2 Kings 20 - Introduction
XX. HEZEKIAH’S SICKNESS AND RECOVERY. THE BABYLONIAN EMBASSY. CONCLUSION. Parallel accounts may be read in Isaiah 38, 39.; 2 Chronicles 32:24.... [ Continue Reading ]
XX. HEZEKIAH’S SICKNESS AND RECOVERY. THE BABYLONIAN EMBASSY. CONCLUSION. Parallel accounts may be read in Isaiah 38, 39.; 2 Chronicles 32:24.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THOSE DAYS — _i.e.,_ in the time of the Assyrian invasion. The illness may have been caused, or at least aggravated, by the intense anxiety which this grave peril created. Hezekiah reigned 29 years (2 Kings 18:2), and the invasion began in his 14th year (2 Kings 18:13). In 2 Kings 20:6 he is prom... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN HE TURNED HIS FACE_._ — And he turned his face round (1 Kings 21:4). Hezekiah did so to avoid being disturbed in his prayer; and perhaps because grief instinctively seeks a hiding-place.... [ Continue Reading ]
REMEMBER NOW HOW I HAVE WALKED ... — Hezekiah deprecates an untimely death — the punishment of the wicked (Proverbs 10:27) — on account of his zeal for Jehovah and against the idols. As Thenius remarks, there is nothing surprising in his apparent self-praise if we remember such passages as Psalms 18... [ Continue Reading ]
INTO THE MIDDLE COURT. — This is the reading of some Heb. MSS., and of all the versions. The Hebrew text (_city;_ see margin) is wrong. Before Isaiah had left the precincts of the palace, he was bidden to return. (Keil says that here, as in 2 Kings 10:25, the word rendered “city” denotes “castle,” _... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CAPTAIN OF MY PEOPLE. — Or, _ruler_ (_nâgîd_)_;_ a designation of honour (1 Kings 1:35; 1 Samuel 10:1). This is wanting in Isaiah 38, as well as the end of the verse “I will heal thee,” &c. That narrative looks like an abbreviated transcript of the present, or of a common original. ON THE THIRD... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL ADD UNTO THY DAYS FIFTEEN YEARS. — In the Jewish reckoning fourteen years and a fraction of a year would count as fifteen years. With this very definite prediction comp. Isaiah 7:8; Isaiah 23:15; Jeremiah 25:11. AND I WILL DELIVER THEE ... — So that the Assyrians had not yet retired from the... [ Continue Reading ]
In Isaiah these two verses are given at the end of the narrative; a position in which they are obviously out of place. Probably some copyist, after accidentally omitting them where they properly belonged, added them there, “with marks for insertion in their proper places, which marks were afterwards... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT SHALL BE THE SIGN ...? — Comp. 2 Kings 19:29 and note; Isaiah 7:11 _seq.,_ where Isaiah requests Ahaz to choose a sign. The sign was obviously a token that the prophet’s word would come true.... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL THE SHADOW GO FORWARD TEN DEGREES, OR GO BACK TEN DEGREES? — Rather, _the shadow hath marched_ (or _travelled_)_ ten steps; shall it return ten steps?_ This is what the Hebrew text seems to say at a first glance. But Hezekiah’s answer apparently implies an alternative; and we _might_ render: “... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS A LIGHT THING FOR THE SHADOW TO GO DOWN. — Because that was the ordinary course of things. As a natural phenomenon, of course, the _sudden_ extension of the shadow would have been as wonderful as its retrogression; but what is in any way a familiar occurrence must needs _seem_ easier than what... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ISAIAH THE PROPHET CRIED UNTO THE LORD. — Thus the sign is evidently regarded by the historian as something directly involving the Divine agency, _i.e.,_ as a miracle. HE BROUGHT... AHAZ. — Literally, _and he_ (_i.e.,_ Jehovah) _made the shadow return on the steps, which it had descended in the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE EMBASSY OP MERODACH-BALADAN (2 Kings 20:12). (12) AT THAT TIME BERODACH-BALADAN. — As to the name, _Berodach_ is a transcriber’s error for _Merodach_ (Jeremiah 1:2). Some MSS. of Kings, and the LXX., Syriac, and Arabic, as well as Isaiah 39:1, and the Talmud, spell the name with _m,_ a letter e... [ Continue Reading ]
HEARKENED UNTO. — A scribe’s error for “was glad of them” (Isaiah, and many MSS. and the versions here). THE SILVER, AND THE GOLD. — This, as well as the phrase in 2 Kings 20:17, “that which thy fathers have laid up,” appears to contradict 2 Kings 18:15. Schrader regards this as an indication that H... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT SAID THESE MEN? — “Isaiah, with that fearless assumption of a superior position which we have noticed in Isaiah 7, at once challenges the king to explain his conduct. Jehovah’s will is opposed to all coquetting with foreign powers. (Comp. Isaiah 30:1.)” [_Cheyne_.] FROM A FAR COUNTRY. — So the... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, THE DAYS COME ... — Comp. 2 Chronicles 32:25; 2 Chronicles 32:31. It is there said that Divine wrath fell upon Hezekiah, because his heart was lifted up; and that the Babylonian embassy was an occasion in which God made proof of his inward tendencies. Self-confidence and vanity would be awak... [ Continue Reading ]
THY SONS... BEGET — _i.e._, thy descendants. Comp, the fulfilment (Daniel 1:3). Ewald refers to the captivity of Hezekiah’s own son Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:11). EUNUCHS. — Rather, _courtiers, palace attendants_ (so Josephus). Cheyne, “chamberlains” (so Thenius: _kämmerer_)_. _... [ Continue Reading ]
GOOD IS THE WORD OF THE LORD ... — Pious acquiescence in the will of God. (Comp. Eli’s: “It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.” Comp, also a similar expression in 1 Kings 2:38.) IS IT NOT GOOD, IF PEACE ... — This rendering appears to be right. Severe as is the prophetic word of judgmen... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS MIGHT. — See 2 Chronicles 32; Isaiah 33:18; Psalms 48:12. A POOL... A CONDUIT... WATER. — Rather, _the pool_... _the conduit_... _the water._ The pool of Hezekiah is now the _Birket-Hammâm-el-Batrak._ (See Notes on 2 Chronicles 32:4; 2 Chronicles 32:30, and Isaiah 7:3.)... [ Continue Reading ]