Chapter XXXVII
Ver. 1-38. Continuation of the Narrative in Chap.
SO. l.sackclotli—(iVofe, ch. 20. 2.) house of the T^ord—the sure resort of God's people in distress (Psalm 73. 16, 17; 77.
13). 2. unto Isaiah—implying the importance of the prophet's position at the time; the chief officers of the court are deputed to wait on him (cf. 2 Kings 22. 12-14). 3. rebuke i. e., the Lord's rebuke for His people's sins (Psalm 149. 7; Hosea 5. 9). blasphemy — blasphemous railing of Rabshakeh. the children, &c.—a proverbial expression for. We are In the most extreme danger, and have no power to avert it (cf. Hosea 13.'13). 4. hear—take cognizance of (2 Samuel 16. 12). reprove—will punish him for the words, &c. (Psalm 50. 21). remnant—the two tribes o< the kingdom of Judah, Israel being already captive. Isaiah Is entreated to act as intercessor with God. G, •ervants — youths, mere lads, implying disparagement, not au embassy of venerable elders. The Hebrew
tlie altei-ed circumstances in which man, after the fall, came before God. It was here that Cain and Abel, and
tlie patriarchs down to the flood, pi-esented their offerings : and it is called " the presence of the Lord" (Genesis
4. 16). When those symbols were removed at the close of that early patriarchal dispensation, small models of them
were made for domestic use, called, in Clialdee, Seraphim or Teraphim. (2.) The cherubim, in the Mosaic taberna(!le and Solomon's temple, were the same in form as those at the outskirts of Eden: compound figures, combining the distinguishing properties of several creatures: the ox, 469
Dcslruclion of Sennacherib Predicted. ISAIAH XXXVII. An Angel Slayelh the Assyrians.
chief aiTiDug tlie tameand useful animals; *,he lion among
ever, English Version is supported by ch. 3;?. 13; 45.6,21;
tlie wild ones; the eagle among birds; and man, the head of all (llie original headship of man over the animal kingdom, about to be restored iu Jesus Christ, Psalm 8.4-8, is also implied in this combination). They are, throughout Scripture, represented as distinct from God; they could hot be likenesses of Him which He forbade in any shape.
48. 5. 27. Tlierefore—Not because of thy power, but because I made them unable to withstand thee, gratis— which easily withers (ch. 40.6; P.salm 37.2). on... house-tops—which having little earth to nourish it fades soonest (Psalm 12;). 6-8). corn blasted before it be grown up—Smith translates, "The corn-field (frail and tender), before the corn is grown." 28. abode—rather, sitting down (Psalm 139. 2). The expressions here describe a man's whole course of life (Deuteronomy 0. 7; 28. 6; 1 Kings 3. 7; Psalm 121. 8). There is also a special reference to Sennacherib's first being at home, then going forth against JudaU and Egypt, and raging against Jehovah (v. 4). 29. tumult —insolence, hook in . . . nose—like a wild beast led by a ring through the nose, he shall be forced back to his own country (cf. Job 41. 1,2; Ezekiel 19.4; 29.4; 38.4). In a bas-relief of Khorsabad, captives are led before the king by a cord attached to a hook, or ring, passing through the under lip or the upper lip, and nose. 30. Addressed to Hezekiah. sign—a token which, when fulflUed, would assure him of the truth of the whole prophecy as to the enemy's overthrow. The two years, in which they were sustained by the spontaneous growth of the earth, were the two in which Judea had been already ravaged by Sennacherib (ch. 32. 10). Thus translate, "Ye did eat (the first year) such as groweth of itself, and in the second year that, &c.,but in this third year sow ye," &c., for in this year the land shall be delivered from the foe. The fact tliat Sennacherib moved away his camp immediattly after shows that the first two years refer to the past, not to the future. [Rosenmuller.] Others, referring the first two years to the future, get over the difficulty of Sennacherib's speedy departure, by supposing that year to have been the sabbatical year, and the second year the jubilee; no indication of this appears in the context. 31. remnant— Judah remained after the ten tribes were carried away; also those of Judah who should survive Sennacherib's Invasion are meant. 