1 And it came to pass (cp. Isa.37:1), when king Hezekiah heard [it], that he tore his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Yehovah.
2 And he sent Eliakim, which [was] over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz (= salvation of Yehovah. The first occ. in the historical Books. Hezekiah was one of the 4 kings in whose reign he prophesied [Isa.1:1]. The chapters in Isaiah which refer to these events are 10:5-12:6; 14:24-27; 17:12-14; 22; 29-33; 36, and 37).
3 And they said to him, “Thus saith Hezekiah, ‘This day [is] a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the sons are come to the birth, and [there is] not strength to bring forth.
4 It may be Yehovah your Elohim will hear all (come codices omit) the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to disparage (or taunt or flout) the living Elohim; and will reprove the words which Yehovah your Elohim has heard: wherefore lift up [yor] prayer for the remnant that are left’ ” (Hezekiah's "Songs of the degrees" witness to this prayer in his distress. See Ps.120:1; 130:1,2.).
5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said to them (In Greek [N.T.] = Esaias), “Thus shall you all say to your master, ‘Thus says Yehovah, ‘Be not afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled (or vilified) Me.
7 Behold, I will send a blast (Heb. ruach) upon him, and he shall hear a rumour (Fig., Heb. "hear a hearing" = hear a serious report. See Gen.26:28), and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.’ ’ ”
8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish (Sennacherib had laid siege against it [2 Chron.32:9], but had found it difficult, as Josua had [Josh.10:31,32, "the second day"]; and "left" it untaken [Jer.34:7]).
9 And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia (= exhalted. An Ethiopian by birth; king of Egypt by conquest. Defeated later by Esarhaddon, son of Sennacherib, after 15 days battle. Esarhaddon is shown on a stele, recently discovered, leading Tirhakah with cords), “Behold, he is come out to fight against you:” he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying,
10 “Thus shall you all speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, ‘Let not Your Elohim in whom you confide deceive ou, saying, ‘Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shall you be delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; [as] Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden which [were] in Thelasar?
13 Where [is] the king of Hamath (see 18:34), and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?’ ”
14 And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it:
and Hezekiah went up into the house of Yehovah (Hezekiah's zeal for the house of Yehovah is see in his "songs of the degrees". Cp. Ps.122:1,9; 134:1,2. This was the one of the most prominent features of Hezekiah's character. It occupied his thoughts and filled his heart. The first act of his reign was to "open the doors of the house of Yehovah" [2 Chron.29:3] which Ahaz his father had "shut up" [2 Chron.28:24]. This was "the first year of his reign, in the first month". See also 20:8. Isa.37:1,14. Isa.38:20,22), and spread it before Yehovah.
15 And Hezekiah prayed before Yehovah (when assaulted by the king of terrors he "turned his face to the wall and prayed" [Isa.38:2]. But when the king of Babylon came with a present he did not pray, and fell into the snare [Isa.39:1,2]. Note the Structure of Isaiah ch. 36-39. See also Isa.38:3, 10-20. 2 Chron.32:20, and v.2,4 above. Finds more than its echo in Pss.120:1; 123:1-3; 130:1,2), and said, “O Yehovah Elohim of Israel, Which dwell [between] the cherubims (cp. his first prayer in Ps.123:1), You are Yorself the Elohm, [even] You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; You have made heaven and earth (cp. Gen.1:1. Hezekiah, in his "songs of the degrees", repeats this phrase as witnessing to the power of God, as Creator, to defeat the enemy. See Pss.121:1,2; 123:1; 124:8; 134:3. This was to retort the idolatrous railings of Rab-shakeh in 2 Chron.32:19. See also Isa.37:16).
16 Yehovah, bow down Your ear, and hear: open, Yehovah, Your eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which has sent him to reproach the living Elohim (always used in contrast with idols).
17 Of a truth, Yehovah, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,
18 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they [were] no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
19 Now therefore, O Yehovah our Elohim, I beseech You, save You us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You [are] Yehovah Elohim (= I Am That I Am the Creator), [even] You only.”
d e 20. Yehovah. Prayer regarded. f 21-28. Defiance of the foe. e 29-31. Yehovah. Sign given. f 32-34. Defeat of the foe.
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says Yehovah Elohim of Israel, ‘[That] which You have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.’
21 This [is] the word that Yehovah has spoken concerning him; ‘The virgin the daughter of Zion has despised you, [and] laughed you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head after you (i.e. after she has seen your back turned).
22 Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? and against Whom have you exalted [your] voice, and lifted up your eyes on high? [even] against the Holy [One] of Israel.
23 By your messengers you have reproached Yehovah, and have said, ‘With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, [and] the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, [and into] the forest of his Carmel.
