Isa 37:16 | KD | STEP | This intimidating message, which declared the God of Israel to be utterly powerless, was conveyed by the messengers of Sennacherib in the form of a latter. “And Hizkiyahu took the letter out of the hand of the messengers, and read it (K. read them ) , and went up to the house of Jehovah; and Hizkiyahu spread it before Jehovah.” Sephârı̄m (the sheets) is equivalent to the letter (not a letter in duplo ), like literae (cf., grammata ). ויּקראהוּ (changed by K. into m- ') is construed according to the singular idea. Thenius regards this spreading out of the letter as a naiveté ; and Gesenius even goes so far as to speak of the praying machines of the Buddhists. But it was simply prayer without words - an act of prayer, which afterwards passed into vocal prayer. “And Hizkiyahu prayed to (K. before ) Jehovah, saying (K. and said ), Jehovah of hosts (K. omits tsebhâ'ōth ), God of Israel, enthroned upon the cherubim, Thou, yea Thou alone, art God of all the kingdoms of the earth; Thou, Thou hast made the heavens and the earth. Incline Thine ear, Jehovah, and hear וּשׁמע, various reading in both texts וּשׁמע)! Open Thine eyes (K. with Yod of the plural), Jehovah, and see; and hear the (K. all the ) words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent (K. with which he hath sent him, i.e., Rabshakeh) to despise the living God! Truly, O Jehovah, the kings of Asshur have laid waste all lands, and their land (K. the nations and their land ), and have put ( venâthōn , K. venâthenū ) their gods into the fire: for they were not gods, only the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them. And now, Jehovah our God, help us (K. adds pray ) out of his hand, and all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou Jehovah (K. Jehovah Elohim ) art it alone.” On כּרבים (no doubt the same word as γρυπές, though not fabulous beings like these, but a symbolical representation of heavenly beings), see my Genesis , p. 626; and on yōshēbh hakkerubhı̄m (enthroned on the cherubim), see at and Psa 80:2. הוּא in אתּה־הוּא is an emphatic repetition, that is to say a strengthening, of the subject, like ; ; ; ; ; ; Ezr 5:11 : tu ille (not tu es ille , Ges. §121, 2) = tu , nullus alius . Such passages as , where הוּא is the predicate, do not belong here. עין is not a singular (like עיני in , where the lxx have עיני), but a defective plural, as we should expect after pâqach . On the other hand, the reading shelâchō (“hath sent him”), which cannot refer to debhârı̄m (the words), but only to the person bringing the written message, is to be rejected. Moreover, Knobel cannot help giving up his preference for the reading venâthōn (compare ; Ges. §131, 4 a ); just as, on the other hand, we cannot help regarding the reading ואת־ארצם את־כּל־הארצות as a mistake, when compared with the reading of the book of Kings. Abravanel explains the passage thus: “The Assyrians have devastated the lands, and their own land” (cf., ), of which we may find examples in the list of victories given above; compare also Beth-arbel in Hos 10:14, if this is Irbil on the Tigris, from which Alexander’s second battle in Persia, which was really fought at Gaugamela, derived its name. But how does this tally with the fact that they threw the gods of these lands - that is to say, of their own land also (for אלהיהם could not possibly refer to הארצות, to the exclusion of ארצם) - into the fire? If we read haggōyı̄m (the nations), we get rid both of the reference to their own land, which is certainly purposeless here, and also of the otherwise inevitable conclusion that they burned the gods of their own country. The reading הארצות appears to have arisen from the fact, that after the verb החריב the lands appeared to follow more naturally as the object, than the tribes themselves (compare, however, ). The train of thought is the following: The Assyrians have certainly destroyed nations and their gods, because these gods were nothing but the works of men: do Thou then help us, O Jehovah, that the world may see that Thou alone art it, viz., God ( 'Elōhı̄m , as K. adds, although, according to the accents, Jehovah Elohim are connected together, as in the books of Samuel and Chronicles, and very frequently in the mouth of David: see Symbolae in Psalmos , pp. 15, 16).

