Exposition of the Whole Bible

| he was only an inftrument of.ex q Travels, Part I. Book II. fylvasy arva ejus, Junius & Tremelliys; fylvas & arva ejus, Pifeator. 5. ‘ ova m5) in acervos & flores, ixto heaps and flowers, that is,: moved, and raifed by the wind, fly away like flowers and bloffoms of trees; fo Guffetius, in acervos volantes, | ue ad VO; excitatos, fcil. dum redacti in pulyeres, magna ex parte, volant, excitatia ventis, Comment. Ebr, p.g02 ‘ ”

what his heart was fet upon; fo the Targum, ‘< J will fubdue the city of their.; flrong city Ferufalem, in which they pl ftrength: and she foreft of his Carmel; or, roft and his fruitful field*, the fame city for the number of its houies and inhabitar like a foreft, and. was Hezekiah’s fruitt where all his riches and treafure were. _The gum interprets it of his army, ‘* and I will ¢ ‘* fume the multitude of their army.” _

¥.25. I have digged, and drunk water, &c.) places where he came, and found no water for his. army, he fet his foldiers to work, to dig ci ous as the Targum, or wells, fo that they had water {ufficient to drink; in 2 Kings xix. 24. it is frrange waters, which were never known before: and the fole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the befieged places, or, as the Targum, * -with the. “ foles of the feet of the people that are with - me;” the Syriac verfion, with the: hoofs of my horfess. with which he trampled down banks of rivers, and pools, and ciiterns of water; fignifying the vaft numbers of his foldiers, who could drink up a. river, or carry it away with them, or could turn the ftreams of rivers that ran.by thefides, or round. about, cities befieged, and fo hindered the carrying, on of a fiege, and the taking of the place; but he had ways and means very eafily to drain them, and. ford them; or to cut off all.commnnication of the water from the befieged, Some render it, [fave. dried up all the rivers of Egypt*, as Kimchi, on 2 Kings xix. 24. obferves, and to be -underftood hyperbolically; fee ch. xix. 6. fo Bem Melech obferves. + Ut ee y.26. Haft thou not beard long ago, &c.j By report, by reading the hiftory of ancient times, or by means of the prophets; thefe are the words of the Lord to Sennacherib.. The Targum adds, “ what ‘“« I did to Pharaoh king of Egypt;” it follows 2: how I have. done it, and of ancient times, that 1 have formed it? meaning either the decree im his — own breaft from all eternity, and which he had publifhed by his prophets, of raifing up him this - wicked ‘prince, to be.the fcourge of nations; or by the i, are meant the people of the Fews, God’s Jfrael, whom he had made, formed into a bedy politic, and into a.church-ftate, and had done great things for, in bringing them out of leading them thro’ the red-fea, providing them, and protecting them in the wildernefs, fabduing nations under them, and fettling them in the la of Canaan: now have I brought it to pals, that thou Joouldeft be to lay wafte defenced cities into ruinous heaps *; which fome; render interrogatively, now. Joould I bring it to be laid wafte, and fenced cities to be ruinous heaps? that is, the people of - Jews, the city of Ferufalem, and other; cities? no, I will not: or the ing” that decree, which he had framed and foi his own mind from all eternity, he was now bi ing to pafs; which was, that this king of B fhould be a wafter and deftroyer of fortified ¢ which: he fhould reduce to heaps of; ruin fore he had no reafon to vaunt as he had « pofes and defigns of God, tho’ it wasn moean.; 92

