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| 1 And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD. |
King Hezektah – God himself was King of Israel, Hezekiah his representative upon the throne. R1358:4 Isaiah 37:7
A blast – Some have supposed that it was a simoon, or sandstorm, not uncommon in the vicinity of the Arabian desert. Jewish tradition ascribes the destruction to a pestilence. R2382:2
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| 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. |
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| 3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. |
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| 4 It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left. |
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| 5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. |
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| 6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. |
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| 7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. |
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| 8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. |
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| 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, |
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| 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. |
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| 11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered? |
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| 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? |
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| 13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? |
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| 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. |
Hezekiah – We may admire his sterling character; he was a great reformer in his day. R1358:6
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| 15 And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying,
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Hezekiah prayed – Because fear prevailed in Jerusalem. R4833:1
For deliverance, but this was not a precedent for other nations to follow. R1358:5
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| 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. |
God of Israel – Israel was under a special covenant with God; and Hezekiah was their sovereign and arbiter of their destiny. R4832:3
Between the cherubims – Between love and power, above a foundation of justice. T124
Always connected with the immediate presence or throne of God. R529:6*
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| 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. |
Incline thine ear – The king and people sought the Lord in prayer. R4833:1
Sennacherib – Loudly proclaimed his victories, warning the people not to trust in their God. R4833:1
Violated his compact not to attack Jerusalem. R4832:6
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| 18 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries. |
Assyria – Threatened to become the first universal empire. R4832:3
Laid waste – Whole country filled with fear as nearly forty cities of Judah fell. R4832:6
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| 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. |
Gods into the fire – The gods of other peoples all failed before Sennacherib. R4833:1
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| 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. |
Our God, save us – Fear prevailed in Jerusalem. R4833:1
Israel was God's peculiar people, under his special protection and care. R1358:3
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| 21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria: |
Isaiah – Hezekiah's faithful friend and advisor, and supposed tutor in earlier years. R2381:3
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| 22 This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. |
This is the word – Evidently intended to be the answer which Hezekiah should send to Sennacherib through Rabshekah. R2381:5
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| 23 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. |
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| 24 By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel. |
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| 25 I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places. |
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| 26 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 defenced cities into ruinous heaps. |
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| 27 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up. |
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| 28 But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. |
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| 29 Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest. |
Hook...bridle – Figurative, representing the manner in which bullocks and horses are controlled--thus would the Lord control the Assyrian army. R2381:5
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| 30 And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. |
This shall be a sign – That the retreat of Sennacherib's army was not just temporary, and that he would not come upon them again. R2382:4
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| 31 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward: |
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| 32 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this. |
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| 33 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. |
Thus saith the LORD – Israel's history shows how God actually did deal with them. R1358:6
He shall not come – God honored Hezekiah's prayer for deliverance. R1358:6
"The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth and delivereth them." (Psa. 34:17) R1358:6
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| 34 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. |
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| 35 For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. |
I will defend – As long as they were obedient they had prosperity and no evil could befall them. R1358:4
The lesson for us is to note divine power which overrules, orders and directs that all things work together for good. R4833:4
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| 36 Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. |
Angel of the LORD – Jehovah fought Israel's battles anciently without being seen. R286:3
Wind, fire or lightning may be the Lord's messengers or angels. R4833:2, R2382:2
Smote – The messenger of death may have been a malignant form of fever. R4833:2
Egyptian history records the departure of Sennacherib's army, ascribing its retreat to an invasion of field mice, gnawing the quivers, bowstrings and thongs--but perhaps figurative of the pestilence, represented in Egypt by the mouse. R2382:2
Assyrians – It was not the Lord's will that Assyria should become the first universal empire. R4833:4
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| 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. |
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| 38 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. |
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