Notes on Isaiah Thirty-six:
2nd Kings 18-20 contains the entire story of Hezekiah’s reign, and 18:13-19:37 contains the specific story of Sennacherib’s invasion; 2nd Chronicles 29-32 contains the entire story of Hezekiah’s reign, and 32:1-22 contains the specific story of Sennacherib’s invasion.
v. 3: See notes on Isaiah 22:15, 25.
v. 10: Compare this statement with Isaiah 10. It is interesting to consider how the Assyrian king came to understand that God was angry with the Jews. Perhaps the king heard from spies or rumors that Isaiah had announced that God was angry with his people and intended to punish them. Then again, perhaps God directly sent a lying spirit to the king through one of the royal oracles as he did the wicked king Ahab in 1st Kings 22:19-23. (See 1st Kings notes.)
v. 11: Barnes says Aramaic is in the same language group as Hebrew and Chaldee (Babylonian), but that the Assyrians probably spoke a dialect of Persian (7). However, the common opinion seems to be that Assyrian and Babylonian are both dialects of the Semitic language, Akkadian.
v. 12: The original words of the Assyrian here were probably quite rude references to excrement. I wonder if the Hebrew preserves their crudeness. Barnes claims that sometimes the Hebrews used euphemisms for crude language in the holy scriptures.
v. 21: Barnes seems to think the “they” of “they held their peace” refers to the ambassadors, but the 2nd Kings account of the same story says “the people” held their peace, which seems to indicate the people on the walls; that would make more sense anyway because the Assyrian is addressing them at that moment, not the ambassadors. It strikes me that their silence indicates a great deal of respect for Hezekiah’s command.
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Isaiah Chapter 36 Notes
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Notes on Isaiah Thirty-six:
2nd Kings 18-20 contains the entire story of Hezekiah’s reign, and 18:13-19:37 contains the specific story of Sennacherib’s invasion; 2nd Chronicles 29-32 contains the entire story of Hezekiah’s reign, and 32:1-22 contains the specific story of Sennacherib’s invasion.
v. 3: See notes on Isaiah 22:15, 25.
v. 10: Compare this statement with Isaiah 10. It is interesting to consider how the Assyrian king came to understand that God was angry with the Jews. Perhaps the king heard from spies or rumors that Isaiah had announced that God was angry with his people and intended to punish them. Then again, perhaps God directly sent a lying spirit to the king through one of the royal oracles as he did the wicked king Ahab in 1st Kings 22:19-23. (See 1st Kings notes.)
v. 11: Barnes says Aramaic is in the same language group as Hebrew and Chaldee (Babylonian), but that the Assyrians probably spoke a dialect of Persian (7). However, the common opinion seems to be that Assyrian and Babylonian are both dialects of the Semitic language, Akkadian.
v. 12: The original words of the Assyrian here were probably quite rude references to excrement. I wonder if the Hebrew preserves their crudeness. Barnes claims that sometimes the Hebrews used euphemisms for crude language in the holy scriptures.
v. 21: Barnes seems to think the “they” of “they held their peace” refers to the ambassadors, but the 2nd Kings account of the same story says “the people” held their peace, which seems to indicate the people on the walls; that would make more sense anyway because the Assyrian is addressing them at that moment, not the ambassadors. It strikes me that their silence indicates a great deal of respect for Hezekiah’s command.