33. witlx shields— He did coma near it, but was not allowed to conduct a proper siege, bank—a mound to defend the assailants in attacking the walls.' 34. (See v. 29, 37; ch. 29. 5-8.) 35. I will defendNotwithstanding /TeseAi'a/i's measures of defence (2 Chronicles 32. 3-5), Jehovah was its true defender, miite own sake—since Jehovah's name was blaspliemed by .Sennacherib (i;. 23). David's sake—on account of His promise to David (Psalm 132. 17, 18), and to Messiah the heir of David's throne (ch. 9. 7; 11. 1). 36. Some attribute the destruction to the agency of the plague (Note ch. 3-3. 24), which may have caused Hezekiah's sickness, narrated immediately after; but ch. 33. 1, 4, proves that the Jews spoiled the corpses, which they would not have dared to do, had there been on Uiem infection of a plague. The secondary agency seems, from ch. 29. 6 ; 30. 30, to have been a storm of hail, thunder, and lightning (cf. Exodus 9. 22-
(3.) They are introduced iu tlie third or gospel dispensation (Revelation i. 6), as livimg creatures (not so well translated "beasts" in English Version), not angels, but beings closely connected with the redeemed Church. So also in Ezekiel 1. and 10. Thus, throughout the three dispensations, they seem to be symbols of those who in every age should officially study and proclaim the manifold wisdom of God. thou alone lit., " Thou art He tvho alone art God of all the kingdoms;" whereas Sennacherib had classed Jehovah with, the heathen gods, he asserts the nothingness of the latter and the sole lordship of the former. IT. ear . . . eyes singular, plural. When we wish to hear a thing we lend one ear; when we wish to see a thing we open both eyes. 18. Have laid waste—conceding the truth of the Assyrian's allegation (ch. 36. 18-20), but adding the reason, " For they were no gods." 19. cast . . . gods into
. . . fire—The policy of the Assyrians in order to alienate the conquered peoples from their own countries was, both to deport them elsewhere, and to destroy the tutelary idols of their nation, the strongest tie which bound them to their native land. The Roman policy was just the reverse. 20. The strongest argument to plead before God in prayer,
the }imiour of God (Exodus 32. 12-14 ; Psalm 83. 18; Daniel 9.
18, 19). 21. Wliereas t!ion Iiast prayed to me i. e., hast not relied on thy own strength, but on me (cf. 2 Kings 19.
20). " That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib, &e., I have heard" (Psalm 65. 2). 23. Transition to poetry: in parallelism, virgin. . . daughter — honourable terms. " Virgin" implies that the city is, as yet, invio-
late. " Daughter" is an abstract collectivefeminine person-
itication ol t\\e population, the child of the place denoted
(Note, ch. 23. 10; 1. 8). Zion and he)- inhabitants, shaken . . . head—in scorn (Psalm 22. 7 ; 109. S; Matthew 27. 39). With us to shake the head is a sign of denial'or displeasure; but gestures have different meanings in ditTerent countries
(ch. 58. 9 ; Jizekiel 2.). 6 ; Zephaniah 2. 15). 23. Whom—Not an idol. 24. said—virtually. Hast thou within thyself? height—imagery from the Assyrian felling of trees in Lebanon (ch. 14. H; 3:^.9); fig. for, "I have carried my victorious army througli the regions most ditflcult of access, to the most remote lands." sides—rather, recesses. [G. V. Smith.] fir trees—not cypresses, as some translate; pine
foliage and cedars are still found on the north-west side of Lebanon. [Stanley.] hciglit of . . . border— In
2 Kings 19. 2.3, "the lodgings of his borders." Perhaps on the ascent to the top there was a place of repose or caravansery, vvhicii bounded the usual attempts of jjersons to ascend. [Baknes.] Here, simply, "its extreme height." forest of . . . Carmel—rather, " its tliickest forest." Carmcl expresses thick lu.xuriance (Note, ch. 10. 18; 29. 17). 25. digged, and drunk water—In 2Kings W.'li,\t\s" strange waters." I have marched into foreign lands where I had
25). The simoon belongs rather to Africa and Arabia, than Palestine, and ordinarily could not produce such a destructive effect. Some few of the army, as 2 Chronicles
