[497] 2 Kings xviii. 8: comp. xvii. 9. Josephus says that he failed to take Gath (_Antt._, IX. xiii. 3). [498] A.V., "treasurer" (_soken_; lit., "deputy" or "associate": Isa. xxii. 15). He was "over the household." The Egyptian alliance had for Judah, as Renan points out, some of the fascination that a Russian alliance has often had for troubled spirits in France (_Hist. du Peuple d'Israel_, iii. 12). [499] Renan says that he may have been a Sebennyite, and his name Sebent. [500] Isa. xxii. 17, 18: "Behold, the Lord shall sling and sling, and pack and pack, and toss and toss thee away like a ball into a distant land; and there thou shalt die" (Stanley). The versions vary considerably. [501] Isa. xxxvii. 2. There can be little doubt that there were not _two_ Shebnas. [502] Mic. i. 10-16. See the writer's _Minor Prophets_ ("Men of the Bible" Series), pp. 130-133, for an explanation of this enigmatic prophecy. [503] Jer. xxvi. 8-24. He tells us that the prophecy was delivered in the reign of Hezekiah. See my _Minor Prophets_, pp. 123-140. [504] Isa. x. 28-32. It would involve a cross-country route over several deep ravines--_e.g._, the Wady Suweinit, near Michmash. In 1 Sam. xiv. 2, Thenius, for "Migron," reads "the Precipice." Some take Aiath for Ai, three miles south of Bethel. Renan says (_Hist. du Peuple d'Israel_, iii.): "Nom d'Anathoth, arrangé symboliquement." [505] Isa. x. 14. The metaphor of a bird's nest occurs more than once in the boastful Assyrian records. [506] Isa. xxx. 1-7. Rahab means "fierceness," "insolence." For the various uses of the word, see Job xxvi. 12; Isa. li. 9, 10, 15; Psalm lxxxix. 9, 10, lxxxvii. 4, 5. [507] See Dr. S. Cox (_Expositor_, i. 98-104) on Isa. xxviii. 7-13. [508] Acts xvii. 18. [509] Isa. xxviii. 7-22. [510] Professor Smith, _Isaiah_, i. 12. [511] Bagehot, _Physics and Politics_, p. 73; Smith, _Isaiah_, 109. CHAPTER XXVI _HEZEKIAH'S SICKNESS, AND THE EMBASSY FROM BABYLON_ 2 KINGS xx. 1-19 "Thou hast loved me out of the pit of nothingness."--ISA. xxxviii. 17 (A.V., margin). "See the shadow of the dial In the lot of every one Marks the passing of the trial, Proves the presence of the Sun." E. B. BROWNING.