The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 17

forces in mat.ion, and bcgnn to dcRcend the dimtc<l by the settlement of the Israelites Nilo vnlley to hie r,,Jicf. His movement in tho rogion (2 Kings xvii. 0; xvlii. 11; rnthcr prnrnke<I t.hnn nlnnncd Sennn,cherib, l Chron. v. 26). "Hnran" Is tho well- who, h1"'i11g defcnkd one Egyptinn army in known "city of Nabor" (Gen. xxiv. 10), n.o. 701 (' Eponyru C'l.nnn,' pp. 133, 1:-14), called in Acts vii. 2 " Cluirrnn," and by wn~ oonfident of snc~oss against another. the Greeks and Romane, Carrhro. It has He sent messengers. It is not very clear now recovered its ol<l designntioa, and is what ndvantage Sennacherib expected from known As HaiTan. "Rezeph" wns in the this second cru bnssy. He had no fresh argu- neighbour<iood of Haran, nn<l is mentioned ment to bring forward, unless it were a e.s belonging to Assyria 118 early as n.c. 775 suggestion that Hezekiah's God we.s endea- (' Epon:vm Cnnou,' p. 82). It had probably ,·ouring to deceive him. In the main, vers. revolted and been reduced at a Inter date. 10-13 are a mere expansion of eh. xxxvi. "Tele.sear,''." the Hill of Asshur," is not 18-20, mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions, but Ver. 10.-Let not thy God, in whom thou was probo.bly the Assyrinn name of a town on trustest, deceive thee. Sennacherib recog- or near the Euphrates, in the country of the 11ized Jehovnh llS a god, I.he God of the Deni-Eden, which was not fo.r from Oarche- ,Jews, but put him on a par with the other mish (see 'Records of the Past,' vol. iii. pp. "gods of the nations" (ver. 11), and did uot 90-92). The children of Eden. The As- believe in his being able to contend with syrian inscriptions mention a "Bit-Adini" Asshur. If he were really, through his (comp. Ar!:.:ls i. 5), and a chief who is called priests or prophets, giving Hezekiah assur- "the son of Adini ;" both belonging to the ances of protection o.nd deliverance, he could Middle Euphrates region. The "children only be" de.ooi,;ng" him. of Eden" (Beni-Eden) were probably the Ver. 11.-Thou hast heard what the kings people of the tract about Bit-Adini. of Assyria have done to all lands (compare Ver. 13.-Xamath . , , Arphad . , . Se- the Assyrian inscriptions, passim). Tiglo.th- pharvaim (see the comment upon eh. ll'.XXVi Pileser L calls hi.m5elf "the conquering 19). hero, the terror of who;;e name has over- Ver. 14.-Xezekiah received the lettor. whelmed all regions" ('Reoords of the P11St,' Sennacherib sent his present message in a vol. v. p. 8); Asshur-izi.r-pal, "the king who written form. The communications between subdued all the ra= of men •• (ibid., ml. vii. kings were often carried on in this way (see p. 11) ; Shalmaneser IL, " the marcher over 2 Kings v, 5; u. 12). The Hebrews use the whole world" (ibid., vol. v. p. 29); Sha- the same word for "letter" and " book • " mas- Yu!, " the trampler on the =Id" (ibid., but, when a letter is intended, employ ge-de- vol. i. 12). Sargon says that "the gods had rnlly the plural number (compare the Greek f':l"UDtcd him the exercise of his sovereignty l,runo.\a.l and the Lo.tin litterm). And spread over all kings" (ibiJ., vol. ix. p. 4). and th11t it'before the Lord. Not that God migl,t see he "reigned from !he two beginnings to the it and read it, in a material sense, but still two ends of tlie four eelestial points" (ibid., that he might take note of it, and, if he saw vol. xi. p. 33), i.e. from the furthest north to flt, punish it. Compare the exhibition of the the furtl,cst south, o.nd from the extreme east Books of the Lnw, painted with idolntrous to the extreme west. Sennacherib himself emblems, at Mnspha, "over against" tho says, "Asshur, father of the gods, among all temple, by Judas Maccabmus and his com- kings firruly h,1s ro.ised me, aud over all that panions (1 Mace. iii. 46-48). The act in dwell in the countries he caused to increase both cases implied the referring of tbo whole my weapons" (iLid., vol. x.i. p. 49). From mo.tter to God for his consideration. It WII.I!, first to last, in their inscriptions, the mon- as Delitzsch, says, 11, sort of" prayer without archs claim a univerd dominion. worcls." Ver. 12 - My fathers. The Assyrian Ver. 16.-0 Lord , , , that dwellest be- monarchs call all those who have preceded tween the cherubims; literal!y, that sittest them upon the tlirone their "fathers," with- -up<m, the cherubim, The allusion is sonrcely out intending to claim any blood-relation- to the poetic imagery of God riding on the ship. Sargon, Sennacherib's father, though cherubim in the heavens (Ps. xviii, 10), as a usurper and the first king of a new Mr. Cheyne suggests: but rather to his dynasty, frequently speaks of "the kings dwelling between the two cherubic forms in his fathers" (' Records of the Past,' vol. the holy of holies, and there manifesting vii pp. 39, 51, etc.). GoZ&n. , . Karan , , . himself (comp. Numb. vii 89; l Sam. iv. Rezeph . . . Telauar. " Goza.n " is, beyond 4 ; 2 Sa.m. vi. 2: 1 Ohron. xiii. 6; Ps. lxxx. all doubt, the region known to the Greeks I; xcix. 1). Thou art the God, even thou as Gauzanitis, which was the eastern por- alone, ot all the kingdom■ ot the earth. n tion of Upper Mesopotamia, or the country hu been questioned whether Hezekiah was about the sources of the Khabour river. really as pronounced a monotheist as these The Assyrian conqueet of this tract is in- expressions would imply, and suggeeted that 011, xxxv11, 1-38,] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 1()