Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 37:37
So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
37, 38. The flight of Sennacherib, and his death at Nineveh. If the passage be a combination of two parallel narratives, the second ends with Isa 37:36, while Isa 37:37-38 form the conclusion of the first. In the Hebrew, the first words of Isa 37:37 would be the correct continuation of “and when he heard it” in Isa 37:9.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
So Sennacherib departed – Probably with some portion of his army and retinue with him, for it is by no means probable that the whole army had been destroyed. In 2Ch 32:21, it is said that the angel cut off all the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. His army was thus entirely disabled, and the loss of so large a part of it, and the consternation produced by their sudden destruction, would of course lead him to abandon the siege.
Went and returned – Went from before Jerusalem and returned to his own land.
And dwelt at Nineveh – How long he dwelt there is not certainly known. Berosus, the Chaldean, says it was a little while (see Jos. Ant. x. 1. 5). Nineveh was on the Tigris, and was the capital of Assyria. For an account of its site, and its present situation, see the American Biblical Repository for Jan. 1837, pp. 139-159.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
37. dwelt at Ninevehfor abouttwenty years after his disaster, according to the inscriptions. Theword, “dwelt,” is consistent with any indefinite length oftime. “Nineveh,” so called from Ninus, that is, Nimrod, itsfounder; his name means “exceedingly impious rebel”; hesubverted the existing patriarchal order of society, by setting up asystem of chieftainship, founded on conquest; the hunting field washis training school for war; he was of the race of Ham, andtransgressed the limits marked by God (Gen 10:8-11;Gen 10:25), encroaching on Shem’sportion; he abandoned Babel for a time, after the miraculousconfusion of tongues and went and founded Nineveh; he was, afterdeath, worshipped as Orion, the constellation (see on Job9:9; Job 38:31).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went, and returned,…. Being informed of the destruction of his army in this miraculous manner, he departed from the place where he was in all haste, fearing lest he himself should be destroyed in like manner; and having no forces to pursue his designs, or wherewith to make an attempt elsewhere, he made the best of his way at once into his own country, whither he returned with great shame and confusion:
and dwelt at Nineveh; the metropolis of his kingdom; see
Ge 10:11.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
37. Then Sennacherib, king of Assyria, went away and returned. He now shows how disgraceful was the retreat of this haughty tyrant, who in the wishes of his heart had already devoured the whole of Judea, and formerly dared to pretend to be more powerful than God himself. By employing a variety of words to express his departure, the Prophet indirectly censures the shameful flight; for the repetition is not superfluous, “He set out, he went away, he returned.” The title of king is added for the sake of greater disgrace. “Lo, this is the great king of whose power Rabshakeh boasted so highly.”
And dwelt in Nineveh. He did not come into Judea, that: he might depart from it in that disgraceful manner; and therefore the hand of God throws him back, even as straw is driven by the wind. The circumstance of his dwelling in Nineveh reminds us also that he had lost his courage as well as his forces; for he would not willingly have remained at rest, if despair had not held him like a chain. This means, therefore, that he was satisfied with his ancient domains, of which Nineveh was the chief city and royal residence. At a later period, when the Assyrians were conquered by the Chaldeans, the seat of government was removed to Babylon, that is, ten years after the death of Sennacherib, and during the reign of Esarhaddon, his successor, who is here mentioned, for since parricides did not want defenders, a nation torn by factions was easily subdued and conquered by foreign enemies. Availing himself of this opportunity, Merodach invaded the Assyrians, and subjected them to his power.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(37) So Sennacherib . . .We have to remember that the Assyrian king had been engaged in the siege of Libnah, probably also in an Egyptian expedition, which from some cause or other was unsuccessful. The course of events was probably this: that in Egypt he heard of the ravages of the pestilence, returned to find his army too weak to fight, and then, abandoning all further action in the south, withdrew to Nineveh.
Departed, and went and returned.We are reminded by the three synonyms of the proverbial abiit, evasit, erupit of Cicero, in Catil. ii. (Del.).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
37, 38. The same lack of facts leaves it uncertain how long Sennacherib survived his mortifying return to Nineveh. The book of Tobit, (i, 21,) Josephus, ( Antiquities, Isa 10:2 ; Isa 10:2,) and Rawlinson, all clash. See RAWLINSON’S Ancient Monarchies, vol. ii, page 169, where he claims that Sennacherib lived seventeen years after his return, made other wars, and left his power and territories undiminished for his son and successor, Esarhaddon. In this case, it must be suspected that some other hand than Isaiah’s added these last verses. In any case, the snatches of history furnished by the monuments, as yet only throw the subject into confusion rather than give the light required to explain some facts and apparent dates here presented.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
and. Note the Figure of speech Polysyndeton in this verse, to emphasize his departure and return, which leads up to what he returned for; also, that he did this without taking the city, Nebuchadnezzar makes no reference to this in his inscription.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Sennacherib: Isa 37:7, Isa 37:29, Isa 31:9
Nineveh: Gen 10:11, Gen 10:12, Jon 1:2, Jon 3:3, Nah 1:1, Mat 12:41
Reciprocal: 2Ki 19:37 – Nisroch 2Ch 32:21 – the Lord Ezr 4:2 – Assur Isa 31:8 – he shall flee
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
37:37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at {c} Nineveh.
(c) Which was the chiefest city of the Assyrians.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Sennacherib, the great "king of Assyria" (cf. Isa 36:4; Isa 36:13), then returned to Assyria, having lost a large part of his army, and having heard a rumor about the advancing Ethiopian ruler (Isa 37:7-9). He lived in Nineveh for 20 years before his death, and he conducted other military campaigns, but none in Palestine.