Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Hezekiah reports to Isaiah the threats and blasphemies of Rabshakeh: Isaiah, at verse 6, bids him to be of good courage and not to fear the Assyrian, whom God is about to strike down. Secondly, at verse 9, Sennacherib, about to go against the Ethiopians, again sends threatening letters to Hezekiah, that he should surrender and not hope to escape his hands by God's help. Hence thirdly, Hezekiah, at verse 14, offers these letters to God in the temple and prays that He may help for his own and his people's sake. Whence fourthly, at verse 21, Isaiah in God's name again frees him from fear, and rebukes the blasphemous Sennacherib, and predicts all adversity for him, and at verse 30, gives a sign, namely provisions for three years. Then, at verse 36, the Angel strikes the camp of Sennacherib, who, fleeing, is killed by his sons.
Vulgate Text: Isaiah 37:1-38
1. And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard, he tore his garments and wrapped himself in sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. 2. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the son of Amoz the prophet, 3. and they said to him: Thus says Hezekiah: This is a day of tribulation, and rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring forth. 4. If by any means the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of the Assyrians his lord has sent to blaspheme the living God, and to reproach with the words which the Lord your God has heard: lift up therefore a prayer for the remnant that is found. 5. And the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6. and Isaiah said to them: Say to your lord: Thus says the Lord: Do not fear because of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed Me. 7. Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he shall hear a message, and shall return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. 8. And Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of the Assyrians fighting against Libnah. For he had heard that he had departed from Lachish, 9. and he heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, saying: He has gone out to fight against you. And when he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying: 10. Say to Hezekiah king of Judah, speaking: Let not your God, in whom you trust, deceive you, saying: Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of the Assyrians. 11. Behold, you have heard all the things that the kings of the Assyrians have done to all the lands which they have overthrown, and can you be delivered? 12. Have the gods of the nations delivered them, whom my fathers overthrew, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar? 13. Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? 14. And Hezekiah took the letters from the hand of the messengers, and read them, and went up to the house of the Lord, and Hezekiah spread them before the Lord. 15. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying: 16. O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who sits upon the Cherubim, You are God alone of all the kingdoms of the earth; You made heaven and earth. 17. Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to blaspheme the living God. 18. For truly, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid waste the lands and their regions. 19. And they have cast their gods into the fire: for they were not gods, but the works of men's hands, wood and stone: and they have destroyed them. 20. And now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand: and let all the kingdoms of the earth know that You are the Lord alone. 21. And Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Concerning what you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of the Assyrians: 22. this is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Sion has despised you and mocked you; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head behind you. 23. Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice, and lifted up the height of your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel. 24. By the hand of your servants you have reproached the Lord, and have said: With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the height of the mountains, the ridges of Lebanon: and I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice fir trees, and I will enter the height of its summit, the forest of its Carmel. 25. I have dug, and drunk water, and with the sole of my foot I have dried up all the rivers of the besieged places. 26. Have you not heard what I did to it long ago? From the days of old I formed it; and now I have brought it to pass: and it has come about for the uprooting of fighting hills, and of fortified cities. 27. Their inhabitants with shortened hand trembled and were confounded; they became like the grass of the field, and the herb of the pasture, and the grass of the housetops, which withered before it matured. 28. Your dwelling, and your going out, and your coming in I have known, and your madness against Me. 29. When you raged against Me, your pride has come up into My ears: therefore I will put My ring in your nostrils, and My bridle in your lips, and I will lead you back by the way by which you came. 30. And this shall be a sign for you: Eat this year the things that grow of themselves, and in the second year eat the fruits; but in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31. And that which is saved of the house of Judah, and which remains, shall take root downward and bear fruit upward: 32. for out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and salvation from Mount Sion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this. 33. Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of the Assyrians: He shall not enter this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor shall a shield take it, nor shall he cast up a siege mound around it. 34. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not enter this city, says the Lord: 35. And I will protect this city, to save it for My own sake, and for the sake of David My servant. 36. And the Angel of the Lord went forth, and struck in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand. And they arose in the morning, and behold, they were all dead corpses. 37. And he departed, and went away, and Sennacherib king of the Assyrians returned, and dwelt in Nineveh. 38. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the temple of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword: and they fled into the land of Ararat, and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
3. A day of tribulation, and rebuke, and blasphemy. — First, St. Jerome and Sanchez refer the tribulation to the people, the rebuke to
Verse 1: He wrapped himself in sackcloth — that is, in a hairshirt. For this was the garb of pen...
