- 114-
- This, as has been remarked, is instructive as showing the relation between the
priesthood and the prophets.
** By way of contrast, comp. Jeremiah 21:1, etc.
By a proverbial expression he indicated that in the time of Israel's utmost agony they had
not strength for deliverance, and were in danger of perishing. But since the words of the
Assyrian were a challenge to God, He might "hear" them, and answer the "reproach" by a
"rebuke;" therefore let Isaiah pray for the remnant still left. Strange as it may sound, the
strength of this plea lay in the sense of felt weakness, which appeared in that the king
called upon the prophet not to interpose, but to pray, and even so felt not secure of an
answer even to the prophet's prayer, but rested his hope on the nature of the case.
There could not have been greater contrast than between the boastful confidence of the
Assyrian in his might and the absolute submission of Hezekiah to the LORD); nor yet
could prayer have been the outcome of clearer spiritual perception. Such prayer must
have had its answer; and it came in the assurance that this very boastfulness of victory
should give place to fear upon a rumor, and this confidence be laid low when "the great
king" should "fall by the sword," and that "in his own land."*
- In 2 Kings 19:7 translate (as in the R.V.), "I will put a spirit in him," i.e., by the direct
agency of Jehovah, a spirit of fear would take the place of that of boastful confidence.
The "tidings" (this, rather than "rumor")refer on the one hand to the advance of the
Egyptian army, which led to the retrograde movement of Sennacherib, and on the other
hand to the Divine visitation which determined his return to "his own land." In ver. 6 we
mark that the expression "servants," used for the Assyrian ambassadors, is one of
contempt, like the German Burschen (lads), or Buben, and that their words are taken up
as a blasphemous challenge to the LORD.
It was as had been said. The Rabh-Shakeh returned from his bootless expedition to his
master, leaving, as we suppose, his army before Jerusalem. He found Sennacherib not at
Lachish, but at Libnah, to which he had retreated probably on hearing of the advance of
Tirhakah, the king of Ethiopia. As we have seen, Sennacherib gained indeed the
victory of Altaku.
- Tirhakah - on the Egyptian monuments, Tahark and Taharka; on the the Assyrian, Tar-
ku-u, the third and last king of the twenty-fifth "Ethiopian" dynasty, although apparently
not himself of Ethiopian but of Egyptian descent. In accordance with the Bible, the
monuments describe him as king of Ethiopia, and as making an incursion into Palestine
against Sennacherib. For an abstract of his history see Ebers, in Riehm's Worterb. ii., pp.
1671, 1672.
(^)