The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 394

(' RichnrJ II.,' act iii. so. 2). Q-) Where Sennacherib wae murdered. "In hie own land," in "the house of hie god' (ver. 21); i.e. in Nineveh, in the house of Nieroch hia god (2 Kings xix. 37; !Ra. xxxvi. 37)-a divinity not yet identified in the Assyrian pantheon. (2) When? Not immediately on returning to Nineveh, since, according to the inscriptions, be lived twenty years after the Egyptian and Jewish expedition, 1ind undertook five more campaigns in other parts of his empire. (3) By whom? "They that came forth of bis own bowels"-" Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons" (2 Kings xix. 37; Isa.. xxxvi. 38); the former in Assyrian Adar-malik, "Adar is prince," ~lso the name of an Assyrian god (2 Kings xvii. 31); and the latter in Assyrian Sar-usur, a shortened form of an Assyrian word, of which the first part was probably Assur, Bil, or Nergal, meaning "Assur (Bel or Nergal) protect the king" (Schrader, p. 329). N ergal-sarezer OCC"urs as a proper name in Jeremiah (xxxix. 3, 13). Thie may have been the full de~ignation of Sennacherib's son (Alexander on' Isaiah,' ii. 74; Cheyne,' The Prophecies of lsaiah,' i. 225). IY. 'l'BE PEOPLES AND THEm PRESENTS. The effect produced by this deliverance on surrounding nations. 1. Gifts unto Jehovah. Brought not by Judahites alone, but by the inhabitants of nations who had been delivered from the Assyrians' yoke, and were designed as a grateful recognition of Jehovah's hand in effecting their emancipation. No benefactor more deserving of man's thanks than God (Ps. cxxxix. 17, 18); no duty more frequently urged upon men than gratitude to the Supreme Giver (Ps. l. 14; c. 4; cvii. 1; Eph. v. 20; Phil. iv. 6; Col. i. 12; 1 These. v. 18); yet no beetower of good receives less thanks than he. 2. Precious things to Hezekiah. As the Philistines and Arabians had brought presents to Jehoshaphat (eh. xvii. 10), so now the inhabitants of heathen countries, among whom may have been the Babylonians-though ver. 31; 2 Kings x:x. 12; and Isa. x:xxix. 1 refer not to this (see below}-sent gifts to Hezekiah in recognition of his greatness, as attested by the Divine deliverance wrought on his behalf. Learn : 1. The heinousness of scoffing at religion. 2. The impotence of human rage against God (Ps. ii 1-5). 3. The superiority of the true God over all divinities wor- 11hipped by the heathen (Ps. cxv. 3, 4). 4. The efficacy of prayer (Jas. v. 16). 5. The advantage of social supplication (Matt. xviii. 19). 6. The command of God over the resources of nature (Numb. xi. 23). 7. The ability of God to save his people out of any sort of peril (1 Cor. L 13). 8. The sad fate of the ungodly (Ps. lxxv. 8, 10). 9. The indebtedness of the world to the Church's God..-W. Ver. 24.-Heukiah's sickness and prayer. L HEZEKIAH's SICXNEBB. 1. The time of it. "In those days" (ver. 24; 2 Kings xx. 1; Isa. xxxviii. 1)-an indefinite expression, differently understood.. (1) In the days of Sennacherib's invasion, either at its beginning (Keil), during its continuance ('l'henius), or after its close (Ewald); but as, according to the monuments, this occurred ».o. 701, or in Hezekiah's twenty-fourth year, either Hezekiah lived more than twenty-nine years in all, or his sickness must be placed earlier. (2) In the days of Sargon's invasion in B.o. 711, and therefore in Heze- kiah's fourteenth year (see preceding homilies). 2. The nature of it. A boil (2 Kings :xx. 7; Isa. x:xxvii.i. 21); but whether a!l ordinary abscess or a carbuncle cannot be determined, though there is no ground for connecting it with the pestilence that cut off Sennacherib's army. It probably arose out of the bodily weakness iniuced by long labours in reforming religion, and heavy anxieties in meeting and resisting the Assyrian invasion. 3. The severity of it. " Even unto death." It had all the appearance of being fatal Hezekiah himself expected nothing else than that " in the noontide of hie days he should depart unto the gates of Sheol, and be deprived of the residue of. hie years" (Isa. xxxviii. 10). Even ha.a his malady not suggested this to hie mind, Jehovah's message to him by Isaiah (xxxvili. 1) would have done so. All sickness a prelude to, and premonition of, the last. II. liEZEKIAH'S PRAYER. 1. 'J.'o whom directed. The Lord; the only living and true God, as well as the only Hearer of prayer (Ps. lxv. 2). Doubtless Hezekiah also recognized Jehovah's hand in his affliction, and understood that he alone could remove tbe malady by whose permission it had come. Asa, in hie disease, sought not to Jehovah, but to the physicians (eh. xvi. 12); and the result with him was different. 2. By what Bupported. (1) Bitter grief. "Hezekiah wept sore" (2 E;inge xx. 3), OH, xxxn, 1-33.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 899