2 Kings 19:4 - Exposition

It may be the Lord thy God —still "thy God," at any rate, if he will not condescend to be called ours , since we have so grievously offended him by our many sins and backslidings— will hear all the words of Rabshakeh. "The words of Rabshakeh" ( Isaiah 37:4 ); but the expression here used is more emphatic. Hezekiah hoped that God would "hear" Rabshakeh's words, would note them, and punish them. Whom the King of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God (For the "reproaches" intended, see 2 Kings 18:30-35 . For the expression, "the living God," אֱלצִים צַי , see Deuteronomy 5:26 ; Joshua 3:10 ; 1 Samuel 17:26 ; Psalms 42:2 ; Psalms 84:2 ; Hosea 1:10 , etc.) A contrast is intended between the "living" God, and the dead idols whom Rabshakeh has placed on a par with him. And will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard. The "words of Rabshakeh," his contemptuous words concerning Jehovah ( 2 Kings 18:33-35 ) and his lying words ( 2 Kings 18:25 ), constituted the new feature in the situation, and, while a ground for "distress," were also a ground for hope: would not God in some signal way vindicate his own honor, and "reprove" them? Wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left. Sennacherib, in his former expedition, wherein he took forty-six of the Judaean cities, besides killing vast numbers, had, as he himself tells us, carried off into captivity 200,150 persons. He had also curtailed Hezekiah's dominions, detaching from them various cities with their territories, and attaching them to Ashdod, Gaza, and Ekron. Thus it was only a "remnant" of the Jewish people that was left in the land (comp. Isaiah 1:7-9 ).