Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 19:37
And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
37. in the house of Nisroch ] The LXX. gives the name as . Of Nisroch we have no information except this passage, and it is uncertain whether the name be rightly represented in the Hebrew. Some have connected the word with the Hebrew nesher = an eagle, and because on the Assyrian monuments one most conspicuous figure is an eagle-headed man have thought that the name given to the god by the Hebrews refers to this representation. Probably the name is incorrect either because the Jews did not learn it correctly, or connected it with a false etymology. Josephus ( Ant. x. 1, 5) says Sennacherib was murdered ‘in his own temple Arasce’ ( ), which looks as if he had had some different name before him.
Adrammclech and Sharezer his sons] Just as in verse 31 the Massoretic text had an omission of consonants and gave only the vowels of the word, so it is done with ‘his sons’ here. The consonants as well as vowels are written in the parallel place in Isaiah. The Chronicler (2Ch 32:21) says ‘they that came forth of his own bowels slew him with the sword’.
into the land of Armenia ] R.V. Ararat. The change is in accordance with the Hebrew text. But the interpretation of Ararat as Armenia is found in the Vulgate of Gen 8:4, where ‘upon the mountains of Ararat’ is represented by super montes Armeni. Then in the verse of Isaiah parallel to this of 2 Kings, the LXX. translates by , and the Vulgate by in terram Armeniorum. That Ararat, though unknown to the Greeks and Romans, was the name of a part of Armenia is made evident by the name Araratia being given by Moses of Khorene to the central province of that country ( Hist. Armen. Whiston, p. 361). In Tob 1:21 where we have a notice of this king Sennacherib and his death, the name of the land of refuge is given as Ararath.
Esarhaddon ] According to the Assyrian canon this king came to the throne in b.c. 681, and reigned till 668. In consequence of disaffection in Babylonia, he united it to the Assyrian kingdom and was the first (and only) Assyrian who had two capital cities. For he resided now in Nineveh and now in Babylon. On his dwelling at Babylon, cf. 2Ch 33:11. Esarhaddon was famous for the number and grandeur of his buildings, having erected in Mesopotamia and Assyria no fewer than thirty temples. His palace at Nimrd has been discovered and excavated in recent times.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The death of Sennacherib, which took place many years afterward (680 B.C.), is related here, as, from the divine point of view, the sequel to his Syrian expeditions.
Nisroch his god – Nisroch has not been as yet identified with any known Assyrian deity. The word may not be the name of a god at all but the name of the temple, as Josephus understood it. Assyrian temples were almost all distinguished by special names. If this be the true solution, the translation should run – As he was worshipping his god in the house Nisroch.
They escaped into the land of Armenia – literally, the land of Ararat, or the northeastern portion of Armenia, where it adjoined Media. The Assyrian inscriptions show that Armenia was at this time independent of Assyria, and might thus afford a safe refuge to the rebels.
Esar-haddon (or Esar-chaddon), is beyond a doubt the Asshur-akh-iddin of the inscriptions, who calls himself the son, and appears to be the successor of Sin-akh-irib. He commenced his reign by a struggle with his brother Adrammelech, and occupied the throne for only thirteen years, when he was succeeded by his son, Sardanapalus or Asshur-bani-pal. He warred with Phoenicia, Syria, Arabia, Egypt, and Media, and built three palaces, one at Nineveh, and the others at Calah and Babylon.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Ki 19:37
His sons smote him with the sword.
The death of Sennacherib
Why are we told of this fact? Holy Scripture, as a general rule, passes over the lives and deaths and exploits of the mere great men of the world in a most cursory way. Only one incident, for example, is mentioned in the life of Herod the Great. Nothing is told us of the Roman Emperor, Augustus, except his office and name; and not so much even as that of his successor, Tiberius. Why then have we related to us so particularly the death of this king, taking place, as it did, so far to one side of the usual path of Gods word? The answer will be found by a reference to the past. If we consider,
I. The character of his life. Two things had distinguished it towards man–excessive violence and much pride. You have seen pictures from those Assyrian palaces brought to light again of late years. A favourite subject in most is the victorious king, commanding his captives to be slain, or himself blinding them perhaps with his spear. These pictures, we may be quite certain, are only too correct. What the artist portrayed with such vigour had frequently been in his sight. That almost brutal bodily strength, those stiff and barbarous adornments, those merciless and unrelenting features, were observable, in that ferocious dynasty, to the life. And this Sennacherib, perhaps, of all these sovereigns, was the most successful, and so, the worst.
