384 lines
18 KiB
HTML
384 lines
18 KiB
HTML
<HTML>
|
|
<HEAD>
|
|
<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Isaiah XXXVI].</TITLE>
|
|
<meta name="aesop" content="information">
|
|
<meta name="description" content=
|
|
"This site is for those friends and family members who may or may not know Our Lord Jesus Christ, and if not, they may come to know Our Lord through His Prophets."> <meta name="author" content="Brian Duncalfe">
|
|
<meta name="keywords" content=
|
|
"Prophecy, Rapture,hope,bible map,bible maps, God, tribulation,Second Coming,Christ,large print bible,commentary,complete">
|
|
</HEAD>
|
|
<body background="../sueback.jpg" bgproperties="fixed" >
|
|
<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
|
|
on the Whole Bible</h1>
|
|
<h3><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank">Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page</a>
|
|
</h3>
|
|
</center>
|
|
|
|
<HR>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
|
|
<TR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC23035.HTM">Previous</A>]
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC23037.HTM">Next</A>]<BR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
|
Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
|
|
</TD></TR></TABLE>
|
|
<HR>
|
|
|
|
<!-- (Begin Body) -->
|
|
|
|
<CENTER>
|
|
<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>I S A I A H.</B></FONT>
|
|
<BR>
|
|
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XXXVI.</FONT>
|
|
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
|
|
</CENTER>
|
|
|
|
<FONT SIZE=-1>
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The prophet Isaiah is, in this and the three following chapters, an
|
|
historian; for the scripture history, as well as the scripture
|
|
prophecy, is given by inspiration of God, and was dictated to holy men.
|
|
Many of the prophecies of the foregoing chapters had their
|
|
accomplishment in Sennacherib's invading Judah and besieging Jerusalem,
|
|
and the miraculous defeat he met with there; and therefore the story of
|
|
this is here inserted, both for the explication and for the
|
|
confirmation of the prophecy. The key of prophecy is to be found in
|
|
history; and here, that we might have the readier entrance, it is, as
|
|
it were, hung at the door. The exact fulfilling of this prophecy might
|
|
serve to confirm the faith of God's people in the other prophecies, the
|
|
accomplishment of which was at a greater distance. Whether this story
|
|
was taken from the book of the Kings and added here, or whether it was
|
|
first written by Isaiah here and hence taken into the book of Kings, is
|
|
not material. But the story is the same almost verbatim; and it was so
|
|
memorable an event that it was well worthy to be twice recorded,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+18:1-19:37">2 Kings xviii. and xix.</A>,
|
|
|
|
and here, and an abridgment of it likewise,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+32:1-33">2 Chron. xxxii.</A>
|
|
|
|
We shall be but short in our observations upon this story here, having
|
|
largely explained it there. In this chapter we have,
|
|
|
|
I. The descent which the king of Assyria made upon Judah, and his
|
|
success against all the defenced cities,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+36:1">ver. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
II. The conference he desired to have with Hezekiah, and the managers
|
|
on both sides,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+36:2,3">ver. 2, 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
III. Rabshakeh's railing blasphemous speech, with which he designed to
|
|
frighten Hezekiah into a submission, and persuade him to surrender at
|
|
discretion,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+36:4-10">ver. 4-10</A>.
|
|
|
|
IV. His appeal to the people, and his attempt to persuade them to
|
|
desert Hezekiah, and so force him to surrender,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+36:11-20">ver. 11-20</A>.
|
|
|
|
V. The report of this made to Hezekiah by his agents,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+36:21,22">ver. 21, 22</A>.</P>
|
|
</FONT>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_1"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_2"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_3"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_4"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_5"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_6"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_7"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_8"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_9"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_10"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Sennacherib's Insolent Message.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 710.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah,
|
|
<I>that</I> Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the
|
|
defenced cities of Judah, and took them.
|
|
2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to
|
|
Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by
|
|
the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's
|
|
field.
|
|
3 Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was
|
|
over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the
|
|
recorder.
|
|
4 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus
|
|
saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence <I>is</I>
|
|
this wherein thou trustest?
|
|
5 I say, <I>sayest thou,</I> (but <I>they are but</I> vain words) <I>I
|
|
have</I> counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust,
|
|
that thou rebellest against me?
|
|
6 Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt;
|
|
whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it:
|
|
so <I>is</I> Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.
|
|
7 But if thou say to me, We trust in the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> our God: <I>is it</I>
|
|
not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken
|
|
away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before
|
|
this altar?
|
|
8 Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the
|
|
king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if
|
|
thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
|
|
9 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the
|
|
least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for
|
|
chariots and for horsemen?
|
|
10 And am I now come up without the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> against this land to
|
|
destroy it? the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> said unto me, Go up against this land, and
|
|
destroy it.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We shall here only observe some practical lessons.
