2 Kings 19:24

_I HAVE DIGGED AND DRUNK STRANGE WATERS, AND WITH THE SOLE OF MY FEET HAVE I DRIED UP ALL THE RIVERS OF BESIEGED PLACES._ I have digged and drunk strange waters. Here is another instance of boasting that he had overcome the greatest difficulties and disadvantages of nature. Though passing through foreign countries, parts of which extended in inhospitable deserts, where it might have been anticipated that his army would have perished of thirst, he had with skillful and well-applied labour digged into the arid soil, and found a sufficient supply of the necessary fluid. AND WITH THE SOLE OF MY FEET HAVE I DRIED UP ALL THE RIVERS OF BESIEGED PLACES. The metaphor was probably derived from the familiar fact of a gardener opening rills of water by his foot. Assuming that there is some reality, or basis of fact, under this grandiloquent figure, it may be supposed to mean, that the strongest fo...

20-34 All Sennacherib's motions were under the Divine cognizance. God himself undertakes to defend the city; and that person, that place, cannot but be safe, which he undertakes to protect. The invasion of the Assyrians probably had prevented the land from being sown that year. The next is supposed to have been the sabbatical year, but the Lord engaged that the produce of the land should be sufficient for their support during those two years. As the performance of this promise was to be after the destruction of Sennacherib's army, it was a sign to Hezekiah's faith, assuring him of that present deliverance, as an earnest of the Lord's future care of the kingdom of Judah. This the Lord would perform, not for their righteousness, but his own glory. May our hearts be as good ground, that his word may strike root therein, and bring forth fruit in our lives....

Verse 2 Kings 19:24. _I HAVE DIPPED AND DRUNK STRANGE WATERS_] I have conquered _strange countries_, in which I have digged wells for my army; or, I have gained the _wealth_ of strange countries. _WITH THE SOLE OF MY FEET_] My _infantry_ have been so numerous that they alone have been sufficient to drink up the rivers of the places I have besieged....

HAVE DIGGED AND DRUNK ... AND DRIED UP - The meaning seems to be - “Mountains do not stop me - I cross them even in my chariots. Deserts do not stop me - I dig wells there, and drink the water. Rivers do not stop me - I pass them as easily as if they were dry land.” THE RIVERS OF BESIEGED PLACES - Rather, “the rivers of Egypt.” The singular form, Mazor (compare the modern Misr and the Assyrian Muzr), is here used instead of the ordinary dual form, Mizraim, perhaps because “Lower Egypt” only is intended. This was so cut up with canals and branches of the Nile, natural and artificial, that it was regarded as impassable for chariots and horses. Sennacherib, however, thought that these many streams would prove no impediments to him; he would advance as fast as if they were “dried up.”...

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 19:1 SECOND EXPEDITION OF SENNACHERIB AGAINST HEZEKIAH (_continued_)._ _The chapter falls into four portions: (1) The sequel to the embassy of Rabshakeh (2 Kings 19:1); (2) the insulting letter of Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:9); (3) Hezekiah's prayer, and God's answer to it by the mouth of Isaiah (verses 15-34); and (4) the destruction of Sennacherib's host, his hurried flight, and his murder at Nineveh by his sons (verses 35-37). The narrative runs parallel w

2 Kings 19:1...

2. HEZEKIAH AND ISAIAH AND THE DELIVERANCE CHAPTER 19 _ 1. Hezekiah's message to Isaiah (2 Kings 19:1)_ 2. Isaiah's answer. (2 Kings 19:6) 3. Sennacherib's message to Hezekiah (2 Kings 19:8; 2 Chronicles 32:17) 4. Hezekiah's Prayer (2 Kings 19:14; 2 Chronicles 32:20) 5. Jehovah's answer through Isaiah (2 Kin

2 KINGS 19:2. UNTO ISAIAH: from the Book of Isaiah we learn that the prophet had steadily opposed Hezekiah's intrigues against Assyria. SHELNA: Isaiah 22:15 *. 2 Kings 19:9. Ethiopia was the country S. of Egypt. At a time later than this (681 B.C. ?), Tirhakah seems to have established his government in Egypt. There is, therefore, a chronological difficulty in the mention of him here (p. 72). He is, however, not called king of Egypt, and he may have been acting as an ally of the princes of the Nile valley. 2 Kings 19:10. Sennacherib's letter to Hezekiah, showing how hopeless it was for a king of Juda

_I have digged and drunk strange waters_ Probably there is some allusion in this boast which is put into the mouth of Sennacherib to the attempts made by Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 32:3-4) to deprive the Assyrians of a supply of water. Sennacherib means to say: -Do what you may I am able by digging wells wherever I go to get water for my host, even where none had been found before". This is most likely the sense of -strange", which word does not appear in the corresponding verse of Isaiah. _And with the sole of my feet have I dried_ [R.V. WILL I DRY] _up all the rivers of besieged_places] R.V. OF EGYPT. This is a boast of the opposite nature. In Judæa the trouble might be that there was too little water. In Egypt there would be too much. But as in the former case the Assyrian could surmount all difficulties, so he had but to march into Egypt, and at his

_HEZEKIAH, MOURNING, SENDETH TO ISAIAH TO PRAY FOR HIM; HE COMFORTETH HIM: SENNACHERIB SENDETH A BLASPHEMOUS LETTER TO HEZEKIAH; HEZEKIAH'S PRAYER. AN ANGEL SLAYETH THE ASSYRIANS: SENNACHERIB IS SLAIN BY HIS OWN SONS.*_ _Before Christ 710._ * See the Annotations and Reflections on Isaiah, ch. 37 where this chapter is repeated nearly word for word....