2 Cronache 32:27 Commento

This chapter continues and concludes the history of the reign of Hezekiah. I. The descent which Sennacherib made upon him, and the care he took to fortify himself, his city, and the minds of his people, against that enemy (Ch2 32:1-8). II. The insolent blasphemous letters and messages which Sennacherib sent him (Ch2 32:9-19). III. The real answer God gave to Sennacherib's blasphemies, and to Hezekiah's prayers, in the total rout of the Assyrian army, to the shame of Sennacherib and the honour of Hezekiah (Ch2 32:20-23). IV. Hezekiah's sickness and his recovery from that, his sin and his recovery from that, with the honours that attended him living and dead (Ch2 32:24-33).

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 32 This chapter relates Sennacherib's invasion of the land of Judah, the preparations Hezekiah made to resist him, and the encouragement he gave his people to trust in the Lord, Ch2 32:1 the messages and letters Sennacherib sent to Hezekiah and his subjects, full of arrogance and blasphemy, to solicit them to deliver up Jerusalem to him, Ch2 32:9 the destruction of his army by an angel, and the deliverance of the Jews at the prayers of Hezekiah and Isaiah, Ch2 32:20 the sin Hezekiah fell into after this, and his recovery from a fit of illness; but, upon his humiliation for it, wrath was averted, Ch2 32:24 and the chapter is concluded with an account of his honours, riches, and exploits, and of his death and burial, Ch2 32:27.

Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his goodness,.... His acts of piety and liberality: behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz; in the prophecy of Isaiah, Isa 36:1, whose book is called the Vision of Isaiah, Isa 1:1. and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel; in Kg2 18:1.

Sennacherib invades Judea, Ch2 32:1. Hezekiah takes proper measures for the defense of his kingdom, Ch2 32:2-6. His exhortation, Ch2 32:7, Ch2 32:8. Sennacherib sends a blasphemous message to Hezekiah, and to the people, Ch2 32:9-15. His servants rail against God; and he and they blaspheme most grievously, Ch2 32:16-19. Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah cry to God; he answers, and the Assyrians are destroyed, and Sennacherib is slain by his own sons, Ch2 32:20, Ch2 32:21. The Lord is magnified, Ch2 32:22, Ch2 32:23. Hezekiah's sickness and recovery, Ch2 32:24. His ingratitude, Ch2 32:25. His humiliation, Ch2 32:26. His riches, Ch2 32:27-30. His error relative to the Babylonish ambassadors, Ch2 32:31. His acts and death, Ch2 32:32, Ch2 32:33.

Pleasant jewels - כלי חמדה keley chemdah, desirable vessels or utensils.

SENNACHERIB INVADES JUDAH. (2Ch. 32:1-20) After these things, and the establishment thereof--that is, the restoration of the temple-worship. The precise date is given, Kg2 18:13. Determined to recover the independence of his country, Hezekiah had decided to refuse to pay the tribute which his father had bound himself to pay to Assyria. Sennacherib . . . entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities--The whole land was ravaged; the strong fortresses of Ashdod (Isa 20:1) and Lachish had fallen; the siege of Libnah had commenced, when the king of Judah, doubting his ability to resist, sent to acknowledge his fault, and offer terms of submission by paying the tribute. The commencement of this Assyrian war was disastrous to Hezekiah (Kg2 18:13). But the misfortunes of the early period of the war are here passed over, as the historian hastens to relate the remarkable deliverance which God wrought for His kingdom of Judah.

HIS RICHES AND WORKS. (Ch2 32:27-33) he had exceeding much riches and honour--(compare Kg2 20:13; Isa 39:2). A great portion of his personal wealth, like that of David and Uzziah, consisted in immense possessions of agricultural and pastoral produce. Besides, he had accumulated large treasures in gold, silver, and precious things, which he had taken as spoils from the Philistines, and which he had received as presents from neighboring states, among which he was held in great honor as a king under the special protection of Heaven. Much of his great wealth he expended in improving his capital, erecting forts, and promoting the internal benefit of his kingdom.