|
|
|
|
1. A people may be in the way of their duty and yet meet with trouble
|
|
and distress. Hezekiah was reforming, and his people were in some
|
|
measure reformed; and yet their country is at that time invaded and a
|
|
great part of it laid waste. Perhaps they began to grow remiss and cool
|
|
in the work of reformation, were doing it by halves, and ready to sit
|
|
down short of a thorough reformation; and then God visited them with
|
|
this judgment, to put life into them and that good cause. We must not
|
|
wonder if, when we are doing well, God sends afflictions to quicken us
|
|
to do better, to do our best, and to press forward towards perfection.
|
|
|
|
2. That we must never be secure of the continuance of our peace in this
|
|
world, nor think our mountain stands so strong that it cannot be moved.
|
|
Hezekiah was not only a pious king, but prudent, both in his
|
|
administration at home and in his treaties abroad. His affairs were in
|
|
a good posture, and he seemed particularly to be upon good terms with
|
|
the king of Assyria, for he had lately made his peace with him by a
|
|
rich present
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+18:14">2 Kings xviii. 14</A>),
|
|
|
|
and yet that perfidious prince pours an army into his country all of a
|
|
sudden and lays it waste. It is good for us therefore always to keep up
|
|
an expectation of trouble, that, when it comes, it may be no surprise
|
|
to us, and then it will be the less a terror.
|
|
|
|
3. God sometimes permits the enemies of his people, even those that are
|
|
most impious and treacherous, to prevail far against them. The king of
|
|
Assyria took all, or most, of the defenced cities of Judah, and then
|
|
the country would of course be an easy prey to him. Wickedness may
|
|
prosper awhile, but cannot prosper always.
|
|
|
|
4. Proud men love to talk big, to boast of what they are, and have, and
|
|
have done, nay and of what they will do, to insult over others, and set
|
|
all mankind at defiance, though thereby they render themselves
|
|
ridiculous to all wise men and obnoxious to the wrath of that God who
|
|
resists the proud. But thus they think to make themselves feared,
|
|
though they make themselves hated, and to carry their point by <I>great
|
|
swelling words</I> of vanity,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jude+1:16">Jude 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
5. The enemies of God's people endeavour to conquer them by frightening
|
|
them, especially by frightening them from their confidence in God. Thus
|
|
Rabshakeh here, with noise and banter, runs down Hezekiah as utterly
|
|
unable to cope with his master, or in the least to make head against
|
|
him. It concerns us therefore, that we may keep our ground against the
|
|
enemies of our souls, to keep up our spirits by keeping up our hope in
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
6. It is acknowledged, on all hands, that those who forsake God's
|
|
service forfeit his protection. If that had been true which Rabshakeh
|
|
alleged, that Hezekiah had thrown down God's altars, he might justly
|
|
infer that he could not with any assurance trust in him for succour and
|
|
relief,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+36:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>,
|
|
|
|
We may say thus to presuming sinners, who say that they trust in the
|
|
Lord and in his mercy. Is not this he whose commandments they have
|
|
lived in the contempt of, whose name they have dishonoured, and whose
|
|
ordinances they have slighted? How then can they expect to find favour
|
|
with him?
|
|
|
|
7. It is an easy thing, and very common, for those that persecute the
|
|
church and people of God to pretend a commission from him for so doing.
|
|
Rabshakeh could say, <I>Have I now come up without the Lord?</I> when
|
|
really he had come up <I>against</I> the Lord,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+37:28"><I>ch.</I> xxxvii. 28</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those that kill the servants of the Lord think they do him service and
|
|
say, <I>Let the Lord be glorified.</I> But, sooner or later, they will
|
|
be made to know their error to their cost, to their confusion.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa36_22"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Sennacherib's Insolent Message.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 710.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>11 Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak,
|
|
I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we
|
|
understand <I>it:</I> and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in
|
|
the ears of the people that <I>are</I> on the wall.
|
|
12 But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and
|
|
to thee to speak these words? <I>hath he</I> not <I>sent me</I> to the men
|
|
that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and
|
|
drink their own piss with you?
|
|
13 Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the
|
|
Jews' language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king,
|
|
the king of Assyria.
|
|
14 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he
|
|
shall not be able to deliver you.
|
|
15 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, saying, The
|
|
L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered
|
|
into the hand of the king of Assyria.
|
|
16 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria,
|
|
Make <I>an agreement</I> with me <I>by</I> a present, and come out to me:
|
|
and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree,
|
|
and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;
|
|
17 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.
|
|
18 <I>Beware</I> lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> will
|
|
deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his
|
|
land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
|
|
19 Where <I>are</I> the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where <I>are</I> the
|
|
gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my
|
|
hand?
|
|
20 Who <I>are they</I> among all the gods of these lands, that have
|
|
delivered their land out of my hand, that the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> should deliver
|
|
Jerusalem out of my hand?
|
|
21 But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for
|
|
the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.
