And the LORD hath given a commandment concerning thee, [that] no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.
Ver. 14. And the Lord hath given a commandment] sc. To his upper and lower forces, for he is Lord of hosts, commander-in-chief of all creatures.
Against thee] O Sennacherib, devoted to destruction for thine intolerable pride and cruelty. God resisteth the proud, James 4:6, he setteth himself in battle array against him, as the word αντιτασσεται signifieth, commanding all his creatures to fall on; and no wonder. For whereas all other vices flee from God, pride alone fleeth in his face; casteth down the gauntlet of defiance, and maketh head against him. Hence his hatred of a proud person.
That no more of thy name be sown] i.e. That no more children be born to thee, so Lyra expounds it; that thy posterity perish, so Gualther. This must needs be grievous to proud and ambitious persons, who promise themselves a kind of immortality here in their posterity, and that there shall be a perpetual succession of their name in this world. "Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever; they call their lands after their own names," Psalms 49:11. But their "lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness," Proverbs 20:20, there shall be - Nullus, cui lampada tradant. Others sense the text thus: Thou shalt no more be talked of; but the memory of thy name shall be utterly extinct. "The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth," Psalms 34:16. See Isa 10:12-13 Jeremiah 49:33. Sennacherib had done great exploits, till he lifted up his hand against heaven he had been very victorious and famous; but now lies wrapped up in the sheet of shame, and is made an instance of Divine vengeance, even among the heathen; for so Herodotus, tells us, that in Egypt there was Sennacherib's statue erected, with this inscription: Let whosoever looketh upon me learn to fear God, ' Eμε τις εισοριων ευσεβης εστω (Her. l. 2). He lifted up himself against his Creator and Father; he is therefore slain by his own children. He thought to overturn the true service of God; he is therefore slain at his idol worship. He went about to destroy the house of God; he is therefore destroyed in the house of his god, Isaiah 37:38 .
Out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image] This those superstitious heathens held a great loss, a sore affliction. It is reported of the people of the East Indies, in the isle of Ceylon, that having an ape's tooth got from them, which was a consecrated thing by them, they offered an incredible mass of treasure to recover it. What a noise made Micah after his ephod and images! Judges 18:24, and Laban after his teraphim! Genesis 31:19, and the men of Ophrah for their altar and grove! Judges 6:30. And what a price set Papists on their pictures and trinkets!
I will make thy grave] sc. Of thine idol temple, polluted by thy slaughter therein, and so converted into a sepulchre for thee. There is a story (but of no great authority) that Sennacherib, after his shameful return out of Judea, demanding of some about him what might be the reason that the unresistible God of heaven so favoured the Jewish nation, as he had found by sad experience, answer was given him, that Abraham, from whom they descended, sacrificed unto him his only son, which purchased this protection to his progeny. If that will win him, saith he, I will spare him two of my sons, to procure him to be on my side: which Sharezer and Adrammelech, his sons, hearing of, prevented their own deaths by slaying him. It is more likely that they laid wicked hands upon their father either out of ambition or discontent for the loss of the army (Castal. Annot.). Howsoever, God made use of their cruelty for the just punishment of Sennacherib; and is here therefore said to have commanded it. After this cruel war arose among Sennacherib's sons, which were the utter overthrow of that nation, and laid them open as a prey to the kings of Babylon, as Xenophon writeth.
For thou art vile] Worthless and weightless. All wicked men are so, be they never so great, Psa 15:4 Daniel 11:21, "In his estate shall stand up a vile person," that is, Antiochus Epiphanes, the great King of Syria, whom the Samaritans in flattery styled, The mighty god. It is virtue only that ennobles. Them that honour God he will honour; but they that "despise him shall be lightly esteemed," 1 Samuel 2:30. Contempt shall be their portion, and "with ignominy reproach," Proverbs 18:3. Here, then, the prophet threateneth the same that Joel had done, Joel 2:20, "His stink shall come up, and ill savour shall, come up, because he hath done the great things," i.e. he hath attempted to do them, but was hindered from heaven. God put a hook in his nose and a bridle in his lips, and turned him back to Nineveh; where, within less than fifty days after, he was slain by his two sons, Tob 1:21; and although his third son, Esarhaddon, reigned in his stead, yet he soon after lost both his life and his kingdom, which was devolved to the Babylonians, and all the royal race of Assyria was rooted out. Antiochus Epiphanes-Vile person