E8 P 1. Introduction. Q 2. Events. Personal. Evil-doing. Q 3-6. Eent. Political. Captivity. P 7-41. Conclusion. Causes.
620 to 611 B.C.
17)
1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah (there was anarchy for 9 years between Pekah and Hoshea. For, in 15:30, Hoshea conspired against Pekah in the 20th year of Jotham, which was the 3rd year of Ahaz [20 - 12 = 8]: For Ahaz began in Pekah's 17th year [16:1], and Hoshea began in Ahaz's 12th year. But Pekah's 20 years end in Ahaz's 3rd year) began Hoshea (= salvation) the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years (reckoned from the 12th of Ahaz. Hoshea kept under under by the Assyrian till then. Cp. Hos.10:14, where Shalmaneser spoiled Beth-arbel in his first expedition, and would spoil Beth-el at his second.).
2 And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of Yehovah, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. (thus, we do not read that he opposed Hezekah's invitation [2 Chron.30:5-11])
3 Against him came up Shalmaneser (= fire-worshipper) king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.
4 And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt (the Heb. drops the embarrassing "k" of Sabako, his Ethiopian name. Afterward vanquished by Tirhakah. See 19:9), and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as [he had done] year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.
5 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land (Shalmaneser [v.3], who commenced the siege, but died before Sargon, his successor, captured Samaria in 611 B.C.), and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years (from 613-611).
611 B.C.
6 In the ninth year of Hoshea Shalmaneser took Samaria (here, in the days of Hoshea [king of Israel]; and in ch. 18 as connected with the days of Hezekiah [king of Judah]. Cp. 18:9), and carried Israel away into Assyria (Sargon's own inscription says 27,290. Cp. 18:9-12), and placed them in Halah (= completion, old age.) and in Habor (= beautiful banks) [by] the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
P x¹ 7-12. Provocation of Israel. y¹ 13. Remonstrance. x² 14-17. Oburacy of Israel. y² 18. Removal. x³ 19. Disobedience of Judah. y³ 20,21. Rejection and rending. x4 22,23-. Obduracy of Israel. y4 -23-33. Removal. x5 34-40. Transplanting of Israel; and sequel. y5 41. Replaced people.
7 For [so] it was, that the sons of Israel had sinned against Yehovah their Elohim, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
8 And walked in the statutes of the nations, whom Yehovah cast out from before the sons of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.
9 And the sons of Israel did secretly [those] things that [were] not right against Yehovah their Elohim, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city (from the remote watchtower in the country to the fortified city = the whole country).
10 And they set them up statues and groves (Ásherah. See Ex.34:13) in every high hill, and under every green tree:
11 And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as [did] the heathen whom Yehovah carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke Yehovah to anger:
12 For they served filthy (or manufactured) idols, whereof Yehovah had said to them, “You all shall not do this thing.” (Cp. Ex. 20:3; 23:13. Lev. 26:1. Deut.12:31, &c.)
13 Yet Yehovah testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, [and by] all the seers (= every one who had a vision), saying, “Turn you all from your evil ways, and keep My commandments [and] My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by the hand of My servants the prophets.” (Those in Israel were Ahijah, Jehu [son of Hanani], Elijah, Elisha, Micaiah, Jonah, Obed, Amos, and Hosea. Those in Judah were Shemaiah, Iddo, Azariah, Hanani, Jehu, Zechariah [son of Jehoiada], Micah, and Isaiah)
14 Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to as their father's neck [was stiffened], that did not believe in Yehovah their Elohim.
15 And they rejected His statutes, and His covenant that He made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He testified against them; and they followed vanity (a term often applied to idols), and became vain, and went after the heathen that [were] round about them, [concerning] whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.
16 And they left all the commandments of Yehovah their Elohim, and made them molten images, [even] two calves, and made an asherah (see v.10), and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire (cp. Lev. 18:21. Deut. 12:31; 18:10), and used divination and enchantments (i.e. traffic with evil sirits and demons, and familiar spirits. Identical with modern spiritism. Cp. Deut.18:10, and see 1 Sam.28:8. Acts 16:16. Rev.9:21), and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of Yehovah, to provoke Him to anger.
