Isaiah 37

Isa 37:1-38.

CONTINUATION OF THE

NARRATIVE IN THE

THIRTY-SIXTH

CHAPTER.

1. sackcloth--(See on

Isa 20:2).

house of the Lord--the sure resort of God's people in distress

(Ps 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

(compare

2Ki 22:12-14).

3. rebuke--that is, the Lord's rebuke for His people's sins

(Ps 149:7;

Ho 5:9).

blasphemy--blasphemous railing of Rab-shakeh.

the children, &c.--a proverbial expression for, We are in the most

extreme danger and have no power to avert it (compare

Ho 13:13).

4. hear--take cognizance of

(2Sa 16:12).

reprove--will punish him for the words, &c.

(Ps 50:21).

remnant--the two tribes of the kingdom of Judah, Israel being already

captive. Isaiah is entreated to act as intercessor with God.

6. servants--literally, "youths," mere lads, implying disparagement,

not an embassy of venerable elders. The Hebrew is different from

that for "servants" in

Isa 37:5.

blasphemed me--

(Isa 36:20).

7. blast--rather, "I will put a spirit

(Isa 28:6;

1Ki 22:23)

into him," that is, so influence his judgment that when he hears the

report

(Isa 37:9,

concerning Tirhakah), he shall return [GESENIUS];

the "report" also of the destruction of his army at Jerusalem, reaching

Sennacherib, while he was in the southwest of Palestine on the borders

of Egypt, led him to retreat.

(Isa 37:38).

8. returned--to the camp of his master.

Libnah--meaning "whiteness," the Blanche-garde of the Crusaders

[STANLEY].

EUSEBIUS and

JEROME place it more south, in the district of

Eleutheropolis, ten miles northwest of Lachish, which Sennacherib had

captured (see on

Isa 36:2).

Libnah was in Judea and given to the priests

(1Ch 6:54, 57).

9. Tirhakah--(See on

Isa 17:12;

Isa 18:6).

Egypt was in part governed by three successive Ethiopian monarchs, for

forty or fifty years: Sabacho, Sevechus, and Tirhakah. Sevechus retired

from Lower Egypt owing to the resistance of the priests, whereupon

Sethos, a prince-priest, obtained supreme power with Tanis (Zoan in

Scripture), or Memphis, as his capital. The Ethiopians retained Upper

Egypt under Tirhakah, with Thebes as the capital. Tirhakah's fame as a

conqueror rivalled that of Sesostris; he, and one at least, of the

Pharaohs of Lower Egypt, were Hezekiah's allies against Assyria. The

tidings of his approach made Sennacherib the more anxious to get

possession of Jerusalem before his arrival.

sent--

2Ki 19:9

more fully expresses Sennacherib's eagerness by adding "again."

10. He tries to influence Hezekiah himself, as Rab-shakeh had

addressed the people.

God . . . deceive--(Compare

Nu 23:19).

11. all lands--

(Isa 14:17).

He does not dare to enumerate Egypt in the list.

12. Gozan--in Mesopotamia, on the Chabour

(2Ki 17:6; 18:11).

Gozan is the name of the district, Chabour of the river.

Haran--more to the west. Abraham removed to it from Ur

(Ge 11:31);

the Carroe of the Romans.

Rezeph--farther west, in Syria.

Eden--There is an ancient village, Adna, north of Baghdad. Some

think Eden to be the name of a region (of Mesopotamia or its vicinity)

in which was Paradise; Paradise was not Eden itself

(Ge 2:8).

"A garden in Eden."

Telassar--now Tel-afer, west of Mosul [LAYARD]. Tel means a "hill" in Arabic and

Assyrian names.

13. Hena . . . Ivah--in Babylonia. From Ava

colonists had been brought to Samaria

(2Ki 17:24).

14. spread--unrolled the scroll of writing. God "knows our

necessities before we ask Him," but He delights in our unfolding them to

Him with filial confidence

(2Ch 20:3, 11-13).

16. dwellest--the Shekinah, or fiery symbol of God's presence,

dwelling in the temple with His people, is from shachan,

"to dwell"

(Ex 25:22;

Ps 80:1; 99:1).

cherubim--derived by transposition from either a Hebrew root,

rachab, to "ride"; or rather, barach, to "bless." They were

formed out of the same mass of pure gold as the mercy seat itself

(Ex 25:19,

Margin). The phrase, "dwellest between the cherubim," arose from

their position at each end of the mercy seat, while the Shekinah, and

the awful name, JEHOVAH, in written letters, were

in the intervening space. They are so inseparably associated with the

manifestation of God's glory, that whether the Lord is at rest or in

motion, they always are mentioned with Him

(Nu 7:89;

Ps 18:10).

