And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard
it
The report that his ministers made to him of the blasphemies and
threatenings of Rabshakeh, the general of the Assyrian army:
that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with
sackcloth;
the one because of the blasphemies he heard; the other cause of
the destruction he and his people were threatened with: and
went into the house of the Lord;
the temple, to pray to him there: he could have prayed in his own
house, but he chose rather to go to the house of God, not so much
on account of the holiness of the place, but because there the
Lord promised, and was used to hear the prayers of his people,
1Ki 8:29,30
as also because it was more public, and would be known to the
people, and set them an example to follow him in. Trouble should
not keep persons from, but bring them to, the house of God; here
the Lord is to be inquired of, here he is to be found; and from
hence he sends deliverance and salvation to his people. Nothing
is more proper than prayer in times of affliction; it is no ways
unbecoming nor lessening the greatest king on earth to lay aside
his royal robes, to humble himself before God, in a time of
distress, and pray unto him. Hezekiah does not sit down to
consider Rabshakeh's speech, to take it in pieces, and give an
answer to it, but he applies unto God.