Isaia 37:34 Commento

In this chapter we have a further repetition of the story which we had before in the book of Kings concerning Sennacherib. In the foregoing chapter we had him conquering and threatening to conquer. In this chapter we have him falling, and at last fallen, in answer to prayer, and in fulfillment of many of the prophecies which we have met with in the foregoing chapters. Here we have, I. Hezekiah's pious reception of Rabshakeh's impious discourse (Isa 37:1). II. The gracious message he sent to Isaiah to desire his prayers (Isa 37:2-5). III. The encouraging answer which Isaiah sent to him from God, assuring him that God would plead his cause against the king of Assyria (Isa 37:6, Isa 37:7). IV. An abusive letter which the king of Assyria sent to Hezekiah, to the same purport with Rabshakeh's speech (Isa 37:8-13). V. Hezekiah's humble prayer to God upon the receipt of this letter (Isa 37:14-20). VI. The further full answer which God sent him by Isaiah, promising him that his affairs should shortly take a happy turn, that the storm should blow over and every thing should appear bright and serene (v. 21-35). VII. The immediate accomplishment of this prophecy in the ruin of his army (v. 36) and the murder of himself (v. 37, 38). All this was largely opened, 2 Kings 19.

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 37 In this chapter are contained Hezekiah's message to Isaiah, desiring his prayer for him and his people, in this time of sore distress, Isa 37:1, the comforting and encouraging answer returned by the prophet to him, Isa 37:6, the king of Assyria's letter to Hezekiah, to terrify him into a surrender of the city of Jerusalem to him, Isa 37:8 which Hezekiah spread before the Lord, and prayed unto him for deliverance, Isa 37:14, upon which he received a gracious answer by the hand of the prophet, promising safety and deliverance to him, and destruction to the king of Assyria, of which a sign was given, Isa 37:21 and the chapter is closed with the slaughter of the Assyrian army by an angel, the flight of the king, and his death by the hands of his sons, Isa 37:36.

Then the angel of the Lord went forth,.... From heaven, at the command of the Lord, being one of his ministering spirits, sent forth by him, as for the protection of his people, so for the destruction of their enemies; this was the same night, either in which the Assyrian army sat down before Jerusalem, as say the Jews (x); or, however the same night in which the message was sent to Hezekiah; see Kg2 19:35, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and fourscore and five thousand men: a prodigious slaughter indeed! which shows the power and strength of an angel. Josephus (y) says they were smitten with a pestilential disease; but other Jewish writers say it was by fire from heaven, which took away their lives, but did not consume their bodies, nor burn their clothes; but, be that as it will, destroyed they were: and when they arose early in the morning: those of the army that survived; Sennacherib, and his servants about him; or Hezekiah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that were besieged: behold, they were all dead corpses; the whole army, excepting a few; this may well be expressed with a note of admiration, "behold!" for a very wonderful thing it was. (x) T. Bab. Sanhedrin: fol. 95. 1. (y) Antiqu. l. 10. c. 1. sect. 5.

(Verse 33, 34.) Therefore, thus says the Lord about the king of Assyria: He shall not enter this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with a shield, nor build siege works against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not enter this city, says the Lord. I will defend this city and save it for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David. It turns back to its purpose and dispels present fear after the hope of future things. For there was not so much joy upon the things which she had promised would come after a long time, as there was care for the impending. But what she says about Assyria returning and not lifting up a shield against Jerusalem, not shooting arrows, nor that the city should be fortified with walls and a rampart, and that the enemy would return by the way he had come, and that the city should be freed from the present siege, and finally she brings forth: for my sake and for the sake of my servant David, this signifies that they are preserved not by their own merit, but by the clemency of God, indeed by the memory of their father David. In which both his own negligence and that person's trustworthiness and justice are admonished, because God loves justice to such an extent that he protects even the descendants of holy men, not by their own merit, but by the virtue of their ancestors.

Here he promises liberation: he shall not come into this city, as he intended, above: take counsel together, and it shall be defeated: speak a word, and it shall not be done (Isa 8:10).

