36:1
701BC was the 14th year of the sole reign of Hezekiah. We come to a break in Isaiah’s prophecy. The events related here are taken from 2 Kings 18-20, and a parallel account, giving some additional details, can be found in 2 Chron 29-32. Judah had been trying to buy off Assyria, but then Hezekiah instituted various religious reforms, turning the nation back to God. The events are related here because they represent a partial fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecies, validating them. But they were not completely fulfilled, not by a long shot. Moreover, Hezekiah’s reign was ultimately to end in failure. So these events demonstrate the validity of God’s words, but also that something much greater had to occur. So Hezekiah has made many good reforms, which one might think would make the nation safe, but Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah, only Jerusalem was left.
36:2,3
Sennacherib then sent his army commander from Lachish to Jerusalem, with a large army. Lachish was a large city about 30 miles south west of Jerusalem. Eliakim was mentioned in Is 22:20,21, as was Shebna (22:15). These officials went out to meet the commander of the threatening army.
No comments:
Post a Comment