Verse 16
(16) Bow down thine ear, and hear.—Not so much my prayer as the words of Sennacherib.
Open, Lord, thine eyes, and see.—Referring, as Thenius says, to Sennacherib’s letter; not, however, as if Jehovah’s eyes were closed before this prayer. To treat the figurative language of the Old Testament in such a manner does violence to common sense. “Bow thine ear,” “Open thine eyes,” in Hezekiah’s mouth simply meant “Intervene actively between me and my enemy;” although, no doubt, such expressions originally conveyed the actual thoughts of the Israelites about God.
Which hath sent him.—Rather, which he hath sent. The “words” are regarded as a single whole, a message.
The living God.—In contrast with the lifeless idols of Hamath, Arpad, &c.
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