24 I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.’
25 Have you not heard long ago [how] I have made it (i.e. the earth), [and] of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that you should be to lay waste fenced cities [into] ruinous heaps.
26 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were [as] the grass of the field, and [as] the green herb, [as] the grass on the housetops, and [as corn] blighted before it be grown up (Note Hezekiah's reference to this in his "Songs of the degrees" [Ps.129:5-7]. See also Isa.37:26,27 ).
27 But I know your downsitting, and your outgoing, and your incomming, and your enraging yourself against me (very emphatic. The Hithpael gerund occurs only here and Isa.37:28,29).
28 Because your enrage yourself against Me and your arrogance is come up into My ears, therefore I will put My hook in your nose, and My bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.’ (see the reference to this in Hezekiah's "Songs of the degrees" [Ps.129:4,5]. See also 2 Chron.32:21)
29 And this [shall be] a sign to you, You all shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springs of the same; and in the third year sow you all, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof (see the reference to this in Hezekiah's "Songs of the degrees" [Pss.126:5,6; 128:2]. See also Isa.37:30 were this sign is given. The continued perseverence of the sowers under great disappoinment gives a picture of peaceful agriculturists at home at work, and not on exiles in a foreign land, or on their way home from Babylon).
30 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant (i.e. the country people who had retired into Jerusalem for safety. Cp. v.4, and see Isa.10:20), and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of Yehovah [Sabaioth] shall do this.
32 Therefore thus saith Yehovah concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it (i.e. erect an earthwork).
33 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, says Yehovah.
34 For I will defend (= spread, or be a shield over) this city, to save it, for My own sake (Man's sins cannot foil God's purpose. He doe not go outside of His own will to explain His actions in grace), and for my servant David's sake.’ ”
35 And it came to pass (cp. 37:36) that night (i.e. the night of the prophecy when the promise was fulfilled. Cp. "that day" [Luke 21:34. 1 Thess.5:4]), that the Angel of Yehovah went out (i.e. the detroying Angel. Cp. 2 Sam.24:16), and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they (i.e. the king and his people) arose early in the morning, behold, they [were] all dead corpses.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed (there is no mention of the capture of Jerusalem in Sennacherb's inscription. This omission is more remarkable than what Sennacherib says. Had he taken Jerusalem, the omission would be unaccountable. Cp. 2 Chron.32:21 and Ps.129:4,5), and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh (fig., to greatly emphasise the fact of his defeat).
37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god (= the great eagle. Mentioned in the inscriptions), that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons (a cylinder recently acquired [1910] by, and now in the British Museum, states: "On the twentieth day of the month Tebet [Dec.], Sennacherib, king of Assyria, his son slew him in rebellion". The rebellion [it says] lasted till the twenty-eigth of Sivan [June] of next year., "when Esarhaddon his son sat on the throne of Assyria." The will, or rather deed of gift, of Sennacherib [2 inches by 1, containing 11 lines; in the Kouyoujik Gallery] gives all to Esarhaddon. This probably led to Esarhaddon having afterwards to fight his 2 brothers, Sennacherib's murderers) smote him with the sword (some years later; but mentioned here as the sequel to this history): and they escaped into the land of Armenia (Heb. Ararat). And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
T C¹ 1-11. Hezekiah's miraculous healing. C² 12-19. Berodach's embassy.
C¹ g 1. Isaiah's warning. h 2,3. Hezekiah's prayer. g 4-7. Isaiah's promise. h 8-11. Hezekiah's sign
20)
1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death (about the time of the second invasion [18:13], but before the deliverance of 19:35). And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says Yehovah, ‘Give charge concerning your house; for you shall die, and not live.’ ”
2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Yehovah (see note on v.15. See his references to this in his "Songs of the degrees" [Pss.120:1; 123:1-3; 130:1,2]. See 19:2,4,15-19), saying,
3 “I beseech You, O Yehovah, remember now how I have walked to and fro (i.e. habitually walked) before You in truth and with a whole (or undivided) heart, and have done [that which is] good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept biterly.