1. He wrapped himself in sackcloth — that is, in a hairshirt. For this was the garb of penance and the clothing of mourners. See what was said on Genesis 37:34. Moreover, this sackcloth was either worn next to the bare skin, or over other clothing, as in Rome during Lent many put on sackcloth over their garments.
those prophecies were to be referred to that king, the more so because mixed in with Isaiah's discourse were other prophecies, whether about the Messiah or about the fates of the Jewish people and neighboring nations; third, that the Prophet had indeed revealed what awaited the Assyrians in the future while they were fighting, but that his prophecy, perhaps not yet committed to writing, was known to the Jews only in general terms, and they could not scrutinize it in detail. So Berthier. These arguments do not seem sufficiently proven to us, to explain the terror of the people and of the king himself who was otherwise endowed with such faith and piety, unless it be said that because of the excessive fear from the approaching Assyrian army, all had collapsed in spirit.
it was, he covers it under the name of a blessing, so as to attract them more to himself. So also does the devil.
Second, Forerius says: "blessing," that is, abundance, generosity, as if to say: Do not be sparing toward me, but deal with me magnificently and liberally; namely, come out to me without fear, confidently, entrusting your care to me and to my good faith. If you do this, each one shall eat, etc., that is, you will remain masters of your own possessions, you will freely visit your fields, and you will pluck your figs, grapes, and fruits, and you will find in me not an enemy but a father and protector.
Third, others say, as if to say: Do me this favor in this matter.
Hezekiah reports to Isaiah the threats and blasphemies of Rabshakeh: Isaiah, at verse 6, bids him be of good courage and not fear the Assyrian whom God is about to punish. Second, at verse 9, Sennacherib, about to march against the Ethiopians, again sends threatening letters to Hezekiah, demanding that he surrender and not hope to escape his hand by God's help. Hence, third, Hezekiah, at verse 14, offers these letters to God in the temple and prays that He come to the aid of him and his people. Whence, fourth, at verse 21, Isaiah in the name of God again frees him from fear and rebukes the blasphemous Sennacherib, predicting all adversity against him, and at verse 30, gives a sign, namely provisions for three years. Then, at verse 36, the Angel strikes the camp of Sennacherib, who, fleeing, is killed by his own sons.
1. And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his garments and wrapped himself in sackcloth, and entered the house of the Lord. 2. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the son of Amoz the prophet, 3. and they said to him: Thus says Hezekiah: This is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4. If perhaps the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to blaspheme the living God, and to reproach with the words which the Lord your God has heard: lift up therefore a prayer for the remnant that is found. 5. And the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6. and Isaiah said to them: You shall say thus to your master: Thus says the Lord: Do not fear because of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7. Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he shall hear a report, and shall return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. 8. And Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah. For he had heard that he had departed from Lachish, 9. and he heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, saying: He has gone out to fight against you. And when he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying: 10. Thus shall you say to Hezekiah king of Judah, speaking: Let not your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying: Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11. Behold, you have heard all that the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly, and shall you be delivered? 12. Have the gods of the nations delivered them, whom my fathers destroyed: Gozan, and Haran, and Reseph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar? 13. Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Ana and Ava? 14. And Hezekiah took the letters from the hand of the messengers, and read them, and went up to the house of the Lord, and spread them before the Lord. 15. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying: 16. O Lord of hosts,
God of Israel, who sit upon the Cherubim: You are God alone of all the kingdoms of the earth; You made heaven and earth. 17. Incline, O Lord, Your ear, and hear; open, O Lord, Your eyes, and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to blaspheme the living God. 18. For truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the lands and their regions. 19. And they have cast their gods into the fire: for they were not gods, but the works of men's hands, wood and stone: and they broke them in pieces. 20. And now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand: and let all the kingdoms of the earth know that You are the Lord alone. 21. And Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Because you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria: 22. this is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and mocked you; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head behind you. 23. Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel. 24. By the hand of your servants you have reproached the Lord and have said: With the multitude of my chariots I have ascended the height of the mountains, the ridges of Lebanon: and I will cut down its tall cedars and its choicest fir trees, and I will enter the height of its summit, the forest of its Carmel. 25. I have dug and drunk water, and I have dried up with the sole of my foot all the streams of the embankments. 26. Have you not heard what I did to it long ago? From ancient days I formed it; and now I have brought it to pass: and it has come about for the uprooting of hills in combat, and of fortified cities. 27. Their inhabitants, with shortened hand, trembled and were confounded; they became like the grass of the field, and the green herb of the pasture, and the grass of the housetops, which withered before it matured. 28. Your dwelling and your going out and your coming in I have known, and your rage against Me. 29. When you raged against Me, your pride ascended to My ears: therefore I will put a ring in your nostrils and a bit in your lips, and I will lead you back by the way by which you came. 30. And this shall be a sign to you: Eat this year the things that grow of themselves, and in the second year eat of the fruit trees; but in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31. And that which is saved of the house of Judah, and that which remains, shall take root downward, and bear fruit upward: 32. for out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and salvation from Mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this. 33. Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not enter this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor shall a shield take it, nor shall he cast up a siege mound around it. 34. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not enter this city, says the Lord: 35. And I will protect this city, to save it for My own sake and for the sake of David My servant. 36. And the Angel of the Lord went forth and struck in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand. And they arose in the morning, and behold, all were dead bodies. 37. And he departed and went away, and Sennacherib king of Assyria returned and dwelt in Nineveh. 38. And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword: and they fled into the land of Ararat, and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
1. He wrapped himself in sackcloth — that is, in haircloth. For this was the garment of penance and the clothing of mourners. See what was said at Genesis 37:34. Moreover, this sackcloth was either worn next to bare skin or over other garments, just as in Rome during Lent many put on sackcloth over their clothing.