II. The character of Sennacheribs death.
1. We have seen the nature of his challenge. We have now to notice the reply. God replied, first, to his pride. Who can stand, the king had said, before me? God answered him, not in battle, not by spoken rebuke, but, as it was prophesied, by a blast.
2. God replied, next, to his violence and bloodshed. With what measure ye mete, etc. (Mat 7:2; see also Jdg 1:7; 1Sa 15:13; Mat 26:52). The same kind of rule seems to have been observed in this case. After the king had returned to his own kingdom and city, the weapon he had so often employed was employed on himself.
3. Jehovah answered the mans blasphemy and profaneness. The challenge had been delivered, if not within hearing, certainly within sight, of Gods house, in the ears and language of the people who sat on the wall. No answer came at the time. God, who sometimes waits to be gracious, often delays to destroy. (Homilist.)
.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 37. Nisroch his god] We know nothing of this deity; he is nowhere else mentioned.
Smote him with the sword] The rabbins say that his sons had learned that he intended to sacrifice them to this god, and that they could only prevent this by slaying him.
The same writers add, that he consulted his wise men how it was that such miracles should be wrought for the Israelites; who told him that it was because of the merit of Abraham who had offered his only son to God: he then said, I will offer to him my two sons; which when they heard, they rose up and slew him. When a rabbin cannot untie a knot, he feels neither scruple nor difficulty to cut it.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The land of Armenia was a place most fit for their purpose, because it was near to that part of Assyria, and was very mountainous and inaccessible by armies, and the people more stout and warlike, and constant enemies to the Assyrians.
Esarhaddon; who sent great supplies to his new colony in Samaria, Ezr 4:2, fearing, it seems, lest Hezekiah should improve the last great advantage to disturb his new conquests there.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
37. as he was worshipping in thehouse of NisrochAssarae, or Asshur, the head of the AssyrianPantheon, represented not as a vulture-headed figure (that is nowascertained to be a priest), but as a winged figure in a circle,which was the guardian deity of Assyria. The king is represented onthe monuments standing or kneeling beneath this figure, his handraised in sign of prayer or adoration.
his sons smote him with theswordSennacherib’s temper, exasperated probably by hisreverses, displayed itself in the most savage cruelty and intolerabletyranny over his subjects and slaves, till at length he wasassassinated by his two sons, whom, it is said, he intended tosacrifice to pacify the gods and dispose them to grant him a returnof prosperity. The parricides taking flight into Armenia, a thirdson, Esar-haddon, ascended the throne.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
[See comments on 2Ki 19:1]
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(37) And it came to pass.Twenty years afterwards.
Nisroch.This name appears to be corrupt. The LXX. gives and ; Josephus, , in Arask, as if the name were that of the temple rather than the god. The Hebrew version of Tobit (1:21) gives Dagon as the god. Dagon (Da-kan, Da-gan-nu) was worshipped at an early date in Babylonia, and later in Assyria; but no stress can be laid on the evidence of a late version of an Apochryphon. Wellhausen thinks the original reading of the LXX. must have been , which seems to involve the name of Asshur, the supreme god of the Assyrians.
Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him.The Assyrian monuments are silent on the subject of the death of Sennacherib. For Adrammelech, see the Note on 2Ki. 17:31. Sharezer, in Assyrian, Sar-uur, protect the king, is only part of a name. The other half is found in Abydenus (apud Eusebius), who records that Sennacherib was slain by his son Adramelos, and succeeded by Nergilos (i.e., Nergal), who was slain by Axerdis (Esarhaddon). From this it appears that the full name was Nergal-sar-uur, Nergal protect the king! (the Greek Neriglissar.) (See Jer. 39:3; Jer. 39:13.)
