And have cast (put) their gods into the fire. — Comp. 1 Chronicles 14:12. The Assyrian’s emphatic question, “Where are the gods?” implied their annihilation.
For they were no gods. — This idea is common in the latter half of the Book of Isaiah. The question has been raised whether the compiler of Kings has not made Hezekiah express a stricter monotheism than had been attained by the religious thought of his days. But if, as Kuenen alleges, no such definite statement of this belief is to be found in Isaiah and Micah (but comp. Isaiah 2:18-21; Isaiah 8:10; Isaiah 10:10 seq.) we may still point to the words of a third prophet of that age — namely, Amos the herdman of Tekoah. (Comp. Amos 4:13; Amos 5:8; Amos 9:6-7.) “To Amos... the doctrine of creation is full of practical meaning. ‘He that formed the mountains and created the wind, that declareth unto man what is His thought, that maketh the morning darkness and treadeth on the high places of the earth, Jehovah, the God of hosts is His name.’ This supreme God cannot be thought of as having no interest or purpose beyond Israel. It was He that brought Israel out of Egypt, but it was He too who brought the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir. Every movement of history is Jehovah’s work. It is not Asshur but Jehovah who has created the Assyrian empire; He has a purpose of His own in raising up the vast overwhelming strength, and suspending it as a threat of imminent destruction over Israel and the surrounding nations. To Amos, therefore, the question is not what Jehovah as king of Israel will do for His people against the Assyrian, but what the Sovereign of the world designs to effect by the terrible instrument He has created” (Robertson Smith). We do not think, however, that the utterance of Hezekiah on this occasion was necessarily recorded in writing at the time. The prayer may well be a free composition put into the king’s mouth by the author of this narrative.