Matthew Poole and continuators on 2 Kings 19:25

25 Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it ? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shoulded be to lay waste senced cities into ruinous heaps .

Hast thou not long since learned, that which some of thy Philosophers could, and did teach thee; That there is a Supreme and Powerful God, by whose Decree and Providence all these Wars and Calamities were sent, and ordered; whose meer Instrument thou art, so that thou hast no cause for these vain Boastings? This Work is mine, more than thine. Or, as it is in the Margent of our Bibles, Hast thou not heard that (a Particle oft understood) I have made (i. e. Constituted, or Purchased, or Adorned, for all these ways is this Hebrew Verb used) it (either Ierusalem, which he now threatned; or rather, the Iewish Nation, which he endeavoured to Root out: the Relative Pronoun, being put without the Antecedent, which is to be gathered out of the Context; of which I have formerly given instances) long ago, and formed it of ancient times? i. e. Didst thou not hear what I did for this People many Ages since, that I carried them out of Egypt in spight of Pharaoh and all his Host; and through the Red-sea, where I overthrew the Egyptians; and through the vast howling Wilderness; and then brought them into this Land by a strong hand, by which I Destroyed all their Enemies, and planted them in their stead? By which thou mayest understand how dear this People are to me, and how easily I could Destroy thee before them, if I saw it fit; and that the Places which thou hast taken, and the Conquests which thou hast made here, are not to be imputed to thy Valour, or Numbers, but unto my Providence, who for wise and just reasons, have given them up into thy hands, as it here follows. This may seem to be the truest sence, because that Barbarous Prince and People were much more likely to hear the Tidings of what God did for the Israelites in Egypt, and at the Red-sea, and in Canaan; the Fame of which was spread in all those parts; than to hear of, or be instructed in the Doctrine of God's particular Providence in the Government of several Nations, and all their Counsels, and actions of State, and War.▪ For, though the Assyrian was indeed the rod in God's hand, &c. Isa. 10. 5. yet [illegible: 1+ letters]e did not so understand it, [illegible: 1+ letters]or was God in all his thoughts, but he minded onely the enlargement of his own Empire, by the Destruction of other Kingdoms, as it there follows, ver. 7, 13, 14, 15.

This Translation seems better to agree both with the foregoing Branch of this Verse, and with the following Verse, than the other Interrogative Translation in the Margent; and the plain sense seems to be this, Great Things I have done for this People, which thou canst not be ignorant of; but now I have changed my Course towards them, resolved by Punish them severely for their Sins; and therefore, now I have brought it to pass, i. e. I have so disposed of things by my Providence, that thou shouldest be a Great and Victorious Prince, and that thou shouldest imploy thy Forces against them, to do my work upon them, that thou shouldest be (to wit, a person raised up, and fitted, and strengthned for this very purpose) to lay waste fenced cities (and to turn them) into ruinous heaps; i. e. That thou shouldest be so successful as thou hast hitherto been, first against the Kingdom of Israel, and now against Iudah.

Marginal references: Or, Hast thou not heard how I have made it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? should I now bring it to be laid waste, and fenced cities to be ruinous heaps?