2 Kings 19:15

And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15) Which dwellest between the cherubims.—Rather, which sittest above the cherubim, or, the cherub-throned. (Comp. Exodus 25:22; 1Samuel 4:4; Psalm 18:10; Ezekiel 1:26.)

Thou art the God.—With emphasis on Thou. Thou art the true God, thou alone, unto all the kingdoms, &c.

Thou hast made.—Thou it was that madest. The thought is, And therefore Thou art—the only God for all the kingdoms (comp. Isaiah 40:18 seq.), and “the only ruler of princes.”

Benson Commentary

2 Kings 19:15. Hezekiah prayed and said, O Lord God of Israel, &c. — He calls him the God of Israel, because Israel was his peculiar people; and the God that dwelt between the cherubim, because there was the peculiar residence of his glory on earth; but he gives glory to him as the God of the whole earth, and not, as Sennacherib fancied, the God of Israel only. Let them say what they will, thou art sovereign Lord, the God of gods, even thou alone; universal Lord of all the kingdoms of the earth; and rightful Lord; for thou hast made heaven and earth — Being Creator of all, by an incontestable title thou art owner and ruler of all.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

19:8-19 Prayer is the never-failing resource of the tempted Christian, whether struggling with outward difficulties or inward foes. At the mercy-seat of his almighty Friend he opens his heart, spreads his case, like Hezekiah, and makes his appeal. When he can discern that the glory of God is engaged on his side, faith gains the victory, and he rejoices that he shall never be moved. The best pleas in prayer are taken from God's honour.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Which dwellest between the cherubims - The reference is to the shechinah, or miraculous glory, which from time to time appeared above the mercy-seat from between the two cherubims, whose wings overshadowed the ark of the covenant (1 Kings 6:23-27; compare Exodus 25:22; Leviticus 16:2, etc.).

Thou art the God, even thou alone - This is the protest of the pure theist against the intense polytheism of Sennacherib's letter, which assumes that gods are only gods of particular nations, and that Hezekiah's God is but one out of an indefinite number, no stronger or more formidable than the rest.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ki 19:14-34. Hezekiah's Prayer.

14-19. Hezekiah received the letter … and went up into the house of the Lord—Hezekiah, after reading it, hastened into the temple, spread it in the childlike confidence of faith before the Lord, as containing taunts deeply affecting the divine honor, and implored deliverance from this proud defier of God and man. The devout spirit of this prayer, the recognition of the Divine Being in the plenitude of His majesty—so strikingly contrasted with the fancy of the Assyrians as to His merely local power; his acknowledgment of the conquests obtained over other lands; and of the destruction of their wooden idols which, according to the Assyrian practice, were committed to the flames—because their tutelary deities were no gods; and the object for which he supplicated the divine interposition—that all the kingdoms of the earth might know that the Lord was the only God—this was an attitude worthy to be assumed by a pious theocratic king of the chosen people.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard it,.... The report of Rabshakeh's speech, recorded in the preceding chapter:

that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth; rent his clothes because of the blasphemy in the speech; and he put on sackcloth, in token of mourning, for the calamities he feared were coming on him and his people: and he went into the house of the Lord; the temple, to pray unto him. The message he sent to Isaiah, with his answer, and the threatening letter of the king of Assyria, Hezekiah's prayer upon it, and the encouraging answer he had from the Lord, with the account of the destruction of the Assyrian army, and the death of Sennacherib, are the same "verbatim" as in Isaiah 37:1 throughout; and therefore the reader is referred thither for the exposition of them; only would add what Rauwolff (t) observes, that still to this day (1575) there are two great holes to be seen, wherein they flung the dead bodies (of the Assyrian army), one whereof is close by the road towards Bethlehem, the other towards the right hand against old Bethel.

(t) Travels, par. 3. ch. 22. p. 317.

Geneva Study Bible

And Hezekiah {i} prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.

(i) He shows what the true refuge and help is in all dangers, that is, to flee to the Lord by earnest prayer.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15. And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord] The Chronicler says ‘Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven’.

O Lord God [R.V. the God] of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims] R.V. which sittest upon the cherubim. On the cherubim and their position above the ark, as the place where the divine presence was manifested and dwelt, see note on 1 Kings 6:23.

thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth] Sennacherib’s letter had spoken of ‘the gods of the nations’. Hezekiah contrasts his own faith in Jehovah with the false opinions of the heathen whose lands Sennacherib had overrun, and hence shews at once that he hopes that the fate of himself and his people will also be a contrast to theirs. In the next clause also he shews that the maker of all things must be the disposer of them all.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 15. - And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel. In the parallel passage of Isaiah 37:16 we find, "O Lord of hosts, Cod of Israel." Our author probably abbreviates. Which dwellest between the cherubims; or, on the cherubim - "which hast thy seat," i.e., behind the veil in the awful holy of holies, consecrated to thee, and where thou dost manifest thyself." Hezekiah, as Keil observes, calls into prominence "the covenant relation into which Jehovah, the Almighty Creator and Ruler of the whole world, had entered towards Israel. As the covenant God, who was enthroned above the cherubim, the Lord was bound to help his people, if they turned to him with faith in the time of their distress and entreated his assistance." Thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. Thou art not, i.e., as Sennacherib supposes, a mere local god, presiding over Judaea, and protecting it; but thou art the God of all the earth and of all its kingdoms, including his own, equally. Moreover, thou alone art the God of the kingdoms. Their supposed gods are no gods, have no existence, are the mere fictions of an idle and excited imagination, are mere "breath" and "nothingness." Thou hast made heaven and earth. Whereas they have done nothing, have given no proof of their existence (see Isaiah 41:23, 24). 2 Kings 19:15

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In opposition to the delusion of the Assyrians, he describes Jehovah, the God of Israel, as the only God of all the kingdoms of the earth, since He was the Creator of heaven and earth. הכּרבים ישׁב (see at 1 Samuel 4:4 and Exodus 25:22) indicates the covenant-relation into which Jehovah, the almighty Creator and Ruler of the whole world, had entered towards Israel. As the covenant God who was enthroned above the cherubim the Lord was bound to help His people, if they turned to Him with faith in the time of their distress and entreated His assistance; and as the only God of all the world He had the power to help. In Isaiah, צבאות, which is very rare in historical prose, but very common in prophetical addresses, is added to the name יהוה, and thus Jehovah at the very outset is addressed as the God of the universe. On the meaning of צבאות, see at 1 Samuel 1:3. On האלהים הוּא אתּה, see 2 Samuel 7:28 and 1 Kings 18:39.