Isaiah 36:16

Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern; MAKE (AN AGREEMENT) WITH ME (BY) A PRESENT - `Make peace with me;' literally, blessing, Hebrew, berakah; so called from the mutual congratulations attending the ratification of peace. So the Chaldaic. Or else, 'Do homage to me' (Horsley). COME OUT TO ME - surrender to me; then you may remain in quiet possession of our lands until my return from Egypt, when I will lead you away to a land fruitful as your own. Rabshakeh tries to soften, in the eyes of the Jews, the well-known Assyrian policy of weakening the vanquished by deporting them to other lands. Compare the Egyptian policy, , with the A...

16._Do not listen to Hezekiah. _While he labors to turn away the hearts of the people from Hezekiah, he at the same time invites them to pleasures, that they may forget God and not expect anything from him. It is as if he had said, “Do not believe God, but rather believe my king.” Thus Satan deals with us; for, darkening the goodness of God by his clouds, and holding out to us the masks of false hope, he secretly and indirectly creeps into the place of God, or employs creatures to entangle us in his nets. He holds out pleasures, and some kind of more agreeable life, with this boast, “God shews it to you at a distance, I present it to you.” Though Hezekiah is mentioned, yet the comparison is actually made between God and the king of Assyria; for Hezekiah, as he was the servant of God, made no false pretensions, and did not boast of any vain confidence, but, relying on true and most certai...

Verse Isaiah 36:16. _MAKE AN AGREEMENT_] ברכה _berachah, make a blessing with_ _me_; i.e., Give me a ransom for the city, and I will not destroy it; give me the yearly tribute thou hast promised....

HEARKEN NOT TO HEZEKIAH - Do not listen to his entreaties to confide in him, and in Yahweh; do not unite with him in endeavoring to make any resistance or opposition to us. MAKE AN AGREEMENT WITH ME BY A PRESENT - The Septuagint read this, Ει ̓ βούλεσθε εὐλογηθῆναι _Ei_ _boulesthe_ _eulogēthēnai_ - ‘If you wish to be blessed, or happy, come out to me.’ The Hebrew is literally, ‘Make with me a blessing’ (ברכה _b__e__râkâh_). The idea of its being done ‘by a present,’ is not in the Hebrew text. The word ‘blessing’ here probably means the same as peace. ‘Make peace with me,’ perhaps because peace was regarded as a blessing; and perhaps the word is used with a reference to one of the significations of: ברך _bārak_, which is to kneel down, and

PART II. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF EVENTS IN THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH (CH. 36-39.). SECTION I. SENNACHERIB'S ATTEMPTS TO REDUCE JUDAEA, AND HIS OVERTHROW (Isaiah 36:1; Isaiah 37:1.). EXPOSITION IF the Book of Isaiah be regarded as the result of a gradual accretion (see the General Introduction), whether that accretion is to be ascribed to the action of the prophet himself or to that of later editors, we may equally consi

HEARKEN NOT TO HEZEKIAH,.... To his exhortations and persuasions to trust in the Lord; nor would he have them obey him in things civil, any more than hearken to him in things sacred, though their liege lord and sovereign; for his view and endeavour were to stir them up to mutiny and rebellion; and so the Targum, "do not obey Hezekiah:'' or receive any orders from him, or pay any regard to them: FOR THUS SAITH THE KING OF ASSYRIA, MAKE AN AGREEMENT WITH ME BY A PRESENT; or, "make a blessing with me" i; either send a large and liberal gift to secure his favour, and their happiness; a most insolent and unrighteous demand this, when he had already received three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold, to withdraw his army; or make a blessed peace with me; suggesting that it would turn more to their account to give up themselves to him, than to be in the condition they were;...

THE HISTORICAL PARENTHESIS (36-39) The center of the book of Isaiah is a brief but deeply interesting historical account of events during the reign of King Hezekiah. His name is mentioned not less than thirty-one times in these Chapter s. His great works in reformation and otherwise are recorded in 2 Kings 18:4, 2 Chronicles 29:1; 2Ch 30:5-22, 2 Kings 20:20. From Proverbs 25:1 we learn that he was a great lover of the Word of God, for he had it copied, perhaps by many scribes. He was 25 years old when he ascended the throne and reigned 29 years, 727-699 B.C. No doubt he was one of the greatest kings of Judah. T

ISAIAH 36-39. This section has been extracted from 2 Kings 18:13 to 2 Kings 20:19, and the Song of Hezekiah has been added. For an exposition see the notes on 2 K.; here we have simply to deal with the Song of Hezekiah. ISAIAH 38:10. THANKSGIVING FOR DELIVERANCE FROM IMMINENT DEATH. This is now generally regarded as a post-exilic psalm. Its absence in the parallel narratine in Kings is significant. Apparently it was inserted here by an editor who thought it suitable to Hezekiah's circumstances. If, as seems likely, it has been influenced by the Book of Job, it must be post-exilic. The title cannot, any more than the Psalm titles, weigh against internal evidence. Hezekiah's writing after his recov

EVERY ONE. man, as in Isaiah 36:6....

The Rabshakeh's appeal to the people....