4 And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of Yehovah came to him (the only occ. of this in the case of Isaiah. Cp. Gen.15:1), saying,
5 “Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of My people, ‘Thus says Yehovah, the Elohim of David your father (this tells us the nature of Hezekiah's prayer. He had no heir to the throne, but remembered Yehovah's word to David in 2 Sam.7:12-16. Hence his anxiety, as manifested in his "Songs of the degrees". Cp. Pss.127:3-5; 128; and 132. While the king of Assyria was besieging the gates of Zion, and the king of Terrors was besieging Hezekiah who was on his bed in sickness, Hezekiah at that moment had no heir to his throne. Like Abraham when he had "no seed" [Gen.15], Hezekiah must have been anxious at such a crisis. He trusted in Yehovah for victory over his enemies; and he trusted in Yehovah for His fathfulness as to His promise to David. In this crisis Yehovah sent Isaiah to Hezekiah with the promise of a son [v.18]. Isa.39:7]. Not until 3 of the 15 added years had passed was the promise fulfilled, in the birth of Manasseh [600 B.C.]. This is it which accounts for Hezekiah's anxiety. There is nothing in the return from Babylon that can have any connection whatever with Ps.127 and 128. Rejoicing in the multiplication of children in those sad days would be quite out of place. But in the case of Hezekiah, they stand out in al their full significance, and furnish and undesigned coincidence of the greatest importance. See also Isa.39:8), ‘I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears: behold (introducing the fivefold [#5 = grace] promise and answer to his prayer in vv.5 and 6), I will heal you: on the third day you shall go up to the house of Yehovah (this also must have been a subject of prayer).
603 to 588 B.C.
6 And I will add to your days fifteen years; and I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will be a shield to this city for My own sake (see 19:34), and for My servant David's sake” (see v.5 and Ps.132).
7 And Isaiah said, “Take a cake (or plaister) of figs.” And they took and laid [it] on the boil, and he recovered.
8 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What [shall be] the sign that Yehovah will heal me (contrast Ahaz [Isa.7:11,12]), and that I shall go up into the house of Yehovah the third day?” (see 19:14)
9 And Isaiah said, “This sign shall you have of Yehovah, that Yehovah will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?” (It is to these degrees that Hezekiah's 15 Songs refer [Pss.120-134]. The word "degrees" is repeated here six times in the history, but 5 times in Isaiah's gracious words [38:8]."THE SONGS OF THE DEGREES". There is no difference of opinion as to the meaning of the word "degrees". It means "steps", but interpretations of the use of the word in this connection manifest a great difference and discordance. Some think these Psalms were so called because they were sung on the 15 steps of the Temple. But there is no evidence that there were 15 steps. In Ezekiel's Temple [Ezek.40:22,31] there are to be two flights; one of seven steps in the outer court, and another of eight steps in the inner court. But that Temple is the subject of prophecy, and is still future. Others suggest "A Song of the higher choir", "on the stairs of some high place"; others, "in a higher key". Others interpret them of "the going up of the Ark" to Zion; others, of "the going up of the tribes" to the feasts; others, "a Song of high degree". Others refer them to "a synthetic arrangement of the parallel lines"; others, that they refer to "the going up from Babylon", which makes them "post-exilic". Others regard them as referring to the yet future return of Israel from their long dispersion; while yet others spiritualize all the expressions, and interpret them of the experiences of the Church of God at all times, and in the present day. One thing is clear, i.e. that all these interpretations cannot be correct. So we will look for one which shall be worthy of the dignity of the Word of God as "written for our learnig"; and one which shall produce and combine intellectual enjoyment with experimental satisfaction. Dr. Thirtle ["Old Testament Problems". London: Henry Frowde, 1907] has called attention to the use of the definite article. The Hebrew reads "A Song of THE Degrees" [Shir hamma‘aloth]. I this simple fact lies the key to the solution of this problem, whch is as simple in its nature as in its grand results. Once we note the use of the definite article, "THE Degrees", we natually ask what Degrees? The answer comes from the Word of God itself, and not from the guesses and imaginations of men. The only "degrees" of which we read in the Bible are "the degrees" on the sundial of Ahaz, by which the shadow of the sun went backward in the days of his son Hezekiah, as a sign from Yehovah that he should recover from his sickness, while Jerusalem was surrounded by the arnies of the king of Assyria, and Hezekiah was under sentence of death from the king of Terrors [2 Kings 20:8-11, and the Structure of the chapters in Isa.36-39]. Scripture knows of no other steps or "degrees" that can be connected with the shadow of the sun. On recovery from his sickness, Hezekiah said [Isa.38:20]: "Yehovah was ready to save me: Therefore we will sing MY SONGS¹ to the stringed instruments All the days of our life In the house of Yehovah² [¹ In the Psalms the is word shir, while in Isa.38:20 it is neginah. But the latter word, by the fig. Metonymy {of the Subject}, refers to the words, as shir does to the music; and the two words are used synonymously in the superscriptions and sub-scriptions of Pss.66 and 75. ² Note the fig. Epanadiplosis, by which this statement is marked off, and its completeness emphasised by beginning and ending with the same word, "Yehovah"]. More that 300 years ago [1602-75] this interpretation was suggested in a passing remark by Dr. John Lightfoot in his work on Old Testament Chronology: but so far as Dr. Thirtle is concerned, it was his own independent discovery. The number of these Psalms [15] ads a testimony to the certainty of this interretation. It corresponds with the number of the years [15], which were added to Hezekiah's life: while the number written by himself [10] corresponds with the number of "the degrees" by which "the shadow of the sun went backward". Hezekiah calls the "MY songs". There was no need to put his own name on them, but he put the names to the other five. The one by Solomon is in the center, with two by David on each side. In each of the seven Psalms [on either side of the central Psalm] the name "Yehovah" occurs 24 times, and "Yah" twice [once in the third Psalm of each seven]. In the central Psalm, "Yehovah" occurs 3 times. There are 5 groups consisting of 3 Psalms each. The first of each group has Distress for its subject; the second has Trust in Yehovah; while the third has Blessing and peace in Zion. In the notes on these Psalms, the passages in the Kings, Chronicles, and Isaiah, to which they refer, are carefully suplied: the passages in the historical Books also are referred to in these Psalms. We have noted 15 events in the life of Hezekiah which find counterpart, and are celbrated, in these 15 Psalms. Further details will be found in the notes in the historical Books, the prophet Isaiah, and the Psalms in question)
10 And Hezekiah answered, “It is a light thing for the shadow to go forward ten degrees: no, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.”