‏ Isaiah 37:16

This intimidating message, which declared the God of Israel to be utterly powerless, was conveyed by the messengers of Sennacherib in the form of a latter. “And Hizkiyahu took the letter out of the hand of the messengers, and read it (K.read them), and went up to the house of Jehovah; and Hizkiyahu spread it before Jehovah.” Sephârı̄m (the sheets) is equivalent to the letter (not a letter in duplo), like literae (cf., grammata). ויּקראהוּ (changed by K. into m- ') is construed according to the singular idea. Thenius regards this spreading out of the letter as a naiveté; and Gesenius even goes so far as to speak of the praying machines of the Buddhists. But it was simply prayer without words - an act of prayer, which afterwards passed into vocal prayer. “And Hizkiyahu prayed to (K. before)Jehovah, saying (K. and said),Jehovah of hosts (K. omits tsebhâ'ōth),God of Israel, enthroned upon the cherubim, Thou, yea Thou alone, art God of all the kingdoms of the earth; Thou, Thou hast made the heavens and the earth. Incline Thine ear, Jehovah, and hear וּשׁמע, various reading in both texts וּשׁמע)! Open Thine eyes (K. with Yod of the plural),Jehovah, and see; and hear the (K. all the)words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent (K. with which he hath sent him, i.e., Rabshakeh)to despise the living God! Truly, O Jehovah, the kings of Asshur have laid waste all lands, and their land (K. the nations and their land),and have put (venâthōn, K. venâthenū)their gods into the fire: for they were not gods, only the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them. And now, Jehovah our God, help us (K. adds pray)out of his hand, and all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou Jehovah (K. Jehovah Elohim)art it alone.” On כּרבים (no doubt the same word as γρυπές, though not fabulous beings like these, but a symbolical representation of heavenly beings), see my Genesis, p. 626; and on yōshēbh hakkerubhı̄m (enthroned on the cherubim), see at Psa 18:11 and Psa 80:2. הוּא in אתּה־הוּא is an emphatic repetition, that is to say a strengthening, of the subject, like Isa 43:25; Isa 51:12; 2Sa 7:28; Jer 49:12; Psa 44:5; Neh 9:6-7; Ezr 5:11 : tu ille (not tu es ille, Ges. §121, 2) = tu, nullus alius. Such passages as Isa 41:4, where הוּא is the predicate, do not belong here. עין is not a singular (like עיני in Psa 32:8, where the lxx have עיני), but a defective plural, as we should expect after pâqach. On the other hand, the reading shelâchō (“hath sent him”), which cannot refer to debhârı̄m (the words), but only to the person bringing the written message, is to be rejected. Moreover, Knobel cannot help giving up his preference for the reading venâthōn (compare Gen 41:43; Ges. §131, 4 a); just as, on the other hand, we cannot help regarding the reading ואת־ארצם את־כּל־הארצות as a mistake, when compared with the reading of the book of Kings. Abravanel explains the passage thus: “The Assyrians have devastated the lands, and their own land” (cf., Isa 14:20), of which we may find examples in the list of victories given above; compare also Beth-arbel in Hos 10:14, if this is Irbil on the Tigris, from which Alexander’s second battle in Persia, which was really fought at Gaugamela, derived its name. But how does this tally with the fact that they threw the gods of these lands - that is to say, of their own land also (for אלהיהם could not possibly refer to הארצות, to the exclusion of ארצם) - into the fire? If we read haggōyı̄m (the nations), we get rid both of the reference to their own land, which is certainly purposeless here, and also of the otherwise inevitable conclusion that they burned the gods of their own country. The reading הארצות appears to have arisen from the fact, that after the verb החריב the lands appeared to follow more naturally as the object, than the tribes themselves (compare, however, Isa 60:12). The train of thought is the following: The Assyrians have certainly destroyed nations and their gods, because these gods were nothing but the works of men: do Thou then help us, O Jehovah, that the world may see that Thou alone art it, viz., God ('Elōhı̄m, as K. adds, although, according to the accents, Jehovah Elohim are connected together, as in the books of Samuel and Chronicles, and very frequently in the mouth of David: see Symbolae in Psalmos, pp. 15, 16).