the Ninevites, 2 Kings xix. 37; Isaiah | yet Hezekiah reigned only twenty-nine years xxxvii. 38; perh. eagle, from the Semit. , and the syllable óch, ách, which in in all, chap. xviii. 2. And this happened either, first, After the destruction of Sennacherib's army. Or, secondly, Before it [so Usher, Patrick, Clarke], as may be Persian is intensive; whence Nisr-och, great thought from ver. 6, where he speaks of his eagle. On the worship of the eagle by the deliverance from the king of Assyria as a heathen Arabs, see Jauhari art. . Jurien Hist. des Dogmes IV. 4, c. 11.— Bohlen proposes several derivations from the Sanscr. and Zend; see Thesaur. P. 892. future thing. It is true, that when Hezekiah received that insolent message from the Assyrian, he was in health, and went into might be time more than enough for this the temple to pray, chap. xix. 14; but there sickness and recovery between that threatening and this destruction of the Assyrian. Bp. Patrick. In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death.] This is set down after the death of Sennacherib; but with this general note only of the time, wherein this sickness fell out, in those days. Which, as Primate Usher observes in his annals, doth not relate to what went just before (to the time when the king of Assyria invaded the land), as is s pr. n. Esar-haddon, a king of Assyria, the son and successor of Sennacherib, 2 Kings xix. 37; Isaiah xxxvii. 38; Ezra iv. 2. Before his father's death he had been made viceroy over the province evident from ver. 6 of this chapter; where of Babylonia, with regal honours. See he promises to add fifteen years to his life, Berosus in Eusebii Chron. Arm T. I. p. 42, and also to deliver him from the king of 43, where he is called 'Aoopdáv, as also in Assyria. Which deliverance, therefore, was Sept. 2 Kings et Isaiah 1. c. elsewhere after this sickness, which was in the latter Zaxepdáv, Zaxepdovós Tob. i. 21.-This end of his fourteenth year; to which if we name was perh. in ancient Assyrian equiva- add fifteen, they make up the whole twentylent to Athro-dawa, Pers. "gift of nine years of his reign. Ver. 4. Nb חצר קרי stitiose Masoretæ, qui non audebant addere inter utrumque verbum scripturam ", quam quidam Codices habebant, quamque καὶ ἦν Ησαΐας ἐν τῇ αὐλῇ τῇ μέσῃ, καὶ ῥῆμα etiam habet Codex Orat. 53 antiquissimus | Κυρίου ἐγένετο πρὸς αὐτὸν, λέγων. omnium, quos vidi, Codicum. Eandem Au. Ver. 4 And it came to pass, afore habebant omnes Veteres in suis Codicibus. Isaiah was gone out into the middle court Cæterùm liquet ab his duobus exemplis id, [or, city], that the word of the LORD came quod in Prolegomenis nostris declaravimus, Hod. Impressa fuisse ex Codicibus transcripta deterioribus. CHAP. XX. 1. Au. Ver. 1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order [Heb., Give charge concerning thine house, 2 Sam. xvii. 23]; for thou shalt die, and not live. Pool.-In those days, i. e., in that year of the Assyrian invasion, as is manifest from hence, that that was in Hezekiah's fourteenth year, chap. xviii. 13, and God now added fifteen years more to him, chap. xx. 6; and to him, saying. Pool.-Into the middle court, to wit, of the king's palace; of which see on 1 Kings vii. 8. Or, into the middle city, as it is in the Hebrew. For some observe that there were three cities, or three parts of this city; one called the city of David in Zion; another called Jebus, or Salem; and a third, which was betwixt these two parts, and united them all into one city, called Jerusalem. This is noted to show God's great readiness to hear the sincere and fervent prayers of his children. Houb.