Глава 32

Sennacherib's invasion of Judah under Hezekiah 1–8. Hezekiah strengthening Jerusalem and encouraging the people. 9–19. Sennacherib's plans of conquest and his mockery of the religion of Jehovah. 20–23. The miraculous defeat of Sennacherib. 24–26. Hezekiah's illness and miraculous healing, his sin of vanity and repentance. 27–33. Hezekiah's wealth and power, his death and burial. 2 Chronicles 32:1. After such deeds and loyalty, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came and entered Judea, and besieged the fortified cities, and thought to take them for himself. 2 Chronicles 32:2. When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come with the intention of fighting against Jerusalem, 2 Chronicles 32:3. Then he decided with his princes and his military men to fill up the sources of water that were outside the city, and they helped him. 2 Chronicles 32:4. And a multitude of people gathered together, and they stopped up all the springs and the stream that flowed through the country, saying: Let the kings of Assyria, when they come here, not find much water [and let them not become strong]. 2 Chronicles 32:5. And he took courage, and restored the entire collapsed wall, and raised it to the tower, and built another wall from the outside, and fortified Millo in the city of David, and prepared many weapons and shields. 2 Chronicles 32:6. And he appointed commanders over the people, and gathered them to himself in the square at the city gate, and spoke to their hearts, and said: 2 Chronicles 32:7. be strong and courageous, do not fear or be afraid of the king of Assyria and all the multitude that is with him, because they are more with us than with him; 2 Chronicles 32:8. the arm of the flesh is with him, and the Lord our God is with us to help us and fight in our battles. And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah. 2 Chronicles 32:9. After this, king Sennacherib of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem - he himself stood against Lachish, and all his strength with him - to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all the Jews who were in Jerusalem, saying: 2 Chronicles 32:10. Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria: What do you hope for and sit in the fortress in Jerusalem? 2 Chronicles 32:11. Is Hezekiah deceiving you to put you to death by hunger and thirst, saying: The Lord our God will save us from the hand of the king of Assyria? 2 Chronicles 32:12. Was it not this Hezekiah who tore down His high places and His altars, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, “Worship before one altar, and burn incense on it?” 2 Chronicles 32:13. Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the nations of the earth? Could the gods of the nations of the earth save their land from my hand? 2 Chronicles 32:14. Who of all the gods of the nations that my fathers destroyed could save his people from my hand? How can your God save you from my hand? 2 Chronicles 32:15. And now let not Hezekiah deceive you and turn you away in this way; do not believe him: if not a single god of any nation or kingdom was able to save his people from my hand and from the hand of my fathers, then your God will not save you from my hand. 2 Chronicles 32:16. And his servants spoke many more things against the Lord God and against Hezekiah his servant. 2 Chronicles 32:17. And he wrote letters in which he reviled the Lord God of Israel and spoke these words against Him: Just as the gods of the nations of the earth did not save their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not save His people from my hand. 2 Chronicles 32:18. And they shouted with a loud voice in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to terrify them and to frighten them, and to take the city. 2 Chronicles 32:19. And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem as of the gods of the nations of the earth, the product of human hands. 2 Chronicles 32:20. And king Hezekiah and Isaiah the son of Amoz, the prophet, prayed and cried out to heaven. About the invasion of Sennacherib, 2 Chronicles reports only brief news, which entirely presupposes a detailed narrative about this subject known to its readers ((2 Kings 18:13 - 2 Kings 19); see “The Explanatory Bible,” vol. II, pp. 544–552). However, some features of the story of 2 Chronicles contain something new in comparison with the story of 2 Kings and, obviously, were taken by the sacred writer from the chronicle source that was under his hands, as the archival and documentary nature of this additional information shows. The reason for Sennacherib's invasion of Judah and Jerusalem (v. 1) was probably Hezekiah's refusal to pay tribute to the Assyrian king (2 Kings 18:7). For the chronology of the event, see comments to (2 Kings 18:13), “The Explanatory Bible,” vol. II, p. 544. The subject of Sennacherib’s aggressive aspirations was generally “the fortified cities of Judah,” according to LXX: ἐπὶ τὰς πόλεις τάς τειχήρεις, i.e. surrounded by walls (cf. Lev. 25:29), in which towers were usually built. 