yt.2%. Therefore their inhabitants were of fmall power, &c.} Or, foort of band; it was not in the power of their hands to help themfelves, becaufe the Lord took away their ftrength, having determined that: they fhould be deftroyed for their fins; otherwife it would not have been in. the power of Senxnacherib to have fubdued them; this takes. off greatly from the: king of Afyria’s triumph, that they were a weak people, whom he had conquered, and were given up into his hands by the Lord, according to his purpofes; or he had never been! Lord over them: they were difmayed and confounded; not fo much at the fight of Sennacherii’s army, but becaufe the Lord had difpirited them, and took away their natural courage from them, fo that they became an eafy prey to him: they were as the grafs of the field; which has no ftrength to ftand before the mower: and as. the green berb., which is eafily cropped with the hand of man, or eaten by the beafts of the field: as the gras on the bouje-tops; which has no matter of root, and is dried up with the heat of the fun: and as corn blajied, before it be grown up; before it rifes up into any thing of a ftalk, and much lefs into ears; fo the Targum, ** which is blafted be- «< fore it comes to be ears;” all which reprefent the feeble condition of the people, overcome by | him; fo that he had not fo much to glory of, as having done mighty things.

y. 28. But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, &c.| Where he dwelt, what he did at home, his fecret councils, cabals, contrivances, fchemes and plans for the compafling of his ends, the fubduing of kingdoms, and fetting up an univerfal monarchy; and his going out of Babylon, his marches, and counter-marches, and his entrance into the land of Fudea; there was not a motion made, or a ftep taken in the cabinet or camp, but what were known to the Lord; fo the Targum, ‘ thy fitting in council, and thy going << out abroad to make war, and thy coming into *< the land of J/rae/, are manifeft before me:”’ and iby rage againft me, againft his people, againft the city that was called by his name, againft the temple where he was worfhipped, particularly againft his fervant Hezekiah, becaufe he would not immediately deliver up the city to him. The Targum and ‘Syriac verfions render it, defore me; and then the meaning is, ¢hy rage, wrath and fury, is defore me or maniteft to me; and which he could reftrain at pleafure, as he promifes to do in the next verte. y.29. Becaufe thy rage againft me, and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, &c.] The rage which Sennacherib exprefled, both by Radjhakeh, and in his letter againit Hezekiah, and his people, is taken by the Lord as againft himfelf; fo great was his care of them, and concern for them; and indeed there was a great deal of blafphemy belched out againft himfelf,; and fo the Syriac verfion renders the next word, tranflated tumuli, thy blafphemy; tho’ that may rather intend the bluftering noife that Rabjbakeb made, or the noife of the Afyrian army, the chariots and horfemen, and the multitude of the foldiers, which was not only-heard by the Yews, and was terrible to them, but was taken notice of by the Lord, who had it.in derifion; hence he adds: therefore will [ put my book in thy nofe, and my bridle in thy lips, comparing and managed; fee Fod'xli. 1. Ezek. xxix. 3, 4. oF to a bear, or buffaloe, in whofe nofes men put iron rings, and lead them about at pleafure; and alfo to a horfe, or mule, which are managed by the bit and bridle; fignifying hereby the ftrength, fiercenefs, and fury of the fjrian monarch, and the power of God to reftrain him, which-he could eafily do: and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou cameft, from Ferufalem; the fame way he came to it, to his own land again; and-fo he did, y¥. 37.

¥. 30. And this thall be a fign unto thee, &c.)} Not to Sennacherib, but to Hezekiah; for here the Lord turns himfelf from. the former, and directs his fpeech to the latter, in order to comfort him under the dreadful apprehenfions he had of the 4 - ~

Jyrian monarch, and his. army; afluring him of deliverance; giving him a fign or token of it, and which was a wonder, as the word fometimes fignifies, and was no lefs marvellous than the deliverance itfelf: ye /hall eat this year fuch as groweth of itfelf: and the fecond year that which fpringeth of the fame: and in the third year fow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof; all which was very wonderful; for whereas, either thro’ the invafion of the land, and the fiege of the city, they could not till their land as they had ufed to do, or what was upon it was deftroyed or eaten up by the Affyrian army; and yet, thro’ the wonderful providence of God, the earth of its own accord yielded that very year a fufficiency for them; and tho’ the fecond year was, as it is thought, a Sabbatical year, when the land had reft, and by the law was not to be tilled, yet it alfo produced of itfelf, what was fufficient for their fupport; and then the third year being entirely free from the enemy, and all fears of his return, they go about their bufinefs as formerly, to fowing and reaping corn, and planting vineyards, and enjoying the fruit of their labours; all which falling out according to this prediction, muft greatly confirm the mind of Hezekiah, and make him eafy, as to any future attempt upon him, he might fear. The Vulgate Latin verfion renders the fecond claufe, -ye foall eat apples the fecond year; and fo Symmachus, but without foundation.

