openly and, as it were, to display on a theater his unconquerable pride; because, even when he was in great danger, he did not cease to vomit out the same blasphemies, as we shall soon see.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

2. THE POTENTATE

TEXT: Isa. 37:8-13

So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopa, He is come out to fight against thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

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 given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?

Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Talassar?

Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?

QUERIES

Why is Tirhakah attacking the Assyrian forces?

Who were the children of Eden?

PARAPHRASE

So the Assyrian army general left Jerusalem and returned to his king. But he found his king waging war on Libnah, having already departed from Lachish. Then the king of Assyria received an intelligence report that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, was marching toward southern Palestine to fight against him. Immediately, the king of Assyria sent messengers with a warning to Hezekiah, saying to him, Do not be fooled with any oracle from your God that Jerusalem will be delivered from my handif you trust in your God you will be deceived. Let me remind you that the reports of Assyrian destruction and victory over all the world are not exaggerated. Now, what makes you think you will be delivered? None of the gods of the different peoples of the world, such as those of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, or the gods of territories like Beth-eden or Telassar, have been able to deliver them from Assyrian conquestdo you think yours shall deliver you? Where are the kings of nations like Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? They are gonedethroned by the mighty Assyrian king.

COMMENTS

Isa. 37:8-9 WARY WARRIOR: The Assyrian army commander (the Rabshakeh) left Jerusalem and went directly to Libnah, 10 and 12 miles north of Lachish and 25 miles west (and a little south) of Jerusalem. Libnah and Lachish were cities along the Gaza strip and were strategic military positions on the Egyptian frontier. The king of Assyria probably felt he had secured Lachish and now he must secure Libnah since he apparently had received word that an Egyptian force was marching toward his deployed troops in Palestine.

Now Tirhakah was not yet king of Egypt. He was nephew of the man (Shabaka 715701 B.C.) who was then king of Egypt. It appears from ancient records that Tirhakah was approximately 20 years of age at the time of Sennacheribs (701 B.C.) expedition into Judah. He would be old enough, since he was royalty, to be put in charge of a military force. Tirhakahs brother (Shabataka 701689 B.C.) was the Pharaoh after Shabaka and then Tirhakah became Pharaoh (689664 B.C.). Edward J. Young thinks Tirhakah is proleptically called king. That is, Isaiah, writing some years after these events occurred, when Tirhakah was in fact king, calls him king in an event that took place before he was king. This is not unusual. Daniel calls Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon proleptically in Dan. 1:1. Tirhakah was the third and last Pharaoh of the 25th Ethiopian dynasty. His Ethiopian kingdom was quite Egyptian in character. Sennacherib was successful against Tirhakah, but the mysterious loss of Assyrian troops forced Sennacherib back to Assyria. Tirhakah enjoyed a respite from the Assyrian threat for some years, but was defeated by Esarhaddon and later by Assurbanipal. He was driven south where he retained rule of that portion of Egypt.

Sennacherib apparently associated Tirhakahs show of force with Hezekiahs refusal to surrender to Rabshakeh. He evidently assumed the Egyptians were in collusion with the Hebrews and they were coming to rescue Jerusalem from Assyrian conquest. So the Assyrian king sent a written (Isa. 37:14) message to Hezekiah.

Isa. 37:10-13 WRITTEN WARNING: Isa. 37:10 makes it appear as if the Assyrians have spies within the very chambers of King Hezekiah. It almost seems as if the Assyrians knew the very words Isaiah spoke in reply to Hezekiahs request (Isa. 37:5-6). Here the Assyrian messengers are told to speak the message to Hezekiah. In Isa. 37:14 Hezekiah takes a letter from the messengers and reads it. Perhaps the messengers read the letter to Hezekiah upon their arrival and then he took it from their hand and read it for himself. The message from Sennacherib was a warning. It intended to remind Hezekiah of current political history. It was common knowledge in the world at that time of the ruthless, overwhelming, destructive power of the Assyrians and the extensiveness of their conquests. They had conquered or at least dominated the whole Asia Minor-Mesopotamian-Palestinian area. Sufficient power to resist the Assyrians could not be found anywhere in the world! Cities and territories which had existed for centuries were swiftly conquered. Famous kings and potentates had been deposed and taken captive and either killed or deported into slavery. Whole cities and areas had been repopulated with Mesopotamian immigrants. The political, cultural, racial face of the inhabited world was being drastically changed. And does little, weak, religiously-oriented Judah think it can stand against a military machine like Assyria?

