37 In those days Yahweh began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The recent invasions of Pul and Tiglath-Pileser had effectually alarmed Pekah and Rezin, and had induced them to put aside the traditional jealousies which naturally kept them apart, and to make a league offensive and defensive. Into this league they were anxious that Judaea should enter; but they distrusted the house of David, which had been so long hostile both to Damascus and to Samaria. They consequently formed the design of transferring the Jewish crown to a certain Ben-Tabeal Isaiah 7:6, probably a Jewish noble, perhaps a refugee at one of their courts, whom they could trust to join heartily in their schemes (2-Kings 16:5 note).
In those days the Lord began to send - It was about this time that the Assyrian wars, so ruinous to the Jews, began; but it was in the following reigns that they arrived at their highest pitch of disaster to those unfaithful and unfortunate people. However much we may blame the Jews for their disobedience and obstinacy, yet we cannot help feeling for them under their severe afflictions. Grievously they have sinned, and grievously have they suffered for it. And if they be still objects of God's judgments, there is revelation to believe that they will yet be objects of God's goodness. Many think the signs of the times are favorable to this ingathering; but there is no evidence among the people themselves that the day of their redemption is at hand. They do not humble themselves; they do not seek the Lord.
In (m) those days the LORD began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and (n) Pekah the son of Remaliah.
(m) After the death of Jotham.
(n) Who in one day slew 120,000 of Judah's fighting men (2-Chronicles 28:6), because they had forsaken the true God.
In those days,.... At the end of the days of Jotham, or after his death, things might be in design, and preparations made before, but nothing of what follows came to pass in his life, but in the times of his son:
the Lord began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah: to make war with them as a scourge to Ahaz for his sins; of which is in the following chapter.
the Lord began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, &c.--This is the first intimation of the hostile feelings of the kings of Israel and Syria, to Judah, which led them to form an alliance and make joint preparations for war. [See on 2-Chronicles 27:5.] However, war was not actually waged till the reign of Ahaz.
In those days the Lord began to send against Judah Rezin, etc. It is evident from the position of this verse at the close of the account of Jotham, that the incursions of the allied Syrians and Israelites into Judah under the command of Rezin and Pekah commenced in the closing years of Jotham, so that these foes appeared before Jerusalem at the very beginning of the reign of Ahaz. - It is true that the Syrians had been subjugated by Jeroboam II (2-Kings 14:28); but in the anarchical condition of the Israelitish kingdom after his death, they had no doubt recovered their independence. They must also have been overcome by the Assyrians under Pul, for he could never have marched against Israel without having first of all conquered Syria. But as the power of the Assyrians was greatly weakened for a time by the falling away of the Medes and Babylonians, the Syrians had taken advantage of this weakness to refuse the payment of tribute to Assyria, and had formed an alliance with Pekah of Israel to conquer Judah, and thereby to strengthen their power so as to be able to offer a successful resistance to any attack from the side of the Euphrates. - But as 2-Kings 16:6. and 2 Kings 17 show, it was otherwise decreed in the counsels of the Lord.
*More commentary available at chapter level.