Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 19:25
Hast thou not heard long ago [how] I have done it, [and] of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities [into] ruinous heaps.
25. This verse and the three following contain Jehovah’s response to Sennacherib. The boaster is told that in all he has done he has been but God’s instrument, and that the events in which he has played that part had been ordained by the divine counsels long before.
Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it ] The R.V. puts ‘long ago’ at the end of this clause. The fame of God’s protection and leading of Israel might be expected to have penetrated to other nations. From their history the heathen might have learnt that the people of the world are under the rule of the Lord, and that their destinies are ordered by Him.
And of ancient times that I have formed it ] R.V. and formed it of ancient times. The LXX. represents the two first clauses of this verse merely by , .
Now have I brought it to pass ] It was ordained long ago, and now I have permitted it to become a fact. With the whole of these four verses may be compared the Lord’s address to the Assyrian (Isa 10:9-19). There that nation is described as the ‘rod of God’s anger’. It is God that sends him and gives him his charge to take spoil and prey. But hereafter the Lord will punish him also, and the glory of his high looks. For another rendering of this sentence see margin of A.V.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Hast thou not heard long ago … – Rather, Hast thou not heard, that from long ago I did this, from ancient times I fashioned it? etc. The former part of the verse refers to the secret divine decrees, whereby the affairs of this world are determined and ordered from the very beginning of things. Sennacheribs boasting, however, proved that he did not know this, that he did not recognize himself simply as Gods instrument – the rod of His anger Isa 10:5 – but regarded his victories as gained by his own strength and wisdom Isa 10:13.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 25. Hast thou not heard] Here Jehovah speaks, and shows this boasting king that what he had done was done by the Divine appointment, and that of his own counsel and might he could have done nothing. It was because God had appointed them to this civil destruction that he had overcome them; and it was not through his might; for God had made their inhabitants of small power, so that he only got the victory over men whom God had confounded, dismayed, and enervated, 2Kg 19:26.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Hast thou not long since learned that which some of thy philosophers could and did teach thee, that there is a supreme and powerful God, by whose decree and providence all these wars and calamities were sent and ordered, whose mere instrument thou art, so that thou hast no cause for these vain boastings? This work is mine, more than thine. Or, as it is in the margin of our Bibles, Hast thou not heard that (a particle oft understood) I have made (i.e. constituted, or purchased, or adorned, for all these ways is this Hebrew verb used) it (either Jerusalem, which he now threatened; or rather, the Jewish nation, which he endeavoured to root out; the relative pronoun being put without the antecedent, which is to be gathered out of the context; of which I have formerly given instances) long ago, and formed it
of ancient times? i.e. didst thou not hear what I did for this people many ages since, that I carried them out of Egypt in spite of Pharaoh and all his host; and through the Red Sea, where I overthrew the Egyptians; and through the vast howling wilderness; and then brought them into this land by a strong hand, by which I destroyed all their enemies, and planted them in their stead? By which thou mayest understand how dear this people are to me, and how easily I could destroy thee before them, if I saw it fit; and that the places which thou hast taken, and the conquest which thou hast made here, are not to be imputed to thy valour or numbers, but unto my providence, who for wise and just reasons have given them up into thy hands, as it here follows. This may seem to be the truest sense, because that barbarous prince and people were much more likely to hear the tidings of what God did for the Israelites in Egypt, and at the Red Sea, and in Canaan, the fame of which was spread in all those parts, than to hear of or be instructed in the doctrine of Gods particular providence in the government of several nations, and all their counsels and actions of state and war. For though the Assyrian was indeed the rod in Gods hand, &c., Isa 10:5, yet he did not so understand it, nor was God in all his thoughts; but he minded only the enlargement of his own empire by the destruction of other kingdoms, as it there follows, 2Ki 19:7,13-15.