Some of the cities and territories listed have been located by the archaeologists and historians. Some are still lost in the sands and dust of antiquity. The reader may refer to Map #1 for locations of those known and those conjecturally placed. Beth-eden is the Eden referred to in Isa. 37:12. Since many leading scholars and archaeologists believe the Garden of Eden was in Mesopotamia (Greek for between the rivers), Beth-eden may very well have retained its name from the Garden of Eden. William F. Albright, renowned archaeologist and scholar of antiquity says, Archaeological research has thus established beyond doubt that there is no focus of civilization in the earth that can begin to compete in antiquity and activity with the basin of the Eastern Mediteranean and the region immediately to the east of it. . . . (Tigris-Euphrates, Mesopotamian area). Very ancient clay tablets with creation accounts written on them have been discovered in that general area. Ur and Haran are cities directly associated with Abraham. Telassar was probably a territory near the region of ancient Elam (Media).

The imposing, overwhelming, seemingly omnipotent power of the Assyrian Empire (and other ancient world empires) was beyond anything, comparatively speaking, modern geopolitics has ever experienced. No empire has completely ruled the known world since Rome. None was ever as cruel and terrifying as the Assyrian. Hezekiah could not take Assyrian threats lightly! These threats were extremely critical tests of the faith of the Judeans. So Hezekiah did the only thing he could dohe took it to the Lord!

QUIZ

Why would the king of Assyria want to conquer Libnah?

Why may we conjecture that the king of Assyria suspected a collusion between Tirhakah and Hezekiah?

Why would it seem the Assyrians had spies in the Hebrew palace?

Why would the king of Assyria remind the Hebrews of current world events?

Could the Eden of Isa. 37:12 have any association with the Garden of Eden in Genesis? Why?

Why could Hezekiah not take lightly these threats of Assyria?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(8) Warring against Libnah . . . Lachish.Both names occur in Jos. 15:39; Jos. 15:42, as belonging to Judah. The step would seem to indicate a strategic movement, intended to check the march of Tirhakahs army; but in our ignorance of the topography, we can settle nothing further. By some writers Libnah has been identified with Pelusium, or some other town in the Delta of the Nile. The narrative seems, perhaps, to suggest something more than a transfer of the attack from one small fortress in Judah to another; but that is all that can be said.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

8, 9. Seeing no fruit of his commission, Rabshakeh returns to find Sennacherib, for some reason, not now at Lachish but invading Libnah, a city of the plain southwest of Jerusalem. It was assigned originally as a city of refuge and residence of the Levites. See Jos 21:13. Only Rabshakeh is mentioned as going down, probably to report to Sennacherib, while the other officers and the great host, (see Isa 36:17,) doubtless remained encamped against Jerusalem.

He heard say The rumour or report, referred to in Isa 37:7, of powerful preparations made by Tirhakah of Egypt to meet him. Respecting Egyptian monarchs at this time, the perplexities are not yet unravelled. But Tirhakah, one of the three constituting the twenty-fifth dynasty of Manetho, is the principal figure here against Sennacherib. (See RAWLINSON’S Monarchies, vol. ii, and GEORGE SMITH’S Assyrian Inscriptions, page 311.) On hearing this report, and before Hezekiah should hear of it, and so take advantage to hold out with increased courage, Sennacherib sends back to Hezekiah to surrender, in terms very like to the first message by Rabshakeh to the people on the wall.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Rabshakeh Sends Messengers to King Hezekiah ( Isa 37:8-13 ).

Isa 37:8

‘So the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.’