11 And Isaiah the prophet cried to Yehoavh: and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial (= degrees) of Ahaz (see v.8).
C² i¹ 12. Messengers from Babylon. j¹ 13. Hezekiah. Ostentation. i² 14. Messengers from Babylon. j² 15. Hezekiah. Ostentation. i³ 16-18. Messenger from Yehovah. j³ 19. Hezekah. Submission.
12 At that time Berodach-baladan (= worshipper of Baal. Come codices read "Merodach-baladan". Cp. Isa.39:1), the son of Baladan, king of Babylon (first occ. of this title. Babylon and Nineva the two great cities competing henceforward for supremacy in Assyria. Finally settled by Nabopolassar and his son Nebuchadnezzar, "the head of gold" [Dan.2:37,38]), sent letters and a present to Hezekiah (these did what the king of Assyria and the king of terrors could not do. See the Structure "C" of Isa.36-39. Cp. 2 Chron.32:22,23. These presents account for the treasures exhibited to the Babylonian ambassadors, and explain Hezekiah's wealth [2 Chron.32:27,28], so soon after the depltion of his treasures in 18:15,16): for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.
13 And Hezekiah listened to them (he did not pray as in v.2, or as in 19:15. See also Isa.39:2, "was glad"), and showed them all (some codices and the 1611 A.V. omitted) the house of his precious things (the depletion of 18:1,16 was not of "his" house, but of the house of Yehovah as well as "the kings house"), the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and [all] his armoury, and all that was found in his treasuries: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.
14 Then came Isaiah the prophet to king Hezekiah (he was to Hezekiah what Nathan was to David [2 Sam.12:1), and said to him, “What said these men? and from which place came they to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They are come from a far country, [even] from Babylon.”
15 And he said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah answered, “All [the things] that [are] in my house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasureis that I have not showed them.”
16 And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of Yehovah.
17 ‘Behold, the days come, that all that [is] in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store to this day, shall be carried into Babylon (cp. 2 Chron.33:11, and see note on v.12. A remarkable prophecy, as Babylon was of little account as yet [cp. Isa.39:6]. The return from Babylon was also foretold [Isa.48,49]): nothing shall be left,’ saith Yehovah.
18 ‘And of your sons that shall issue from you, which you shall beget, shall they take away (Heb. text reads "he", but some codices read "they". Cp. Isa.39:7); and they shall be eunuchs (i.e. courtiers, chamberlains, &c. Cp. Gen.37:36 and Dan.1:3,4) in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ”
19 Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, “Good [is] the word of Yehovah which you have spoken” (Hezekiah's submission was like Eli's. Cp. 1 Sam.3:18). And he said, “[Is it] not [good], if (or, Is it not that, &c. Sept. Reads, "Let there be good") peace and truth be in my days?”
20 And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool (cp. 18:17. The pool of Silam fed by the conduit mentioned below), and the conduit (a long underground channel discovered by Sir Charles Warren [in 1867] running from Gihon [now the Virgins Fount] down to Siloam. An inscription found in it describes the making of it. Cp. 2 Chron.32:30), and brought the water into the city (this is referred to by Hezekiah in Psalm 46:4, where it is contrasted with the raging waters of v.3. Cp. this with Isa.8:6-8.), [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
21 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers: and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.