_SENNACHERIB INVADETH JUDAH. RABSHAKEH, SENT BY SENNACHERIB, BY BLASPHEMOUS PERSUASIONS SOLICITETH THE PEOPLE TO REVOLT: HIS WORDS ARE TOLD TO HEZEKIAH._ _Before Christ 714._ IN this and the three following Chapter s is contained the HISTORICAL part of the book of Isaiah, relating a memorable tra... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW IT CAME TO PASS— This famous expedition happened in the year of the world 4001, seven hundred and thirteen years before Christ. Concerning Sennacherib, see Univ. Hist. vol. 2: p. 79 vol. iv. 162, &c. _All the defenced cities,_ must mean all those which were in the way; for it is plain that he ha... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE KING OF ASSYRIA SENT RABSHAKEH— The prophet omits what is related in 2 Kings 18:14, that Hezekiah sent ambassadors to Sennacherib at Lachish. What is here related probably happened after Sennacherib returned from his Egyptian expedition. See Joseph. Antiq. book 10: chap. 1: _Rabshakeh_ is th... [ Continue Reading ]
I SAY, &C.— _Thou hast said,_ (_but they are vain words,_) _I have counsel and strength sufficient for the war._ Lowth.... [ Continue Reading ]
LO, THOU TRUSTETH IN THE STAFF OF THIS BROKEN REED— This comparison is excellently adapted to denote an ally, who is not only weak and unable to help, but also dangerous to those who rely upon him for succour; and his representing the power of Egypt to be as brittle as the reeds growing upon the ban... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF THOU SAY, &C.— It appears from this passage, what deep root idolatry had taken in the time of Ahaz, when Hezekiah, the great reformer of religion, seemed to have instituted a new one in the eyes of foreigners and strangers. _Before this altar,_ means before the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AM I NOW COME UP WITHOUT THE LORD— It is plain from the seventh verse, that Rabshakeh, by _the Lord,_ meant that god whom himself or his master the king of Assyria adored, and not the Jehovah of the Jews; he boasts therefore that he did not come without the permission of this god: His prophets a... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT RABSHAKEH SAID, &C.— This verse would be clearer, if read thus, _Hath thy master sent me to my master and to thee_ [only] _to speak these words? Hath he not sent me also to the men who sit upon the wall,_ &c. The meaning is, that they may be reduced to such extremity by a close and long siege, a... [ Continue Reading ]
MAKE AN AGREEMENT WITH ME.— _Make peace with me._ Vitringa. The full meaning of the next phrase, _come out to me,_ is, _rejoice in your liberty._ He invites the people, now shut up through fear within the walls of Jerusalem, to make a treaty of peace with him, and thus to enjoy their liberty without... [ Continue Reading ]
AND OF CORN AND WINE, &C.— It is added in 2 Kings 18:32 _a land of oil-olive and of honey._ It is still usual among the Arabs to dip their bread in oil of olives. Maillet tells us, that the poor people of Egypt use, out of necessity, a sort of oil drawn from a plant called _cirica,_ and that the Jew... [ Continue Reading ]
BEWARE, LEST HEZEKIAH PERSUADE— _Let not Hezekiah seduce you with words of this kind._ Vitringa. Agreeably to the opinion of all the Pagan nations, Rabshakeh considers and speaks of Jehovah as the tutelary deity of the Jews: Now, as their tutelary deities had not delivered the cities and nations her... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH THEIR CLOTHES RENT— In token of their grief and astonishment, both for the blasphemy of Rabshakeh, and on account of their dread of the approaching calamity. It was usual not only in cases of grief, but also of blasphemy, to rend the clothes: a custom doubtless of great antiquity, and very suit... [ Continue Reading ]