Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 19:3
And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day [is] a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and [there is] not strength to bring forth.
3. This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy ] R.V. contumely. The words refer to the condition of Hezekiah and his people. First they are in great anguish, kept in and surrounded by a threatening and mighty enemy, this is the trouble: then they are reminded of their offences and feel that for their wrong they are under chastisement and reproof: and lastly, that they are given over to the adversaries so that their enemies mock at their confidence with insolent derision. Hence without help from God, and with no hope from men, their conceptions of freedom and liberty were likely all to prove abortive, and come to no result. The figure which the king employs indicates that they were in the extremest danger, and had no power to save themselves.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The trouble consisted in rebuke (rather, chastisement,) for sins at the hand of God, and blasphemy (rather, reproach,) at the hands of man.
The children … – i. e., we are in a fearful extremity – at the last gasp – and lack the strength that might carry us through the danger.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. The children are come to the birth] The Jewish state is here represented under the emblem of a woman in travail, who has been so long in the pangs of parturition, that her strength is now entirely exhausted, and her deliverance is hopeless, without a miracle. The image is very fine and highly appropriate.
A similar image is employed by Homer, when he represents the agonies which Agamemnon suffers from his wound: –
‘
‘ ,
‘ ,
,
‘ .
Il. xi., ver. 266.
This, while yet warm, distill’d the purple flood;
But when the wound grew stiff with clotted blood,
Then grinding tortures his strong bosom rend.
Less keen those darts the fierce Ilythiae send,
The powers that cause the teeming matron’s throes,
Sad mothers of unutterable woes.
POPE.
Better translated by Macpherson; but in neither well: “So long as from the gaping wound gushed forth, in its warmth, the blood; but when the wound became dry, when ceased the blood to flow amain, sharp pains pervade the strength of Atrides. Racking pangs glide through his frame; as when the Ilythiae, who preside over births, the daughters of white armed Juno, fierce dealers of bitter pains, throw all their darts on hapless women, that travail with child. Such pains pervade the strength of Atrides.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A day of trouble and of rebuke; either,
1. From God, wherein God rebukes and chastens us sorely. Or rather,
2. From the Assyrian, who reviles and reproacheth us; for his business here is to complain, not of God, but of the Assyrian. We are like a poor travailing woman in great extremity, and having no strength left to help herself, and to bring forth her infant into the world. We have attempted to deliver ourselves from the Assyrian yoke; and had carried on that work to some maturity, and, as we thought, brought it to the birth; but now we have no might to finish, unless thou assist us. We have begun a happy reformation, and are hindered by this insolent Assyrian from bringing it to perfection. See 2Ch 32:1.
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
“A day of distress, and of chastisement, and of rejection is this day.” : the divine chastisement. : contemptuous treatment, or rejection of the people on the part of God (compare , Deu 32:19; Jer 14:21; Lam 2:6). “For children have come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.” A figure denoting extreme danger, the most desperate circumstances. If the woman in travail has not strength to bring forth the child which has come to the mouth of the womb, both the life of the child and that of the mother are exposed to the greatest danger; and this was the condition of the people here (see the similar figure in Hos 13:13). For instead of , see Ges. 69, 2 Anm.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(3) Rebuke.Rather, chastisement (Hos. 5:9). The verb means to give judgment, punish, &c. It occurs in the next verse, will reprove the words, or rather, punish for the words.
Blasphemy.Comp. Isa. 1:4; Isa. 5:24, where the cognate verb is used; and Neh. 9:18; Neh. 9:26, where the noun provocations is almost identical.
The children are come . . .With this proverb, expressive of the utter collapse of all human resources, comp. the similar language of Hosea (Hos. 13:13).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. A day of trouble Better, a day of anguish, or, of deep distress.
Rebuke Hezekiah recognised in his affliction a Divine reproval and chastisement.
Blasphemy A reference to the contempt with which Rab-shakeh had treated the God of Israel; a day when such blasphemy abounds, or goes unpunished. Others render rejection, or disdain, and understand it of contemptuous treatment and rejection of Judah on the part of God. The word is capable of either sense.
Not strength to bring forth “The proverb is taken from the crisis in childbearing, where the child is in the midst of the birth, but the strength of the mother fails on account of the continuous pains, so that she and the child are both in danger. Clericus, therefore, interprets it of the situation of those in great peril, who know what they must do in order to escape, but who feel that it is beyond their power to take the necessary measures, and who fear that, if they should make the attempt, all would be lost.” Bahr.
2Ki 19:3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day [is] a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and [there is] not strength to bring forth.
Ver. 3. For the children are come to the birth. ] We are greatly pained and perplexed, our hearts do even ache and quake within us, at the hearing of these horrid blasphemies; but we want strength to punish them: we humbly put them into God’s holy hands, and beseech him to take an order with them, for which end thy prayers are requested. Or, We are now in extreme danger, and do therefore earnestly implore Heaven’s help at a dead lift.
children = sons.
This day: 2Ki 18:29, Psa 39:11, Psa 123:3, Psa 123:4, Jer 30:5-7, Hos 5:15, Hos 6:1
blasphemy: or, provocation, Psa 95:8, Heb 3:15, Heb 3:16
for the children: Isa 26:17, Isa 26:18, Isa 66:9, Hos 13:13
Reciprocal: 2Ki 22:12 – the king Est 4:14 – for such a time Psa 77:2 – In the Isa 17:14 – at eveningtide Isa 22:5 – a day Isa 37:3 – General
2Ki 19:3. This is a day of rebuke and blasphemy From the Assyrian, who reviles and reproaches us. For the children, &c. We are like a poor travailing woman in great extremity, having no strength left to help herself, and to bring forth her infant into the world. We have attempted to deliver ourselves from the Assyrian yoke, and carried on that work to some maturity, and, as we thought, brought it to the birth; but now we have no might to finish. We have begun a happy reformation, and are hindered by this insolent Assyrian from bringing it to perfection.
19:3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day [is] a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to {b} the birth, and [there is] not strength to bring forth.
(b) The dangers are so great, that we can neither avenge this blasphemy, or help ourselves any more than a woman in labour.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes