2 Chronicleschapter 32
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Key verse
After these things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself.
It stands in With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God, verses 1 to 8.
The chapter
Chapter summary
After this faithfulness Sennacherib comes: obedience does not exempt a king from invasion. Hezekiah stops the springs, repairs the wall, makes weapons and shields, and gathers the people at the gate: 'Be strong and of good courage… with him is an arm of flesh; but with us is Jehovah our God to help us, and to fight our battles.' The Assyrian's letters mock the God of Jerusalem as though he were like the gods of the nations, 'the work of men's hands.' Hezekiah and Isaiah pray and cry to heaven; an angel cuts off the Assyrian camp, and Sennacherib is killed by his own sons in the house of his god. His later pride, sickness, and humbling close the reign.
Context
History · Ezra · 2 Chronicles overview
Where the chapter sits
2 Chronicles 32 falls in Hezekiah to the exile (chapters 29–36). Hezekiah's temple cleansing and Passover; Manasseh's sin and repentance (unique to Chronicles); Josiah's reforms; the fall in three waves; the closing note of Cyrus's decree pointing forward to Ezra.
Before it: Kings of Judah: Rehoboam to Ahaz, chapters 10–28.
The whole shape of 2 Chronicles→The world behind this chapter
2 Chronicles 32The history
This campaign is one of the best-documented events in the Old Testament, because both sides wrote it down. Sennacherib's own account, preserved on clay prisms in his palace records, boasts of taking forty-six fortified towns of Judah and shutting Hezekiah up in Jerusalem 'like a bird in a cage', and then says nothing about capturing the city, which is a remarkable silence in a document designed to celebrate victories.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
Hezekiah's preparations are engineering. He stopped the springs outside the city so an invading army would find no water, and he diverted the upper outflow of the Gihon spring straight down to the west side of the city of David. That is the Siloam tunnel: over seventeen hundred feet of channel cut through solid rock, still walkable today, with an inscription carved near its end describing the moment the two crews digging from opposite ends heard each other's picks through the stone and broke through.
He also repaired the broken wall, raised towers, built a second wall outside it, strengthened the terracing, and made large numbers of weapons and shields.
The Assyrian officers' speech from outside the wall was delivered in Hebrew on purpose, so that the men on the wall would hear it and lose heart, psychological warfare was a standard part of a siege, and the argument used was equally standard: no other nation's god has saved anyone from us.
The deliverance comes by an angel, and Sennacherib returns home in shame and is killed in the temple of his god by his own sons, an event Assyrian and Babylonian records confirm for the year 681 BC.
The chapter ends with two warnings. Hezekiah's heart was lifted up after his recovery from illness, and when Babylonian envoys came to enquire about the sign that had been done in the land, God 'left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.'
What it meant to them
Jerusalem survived Assyria and fell to Babylon, and the first hearers needed both facts explained. This chapter gives the pattern: the city was never safe because of its walls or its water, and it was never lost because God was weak.
The line about God leaving a good king alone in order to show him his own heart was the most uncomfortable sentence in the book, and the most useful to a people examining why they had been sent away.
Sources cited
- The Sennacherib Prism (Taylor Prism), Assyrian royal annals, and the Siloam Tunnel Inscription
- K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God
1. (vv. 1-2)
2 Chronicles 32:1
“The establishment thereof - literally, “the faithfulness thereof” or, in other words, “after these things had been faithfully accomplished.” 2Ch 32:1-8 form a passage supplementary to 2Ki 18:13-16.”
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 32:1evangelical
2 Chronicles 32:2
“When Hezekiah saw - This was in the fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah; and at first the Jewish king bought him off at the great price of three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold; and even emptied his own treasures, and spoiled the house of the Lord…”
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to gratify the oppressive avarice of the Assyrian king. See the whole account, 2Ki 18:13, etc.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· 2 Chronicles 32:2evangelical
a.the establishment thereof: Chronicles opens Sennacherib's invasion with a clause Kings does not carry: after these things, and the establishment thereof, tying the Assyrian threat directly to the temple reformation just finished in chapters 29 to 31. Barnes reads the phrase literally as the faithfulness thereof, the reform completed and secured before the trial arrived. The narrative that follows compresses into thirteen verses what 2 Kings 18 to 19 tells at length, and the Kings exposition carries the campaign's full detail.
2. (vv. 3-4)
2 Chronicles 32:3
“To stop the waters ... - Compare 2Ch 32:30. Hezekiah’s object was probably twofold - to hide the springs outside the city in order to distress the Assyrians, and to convey their water underground into the city, in order to increase his own supply during the siege.”
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 32:3evangelical
2 Chronicles 32:3, 1 more voice
2 Chronicles 32:3
“The water had come into that which is called the old pool ( Isa. xxii. 11 ) and the upper pool ( Isa. vii. 3 ); but he gathered the waters into a new place, for the greater convenience of the city, called the lower pool, Isa. xxii.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· 2 Chronicles 32:3puritan
2 Chronicles 32:4
“And that this is the correct meaning of the phrase is not only apparent from the force of circumstances, but is positively so declared in the Septuagint, where, moreover, it is called a 'river,' which, at least, implies a much larger stream than the Kedron, and comports well with the marginal reading…”
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where it is said to overflow through the midst of the land.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)· 2 Chronicles 32:4reformed
a.to stop the waters of the fountains: Stopping the fountains outside the city is material Kings never records; the whole episode belongs to Chronicles alone. Hezekiah works by counsel, not command, gathering princes and mighty men before the wider people join to stop the water so that an invading king should find none. The engineering here is bound up with the Gihon project verse 30 will describe, hiding the springs from Assyria while routing the flow inside the walls.
3. (vv. 5-6)
2 Chronicles 32:5
“The breaches in the wall of Jerusalem were not entirely due to the old hostility of Joash (marginal reference); but may have been caused either by neglect and carelessness in the reign of Ahaz 2 Chr. 28, or by the simple process of natural decay. Hezekiah pulled down houses for the purpose of his repairs Isa 22:10.”
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On Millo, see the marginal references notes.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 32:5evangelical
2 Chronicles 32:6
“Note, Those that trust God with their safety must yet use proper means for their safety, otherwise they tempt him, and do not trust him. God will provide, but so must we also.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· 2 Chronicles 32:6puritan
a.repaired Millo in the city of David: The wall repair, the outer fortification, and the captains set over the people belong to the same building record Kings only summarizes in a single line at 2 Ki 20:20. Millo, the terraced fill on the city's eastern slope, had needed repair since Solomon's day, and its mention here places Hezekiah among the kings who kept up Jerusalem's defenses. He speaks comfortably to the assembled people before any battle is fought, arming their resolve as carefully as he arms the walls.
4. (vv. 7-8)
2 Chronicles 32:7
“There be more with us than with him - We have more power than they have. (These words he quotes from the prophet Elisha, 2Ki 6:16). This was soon proved to be true by the slaughter made by the angel of the Lord in the Assyrian camp.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· 2 Chronicles 32:7evangelical
2 Chronicles 32:8
“IT is very beautiful reading, the story of Hezekiah, to see how the people always went with him. God had prepared the nation for a change and when the hour came, the man came with it. Under his father Ahaz, the people had been idolaters and had forsaken God.”
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But, when Hezekiah became king, he had a zeal for the worship of Jehovah, and on the very threshold of his reign he began what proved to be a glorious reformation in the land.
Charles Spurgeon· written before 1892· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2250: “Words To Rest On” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)· 2 Chronicles 32:8Particular Baptist
a.Be strong and courageous: Verse 8 is the sentence Kings does not have: with him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles. Hezekiah's charge opens with words spoken earlier to Joshua and to Asa, and Clarke notes the closing clause, there be more with us than with him, echoes Elisha's word to his servant at 2 Ki 6:16. Chronicles closes the speech with a detail Kings omits entirely: the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah, trust taking hold before a single Assyrian arrow is loosed.
B. Assyria's taunt: no god has delivered his people from my hand
1. (vv. 9-15)
2 Chronicles 32:9
“After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem,....”
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Who are mentioned by name, 2Ki 18:17 this was after Hezekiah had given him a large quantity of silver and gold to depart, and he did depart from him, 2Ki 18:14 but he himself laid siege against Lachish, and all his power with him; one of the cities of Judah, see Isa 36:2, from hence he dispatched them unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem; who had retired thither for safety, upon the invasion of their country by the king of Assyria.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 32:9reformed
2 Chronicles 32:9, 1 more voice
2 Chronicles 32:9
“The author of Chronicles compresses into 13 verses the history which occupies in Kings a chapter and a half (2Ki 18:17-19; where see the notes). 2Ch 32:10 In the siege - Perhaps “in straitness” (compare Jer 19:9).”
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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. 2Ch 32:13 fathers - i. e. “predecessors.” Sennacherib really belonged to a dynasty that had only furnished one king before himself.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 32:9evangelical
2 Chronicles 32:10
“Thus saith Sennacherib - See all these circumstances largely explained 2 Kings 18:17-36 (note).”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· 2 Chronicles 32:10evangelical
2 Chronicles 32:10, 1 more voice
2 Chronicles 32:10
“Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria, whereon do ye trust,.... On what power in heaven or on earth? that ye abide in the siege in Jerusalem? hold out against the siege of it, and do not deliver it up.”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 32:10reformed
2 Chronicles 32:11
“Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give over yourselves to die by famine, and by thirst,.... Suggesting that would be their case if they did not surrender: saying, the Lord our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria? See Gill on Isa 36:15.”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 32:11reformed
2 Chronicles 32:12
“Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places,.... For the sense of this and the three following verses, see the notes on Isa 36:17; see Gill on Isa 36:18, Isa 36:19, Isa 36:20.”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 32:12reformed
a.laid siege against Lachish: The Rabshakeh's taunt occupies a chapter and a half at 2 Ki 18:17 to 19:13; Chronicles compresses the same speech into seven verses, and the Kings exposition carries its full argument, the comparison of the Lord to the gods of nations that could not deliver their peoples. What Chronicles keeps is the accusation Hezekiah's own reform provoked: hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, turning the work of chapters 29 to 31 into the enemy's evidence that Judah's God has been offended. Gill directs the reader to his notes on the parallel verses in Isaiah 36 for the speech's fuller detail.
2. (vv. 16-19)
2 Chronicles 32:16
“And his servants spake yet more against the Lord God, and against his servant Hezekiah. Than what is here recorded, as may be read in 2Ki 18:1, and Isa 36:1.”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 32:16reformed
2 Chronicles 32:17
“Wrote also letters - See 2Ki 19:9, 2Ki 19:14.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· 2 Chronicles 32:17evangelical
2 Chronicles 32:17, 1 more voice
2 Chronicles 32:17
“He wrote also letters to rail on the Lord God of Israel,.... See 2Ki 19:9.”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 32:17reformed
2 Chronicles 32:18
“Then they cried with a loud voice in the Jews' speech unto the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall,....”
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The messengers of Sennacherib, particularly Rabshakeh the chief speaker; though they were desired to speak in the Syrian language, Isa 36:11, but this they did to affright them, and to trouble them, that they might take the city; to throw them into terror and confusion, that they might prevail upon them to deliver up the city to them.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 32:18reformed
2 Chronicles 32:19
“And they spake against the God of Jerusalem,....”
