Bible Commentaries

Hezekiah, like his officers, probably rent his clothes on account of Rab-shakeh's blasphemies: and he put on sackcloth in self-humiliation and in grief. The only hope left was in Yahweh, for Egypt could not be trusted to effect anything of importance. Rab-shakeh's boldness had told upon Hezekiah. He was dispirited and dejected. He perhaps began to doubt whether he had done right in yielding to the bolder counsels of Eliakim and Isaiah. He had not lost his faith in God; but his faith was being severely tried. He wisely went and strove by prayer to strengthen it.

Isaiah is here for the first time introduced into the history. His own writings show us how active a part he had taken in it for many years previously. This was the fourth reign since he began his prophesyings; and during two reigns at least, those of Ahaz and Hezekiah, he had been a familiar counselor of the monarch. He had probably counseled the revolt from Assyria, and had encouraged the king and people to persevere in their resistance. The exact date of prophecies can seldom be fixed with any certainty; but we can scarcely he mistaken in regarding 2 Kings 10; 30; 31 as written about the time of Hezekiah's second revolt.

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."

Will hear - i. e., "will show that he has heard - will notice and punish."

The living God - See 1 Samuel 17:26 note.

And will reprove the words - Rather, "will reprove him for the words."

The remnant - i. e., for the kingdom of Judah, the only remnant of God's people that was now left, after Galilee and Gilead and Samaria had all been carried away captive.

Will send a blast upon him - Rather, "I will put a spirit in him " - i. e., "I will take from him his present pride and will put in him a new spirit, a spirit of craven fear." Men shall tell him of the destruction that has come upon his host 2 Kings 19:35, and he shall straightway return, etc.

On Lachish and Libnah, see Joshua 10:3, note; Joshua 10:29, note. The phrase, "he was departed from Lachish" is suggestive of successful resistance.

Tirhakah king of Ethiopia - The Tehrak or Teharka of the hieroglyphics. He was the last king of the 25th or Ethiopian dynasty, which commenced with Shebek or Sabaco, and he reigned upward of 26 years. The Assyrian inscriptions show that he still ruled in Egypt as late as 667 B.C., when Esarhaddon 2 Kings 19:37 died, and his son Asshur-bani-pal succeeded him. He probably ascended the Egyptian throne about 692 B.C., having previously ruled over Ethiopia before he became king of Egypt (compare Isaiah 37:9). Thus he was probably reigning in Ethiopia at the time of Sennacherib's expedition, while Sethos and perhaps other secondary monarchs bore rule over Egypt. His movements caused Sennacherib to send a second embassy, instead of marching in person against the Jewish king.

All lands - This boast is in strict accordance with the general tenor of the Assyrian inscriptions. Hyperbole is the general language of the East; but in this instance it was not so extreme as in some others. The Assyrians under Sargon and Sennacherib had enjoyed an uninterrupted series of military successes: they had succeeded in establishing their pre-eminence from the Median desert to the banks of the Nile, and from the shores of Lake Van to those of the Persian Gulf.