Meanwhile the Rabshakeh had returned to the king of Assyria, finding him at Libnah. Whether this meant that Lachish had been subdued, or whether that siege continued while the one at Libnah was also going on we are not told. It is probably Isaiah’s way of indicating the surrender of Lachish. No doubt the siege at Jerusalem also continued. In 2 Kings 18 where he is mentioned there is no suggestion that the Tartan returned with him. He possibly remained behind to supervise the siege of Jerusalem. The Assyrian annals suggest that the siege was not pressed heavily but was more in the nature of an encirclement of the city, ensuring no movement out or in. The positive pressure would come later when more troops were available once the other cities had been subdued. They knew that Jerusalem would be the most difficult to take, and were trying to slowly starve them out.

Isa 37:9

‘And he heard say concerning Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, “He has come out to fight against you.” ’

On his arrival at Libnah news came that the long awaited Egyptian army was making its way northwards under Tirhakah. The suggestion that Tirhakah was too young at this stage to lead an army is no longer tenable. He was not yet king (the description was by the author looking back, which was common oriental practise), for the crown was held by his brother Shabatarka , but he himself became king around 690 BC. Tirhakah was the son of Piankhy who died at least fourteen years before the accession of Shabatarka (702-690 BC) to the throne, and he had been summoned by his brother to join him on his accession, being about twenty years old. Thus at this time he would be about twenty one, and that meant in those days that he was of full age.

Whatever their stated views about the Egyptians the Assyrians knew that they were a real threat, and that they would need to rally their siege forces in order to meet their army. Thus he determined to try to end the siege at Jerusalem as quickly as possible, and sent messengers there with that end in view.

Isa 37:9-10

‘And when he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah, king of Judah, saying ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ ” ’

We note immediately the change of tone. Now he is addressed as King Hezekiah, and rather than him it is said to be Yahweh Who is at fault, seeking to deceive the king. Nor is there any mention of Egypt. That threat is now too real and he does not want Hezekiah, if he knows about it, (and these things had a way of getting through siege lines), to have it brought to his attention.

Isa 37:11-13

“Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly. And will you be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena and Ivvah?”

The old argument is once more produced, and it was a solid one. All that was claimed was true. All these cities and places had at one time or another been conquered by the mighty Assyrian army. And had Jerusalem worshipped Baal or Molech (which of course some did) then the same would have been true for them. But Hezekiah had introduced reform and had concentrated worship on Yahweh, and large numbers had followed him. Thus they served the living God (Isa 37:4), and therein lay the difference.

Gozan is Akkadian Guzana in the region of Tel Halaf on the Upper Habur river. Israelites were deported there in 722 BC. It was an Assyrian provincial capital but had rebelled in 759 BC and was harshly dealt with. Haran was an Assyrian centre that had rebelled in 763 BC and was sacked by the king of Assyria. Rezeph is Akkadian Rasappa and was an important caravan centre on the route from the Euphrates to Hamath. It is modern Resafa, two hundred kilometres east north east of Hama in Syria. No details are known of its sacking, but clearly it had happened at some stage. ‘The children of Eden’ (Ben-eden, an abbreviation of Bene-beth-eden) were south of Haran on the Euphrates (compare Amo 1:5; Eze 27:23). It is probably to be identified with the Aramean state of Bit-Adini. It blocked the path of Assyrian expansion to north Syria and became an Assyrian province in 855 BC. Telassar is probably Til-Assur (mound of Assur), but is unidentified.

Hamath was in central Syria and Arpad in northern Syria. Sepharvaim may have been Sibraim in Syria. Ivvah is probably Ava (2Ki 17:24) and Hena is probably Ana on the Euphrates.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Isa 37:8. Found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah Libah was not far from Lachish, both being situated on the mountains of Judah. It is probable, that Sennacherib, finding himself unable to take the latter, had removed to Libnah, which he considered as a place not so well fortified; and so situated, that, by keeping a strong guard in the passes of the mountains, he should be able to carry on the siege, notwithstanding the approach of Tirhakah; who, most probably, was the same with the Sabaco of Herodotus. See Univ. Hist. vol. 4: p. 321. It is very difficult to determine the places mentioned in the subsequent verses. It is most likely that the king of Assyria thought by this message to have terrified Hezekiah and the people into compliance, which was now the more necessary for him, as the invasion of Tirhakah rendered it less proper for him to attempt so long and difficult a siege as that of Jerusalem was likely to prove.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

3. THE WRITING OF SENNACHERIB TO HEZEKIAH

Isa 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

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

Isa 37:10. On , comp. on Isa 36:14. see on Isa 36:7. see on Isa 36:15.