18 Therefore Yehovah was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only (fig., when a part is put for the whole. Levites and Benjamin and additions from Israel are of course included).
19 Also Judah kept not the commandments of Yehovah their Elohim, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made (cp. Athaliah [8:18,27; 16:3, &c.).
20 And Yehovah rejected all the seed of Israel (a prophetic anticipation), and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until He had cast them out of His sight.
21 For He tore Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drove Israel from following Yehovah, and made them sin a great sin (see 1 Kings 14:16).
22 For the sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;
23 Until Yehovah removed Israel out of His sight, according as He had said by all His servants the prophets.
y4 z¹ -23-25-. Peoples exchanged. "No reverence of God". a¹ -25. Punishment. Lions. z² 26. Peoples. Report. Ignorance. a² 27,28. Remedy proposed: to revere Yehovah. z³ 29-33. People. Corrupt fear of Yehovah.
611 to 603 B.C.
So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria to this day.
24 And the king of Assyria brought [men] from Babylon (these were the substituted people forming the nucleus of the later Samaritans; but subsequently intermixed with Israelites returning with Ezra and Nehemiah [Neh.13:3,23-31]. In N.T. called "foreigners" [Luke 17:18]. Cp. Matt.10:5,6. Sargon refers to this in his inscriptions. Only one figure remains [7] of the number he gives), and from Cuthah (10 miles north-east of Babylon. In the first year of Sargon there was war between Cuthah and Babylon, and the people of Cuthah were transported to Syria and Palestine), and from Ava (= either the Ivah of 18:34, or the Avaha of Ezra 8:15), and from Hamath (the one in Syria), and from Sepharvaim (Dual. The two Sippars in Babylonia. Sippar sa Samas [the sun-god] and Sippar sa Anuituv), and placed [them] in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
25 And [so] it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, [that] they feared not Yehovah:
therefore Yehovah sent lions among them (for lions in Palestine see 1 Kings 13:24), which kept on slaying them.
26 Wherefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations which you have removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the Elohim of the land: therefore He has sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the Elohim of the land.”
27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Carry to that place one of the priests (an idolatrous Israelite priest from Samaria [v.28]) whom you all brought from that place; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the Elohim of the land.”
28 Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear (better "revere") Yehovah.
29 However every nation made gods of their own, and put [them] in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.
30 And (fig. many "ands", emphasising the 5 nations brought into Palestine. p. v.24. Each brought its own gods. Thus [according to the language of the O.T.] Samaria committed adultary [idolatry] with 5 husbands [cp. Isa.54:5 with Isa. 23:17. Jer.22:20. No wonder the woman worshipped she knew not what [John 4:22]) the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth (= tents of daughters), and the men of Cuth made Nergal (= hero), and the men of Hamath made Ashima (identical to the "Pan" of the Greeks),
31 And the Avites made Nibhaz (the barker) and Tartak (= prince of darkness), and the Sepharvites burnt up their sons in fire to Adrammelech (splendor of the king) and Anammelech (image of the king), the gods of Sepharvaim.
32 So they feared Yehovah, and made to themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places (cp. 1 Kings 12:31), which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
33 They feared Yehovah (cp. v.41), and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from that place (or, from which place they [the settlers] had carried them away).
34 To this day they do after the former manners (these, according to the Structure, are the Israelites. The member [x5, 34-40] records their continued obduracy in their dispersion): they fear (or "revere") not Yehovah, neither do they after their statutes (see Deut. 4:1), or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which Yehovah commanded the sons of Jacob, [after the manner of the several nations; gods which had caused them (i.e. the Israelites) to go captive from that place] (i.e. out of the Land. Gen.32:28. 1 Kings 18:31) He named Israel;
35 With whom Yehovah had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, “You all shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:
36 But Yehovah, Who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, Him shall you all revere (or love), and Him shall you all worship, and to Him shall you all do sacrifice.
37 And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which He wrote for you (see Ex.17:14), you all shall observe to do for evermore; and you all shall not revere other gods.
38 And the covenant that I have made with you you all shall not forget; neither shall you all revere other gods.
39 But Yehovah your God you all shall revere; and He shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.”
40 However they did not listen, but they did after their former manner.
41 So these nations feared Yehovah, and served their graven images, both their sons, and their sons's sons: according as did their fathers, so do they to this day.
F8 R¹ 18:1-20:1. Hezekiah. R² 21:1-18. Manasseh. R³ 21:19-26. Amon. R4 22:1-23:30. Josiah. R5 23:31-35. Jehoahaz. R6 23:36-24:7. Jehoiakim. R7 24:8-16. Jehoiachin. R8 24:17-20. Zedekiah.
R¹ S 18:1,2. Introduction. Accession. T 18:3-7-. Personal. Well-doing. U 18:-7-19:37. Events. Political. T 20:1-19. Personal. Sickness. S 20:20,21. Conclusion. Record and death.
18)
617 B.C.
1 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel (Hoshea began in the 12th year of Ahaz. Therefore Hezekiah began in the 15th year of Ahaz. Ahaz reigned 16 years, but was deposed by Shalmaneser [17:3,4], who set up Hezekiah. Hezekiah rebelled [v.7], which shows he was under Assyria till then), [that] Hezekiah (= the might of Yehovah) the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.
617 to 588
2 Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also [was] Abi, the daughter of Zachariah (in 2 Chron.29:1 it is "Abijah", but "Abi" may be the abbreviation of "Abijah", the "i" or "j" standing for "jah").
3 And he did [that which was] right in the sight of Yehovah, according to all that David his father did.
4 He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the asherah (sing. See Ex.34:13), and broke in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made (cp. Num.21:9. Now 835 years old. [From 1452 to 617 = 835]): for unto those days the sons of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan (= a brass thing).
5 He confided in Yehovah Elohim of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah (i.e. for trust in Yehovah. Same praise given to Josiah [23:25], but in a different respect), nor [any] that were before him.
6 For he clave to Yehovah, [and] departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which Yehovah commanded Moses.
7 And Yehovah was with him; [and] he prospered to whichever place he went forth:
U V 18:-7. Assyria. Hezekiah's rebellion. W 18:8. Philistines. Smitten. V 18:9-19:37. Assyria. Shalmaneser's invasions.
and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not (Hezekiah had hitherto been dependent on him. See v.15).
8 He smote the Philistines (prophesied by Isaiah [14:28-32]), [even] to Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
V X¹ 18:9-12. Invasion of Israel (Shalmaneser). X² 18:13-19:37. Invasion of Judah (Sennacherib).
613 B.C.
9 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah (cp. 17:3-6), which [was] the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, [that] Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it (commenced the siege; Sargon, his successor, completed it after 3 years. Cp. 17:5,6, where we have the same interval as here. In Sargon's own inscrition he refers to the "tributes imposed upon them by the former king").
611 B.C.
10 And at the end of three years (see 17:5) he took it (i.e. Sargon. See 17:5,6. Sargon took it after Shalmaneser's death): [even] in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that [is] the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
11 And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel to Assyria, and put them in Halah (see 17:6) and in Habor [by] the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes:
12 Because they obeyed not the voice of Yehovah their Elohim, but transgressed His covenant, [and] all that Moses the servant of Yehovah commanded, and would not hear [them], nor do [them].
X² Y¹ 18:13-16. First invasion. Y² 18:17-19:37. Second invasion.
603 B.C.
13 Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah (this was the first invasion of Judah which Sennacherib's inscription enlarges upon, but is only mentioned here. See v.17. Cp. Isa.36,37, and 2 Chron.32) did Sennacherib (= sin, the moon, increases brothers) king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them. (46 mentioned in the inscriptions. "Hezekiah like a Bird in a Cage". This is not mentioned in Scripture; but Sennacherib has written it down for us, and it may be read today in the British Museaum in London [55-10-3.1], on a hexagonal cylinder of this very Sennacherib, king of Assyria [607-583 B.C. According to the "recieved" dating this is usually given as 705-681 B.C. Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem took place in the 14th year of Hezekiah {603 B.C.}. According to Professor Sayce, "Bible and Monuments" {Variorum Aids. p.80}, this invasion took place 4 years after his accession; and, as he is supposed to have reigned 20 years afterward {24 years in all}, his true regnal period would be 607-583 B.C. and not 705-681 B.C.]. It is "one of the finest and most perfect objects of its class and kind ever discovered, and its importance as an historical document can hardly be overated. It contains 487 lines of closely written but legible cuneiform text, inscribed in the Eponymy of Belimuranni, perfect of Karkemish". The text record 8 expeditions of Sennacherib. Among them his description of this very siege of Jerusalem in the reign of Hezekiah. The words we wish to refer to are in the 11th to the 21st lines: -
11. "I fixed upon him. And of Hezekiah [king of the]
12. Jews, who had not submitted to my yoke,
13. forty-six of his fenced cities, and the strongholds, and the smaller cities.
14. which were round about them and which were without number,
15. by the battering of rams, and by the attack of engines
16. and by the assualts of foot soldiers, and.....²
17. I besieged, I captured, 200,150 people, small and great, male and female,
18. horses, and mules, and asses, and camels, and men,
19. and sheep innumerable from their midst I brought out, and
20. I reckoned [them] as spoil. [Hezekiah] himself like a caged bird within Jerusalem,
21. his royal city, I shut in, &c.
² The three words at the end of this line are the proper names of military engines.
Now read the words of Hezekiah in Ps.124:7: - "Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: The snare is broken, and we are delivered". This takes the Psalm right back to the very days of Hezekiah and Sennacherib. Indeed, it takes us beyond the days of Hezekiah and Sennacherib: for it is a Psalm of David. Some 360 years before Hezekiah [964-603 B.C.], David had found himself in similar trouble. He was hunted like a partridge in the mountains, pursued as a dog, and sought as a flea, by Saul. He had been shut up in his hidding places [2 Sam.23:1-13, 19-24, 12, 14; 26:1-20]. At such a time it was that David penned this Psalm [124]. At such a similar time of Hezekiah's need, when he was shut up in his house by sickness, and besieged in Jerusalem by Sennacherib, he was indeed "like a caged bird". What Psalm could more suitably express the sense of his need, and his praise for Divine deliverence? He had no need himself to write another "Song". Here was one ready to his hand. Indeed, David's reference to his escape "as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers" would be seized on by Hezekiah as exactly suited to express his deliverence from the "snare", as well as from the siege of Sennacherib. It makes the history live again before our eyes. We can see the vain boasting of his enemies; and hear his own praise, as he exclaims: "Blessed be Yehovah, Who has not given us as a prey to their teeth" [Ps.124:6])
14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish (Sennacharib had not approached Jerusalem yet), saying, “I have offended (see v.7); return from me: that which you put on me will I bear.” And the king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver (*aprox. 3,000 lbs. The Assyrian inscription says 800, the exact equivalent of 300 Hebrew [silver] talents. See note on "twenty" [15:27]) and thirty talents of gold (*600 lbs).
15 And Hezekiah gave [him] all the silver that was found in the house of Yehovah, and in the treasuries of the king's house (see Isa.39:2).
16 At that time did Hezekiah cut off [the gold from] the doors of the temple of the LORD, and [from] the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave them to the king of Assyria.
Y² A¹ 18:17-36. King of Assyria. Mission. B¹ a 18:37. Report. b 19:1. Conduct. c 19:2-5. Message to Isaiah. d 19:6,7. Answer to Isaiah. A² 19:8-13. King of Assyria. Letter. B² a 19:14-. Letter. b 19:-14. Conduct. c 19:15-19. Prayer to Yehovah. d 19:20-34. Answer of Yehovah. A³ 19:35-37. King of Assyria. Destruction.