Verse 3: A day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy. — First, St. Jerome and Sanchez ...
3. A day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy. — First, St. Jerome and Sanchez refer the tribulation to the people, the rebuke to
God, the blasphemy to Rabshakeh, as if to say: This day warns that tribulation threatens the people, and rebuke from God, who wishes to punish our sins, and who has also heard the pride of the impious king and the blasphemy of the insolent envoy Rabshakeh, who said that God could not deliver the Jews from the hand of Sennacherib, just as the gods of other nations were unable to do.
Second, Vatablus says: He calls it a day of rebuke, or of reproof, or of accusation, because the Jews were charged by Sennacherib with having broken the treaty, as though they were treaty-breakers.
Third, and more plainly, he calls it a day of rebuke because Rabshakeh had reproved Hezekiah for hoping in God, whose high places he had removed, and for not having two thousand horsemen, nor being able to resist, and he reproved the people, saying that unless they surrendered, they would be reduced to such straits that they would be forced to eat their own dung and drink their own urine. These, then, were the rebukes or reproofs of Rabshakeh.
The children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. — This is a proverb, as if to say: We have come to the utmost extremity of peril, pain, and anguish, so that like women in labor, endeavoring to wage a holy and necessary war for the defense of the holy city against the blasphemous Sennacherib, we are unable from weakness and lack of strength to bring it to completion and bring it to light; but we shall be overwhelmed by him, unless God miraculously comes to the aid of His own glory and of us. So say Theodoret, Procopius, Eucherius, Abulensis, Cajetan, and Vatablus, either here or in 4 Kings chapter 19.
Verse 4: If perhaps He will hear. — Supply: as if to say: Pray for us, if perhaps God will hear,...
4. If perhaps He will hear. — Supply: as if to say: Pray for us, if perhaps God will hear, etc., as Forerius and Vatablus translate from the Hebrew.
Verse 6: Because of the words — that is, from the words and threats: for by prosopopoeia the Heb...
6. Because of the words — that is, from the words and threats: for by prosopopoeia the Hebrews ascribe a face to these things. Before the envoys of Hezekiah came to Isaiah, God had already revealed to him their coming and what he should answer them, says St. Jerome: whence as soon as they arrived, without prayer or recourse to God, Isaiah answered them immediately.
Verse 7: I will put a spirit in him — an adversarial one, says St. Jerome.
7. I will put a spirit in him — an adversarial one, says St. Jerome.
Second, Haymo and Forerius interpret "spirit" as wind, as if to say: A messenger or rumor will come through the air like the wind, that is, very swiftly and unexpectedly, and this rumor will come as if from an uncertain source, as though borne by the wind. Forerius adds: What if some angelic spirit was sent for this purpose, to carry such a message?
Third, Vatablus interprets "spirit" as the impulse and the will to return to his homeland.
Fourth, Leo Castrius interprets "spirit" as corrupted and inflamed air, namely pestilence: for Berosus, as cited by Josephus in Antiquities Book X, chapter 1, teaches that the Assyrians perished by this.
Fifth, and best of all, Lyra and Sanchez: I will send into him a "spirit" of fear and agitation, and as it were a panic terror, together with a report of the advance of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, which will draw him away from the siege of Jerusalem to fight against him: after which, returning, he will be struck by the Angel, and therefore will flee to his people in Assyria, and there will be killed.
God sent a similar fear and consternation of mind upon the Canaanites, so that they would not pursue Jacob, Genesis 33:5; and so that they would not resist the approaching Hebrews, Exodus 23:27; and upon the Syrians besieging Samaria, 4 Kings 7:6. Thus when Saul had surrounded David on every side, so that no escape was possible, God sent him a message saying the Philistines were invading the borders of Israel: therefore he was called away from David and compelled to return to defend his own borders. How wonderful is God's providence toward His own! How faithful is His guardianship!
Verse 13: Ana and Ava. — The Septuagint merged these two into one word, Anaveava; whence the corr...
13. Ana and Ava. — The Septuagint merged these two into one word, Anaveava; whence the corrupt reading Anagugava has crept into the Septuagint. Ana was the royal seat of the Lydians (whose king later, in the time of Cyrus, was Croesus), before Sardis was founded and became
the capital of the kingdom was being raised by Esarhaddon, son of Sennacherib, or by Sardanapalus, as some think: whence they seem to have received their name from him, so that Sardis is called, as it were, the city of Sardon, that is, of a lord and prince. "Sepharvaim" some think was the royal city of the kingdom of Pontus and of the Bosporan realm, as described by Strabo, situated near the Cimmerian Bosporus and the Black Sea: whence the Maltese (who use many Syrian and Arabic words) call "Semarbaim" a crossing or swimming-passage of animals, that is, a Bosporus. For Bosporus is so called as if from the Greek tou boos poreia, that is, the journey and path of an ox, because the narrows of the sea there are so tight that an ox can swim across them. So the Maltese Fathers of our Society assured me in Rome.
Verse 14: The books — that is, the letters of Rabshakeh: for this is what the Hebrew word sepher ...
14. The books — that is, the letters of Rabshakeh: for this is what the Hebrew word sepher signifies.
Verse 16: Who sit upon the Cherubim — who sit upon the mercy seat above the Ark, which is as it w...
16. Who sit upon the Cherubim — who sit upon the mercy seat above the Ark, which is as it were Your throne, overshadowed by the two Cherubim, from which You give responses in the Holy of Holies: by which it is symbolically signified that You have all the armies and choirs of Angels subject to You, and as it were ride upon them. See what was said at Exodus 25:18.
Verse 22: Virgin daughter of Zion. — That is, O Jerusalem! See Canon XVIII.
22. Virgin daughter of Zion. — That is, O Jerusalem! See Canon XVIII.
She has shaken her head behind you — as if mocking and threatening.
Verse 23: Against (that is, contra, as Vatablus translates) the Holy One of Israel — as if to say...
23. Against (that is, contra, as Vatablus translates) the Holy One of Israel — as if to say: What is this insane blasphemy and pride of yours, O Sennacherib! That you have dared to provoke God and, as it were, to challenge Him to a duel? Do you not know that He is the holy Guardian and Protector of Israel, who will not allow His holy city and temple to be polluted and contaminated by you, but will rise up as His fierce avenger against you?
Note, morally: learn here how God is inflamed with anger against blasphemers, and punishes them most severely.
Holofernes, indignant that Achior had commended the power of the God of heaven, said in Judith 6:2: "Since you have prophesied to us saying that the nation of Israel is defended by its God... I will show you that there is no God except Nebuchadnezzar, when we have struck them all down as one man." But afterwards his head was cut off by the hand of a single woman.
The blasphemous and proud Antiochus was struck with an incurable and invisible plague. So also the Jews repeatedly poured forth blasphemous words against the Son of God, and therefore were destroyed by Titus.
The wicked thief nailed to the cross was also blaspheming, when he said: "If You are the Son of God, save Yourself," and soon perished for that very reason.
On account of blasphemy, St. Paul delivered Alexander and Hymenaeus to the devil to be tormented.
In the year of the Lord 494, on the eighth day before the Calends of January, an astonishing, terrible, and extraordinary event occurred, at which the ears of those who hear it are stunned. When Euthymius, a defender of the Arian faction, was urging on a dancing runner in the baths of the Helenian palace, the flatterer Olympius approached him, and having noticed certain persons bathing who were homoousians (that is, those who assert that the Son is of the same substance as the Father), he addressed them with these words: "What, pray, is the Trinity, or where is it not inscribed on a wall? Look (said the obscene fellow), I too have a trinity." Whereupon those present, being indignant, were about to kill him; but they were restrained by a certain priest. But God's vengeance seized him: for when he went down into the cold bath, he immediately came out crying: "Have mercy on me!" and was tearing his own flesh from his bones with his nails. Those standing around seized him, wrapped him in a linen cloth, and laid him down, as he was fainting from the cold. When they asked what had happened to him, Olympius answered: "I saw a man dressed in white garments, who, walking upon the heating apparatus, poured three buckets of hot water upon me, saying: Do not blaspheme." Those who were related to him therefore carried him, lifted up, to another bath that belonged to the Arian church. But when they tried to remove him from the linen cloth, they tore away all his flesh; and so, dying, he breathed out his soul. So say Damascenus, Ado, Platina, Vasaeus, and from them Baronius, in the year of Christ 494.
Julian, the Apostate Emperor, in the war he was waging against the Persians, being gravely wounded, when he had scooped blood from his wound with his cupped hand and hurled it toward heaven, as if seeing Christ and attributing the cause of his death to Him, is said to have cried out: "You have conquered, Galilean, You have conquered!" And as he was flowing with blood, he exclaimed: "Be satisfied, Nazarene!" So says the Tripartite History, Book IX, chapter 25.
