Isaiah 37:14

And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. SPREAD IT BEFORE THE LORD - unrolled the scroll of writing. God 'knows our necessities before we ask Him,' but He delights in our unfolding them to Him with filial confidence. So Jehoshapat, ; 2 Chronicles 20:11....

14._Hezekiah took the letters. _The Prophet now shews what kind of refuge Hezekiah had amidst so great calamities. He immediately went into the Temple, to lament before the Lord the calamity which: he could not remove, and to “cast upon him” (Psalms 55:22) his grief and his anxieties. (51) Nor was this a blind or confused lamentation, but the pious king wished to move God by his tears and complaints to render assistance. We are taught by his example that, when we are sore pressed, there is nothing better than to east our burden into the bosom of God. All other methods of relief will be of no avail, if this single method be wanting. _And spread them before Jehovah. _In “spreading the letters before the Lord,” he does not do this as if the Lord did not know what was contained in the letters, but God allows us to act in this manner towards h

Verse Isaiah 37:14. _AND READ IT_ - "And read them"] ויקראם _vayikraem_. So MS. Bodl. in this place; and so the other copy; instead of ויקראהו _vaiyikraehu_, "and read IT." _AND SPREAD IT_ - "And spread them"] ויפרשהו _vaiyiphresehu_. הו hu is upon a rasure in a MS., which probably was at first ם _mem_. The same mistake as in the foregoing note....

AND HEZEKIAH RECEIVED THE LETTER - Hebrew, ‘Letters’ (plural). It is not mentioned in the account of the embassy Isaiah 37:9, that a letter was sent, but it is not probable that all embassage would be sent to a monarch without a written document. WENT UP INTO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD - The temple Isaiah 37:1. AND SPREAD IT BEFORE THE LORD - Perhaps unrolled the document there, and spread it out; or perhaps it means simply that he spread out the contents of the letter, that is, made mention of it in his prayer. Hezekiah had no other resource. He was a man of God; and in his trouble he looked to God for aid. He, therefore, before he formed any plan, went up to the temple, and laid his case before God.

EXPOSITION This chapter is the sequel of the preceding, and is so closely connected with it that the two really constitute but one narrative. Isaiah 37:22 of Isaiah 36:1. is more closely connected with Isaiah 37:1, than with the position of the narrative to which it is attached. ISAIAH 37:1 WHEN KING HEZEKIAH HEARD IT; rather, _heard them_;_ i.e._ the "words of Rabshakeh," which his officials reported to him. HE RENT HIS CLOTHES. He did as they had done (Isaiah 36:22

AND HEZEKIAH RECEIVED THE LETTER FROM THE HAND OF THE MESSENGERS, AND READ IT,.... Or books k, in which the above things were written; and everyone of these he read, as Kimchi interprets it; though the Targum is, "he took the letters from the hand of the messengers, and read one of them;'' that is, as Kimchi's father explains it, in which was the blasphemy against God; this he read over carefully to himself, observed the contents of it, and then did with it as follows: AND HEZEKIAH WENT UP UNTO THE HOUSE OF GOD; the temple, the outward court of it, further than that he could not go: AND SPREAD IT BEFORE THE LORD; not to read it, as he had done, or to acquaint him with the contents of it, which he fully knew; but, as it chiefly regarded him, and affected his honour and glory, he laid it before him, that he might take notice of it, and vindicate himself, and avenge his own cause; he br...

CHAPTER 37 Hezekiah in the House of the Lord and Sennacherib's Second Attempt 1. _Hezekiah's humiliation and Isaiah sent for (Isaiah 37:1)_ 2. _The message from the prophet (Isaiah 37:6)_ 3. _Rabshakeh's letter (Isaiah 37:8)_ 4. _Hezekiah's prayer (Isaiah 37:14)_ 5. _The prayer answered (Isaiah 37:21)_ 6. _The army of Sennacherib judged (Isaiah 37:36)_ 7. The judgment upon Sennacherib ...

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

SPREAD IT, &C. See note on "lift up", &c. (Isaiah 37:4)....

_spread it_(the letter) _before the Lord_ that Jehovah might take notice of the arrogance displayed by it. The act is symbolic. Similarly the Jews at the beginning of the Maccabee insurrection spread out in prayer a copy of the Law, defaced with idolatrous pictures, as a witness to the outrages perpetrated against their religion (1Ma 3:48)....