Now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps: this translation seems better to agree both with the foregoing branch of this verse, and with the following verse, than the other interrogative translation in the margin; and the plain sense seems to be this: Great things I have done for this people, which thou canst not be ignorant of; but now I have changed my course towards them, resolved to punish them severely for their sins; and therefore now I have brought it to pass, i.e. I have so disposed of things by my providence, that thou shouldst be a great and victorious prince, and that thou shouldst employ thy forces against them to do my work upon them, that thou shouldst be (to wit, a person raised up and fitted and strengthened for this very purpose) to lay waste fenced cities (and to turn them) into ruinous heaps, i.e. that thou shouldst be so successful as thou hast hitherto been, first against the kingdom of Israel, and now against Judah.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
[See comments on 2Ki 19:1]
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(25) Hast thou not heard . . .?Hast thou not heard? In the far past it I made; in the days of yore did I fashion it; now have I brought it to pass. The itthe thing long since foreordained by Jehovahis defined by the words: that thou shouldest be to lay waste, &c. (Comp. Isa. 22:11; Isa. 46:10-11; Isa. 10:5-15.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25. Hast thou not heard The question expresses surprise that the king of Assyria should be ignorant of a matter so notorious as that Assyria was to be the instrument divinely chosen to scourge Israel and Judah.
Of ancient times that I have formed it That is, Jehovah, long before, had appointed these triumphs of Assyria, ordained that Assyria should lay waste the land of Judah, and he had announced it by his holy prophets.
Compare Isa 7:17-20; Isa 8:7-8; Isa 10:5-11.
That thou shouldest be to lay waste This is thy preordained destiny, namely, to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps. So far was he from working his conquests by his own power, that he was unconsciously working out the preordained plans of Jehovah.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 19:25 Hast thou not heard long ago [how] I have done it, [and] of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities [into] ruinous heaps.
Ver. 25. Hast thou not heard? ] Here God himself taketh Sennacherib in hand, and schooleth him concerning the divine providence and decree whereby he was now sent against a “hypocritical nation, a people of God’s wrath, to take the spoil,” &c. “Howbeit he meant not so, neither did his heart think so; but it was in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.” Isa 10:6-7
That thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
done it = made it: i.e. the earth.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the Answer of the King of Kings
2Ki 19:25-37
These verses, taken with Isa 10:5-15, form a most suggestive and sublime comment on the words, the Lord reigneth. They show us God using the Assyrian as the rod of His anger, and working personally and mightily through the politics of the world. Isaiahs faith, through all this terrible crisis, was the one bulwark behind which king and people lay entrenched. What a gift one such man is to an entire people! His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord, and he cannot be made afraid by evil tidings.
It has been suggested that this was a Sabbatic year, the produce of which sufficed for two years, 2Ki 19:29. In any case, the Sabbatic peace and calm had entered Isaiahs soul. They who have learned to stay themselves on God may sing triumphal odes, in sure conviction of coming victory. Thus, also, it befell. The angel of Gods deliverance wrought through some terrible outbreak of plague, and thus the tents were strewn with the silent corpses of men who had yesterday been full of manly vigor. The Lord was Judge, Lawgiver, and King; and saved His people, as the mother-bird, with outspread wing, protects her brood against the hawk. Gods presence, like an invisible river, surrounded and saved His people. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge, Psa 46:11.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Hast thou not: etc. or, Hast thou not heard how I have made it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Should I now bring it to be laid waste, and fenced cities to be ruinous heaps? I have done it. Psa 33:11, Psa 76:10, Isa 10:5, Isa 10:6, Isa 10:15, Isa 37:26, Isa 37:27, Isa 45:7, Isa 46:10, Isa 46:11, Isa 54:16, Act 4:27, Act 4:28
Reciprocal: Jos 8:28 – an heap 1Ki 15:29 – he left not Psa 9:6 – memorial Jer 26:18 – Jerusalem Mic 1:6 – I will make Hab 1:12 – thou hast ordained
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 19:25. Hast thou not heard long ago, &c. Hast thou not long since learned that which some of thy philosophers could have taught thee; that there is a supreme and powerful God, by whose decree and providence all these wars and calamities are sent and ordered; whose mere instrument thou art; so that thou hast no cause for these vain boastings? This work is mine, not thine. I have done it, &c. I have so disposed of things by my providence, that thou shouldest be a great and victorious prince, and that thou shouldest be so successful as thou hast hitherto been, first against the kingdom of Israel, and now against Judah. Thus God answers the boastings of this proud prince, and shows him that all his counsel and power are nothing; since these events wholly depended on a superior cause; namely, on Gods sovereign decree and overruling providence, whereof he had made this Assyrian the instrument in his almighty hand.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
19:25 Hast thou not heard long ago [how] I have done it, [and] of ancient times that I have formed it? {q} now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities [into] ruinous heaps.
(q) He declares that as he is the author and beginning of his Church, he will never allow it to be completely destroyed, as other cities and kingdoms.