Albert Barnes Commentary 2 Chronicles 32
Albert Barnes Commentary
2 Chronicles 32
Albert Barnes Commentary
2 Chronicles 32
"After these things, and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fortified cities, and thought to win them for himself." — 2 Chronicles 32:1 (ASV)
Its establishment - literally, “the faithfulness of it” or, in other words, “after these things had been faithfully accomplished.”
2 Chronicles 32:1–8 forms a passage supplementary to 2 Kings 18:13–16.
"he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city; and they helped him." — 2 Chronicles 32:3 (ASV)
To stop the waters ... — Compare 2 Chronicles 32:30. Hezekiah’s objective was probably twofold—to hide the springs outside the city in order to distress the Assyrians, and to convey their water underground into the city in order to increase his own supply during the siege.
"So there was gathered much people together, and they stopped all the fountains, and the brook that flowed through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?" — 2 Chronicles 32:4 (ASV)
The “brook” mentioned is likely not the Kidron, but the natural watercourse of the Gihon, which ran down the Tyropoeon valley (compare the note on 1 Kings 1:3).
"And he took courage, and built up all the wall that was broken down, and raised [it] up to the towers, and the other wall without, and strengthened Millo [in] the city of David, and made weapons and shields in abundance." — 2 Chronicles 32:5 (ASV)
The breaches in the wall of Jerusalem were not entirely due to the old hostility of Joash; they may have been caused either by neglect and carelessness in the reign of Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28) or by the simple process of natural decay. For his repairs, Hezekiah pulled down houses (Isaiah 22:10).
Regarding Millo, see the notes in the marginal references.
"And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the broad place at the gate of the city, and spake comfortably to them, saying," — 2 Chronicles 32:6 (ASV)
The street of the gate ... - Or, “the square at the gate” (compare 2 Chronicles 29:4). The gate intended is probably that of Ephraim (2 Chronicles 25:23)—the great northern gate, opposite the “Camp of the Assyrians”—represented by the modern Damascus gate.
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