Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_200_p.lzh/5_213.TXT

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ia his temple, called Arasce,; but Nisroch was the
name of his deity he worshipped ; though who he was
is not certain. Jarchi says, in one of their exposi-
tions it is said to be \^ron\^, neser, a plank of the ark of
Noah; in Tobit i. o.4. it is called his idol Dagon;
according to Hillerus, the word signifies a prince; and
with Vitringa, a king lifted up, or glorious, and whom
he takes to be the Assyrian Belus, worshippod in the
form and habit of Mars: that Adramelech and Sharezer
his sons smote him with the stcord ; the former of these
had his name from an idol so called, 2 Kings xvii. 31.
which signifies a glorious king; and the other may
signify a prince of treasure. Josephus says they were
his eldest sons; what should move them to be guilty of
this parsicide is not known. Jarchi says that he
prayed .to his god, and vowed, if he would deliver him,
that he might not be slain, he would offer up his two sons
to him, who standingby,and hearing him, thereforeslew
him; the reason given for it in Tobit i. 23. according
to Munster's edition, is, that Sennacherib asked his
counsellots and senators why the holy blessed God
was so zealous for Israel and Jerusalem, that an angel
destroyed the host of Pharaoh, and all the tirst-born of
Egypt, but the young men the Lord gave them, salva-
tion was continually by their hands; and his wise men
and counsellots answered him, that Abraham the father
of israel led forth his son to slay him, that the Lord his
God might be propitious to him, and hence it is he i.s
so' zealous for his children, and has executed vengeance
on thy servants; then, said the king, I will slay my
sons; by this means, perhaps, he may be propitious to
me, and help me; which word, when it came to
Adramelech and Sharezer, they-laid in wait for him,
and killed him with the swordrat the time he went
to pray before Dagon his god: and they escaped into
the land of Armenia; or Ararat; on the mountains of
which the ark rested, Gen. viii. 4. Both the Septuagint
version and Josephus say it was Armenia into which
he escaped; and Jerom observes, that Ararat is a cham-
paign country in Armenia, through which the river
Araxes flows, at the foot of Mount Taurus, whither
it is extended. The Targum calls it the land of
Kardu; and the Syriac version the land of the Kere-
deans, which also belonged to Armenia; in these
mountainous places they might think themselves most
safe: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead; whom
Josephus calls Assarachoddas; and in Ptolemy's Caron
he-is named .Assaradinus; the same, as some think,
whom the Greeks call Sardanapalus; in Tobit i. 23, he
is called Sarchedon, whicb some take to be the same
with Sargon, Isa. xx. 1.

C H A P. XXXVIII.

THIS chapter gives an account of Hczekiah's sickness,
recovery, and thanksgiving on that account. His sick-
ness, and the nature of it, and his preparation for it,
as directed to by the prophet, yet. 1. his prayer to God
upon it, yet. 2, 3. the answer returned unto it, by which
he is assured of living fifteen years more, and of the
deliverance and protection of the city of Jerusalem
from the Assyrians, ver. 4, 5, 6. the token of his re-
covery, the sun going back ten degrees on the dial of
Ahaz, ver. 7, 8. a writing of Hezekiah's upon his re-
covery, in commemoration of it, ver. 9. in which he
represents the deplorable condition he had been in, the
terrible apprehensions he had of things, especially of
the wrath and fury of the Almighty, and his sorrow-
ful and mournful complaints, ver. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,
he observes his deliverance according to the word of
God; expresses his faith in it; promises to retain a
cheerful sense of it; owning that it was by the promises
of God that he had lived as other saints did; and
ascribes his preservation from the grave to the love of
God to him, of which the forgiveness of his sins was an
evidence, ver. 15, 16, 17. the end of which salvation
was, that he might praise the Lord, which he de-
termined to do, on stringed instruments, ver. 18, 19,
20. and the chapter is closed with observing the means
of curing him of his boil; and that it was at his request
that the sign of his recovery was given him, ver. o. 1, 22.
-Vet. 1. In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death,
&c.] This was about the time that Sennacherib in.
vaded Judea, threatened Jerusalem with a siege, and
his army was destroyed by an angel from heaven; but,
whether it was before or after the destruction of his
army, interpreters are not agreed. Some of the Jewish
writers, as Jarchi upon the place, and others {a}, say, it
was three days before the ruin of Sennacherib's army;
and that it was on the third day that Hezekiah re-
covered, and went up to the temple, that the destruc-
tion was; and that it was the first day of the passover;
and that this was before the city of Jerusalem was de-
livered from him; and the fears of him seem clear from
ver. 6. and some are of opinion that his sickness. was
occasioned by the consternation and terror he was
thrown into, by reason of the Assyrian army, whiclt
threatened ruin to him and his kingdom. Thouglt
Josephus{b} says, that it was afte'r his deliverance from
it, and when he had given thanks to God for it; how-
ever, it is certain it was in the same year, since it was
in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign that Senna-.
cherib invaded J udea, and from this his sickness and
recovery fifteen years were added to his days, and he
reigned no more than twenty-nine years, 2 Kings viii.
2, 13. and xx. 6. what this sickness was cannot be said
with certainty; sortie have conjectured it to be the
plague, since he had a malignant ulcer, of which he
was cured by a plaster of figs; but, be it what it will,
it was a deadly one in its own nature, it was a sickness
unto death, a mortal one; though it was not eventually
so, through the interposition o(d ivine power, which pre-
vented it. The reason of this sickness, which Jarchi
gives, that it was because he did not take to himself a
wife, is without foundation; more likely the reason of
it was, to keep him humble, and that he might not be

{a} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 23. p. 65.
{b} Antiqu. I. 10. c. 2. sect. 1.