In the Life of St. John Chrysostom, it is narrated that when St. Chrysostom was praising the Most Holy Trinity, which furnishes us with annual fruits, Anthemius replied to him: Not Christ, but the elements of the world produce them in their seasons by the providence of the gods. His speech had not yet ended when, seized by an evil spirit and dashed to the ground, he lay wretchedly howling, causing tears and fear at the same time to those present, rolling his eyes, gnashing his teeth, and most disgracefully spewing foam from his mouth.
Gregory of Tours, Book IV of the History of the Franks, chapter 11,
volume XIII, Book IV, and our own d'Auroult in his Exempla, chapter On Blasphemy, whose work is unknown to many outside Belgium — would that it were known and well-read!
Verse 24: By the hand of your servants — through your servants, Rabshakeh and his companions. See...
24. By the hand of your servants — through your servants, Rabshakeh and his companions. See Canon XXIII.
I have ascended the height of the mountains — as if to say: The narrow and steep mountain paths, through which there was scarcely passage for a horseman or foot soldier, I so leveled by cutting down trees and rocks that I ascended their summits with my chariots. Vespasian did something similar in the passes of Lebanon, when he led his troops through them into Judea, as Josephus testifies, Book III of the Jewish War, chapter 5. So says Sanchez. Likewise Hannibal made a way for his army through the Alps: hear Juvenal, Satire 10:
Nature opposed both the Alps and the snows; He split the rocks and burst the mountain with vinegar.
Moreover, by Lebanon he understands all of Judea and Syria: for Lebanon was its beginning and, as it were, its wall and rampart. It is a synecdoche.
The forest of its Carmel. — Vatablus understands this as the temple, which was situated as if in a forest on Carmel, that is, in a fertile field, whose priests, he says, are like trees in a forest. Others understand Jerusalem; others, any fortified cities of Judea situated on heights. Most simply, take Carmel as it sounds, namely the mountain of Judea most fertile in vineyards, olive trees, and other fruit-bearing and fragrant trees, in which Elijah and Elisha dwelt, and afterwards the first Carmelites: for this Order took its name from Carmel. As if to say: Just as Lebanon, so also will I lay waste its Carmel. He says "its," namely of Lebanon, for this preceded: because Carmel belongs to Lebanon. For by Lebanon he understands all of Judea: and Carmel is a part of Judea. Note the word "forest": for from this it appears that on Mount Carmel there was a forest or wood. So says Adrichomius.
Verse 25: I have dug and drunk water — as if to say: I, abounding in a multitude of soldiers, had...
25. I have dug and drunk water — as if to say: I, abounding in a multitude of soldiers, had them dig wells in arid places, and thus provided sufficient water for the entire army. Caesar, Scipio, and other most distinguished generals did this, and this is what a commander of a camp must do, as Vegetius teaches, Book IV, chapter 10.
And I have dried up with the sole of my foot (that is, wherever my army set foot) all the streams of the embankments. — He calls "streams of the embankments" both rainwater and spring water which are enclosed in the field by embankments, as if stored in a reservoir or pool; so that it is the same as what is said of the same person in 4 Kings 19:24: "And I dried up with the soles of my feet all the enclosed waters." Or rather he calls thus the flowing streams that are enclosed on both sides by banks, as if by embankments. So St. Jerome, as if to say: For my army, so numerous and powerful, wherever I went, I partly diverted the rivers and made them shallow and fordable, and partly drank them dry.
relates a similar case: A certain Leo of Poitiers, he says, who true to his name was like a lion, most savage in every desire, is said to have once declared that Martin and Martial, Confessors of the Lord, had left nothing useful to the resources of the treasury. But immediately, struck by the power of the Confessors, he was rendered deaf and mute, and died out of his mind. For the wretch had come to the basilica of St. Martin at Tours, kept vigil, and offered gifts, but the wonted power did not look upon him: for he returned with the same infirmity with which he had come.
Pope St. Gregory, Book IV of the Dialogues, chapter 18, relates that a five-year-old boy, accustomed to blaspheming God, was snatched by a demon from his father's arms.
The Emperor Justinian condemned to the ultimate punishment those who swore by any member of God, or by His hair, or who blasphemed God, as is evident in the Authentica, Collection VI, title 5.
The first edict of Philip Augustus, King of the Franks, crowned while his father still lived, was against blasphemers — those who contemptuously and shamefully invoked the name of Christ as testimony and as confirmation of the slightest matter — whom he decreed should be drowned in the river without delay. The second was against pipers, actors, parasites, and that kind of pleasure-seeking entertainers, whom he banished from the court. Consonant with these is the Canon found at distinction 22, where it reads: "If anyone swears by the hair or the head of God, or uses blasphemy against God in any other way, if he is in Holy Orders, let him be deposed; if a layman, let him be anathematized." And in the Authentica, under the title Against Those Who Live Contrary to Nature, it is decreed: "Let no one swear by the members or the hair of God, or blaspheme God in any other way: for by these offenses famines, earthquakes, and plagues come to pass. We therefore command that such persons be arrested and subjected to the ultimate punishments."
