Isaiah 36:22

Isaiah 37:1 INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 37 In this chapter are contained Hezekiah's message to Isaiah, desiring his prayer for him and his people, in this time of sore distress, Isaiah 37:1, the comforting and encouraging answer returned by the prophet to him, Isaiah 37:6, the king of Assyria's letter to Hezekiah, to terrify him into a surrender of the city of Jerusalem to him, Isaiah 37:8 which Hezekiah spread before the Lord, and prayed unto him for deliverance, Isaiah 37:14, upon which he received a gracious answer by the hand of the prophet, promising safety and deliverance to him, and destruction to the king of Assyria, of which a sign was given, Isaiah 37:21 and the chapter is closed with the slaughter of the Assyrian army by an angel, the flight of the king, and his death by the hands of his sons, Isaiah 37:36. Ver. 1. And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard it,....

Then came Eliakim, that was over the household,.... The first of the commissioners sent to Rabshakeh: and Shebna the Scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah: by which it seems that he could not be with them on the wall, but was all the while in his own palace, whither they came to him, to report the issue of their conference with Rabshakeh: with their clothes rent; which was done perhaps not in the presence and within the sight of Rabshakeh, but as they came along; and that partly on account of the blasphemies they had heard, Matthew 26:65, and partly through the grief of heart, for the distress and calamity they might fear were coming on themselves, their king, their city, and country, Joel 2:13, and told him the words of Rabshakeh; what he had said against him, and against the God of Israel, his menaces and his blasphemies; they made a faithful report of the whole, as messengers ought to do. What effect this had upon the king, we have an account of in the following chapter.

The history related here, and in the three following chapters, is, for the substance of it, and almost wholly in the same words, contained 2 Kings 18:1-20:21 . It is fitly inserted here, to explain and confirm some of the foregoing predictions. It may seem to have been first written by this prophet, and from him to have been taken into the Book of Kings, to complete that history.

Verse 22. - With their clothes rent . Garments were "rent," not only as a sign of mourning, but whenever persons were shocked or horrified (see Genesis 37:29 ; 1 Samuel 4:12 ; 2 Samuel 1:2 ; Ezra 9:3 ; 2 Chronicles 34:19 ; Matthew 26:65 ). The Jewish officials meant to mark their horror at Rabshakeh's blasphemies. Isaiah 36:22

(22) With their clothes rent. —The act was the natural expression of their horror at the blasphemy of Rabshakeh’s words. (Comp. Matthew 26:65 ; Acts 14:14 .) They would not reply to that blasphemy, and trusted to the effect of this silent protest on the minds of the people who had heard it.

With their clothes rent - This was a common mark of grief among the Jews (see 2 Samuel 3:21 ; 1 Kings 21:27 ; Ezra 9:3 ; Job 1:20 ; Job 2:12 ; Jeremiah 36:24 ; and the notes at Matthew 26:65 ; notes at Acts 14:14 ). The causes of their griefs were the insolence and arrogance of Rabshakeh; the proposal to surrender the city; the threatening of the siege on the one hand, and of the removal on the other, and the blasphemy of the name of their God, and the reproach of the king. All these things filled their hearts with grief, and they hastened to make report to Hezekiah.

The effect of Rabshakeh's words. "But they held their peace (K. and they, the people, held their peace), and answered him not a word; for it was the king's commandment, saying, Ye shall not answer him. Then came Eliakim son of Hilkiyahu (K. Hilkiyah), the house-minister, and Shebna the chancellor, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hizkiyahu, with torn clothes, and told him the words of Rabshakeh." It is only a superficial observation that could commend the reading in Kings, "They, the people, held their peace," which Hitzig and Knobel prefer, but which Luzzatto very properly rejects. As the Assyrians wished to speak to the king himself ( 2 Kings 18:18 ), who sent the three to them as his representatives, the command to hear, and to make no reply, can only have applied to them (and they had already made the matter worse by the one remark which they had made concerning the language); and the reading ויּחרישׁוּ in the text of Isaiah is the correct one. The three were silent, because the king had imposed the duty of silence upon them; and regarding themselves as dismissed, inasmuch as Rabshakeh had turned away from them to the people, they hastened to the king, rending their clothes, in despair and grief and the disgrace they had experienced.

ISAIAH 36: 20 Who are they among all the gods of these countries that have delivered their country out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’” ISAIAH 36: 21 But they remained silent, and said nothing in reply, for the king’s commandment was, “Don’t answer him.” Verse 21 But they held their peace "But the people held their peace" - The word ‫העם‬ haam, the people, is supplied from the other copy, and is authorized by a MS. which inserts it after ‫אתו‬ otho. ISAIAH 36: 22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh. [ Isaiah 37 ] ISAIAH 37: 1 When king Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the LORD’s house. Hezekiah is greatly distressed, and sends to Isaiah the prophet to pray for him, Isaiah 37:1-4. Isaiah returns a comfortable answer, and predicts the destruction of the king of Assyria and his army, Isaiah 37:5-7. Sennacherib, hearing that his kingdom was invaded by the Ethiopians, sends a terrible letter to Hezekiah, to induce him to surrender, Isaiah 37:9-13. Hezekiah goes to the temple, spreads the letter before the Lord, and makes a most affecting prayer, Isaiah 37:14-20. 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, Isaiah 37:21-35.

8. Final glory. The chapter shows also that no impurity should be tolerated in the Church of God; for as that is the mystical body of Christ, it should be like himself, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. [ Isaiah 36 ] ISAIAH 36: 1 Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all of the fortified cities of Judah, and captured them. Sennacherib, king of Assyria, comes against Judah, and takes all the fenced cities, Isaiah 36:1. He afterwards sends a great host against Jerusalem; and his general Rabshakeh delivers an insulting and blasphemous message to Hezekiah, vv. 2-20. Hezekiah and his people are greatly afflicted at the words of Rabshakeh, Isaiah 36:21, Isaiah 36:22. The history of the invasion of Sennacherib, and of the miraculous destruction of his army Which makes the subject of so many of Isaiah's prophecies, is very properly inserted here as affording the best light to many parts of those prophecies, and as almost necessary to introduce the prophecy in the thirty-seventh chapter, being the answer of God to Hezekiah's prayer, which could not be properly understood without it. We find the same narrative in the Second Book of Kings, chaps. 18, 19, 20.; and these chapters of Isaiah, 36, 37, 38, Isaiah 39:1-8, for much the greater part, (the account of the sickness of Hezekiah only excepted), are but a different copy of that narration.