2 Kings 18:8

_HE SMOTE THE PHILISTINES, EVEN UNTO GAZA, AND THE BORDERS THEREOF, FROM THE TOWER OF THE WATCHMEN TO THE FENCED CITY._ No JFB commentary on this verse....

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 18:8. _FROM THE TOWER OF THE WATCHMEN_] See the same words, 2 Kings 17:9. It seems a proverbial mode of expression: he reduced every kind of fortification; nothing was able to stand before him....

Sargon had established the complete dominion of Assyria over the Philistines. Hence, the object of Hezekiah’s Philistine campaign was not so much conquest as opposition to the Assyrian power. How successful it was is indicated in the Assyrian records by the number of towns in this quarter which Sennacherib recovered before he proceeded against Jerusalem....

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 SMOTE THE PHILISTINES EVEN UNTO GAZA, AND THE BORDERS THEREOF,.... Who in his father's time had invaded Judah, and taken many cities and towns in it, which Hezekiah now recovered, and drove them to their own territories, of which Gaza was one; see 2 Chronicles 28:18 FROM THE TOWER OF THE WATCHMEN TO THE FENCED CITY; that is, places both great and small, cities, towns, and villages; of this phrase, see 2 Kings 17:9....

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 ...

_he smote the Philistines_, even _unto Gaza_ Gaza was the most southern of the five great towns of the Philistines, so that it is intimated that the whole land of Philistia was overrun by the king of Judah. _from the tower of the watchmen, &c._ See above on 2 Kings 17:9 note....

I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH 18:1-12 TRANSLATION (1) And it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. (2) He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And the name of his mother was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. (3) And he did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD according to all which David his father had done. (4) He removed the high places, and broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherah, and smashed the bronze serpent which Moses had made; for unto those days the children of Israel were burning incense to it; and they called it Nehushtan. (5) In the LORD God of Israel did he trust, and after him there was none like him among all the kings of Israel, nor among those who were before him. (6) For he clun...