Jamieson, Fausset and Brown on 2 Chronicles 32:1

CHAPTER 32

2Ch 32:1-20. Sennacherib Invades Judah.

1. After these things, and the establishment thereof--that is, the restoration of the temple-worship. The precise date is given, 2Ki 18:13. Determined to recover the independence of his country, Hezekiah had decided to refuse to pay the tribute which his father had bound himself to pay to Assyria.

Sennacherib ... entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities--The whole land was ravaged; the strong fortresses of Ashdod (Is 20:1) and Lachish had fallen; the siege of Libnah had commenced, when the king of Judah, doubting his ability to resist, sent to acknowledge his fault, and offer terms of submission by paying the tribute. The commencement of this Assyrian war was disastrous to Hezekiah (2Ki 18:13). But the misfortunes of the early period of the war are here passed over, as the historian hastens to relate the remarkable deliverance which God wrought for His kingdom of Judah.