The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 378

and no 11dequate impression wh11tever of the le.nguage of the three vereea of the parnllel, great power of aome portiona of the parallel. and in consideration of the possible motivea I\B suggested above for our compiler omitting A close compariaon of the two places le11\"es the matter altogether, we inclino to tho us tolerably ole11r as to the ortler and con- former opinion. That would have tho effect aecntin•ness of the history, although perhRps of DlRking this verse ea\" tht when Hezekiah not <'ntil'<'ly so. The style of onr present had hie eyes opened "to the failure of bis chRptt'r betrnys the usual marks of dis- btibe-wo.ste pRyment, for that Sennacherib jointt'dness, in the co.se of cli:traets from still •• purposed to fight age.inst Jerusalem" -he finally proceeded to take the right steps. fuller history, in the indefiniteness of its However, the witness and indications of eonneot.ihg phrases, found, e.g., in vers. 1, 9, Isa. xxii. 13-19; xxix. 2-4, may go some 24, 31. Our eompilor, by omission, seems to way to shield Hezekiah from the entire shield Hezekiah, probe.bly designedly, from blame. The silence of our compiler on the the disrepute that must be felt to Rttllch to whole matter is the one residuum of fact, and unfortunate in its suggestion. his wont of faith, coumge, and :fidelity in Ver. 3.-To stop the waters of the foun- hie truetet'ship of the sacred property of the tains . . . without the oity. These fountains tl'mple as indicnted by what is written in or springs were probably those represented 2 Kings niii. H-16, of which soo further by En Rogel, on the Ophel spur or very infra. large mound, or fortified hill (mistranslated possibly from the.t circumstance "tower," in Ver. 1.-The eete.blishment thereof; trans- 2 Kings v. 24; Isa. xxxii. 14), on the south- lete, and tJ,u (his) troth. The word is the east of the temple. The object of Hezekiah same with the third of the trio (see e.bove), is obvious enough. The word (□~!;>) for as given in ver. 20 of the foregoing chapter. "stopping" occurs in all thirteen times- The evident meaning intended to be con- twice in piel in Genesis, once in niph. in veyed is, "After these things and this Nehemiah, and ten times in kal in Kings, truth," ,:.e. truthfulneas of conduct on the Chronicles, Daniel, Ezekiel, and Psalms. pnrt of Hezekiah, the strict rendering being, It is for al_! material purposes very uniformly "After the things and the truth this." rendered lD all these places by the word Sennacherib . . . oame . . . entered into "stop" eight times, and other\\-ise "shut" Judah . . . ene&D1ped against the fenced or "closed," or to carry a derived meaning, cities . . . thought to win. This verse and "hidden"or"secret." Iftheword "shut" or these items of it may without any incon- "shut o:lf" were employed, it would fit every venient strain be made conterminous with occasion. So we nre not told here how he just one verse in Kings, the thirteenth of stopped the fountain or fountains, but that 2 King-s :niii. The king personally seems to he shut the waters off from one direction have devoted him.self especially to the siege and guided them into another, viz. by e. of Lachish, an A.moritisb city indeed origin- conduit running westward from the springs e.lly, and e. place of grc:at strength of posi- and the Gihon (i.e. the brook) flowing tion, but conquered by Judah (Josh. x. 26, naturally down the Tyropman valley to e. 31-35; c·h. xi. 9; xxv. 27; and infra here pool prepared for it in the city (see our ver. and in parallel). This invasion of Senna- 30; and 2 Kings xviii. 17; xx. 20; Ecclus. cherib (Herod., ii. 141), son of Sargon, may xlviii. 17; and Conder's 'Handbook to the l,t, with moderate certainty affixed to the Bible,' p. 339). Thie pool was very probably date B.c. 701. ThO'Ught to win. A week none other than the pool of Siloe.m. reudcring for the preferable purposed or Ver. 4.-The brook that ran through the boasted to break them (Gen. vii. 11). midst of the land. Compare the Septuagint, Ver. 2.-When Hezekiah aa.w .•. and which has it, "through the midst of the that he purposed . . . Jel"lllalem. Whethtr city;" and compare foregoing verse and the three verses of ill omen already e.11 uded note; end see again above reference to to (2 Kings xviii. 14-16) may be read pre- Conder's •Handbook' at length. cedent to this verse, and purport that the Ver. 5.-He strengthened himaelf; i.e., bribes had been padd, and yet had failed of as in our several previous instances of the their object, so that Hezekiah wu now com- oocuiTence of the phrase (1 Chron. xi. 10; pelltd to brace himself to the occasion, and eh. xii. 1 ; xxv. 11; xxvi. 8), he took all "took counsel," etc. (next verse); or whether possible means to m11.ke himself and people tl,i,; ,·erse dates (o.s some think) the quailing e.nd city strong to withstand the invader. heart of Heztkiah, and e.n offer or part All the wall that was broken (see Isa. paywtnt of treasure by Hezekiah to Senna.• xxii. 9). Although we ree.d that ihe devas- ehenl,, which only inereBBtd his insolence, tation wrought by Joaeh (eh. xxv. 23) was as immedi11tcly now related, is uncertain, very largely repaired by Uzziah (eh. xxvi. 9) perlmpe. ID the face of the emphatic and by Jotham (eh. xxvii. 3), it is not ex- OH, xxxn. 1-33.J 'l'HE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 383