4 Kings, having mentioned, in accordance with 2 Chronicles, the siege of fortresses by Sennacherib, further says (v. 14) that Hezekiah sent ambassadors to Sennacherib with an expression of submission, that Sennacherib imposed a heavy tribute on Hezekiah, which he paid (2 Kings 18:14-16), but that Sennacherib, nevertheless, sent a large army against Jerusalem, which found the city locked and fortified. 2 Chronicles does not mention Hezekiah’s embassy and his tribute to the Assyrian king, but, completing the story of 2 Kings, reports that Hezekiah, apparently convinced of the futility of peaceful relations with Sennacherib, decided in the event of a possible attack on Jerusalem by him to strengthen this capital of the kingdom of Judah as much as possible (v. 5), and together make the siege of Jerusalem difficult for the Assyrians by a strategic method known in ancient times for the destruction of drinking water in the territory of the besieging enemy troops (in turn, usually trying to deprive the besieged of water, as, for example, Alexander the Great did during the siege of Babylon). For this purpose, all the springs outside Jerusalem were filled up (of which there were many in ancient Jerusalem (Ps. 45:5); according to the letter of Aristaeus, water from them flowed into the church through underground pipes), including “the stream (Heb. impudent) flowing through the country” (v. 4), the stream Kidron with springs close to it: Gion (v. 30), Siloam, etc. (On the position of Gion - Siloam, see comments to (1 Kings 1:33), “The Explanatory Bible”, vol. II, p. 365).> About this measure of Hezekiah and in general about his work on artificial irrigation of Jerusalem, besides (2 Chronicles 32:3–4,30), other biblical evidence is also spoken: (2 Kings 20:20; Is. 22:9–11; Sir.48:19). The digging of the Siloam Tunnel could also be connected with these works, which, on the basis of biblical and archaeological data, consisting of the Siloam Inscription discovered in 1880, is usually attributed to the time of Hezekiah (see The Explanatory Bible, vol. II, p. 558). Another important undertaking of Hezekiah - for defensive purposes - was (verse 5) the restoration of the ancient or, in the terminology of Josephus, the “first” wall (cf. 1 Kings 3:1,9:15) and the beginning of the construction of the “second” outer wall of Jerusalem, completed already by Manasseh (2 Chron. 33:14), this “second” wall, according to Josephus (Jude. War V, 4, 2), began at the gate of Ginnath, which belonged to the first Zion Wall, hugged the northern part of Jerusalem, the so-called Acre, and reached in the north to the Fish Gate and in the northeast to the towers of Anameel and Mea and the Sheep Gate (Neh.3:1,12:39; Zech.14:10; Jer.31:37); see "Theological Encyclopedia", St. Petersburg, 1906, vol. VI, p. 450 etc. About Millo strengthened by Hezekiah (v. 5), see comments to (1 Kings 9:15), “Explanatory Bible, vol. II, p. 410. At the same time, Hezekiah made a large supply of weapons in Jerusalem. But, as a pious king, Hezekiah does not place hope in all these human means of defense; on the contrary, he turns his and his subjects’ thoughts to God, in the hope of gracious help from above, expressing (v. 7), like the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 6:16), the conviction of the superiority of the power of the heavenly defenders of the people of God over their earthly enemies and expressing (v. 8) like the prophet Isaiah ( Is.31:3), firm confidence in the incomparable advantage of the spiritual power of Jehovah over the fleshly power of even the most powerful enemy (cf. Jer.17:5). In the address of the Assyrian king to the inhabitants of Jerusalem (vv. 9–19), on the one hand, the oral conversation of Sennacherib’s envoys with the Jews (vv. 10–16) and, on the other hand, the letters of the Assyrian king to Jerusalem (vv. 17–19) differ. But both of them essentially coincide with the speech of Rabshakeh set forth in (2 Kings 18:19–25,27–35) (see The Explanatory Bible, vol. II, pp. 545–547), with, however, numerous differences in style and presentation. Hezekiah's prayer (v. 20) is discussed in more detail in (2 Kings 19:1,14–19); the prayer of the prophet Isaiah, at least, is assumed by the general meaning of the story (2 Kings 19: 3–8) and book. the prophet Isaiah (Is.37:3–7). 2 Chronicles 32:21. And the Lord sent an angel, and he destroyed all the brave men and the chief and commanders in the army of the king of Assyria. And he returned in shame to his land; and when he came to the house of his god, those who came out of his loins struck him there with the sword. 2 Chronicles 32:22. Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria, and from the hand of everyone, and protected them from everywhere. Wed. (2 Kings 19:35–37), see The Expository Bible, vol. II, p. 552. The murderers of Sennacherib in (2 Chronicles 32:21) are called by the general term: “those who came out of his loins,” while in (2 Kings 19:37) they are definitely called his sons and their very names are indicated. LXX, Vulgata, Slavic text and 2 Chronicles add "sons". 