2 Kings 16:7

So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) So Ahaz sent messengers.—See Notes on 2Chronicles 28:16; 2Chronicles 28:20.

Which rise up against me.—Or, which are assailing me. “The vain confidence of the rulers of Judah, described by Isaiah in his first prophetic book, was rudely shaken by the progress of the war with Pekah and Rezin. Unreasoning confidence had given way to equally unreasoning panic. They saw only one way of escape—namely, to throw themselves upon the protection of Assyria.” (Robertson Smith.)

Benson Commentary

2 Kings 16:7. So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser — Having forsaken God, he had neither courage nor strength to make head against his enemies, and therefore made his court to the king of Assyria, and endeavoured to prevail on him to come to his relief. But was it because there was not a God in Israel that he sent to the Assyrian for help? The truth is, he could not with any confidence ask help of God, being conscious he had abandoned his worship, and in the grossest manner violated his laws. Observe, reader, they whose hearts condemn them will go any whither for help, in a day of distress, rather than to God. Saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me — I yield myself to thee as thy vassal, to serve and obey thee, and pay thee tribute, upon condition that thou wilt assist me against my enemies. Had he thus humbled himself to God, and implored his favour, he might have been delivered upon easier terms, might have saved his money, and needed only to have parted with his sins. Out of the hand of the king of Syria, &c. — For though they were now gone from Jerusalem, yet he justly concluded they would return again, and, from time to time, molest and vex him.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

16:1-9 Few and evil were the days of Ahaz. Those whose hearts condemn them, will go any where in a day of distress, rather than to God. The sin was its own punishment. It is common for those who bring themselves into straits by one sin, to try to help themselves out by another.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ahaz was threatened on all sides, on the north by Rezin and Pekah; on the southeast by Edom 2 Chronicles 28:17; and on the southwest by the Philistines 2 Chronicles 28:18. To these external dangers was added the still greater peril of disaffection at home. A large party in Judah was "weary" of the house of David Isaiah 7:13, ready to join the confederacy Isaiah 8:6, Isaiah 8:12, and to accept for king "the son of Tabeal." Ahaz saw no hope of safety unless he could obtain a powerful protector; and, Egypt being particularly weak at this time, he turned to Assyria.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7-9. So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser—In spite of the assurance given him by Isaiah by two signs, the one immediate, the other remote (Isa 7:14; 8:4), that the confederate kings would not prevail against him, Ahaz sought aid from the Assyrian monarch, to purchase which he sent the treasures of the palace and temple. Tiglath-pileser marched against Damascus, slew Rezin the king, and carried the people of Damascus into captivity to Kir, which is thought to have been the city Karine (now Kerend), in Media.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I am thy servant and thy son; I yield myself to thee, as thy vassal, to serve and obey thee, and pay thee tribute, upon condition thou dost assist me against my enemies.

Out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel; for though they were now gone from Jerusalem, yet he justly concluded they would return again, and from time to time molest and vex him.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria,.... Of whom see 2 Kings 15:29.

saying, I am thy servant, and thy son; signifying, that he would be his vassal, and become tributary to him, and serve him as a servant to his master, or a son his father, on condition he would come to his assistance, and so he became his servant; hence his son Hezekiah is said to rebel against the king of Assyria, 2 Kings 18:1.

come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king off Israel, which rise up against me; which assistance he had no reason to call in, since the Lord had promised him deliverance from both those kings, and gave him a sign of it, Isaiah 7:4.

Geneva Study Bible

So Ahaz sent {e} messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me.

(e) Contrary to the admonition of the prophet Isaiah, Isa 7:4.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria] According to 2 Chron. (2 Chronicles 28:17-18) it was not only by Rezin of Damascus and Pekah of Israel that Ahaz was straitened when he sent for help to Assyria. ‘The Edomites had again come and smitten Judah, and carried away captives. The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the low countries, and of the south of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh and Ajalon with Gederoth, and Socho with the villages thereof, and Timnah likewise and Gimzo, and they dwelt there.’ So that on north and south alike Ahaz was sorely beset. ‘For the Lord brought Judah low, because of Ahaz, for he made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the Lord’.

I am thy servant and thy son] Ahaz, in return for the help he seeks, offers to make himself the vassal of Assyria. With the name ‘son’, as used in such an address, may be compared the ‘brother’ which Ahab uses of the conquered Benhadad (1 Kings 20:32). Ahaz in his petition naturally only mentions those enemies on the north upon whom Tiglath-pileser could most readily fall. Perhaps he felt that, if relieved from them, he could dispose of the Edomites and Philistines by his own power.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 7-9. - Expedition of Tiglath-pileser against Pekah and Rezin. In the extremity of his danger, when the confederacy had declared itself, or perhaps later, when he had suffered terrible defeats, and was about. to be besieged in his capital (2 Chronicles 28:5, 6), Ahaz invoked the aid of Tiglath-pileser, sent him all the treasure on which he could lay his hands (ver. 8), offered to place himself and his kingdom under the Assyrian monarch's suzerainty, and entreated him to come and "save him out of the hands" of his enemies (ver. 7). Humanly speaking, he might be justified. He had not called in one foreign power until Pekah had called in another. There was no other prospect (again humanly speaking) of escape. But, had he accepted the offers of Isaiah 7:4-16, and relied wholly on Jehovah, his position would have been far better. However, he was unable to see this; he made his application; and Tiglath-pileser "came up," and utterly crushed the Syro-Israelite confederacy (ver. 9). Verse 7. - So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser King of Assyria, saying. This appeal to man rather than to God, this trust in "an arm of flesh," was exactly what Isaiah had been endeavoring to prevent, what he viewed as unfaithfulness, and as inevitably drawing down God's wrath both upon king and kingdom. Ahaz was young, was weak, and had no doubt a large body of advisers, who considered the prophet to be a fanatic, who had no belief in supernatural aid, and who thought that in any emergency recourse was to be had to the measures which human prudence and human policy dictated. The aid of Tiglath-pileser seemed to them, under the circumstances, the only thing that could save them; and they persuaded the weak prince to adopt their views. I am thy servant and thy son. The offer of submission was unmistakable. "Servant," in the language of the time, meant "slave." Complete subjection, enrollment among Assyria's feudatories, the entire loss of independence, was well understood to be the price that had to be paid for Assyria's protection. Ahaz and his worldly advisers were prepared to pay it. They surrendered themselves, body and soul, into the hands of the great world-power of the period. Come up, and save me out of the hand of the King of Syria, and out of the hand of the King of Israel, which rise up against me. Syria is put forward as at once the more formidable of the two foes, and the one most open to Assyrian attack. Already Damascus had been more than once menaced by Assyrian armies ('Eponym Canon,' pp. 113, 115, 116), while the kingdom of Samaria had only suffered at her extremities (2 Kings 15:29). Samaria could not well be approached excepting through Syria, and after Syria's downfall. 2 Kings 16:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In this distress Ahaz turned to Tiglath-pileser, without regarding either the word of Isaiah in 2 Kings 7:4., which promised salvation, or the prophet's warning against an alliance with Assyria, and by sending the gold and silver which were found in the treasures of the temple and palace, purchased his assistance against Rezin and Pekah. Whether this occurred immediately after the invasion of the land by the allied kings, or not till after they had defeated the Judaean army and advanced against Jerusalem, it is impossible to discover either from this verse or from 2 Chronicles 28:16; but probably it was after the first great victory gained by the foe, with which Isaiah 7 and 8 agree. - On קומים for קמים see Ewald, 151, b.