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

Isa 37:13. The words 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 ( ). But the context demands names of localities. The LXX. translates 2Ki 19:13 ; also the Vulg. both 2 Kings and our text.

In Isa 37:11-13 the variations from the text in 2 Kings 19 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, (according to sound) instead of 2 Kings (which would correspond to the Assyrian Tul-Assuri, i.e., hill of Assyria).

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. While the events narrated Isa 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 Isa 37:10-13, which is virtually a repetition of Rabshakehs words Isa 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 Rabshakehsaying.

Isa 37:8-9. Rabshakeh it seems did not tarry long before Jerusalem for a reply. The silence (Isa 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 (Jos 10:29 sqq.). It belonged (Jos 15:42) to the low country of Judah, and was later (Jos 21:13; 1Ch 6:42) a Levitical and free city. It must have been near to Lacish (Jos 10:29 sqq.), and between that place and Makkedah. Van de Velde supposes it is identical with the Tell of Ark-el-Menschjeh, 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). Isa 37:9. The subject of he heard beginning Isa 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 Sennacheribs 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 Alexanders 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 yeand Ivah?

Isa 37:10-13. [The design to destroy, not the peoples confidence in Hezekiah, but Hezekiahs confidence in God, makes Sennacheribs blasphemy much more open and direct than that of Rabshakeh.J. A. Alex.]. The servant could in flattery ascribe conquests to his master (Isa 36:18-20) which the latter (Isa 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. 14J. 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 mentioned 2Ki 17:6; 2Ki 18:11, and must be distinguished from the or Chaboras (Chebar) Eze 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 2Ki 17:6; 2Ki 18:11, Gozan belongs to the lands into which the Israelites were deported. Now we find these (Eze 1:3; Eze 3:15; Eze 3:23; Eze 10:15; Eze 10:22) settled on the , 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 (Gen 11:31; Gen 12:5; Gen 27:43, etc.), and well-known to Greeks and Romans under the name , 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 Bne Eden in Telasser, it must be noted that Eze 27:23 mentions a people , that were merchants dealing between Sheba, i.e., Arabia and Tyre, along with and i.e., or Isa 10:9). Moreover Amo 1:5 mentions a 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 (Isa 37:13) where is the king of Hamath, etc., is a repetition of Isa 36:19, excepting that we have here king instead of the gods. It is moreover remarkable that here it reads: . The reason for this form of expression, if it is not a mere variation, is not clear. For analogies see Jos 12:18; Num 22:4, and in the Chaldee Ezr 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 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 (2Ki 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 2Ki 18:34, in which the explanation of the words as verbs or nouns is inadmissible.J. A. Alex.].

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. On Isa 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, Isa 36:5; Isaiah 2) We are deprived of divine support, Isa 36:7; Isaiah 3) God is angry with us because we have greatly provoked Him by our sins, Isa 36:7; Isaiah 4) He decks out the splendor, and power of the wicked, Isa 36:8-9; Isaiah 5) He appeals to Gods 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 (Mat 4:2 sqq.). One needs to arm himself against Satans attack by Gods word, and to resort to constant watching and prayer.Cramer.

The Assyrian urges four particulars by which he would destroy Hezekiahs 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 (Isa 30:1-3; Isa 31:1-3; Jer 17:5; Psa 118:8-9; Psa 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 Hezekiahs 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; Jer 2:7; Jer 16:18, etc.), and the people of Israel His people (Exo 3:7; Exo 3:10; Exo 5:1, etc.).