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The only living and true God, whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem professed to be their God, and who was worshipped by them in the temple there: as against the gods of the people of the earth, which were the work of the hands of man; they made no difference between the one and the other, but spoke as freely and as contemptibly of the one as of the other, see Isa 36:19.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 32:19reformed
a.spake yet more against the Lord God: Sennacherib's servants press the same argument in writing and aloud, a letter to rail on the Lord God of Israel and a shout in the Jews' own speech meant to frighten the defenders on the wall. Verse 19 states the blasphemy plainly: they spake against the God of Jerusalem as against the gods of the people of the earth, the work of the hands of man, refusing any distinction between the living God and an idol. Chronicles gives four verses to what Kings tells at greater length, and the Kings notes carry the fuller answer to the taunt.
C. Two men pray, and an angel cuts off the mighty in one night
1. (vv. 20-21)
2 Chronicles 32:20
“It was a happy time when the king and the prophet joined thus in prayer. So we engage God for us; so we encourage ourselves in him.”
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Praying to God is here called crying to Heaven, because we are, in prayer, to eye him as our Father in heaven, whence he beholds the children of men, and where he has prepared his throne.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· 2 Chronicles 32:20puritan
2 Chronicles 32:21
“The Lord sent an angel - See 2Ki 19:36 (note), and the note there. House of his god - Nisroch. They that came forth of his own bowels - His sons Adrammelech and Sharezer.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· 2 Chronicles 32:21evangelical
2 Chronicles 32:21, 1 more voice
2 Chronicles 32:21
“Thus was he mortified first, and then murdered--shamed first, and then slain. Evil pursues sinners; and, when they escape one mischief, they run upon another unseen. By this work of wonder, (1.) God was glorified, as the protector of his people.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· 2 Chronicles 32:21puritan
a.prayed and cried to heaven: Hezekiah and Isaiah pray together, the king and the prophet joined in one petition, and 2 Ki 19 with Isaiah 37 already carry the fuller record of that prayer's words. Chronicles states the answer in one verse: the Lord sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains, and Sennacherib returns home to be slain by his own sons in the house of his god. The Kings exposition holds the campaign's numbers and Isaiah's oracle; Chronicles' interest lands on the shame that answers the blasphemy, an enemy destroyed in his own temple by his own house.
2. (vv. 22-23)
2 Chronicles 32:22
“Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria,....”
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As most clearly appeared; for no stroke was struck but by him: and from the hand of all other; the Arabic version adds,"who were round about them;''who by this defeat were deterred from attacking them: and guided them on every side: and guarded them all around, as a shepherd leads his flock, where they may be secure from all dangers.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 32:22reformed
2 Chronicles 32:23
“Many brought gifts unto the Lord - They plainly saw that Jehovah was the protector of the land. And presents to Hezekiah - They saw that God was his friend, and would undertake for him; and they did not wish to have such a man for their enemy.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· 2 Chronicles 32:23evangelical
2 Chronicles 32:23, 1 more voice
2 Chronicles 32:23
“And many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem,....”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 32:23reformed
a.guided them on every side: Verse 23 is Chronicles' own addition to the story: many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah, so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth. Kings closes the Sennacherib episode with the king's death; Chronicles adds the nations' response, the same pattern of recognition that follows Jehoshaphat's deliverance in chapter 20. Gill reads the gifts as proof the surrounding nations understood who had fought the battle, and did not wish Judah's God for an enemy.
D. A sign, a proud heart humbled, and water brought into the city
1. (v. 24)
2 Chronicles 32:24
"In those days," we are told, "Hezekiah was sick unto death, and he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord heard him and gave him a sign," that, namely of which we read in the fourth book of the kingdoms, which was given by Isaiah the prophet through the going back of the sun.
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"But," it says, "he did not respond to the benefits which he had received, for his heart was proud. And wrath was kindled against him and against Judah and Jerusalem.
John Cassian· written before 435· INSTITUTES 11.10· 2 Chronicles 32:24patristic
2 Chronicles 32:24, 1 more voice
2 Chronicles 32:24
“Compare 2 Kings 20 and notes. The “sign” is not (as in the margin) the miraculous cure, but the going back of the shadow on the dial of Ahaz (see 2Ch 32:31).”