¥. 31. And the remnant that is efcaped of the houfe of Fudab, &c.| The few that efcaped out of the cities of fudah, upon Sennacherib’s invafion of the land, and befieging, and taking the fenced cities thereof, who fled to Ferufalem for fafety; thefe were a type of the remnant, according to the election of grace, the few that are chofen of God, the {pecial people redeemed by Chrift, the little flock of his, the fmall number that enter in at the ftrait gate, and are faved; and who efcape, not the fall of Adem, nor the imputation of his fin, nor the corruption of nature, nor the pollutions of the world in a ftate of nature; but who efcape the vengeance of divine juftice, the curfe of, a righteous law, wrath to come, and the damnation of hell; which is owing to the love of God, the covenant of his grace, the furetifhip-engagements of Chrift, and his performance of them; thefe are the houfhold of faith, God’s confeffing and profeffing people, who are Fews inwardly, of whom there are but a few; of thefe ’tis faid, they /ball again take root downward, and bear fruit upward, The Tar-

Sennacherib to Leviathan, or the great whale, or to fome wery large and unruly fifh, not eafily caught gum is, ‘* as a tree which fends forth its roots be- ** low, and lifts up its branches above.” The fenfe is, that thofe people that fled from their own habitations to Feru/alem, fhould return thither again upon the breaking up of the fiege, and be firmly fettled, and live peaceably and profperoufly, abounding with all good things;. which may be applied myftically, to true believers taking root again in the love of God, which is a hidden root, and is the fource of falvation, and all the bleffings of ir, and is in itfelf immoveable; and tho’ the faints are fecured in it, and by it, and nothing can root them out of it, yet they are fometimes fhaken with doubts and fears about their intereft in it; when there is again a frefh taking root in it, and that is,

-when they have a ftrong and lively perfuafion of it, which produces fruitfulnefs in the exercife of faith, hope, and love, and in gofpel-obedience; and alfo to their taking root in Chrift, who is as a root unto them, hidden, and out of fight to the world, mean and abject, yet the fource of all happinefs to the faints, who have a being in him, are born by him, and receive fap and nourifhment from him; and tho’ their faith of intereft in him may be fometimes fhaken, yet there is a frefh taking root by new acts of faith upon him, which produce fruitfulnefs; the fruits brought forth by fuch are good works, which fpring from the feed of grace, are owing to divine goodnefs, to the dews of grace, are pleafant and acceptable to God thro’ Chrift, and profitable unto men; thefe are called the fruits of the Spirit, and of righteoufnefs, and are meet for repentance, and are brought forth openly and publickly, which may be fignified by being bore upwards.

¥. 32. For out of Ferufalem fall go forth a remnant, &c.] The Zargum is, * the reft of the ** righteous;” the fame as before; who, when the city fhould be free from the enemy, would go out of it, and return to their former fettlements, in the feveral parts of Fudea; a type of thofe who went out of Ferufalem with the gofpel of Chrift, and fpread it not only in Fudea, but in the Gentile world: and they that efcape out of mount Zion; the fame perfons differently defcribed; fome of whom were in the city of Yerufalem, and others in the fort of Zion, but departed from hence when the fiege was broke up. The Targum is, “ and the “ efcaped of them that confirm the law out of ** mount Zion;” fee Iii. 3: the zeal of the Lord of hofts foall do this; his concern for his own honour and glory, and his great love to his people, fhall engage him to perform all that is here promifed and foretold. The Yargum is, “* by the “* word of the Lord of hofts this fhall be done.”