|
|
22 Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that <I>was</I> over the
|
|
household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the
|
|
recorder, to Hezekiah with <I>their</I> clothes rent, and told him the
|
|
words of Rabshakeh.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We may hence learn these lessons:--
|
|
|
|
1. That, while princes and counsellors have public matters under
|
|
debate, it is not fair to appeal to the people. It was a reasonable
|
|
motion which Hezekiah's plenipotentiaries made, that this parley should
|
|
be held in a language which the people did not understand
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+36:36"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
because reasons of state are secret things and ought to be kept secret,
|
|
the vulgar being incompetent judges of them. It is therefore an unfair
|
|
practice, and not doing as men would be done by, to incense subjects
|
|
against their rulers by base insinuations.
|
|
|
|
2. Proud and haughty scorners, the fairer they are spoken to, commonly
|
|
speak the fouler. Nothing could be said more mildly and respectfully
|
|
than that which Hezekiah's agents said to Rabshakeh. Besides that the
|
|
thing itself was just which they desired, they called themselves his
|
|
<I>servants,</I> they petitioned for it: <I>Speak, we pray thee;</I>
|
|
but this made him the more spiteful and imperious. To give rough
|
|
answers to those who give us soft answers is one way of rendering evil
|
|
for good; and those are wicked indeed, and it is to be feared
|
|
incurable, with whom that which usually turns away wrath does but make
|
|
bad worse.
|
|
|
|
3. When Satan would tempt men from trusting in God, and cleaving to
|
|
him, he does so by insinuating that in yielding to him they may better
|
|
their condition; but it is a false suggestion, and grossly absurd, and
|
|
therefore to be rejected with the utmost abhorrence. When the world and
|
|
the flesh say to us, "<I>Make an agreement</I> with us <I>and come out
|
|
to us,</I> submit to our dominion and come into our interests, and
|
|
<I>you shall eat every one of his own vine,</I>" they do but deceive
|
|
us, promising liberty when they would lead us into the basest captivity
|
|
and slavery. One might as well take Rabshakeh's word as theirs for
|
|
kind usage and fair quarter; therefore, <I>when they speak fair,
|
|
believe them not.</I> Let them say what they will, there is no land
|
|
like the land of promise, the holy land.
|
|
|
|
4. Nothing can be more absurd in itself, nor a greater affront to the
|
|
true and living God, than to compare him with the gods of the heathen;
|
|
as if he could do no more for the protection of his worshippers than
|
|
they can for the protection of theirs, and as if the God of Israel
|
|
could as easily be mastered as the gods of Hamath and Arphad, whereas
|
|
they are vanity and a lie. They are nothing; he is the great <I>I
|
|
AM:</I> they are the creatures of men's fancy and the works of men's
|
|
hands; he is the Creator of all things.
|
|
|
|
5. Presumptuous sinners are ready to think that, because they have
|
|
been too hard for their fellow-creatures, they are therefore a match
|
|
for their Creator. This and the other nation they have subdued, and
|
|
therefore the Lord himself shall not deliver Jerusalem out of their
|
|
hand. But, though the potsherds may strive with the potsherds of the
|
|
earth, let them not strive with the potter.
|
|
|
|
6. It is sometimes prudent not to <I>answer a fool according to his
|
|
folly.</I> Hezekiah's command was, "<I>Answer him not;</I> it will but
|
|
provoke him to rail and blaspheme yet more and more; leave it to God to
|
|
stop his mouth, for you cannot." They had reason enough on their side,
|
|
but it would be hard to speak it to such an unreasonable adversary
|
|
without a mixture of passion; and, if they should fall a railing like
|
|
him, Rabshakeh would be much too hard for them at that weapon.
|
|
|
|
7. It becomes the people of God to lay to heart the dishonour done to
|
|
God by the blasphemies of wicked men, though they do not think it
|
|
prudent to reply to those blasphemies. Though they <I>answered him not
|
|
a word,</I> yet they rent their clothes, in a holy zeal for the glory
|
|
of God's name and a holy indignation at the contempt put upon it. They
|
|
tore their garments when they heard blasphemy, as taking no pleasure in
|
|
their own ornaments when God's honour suffered.</P>
|
|
|
|
<!-- (End Body) -->
|
|
|
|
<HR>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
|
|
<TR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC23035.HTM">Previous</A>]
|
|
[<A HREF="MHC23037.HTM">Next</A>]<BR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
|
|
Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
<HR>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
|
|
<TR>
|
|
<TD ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="BOTTOM">
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!--Matthew_Henry's_Commentary_on_the_Whole_Bible:_Isaiah_XXXVI.--><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank"><b>Back to Bibles Net . Com - Online Christian Library </b></a><br>
|
|
<a href="http://biblesnet.com/download.html" target="_blank"><br>
|
|
<b>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Free Download</b></a><br>
|
|
<br>
|
|
<A HREF="http://biblesnet.com/contactus.html" target="_blank"><strong>Contact Us </strong></A><br>
|
|
|
|
</TD></TR></TABLE>
|
|
<HR>
|
|
</BODY>
|
|
</HTML>
|