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2 Kings 18

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Hezekiah's Righteous Reign and Reforms 1–8

1
Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. ​
2
Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.
3
And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that David his father had done. ​
4
He removed the high places, and brake the pillars, and cut down the Asherah: and he brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made; for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan. ​
5
He trusted in Jehovah, the God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among them that were before him. ​
6
For he clave to Jehovah; he departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which Jehovah commanded Moses.
7
And Jehovah was with him; whithersoever he went forth he prospered: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not. ​
8
He smote the Philistines unto Gaza and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.

The Fall of the Northern Kingdom (Israel) 9–12

9
And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, 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. ​
10
And at the end of three years they took it: in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
11
And the king of Assyria carried Israel away unto Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, ​
12
because they obeyed not the voice of Jehovah their God, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded, and would not hear it, nor do it. ​

Sennacherib Invades Judah; Hezekiah Pays Tribute 13–16

13
Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them. ​
14
And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. ​
15
And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the king’s house.
16
At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of Jehovah, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria. ​

The Assyrian Siege and Rabshakeh's Taunt 17–37

17
And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rab-saris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army unto Jerusalem. 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, 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, who was over the household, and Shebnah the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.
19
And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? ​
20
Thou sayest (but they are but vain words), There is counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against me?
21
Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him. ​
22
But if ye say unto me, We trust in Jehovah our God; is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem? ​
23
Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges 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.
24
How then canst 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?
25
Am I now come up without Jehovah against this place to destroy it? Jehovah said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it. ​
26
Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not with us in the Jews’ language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall. ​
27
But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit on the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink their own water with you? ​
28
Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and spake, saying, Hear ye the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.
29
Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand:
30
neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ​
31
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make your peace with me, 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;
32
until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive-trees and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us. ​
33
Hath any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
34
Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ​
35
Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? ​
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, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for 2 Kings 18

Verse 1

Hezekiah the son of Ahaz — He began at twenty-five and 'reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem' (2 Chr 29:1). His father Ahaz 'did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father' (2 Kgs 16:2). Matthew's genealogy lists him as 'Ezekias' (Matt 1:9–10).

Verse 3

according to all that David his father did — 'Right' is yashar, straight. David is the measure for kings: 'David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD' (1 Kgs 15:5). Ahaz, by contrast, failed to do 'that which was right… like David his father' (2 Kgs 16:2). The same verdict opens Hezekiah's reign in 2 Chr 29:2.

Verse 4

Nehushtan — The 'brasen serpent' was made at the LORD's word in Num 21:8–9, and whoever looked at it lived; Christ draws on it in John 3:14. Israel had come to 'burn incense to it', so Hezekiah broke it and called it Nechushtan, a thing of brass. The high places, images and groves went with it.

Verse 5

He trusted in the LORD — Batach, to rely on. 'None like him' stands beside the verdict on Josiah, who 'turned to the LORD with all his heart' (2 Kgs 23:25); each is unmatched in his own respect. The same word is turned against him seven times in vv.19–30, where the Rabshakeh asks what Hezekiah trusts in.

Verse 7

the LORD was with him — As with Joseph: 'the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man' (Gen 39:2). The refusal to serve Assyria reverses Ahaz, who had written to Tiglathpileser, 'I am thy servant and thy son' (2 Kgs 16:7). 'Prospered' is sakal, to act wisely and so succeed.

Verse 9

Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up — The siege began in Hezekiah's fourth year, Hoshea's seventh, and lasted 'three years' (2 Kgs 17:5). Samaria fell in Hoshea's ninth year (2 Kgs 17:6). The three verses here repeat that account from Judah's side, dating it by Hezekiah's reign.

Verse 11

Halah and… Habor — The same places as 2 Kgs 17:6, 'by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes'. Earlier tribes east of the Jordan were brought to 'Halah, and Habor… and to the river Gozan' when 'the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria' (1 Chr 5:26).

Verse 12

Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD — The cause is given as the covenant: they 'transgressed his covenant' (avar, to pass over), and 'all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded'. Deut 29:24–25 foretold the question and the answer: 'Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers'.

