Verses 5-7
ISAIAH’S REPLY, 2 Kings 19:6-7.
7. I will send a blast upon him The translators here evidently meant by blast some destructive plague or pestilence. The Hebrew is, literally, Behold, I put in him a spirit. Some understand by spirit the destroying angel mentioned in 2 Kings 19:35, but it is better to understand it of a Divine impulse that is to seize him, and hurry him blindly on, so that as soon as he hears a certain rumour of approaching hosts, he will hasten a retreat to his own land, namely, Assyria. The rumour, here mentioned seems most naturally to refer to the report of the approach of the king of Ethiopia to fight against him. 2 Kings 19:9. Others understand it of the report of the destruction of his army by the angel of the Lord; but it does not appear from 2 Kings 19:35 that he was absent from his army when the destroying angel smote it. We take it that when the rumour of Tirhakah’s approach reached him, he was seized with sudden alarm. He first sends Rab-shakeh to demand again the surrender of Jerusalem, hoping, in case of its surrender, to be able to resist the forces of Egypt. But meantime Jerusalem disdains an answer, the angel suddenly smites his army, and under the impulse of a spirit of alarm and terror he returns to Nineveh.
Fall by the sword See the fulfilment of this prediction recorded in 2 Kings 19:37.
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