2. On Isa 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 Isa 36:18 sqq. Observandum hic, quod apud gentes olim viguerit 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 (Jer 2:28).Foerster.

4. On Isa 36:21. Answer not a fool according to his folly (Pro 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 (Mat 26:62; Mat 27:14, etc.)? One must not cast pearls before swine (Mat 7:6). After Foerster and Cramer.

5. On Isa 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 Isa 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 travelers coat from him, makes him wrap it the closer about him. The more Rabshakeh reproaches God, the more Hezekiah studies to honor Him. On Isa 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 Isa 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 Isa 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 (Isa 64:9). Therefore the saints pray: Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily (Psa 74:22).Cramer.

9. On Isa 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, 1Sa 23:27.Cramer.

10. On Isa 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. Isa 42:8; Isa 43:10; Isa 43:13; Isa 43:25; Deu 32:39; Psa 83:18; Psa 46:10; Neh 9:6; Dan 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 Isa 37:2].

11. On Isa 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 Isa 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 Isa 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 Hezekiahs prayer in Gods 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 Gods side.M. Henry.].

14. On Isa 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 Isa 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. Jeroboams maxim must rather obtain, who made priests of the lowest of the people (1Ki 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 Isa 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 itperhaps 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 religiona 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 Isa 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 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 Isa 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 Isa 38:12. Beautiful parables that picture to us the transitoriness of this temporal life. For the parable of the shepherds 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 weavers thread means how uncertain is our life on earth. For how easily the thread breaks. Cramer. When the weavers 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 weavers 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 weavers-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 Isa 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 Isa 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 (2Pe 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 Hezekiahs 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 Isa 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 Isa 39:7. God also punishes the misdeeds of the parents on the children (Exo 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 Isa 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 FEUERLEINS 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. Danzig, 1640 and 1642. Daniel Schaller (Stendal) 4 sermons on the sick Hezekiah, on Isaiah 38. 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. (Dutch), Campen, 1636. These are only the principal ones.

3. On Isa 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 Isa 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 Lords 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 Isa 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 (Isa 38:3). 2) Ready and willing to help beyond our prayers or comprehension (Isa 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 (Isa 38:3). The New Testament suppliant says: God be merciful to me a sinner, and Give me through grace for Christs sake what it pleases Thee to give me. 2) The Old Testament suppliant demands a sign (Isa 38:7-8; comp. Isa 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 (Joh 16:23). 3) In Hezekiahs case, the prayer of the Old Testament suppliant is indeed heard (Isa 38:5), yet in general it has not the certainty of being heard, whereas the New Testament suppliant has this certainty.

Footnotes:

[11]fighting.

[12]had decamped.

[13]and thou wilt be delivered.

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 37:8-13

8Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9When he heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, He has come out to fight against you, and when he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of Judah, ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be spared? 12Did the gods of those nations which my fathers have destroyed deliver them, even Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? 13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’

Isa 37:9-11 This repeats Isa 36:13-20.

Isa 37:9 Tirhakah king of Cush There have been some historical problems connected with this verse because this man, though the younger brother of the current Pharaoh of Egypt (i.e., twenty-fifth Nubian Dynasty), Shebitku, nephew of Shabaka, reigned from 407/06 – 690 or 696/95 – 685/84 B.C. (?) Tirhakah became a Pharaoh and reigned from 690 – 664 B.C. He was also known as the King of Ethiopia (cf. 2Ki 19:9). However, this may be a military title or an anachronism (which means that one reads a later event or person into an earlier document). Hence, in this text, Tirhakah was only Pharaoh’s representative sent with the army.

Isa 37:12-13 There are several geographical locations mentioned that Assyria had previously conquered.

1. Gozan – In 2Ki 17:6; 2Ki 18:11; 1Ch 5:26 this is called a river (i.e., region) of Mesopotamia where Tiglath-pileser III exiled people from the tribal areas of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. and later, more of the northern ten tribes by Sargon II.

2. Haran – This was a city in Assyria (cf. Gen 12:4; Gen 24:4) that had rebelled and was destroyed by Asshur-dan III in 763 B.C.