(1) They are first mentioned

(Ge 3:24)

"on the edge of" (as "on the east" may be translated) Eden; the

Hebrew for "placed" is properly to "place in a tabernacle,"

which implies that this was a local tabernacle in which the symbols of

God's presence were manifested suitably to the altered circumstances in

which man, after the fall, came before God. It was here that Cain and

Abel, and the patriarchs down to the flood, presented their offerings:

and it is called "the presence of the Lord"

(Ge 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 Chaldee, "seraphim" or "teraphim." (2) The cherubim, in the

Mosaic tabernacle 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, chief among the

tame and useful animals; the lion among the wild ones; the eagle among

birds; and man, the head of all (the original headship of man over the

animal kingdom, about to be restored in Jesus Christ,

Ps 8:4-8,

is also implied in this combination). They are, throughout Scripture,

represented as distinct from God; they could not be likenesses of Him

which He forbade in any shape. (3) They are introduced in the third or

gospel dispensation

(Re 4:6)

as "living creatures" (not so well translated "beasts" in

English Version), not angels, but beings closely connected with

the redeemed Church. So also in

Eze 1:5-25; 10:1-22.

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--literally, "Thou art He who 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.

17. 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

(Isa 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 honor of God

(Ex 32:12-14;

Ps 83:18;

Da 9:18, 19).

21. Whereas thou hast prayed to me--that is, hast not relied on thy

own strength but on Me (compare

2Ki 19:20).

"That which thou hast prayed to Me against Sennacherib, I have heard"

(Ps 65:2).

22. Transition to poetry: in parallelism.

virgin . . . daughter--honorable terms. "Virgin" implies that the city

is, as yet, inviolate. "Daughter" is an abstract collective feminine personification of the population, the child of the place denoted

(see on

Isa 23:10;

Isa 1:8).

Zion and her inhabitants.

shaken . . . head--in scorn

(Ps 22:7; 109:25;

Mt 27:39).

With us to shake the head is a sign of denial or displeasure; but

gestures have different meanings in different countries

(Isa 58:9;

Eze 25:6;

Zep 2:15).

23. Whom--not an idol.

24. said--virtually. Hast thou within thyself?

height--imagery from the Assyrian felling of trees in Lebanon

(Isa 14:8; 33:9);

figuratively for, "I have carried my victorious army through the

regions most difficult 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 northwest side of Lebanon

[STANLEY].

height of . . . border--In

2Ki 19:23,

"the lodgings of his borders." Perhaps on the ascent to the top there

was a place of repose or caravansary, which bounded the usual attempts

of persons to ascend [BARNES]. Here, simply, "its

extreme height."

forest of . . . Carmel--rather, "its thickest forest."

"Carmel" expresses thick luxuriance (see on

Isa 10:18;

Isa 29:17).

25. digged, and drunk water--In

2Ki 19:24,

it is "strange waters." I have marched into foreign lands where

I had 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 (artificial

canals from the Nile) of Egypt." "With the sole of my foot," expresses

that as soon as his vast armies marched into a region, the streams

were drunk up by them; or rather, that the rivers proved no

obstruction to the onward march of his armies. So

Isa 19:4-6,

referring to Egypt, "the river--brooks of defense--shall be

dried up." HORSLEY,

translates the Hebrew for "besieged places,"

"rocks."

26. 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

I who, long ago, have ordered it so

(Isa 22:11);

thou wert but the instrument in My hands

(Isa 10:5, 15).

This was the reason why "the inhabitants were of small power before

thee"

(Isa 37:27),

namely, that I ordered it so; yet thou art in My hands, and I know thy

ways

(Isa 37:28),

and I will check thee

(Isa 37:29).

Connect also, "I from ancient times have arranged ('formed')

it." However, English Version is supported by

Isa 33:13; 45:6, 21; 48:5.

27. Therefore--not because of thy power, but because I made them

unable to withstand thee.

grass--which easily withers

(Isa 40:6;

Ps 37:2).

on . . . housetops--which having little earth to nourish it fades

soonest

(Ps 129:6-8).

corn blasted before it be grown up--SMITH

translates, "The cornfield

(frail and tender), before the corn is grown."

28. abode--rather, "sitting down"

(Ps 139:2).

The expressions here describe a man's whole course of life

(De 6:7; 28:6;

1Ki 3:7;

Ps 121:8).

