(6) The posts.--The runners-- i.e., couriers (???????). The Syriac uses the Latin word Tabellarii, "letter- carriers," which the Arabic mistakes for "folk of Tiberias"! The soldiers of the body-guard seem to have acted as royal messengers.
From the king.--From the hand of the king.
And according to the commandment.--The construction appears to be: they went with the letters . . . and according to the king's order. The LXX. and Vulg. omit and, but the Syriac has it.
And he will return.--That he may return unto the survivors that are left unto you from the hand of the hings of Assyria.
Remnant.--P?letah.--That the word really means survivors appears from comparison of the Assyrian balatu, "to be alive;" bull?tu, "life."
The kings of Assyria.--See 2 Chronicles 28:16; 2 Chronicles 28:20. The words are a rhetorical reference to Tiglath-pileser's invasion of the northern kingdom, and the depopulation of Galilee and Gilead. The chronicler's language may have been influenced also by recollection of the last fatal inroad of Shalmaneser II., in the fourth year of Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:9). (See 2 Kings 15:29.)
Verse 6. - So the posts (see note on ver. 1). The remnant of you... escaped... of Assyria. Hezekiah had, no doubt, already made his account with the fact that the injured and crushed state of the northern kingdom might be of salutary omen for the attempt on his part to bring them to a sense of their past sins, specially perhaps of omission. Of the calamities of Israel, and their captivity in large part, and in the rest subjection by tribute to Assyria, there is clear testimony in 2 Kings 15:29; 2 Kings 17:1-6.
30:1-12 Hezekiah made Israel as welcome to the passover, as any of his own subjects. Let us yield ourselves unto the Lord. Say not, you will do what you please, but resolve to do what he pleases. We perceive in the carnal mind a stiffness, an obstinacy, an unaptness to compel with God; we have it from our fathers: this must be overcome. Those who, through grace, have turned to God themselves, should do all they can to bring others to him. Numbers will be scorners, but some will be humbled and benefited; perhaps where least expected. The rich mercy of God is the great argument by which to enforce repentance; the vilest who submit and yield themselves to the Lord, seek his grace, and give themselves to his service, shall certainly be saved. Oh that messengers were sent forth to carry these glad tidings to every city and every village, through every land!
So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah,.... Both through the kingdoms of the ten tribes of Israel, and the kingdom of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin:
and according to the commandment of the king, saying; so they were ordered by the king to say, when they delivered the letters which by the king's commandment they carried; or this was the purport of them, as follows, especially of those that were sent to the ten tribes:
ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; from whom they had revolted, and from whose worship they had departed, by setting up and serving the calves at Dan and Bethel:
and he will return to the remnant of you that are escaped out of the hand of the king of Assyria; Pul and Tiglathpileser, who had both invaded their land, and the latter had taken many of their cities, and carried the inhabitants captive, 2 Kings 15:19.
From the king.--From the hand of the king.
And according to the commandment.--The construction appears to be: they went with the letters . . . and according to the king's order. The LXX. and Vulg. omit and, but the Syriac has it.
And he will return.--That he may return unto the survivors that are left unto you from the hand of the hings of Assyria.
Remnant.--P?letah.--That the word really means survivors appears from comparison of the Assyrian balatu, "to be alive;" bull?tu, "life."
The kings of Assyria.--See 2 Chronicles 28:16; 2 Chronicles 28:20. The words are a rhetorical reference to Tiglath-pileser's invasion of the northern kingdom, and the depopulation of Galilee and Gilead. The chronicler's language may have been influenced also by recollection of the last fatal inroad of Shalmaneser II., in the fourth year of Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:9). (See 2 Kings 15:29.)
and according to the commandment of the king, saying; so they were ordered by the king to say, when they delivered the letters which by the king's commandment they carried; or this was the purport of them, as follows, especially of those that were sent to the ten tribes:
ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; from whom they had revolted, and from whose worship they had departed, by setting up and serving the calves at Dan and Bethel:
and he will return to the remnant of you that are escaped out of the hand of the king of Assyria; Pul and Tiglathpileser, who had both invaded their land, and the latter had taken many of their cities, and carried the inhabitants captive, 2 Kings 15:19.