2 Chronicles 32

2Ch 32:1-20.

SENNACHERIB

INVADES

JUDAH.

1. After these things, and the establishment thereof--that is, the

restoration of the temple-worship. The precise date is given,

2Ki 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

(2Ki 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.

2-8. when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib . . . was purposed to fight

against Jerusalem--An account of the means taken to fortify Jerusalem

against the threatened siege is given only in this passage. The

polluting or filling up of wells, and the altering of the course of

rivers, is an old practice that still obtains in the wars of the East.

Hezekiah's plan was to cover the fountain heads, so that they might not

be discovered by the enemy, and to carry the water by subterranean

channels or pipes into the city--a plan which, while it would secure a

constant supply to the inhabitants, would distress the besiegers, as

the country all around Jerusalem was very destitute of water.

4. So there was gathered much people . . . who stopped all the

fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land--"Where

these various fountains were, we have now no positive means of

ascertaining; though En-rogel, and the spring now called the Virgin's

Fount, may well be numbered among them. JOSEPHUS mentions the existence

of various fountains without the city, but does not mention any of them

in this connection but Siloam. 'The brook,' however, is located with

sufficient precision to enable us to trace it very definitely. We are

told that it 'ran through the midst of the land.' Now a stream running

through either the Kedron or Hinnom Valley, could, in no proper sense,

be said to run through the midst of the land, but one flowing

through the true Gihon valley, and separating Akra and Zion from

Bezetha, Moriah, and Ophel, as a stream once, doubtless, did, could,

with peculiar propriety, be said to run through the midst of the land

on which the [Holy] City was built. And that this is the correct

meaning of the phrase is not only apparent from the force of

circumstances, but is positively so declared in the Septuagint, where,

moreover, it is called a 'river,' which, at least, implies a much

larger stream than the Kedron, and comports well with the marginal

reading, where it is said to overflow through the midst of the land.

Previous to the interference of man, there was, no doubt, a very

copious stream that gushed forth in the upper portion of that shallow,

basin-like concavity north of Damascus Gate, which is unquestionably

the upper extremity of the Gihon valley, and pursuing its meandering

course through this valley, entered the Tyropœon at its great southern

curve, down which it flowed into the valley of the Kedron"

[BARCLAY, City of the Great King].

5, 6. he strengthened himself--He made a careful inspection of the

city defenses for the purpose of repairing breaches in the wall here,

renewing the masonry there, raising projecting machines to the towers,

and especially fortifying the lower portion of Zion, that is, Millo,

"(in) the original city of David." "In" is a supplement of our

translators, and the text reads better without it, for it was not the

whole city that was repaired, but only the lower portion of Zion, or

the original "city of David."

6. he . . . gathered them together . . . in the street--that is, the

large open space at the gate of Eastern cities. Having equipped his

soldiers with a full suit of military accoutrements, he addressed them

in an animated strain, dwelling on the motives they had to inspire

courage and confidence of success, especially on their consciousness of

the favor and helping power of God.

9-20. (See on

2Ki 18:17-35;

also

2Ki 19:8-34).

18. they cried with a loud voice . . . unto the people of Jerusalem

. . . on the wall--It appears that the wall on the west side of the

city reached as far to the side of the uppermost pool of Gihon at that

time as it does now, if not farther; and the wall was so close to that

pool that those sent to negotiate with the Assyrian general answered him

in their own tongue

(see on

2Ki 18:27).

2Ch 32:21-23.

AN

ANGEL

DESTROYS THE

ASSYRIANS.

21. an angel . . . cut off all the mighty

men--(See on

2Ki 19:35-37).

2Ch 32:24-26.

HEZEKIAH'S

SICKNESS AND

RECOVERY.

24. In those days Hezekiah was sick to the

death--(See on

2Ki 20:1-11).

2Ch 32:27-33.

HIS

RICHES AND

WORKS.

27-29. he had exceeding much riches and honour--(compare

2Ki 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.

30. stopped the . . . watercourse of Gihon, and brought it

. . . to the west side of the city, &c.--(Compare

2Ki 20:20).

Particular notice is here taken of the aqueduct, as among the greatest

of Hezekiah's works. "In exploring the subterranean channel conveying

the water from Virgin's Fount to Siloam, I discovered a similar channel

entering from the north, a few yards from its commencement; and on

tracing it up near the Mugrabin gate, where it became so choked with

rubbish that it could be traversed no farther, I there found it turn to

the west in the direction of the south end of the cleft, or

saddle, of Zion, and if this channel was not constructed for the

purpose of conveying the waters of Hezekiah's aqueduct, I am unable to

suggest any purpose to which it could have been applied. Perhaps the

reason why it was not brought down on the Zion side, was that Zion was

already well-watered in its lower portion by the Great Pool, 'the lower

pool of Gihon.' And accordingly WILLIAMS [Holy

City] renders this passage, 'He stopped the upper outflow of the

waters of Gihon, and led them down westward to the city'" [BARCLAY, City of the Great King]. The construction

of this aqueduct required not only masonic but engineering skill; for

the passage was bored through a continuous mass of rock. Hezekiah's

pool or reservoir made to receive the water within the northwest part

of the city still remains. It is an oblong quadrangular tank, two

hundred forty feet in length, from one hundred forty-four to one

hundred fifty in breadth, but, from recent excavations, appears to have

extended somewhat farther towards the north.

31. in the business of the ambassadors who sent . . . to inquire of the

wonder that was done in the land, &c.--They brought a present

(2Ch 32:23;

see on

2Ki 20:12, 13),

and a letter of congratulation on his recovery, in which particular

enquiries were made about the miracle of the sun's retrocession--a

natural phenomenon that could not fail to excite great interest and

curiosity at Babylon, where astronomy was so much studied. At the same

time, there is reason to believe that they proposed a defensive league

against the Assyrians.

God left him, to try him, &c.--Hezekiah's offense was not so much in

the display of his military stores and treasures, as in not giving to

God the glory both of the miracle and of his recovery, and thus leading

those heathen ambassadors to know Him.