19:2 And he sent Eliakim, which [was] over the household, and
Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered
with sackcloth, a to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
(a) To hear some new prophecy and to have comfort from him.
19:3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day [is]
a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the
children are come to b the birth, and [there is] not
strength to bring forth.
(b) The dangers are so great, that we can neither avenge
this blasphemy, or help ourselves any more than a woman
in labour.
19:4 It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of
Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to
reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which
the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up [thy] prayer
for the c remnant that are left.
(c) Meaning, for Jerusalem which only remained of all the
cities of Judah.
19:7 Behold, I will send a blast d upon him, and he shall hear
a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will
cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
(d) The Lord can with one blast blow away all the strength
of man, and turn it into dust.
19:9 And when e he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia,
f Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent
messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying,
(e) That is, Sennacherib.
(f) For the kings of Ethiopia and Egypt joined together
against the king of Assyria because of his oppression
of other countries.
19:10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let
not thy g God in whom thou trustest deceive thee,
saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of
the king of Assyria.
(g) The closer the wicked are to their destruction, the
more they blaspheme.
19:14 And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the
messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the
house of the LORD, and spread it before the h LORD.
(h) Before the Ark of the covenant.
19:15 And Hezekiah i prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD
God of Israel, which dwellest [between] the cherubims,
thou art the God, [even] thou alone, of all the kingdoms
of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.
(i) He shows what the true refuge and help is in all
dangers, that is, to flee to the Lord by earnest
prayer.
19:16 LORD, k bow down thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, thine
eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which
hath sent him to reproach the l living God.
(k) Show by effect that you will not allow your Name to be
blasphemed.
(l) By this title he discerns God from all idols and false
gods.
19:19 Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou
us out of his hand, that all the m kingdoms of the earth
may know that thou [art] the LORD God, [even] thou only.
(m) He shows the reason the faithful desire God to deliver
them: that is, that he may be glorified by their
deliverance.
19:21 This [is] the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning
him; The n virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised
thee, [and] laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of
Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
(n) Because as yet Jerusalem had not been taken by the
enemy therefore he calls her virgin.
19:22 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom
hast thou exalted [thy] voice, and lifted up thine eyes on
high? [even] o against the Holy [One] of Israel.
(o) God counts that as an injury done to him, and will
avenge what is done to any of his saints.
19:23 By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast
said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to
the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and
will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, [and] the
choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the p
lodgings of his borders, [and into] the forest of his
Carmel.
(p) Meaning Jerusalem, which Isaiah calls the height of
his borders, that is, of Judah, (Isa 37:24).
19:25 Hast thou not heard long ago [how] I have done it, [and]
of ancient times that I have formed it? q now have I
brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste
fenced cities [into] ruinous heaps.
(q) He declares that as he is the author and beginning of
his Church, he will never allow it to be completely
destroyed, as other cities and kingdoms.
19:26 Therefore their r inhabitants were of small power, they
were dismayed and confounded; they were [as] the grass of
the field, and [as] the green herb, [as] the grass on the
housetops, and [as corn] blasted before it be grown up.
(r) Thus he describes the wicked, who flourish for a time,
and later fade and decay like flowers.
19:28 Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into
mine ears, therefore I will put my s hook in thy nose,
and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by
the way by which thou camest.
(s) I will bridle your rage, and turn you to and fro as it
pleases me.
19:29 And this [shall be] a t sign unto thee, Ye shall eat
this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the
second year that which springeth of the same; and in the
third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat
the fruits thereof.
(t) God not only promised him the victory, but gives him a
sign to confirm his faith.
19:30 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah
shall yet again take u root downward, and bear fruit
upward.
(u) The Lord will multiply in great number that small
remnant of Judah that escaped.
19:31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they
that escape out of mount Zion: the x zeal of the LORD
[of hosts] shall do this.
(x) The love, that God has for his Church will overcome
the counsels and enterprises of men.
19:37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of
Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons
y smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the
land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his
stead.
(y) This was the just judgment of God for his blasphemy,
that he would be slain before the idol that he
preferred to the living God, and by those who should
by nature have needed his defence.