Zedekiah succeeds Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, in the Jewish throne, and does that which is evil in the sight of the Lord, Jer 37:1, Jer 37:2. The king sends a message to Jeremiah, Jer 37:3-5. God suggests an answer; and foretells the return of the Chaldean army, who should most assuredly take and burn the city, Jer 37:6-10. Jeremiah, in attempting to leave this devoted city, and retire to his possession in the country, is seized as a deserter, and cast into a dungeon, Jer 37:11-15. The king, after a conference with him, abates the rigour of his confinement, Jer 37:16-21.

CONTINUATION OF THE NARRATIVE IN THE THIRTY-SIXTH CHAPTER. (Isa. 37:1-38) sackcloth--(See on Isa 20:2). house of the Lord--the sure resort of God's people in distress (Psa 73:16-17; Psa 77:13).

(See Isa 37:29, Isa 37:37; Isa 29:5-8).

The king and the deputation apply to Isaiah. "And it came to pass, when king Hizkiyahu had heard, he rent his clothes, and wrapped himself in mourning linen, and went into the house of Jehovah. And sent Eliakim the house-minister, and Shebna (K. omits את) the chancellor, and the eldest of the priests, wrapped in mourning linen, to Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet (K. has what is inadmissible: the prophet son of Amoz). And they said to him, Thus saith Hizkiyahu, A day of affliction, and punishment, and blasphemy is this day; for children are come to the matrix, and there is no strength to bring them forth. Perhaps Jehovah thy God will hear the words (K. all the words) of Rabshakeh, with which the king of Asshur his lord has sent him to revile the living God; and Jehovah thy God will punish for the words which He hath heard, and thou wilt make intercession for the remnant that still exists." The distinguished embassy is a proof of the distinction of the prophet himself (Knobel). The character of the deputation accorded with its object, which was to obtain a consolatory word for the king and people. In the form of the instructions we recognise again the flowing style of Isaiah. תּוכחה, as a synonym of מוּסר, נקם, is used as in Hos 5:9; נאצה (from the kal נאץ) according to Isa 1:4; Isa 5:24; Isa 52:5, like נאצה (from the piel נאץ), Neh 9:18, Neh 9:26 (reviling, i.e., reviling of God, or blasphemy). The figure of there not being sufficient strength to bring forth the child, is the same as in Isa 66:9. משׁבּר (from שׁבר, syn. פּרץ, Gen 38:29) does not signify the actual birth (Luzzatto, punto di dover nascere), nor the delivering-stool (Targum), like mashbēr shel-chayyâh, the delivering-stool of the midwife (Kelim xxiii. 4); but as the subject is the children, and not the mother, the matrix or mouth of the womb, as in Hos 13:13, "He (Ephraim) is an unwise child; when it is time does he not stop in the children's passage" (mashbēr bânı̄m), i.e., the point which a child must pass, not only with its head, but also with its shoulders and its whole body, for which the force of the pains is often not sufficient? The existing condition of the state resembled such unpromising birth-pains, which threatened both the mother and the fruit of the womb with death, because the matrix would not open to give birth to the child. לדה like דּעה in Isa 11:9. The timid inquiry, which hardly dared to hope, commences with 'ūlai. The following future is continued in perfects, the force of which is determined by it: "and He (namely Jehovah, the Targum and Syriac) will punish for the words," or, as we point it, "there will punish for the words which He hath heard, Jehovah thy God (hōkhı̄ach, referring to a judicial decision, as in a general sense in Isa 2:4 and Isa 11:4); and thou wilt lift up prayer" (i.e., begin to offer it, Isa 14:4). "He will hear," namely as judge and deliverer; "He hath heard," namely as the omnipresent One. The expression, "to revile the living God" (lechârēph 'Elōhı̄m chai), sounds like a comparison of Rabshakeh to Goliath (Sa1 17:26, Sa1 17:36). The "existing remnant" was Jerusalem, which was not yet in the enemy's hand (compare Isa 1:8-9). The deliverance of the remnant is a key-note of Isaiah's prophecies. But the prophecy would not be fulfilled, until the grace which fulfilled it had been met by repentance and faith. Hence Hezekiah's weak faith sues for the intercession of the prophet, whose personal relation to God is here set forth as a closer one than that of the king and priests.