3. Rezeph – This is another significant city in Assyria, conquered by Shalmanezer III (858-824 B.C.). It may have been conquered several times, but information is minimal.

4. Telassar – This is a city or kingdom of Eden which was conquered by Tiglath-pileser III. It was close to the border of Elam.

5. Hamath – This is a city in Syria on the border with Israel. Some of its citizens were exiled into Israel.

6. Arpad – This is a city in northern Syria, the capital of a province or small kingdom (Bit-Agusi). It was defeated by Tiglath-pileser III in 740 B.C.

7. Lair – This is a city of northern Babylon whose spelling is close to city (BDB 746, , NJB, NET Bible).

8. Sepharvaim – See note at Isa 36:19

9. Hena – This is a city possibly in upper Mesopotamia (cf. ABD, vol. 3, p. 137).

10. Ivvah – This is an unknown locality. Some scholars associate #8 and #9 with the name of local gods.

The purpose of mentioning these specific cities (which Hezekiah must have known or which were on the way from Assyria to Palestine which Sennacherib conquered) was to show that no one could resist the Assyrian military!

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

was departed from Lachish: having raised the siege. See note on 2Ki 18:17; 2Ki 19:8.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Isa 37:8-13

“So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish. And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come out to fight against thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 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 given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?”

One of the unresolved questions mentioned in the introduction to Isaiah 36 concerns the Tirhakah mentioned here in Isa 37:9. Some say he was too young to have led an expedition against Sennacherib at this time, being only about ten years of age; but there is too much ignorance of the whole political picture of that period of history, and there is too much ignorance about Tirhakah himself (Does this name refer to a dynasty rather than to an individual?) for anyone to be troubled by such speculations. As Hailey said, “Until contrary evidence is provided, we will assume that Tirhakah was of sufficient age to have led an army against Sennacherib.

This message from Sennacherib was little more than a somewhat extended repetition of the message he had already sent to Hezekiah by Rabshakeh. He did mention a few more cities that had fallen to previous Assyrian kings, such as Gozan, one of the towns to which the Assyrians had deported some of the Northern Israelites (2Ki 17:6). Haran was located on a tributary to the Euphrates river and was prominent in Jewish history; for that was where Abraham settled when he left Ur of the Chaldees; there Terah died; and there the Word of God came the second time to Abraham. There both Isaac and Jacob received their wives. Eden was an important city that had supplied the kings of Damascus, of whom Amos prophesied that, “God would cut off the inhabitants from the valley of Aven, and him that holdeth the scepter from the house of Eden; and the people of Syria shall go into captivity” (Amo 1:5). The Assyrian kings indeed had been God’s instrument in the fulfillment of Amos’ prophecy.

Kelley noticed that this message was delivered both orally and by letter, that being apparently the principal difference between them.

Isa 37:8-9 WARY WARRIOR: The Assyrian army commander (the Rabshakeh) left Jerusalem and went directly to Libnah, 10 and 12 miles north of Lachish and 25 miles west (and a little south) of Jerusalem. Libnah and Lachish were cities along the Gaza strip and were strategic military positions on the Egyptian frontier. The king of Assyria probably felt he had secured Lachish and now he must secure Libnah since he apparently had received word that an Egyptian force was marching toward his deployed troops in Palestine.

Now Tirhakah was not yet king of Egypt. He was nephew of the man (Shabaka 715-701 B.C.) who was then king of Egypt. It appears from ancient records that Tirhakah was approximately 20 years of age at the time of Sennacheribs (701 B.C.) expedition into Judah. He would be old enough, since he was royalty, to be put in charge of a military force. Tirhakahs brother (Shabataka 701-689 B.C.) was the Pharaoh after Shabaka and then Tirhakah became Pharaoh (689-664 B.C.). Edward J. Young thinks Tirhakah is proleptically called king. That is, Isaiah, writing some years after these events occurred, when Tirhakah was in fact king, calls him king in an event that took place before he was king. This is not unusual. Daniel calls Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon proleptically in Dan 1:1. Tirhakah was the third and last Pharaoh of the 25th Ethiopian dynasty. His Ethiopian kingdom was quite Egyptian in character. Sennacherib was successful against Tirhakah, but the mysterious loss of Assyrian troops forced Sennacherib back to Assyria. Tirhakah enjoyed a respite from the Assyrian threat for some years, but was defeated by Esarhaddon and later by Assurbanipal. He was driven south where he retained rule of that portion of Egypt.

