The letter. — The Hebrew word is plural, like the Latin litterae. The first “it” is plural, the second singular. 2 Kings 19:10-13 may be regarded as embodying the substance of the letter, which the envoys first delivered orally, and then presented the letter to authenticate it. But perhaps the contents of the letter were not preserved in the Hebrew annals.
Spread it before the Lord. — Commentators have taken offence at this act, as if it betokened some heathenish conception of Jehovah. “Très-naïvement, pour que Dieu la lût aussi” (Reuss). But one who could think of his God as having “made heaven and earth,” and as the only God, would not be likely to imagine Him ignorant of the contents of a letter until it had been laid before Him in His sanctuary. Hezekiall’s act was a solemn and perfectly natural indication to his ministers and people that he had put the matter into the hands of Jehovah.