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 32:24evangelical
a.sick to the death: The sickness and the sign belong to the fuller narrative of 2 Ki 20 and Isaiah 38, where the going back of the shadow on Ahaz's dial is told at length; that exposition carries the sign's detail. Chronicles states the bare fact, sick to the death, prayed, and given a sign, because its interest lies not in the healing but in what the king does after it, which the next two verses take up.
2. (vv. 25-26)
2 Chronicles 32:25
“His heart was lifted up - Compare the marginal reference. Hezekiah’s pride was shown in his unnecessarily exhibiting his treasures to the ambassadors from Babylon (see 2Ki 20:13). There was wrath upon him - Compare 2Ki 20:17-18.”
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 32:25evangelical
2 Chronicles 32:25, 1 more voice
2 Chronicles 32:25
“What shall I render that may be so accepted? The divine displeasure he was under for this sin; though it was but a heart-sin, and the overt-act seemed not only innocent but civil (the showing of his treasures to a friend), yet wrath came upon him and his kingdom for it,”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· 2 Chronicles 32:25puritan
2 Chronicles 32:26
“Notwithstanding, Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,....”
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In what manner is not said; perhaps by putting on sackcloth, and by fasting and prayer, and making confession of sin, and declaring repentance for it: so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah; but in the days of his son's sons, Isa 39:7.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 32:26reformed
a.for his heart was lifted up: These two verses are Chronicles' own moral commentary, absent from the parallel in 2 Ki 20: Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him, for his heart was lifted up, and wrath followed. Wesley reads the pride as gathering from three mercies at once, the Assyrian victory, the recovery from sickness, and the honor of Babylon's embassy, any one of which could have swelled a lesser king. Verse 26 answers it: Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah, the repentance Chronicles alone records standing beside the fall it alone names.
3. (vv. 27-29)
2 Chronicles 32:27
“Besides, he had accumulated large treasures in gold, silver, and precious things, which he had taken as spoils from the Philistines, and which he had received as presents from neighboring states, among which he was held in great honor as a king under the special protection of Heaven.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)· 2 Chronicles 32:27reformed
2 Chronicles 32:27, 2 more voices
2 Chronicles 32:27
“Pleasant jewels - כלי חמדה keley chemdah, desirable vessels or utensils.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· 2 Chronicles 32:27evangelical
2 Chronicles 32:27
“And Hezekiah had exceeding much riches,.... Increased by the spoil of the Assyrian camp, and the presents sent him after that by neighbouring nations, 2Ch 32:21.”
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and honour; both from his subjects, and the nations around him: and he made himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of pleasant jewels: which were houses both for rich and curious things, and for armour, he showed to the ambassadors of Babylon; see Gill on Isa 39:2.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 32:27reformed
2 Chronicles 32:28
“Storehouses also for the increase of corn, and wine, and oil,.... The produce of his fields, vineyards, and oliveyards, such as David had, with persons over them, see 1Ch 27:25. and stands for all manner of beasts; as oxen, horses, camels, and asses, see 2Ch 9:25. and cotes for flocks; folds for sheep.”
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 32:28reformed
2 Chronicles 32:29
“Moreover, he provided him cities,....”
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Where he had the above storehouses and stalls, and convenient dwellings for those that looked after them, and were over his cattle, small and great, as follows; the Vulgate Latin version reads six cities in some copies (b): and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance; in which the riches of men, and even of kings, lay in those times: for God had given him substance very much; for all was owing to his disposing providence, let it come which way it might. (b) So the Edition of Sixtus V.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)· 2 Chronicles 32:29reformed
a.exceeding much riches and honour: The inventory of treasuries, storehouses, stalls, and cotes is material Kings never gives; Chronicles alone catalogs the wealth Hezekiah will show the Babylonian ambassadors in the next verse's account. Verse 29 credits the increase to its source directly: for God had given him substance very much, the same doctrine the book applies to every king who seeks the Lord. The list reads like an administrative record kept for its own sake, the kind of detail Chronicles preserves throughout its unique material elsewhere in the book.
4. (v. 30)
2 Chronicles 32:30
“The upper watercourse - He made canals to bring the waters of Gihon from the west side of Jerusalem to the west side of the city of David.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)· 2 Chronicles 32:30evangelical
2 Chronicles 32:30, 1 more voice
2 Chronicles 32:30
“Stopped, &c. - A rivulet near Jerusalem consisting of two streams, the upper which was brought into one pool, called the upper pool, Isaiah vii, 3, and the lower which was brought into another, called the lower pool, Isaiah xxii, 9. The former he diverted and brought by pipes into Jerusalem, which was a work of great art and labour.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)· 2 Chronicles 32:30evangelical
a.stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon: Verse 30 names the engineering the book already showed underway at verses 3 to 4: this same Hezekiah stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. This is the Siloam tunnel, and it survives; an inscription cut by the workmen who met in the middle of the rock still stands in the tunnel wall, discovered in 1880, an ancient Hebrew record of the same project the verse describes. Clarke and Wesley trace the route from the spring outside the walls into the pool inside them, water security built for a siege the city had not yet faced.
5. (v. 31)
2 Chronicles 32:31
“At the same time, there is reason to believe that they proposed a defensive league against the Assyrians.”
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God left him, to try him, &c.--Hezekiah's offense was not so much in the display of his military stores and treasures, as in not giving to God the glory both of the miracle and of his recovery, and thus leading those heathen ambassadors to know Him.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)· 2 Chronicles 32:31reformed
2 Chronicles 32:31, 1 more voice
2 Chronicles 32:31
“These miracles were wrought to alarm and awaken a stupid careless world, and turn them from dumb and lame idols to the living God; and men were startled by them, but not converted till a greater wonder was done in that land, in the appearing of Jesus Christ, Matt. ii.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)· 2 Chronicles 32:31puritan
a.God left him, to try him: , that he might know all that was in his heart states the purpose behind the one episode Chronicles fills out from a single clause in Kings: the embassy from Babylon that drew out Hezekiah's pride. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown locate the fault not in showing the treasures itself but in giving God no glory for the recovery or the victory, leaving the ambassadors to go home without knowing the God who had done both. The verse names testing as the LORD's own purpose in withdrawing, and the book leaves the statement standing without further comment.
6. (vv. 32-33)
2 Chronicles 32:32
“And in the book - The “and” is not in the original. The meaning is, that the acts were recorded in the prophecy of Isaiah, which formed a part of the compilation known as “the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.” See Introduction.”
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 32:32evangelical
2 Chronicles 32:33
“The chiefest of the sepulchres - Most modern commentators render - “on the ascent to the sepulchres;” but some think that an excavation above all the other tombs - in the same repository, but at a higher level (see the margin) - is intended.”
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The catacomb of David was full; and the later princes had sepulchres quite distinct from the old burial-place (see 2Ch 33:20; 2Ki 21:18, 2Ki 21:26; 2Ki 23:30).
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)· 2 Chronicles 32:33evangelical
a.the vision of Isaiah the prophet: The closing formula names Isaiah's vision and the book of the kings of Judah and Israel as the sources behind the reign, the same double citation the Chronicler gives most kings before him. Hezekiah is buried in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David, honored at his death by all Judah and Jerusalem, closing a reign Chronicles has told as reform, deliverance, sickness, pride and humbling in one continuous account. Manasseh his son reigned in his stead, the transition into the chapter Chronicles alone tells with a repentance Kings never records.
This page carries no textual note on 2 Chronicles 32. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke; Albert Barnes; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2250: “Words To Rest On” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871); John Cassian, INSTITUTES 11.10; John Gill; John Wesley; Keil, The Books of the Chronicles and Matthew Henry.
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