2 Chronicles 32:24. In those days Hezekiah fell mortally ill. And he prayed to the Lord, and He heard him and gave him a sign. Here, in a brief note, we cover what was told in detail in (2 Kings 20:1-11) about Hezekiah’s illness, miraculous healing and the heavenly sign that happened with this (see The Explanatory Bible, vol. II, pp. 553-556). 2 Chronicles 32:25. But Hezekiah did not repay the benefits shown to him, for his heart was proud. And the wrath of God came upon him, both on Judea and on Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 32:26. But because Hezekiah humbled himself in the pride of his heart, both himself and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah. 2 Chronicles 32:27. And Hezekiah had very much wealth and glory, and he made a storehouse for himself for silver and gold, and precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all kinds of precious vessels; 2 Chronicles 32:28. and storehouses for the produce of the land, for grain, wine and oil, and stalls for all kinds of livestock, and yards for flocks. 2 Chronicles 32:29. And he built cities for himself. And he had many herds of flocks and herds, because God had given him very large property. 2 Chronicles 32:30. He, Hezekiah, blocked the upper channel of the waters of Geon and led them down to the western side of the city of David. And Hezekiah acted successfully in all his undertakings. The story of 2 Chronicles here is extremely condensed and becomes understandable only when combined with (2 Kings 20:12–20), see “The Explanatory Bible,” vol. II, p. 556–558. What was said in Art. 25–26 about Hezekiah’s vanity, God’s wrath against him, his humility and God’s mercy refers to the story of the visit of his ambassadors to Merodach-Baladan of Babylon (Isa. 39: 1–8). The speech of Art. is also timed to coincide with the same historical event. 27–29 about Hezekiah's fame and riches. About Hezekiah's work to increase the water supply to Jerusalem (v. 30), see above (v. 4); and also (2 Kings 20:20) (see The Expository Bible, vol. II, 558); Wed (Sir.48:19). From Art. 30 of this chapter, as well as from Art. 14 of the next chapter (2 Chronicles 33:14), they rightly conclude that the Geon flowed on the eastern (and not on the western, as previous explorers of Palestine and Jerusalem thought) side of Jerusalem, from where the rapprochement of the Gion with the current source of the Blessed Virgin arose (see “The Explanatory Bible,” vol. II, p. 365). Blessed Theodoret identified Gion with Siloam ((Quaestiones in II Paralipomenon. Patrologia Graeca, T. 80, Col. 854–856). 2 Chronicles 32:31. Only with the ambassadors of the kings of Babylon, who sent to him to ask about the sign that happened on earth, did God leave him in order to test him and reveal everything that was in his heart. In this verse, 2 Chronicles, the book of Chronicles indicates a different reason for the embassy to Hezekiah from the Babylonian king than what is named in (2 Kings 20:12) and (Is. 39:1) (rumor about Hezekiah’s former illness and subsequent healing), namely: “to ask about the sign that happened on the earth,” i.e. about the astronomical miracle that occurred during the healing of Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:11; Isaiah 38:9), or, according to another explanation (Grotius, Philippson), about the accomplished fact of the miraculous defeat of Sennacherib’s army (v. 26). The last motive was most consistent with the political views of the Babylonian king, who at that time had recently broken away from Assyria, had become independent and hostile to Assyria and, naturally, was interested in the defeat of the Assyrian king in Judea, with which he wanted to enter into a political alliance against Assyria (cf. Phillipson. Die Israelische Bibel, Bd. II, s.s. 680, 757). But in essence, all three motives could be combined in sending the Babylonian embassy. 2 Chronicles 32:32. Other acts of Hezekiah and his virtues are described in the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, the prophet, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 2 Chronicles 32:33. And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him over the tombs of the sons of David, and after his death all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem gave him honor. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead. A detailed description of the reign of Hezekiah, like that of his great-grandfather Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:22), was given in a special work by the prophet Isaiah, from which extracts were preserved in his prophetic book (Isaiah 36–39), in the 4th book of Kings, chapters (2 Kings 18–20) and 2 Chronicles chapters (2 Chronicles 29–32). Hezekiah was buried with great honor “over the graves of the sons of David” (v. 33), LXX: ἐν ἀναβάσει ταφων υιῶν Δαυιδ, words: “at the rising of the graves of the sons of David”, i.e. in the upper tier of the burial niches of the family crypt of the kings of Judah of the Davidic dynasty (see The Explanatory Bible, vol. II, p. 370). You might be interested in: