2 Kings 18:14

14 King Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. I will pay whatever tribute money you demand if you will only withdraw.” The king of Assyria then demanded a settlement of more than eleven 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 For they refused to listen to the LORD their God and obey him. Instead, they violated his covenant—all the laws that Moses the LORD ’s servant had commanded them to obey.

13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them.

14 King Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. I will pay whatever tribute money you demand if you will only withdraw.” The king of Assyria then demanded a settlement of more than eleven tons of silver and one ton of gold.

15 To gather this amount, King Hezekiah used all the silver stored in the Temple of the LORD and in the palace treasury.

16 Hezekiah even stripped the gold from the doors of the LORD ’s Temple and from the doorposts he had overlaid with gold, and he gave it all to the Assyrian king.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew 300 talents [10 metric tons] of silver and 30 talents [1 metric ton] of gold.