32. 21 seems to imply, survived and accompanied Sennacherib home. Herodotus (2. 141) gives an account confirming Scripture in so far as the sudden discomfiture of the Assyrian array is concerned. The Egyptian priests told him that Sennacherib was forced to retreat from Pelusium owing to a multitude of field-mice, sent by one of their gods, having gnawed the Assyrians' bow-strings and shield-straps. Cf. the language (v. Xi), "He shall not shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields," which the Egyptians corrupted into their version of the story. Sennacherib was at the time with a part of his army, not at Jerusalem, but on the Egyptian frontier, south-west of Palestine. The sudden destruction of the host near Jerusalem, a considerable part of his whole army, as well as the advance of the Ethiopian Tirhakah, indutied him to retreat, which the Egyptians accounted for in a way honouring to tlieir own gods. The mouse was the Egyptian emblem of destruction. The Greek Apollo was called Sminthian, from a Cretan woi'd for a mouse ; as a tutelary god of agriculture, he was represented with one foot upon a mouse, since field-mice hurt corn. Tiie Assyrian iuscrip-
to dig wells for the supply of my armies; even the natural destitution of water there did not impede my march, rivers of . . . besieged places—rather, " the streams (ar-
tificial canals from the Nile) of Egypt." "With the sole of my foot," expresses that as soon as his vast armies marched in to a region, the streams were drunk up by them
or rather, that the rivers proved no obsti-nction to the onward march of his armies. So ch. 19. 4-6, referring to Egypt, " the river-6)vjo/i:s of de/i»?ice—sliall be dried up." Horsley
translates the Hebrew for "besieged places," rocks. 2G. Reply of God to Sennacherib, long ago—join, rather, with "I have done it." Thou dost boast that it is all by
thy counsel and might: but it is / who, long ago, have ordered it so (ch. 22. 11); thou wcrt but the instrument in my hands (ch. 10. 5, 15). This was the reason why " the Inhabitants were of small power before thee " (v. 27), viz., Uiat I ordered it so ; yet thou art in my hands, and I know
lliy ways {v. 28), and I will check thee (v. 29). Connectalso, " i from ancient times have arranged ('formed') It." How470
ISAIAH XXX vni.
The Sun goelh Ten Degrees Backward.
Hteekiah has his Life Prolonged.
tions, of couFKe, suppress their own defeat, but nowhere
Testament legal righteousness was, however, a standard very much below tiie «ptn< of the law as unfolded by Christ (Matthew 5. 20-48 ; 2 Corintliians 8. 0, 14, 17.) wei>tsoi-e— JoSEPHUSsays, the reason why he wept so sorely, was that being childless, he was leaving the kingdom without a successor. How often our wishes, when gratified, prove curses .' Hezekiah lived to have a son ; tliat son was the idolater Manasseh, the chief cause of God's wrath against Judali, and of the overthrow of the kingdom (2 Kings 2;!.
boiust of having taiieu Jerusalem ; and the only reason to be given for Seiinaclierib not having, amidsthis many subsequent expeditions recorded in the monuments, returned
to Juilali, is tl'.e terrible calamity ne had sustained there,
wliicli coiiviixced liim that Hezekiah was under the Divine protection. Rawlixson says. In Sennacherib's account
of his wars witli Hezekiah, inscribed with cuneiform characters in the hall of the palace of Koyunjik, built by him (140 feet long by 120 broad), wherein even the Jewish physiognomy of the captives is portrayed, there occurs a remarkable passage; after his mentioning his •aking two hundred thousand captive Jews, he adds, "Tlien I prayed unto God;" the only instance of an Inscription wherein the name of God occurs without a heatlien adjunct. The 46th Psalm probably commemorates JuJah's deliverance. It occurred in one " niglit," according to 2 Kings 19. 35, with which Isaiah's words, " wlien tliey arose early in the morning," <fec., are in undesigned coincidence, tliey . . . they the Jews . . . the Asai/rianx. 37. dwelt in Nineveh—for about twenty years after liis disaster, according to the inscriptions. The
2G, 27). 4. In 2 Kings 20. 4, the quickness of God's answer to the prayer is marked, "afore Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, tlie word of the Lord came to liini:
i. e., before lie had left, Hezekiali, or at least when he had
just left him, and Hezekiali was in the act of praying alter having heard God's message by Isaiah (cf. ch. 05. 24 ; I'salm