¥. 33. Therefore thus faith the Lord concerning the king of Affyria, &c.] The iffue of his expedition, and the fruitleffnefs of it; how vain his attempts would be, and how fuccefslefs in this undertaking: he fhall not come into this city; fhall not enter into it, and take poffeffion of it, tho’ fo fure of it; or, foall not come unto it*; for fome think he never was any nearer it than Zidsab, from whence he fent his letters to Hezekiah, ¥. 8,9: nor fhoot an arrow there; neither he nor his archers, fo as to annoy or kill any one perfon in it: nor come before it with fhields, or, with a fhield; that is, he himfelf with one; otherwife his army under Rabjbakeb was before it with men armed with fhields; or the fenfe is, he fhall not prevent it, or feize upon it, with his fhielded men: nor caf a bank againft it;

raife a mount, in order to fix his batteries sates and play his artillery from, and fhoot his arrows. in to greater advantage.. ’ ae ae ¥. 34. By the way that be came, by the fame foall he return, 8ec.] Without executing his defigns on Ferufalem, or other places; he fhall lofe his labour, and make the beft of his way to his own country, without turning to the right or left, in order to dif-. turb other nations, and enlarge his kingdom, beir quite difpirited and confounded by what he fhall meet with: and /hall not come into this city, faith the Lord; or, unto this city, as before; which is repeated to confirm it, and to fhew the certainty of it,

¥. 35. For I will defend this city to fave it, &c.} Or, /bield it; and if God will be the fhield and protection of any place or people, they muft needs be fafe; who can hurt them? for my own fake, and for my fervant David's fake; not for the merits of the inhabitants of it, but for the fake of his own name and glory, who had been blafphemed by the Afyrian monarch, and his general; and for the fake of his fervant David, in whofe feed he had promifed the kingdom fhould be eftablithed; fee 2 Sam. vii. 12—16. and chiefly for the fake of the Meifiah, David’s fon, and the Lord’s fervant, who was to {pring from Hezekiah’s race, and therefore - muft not be cut off.

¥. 36. Then the angel of the Lord went forth, &c.] From heaven, at the command of the Lord, being one of his miniftring fpirits, fent forth by him, as for the protection of his people, fo for the deftruction of their enemies; this was the fame ~ night, either in which the Afyrian army fat down before Ferufalem, as fay the Fews*; or, however, the fame night in which the meffage was fent to Hezekiah; fee 2 Kings xix. 35: and fmote in the camp of the Affyrians an hundred and fourfcore and five thoufand men, a prodigious flaughter indeed! which fhows the power and ftrength of an angel. Fofephus ¥ fays they were {mitten with a peftilential difeafe; but other Yewi/h writers fay it was by fire from heaven, which took away their lives, but did not confume their bodies, nor burn their clothes; but be that as it will, deftroyed they were: aad when they arofe early in the morning, thofe ‘of the army that furvived; Sennacherib, and his fervants about him; or Hezekiah, and the inhabitants of Ferufalem, that -were befieged: behold, they were all dead corpfes; the whole army, excepting a few; this may well be expreffed with a note of admiration, dehold! for a very wonderful thing it was.

y. 37. So Sennacherib king of Affyria departed, and went, and returned, &c.| Being informed of the dettruction of his army in this miraculous manner, he departed from the place where he was in all hafte, fearing left he himfelf fhould be deftroyed. in like manner; and having no forces to puriue his defigns, or wherewith to make an attempt elfewhere, he made the beit of his way at once into his own country, whither he returned with great