Isa 37:10-13 WRITTEN WARNING: Isa 37:10 makes it appear as if the Assyrians have spies within the very chambers of King Hezekiah. It almost seems as if the Assyrians knew the very words Isaiah spoke in reply to Hezekiahs request (Isa 37:5-6). Here the Assyrian messengers are told to speak the message to Hezekiah. In Isa 37:14 Hezekiah takes a letter from the messengers and reads it. Perhaps the messengers read the letter to Hezekiah upon their arrival and then he took it from their hand and read it for himself. The message from Sennacherib was a warning. It intended to remind Hezekiah of current political history. It was common knowledge in the world at that time of the ruthless, overwhelming, destructive power of the Assyrians and the extensiveness of their conquests. They had conquered or at least dominated the whole Asia Minor-Mesopotamian-Palestinian area. Sufficient power to resist the Assyrians could not be found anywhere in the world! Cities and territories which had existed for centuries were swiftly conquered. Famous kings and potentates had been deposed and taken captive and either killed or deported into slavery. Whole cities and areas had been repopulated with Mesopotamian immigrants. The political, cultural, racial face of the inhabited world was being drastically changed. And does little, weak, religiously-oriented Judah think it can stand against a military machine like Assyria?

Some of the cities and territories listed have been located by the archaeologists and historians. Some are still lost in the sands and dust of antiquity. The reader may refer to Map #1 for locations of those known and those conjecturally placed. Beth-eden is the Eden referred to in Isa 37:12. Since many leading scholars and archaeologists believe the Garden of Eden was in Mesopotamia (Greek for between the rivers), Beth-eden may very well have retained its name from the Garden of Eden. William F. Albright, renowned archaeologist and scholar of antiquity says, Archaeological research has thus established beyond doubt that there is no focus of civilization in the earth that can begin to compete in antiquity and activity with the basin of the Eastern Mediteranean and the region immediately to the east of it. . . . (Tigris-Euphrates, Mesopotamian area). Very ancient clay tablets with creation accounts written on them have been discovered in that general area. Ur and Haran are cities directly associated with Abraham. Telassar was probably a territory near the region of ancient Elam (Media).

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Rabshakeh: 2Ki 19:8, 2Ki 19:9, Num 33:20, Num 33:21

Libnah: Jos 10:29, Jos 10:31-34, Jos 21:13, 2Ki 8:22, 2Ch 21:10

Lachish: Jos 12:11, Jos 15:39

Reciprocal: 2Ch 32:9 – Lachish Neh 11:30 – Lachish Mic 1:13 – Lachish

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

37:8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against {g} Libnah: for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish.

(g) Which was a city toward Egypt, thinking by it to have stayed the force of his enemies.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

King Hezekiah’s challenge 37:8-35

This section contains two parts: Sennacherib’s letter to Hezekiah, and Hezekiah’s response to it.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The royal letter 37:8-13

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The Rabshakeh returned to his master, having learned that Hezekiah would not surrender. He found him five miles closer to Jerusalem than Lachish, at Libnah, where he was fighting the Judahites. The message that Tirhakah, King of Ethiopia, was coming to engage him in battle, caused Sennacherib to decide to terminate further campaigns in Palestine and return to his homeland temporarily. Tirhakah was about 20 years old at this time and did not accede to the throne of Egypt and Ethiopia until 690 B.C. However, he was the military leader that Sennacherib did not want to engage at this time.

". . . it is a common practice of Ancient Oriental writers to refer to people and places by titles and names acquired later than the period being described." [Note: K. A. Kitchen, Ancient Orient and Old Testament, p. 82.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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