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Wrote also letters - See 2 Kings 19:9, 2 Kings 19:14.

Verses 9-22

The author of Chronicles compresses into 13 verses the history which occupies in Kings a chapter and a half (2 Kings 18:17-19; where see the notes).

2 Chronicles 32:10

In the siege - Perhaps “in straitness” (compare Jeremiah 19:9). Jerusalem is thought by some to have been not so much besieged at this time, as distressed and straitened for supplies, because the Assyrians were masters of the open country.

2 Chronicles 32:13

fathers - i. e. “predecessors.” Sennacherib really belonged to a dynasty that had only furnished one king before himself.

2 Chronicles 32:22

Guided them … - A slight alteration of the existing text gives the sense - “gave them rest round about;” a common expression in Chronicles 2 Chronicles 15:15; 2 Chronicles 20:30.

Those who trust God with their safety, must use proper means, else they tempt him. God will provide, but so must we also. Hezekiah gathered his people together, and spake comfortably to them. A believing confidence in God, will raise us above the prevailing fear of man. Let the good subjects and soldiers of Jesus Christ, rest upon his word, and boldly say, Since God is for us, who can be against us? By the favour of God, enemies are lost, and friends gained.

The boastful threat was accompanied by the message: “Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar? Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?” 2 Kings 19:10-13. PK 355.1

When the king of Judah received the taunting letter, he took it into the temple and “spread it before the Lord” and prayed with strong faith for help from heaven, that the nations of earth might know that the God of the Hebrews still lived and reigned. Verse 14. The honor of Jehovah was at stake; He alone could bring deliverance. PK 355.2

“O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims,” Hezekiah pleaded, “Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; Thou hast made heaven and earth. Lord, bow down Thine ear, and hear: open, Lord, Thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God. Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech Thee, save Thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art the Lord God, even Thou only.” 2 Kings 19:15-19. PK 355.3

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