17 And the king of Assyria (some suppose Sargon, and treat Sennacharib as a mistake here. But probably Sennacharib was the co-regent in the field. Cp. Cp. Jerusalem being taken by Nebuchadnezzar, while Nabopolassar was king in Babylon. So Belshazzar was co-regent with Nabonnedus at the taking of Babylon) sent Tartan (a title = commander-in-chief) and Rabsaris (a title = chief of the heads) and Rabshakeh (a title = chief of the captains; possibly a political officer) from Lachish (10 miles south-east of Jerusalem, on Sennacharib's way to Egypt. See 19:8) to king Hezekiah with a heavy force against Jerusalem (see Judg.1:8). And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool (on the east side of Jebus = Gihon), which [is] in the highway of the fuller's field.
18 And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which [was] over the palace, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.
19 And Rabshakeh said to them (see the references to this in Hezekah's "Songs of the degrees". Ps.120:2,3; 123:3,4. and cp. Isa.37:4), “Speak you all now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, ‘What confidence [is] this wherein you trust? (Fig., Erotesis, which the Rab-shakeh constantly uses. See. vv.20,22,24,25,27,33,34,35)
20 You say, {vain words (Heb. word of lips = lip-words),} [I have] counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom do you trust, that you rebell against me?
21 Now, behold, you trust (a policy opposed by Isaiah [Isa.30:2; 31:4]) upon the staff of this bruised reed (cp. Ezek.29:6), [even] upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so [is] Pharaoh king of Egypt (probably Shabako, the successor of So. See 19:9 and cp.17:3,4) to all that trust on him.
22 But if you all say to me (Isa. 36:7. If you say. Spoken to one, but meant for all), ‘We trust in Yehovah our Elohm:’ [is] not that He, Whose high places and Whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You all shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?’ ’ ’
23 Now therefore, I pray you, give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliver you two thousand horses, if you be able on your part to set riders upon them.
24 How then will you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
25 Am I now come up without Yehovah (either said in pretence, or from having heard Yehovah's prophecies [cp. 19:25 with Isa.10:5) against this place to destroy it? Yehovah said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’ ”
26 Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, to Rabshakeh, “Speak, I pray you, to your servants in the Aramaic language; for we understand [it]: and talk not with us in the Jews' language in the ears of the people that [are] on the wall.”
27 But Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to you master, and to you, to speak these words? [has he] not [sent me] to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?”
28 Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spoke, saying, “Hear the message of the great king, the king of Assyria:
29 Thus saith the king, ‘Let not Hezekiah deceive you (= raise false hopes. Note the Lamed [l] here, as in the first occ. [Gen.3:13]): for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand (i.e. Asshur's king's hand):
30 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Yehovah, saying, ‘Yehovah will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
31 Listen not to Hezekiah: for thus says the king of Assyria, “Make [an agreement] (= Get a blessing out of my commng. Lit. Make with me a blessing) with me by a present, and come out to me (i.e. capitulate), and [then] eat you all every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink you all every one the waters of his cistern:
32 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and of honey, that you all may live, and not die: and listen not to Hezekiah, when he persuades you, saying, ‘Yehovah will rescue us.’
33 Has any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? (He thinks he is top dog!)
34 Where [are] the gods of Hamath (cp. 17:24), and of Arpad? (a city of Syria, north-west of Aleppo. Now identified with Tell Erfud) where [are] the gods of Sepharvaim (on the Euphrates, north of Babylon. See 17:24), Hena, and Ivah? (probably names of gods or goddesses) have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand? (home of the 10 northern tribes. See 17:5,24. Hamath, Arpad, and Samaria are all mentioned in the inscriptions at Korsabad. See 17:21)
35 Who [are] they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Yehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’ ” (Yehovah answers him in Nahum 2:11-13)
36 But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, “Answer him not.”
37 Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which [was] over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with [their] clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.