Verse 13

all the fenced cities of Judah — The fourteenth year of Hezekiah is also the date in Isa 36:1, where the same verse stands. The Assyrian is the LORD's instrument: 'O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger' (Isa 10:5). Sennacherib 'took' (taphas) the walled cities before he came to Jerusalem.

Verse 14

I have offended — Chata, to sin or miss the mark. Hezekiah, who 'rebelled against the king of Assyria' (v.7), now sends to Lachish: 'return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear.' The sum is 'three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold'.

Verse 16

cut off the gold from the doors — The doors of the temple are those Hezekiah opened and repaired in his first year (2 Chr 29:3), and the gold is what he 'had overlaid' (tsapah) on them and on the pillars. He gives to the king of Assyria what he had himself given to the house of the LORD.

Verse 17

the conduit of the upper pool — Rabsaris and Rabshakeh are titles (chief chamberlain, chief cupbearer). They stand where the LORD sent Isaiah to meet Ahaz, 'at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field' (Isa 7:3), in another day of threat against Jerusalem.

Verse 19

What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? — Bitachon, confidence, from the root batach of v.5. 'The great king' is Assyria's title for itself. The speech is aimed at the very quality the chapter praised in Hezekiah, and the verb 'trust' returns in vv.20–22, 24 and 30.

Verse 21

this bruised reed — Ratsats, a crushed reed, a staff that breaks and pierces the hand that leans on it. The LORD says of Egypt in Ezek 29:6, 'they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel', and Isaiah warned against going down to Egypt for help (Isa 30:2–3).

Verse 22

whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away — The reform is turned into an accusation. The law had set one place: 'unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose' (Deut 12:5), and had ordered the high places destroyed (Deut 12:2). The same charge appears in 2 Chr 32:12.

Verse 25

The LORD said to me, Go up — The claim is false. Assyria was 'the rod of mine anger' against Israel (Isa 10:5), but the LORD asks of the same Assyrian: 'Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?' (Isa 10:15). Isaiah answers this speech: 'the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me' (2 Kgs 19:6).

Verse 26

the Syrian language — Aramit, Aramaic, the tongue the officials understood, against Yehudit, 'the Jews' language' of the people on the wall. Yehudit is found only here, in v.28, 2 Chr 32:18, Neh 13:24 and Isa 36:11, 13. Aramaic also appears as 'Syriack' in Dan 2:4.

Verse 27

the men which sit on the wall — The request is refused, and v.28 follows: Rabshakeh 'stood and cried with a loud voice' in Yehudit, the language of the Jews. The threat of eating and drinking their own waste describes the end of a siege, as Deut 28:53 does: 'in the siege, and in the straitness'.

Verse 30

The LORD will surely deliver us — Natsal, to snatch away, doubled in the Hebrew. It is the keyword of the speech, in vv.29, 30, 32, 33, 34 and 35, until the question 'that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand'. Hezekiah's own word to the people was 'with us is the LORD our God to help us' (2 Chr 32:8).

Verse 32

a land of corn and wine — Almost the LORD's own description of Canaan: 'a land of oil olive, and honey' (Deut 8:8). The Assyrian offers a land like their own, 'that ye may live, and not die'; the LORD had set before them 'life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life' (Deut 30:19).

Verse 34

Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? — Isa 10:9–11 gives the Assyrian's reasoning: Hamath and Arpad, Samaria and her idols, and so Jerusalem. The deliverers failed because they were 'no gods, but the work of men's hands' (2 Kgs 19:18). Samaria is on the list, but its people had left the LORD (2 Kgs 17:7–18).

Verse 35

that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem — The LORD is named as one of the gods of the countries. Nebuchadnezzar later asks the same: 'who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?' (Dan 3:15). The answer in this siege is 'the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians' (2 Kgs 19:35).

Verse 36

Answer him not — The people's silence is the king's 'commandment'. Hezekiah's own reply goes elsewhere: he 'went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD' (2 Kgs 19:14). The psalmist had resolved the same: 'I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me' (Ps 39:1).

Verse 37

Eliakim… and Shebna the scribe — Isaiah had named Shebna 'over the house' and promised the office to 'my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah' (Isa 22:15, 20–21). Here Eliakim is 'over the household' and Shebna 'the scribe'. Rent clothes are the sign of distress; Hezekiah rends his in turn (2 Kgs 19:1).