And Hezekiah was glad of them
Not of the presents, for he was very rich, and stood in no need
of them, nor does it appear that he was covetous; but of the
ambassadors, and of the honour that was done him in having such
sent to him from such a prince; his sin was vain glory; and
because he might hope that such a powerful ally would be a
security to him against any after attempt of the king of Assyria,
in which he was guilty of another sin, vain confidence, or
trusting in an arm of flesh; and being lifted up with pride that
his name was become so famous abroad, and that he had got so good
an ally: and in order to ingratiate himself the more into his
esteem and favour, he "showed" these his ambassadors the
house of his precious things;
where his jewels and precious stones lay, and where were
the silver and the gold;
large quantities of not only which he and his predecessors had
laid up, which had been very lately greatly exhausted by the
demand of three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of
gold, by the king of Assyria; to answer which Hezekiah had given
all the silver in the temple, and in the treasures of the king's
house, and was so drove by necessity, that he cut off the gold
from the doors and pillars of the temple, ( 2
Kings 18:14-16 ) , so that it might be reasonable to ask, how
came he so soon by all this treasure? it is possible that some
part of the royal treasure might be unalienable, and he might
have since received presents from his own nobles, and from
foreign princes; but this was chiefly from the spoils found in
the Assyrian camp, after the angel had made such a slaughter of
them, ( 2 Kings
19:35 ) , as a learned F4 man observes: and the
spices, and precious ointment;
which, as Jarchi notes, some say were oil of olives; others the
balsam which grew in Jericho; great quantities of this, with
other spices, were laid up in store for use, as occasion should
require: and all the house of his armour;
where were all his military stores, shields, swords, spears,
arrows: and all that was found in his
treasures;
in other places: there was nothing in his
house;
in his royal palace: nor in all his dominion;
that was rare, curious, and valuable: that Hezekiah showed
them not;
even the book of the law, as Jarchi says.
F4 Nicolai Abrami Pharus Vet. Test. l. 6. c. 17. p. 164.