And they escaped into the land of Armenia.Ararat, the Assyrian Urartu, was the name of the great plain through which the Araxes flowed. The battle in which Esarhaddon defeated his brothers was fought somewhere in Little Armenia, near the Euphrates, according to Schrader, who gives a fragment of an inscription apparently relating thereto.
Esarhaddon.The Assyrian Assur-aha-iddina, Asshur gave a brother, who reigned 681-668 B.C.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
37. Nisroch The rank and character of this god in the Assyrian pantheon is not yet determined. Gesenius suggests that the word comes from the Hebrew root , eagle; and Layard proposes to identify Nisroch with the eagle-headed human figure, which is one of the most prominent on the earliest Assyrian monuments. Keil says, “the eagle was worshipped as a god by the Arabs, was regarded as sacred to Melkarth by the Phenicians, and according to a statement of Philo, (that Zoroaster taught that the supreme deity was represented with an eagle’s head,) was also a symbol of Ormuzd among the Persians; consequently Movers regards Nisroch as the supreme deity or the Assyrians. It is not improbable that it was also connected with the constellation of the eagle.” But all the above suppositions concerning the Assyrian deity are largely conjectural.
Adrammelech was the name of one of the gods of Sepharvaim, (see 2Ki 17:31, note,) and Sharezer was doubtless the name of some other deity. It was a common and widespread custom in the East to name princes after the gods. The following summary of Rawlinson, gathered from the monuments and other sources, is the best commentary on this verse: “Our various sources of information make it clear that Sennacherib had a large family of sons. Adrammelech and Sharezer, anxious to obtain the throne for themselves, plotted against the life of their father, and having slain him in a temple as he was worshipping, proceeded further to remove their brother Nergilus, who claimed the crown and wore it for a brief space after Sennacherib’s death. Having murdered him, they expected to obtain the throne without further difficulty; but Esar-haddon, who at the time commanded the army which watched the Armenian frontier, now came forward, assumed the title of king, and prepared to march upon Nineveh. It was winter, and the inclemency of the weather precluded immediate movement. For some months, probably, the two assassins were recognised as monarchs at the capital, while the northern army regarded Esar-haddon as the rightful successor of his father. Thus died the great Sennacherib, a victim to the ambition of his sons. Esar-haddon’s inscriptions show that he was engaged for some time after his accession in a war with his half-brothers, who, at the head of a large body of troops, disputed his right to the crown. According to Abydenus, Adrammelech fell in the battle; but better authorities state that both he and his brother, Sharezer, escaped into Armenia, where they were kindly treated by the reigning monarch, who gave them lands, which long continued in the possession of their posterity.” Anc. Mon., vol. ii, pp. 185, ff.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
REFLECTIONS
READER! in the opening of this chapter we take part with Hezekiah in his affliction, and feel the commiseration of the believer in the view of his sorrows, and desolate circumstances. Behold him in the close of it, and how doth the faithful soul rejoice in the Lord’s deliverance of him out of all. And is it not, dearest Jesus, in all the circumstances of thy people. Without thee, and beheld, only as they are in themselves, what poor, defenseless, oppressed, persecuted creatures are they, bent down under the hand of every foe. But when Jesus appears in their cause, oh! how precious is it to behold their strength in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
What an awful character is this impious monster, this Assyrian monarch! And yet what is he more than all the haters of God, and his people. Satan reigns in their hearts; they are scoffers, despisers, blasphemers, sworn foes to God and his Christ. And their name is legion, for they are many.
Blessed Jesus! how sweet is it to be taught of thee! How precious thy salvation! How great thy mercy in gathering sinners from the service of Satan to thy kingdom. Lord! grant that, like Hezekiah, trouble may lead my heart to thee; in all my afflictions to cast my burden upon the Lord, who hath promised, to sustain me. I would spread all before thee, O Lord, and wait in faith thy deliverance, for thou art my strength, and my song, and art become my salvation.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Ki 19:37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
Ver. 37. In the house of Nisroch his god. ] Jupiter Belus haply, whom Sennacherib worshipped under this name, which signifieth Tender to those that flee and escape out of battle.
That Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him.
a Castalio.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Nisroch. Mentioned in the inscriptions.
his sons. A cylinder recently acquired (1910) by, and now in the British Museum, states: “On the twentieth day of the month Tebet (Dee.), Sennacherib, king of Assyria, his son slew him in a rebellion. “The rebellion (it says) lasted till the twenty-eighth of Sivan (June) of next year, “when Esarhaddon his son sat on the throne of Assyria. “The will, or rather deed of gift, of Sennacherib (2 inches by 1, containing eleven lines; in the Kouyoujik Gallery) gives all to Esarhaddon. This probably led to Esarhaddon having afterwards to fight his two brothers, Sennacherib’s murderers.
smote him. Some years later; but mentioned here as the sequel to this history.
Armenia. Hebrew Ararat.
Esarhaddon. See note, above.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Nisroch: 2Ki 19:10, 2Ki 18:5, 2Ki 18:30, Deu 32:31, 2Ch 32:14, 2Ch 32:19, Isa 37:37, Isa 37:38
his sons smote: 2Ki 19:7, 2Ch 32:21
the land: Armenia or Ararat is a province of Asia, comprising the modern Turcomania and part of Persia; having Georgia on the north, Curdistan, or the ancient Assyria on the south, and Asia Minor, now Natolia, on the west.
Armenia: Heb. Ararat, Gen 8:4, Jer 51:27
Esarhaddon: Ezr 4:2
Reciprocal: 2Sa 16:11 – seeketh 2Ki 17:3 – king of Assyria 2Ki 19:28 – by the way Psa 80:13 – The boar Isa 7:17 – bring upon Nah 1:12 – Through Nah 1:14 – I will make 1Ti 1:9 – murderers
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE DEATH OF SENNACHERIB
As he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god his sons smote him with the sword.
2Ki 19:37
If we consider (1) the character of Sennacheribs life, and compare with that (2) the character of his death, we shall discover both the reason and the instruction of the text.
I. The character of his life.Two things had distinguished it towards manexcessive violence and much pride. This King Sennacherib, perhaps, of all the Assyrian sovereigns, was the most successful, and so, the worst. Probably, therefore, it is his portrait which one sees most frequently on the slabs. At any rate, they help to furnish us with a true idea of his life. Take a succession of those causeless conflicts, those captured cities, those butchered prisoners, those blinded sovereigns, those streaming executions, and you have the deeds of his reign. Take, next, the triumphant pride with which he exults over them, and you have the full criminality of those deeds.
The tide of his oppression came at last to the land of Judeaespecially dangerous ground. For here he came in contact with a peculiar people, the family which God was educating for the benefit of mankind. This added both to the enormity and to the importance of the crime. How to the enormity, if he did not know what he was doing? Because he knew sufficient to know more. Sennacherib was well aware that he was fighting not against Hezekiah, but Jehovah. This ought to have led him to inquire. Instead of this, he says in effect, Be the Lord Jehovah Who He may, I am not to be checked.
Consider, also, the effect of his language and conduct on the Jews. How did his sin appear in their eyes? Considering their position and destiny, this was of importance to the world. And, in their eyes, it is clear that his offence involved the most direct and daring challenge to all they adored. Would the Lords House be overthrown, or the waves be driven back? Would this great conqueror conquer Jehovah, or would he, instead, and at last, himself he subdued? All the faith of Judah stood by, and all the unborn faith of Christianity stood behind it, to observe the result.
II. The character of Sennacheribs death.Having seen the nature of his challenge, we have now to notice how it was taken up. God replied, first, to his pride. Who can stand, the king had said, before me? God answered this wicked boast, not in battle, not by spoken rebuke, but, as it was prophesied, by a blast. In the morning the once mighty sovereign is in a camp of dead men. Where is the terrible army which he had previously relied on? What has he now left to be proud of? What can he do now, except return home, humiliated and alone?