To Robert, King of the Franks, son of Hugh Capet, once praying for peace and the tranquility of his kingdom in the city of Orleans, Christ appeared and gave the response that he would not have peace in his kingdom until he had rooted out blasphemies and notorious crimes. And no wonder: for these seem to proceed from contempt or from hatred of God, and hatred of God is the greatest of sins. Nicholas Boerius narrates this in Decision 301.
In the year of salvation 1569, two garrison soldiers in Strasbourg were thrown into chains: one for blaspheming God, the other for insulting the commander of the cohort. For the first, because of his proven valor, all the best men interceded; but for the second, none. The prudent Senate, judging it unworthy that a violator of God should be in a better position than a slanderer of a man, committed the examination of the case to the proper authorities. When it recognized that a horrifying blasphemy had been committed, albeit by a drunken and deranged man, judging that more weight should be given to the divine Majesty than to human favor and intercession, it punished the blasphemer with capital punishment, having his tongue drawn out through his neck. So the Theatre of Human Life reports,
the rivers of Greece, concerning which Juvenal says in Satire 10:
We believe the deep rivers Failed, and the streams were drunk dry With the Mede at breakfast.
Third, it can be translated with Vatablus plainly: now I bring it about, that I may reduce fortified cities to heaps of ruins; or, as Forerius puts it: and it shall be that (God) shall cause the battling and contending waves to dash against fortified cities. The Syriac and Arabic translate: and now I have brought it about, that it may be for destruction and desolation.
Verse 26: Have you not heard what I did (that is, what I decreed to do, according to Canon XXIX) ...
26. Have you not heard what I did (that is, what I decreed to do, according to Canon XXIX) to it (the nation of the Jews) long ago? From ancient days I formed (in Hebrew yatsarti, that is, I formed, fashioned, that is, I conceived, ordained, and prescribed the plan of what was to be done) it — as if to say: Have you not heard, O Sennacherib, that what you boast of having done to Judea and other provinces — namely, that you devastated and subdued them — this very thing I had long ago foreknown, predetermined, and prescribed in all its details, as is evident from Isaiah 10, and have now brought it about and accomplished it in deed, so that fortified cities might be reduced to ruins by you; but so that you would not take Jerusalem, but would be cut down there? Therefore do not ascribe your victories to yourself, but to Me: for under My guidance you obtained them, and therefore, to show this to you who are ungrateful and proud, I will put a stop to them, nay, I will turn them into disasters. So say Forerius, Vatablus, and others.
And it came about for the uprooting of hills in combat. — St. Jerome and Adamus take "hills in combat" to mean princes fighting among themselves.
Second, and more plainly, Sanchez says: the hills in combat, that is, contending (for this is the Hebrew nitsim) and fighting (as it is found in 4 Kings 19) with the Assyrians, are the cities of Judea and of other nations situated on hills, and therefore fortified, as follows, as if to say: By the will of God it came about that Sennacherib uprooted, that is, overthrew, the lofty and strong cities which fiercely fought and battled with him: for that he did this is evident from chapter 36, verse 1.
Verse 27: Their inhabitants, with shortened hand, trembled. — St. Jerome takes "hand" as the help...
27. Their inhabitants, with shortened hand, trembled. — St. Jerome takes "hand" as the help of God, as if to say: The Jews were defeated by the Assyrians because God shortened and withdrew His hand from them, and extended it to the Assyrians, giving them courage and strength and prosperous success in war for subduing the Jews. Whence the Arabic translates: they abandoned them from their hands (that is, they cast them away), and they were broken.
Second, and better, take "hand" as the power and strength of the Jews, as if to say: The Jews trembled at the coming of Sennacherib because their hand, that is, their power, was shortened by God, that is, cut short. Whence in Hebrew it is kitsre yad, that is, shortened of hand, or short of hand, and, as our translator renders it in 4 Kings 19, "humble of hand," that is, the Jews, being weak, unwarlike, and as if maimed, trembled before the Assyrians. So say Forerius, Vatablus, and others. Whence the Syriac translates: the inhabitants relaxed their hands in them, and were crushed and confounded.
They became like the grass of the field, etc. — He compares the weak Jews, immediately prostrated by the enemy, to hay, grass, and herb growing on rooftops, which, scorched by the sun or frost, or trampled underfoot, or withering and drying up from lack of moisture: for in the same way all the strength of the Jews immediately wilted and dried up at the coming of the Assyrian.
Verse 28: Your dwelling and your going out and your coming in I have known. — These three things ...
28. Your dwelling and your going out and your coming in I have known. — These three things signify all the movements, positions, and actions of a person, which elsewhere are called goings in and goings out: here a third is added, namely sitting or dwelling, as if to say: I foreknew, foresaw, and foreordained, O Sennacherib (for He turns to address him), all the acts you have planned — whether when you dwelt in Assyria, or when you returned from there and entered Assyria as victor. The same phrase occurs in Psalm 138: "You have known my sitting down (in Hebrew the same word yashab is used, which here is translated as 'dwelling') and my rising up," in Hebrew qumi, that is, my rising up to go out or to come in.
Verse 29: I will put a ring. — As if you were a mule or a buffalo, I will lead you about with a r...
29. I will put a ring. — As if you were a mule or a buffalo, I will lead you about with a ring or a bridle put in place, and bring you back to Assyria, whence I brought you out. Sanchez observes that the king is punished with a just and fitting penalty — he who had mocked the Jews, contemptuously turning up his nose at God, distorting his mouth, and impudently sticking out his tongue: for God fixes a ring in his nose, and puts a bridle on his mouth and tongue.
Tropologically, St. Gregory, in Moralia Book XXIII, chapter 10, explaining that passage in Job 41:21 about Leviathan: "Will you put a ring in his nostrils?" teaches that this ring is the omnipotence of God, by which He curbs and restrains the cunning or strength of the devil, so that he does not tempt us as much as he wishes and can: "I will put a ring in your nostrils," as if He were saying openly: In plotting snares you pant; but not being able to accomplish what you desire, you carry the ring of My omnipotence in your nostrils, so that, when you most ardently long for the death of the good, you return empty, deprived of their life.
Moreover, it can be translated with Vatablus plainly: now I bring it about, that I may reduce fortified cities to heaps of ruins; or, as Forerius puts it: and it shall be that (God) shall cause the battling and contending waves to dash against fortified cities. The Syriac and Arabic translate: and now I have brought it about, that it may be for destruction and desolation.
Will you put a ring in his nostrils?" teaches that this ring is the omnipotence of God, by which He curbs and restrains the cunning or strength of the devil, so that he does not tempt us as much as he wishes and can: "I will put," He says, "a ring in your nostrils," as if to say openly: In plotting snares you pant; but not being able to accomplish what you desire, you carry the ring of My omnipotence in your nostrils, so that, when you most ardently long for the death of the good, you return empty, deprived of their life.
Verse 30: And this shall be a sign to you. — He turns to Hezekiah, besieged by Sennacherib, and i...
30. And this shall be a sign to you. — He turns to Hezekiah, besieged by Sennacherib, and in the danger of famine assigns him sustenance, and gives a sign of the future full liberation of the Jews and of the slaughter of the Assyrians.
Eat this year the things that grow of themselves. — From this and from verse 9 it is gathered that Sennacherib, upon hearing of the advance of the king of the Ethiopians against him, deferred the siege of Jerusalem to go meet the king. Meanwhile, however, he had devastated the grain growing all around, either by trampling or by reaping it, so as to press the city with famine. Moreover, he had left a military garrison in the cities of Judea that he had captured, who would harass the farmland of Jerusalem, so that they could not sow. But God in His providence came to the rescue, and promised the Jews that in the first year He would feed them with grains growing spontaneously — that is, sprouting up from the roots of the trampled or cut-down grain that would soon spring up again; and in the second year with fruit from the trees. And so it was done. Finally, in the third year, after the Ethiopian was defeated, Sennacherib returned to the siege of Jerusalem, and then, when his army was struck down by the Angel, the Jews were given the opportunity to sow and reap. So say Abulensis, Cajetan, Torniellus, and others on 4 Kings 19.
For a full two years, therefore, Sennacherib was absent from Jerusalem, occupied with the Ethiopian war, as I said at chapter 20. In the second year eat of the fruit trees — and of the grain that will have grown from the fallen kernels of the preceding year. Whence our translator, in 4 Kings chapter 19, translates: "And in the second year eat what grows of itself," namely either from the tree, or from fallen grains, but not from seed and from cut stalks sprouting again, as was said of the first year.
Joseph Scaliger, in Book V of De Emendatione Temporum, in the chapter entitled "On the Beginning of Hezekiah's Reign," thinks that this second year was sabbatical, in which, according to the law of Leviticus 25:4, the land was to rest, so that it could neither be sown nor reaped. For the same words that Scripture uses here — namely, that they would not sow or reap, but would eat what grows of itself, etc. — are used to describe the sabbatical year in Leviticus chapter 25:4. But what kind of sign of the future liberation of the Jews and defeat of the Assyrians would this have been? For even without Isaiah's prophecy, Hezekiah knew which year would be sabbatical, says Torniellus, who asserts that it was not the 14th but the 13th and 17th years of Hezekiah that were sabbatical. But one could respond that the sign given here is not the sabbatical year itself, but what was said just before, namely: first, that God in that sabbatical year, amid such great enemy incursions, would feed the Jews liberally; second, that in the third year they would be satisfied and harvesting, of which there was then no hope, since all feared devastation and destruction from the Assyrians. But other precise chronologists deny that the 14th year of Hezekiah was sabbatical.