-4 79 y xi, nondum exierat urbe media. Lud. Cappellus scripturam hoc modo tuebatur: "Nempe Jerusalem in tres partes, quasi totidem urbes, divisa atque distincta erat, uti constat ex Josepho. modam admittet, simul atque statueris, Erat nempe forum superius, sive civitas Jesaiæ ex arce domum redituro per mediam David, in qua arx, regum domicilium atque urbem eundem fuisse. Accedit, quod haud regia. Erat et forum inferius, sive civitas improbabilis est conjectura Gesenii, mediam inferior, in qua acra erat, et præterea mons urbem vocatam esse certam quandam urbis templi, qui inter utramque civitatem supe- partem. cf. ý ävw ñódís (Zion), ý kátw riorem et inferiorem situs erat. Sensus | πόλις (Akra). itaque fuerit, Esaiam nondum ingressum Ver. 7. nbaq anyw וַיֹּאמֶר יְשַׁעְיָהוּ קְחוּ דְּבָלֶת תְּאֵנִים fuisse montem templi; per quem e regia in inferiorem civitatem erat transitus...cum a Deo jussus est redire ad Ezechiam...Sed Masoretæ Isaiæ iter multo brevius contraxerunt; volunt enim legi, atrium, pro 97, ita ut non unam litteram, sed totam vocem mutent, nulla necessitate...LXX tamen et Hieronymus in vulgata versione et Targum sequuntur omnes constanter lectionem Toû Keri. LXX enim habent, v 'Hoaías év T aỷλî τî μeσîì, vulgata versio, antequam egrederetur Esaias mediam partem atrii. Targum, ann, atrium medium." Addere potuit Lud. Cappellus, habere etiam: atrium medium, Syrum et Arabem; ut constet in omnium Veterum Codicibus scriptum fuisse quibus addendi sunt Codices ;העיר non,חצר καὶ εἶπε, Λαβέτωσαν παλάθην σύκων, καὶ éπétwσav éñì tò ëλkos, kaì vyiάσel. Au. Ver.-7 And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. Ged., Booth. Let a lump of figs be brought* [Booth, take a lump, &c.], and laid upon the ulcer; and he shall be well. *So Sept., Syr., Arab. The rest, Bring a lump of figs; and they brought, and put it upon the ulcer: and he was well. Boil. See the notes upon Exod. ix. 9, vol. i., p. 239. Bagster's Bible.- from the Arabic novi illi, ad quos Masora verbum cas, sachana, to be hot, signifies an intigabat; itaque autoritatem majorem habere flammatory tumour, or burning boil; and 97, quam . Præterea hæc Cappelliana [some think that Hezekiah's malady was a distinctio urbis mediæ, a cæteris urbis Jeru- pleurisy; others that it was the plague; and salem partibus, locum habere in sacris Codi- others, the elephantiasis, a species of leprosy, cibus explicandis non potest, quoniam de illa as one of the Hexapla versions renders in urbe media ne ypù quidem apud sacros scrip- Job ii. 7. tores Nec ipse Josephus memorat urbem mediam, sed forum superius et inferius; sic ut ne ipse quidem Josephus Lud. Cappello سخن Prof. Lee.-, m. Arab. ww, caluit, incaluit;, calor, febrilis. An in ހ،ގ سخن favere videatur. Dathe.-4 Tum Jesaiam, qui nondum ad flammation, either local or general. Any medium atrium a) processerat, Jova sic est burning disease, Exod. ix. 10; Lev. xiii. 18; 2 Kings xx. 7; Job ii. 7, &c. allocutus. a) Lectio textualis habet quidem 797, sed marginalis, atque hanc quoque expresserunt omnes antiqui interpretes, et præterea quoque viginti Codd. Kennicotti. İlla videtur tantum errore scribarum litteras non valde dissimiles mutantium orta esse, cum ne quidem commodam admittat explicationem, neque satis doceri possit, quænam illa urbs media fuerit; cf. Hubigantius. Maurer.-Nondum egressus erat mediam Ver. 9. Au. Ver.-9-Shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? Houb.-9 : Lege, cum interrogatione, an ibit; ita Chaldæus . Altera interrogatio, quæ sequitur, non patitur abesse priorem. Degrees. See notes on ver. 11. Ver. 11. וַיִּקְרָא יְשַׁעְיָהוּ הַנָּבִיא אֶל־יְהוָה urbem. Kri, multi libri et versiones omnes וַיָּשֶׁב אֶת־הַצֵל בַּמַּעֲלוֹת אֲשֶׁר יָרְדָה quam scripturam חָצֵר exhibent הָעִיר pro præferendam duxerunt Dathius, de Wettius, alii. "Illam videri tantum errore scribarum litteras non valde dissimiles mutante ortam καὶ ἐβόησεν Ησαΐας ὁ προφήτης πρὸς esse, cum ne quidem commodam admittat κύριον, καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν ἡ σκιὰ ἐν τοῖς ἀναexplicationem." Quidni? Maxime com- βαθμοῖς εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω δέκα βαθμούς. Au. Ver.-11 And Isaiah the prophet which might by the power of God go either cried unto the LORD: and he brought the forward or backward, the sun still holding shadow ten degrees backward, by which it its course, as it was wont to do. And the had gone down in the dial [Heb., degrees] degrees or lines in the dial may signify either of Ahaz. hours, or half-hours, or, as some think, Pool.-Ten degrees backward. Quest. 1. quarters (see Vossius, de Orig. et Progressu What were these degrees? Answ. Lines in Idol., lib. ii., cap. 9). Now the going back the dial; but whether each of these lines or being three times mentioned in this chapter, degrees noted an hour, or half an hour, or a and always spoken of the shadow, therefore quarter of an hour, is uncertain, and not they conclude the miracle was wrought upon very considerable in this case. Quest. 