Matthew Henry on 2 Chronicles 32:9-23
This story of the rage and blasphemy of Sennacherib, Hezekiah's prayer, and the deliverance of Jerusalem by the destruction of the Assyrian army, we had more at large in the book of Kings, 2 Kings 18 and 19. It is contracted here, yet large enough to show these three things: -
I. The impiety and malice of the church's enemies. Sennacherib has his hands full in besieging Lachish (Ch2 32:9), but hears that Hezekiah is fortifying Jerusalem and encouraging his people to stand it out; and therefore, before he come in person to besiege it, he sends messengers to make speeches, and he himself writes letters to frighten Hezekiah and his people into a surrender of the city. See, 1. His great malice…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Chronicles 32:18
they cried with a loud voice . . . unto the people of Jerusalem . . . on the wall--It appears that the wall on the west side of the city reached as far to the side of the uppermost pool of Gihon at that time as it does now, if not farther; and the wall was so close to that pool that those sent to negotiate with the Assyrian general answered him in their own tongue (see on Kg2 18:27).
Adam Clarke on 2 Chronicles 32:17
Wrote also letters - See Kg2 19:9, Kg2 19:14.
John Gill on 2 Chronicles 32:19
And they spake against the God of Jerusalem,.... The only living and true God, whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem professed to be their God, and who was worshipped by them in the temple there:
as against the gods of the people of the earth, which were the work of the hands of man; they made no difference between the one and the other, but spoke as freely and as contemptibly of the one as of the other, see Isaiah 36:19.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on 2 Chronicles 32:10-19
The Assyrian king’s threats clarified the critical issues for the people of Jerusalem. The real question was whether or not to trust in God. The enemy king suggested that Hezekiah could not be trusted (32:11-12) because he had offended the Lord by tearing down God’s shrines and altars. However, just the opposite was true. This reform was Hezekiah’s greatest act of faithfulness to the Lord. The question came down to whether God could be trusted against the power of Assyria (32:11-15).