Rabbi Solomon invents the fable that the Assyrians had cut down the trees and crops, so that no fruit could be hoped for from them; but that God produced fruit from the cut-down trees, and grain from the cut-down crops; and that this was the sign, or rather the miracle, as he interprets it, given to Hezekiah.
Verse 31: And that which is saved shall send forth. — Note that "saved" and shortly after "salvat...
31. And that which is saved shall send forth. — Note that "saved" and shortly after "salvation" refer to the remnant of the Jews, which was preserved from the incursion of Sennacherib. Concerning them he predicts that God will marvelously cause them to reflourish, grow, and multiply, like trees that spread their roots wide and deep, and therefore lift up and spread their branches and leaves upward, so that they can neither wither nor be uprooted by the wind — unlike those that easily suffer this, having small and narrow roots, as Pliny testifies in Book XVI, chapter 31. So say St. Jerome, Cyril, and Theodoret.
Allegorically, Eusebius, Book II of the Demonstration, chapter 48, and Leo Castrius refer these words to the Apostles and other remnants who were saved from Israel in the time of Christ.
Morally, St. Gregory, Book XII of the Moralia, chapter 22: "When," he says, "we direct our thought to compassion for a neighbor in need, we as it were send our root downward, so that we may produce the fruit of reward above." The same, Book VIII of the Moralia, chapter 29: "To send a root downward," he says, "is to multiply good thoughts in hidden places. But to produce fruit upward is to manifest through the efficacy of works the good things one has thought."
Verse 33: He shall not enter this city, nor shoot an arrow there. — From this it is gathered that...
33. He shall not enter this city, nor shoot an arrow there. — From this it is gathered that the camp of Sennacherib, as soon as he returned to the siege of Jerusalem — before he could raise siege mounds or prepare other things necessary for the assault — was struck by the Angel. Whence in 4 Kings 19:35, they are said to have been struck "that night," namely the night on which Sennacherib returned to besiege Jerusalem. So says Cajetan there.
Verse 36: The Angel of the Lord. — From this it seems that this Angel who slew the Assyrians was ...
36. The Angel of the Lord. — From this it seems that this Angel who slew the Assyrians was a good angel — for example, Gabriel or Michael, the guardian of the Synagogue. So says Abulensis, although others think that both this one and the one who struck the firstborn of the Egyptians (as is suggested in Psalm 77:49) were a demon.
He struck. — The Hebrews relate, and from them Cajetan and Abulensis, that the Assyrians were struck by the Angel with fire, that is, pestilence, as Josephus says. Whence Isaiah 10:16 says: "It shall burn and blaze like a burning fire;" and elsewhere he threatens them with fire. Whence in Topheth and in the Valley of Jehoshaphat (where the general judgment will take place, and all the reprobate — whose type the Assyrians were here — will be punished with death and eternal fire) the same are said to have been slain, as I said at chapter 20.
Pagan authors also recalled this slaughter of the Assyrians, such as Herodotus and Berosus, but they mix in fables, as I said at chapter 20.
In this disaster Sennacherib was spared, so that the proud king might see God's hand and vengeance upon his men, and so that, fleeing shamefully, he might be killed even more ignominiously by his own sons: just as Pharaoh perished last in the Red Sea, dying not one but multiple deaths — his own and those of all his men whom he saw drowning before him. So says St. Jerome.
Verse 38: His sons struck him. — Why? It is uncertain. Lyra relates, from Rabbi Solomon, that Sen...
38. His sons struck him. — Why? It is uncertain. Lyra relates, from Rabbi Solomon, that Sennacherib, having received such a great disaster, in order to soothe the spirits of his men who had lost sons, brothers, or kinsmen in that disaster, had vowed to his god Nisroch the sacrifice of his own sons. But the sons, getting wind of this, anticipated their father and slew him in the very temple of Nisroch.
Note: Sennacherib was not killed immediately after his flight to Assyria; for, returning in a rage, he pursued and killed Jews; whence Tobias fled from and escaped his wrath. For thus we read in Tobit 1:21: "When King Sennacherib had returned, fleeing from Judea from the plague, etc., and in his anger was killing many of the children of Israel, Tobias buried their bodies. But when it was reported to the king, he ordered him killed and seized all his property. But Tobias, fleeing with his son and his wife, hid himself naked, because many loved him. After forty-five days the king's sons killed him, and Tobias returned to his house, and all his property was restored to him."
Into the land of Ararat. — The Chaldean and the Septuagint say: into Armenia, through which the Araxes river flows, says St. Jerome, at the foot of Mount Taurus.