2 Kings 18:14

14 Hezekiah sent a message to Sennacherib, who was in Lachish: "I have done wrong; please stop your attack, and I will pay whatever you demand." The emperor's answer was that Hezekiah should send him ten tons of silver and one ton of gold.

2 Kings 18:14 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 18:14

And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to
Lachish
A city in the tribe of Judah, about twenty miles from Jerusalem, towards the southwest ^F17; which the king of Assyria was now besieging, ( 2 Chronicles 32:9 ) at first Hezekiah made provision to defend himself, and encouraged his people not to be afraid of the king of Assyria, ( 2 Chronicles 32:1-8 ) , but understanding he had taken his fortified cities, and made such progress with his arms, he was disheartened, and sent an embassy to him to sue for peace; judging it more advisable to buy it than to expose his capital to a siege; in which he betrayed much weakness and distrust of the power and providence of God:

saying, I have offended;
not the Lord, but the king of Assyria by rebelling against him, or refusing to pay the yearly tribute to him; he owned he had acted imprudently, and had given him, just occasion to invade his land:

return from me;
from his land, from proceeding to Jerusalem, which he seemed to have a design upon, and go back to his own country with his army, and make no further conquests:

that which thou puttest on me I will bear;
what mulct or fine he should lay upon him, or tribute he should impose upon him, or whatever he should demand of him, he would submit to:

and the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah
three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold;
to be paid to him directly; which, according to Brerewood ^F18, amounted to 247,500 pounds.

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 Bunting's Travels p. 99.
F18 De Ponder. & Pret. Vet. Num. c. 5.

2 Kings 18:14 In-Context

12 Samaria fell because the Israelites did not obey the Lord their God, but broke the covenant he had made with them and disobeyed all the laws given by Moses, the servant of the Lord. They would not listen and they would not obey.

13 In the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, the emperor of Assyria, attacked the fortified cities of Judah and conquered them.

14 Hezekiah sent a message to Sennacherib, who was in Lachish: "I have done wrong; please stop your attack, and I will pay whatever you demand." The emperor's answer was that Hezekiah should send him ten tons of silver and one ton of gold.

15 Hezekiah sent him all the silver in the Temple and in the palace treasury;

16 he also stripped the gold from the temple doors and the gold with which he himself had covered the doorposts, and he sent it all to Sennacherib.