God replied, next, to his violence and bloodshed. After the king had returned to his own kingdom and city, the weapon which he had so often employed on others was employed on himself. As the prophet had foretold, he died by the sword. This man of unnatural cruelty, with a horrible kind of fitness, died by unnatural hands. He was slain by his sons, who, brothers in hatred and cruelty, and worthy inheritors of his nature, consented together in this deed, and so doubled the guilt upon each. How often we see this! The instruments of the sinners punishment brought into being by himself!
Lastly, Jehovah answered the mans blasphemy and profaneness. The challenge had been delivered certainly within sight of Gods House, in the ears and language of the people who sat on the wall. No answer came at the time. God, Who sometimes waits to be gracious, often delays to destroy. But the answer, when it did come, was most conclusive. In the kings own city, in the temple of his own idol, while engaged in the very act of worship, the blow descended upon him. If safe anywhere, he thought, it was there; but there it was, on the contrary, just there, that he died. Where is the God he had boasted, who can deliver from me? Can thine own god protect thyself? replied the silent stroke of Gods hand.
It is unnecessary to point out the importance of such a lesson to the Jews. So significant an incident was well worthy of being commemorated among them. And, if the story was all this to them, not less of course, is it to us, who are taught by their experience, and are the inheritors of their faith. Evil shall hunt the wicked to overthrow him. We see (just as they did) the conclusion of such a hunt in our textwe see how God and the impenitent sinner must come face to face at the lasthow such a man prepares his own torments, and creates his own executioners, and sends up against heaven the very bolts which come down again perforce on himself. These are truths much forgotten, and, therefore, to be often insisted on, in these days. There is a way of preaching the Saviour as though there was nothing from which to be saved. This grand Old Testament history, rising up out of those distant Assyrian ruins, may help to deliver us from such a delusion. Doubtless there is a Saviour; but there is a need for Him, too; there is such an awful reality as the wrath to come. Doubtless there is a City of Refuge; but that is not all. The avenger of blood is behind us; and if we do not flee to it, we are lost.
Rev. W. S. Lewis.
Illustration
Contrast the two kings, Sennacherib and Hezekiahthe godless and the just. Sennacherib, who sees himself in peril and obliged to retreat by the approach of Tirhakah, does not on that account become more modest or more humble, but only more obstinate and arrogant. That is the way with godless and depraved men. In distress and peril, instead of bending their will and yielding to the will of God, they only become more stubborn, insolent, and assuming. Hezekiah, on the contrary, who was in unprecedented trouble and peril, was thereby drawn into more earnest prayer. He humbled himself under the hand of God, and sought refuge in the Lord alone. He went into the House of God and poured out his soul in prayer.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
2Ki 19:37. He was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god The God of Israel had done enough to convince him that he was the only true God, yet he persists in his idolatry: justly then is his blood mingled with his sacrifices, who will not be convinced, by so dear-bought a demonstration, of his folly in worshipping idols. His sons smote him Smote their own father, (whom they were bound to protect at the hazard of their own lives,) and that when they saw him engaged in the very act of his devotion!
Monstrous villany! But God was righteous in it. Justly are the sons suffered to rebel against their father that begat them, when he was in rebellion against the God that made him. They, whose children are undutiful to them, ought to consider whether they have not been so to their Father in heaven. They escaped into the land of Armenia Which was a country most fit for that purpose, because it was near to that part of Assyria, and was very mountainous, and inaccessible by armies; and the people were stout and warlike, and constant enemies to the Assyrians. And Esar- haddon his son reigned in his stead Who, according to Ezra, (Ezr 4:2,) sent great supplies to his new colony at Samaria; fearing, probably, lest Hezekiah should improve the last great advantage to disturb his late conquest there.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
19:37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons {y} smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
(y) This was the just judgment of God for his blasphemy, that he would be slain before the idol that he preferred to the living God, and by those who should by nature have needed his defence.