2. the dial only, not upon the very body of the What was it that went down? Answ. Either, sun. It is said, indeed, in Isaiah xxxviii. 8, first, The shadow alone went back without "So the sun returned ten degrees; " but the sun. And whereas the sun is said to they think that may be meant of the shadow have gone down, that may be spoken ac- of the sun (as it goes before), God so discording to appearance, as other passages of posing of the rays of the sun, and ordering Scriptures are understood; as when the sun the light, that no shadow should be prois said to go down, Jer. xv. 9, and to be jected, but where the prophet foretold. This turned into darkness, Joel ii. 31. Or, I thought fit to represent; but must add, secondly, The sun itself went back, and the that the ancient Jews and Christians too, shadow with it. This may seem most pro- took the words of Isaiah to signify that the bable, first, By comparing this with Josh. sun itself went back, and not merely the x. 13, where the sun itself stood still. shadow. Whom Primate Usher in his annals Secondly, Because it is said the sun itself follows, whose words are these: "The sun returned, Isa. xxxviii. 8; for which he here and all the heavenly bodies went back; and mentions the shadow only, because the as much was detracted from the next night miracle was not so easily discovered in the as was added to this day" (A.M. 4001). sun as in the shadow of a dial. And though Which was done, I suppose on a sudden, by the sun may be elsewhere taken improperly, the power of God, and lasted not long before yet where the improper signification is un- all was restored again to their usual place, necessary, the proper is and ought to be so that no change was made in the state of preferred before it. Thirdly, Because this the heavenly bodies. But, that there was miracle was noted by the Babylonians, who, some change for the present, was observed having understood that it was done for both in the northern part of the world at Hezekiah's sake, sent to inquire into the Babylon (from whence Merodach-baladan truth and manner of it, 2 Chron. xxxii. 31. sent to inquire about this wonder, 2 Chron. Object. If this had been done, the heathen xxxii. 31) and also in the southern, in the historians and astronomers would have taken land of Egypt. As we may gather from a notice of it, which we do not find that they remarkable passage in Herodotus, who tells did. Answ. So it is most probable they did, us in his Euterpe, cap. i., 42, that the although those books be not now extant; Egyptians had observed strange alterations which is not strange; this being confessed in the motions of the sun; so that it had and bewailed, that so very few of the first risen four times é oéwv, "out of its usual and ancient writers are now left; Herodotus course,” ἐντεῦθεν νῦν δὶς καταδύεται, ἐντεῦθεν himself, the first, and father of the ancient dis émavreiλai, &c. "it rising twice where historians, being long after this time. And it now sets, and setting twice where it now yet it is observed, that there are some inti- rises;" and yet, oudèv тŵv Kaт' AlyvπтÍWV VπÒ mations of these things left, though mixed ταῦτα ἑτεροιωθῆναι ; "and yet no change at with fables, as many true histories were; as all made among the Egyptians by these what the poets fabled of Jupiter's making things," neither in the earth, nor the river, the night twice as long as it should have nor any thing else. This is a plain evidence been, that he might enjoy Alcmena longer. that their neighbours (and many others it is Bp. Patrick.-11 It is observed by many like) had heard of the unusual motions of modern interpreters, that there is not a word the sun (though without any alteration in here spoken concerning the sun's going the heavenly bodies, which were soon reback; but only of the shadow upon the dial, turned to their former station), but had not Gesen.- Berodach Baladan, pr. n. of a king of Babylon, 2 Kings xx. 12; called also Merodach Baladan Is. xxxix. 1. This latter orthography seems to be more ancient, and accords better with the etymology; see T. .Merodach [see notes on Jer) מְרֹאדָךְ בַּלְאֲדָן 1. 2], or Mars his lord; according to Bohlen a perfect knowlege of them, or had corrupted | might be easily interchanged, and so our ten of the clock. Dr. A. Clarke.-Perhaps it would not be right to suppose that the sun went ten degrees back in the heavens, or that the earth turned back upon its axis from east to west, in a contrary direction to its natural course. But the miracle might be effected by means of refraction. Gesen. 1. a going up. 2. A step, stair, by which one ascends; Trop. plur. put for the degrees of a dial, 2 Kings xx. 9-11; Is. xxxviii. 8. Hence In the degrees of Ahaz, for the dial of Ahaz, sc. as divided up into degrees, 2 Kings xx. 11; Is. 1. c. Others here understand the steps of a staircase, but less well; so Sept. Syr. and Jos. Ant. x. 11, 1. Ver. 12. Sent letters, &c. and ambassadors. Houb.... misit. Addimus nuntios ex נכתו קרי Βαλαδὰν υἱὸς Βαλαδὴν βασιλεὺς Βαβυλῶνος βιβλία καὶ μαναὰ πρὸς Εζεκίαν, κ.τ.λ. Au. Ver.-12 At that time Berodachbaladan [or, Merodach-baladan], the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah : for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. Dr. A. Clarke.-Berodach-baladan.] He is called Merodach-baladan, Isaiah xxxix. 1, and by the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions; and by several of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS.; and also by the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds. The true reading seems to be Merodach; the and καὶ ἐχάρη ἐπ ̓ αὐτοῖς Εζεκίας, καὶ ἔδειξεν αὐτοῖς ὅλον τὸν οἶκον τοῦ νεχωθὰ, τὸ ἀργύ- Au. Ver.-13 And Hezekiah hearkened Houb., Bp. Lowth, Ken., Ged., Booth.- | Polygl. (also Is. 1. c., for Gr. vexwoâ). In And Hezekiah rejoiced at their arrival. this house there seems to have been laid up, Dr. A. Clarke. - Instead of ", he as is said immediately after, "silver and hearkened,, he rejoiced, or was glad, gold and spices and precious ointments," so is the reading of twelve of Kennicott's and that it took its name from the latter rather De Rossi's MSS., the parallel place, Isaiah than from the former. Less probable is the xxxix. 2, the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, suggestion of Lorsbach, that is a Persian Arabic, some copies of the Targum, and the Babylonian Talmud. word from deponere, & custodia. sl₺ Dathe. 13 Qua de re Hiskias valde Jena. Lit. Zeit. 1815, No. 59. Gen. xviii. 8, al. Parkhurst.-. I. In Kal, To pound, beat, or wear to pieces. II. As a N. fem. n, A beating, or pounding, occ. 2 Kings xx. 13; Isaiah Prof. Lee.-nin, his perfume-house, 2 Kings xx. 13; Isaiah xxxix. 2. See notes 7 Ver. 19. וַיֹּאמֶר הֲלוֹא אִם־שָׁלוֹם וֶאֱמֶת יִהְיֶה may בית נכתה xxxix. 2; in which passages mean the house not only where the spices were pounded for sacred and civil uses, but also where the gold and silver were beaten or stamped for coin. Compare under on. Aquila and Symmachus render in Isa. by των αρωματων αυτου, of his spices; and the Targum in both texts by, of his treasures. Gesen.— f. (for л, r. No, to beat) Gen. xxxvii. 25; xliii. 11, strictly infin. after the form nako, nang, naɔip; pp. contusion, a breaking in pieces. Hence aromatic powder, and then this general name seems to have been transferred to some certain kind of spice or aromatic substance. Sept. Ovpíapa, Aqu. σrúpa, Vulg., styrax. Arab. is i. q. gum, gum tragacanth. פתח באתנח - ἀγαθὸς ὁ λόγος Κυρίου, ὃν ἐλάλησεν, čστw eipýn év τaîs ημépais μov. Au. Ver.-19 Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which Houb. 19 Bona verba Domini hæc sunt, quæ tu locutus es; addiditque: ita faxit, modò pax veritasque non absit, quandiù vivam. 19...ON N, non-ne si (pax erit in diebus meis). Sententia perplexa est et suspensa, et superfluere videtur conditio DN, si, post Id non latuit Veteres; quippe Here seems also to belong the phrase, non-ne. credimus nha 2 Kings xx. 13; Isaiah xxxix. 2, alii aliò divertunt. Nos, pro 5, which literally perhaps may be rendered legendum, velit, vel faxit, ut alibi sæpe, house of his spices, as Aqu. Symm. Vulg., ex ', consentire. Nam si legitur, non but more correctly as to the sense, treasury, jam superfluit DN, si, vel modò tamen: vide store-house, as Chald., Syr., Saad., and Arabs versionem. VOL. II. 6 K |