32. 5; Daniel 9. 21). 5. God of Dnvid thy father—God remembers tlie covenant with tlie father to the children (E.YOdus 20. 5; Psalm 89. 28, 29). tears—(Psalin 56. 8.) days
. . . years—man's years, however many, are but as so many days (Genesis 5. 27). 6. In 2 Kings 20. 8, after this vierse comes the statement which is put at the end, iu order not to interrupt God's message (f. 21, 22) by Isaiali
(v. 5-8). will deliver—tlie city was already delivered, but here assurance is given, that Hezekiah shall have no viore to fear from the Assyrians. 7. sign—a token tliat God would fulfil His promise, that Hezekiah sliould " go up into tlie house of the Lord the third day" (2 Kings 20. 5,
woixl, "dwelt," is consistent with any indefinite length of time. Nineveh, so called from Ninus, i. e., Nimrod, its founder; liis name means exceedingly impiom rebel ; he subverted tlie existing patriarchal order of society, by setting vipasystem of chieftainship, founded on conquest; the liunting field was liis training school for war; he was of the race of Ham, and transgressed the limits marked
8); tlie words in italics are not iu Isaiali. 8. bring again —cause to return (Joshua 10. 12-14). In 2 Kings 20. 0, 11, the choice is stated to have been given to Hezekiali, wliether the shadow should go forwaril, or go back, ten degreesi. Hezekiah replied, "It is a light tiling (a less decisive mii-ade) for the shadow to go down (its usual direction) ten degrees : nay, l)ut let it return backward ten degrees;" so Isaiah cried to Jeliovah tliat it sliould be so, and it was so (cf. Joshua 10. 12, 14). sun-dial of Aiiaz—IlEltonoTUS
by God (Genesis 10. 8-11, 25), encroaching on Sheni's portion ; he abandoned Babel for a time, after the miraculous confusion of tongues, and went and founded Nineveli; he was, after death, worshipped as Orion the constellation
{JVote, Job 9. 9; 38. 31). 38. Nlsroch—iV^isr, in Semitic, means eagle ; the termination och, means great. Tlie eagie-headod human figure in Assyrian sculptures is no doubt Nisroch, tlie same as Asshur, the chief Assyrian god; the corresponding goddess was Asheera, or Astarte;
(2. 109) states tliat the sun-dial, and the division of the day into twelve hours, were invented by the Babylonians; from tliem Ahaz borrowed the invention. He was one, from his connection with Tiglath-pileser, likely to have done so (2 Kings 16.7,10). "Shadow of the degrees" means the shadow made on the degrees. Josephus tliinks these degrees were steps ascending to the palace of Ahaz; the time of day was indicated by the number of steps reached Ijy the shadow. But probably a sun-dial, strictly so, called. Is meant; It was of such a size, and so placed, that Hezekiah, when convalescent, could witness the miracle from his chamber. Cf. iJ. 21, 22 with 2 Kings 20.9, where translate, shall this shadow go forward, &c. ; the dial was no doubt in sight, probably " in the middle court" (2 Kings 20. 4), the point where Isaiah turned back to announce God's gracious answers to Hezekiah. Hence this particular sign was given. The retrogression of the shadow may have been effected by refraction; a cloud denser than the air interposing between the gnomon and dial would cause the phenomenon, which does not take from the miracle, for God gave him the choice whether the shadow should go forward or back, and regulated the time and place. Bosanquet makes the
this means a "grove," or sacred tree, often found as the eyml)ol of the heavenly hosts (Saba) in the sculptures, as Asshur the Eponymus hero of Assyria (Genesis 10. 11) answered to the sun or Baal, Belus, the title of office. Lord. This explains "image of the grove" (2 Kings 21.7). The eagle was worshipped by the ancient Persians and Arabs. JBsar-haddon—In Ezra 4. 2 he is mentioned as having brought colonists into Samaria. He is also thought to have been the king who carried Manasseh captive to Babylon (2 Chronicles 33. 11). He built the palace on the mound Nebbi-yunus, and that called the south-west palace of Nimroud. The latter was destroyed by fire, but his name and .wars are recorded on the great bulls taken from the building. He obtained his building materials from the north-west palaces of the ancient dynasty, ending in Pul.