Isaiah 37:9

And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, TIRHAKAH (see notes, Isaiah 17:12; Isaiah 18:1) - written in the hieroglyphics 'TEHARKA:' Taracus in Manetho. He succeeded Shebok II, and ruled over Egypt and Ethiopia, holding his court in the latter. Egypt was in part governed By three successive Ethiopian monarchs, for 40 or 50 years: Sabacho, Sevechus and Tirhakah. Sevechus retired from Lower Egypt, owing to the resistance of the priests, whereupon Sethos, a prince-priest obtained supreme power, with Tanis (Zoan, in Scripture), or Memphis, as his capital. The Ethiopians retained Upper Egypt under Tirhakah, with Thebes as the capital. Tirhakah's fame...

9._And hearing concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia. _From what follows we may conjecture the reason why the king of Assyria suddenly departed from Judea; for the kings of Egypt and Ethiopia had formed a league with each other against Sennacherib, because they saw that his power was becoming excessive, and that his invasion of other countries had no limit, and therefore they readily concluded that, unless they opposed his violence at an early period, they also would be in imminent danger from him. These kings did not intend to provide for the safety of Judea at their own loss, but looked to themselves; for so great power possessed by one individual is commonly and deservedly viewed with suspicion by other princes and nations. They therefore act wisely in joining their forces and meeting him early; for separately they would easily have been subdued and destroyed. For this reason these two...

Verse Isaiah 37:9. _HE HEARD SAY CONCERNING TIRHAKAH KING OF ETHIOPIA_] When he heard that Tirhakah king of Ethiopia had come out against him, then he sent that blasphemous _manifesto_ which is contained in Isaiah 37:10, to terrify Hezekiah into submission. How much was this like, in words and spirit, to the manifesto sent to the _Parisians_ by the late _Duke of Brunswick_, from the plains of _Champaigne_, in 1792, which was the forerunner of the mighty torrents of human blood which was shed in the French revolution! And what a blast of God fell upon _him_ and his _army_ - nearly like that which fell on the army of Sennacherib! _HE SENT MESSENGERS_ - "He sent messengers again"] The word וישמע _vaiyishma_, "and he heard," which occurs the

AND HE HEARD SAY - The report or rumour referred to in Isaiah 37:7. In what way he heard this is not intimated. It is probable that the preparations which Tirhakah had made, were well known to the surrounding regions, and that he was already on his march against Sennacherib. TIRHAKAH - This king, who, by Eusebius and by most ancient writers, is called Ταρακὸς _Tarakos_, was a celebrated conqueror, and had subdued Egypt to himself. He reigned over Egypt eighteen years. When Sennacherib marched into Egypt, Sevechus or Sethon was on the throne. Sennacherib having laid siege to Pelusium, Tirhakah came to the aid of the city, and, in consequence of his aid, Sennacherib was compelled to raise the siege and returned to Palestine, and laid siege to Lachish. Tirhakah suc

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 HE HEARD SAY CONCERNING TIRHAKAH KING OF ETHIOPIA,.... Not Rabshakeh, but the king of Assyria heard a rumour of this Ethiopian king coming out to war against him: his name, in Josephus w, is Tharsices; in the Septuagint version it is Tharaca; and by Africanus x he is called Taracus; and is the same, who, by Strabo y, out of Megasthenes, is named Tearcon the Ethiopian: the Ethiopia of which he was king was either the upper Ethiopia or that beyond Egypt; to which agrees the Arabic version, which calls him Tharatha king of the Abyssines; but others take it for Cush, or rather Ethiopia in the land of Midian, or Arabia, as Bochart; which lay nearer to Judea than the other Ethiopia. Now the report that was brought to the king of Assyria of him was, HE IS COME FORTH TO MAKE WAR WITH THEE; not by assisting the Egyptians, as Josephus, but rather the Jews; or by making an irruption into the k...

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

HE HEARD. The "rumour" of Isaiah 37:7. TIRHAKAH. The Taracus of the inscriptions. The third and last of Manetho's twenty-sixth dynasty. This reference to the Ethiopian dynasty in Isaiah's time is an "undesigned coincidence". ETHIOPIA. Judah's hope in Ethiopia was vain (See Isaiah 20:1)....

_Tirhakah king of Ethiopia_is named only here in the O.T. See General Introduction, p. xvi....