Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible · Isaiah Kapitel 37

Isaiah 37:2. And he sent—unto Isaiah the prophet— It appears through the whole sacred history to have been the custom to consult prophets of remarkable authority in doubtful cases. The present example is parallel to that mentioned 2 Kings 22:13-14.

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Isaiah 37:3. For the children are come to the birth— This was a proverbial expression, used to convey ideas of the greatest calamity and almost inevitable danger. Procopius thus explains the words: "We are in pain to hear such blasphemous expressions, but are unable to punish those who have made use of them." Vitringa says the meaning is, "Matters are now in the utmost distress; so that, unless some extraordinary remedy or help be brought, there is an end of the public and domestic safety." The idea is taken from a woman in child-birth, so greatly weakened by her pains, that without some extraordinary assistance there can be no hope of her delivery. See Hosea 13:13.

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Isaiah 37:4. Sent to reproach the living God, &c.— This strongly marks the distinction between the Almighty, considered as the tutelary God of his chosen people, and the tutelary deities of the Pagan nations: The latter were only lifeless idols; the former was endued with unceasing life, and the source of life to all creatures. Vitringa renders the next clause, And to affront with words: It is remarkable, that Hezekiah, in great modesty and humility, as if he was unworthy of his favour and regard, calls Jehovah, not his God, but thy God, the God of that Isaiah who was devoted to him, and peculiarly happy in his communion and favour. The last clause properly should be rendered, For the remnant which are found, "which actually exist at this time in their country." See 2Ch 35:18 in the original.

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Isaiah 37:7. Behold, I will send a blast upon him— Behold, I will put a spirit [of fear] into him, when he shall hear, &c. Vitringa. See chap. Isa 31:8-9 whence it clearly follows, that the interpretation here given is right, and that the prophet here refers to the fears of Sennacherib upon the report of Tirhakah's invasion, and not a pestilential blast, as our version would lead one to think.

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Isaiah 37:8. Found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah— Libah was not far from Lachish, both being situated on the mountains of Judah. It is probable, that Sennacherib, finding himself unable to take the latter, had removed to Libnah, which he considered as a place not so well fortified; and so situated, that, by keeping a strong guard in the passes of the mountains, he should be able to carry on the siege, notwithstanding the approach of Tirhakah; who, most probably, was the same with the Sabaco of Herodotus. See Univ. Hist. vol. 4: p. 321. It is very difficult to determine the places mentioned in the subsequent verses. It is most likely that the king of Assyria thought by this message to have terrified Hezekiah and the people into compliance, which was now the more necessary for him, as the invasion of Tirhakah rendered it less proper for him to attempt so long and difficult a siege as that of Jerusalem was likely to prove.

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Isaiah 37:15. And Hezekiah prayed— The Pagans taught the knowledge of God, and the nature of their hero gods, only in their mysteries. The Hebrews were the only people whose object in their public and national worship, was the God of the universe. Josephus tells Apion, that the high and sublime knowledge which the Gentiles attained with difficulty in the rare and temporal celebration of their mysteries, was usually taught to the Jews at all times. "Can any government," says he, "be more holy than this, or any religion better adapted to the nature of the Deity? Where, in any place but this, are the whole people, by the special diligence of the priests, to whom the care of public instruction is committed, accurately taught the principles of true piety?—For those things which the Gentiles keep up for a few days only, that is, during those solemnities which they call mysteries and initiations, we, with vast delight, and a plenitude of knowledge which admits of no error, fully enjoy and perpetually contemplate through the whole course of our lives. If you ask the nature of those things which in our sacred rites are enjoined and forbidden, I answer, they are simple, and easily understood. The first instruction relates to the Deity; and teaches, that God contains all things, and is a being every way perfect, and the sole cause of all existence; the beginning, the middle, and the end of all things." This verse would be rather clearer, if we were to read, Thou, even thou alone, art the God of all the kingdoms, &c. Hezekiah here asserts the sole and universal dominion of the Lord God of Israel. See Isaiah 37:20. Psalms 96:5.Jeremiah 10:11; Jeremiah 10:11. Divine Legation, book 2: and Vitringa.

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Isaiah 37:18. Have laid waste all the nations, &c.— This is literally in the Hebrew, All the lands and their land; but our translation undoubtedly gives the proper sense. See 2 Kings 19:17.

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Isaiah 37:22. The virgin, the daughter of Zion, &c.— Well-formed cities and states, flourishing, free, and obedient to honest and legal rule, are every where in Scripture compared to virgins. By the daughter of Zion, and of Jerusalem, are meant the people, inhabitants of Zion and Jerusalem. The image is extremely fine, whereby the contempt of Sennacherib's threats is expressed.

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Isaiah 37:26. Hast thou not heard long ago— The address of God to the Assyrian is here continued from Isa 37:23 wherein he answers the boastings of this proud prince, and convinces him that all his counsel and power were nothing, since these events wholly depended on a superior cause; namely, his sovereign will and over-ruling providence, whereof he had made the Assyrian the instrument in his Almighty hand.

