2 Kings 19:1
On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD.
Sermons
A Good Man's Prayers SoughtC.H. Irwin 2 Kings 19:1-7
Hezekiah and IsaiahJ. Orr 2 Kings 19:1-7
A Nation's Calamities, Counsellor, and GodDavid Thomas, D. D.2 Kings 19:1-37
A Nation's Calamities, Counselor, and GodD. Thomas 2 Kings 19:1-37














Hezekiah is in deep distress of spirit at the haughty, defiant, confident tone of Rabshakeh. He wants help in his trouble. He sends not to his men of war, not to his statesmen, for advice, but to the man of God.

I. CHARACTER GIVES CONFIDENCE. Isaiah was known to live near to God. Therefore Hezekiah had confidence in him. Here is a good test of the character of your companions and associates. Would you go to them in time of trouble? Would you expect them to give you any comfort? Would you tell them the inner secrets of your heart? If not, is it not because you have no confidence in them? Their character does not command your respect. Choose the company, seek the counsel, of good. men.

II. CHARACTER GIVES POWER IN PRAYER. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." The man who expects an answer to his prayers is the man who habitually lives near to God. Mary Queen of Scots said she feared the prayers of John Knox more than an army of ten thousand men. Therefore:

1. Live near to God if you would influence others. Power for service comes from fellowship with God. Men like Isaiah have that quiet power that enables them to inspire others with confidence. "Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard" (ver. 6). So with St. Paul on his perilous voyage to Rome. "I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me."

2. Live near to God if you would have power in prayer. The man who prays most is the man who knows the power of prayer.

"Thrice blest whose lives are faithful prayers,
Whose loves in higher love endure;
What souls possess themselves so pure,
Or is there blessedness like theirs?"

And it came to pass when King Hezekiah heard it, he rent his clothes.
I. THE EXPOSURE OF A NATION TO AN OVERWHELMING CALAMITY.

1. The nature of the threatened calamity. It was the invasion of the king of Assyria. This was announced in startling terms and in a haughty and ruthless spirit by Rab-shakeh.

2. The influence of the threatened calamity.

(1)It struck the kingdom with a crushing terror.

(2)It struck the kingdom with a helpless feebleness.

II. THE BLESSING TO A NATION OF A RULER WHO LOOKS TO HEAVEN FOR HELP. What, in the wretched condition of his country, does King Hezekiah do? He invokes the merciful interposition of heaven. In this wonderful prayer

(1)He adores the God whom Sennacherib had blasphemed.

(2)He implores the Almighty for His own sake to deliver the country.

III. THE ADVANTAGE TO A NATION OF A TRULY WISE COUNSELLOR. Whether Isaiah was a Divinely inspired man, and had a right in any especial sense to say, "Thus saith the Lord," or not, he may be fairly taken in this ease as the representative of a wise counsellor, and that for two reasons: —

1. He looked to heaven rather than to earth for his wisdom.

2. What he received from heaven he communicated to men. In the communication(1) Sennacherib is apostrophised in a highly poetic strain admirably descriptive of the turgid vanity, haughty pretensions, and heartless impiety of this despot.(2) Hezekiah himself is personally addressed, and a sign given him of coming deliverance.(3) The issue of Sennacherib's invasion is announced. Such was the communication which in language passionate, poetic, and powerful, Isaiah made to this perplexed and terrified nation. It involves two things: The deliverance of his country; the ruin of the despot.

IV. THE STRENGTH OF A NATION THAT HAS GOD ON ITS SIDE. Who delivered the imperilled nation? Who overwhelmed the despot? "The zeal of the Lord of hosts."

1. How swiftly was the deliverance effected. "That night."

2. How terrible the ruin which that deliverance effected — "An hundred fourscore and five thousand men" destroyed.

(David Thomas, D. D.)

People
Adrammelech, Amoz, Assyrians, David, Eliakim, Esarhaddon, Haran, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Rabshakeh, Sennacherib, Sharezer, Shebna, Tirhakah
Places
Ararat, Arpad, Assyria, Cush, Egypt, Gozan, Hamath, Haran, Hena, Ivvah, Jerusalem, Lachish, Lebanon, Libnah, Mount Zion, Nineveh, Rezeph, Sepharvaim, Telassar, Tigris-Euphrates Region, Zion
Topics
Clothes, Covered, Covereth, Entered, Entereth, Garments, Haircloth, Hearing, Hezekiah, Hezeki'ah, Hezekiah's, Pass, Rendeth, Rent, Robe, Sackcloth, Temple, Tore
Outline
1. Hezekiah, in mourning, sends to Isaiah to pray for them.
6. Isaiah comforts them.
8. Sennacherib, going to encounter Tirhakah, sends a blasphemous letter to Hezekiah.
14. Hezekiah's prayer.
20. Isaiah's prophecy of the destruction of Sennacherib, and the good of Zion.
35. An angel slays the Assyrians.
36. Sennacherib is slain by his own sons.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
2 Kings 19:1

     5258   cloth

2 Kings 19:1-2

     6742   sackcloth and ashes

Library
'He Uttered his Voice, the Earth Melted'
'Then Isaiah the son of Amos sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. 21. This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. 22. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Invasion of the Assyrians
(Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, Morning.) 2 Kings xix. 15-19. And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the Lord, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, Lord, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God. Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their
Charles Kingsley—Town and Country Sermons

Whether Charity Requires that we Should Love Our Enemies?
Objection 1: It would seem that charity does not require us to love our enemies. For Augustine says (Enchiridion lxxiii) that "this great good," namely, the love of our enemies, is "not so universal in its application, as the object of our petition when we say: Forgive us our trespasses." Now no one is forgiven sin without he have charity, because, according to Prov. 10:12, "charity covereth all sins." Therefore charity does not require that we should love our enemies. Objection 2: Further, charity
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

The Sinner Arraigned and Convicted.
1. Conviction of guilt necessary.--2. A charge of rebellion against God advanced.--3. Where it is shown--that all men are born under God's law.--4. That no man hath perfectly kept it.--5. An appeal to the reader's conscience on this head, that he hath not.--6. That to have broken it, is an evil inexpressibly great.--7. Illustrated by a more particular view of the aggravations of this guilt, arising--from knowledge.--8. From divine favors received.--9. From convictions of conscience overborne.--10.
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul

The Power of Assyria at Its Zenith; Esarhaddon and Assur-Bani-Pal
The Medes and Cimmerians: Lydia--The conquest of Egypt, of Arabia, and of Elam. As we have already seen, Sennacherib reigned for eight years after his triumph; eight years of tranquillity at home, and of peace with all his neighbours abroad. If we examine the contemporary monuments or the documents of a later period, and attempt to glean from them some details concerning the close of his career, we find that there is a complete absence of any record of national movement on the part of either Elam,
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 8

The Golden Eagle is Cut to Pieces. Herod's Barbarity when He was Ready to Die. He Attempts to Kill Himself. He Commands Antipater to be Slain.
1. Now Herod's distemper became more and more severe to him, and this because these his disorders fell upon him in his old age, and when he was in a melancholy condition; for he was already seventy years of age, and had been brought by the calamities that happened to him about his children, whereby he had no pleasure in life, even when he was in health; the grief also that Antipater was still alive aggravated his disease, whom he resolved to put to death now not at random, but as soon as he should
Flavius Josephus—The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem

A Discourse of the House and Forest of Lebanon
OF THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. That part of Palestine in which the celebrated mountains of Lebanon are situated, is the border country adjoining Syria, having Sidon for its seaport, and Land, nearly adjoining the city of Damascus, on the north. This metropolitan city of Syria, and capital of the kingdom of Damascus, was strongly fortified; and during the border conflicts it served as a cover to the Assyrian army. Bunyan, with great reason, supposes that, to keep
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

It is Strange that These Delightful Promises Affect us Coldly...
It is strange that these delightful promises affect us coldly, or scarcely at all, so that the generality of men prefer to wander up and down, forsaking the fountain of living waters, and hewing out to themselves broken cisterns, rather than embrace the divine liberality voluntarily offered to them (Jer. 2:13). "The name of the Lord," says Solomon, "is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe." (Pr. 18:10) Joel, after predicting the fearful disaster which was at hand, subjoins the
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith

Scriptural Types.
1. The material world is full of analogies adapted to the illustration of spiritual things. No teacher ever drew from this inexhaustible storehouse such a rich variety of examples as our Saviour. His disciples are the salt of the earth, the light of the world, and a city set on a hill. From the ravens which God feeds and the lilies which God clothes, he teaches the unreasonableness of worldly anxiety. The kingdom of heaven is like seed sown in different soils, like a field of wheat and tares
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Letter xxviii (Circa A. D. 1130) to the Abbots Assembled at Soissons
To the Abbots Assembled at Soissons [45] Bernard urges the abbots zealously to perform the duty for which they had met. He recommends to them a great desire of spiritual progress, and begs them not to be delayed in their work if lukewarm and lax persons should perhaps murmur. To the Reverend Abbots met in the name of the Lord in Chapter at Soissons, brother Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, the servant of their Holiness, health and prayer that they may see, establish, and observe the things which are
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

A Living Book
[Illustration: (drop cap T) Symbol of "Asshur", the principal Assyrian idol.] There is only one Book that never grows old. For thousands of years men have been writing books. Most books are forgotten soon after they are written; a few of the best and wisest are remembered for a time. But all at last grow old; new discoveries are made; new ideas arise; the old books are out of date; their usefulness is at an end. Students are the only people who still care to read them. The nations to which the
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

The First Commandment
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' Exod 20: 3. Why is the commandment in the second person singular, Thou? Why does not God say, You shall have no other gods? Because the commandment concerns every one, and God would have each one take it as spoken to him by name. Though we are forward to take privileges to ourselves, yet we are apt to shift off duties from ourselves to others; therefore the commandment is in the second person, Thou and Thou, that every one may know that it is spoken to him,
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

The Prophet Amos.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. It will not be necessary to extend our preliminary remarks on the prophet Amos, since on the main point--viz., the circumstances under which he appeared as a prophet--the introduction to the prophecies of Hosea may be regarded as having been written for those of Amos also. For, according to the inscription, they belong to the same period at which Hosea's prophetic ministry began, viz., the latter part of the reign of Jeroboam II., and after Uzziah had ascended the
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Kings
The book[1] of Kings is strikingly unlike any modern historical narrative. Its comparative brevity, its curious perspective, and-with some brilliant exceptions--its relative monotony, are obvious to the most cursory perusal, and to understand these things is, in large measure, to understand the book. It covers a period of no less than four centuries. Beginning with the death of David and the accession of Solomon (1 Kings i., ii.) it traverses his reign with considerable fulness (1 Kings iii.-xi.),
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

Links
2 Kings 19:1 NIV
2 Kings 19:1 NLT
2 Kings 19:1 ESV
2 Kings 19:1 NASB
2 Kings 19:1 KJV

2 Kings 19:1 Bible Apps
2 Kings 19:1 Parallel
2 Kings 19:1 Biblia Paralela
2 Kings 19:1 Chinese Bible
2 Kings 19:1 French Bible
2 Kings 19:1 German Bible

2 Kings 19:1 Commentaries

Bible Hub
2 Kings 18:37
Top of Page
Top of Page