2 Kings 18:4

_HE REMOVED THE HIGH PLACES, AND BRAKE THE IMAGES, AND CUT DOWN THE GROVES, AND BRAKE IN PIECES THE BRASEN SERPENT THAT MOSES HAD MADE: FOR UNTO THOSE DAYS THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL DID BURN INCENSE TO IT: AND HE CALLED IT NEHUSHTAN._ He removed the high places ..) - i:e., pillars or altars of stone (Deuteronomy 7:5; Deuteronomy 12:3; Deuteronomy 16:22) erected on the summit of hills or any kind of eminence for unlawful and frequently idolatrous purposes (2 Kings 12:3; 2 Kings 14:4;...

1-8 Hezekiah was a true son of David. Some others did that which was right, but not like David. Let us not suppose that when times and men are bad, they must needs grow worse and worse; that does not follow: after many bad kings, God raised one up like David himself. The brazen serpent had been carefully preserved, as a memorial of God's goodness to their fathers in the wilderness; but it was idle and wicked to burn incense to it. All helps to devotion, not warranted by the word of God, interrupt the exercise of faith; they always lead to superstition and other dangerous evils. Human nature perverts every thing of this kind. True faith needs not such aids; the word of God, daily thought upon and prayed over, is all the outward help we need....

Verse 2 Kings 18:4. _BRAKE IN PIECES THE BRAZEN SERPENT._] The history of this may be seen in Numbers 21:8; Numbers 21:9; see the notes there. We find that this brazen serpent had become an object of idolatry, and no doubt was supposed to possess, as a _telesm_ or _amulet_, extraordinary virtues, and that incense was burnt before it which should have been burnt before the true God. _AND HE CALLED IT NEHUSHTAN._] נהשתן. Not one of the _versions_ has attempted to _translate_ this word. _Jarchi_ says, "He called it Nechustan, through contempt, which is as much as to say, _a brazen_ _serpent_." Some have supposed that the word is compounded of נח

HE REMOVED THE HIGH PLACES - This religious reformation was effected in a violent and tumultuous manner (marginal reference). The “high places,” though forbidden in the Law (Deuteronomy 12:2, Deuteronomy 12:11; compare Leviticus 26:30), had practically received the sanction of Samuel 1Sa 7:10; 1 Samuel 9:12, David 2 Samuel 15:32, Solomon 1 Kings 3:4, and others, and had long be

EXPOSITION 18-25 THE HISTORY OF THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH AFTER THE FALL OF SAMARIA. 2 KINGS 18:1 THE ACCESSION OF HEZEKIAH. HIS SUCCESSES. HIS WAR WITH SENNACHERIB. 2 KINGS 18:1 THE EARLY YEARS Or HEZEKIAH. From his narrative of the destruction of the kingdom of Samaria, the writer

HE REMOVED THE HIGH PLACES,.... Which the best of the kings of Judah never attempted, and which is observed of them to their discredit: AND BROKE THE IMAGES, AND CUT DOWN THE GROVES; the idols his father set up and served, 2 Kings 16:4, groves and idols in them, were early instances of idolatry; Judges 3:7, and their use for temples are still continued, not only among some Indian nations l, but among some Christians in the northern parts of Europe m; AND BRAKE IN PIECES THE BRAZEN SERPENT THAT MOSES HAD MADE; which he made in the wilderness, and which was brought by the children of Israel with them into the land of Canaan, and was kept as a memorial of the miracle wrought by looking to it, being laid up in some proper place where it had been preserved to this day:...

GROVES (_ See Scofield) - (Deuteronomy 16:21). _...

IV. THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH, MANASSEH AND AMON 1. Hezekiah and Sennacherib's Invasion CHAPTER 18 _ 1. Hezekiah, King of Judah (2 Kings 18:1; 2 Kings 2 Chron. 29-32)_ 2. The Revival (2 Kings 18:4) 3. Victory over the Philistines (2 Kings 18:8) 4. Israel's captivity (2 Kings 18:9) 5. Sennacherib's invasion (2 Kings 18:13) 6. Sennacherib's messengers and message ...

2 KINGS 18-20. THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH. These three Chapter s give an account of the reign of the best king of Judah, and a parallel but somewhat less full account is found in Isaiah 36-39. There is another account in 2 Chronicles 29 f. The annalistic tablets, etc., of the Assyrian kings give us more information about Hezekiah than about any other king. They confirm the good impression given in the Bible; but the chronology, if we follow them, has to be completely modified. To understand the history contained in 2 Kings 18-20 the following facts and dates should be borne in mind: (_a_) Samaria fell in the reign of Sargon, in 722 B.C. (_b_) Merodachbaladan (2 Kings 20:12) established himself as king in Babylon (721), and held his own against Sargon till 710. (_c_) Sargon's army overran Judah about 711 ...

GROVES. _'Asherah,_ singular. See note on Exodus 34:13, and App-42. BRASEN SERPENT. Compare Numbers 21:9. Now 835 years old. (From 1452 to 617. 835). CHILDREN. sons. NEHUSHTAN. a brass thing....