2Ki 19:1-4 | Clarke | STEP | Hezekiah as greatly distressed, and sends to Isaiah to pray for him, . Isaiah returns a comfortable answer, and predicts the destruction of the king of Assyria and his army, . Sennacherib, hearing that his kingdom was invaded by the Ethiopians, sends a terrible letter to Hezekiah, to induce him to surrender, . Hezekiah goes to the temple, spreads the letter before the Lord, and makes a most affecting prayer, . Isaiah is sent to him to assure him that his prayer is heard; that Jerusalem shall be delivered; and that the Assyrians shall be destroyed, . That very night a messenger of God slays one hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrians, . Sennacherib returns to Nineveh, and is slain by his own sons, , .

‏ 2 Kings 19:1-4

Introduction

Hezekiah as greatly distressed, and sends to Isaiah to pray for him, 2Kgs 19:1-4. Isaiah returns a comfortable answer, and predicts the destruction of the king of Assyria and his army, 2Kgs 19:5-8. Sennacherib, hearing that his kingdom was invaded by the Ethiopians, sends a terrible letter to Hezekiah, to induce him to surrender, 2Kgs 19:9-13. Hezekiah goes to the temple, spreads the letter before the Lord, and makes a most affecting prayer, 2Kgs 19:14-19. Isaiah is sent to him to assure him that his prayer is heard; that Jerusalem shall be delivered; and that the Assyrians shall be destroyed, 2Kgs 19:20-34. That very night a messenger of God slays one hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrians, 2Kgs 19:35. Sennacherib returns to Nineveh, and is slain by his own sons, 2Kgs 19:36, 2Kgs 19:37. Verse 2

To Isaiah the prophet - His fame and influence were at this time great in Israel; and it was well known that the word of the Lord was with him. Here both the Church and the state unite in fervent application to, and strong dependence upon, God; and behold how they succeed! Verse 3

The children are come to the birth - The Jewish state is here represented under the emblem of a woman in travail, who has been so long in the pangs of parturition, that her strength is now entirely exhausted, and her deliverance is hopeless, without a miracle. The image is very fine and highly appropriate.

A similar image is employed by Homer, when he represents the agonies which Agamemnon suffers from his wound: - Οφρα οἱ αἱμ' ετι θερμον ανηνοθεν εξ ωτειλης· Λυταρ επει το μεν ἑλκος ετερσετο παυσατο δ' αἱμα, Οξειαι οδυναι δυνον μενος Ατρειδαο· Ως δ' ὁταν ωδινουσαν εχῃ βελος οξυ γυναικα, Δριμυ, το τε προΐεισι μογοστοκοι Ειλειθυιαι Ἡρης θυγατερες πικ ρας ωδινας εχουσαι· Ὡς οξει' οδυναι δυνον μενος Ατρειδαο.

Il. xi., ver. 266.

This, while yet warm, distill'd the purple flood;

But when the wound grew stiff with clotted blood,

Then grinding tortures his strong bosom rend.

Less keen those darts the fierce Ilythiae send,

The powers that cause the teeming matron's throes,

Sad mothers of unutterable woes.

Pope

Better translated by Macpherson; but in neither well: "So long as from the gaping wound gushed forth, in its warmth, the blood; but when the wound became dry, when ceased the blood to flow amain, sharp pains pervade the strength of Atrides. Racking pangs glide through his frame; as when the Ilythiae, who preside over births, the daughters of white armed Juno, fierce dealers of bitter pains, throw all their darts on hapless women, that travail with child. Such pains pervade the strength of Atrides." Verse 4

The remnant that are left - That is, the Jews; the ten tribes having been already carried away captive by the kings of Assyria.