2 Chronicles 30:6

So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) The posts.—The runners— i.e., couriers (ᾰγγαροι). The Syriac uses the Latin word Tabellarii, “letter- carriers,” which the Arabic mistakes for “folk of Tiberias”! The soldiers of the body-guard seem to have acted as royal messengers.

From the king.—From the hand of the king.

And according to the commandment.—The construction appears to be: they went with the letters . . . and according to the king’s order. The LXX. and Vulg. omit and, but the Syriac has it.

And he will return.—That he may return unto the survivors that are left unto you from the hand of the hings of Assyria.

Remnant.—Pĕlêtâh.—That the word really means survivors appears from comparison of the Assyrian balâtu, “to be alive;” bullŭtu, “life.”

The kings of Assyria.—See 2Chronicles 28:16; 2Chronicles 28:20. The words are a rhetorical reference to Tiglath-pileser’s invasion of the northern kingdom, and the depopulation of Galilee and Gilead. The chronicler’s language may have been influenced also by recollection of the last fatal inroad of Shalmaneser II., in the fourth year of Hezekiah (2Kings 18:9). (See 2Kings 15:29.)

Benson Commentary

2 Chronicles 30:6. So the posts — Hebrew, הרצים, haratsim, the runners; went with the letters — Expresses were sent throughout all the tribes of Israel, with memorials, earnestly pressing the people to take this opportunity of returning to God, from whom they had revolted. Saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord, &c. — In these letters Hezekiah discovers great concern both for the honour of God and for the welfare of the neighbouring kingdom, the prosperity of which he seems earnestly to have desired, though he not only received no toll, tribute, or custom from it, but it had often, and not long since, been vexatious to his kingdom. This was indeed rendering good for evil. And he will return to the remnant of you — You are but a remnant, narrowly escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria, (namely, Pul and Tiglath-pileser,) who have carried your brethren away captive. And therefore it concerns you to put yourselves under the protection of the God of your fathers, that you may not be quite swallowed up: and if you turn to him in the way of duty, he will turn to you in a way of mercy.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

30:1-12 Hezekiah made Israel as welcome to the passover, as any of his own subjects. Let us yield ourselves unto the Lord. Say not, you will do what you please, but resolve to do what he pleases. We perceive in the carnal mind a stiffness, an obstinacy, an unaptness to compel with God; we have it from our fathers: this must be overcome. Those who, through grace, have turned to God themselves, should do all they can to bring others to him. Numbers will be scorners, but some will be humbled and benefited; perhaps where least expected. The rich mercy of God is the great argument by which to enforce repentance; the vilest who submit and yield themselves to the Lord, seek his grace, and give themselves to his service, shall certainly be saved. Oh that messengers were sent forth to carry these glad tidings to every city and every village, through every land!

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The posts went - The bearers of the letters were probably the "runners" who formed a portion of the king's body-guard (2 Kings 10:25 note).

The kings of Assyria - Pul, Tiglath-pileser, and Shalmaneser may all be referred to in this passage (compare the marginal reference and 2 Kings 17:3). The passage by no means implies that the fall of Samaria and final captivity of the Israelites had as yet taken place.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. the posts—that is, runners, or royal messengers, who were taken from the king's bodyguard (2Ch 23:1, 2). Each, well mounted, had a certain number of miles to traverse. Having performed his course, he was relieved by another, who had to scour an equal extent of ground; so that, as the government messengers were despatched in all directions, public edicts were speedily diffused throughout the country. The proclamation of Hezekiah was followed by a verbal address from himself, piously urging the duty, and setting forth the advantages, of a return to the pure faith and institutions which God had delivered to their ancestors through Moses.

the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria—This implies that several expeditions against Israel had already been made by Assyrian invaders—by Pul (2Ki 15:19), but none of the people were then removed; at a later period by Tiglath-pileser, when it appears that numbers among the tribes east of Jordan (1Ch 5:26), and afterwards in the northern parts of Israel (2Ki 15:20), were carried into foreign exile. The invasion of Shalmaneser cannot be alluded to, as it did not take place till the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign (2Ki 17:6; 18:9-12).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

To wit, Pul and Tilgath-pilneser, who had carried their brethren away captives, 2 Kings 15:19,29 1 Chronicles 5:26 2 Chronicles 28:20.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah,.... Both through the kingdoms of the ten tribes of Israel, and the kingdom of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin:

and according to the commandment of the king, saying; so they were ordered by the king to say, when they delivered the letters which by the king's commandment they carried; or this was the purport of them, as follows, especially of those that were sent to the ten tribes:

ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; from whom they had revolted, and from whose worship they had departed, by setting up and serving the calves at Dan and Bethel:

and he will return to the remnant of you that are escaped out of the hand of the king of Assyria; Pul and Tiglathpileser, who had both invaded their land, and the latter had taken many of their cities, and carried the inhabitants captive, 2 Kings 15:19.

Geneva Study Bible

So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and {e} he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.

(e) He will have compassion on them and preserve them.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. the posts] Lit. “the runners.”

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - So the posts (see note on ver. 1). The remnant of you... escaped... of Assyria. Hezekiah had, no doubt, already made his account with the fact that the injured and crushed state of the northern kingdom might be of salutary omen for the attempt on his part to bring them to a sense of their past sins, specially perhaps of omission. Of the calamities of Israel, and their captivity in large part, and in the rest subjection by tribute to Assyria, there is clear testimony in 2 Kings 15:29; 2 Kings 17:1-6. 2 Chronicles 30:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"The runners (whether soldiers of the royal body-guard, cf. 2 Chronicles 12:10, or other royal couriers, as Esther 3:13, Esther 3:15, cannot be determined) went with letters from the hand of the king, ... and according to the commandment of the king to say." Tot he written invitation of the king and his princes they were to add words of exhortation: "Turn again to Jahve, ... that He may return (turn Himself) to the remnant which remains to you from the hand of the kings of Assyria," i.e., of Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser.