Isa 22:2, Zep 2:15 | JFB | STEP | 2. art —rather, "wert"; for it could not now be said to be "a joyous city" ( ). The cause of their joy ( ) may have been because Sennacherib had accepted Hezekiah's offer to renew the payment of tribute, and they were glad to have peace on any terms, however humiliating ( ), or on account of the alliance with Egypt. If the reference be to Zedekiah's time, the joy and feasting are not inapplicable, for this recklessness was a general characteristic of the unbelieving Jews ( ). not slain with the sword —but with the famine and pestilence about to be caused by the coming siege ( ). MAURER refers this to the plague by which he thinks Sennacherib's army was destroyed, and Hezekiah was made sick ( ). But there is no authority for supposing that the Jews in the city suffered such extremities of plague at this time, when God destroyed their foes. BARNES refers it to those slain in flight, not in open honorable "battle"; favors this.

Isaiah 22:2

2. art—rather, "wert"; for it could not now be said to be "a joyous city" (Isa 32:13). The cause of their joy (Isa 22:13) may have been because Sennacherib had accepted Hezekiah's offer to renew the payment of tribute, and they were glad to have peace on any terms, however humiliating (2Ki 18:14-16), or on account of the alliance with Egypt. If the reference be to Zedekiah's time, the joy and feasting are not inapplicable, for this recklessness was a general characteristic of the unbelieving Jews (Isa 56:12).

not slain with the sword—but with the famine and pestilence about to be caused by the coming siege (La 4:9). MAURER refers this to the plague by which he thinks Sennacherib's army was destroyed, and Hezekiah was made sick (Isa 37:36; 38:1). But there is no authority for supposing that the Jews in the city suffered such extremities of plague at this time, when God destroyed their foes. BARNES refers it to those slain in flight, not in open honorable "battle"; Isa 22:3 favors this.

Zephaniah 2:15

15. Nothing then seemed more improbable than that the capital of so vast an empire, a city sixty miles in compass, with walls one hundred feet high, and so thick that three chariots could go abreast on them, and with fifteen hundred towers, should be so totally destroyed that its site is with difficulty discovered. Yet so it is, as the prophet foretold.

there is none beside me—This peculiar phrase, expressing self-gratulation as if peerless, is plainly adopted from Isa 47:8. The later prophets, when the spirit of prophecy was on the verge of departing, leaned more on the predictions of their predecessors.

hiss—in astonishment at a desolation so great and sudden (1Ki 9:8); also in derision (Job 27:23; La 2:15; Eze 27:36).