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Isaiah 37:29. Therefore will I put my hook, &c.— The meaning of the passage is plain, that God would so dispose matters by his providence, as to compel the Assyrian to return back with his army, circumscribing and leading him like a horse, or a wild beast, wherever and as he pleased. The metaphor, in the latter part, is plainly taken from a horse, an ass, or mule; but it is doubtful, whether the former metaphor alludes to the method by which they managed their hearts in the East, particularly the dromedaries, which are led by a cord fastened to a ring, run through the nostrils of the beast; or, to the absolute power that a man has over a fish which is fastened by the nose to his hook. See Ezekiel 19:4; Ezekiel 29:3.

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Isaiah 37:30. And this shall be a sign unto thee— The discourse is here directed to Hezekiah, whose faith in the event just predicted God is pleased to confirm by an additional sign; which sign, as it was not to happen till the event above predicted was fulfilled, was to be considered as a token, not only of God's interposition in that event, but also of his peculiar favour and protection after Sennacherib was departed. In other passages of Scripture we have signs given in the same manner, particularly Exodus 3:12. See also ch. Isa 7:14 of our prophet. At the time that Isaiah spoke this, nothing seemed more improbable than that the Jews, delivered from the Assyrians, should freely use and enjoy their land, and be supported from its spontaneous productions, as well in this as in the subsequent sabbatical year. Pilkington observes, that the word ספיח saphiiach rendered such things as grow of themselves, properly signifies, the "natural produce of the ground the first year it was cultivated;" and the word שׁחיס shachiis, rendered, that which springeth of the same, denotes, "the natural produce of the ground the second year;" which likewise was produced by the seed scattered in the preceding harvest.

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Isaiah 37:33. Therefore thus saith the Lord— There is a gradation in these words, as is usual with Isaiah. The first declaration is, that Sennacherib, if he shall attempt to besiege the city, shall never be able to succeed: He shall not come into this city. The second is, that he shall not bring his army so near to the city as to come before it with shields, or raise a bank against it. To come before it with a shield, is, to defend himself with a shield when besieging a city, or making any attacks upon the walls. The third, that he shall not even shoot an arrow into the city, which might be done from far. The word סללה solelah rendered a bank, says Pilkington, seems rather to signify an engine of war made use of in slinging stones or any heavy body into or against a besieged city. The Hebrew word שׁפךֶ shapak with which it is connected, properly signifies to pour out, and therefore may be applied either to the pouring out of vessels earth or rubbish to raise a mount, or to the pouring out of stones from an engine. According to this observation, it might be rendered, nor play an engine there. In one of the Greek versions in the Hexapla it is rendered βηλοστασεις ballistas, or battering engines. See Eze 26:8 in the original. Possibly it might be rendered, with equal propriety, nor raise a battery against it. See Parkhurst on the word סללה. This verse is to be understood properly and directly of Sennacherib and his army.

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Isaiah 37:35. For my servant David's sake— All the promises made to David were made to him in Christ; he and his kingdom were types of the kingdom of Christ. It is to this, and not to the personal merits of David, that the sacred writer here alludes.

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Isaiah 37:36. Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote— Sennacherib, flushed with his victories, and breathing destruction against the kingdom of Judah, which had withdrawn its allegiance from him, in his opprobrious message to Hezekiah and his subjects, not only inveighed against them, but blasphemously reviled even their God, bringing down the great God of Israel to the contemptible level of the gods of the nations; putting him to open defiance, and charging him with impotence to his face. This then was the time for the Lord to vindicate his honour, to assert his supremacy and power, and to make both parties sensible, that he was "glorious in might, equally able to help and to cast down, to save and to destroy." Accordingly, this blasphemous tyrant had scarcely advanced to the holy city, before his forces were instantly broken, as appears from the verse before us. This tremendous act forced him to retreat with shame and confusion, and made it visible to all the nations, especially to the Jews, that JEHOVAH was a God "mighty in strength, and excellent in power:" that he was truly, what he styled himself, "The Lord of Hosts;" and that there was no other God that could deliver after this sort. Josephus asserts, that this destruction was occasioned by a pestilential disease: Antiq. lib. x. c. 2. But his authority, says Vitringa, in matters of this kind, is of no great weight. It is my opinion, continues he, that in a dreadful tempest, raised by this destroying angel, these men were killed by lightning; their bodies being burnt within, while their outward garments were untouched. See ch. Isaiah 10:16 Isa 29:6 Isa 30:30 and Psa 76:8 which, probably, was composed upon this occasion. We have in prophane history accounts of remarkable destructions by lightning. See Diodor. lib 11. Justin, lib. xxiv. c. 8. and Pausan. Enaticis, lib. i. p. 5.

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