‘fhame and confufion: and dwelt at Nineveb 3 the metropolis of his kingdom; fee Gen, x» 11, ¥. 38. And it came to pafs, as be was called his idol Dagon, according to Hillerus, the word fignifies a prince; and with Vifringa, a king lifted wp, or glorious, and whom he takes to be the Affrian Belus, worfhipped in the form and habit of Mars: that Adramelech and Sharezer bis fons, finite him with ihe fword; the former of thefe had his name from an idol fo called, 2 Kings xvii. 31. which fignifies a glorious king; and the other may fignify a prince of treafure. Yo/epbus fays they were his eldeft fons; what fhould move them to be guilty of this parricide, is not known. farchi fays that he prayed to his God, and vowed, if he would deliver him, that he might not be flain, he would offer up his two fons to him, who ftanding by, and hearing him, therefore flew him; the reafon given for it in Todit i. 23. according to Munfiers edition is, that Sennacherid afked his counfellors and fenators, why the holy bleffed God was fo zealous for I/rael and Ferufalem, that an angel deftroyed the hoft of Pharaoh, and all the firftborn of Egypt, but the young men the Lord gave them, falvation was continually by their hands; and his wife men and counfellors anfwered him, that Abraham the father of Jrae/ led forth his fon to flay him, that the Lord his God might be pro-

HIS chapter gives an account of Hezekiab’s ficknefs, recovery, and thank{giving on that account, His ficknefs, and the nature of it, and his preparation for it, as direCted to by the prophet, ¥, 1. his prayer to God upon it, ¥. 2, 3. the anfwer returned unto it, by which he is affured of living fifteen years more, and of the deliverance and protection of the city of Ferujalem from the Affyrians, ¥. 4, 5, 6. the token of his recovery, the fun going back ten.degrees on the dial of Abaz, x. 7, 8. awriting of Hezekiah’s upon his recovery, in commemoration of it, ¥. 9. in which he repre-

“ fents the deplorable condition he had been in, the terrible apprehenfions he had of things, efpecially of the wrath and fury of the Almighty, and_his forrowful and mournful complaints, ¥. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. he obferves his deliverance according to the word of God: expreflés his faith in it; pro- ~ mifes to retain a chearful fenfe of it; owning that it was by the promifes of God that he had lived as other faints did; and afcribes his prefervation from the grave to the love of God to him, of which the forgivenefs of his fins was an evidence, y. 15, 16, 17. the end of which falvation was, that he might praife the Lord, which he determined to do, on ftringed inftruments, ¥. 18, 19, 20. and the chapter is clofed with obferving the means of curing him of his boil; and that it was at his requeft that the fign of his recovery- was given him, y¥. 21, 22.

y¥. 1. In thofe days was Hezekiah fick unto death, &c.] This was about the time that Sennacherib invaded Fudea, threatened Ferufalem with a fiege, and his army was deftroyed by an angel frorm heaven; but whether it was before or after the deftruction of his army, interpreters are not agreed. Some of the Fewifh writers, as Farchi upon the place, and ~~ others *, fay, it was three days before the ruin of ~ Sennacherib’s army; and that it was on the third ' day that Hezekiah recovered, and went up to the pitious to him, and hence it is, he is fo zealous for his children, and_ has. executed vengeance on thy fervants; then faid the king, I will flay my two fons, by this means, perhaps he may be propitious to me, and help me; which word, when it came to Adramelech and Sharezer, they laid in wait for him, and killed him with the fword, at the time he went in to pray before Dagon his god: and they efcaped into the land of Armenia, or Ararat; on the mountains of which the ark’ refted, Gew. vili. 4. Both the Septuagint verfion, and Fofepous fay, it was Armenia into which he efcaped,; and erom obferves, that Ararat is a champain country in Armenia, thro’ which the river Araxes flows, at the foot of mount Taurus, whither it is extended. The Targum calls it, the land of Kardw; and the Syriac verfion, the land of the Keredeans, which alfo belonged to Armenia; in thefe mountainous places they might think themfelves moft fate: «ad Efarbaddon his fon reigned in his jiead, whom ‘fo- Jephus calls Affaracheddas; and in Péolemy’s Caron he is named Afaradinus, the fame, as tome think, whom the Greeks call Sardanapalus, in Tobit 1. 23. he is called Sarchedon, which fome take to be the fame with Sargon, If. xx. 1.