2Ch 32:24-31 | KD | STEP | Hezekiah’s sickness and recovery; his pride and his humiliation . - 2Ch 32:24. As to the sickness of Hezekiah, and the miraculous sign by which the prophet Isaiah assured him of recovery, see the account in 2Ki 20:1-11 and Isa 38. The Chronicle has only given us hints on this matter. ויּאמר and נתן refer to the same subject - God. Hezekiah prayed, and in consequence of his prayer God spake to him, sc. by the mouth of the prophet, and gave him a miraculous sign.

‏ 2 Chronicles 32:24-31

2Ch 32:24 Hezekiah’s sickness and recovery; his pride and his humiliation. - 2Ch 32:24. As to the sickness of Hezekiah, and the miraculous sign by which the prophet Isaiah assured him of recovery, see the account in 2Ki 20:1-11 and Isa 38. The Chronicle has only given us hints on this matter. ויּאמר and נתן refer to the same subject - God. Hezekiah prayed, and in consequence of his prayer God spake to him, sc. by the mouth of the prophet, and gave him a miraculous sign. 2Ch 32:25 “But Hezekiah rendered not according to the benefit unto him, for his heart was proud.” In his sickness he had promised to walk in humility all his days (Isa 38:15): yet he became proud after his recovery; and his pride showed itself especially in his showing all his treasures to the Babylonian embassy, in idle trust in them and in the resources at his command (cf. 2Ki 20:12-15; Isa 39:1-4). “And there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem,” which participated in the king’s sentiments (cf. 2Ch 19:10; 1Ch 27:24). Isaiah proclaimed this wrath to him in the prophecy that all the treasures of the king would be carried away to Babylon, and that some of his sons should become courtiers of the king of Babylon (2Ki 20:16-18; Isa 39:5-7), to which we should perhaps also reckon the threatening prophecy in Mic 3:12. 2Ch 32:26

Then Hezekiah humbled himself in his pride, and the wrath came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah (cf. Isa 39:8). The threatened judgment was postponed because of this humiliation, and broke over the royal house and the whole kingdom only at a later time in the Chaldean invasion. 2Ch 32:27 Hezekiah’s riches; concluding estimate of his reign; his death and burial. - 2Ch 32:27. Like Jehoshaphat (2Ch 17:5; 2Ch 18:1), Solomon (2Ch 1:12), and David (1Ch 29:28), Hezekiah attained to riches and glory, and made unto himself treasure-chambers for silver, gold, precious stones, and spices, shields, and all manner of splendid furniture. The מגנּים are named instead of weapons in general. The collection of them brings to recollection the כּליו בּית (2Ki 20:13 and Isa 39:2). 2Ch 32:28

Storehouses also (magazines) for the agricultural produce, and stalls for all manner of cattle, and stalls for the herds, like David (1Ch 27:25.) and Uzziah (2Ch 26:10). מסכּנות is a transposition of מכנסות, storehouses, from כּנס, to heap up. “Cattle and cattle” = all kinds of cattle. ארות, synonymous with אריות (2Ch 9:5), stables or stalls for cattle. The word אורות, which occurs only here, must have the same signification, and be held to be a transposed form of that word. 2Ch 32:29

And cities (?) made (procured) he for himself. ערים cannot in this connection denote the usual cities; it must mean either watch-towers (from עוּר, to watch) or dwelling-places for herds and cattle, since עיר, according to 2Ki 17:9, is used of any enclosed place, from a watch-tower to a fenced city. רכוּשׁ, as in 2Ch 31:3, of possessions in herds. 2Ch 32:30

The same Hezekiah covered the upper outlet of the water Gihon, and brought it down westwards to the city of David, i.e., by a subterranean channel into the city of David (see on 2Ch 32:3). The form ויישׁרם is Piel ויישּׁרם; the Keri is the same conjug., only contracted into ויּשּׁרם, as ויּבּשׁ for וייבּשׁ, the ו of the third person having amalgamated with the first radical, under the influence of the ו consec. With the last clause in 2Ch 32:30 cf. 2Ch 31:21; 1Ch 29:23. 2Ch 32:31 “And so (i.e., accordingly) in the case of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, ... God left him.” וכן does not denote attamen; it never has an adversative meaning. Bertheau rightly translates, “and accordingly,” with the further remark, that by וכן the account of Hezekiah’s treatment of the Babylonian ambassadors, which could not be reckoned among his fortunate deeds, is brought into harmony with the remark that he prospered in all his undertakings. It was permitted by God that Hezekiah should on this occasion be lifted up, and should commit an iniquity which could not but bring misfortune with it; not in order that He might plunge him into misfortune, but to try him, and to humble him (cf. 2Ch 32:26).