The reign of Manasseh; cf. 2 Kings 21:1-18. - The characteristics of this king's reign, and of the idolatry which he again introduced, and increased in a measure surpassing all his predecessors (Ch2 33:1-9), agrees almost verbally with Kg2 21:1-9. Here and there an expression is rhetorically generalized and intensified, e.g., by the plurals לבּעלים and אשׁרות (Ch2 33:3) instead of the sing. לבּעל and אשׁרה (Kings), and בּנין (Ch2 33:6) instead of בּנו (see on Ch2 28:3); by the addition of וכשּׁף to ונחשׁ עונן, and of the name the Vale of Hinnom, Ch2 33:6 (see on Jos 15:18, גּי for גּיא); by heaping up words for the law and its commandments (Ch2 33:8); and other small deviations, of which הסּמל פּסל (Ch2 33:7) instead of האשׁרה פּסל (Kings) is the most important. The word סמל, sculpture or statue, is derived from Deu 4:16, but has perhaps been taken by the author of the Chronicle from Eze 8:3, where סמל probably denotes the statue of Asherah. The form עילום for עולם (Ch2 33:7) is not elsewhere met with.

Hezekiah's riches; concluding estimate of his reign; his death and burial. - Ch2 32:27. Like Jehoshaphat (Ch2 17:5; Ch2 18:1), Solomon (Ch2 1:12), and David (Ch1 29:28), Hezekiah attained to riches and glory, and made unto himself treasure-chambers for silver, gold, precious stones, and spices, shields, and all manner of splendid furniture. The מגנּים are named instead of weapons in general. The collection of them brings to recollection the כּליו בּית (Kg2 20:13 and Isa 39:2). Ch2 32:28 Storehouses also (magazines) for the agricultural produce, and stalls for all manner of cattle, and stalls for the herds, like David (Ch1 27:25.) and Uzziah (Ch2 26:10). מסכּנות is a transposition of מכנסות, storehouses, from כּנס, to heap up. "Cattle and cattle" = all kinds of cattle. ארות, synonymous with אריות (Ch2 9:5), stables or stalls for cattle. The word אורות, which occurs only here, must have the same signification, and be held to be a transposed form of that word. Ch2 32:29 And cities (?) made (procured) he for himself. ערים cannot in this connection denote the usual cities; it must mean either watch-towers (from עוּר, to watch) or dwelling-places for herds and cattle, since עיר, according to Kg2 17:9, is used of any enclosed place, from a watch-tower to a fenced city. רכוּשׁ, as in Ch2 31:3, of possessions in herds. Ch2 32:30 The same Hezekiah covered the upper outlet of the water Gihon, and brought it down westwards to the city of David, i.e., by a subterranean channel into the city of David (see on Ch2 32:3). The form ויישׁרם is Piel ויישּׁרם; the Keri is the same conjug., only contracted into ויּשּׁרם, as ויּבּשׁ for וייבּשׁ, the ו of the third person having amalgamated with the first radical, under the influence of the ו consec. With the last clause in Ch2 32:30 cf. Ch2 31:21; Ch1 29:23. Ch2 32:31 "And so (i.e., accordingly) in the case of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, ... God left him." וכן does not denote attamen; it never has an adversative meaning. Bertheau rightly translates, "and accordingly," with the further remark, that by וכן the account of Hezekiah's treatment of the Babylonian ambassadors, which could not be reckoned among his fortunate deeds, is brought into harmony with the remark that he prospered in all his undertakings. It was permitted by God that Hezekiah should on this occasion be lifted up, and should commit an iniquity which could not but bring misfortune with it; not in order that He might plunge him into misfortune, but to try him, and to humble him (cf. Ch2 32:26). Ch2 32:32 הסדים, pious deeds, as in Ch2 6:42. ישׂ הזון is the book of Isaiah's prophecies; see the Introduction. Ch2 32:33 Hezekiah was buried "on the height of the graves of the sons of David," perhaps because there was no longer room in the hereditary burying-place of the kings; so that for Hezekiah and the succeeding kings special graves had to be prepared in a higher place of the graves of the kings. "They did him honour in his death," by the burning of many spices, as we may conjecture (cf. Ch2 16:14; Ch2 21:19).