There is also a special reference to Sennacherib's first being at

home, then going forth against Judah and Egypt, and

raging against Jehovah

(Isa 37:4).

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 (compare

Job 41:1, 2;

Eze 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 fulfilled, 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

(Isa 32:10).

Thus translate: "Ye did eat (the first year) such as groweth of

itself, and in the second year that . . . but in this

third year sow ye," &c., for in this year the land shall be

delivered from the foe. The fact that Sennacherib moved his camp away

immediately 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. with shields--He did come near it, but was not allowed to conduct

a proper siege.

bank--a mound to defend the assailants in attacking the walls.

34. (See

Isa 37:29, 37;

Isa 29:5-8).

35. I will defend--Notwithstanding Hezekiah's measures of defense

(2Ch 32:3-5),

Jehovah was its true defender.

mine own sake--since Jehovah's name was blasphemed by Sennacherib

(Isa 37:23).

David's sake--on account of His promise to David

(Ps 132:17, 18),

and to Messiah, the heir of David's throne

(Isa 9:7; 11:1).

36. Some attribute the destruction to the agency of the plague

(see on

Isa 33:24),

which may have caused Hezekiah's sickness, narrated immediately after;

but

Isa 33:1, 4,

proves that the Jews spoiled the corpses, which they would not have

dared to do, had there been on them infection of a plague. The

secondary agency seems, from

Isa 29:6; 30:30,

to have been a storm of hail, thunder, and lightning (compare

Ex 9:22-25).

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

2Ch 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 army 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. Compare the language

(Isa 37:33),

"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 as the time with a part of his army, not at

Jerusalem, but on the Egyptian frontier, southwest 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,

induced him to retreat, which the Egyptians accounted for in a way

honoring to their own gods. The mouse was the Egyptian emblem of

destruction. The Greek Apollo was called Sminthian, from

a Cretan word for "a mouse," as a tutelary god of agriculture, he was

represented with one foot upon a mouse, since field mice hurt corn. The

Assyrian inscriptions, of course, suppress their own defeat, but

nowhere boast of having taken Jerusalem; and the only reason to be

given for Sennacherib not having, amidst his many subsequent

expeditions recorded in the monuments, returned to Judah, is the

terrible calamity he had sustained there, which convinced him that

Hezekiah was under the divine protection. RAWLINSON says, In Sennacherib's account of his wars with

Hezekiah, inscribed with cuneiform characters in the hall of the palace

of Koyunjik, built by him (a hundred forty feet long by a hundred

twenty broad), wherein even the Jewish physiognomy of the captives is

portrayed, there occurs a remarkable passage; after his mentioning his

taking two hundred thousand captive Jews, he adds, "Then I prayed unto

God"; the only instance of an inscription wherein the name of GOD occurs without a heathen adjunct. The forty-sixth

Psalm probably commemorates Judah's deliverance. It occurred in one

"night," according to

2Ki 19:35,

with which Isaiah's words, "when they arose early in the morning,"

&c., are in undesigned coincidence.

they . . . they--"the Jews . . . the Assyrians."

37. dwelt at Nineveh--for about twenty years after his disaster,

according to the inscriptions. The word, "dwelt," is consistent with any

indefinite length of time. "Nineveh," so called from Ninus, that is,

Nimrod, its founder; his name means "exceedingly impious rebel"; he

subverted the existing patriarchal order of society, by setting up a

system of chieftainship, founded on conquest; the hunting field was his

training school for war; he was of the race of Ham, and transgressed the

limits marked by God

(Ge 10:8-11, 25),

encroaching on Shem's portion; he abandoned Babel for a time, after the

miraculous confusion of tongues and went and founded Nineveh; he was,

after death, worshipped as Orion, the constellation (see on

Job 9:9;

Job 38:31).

38. Nisroch--Nisr, in Semitic, means

"eagle;" the termination och, means "great." The

eagle-headed human figure in Assyrian sculptures is no doubt Nisroch,

the same as Asshur, the chief Assyrian god; the corresponding goddess

was Asheera, or Astarte; this means a "grove," or sacred tree, often

found as the symbol of the heavenly hosts (Saba) in the

sculptures, as Asshur the Eponymus hero of Assyria

(Ge 10:11)

answered to the sun or Baal, Belus, the title of office, "Lord." This

explains "image of the grove"

(2Ki 21:7).

The eagle was worshipper by the ancient Persians and Arabs.

Esar-haddon--In

Ezr 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

(2Ch 33:11).

He built the palace on the mound Nebbiyunus, and that called the

southwest 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 northwest palaces of the

ancient dynasty, ending in Pul.