2 Kings 19:36

2Ki 19:36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

Ver. 36. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed.] Being glad he had escaped with the skin of his teeth, with the safeguard of his life. But his preservation was but a reservation only; and the rather, because he ascribed it to Nisroch his tutelar god, worshipping him still, notwithstanding his army’s overthrow.

And dwelt at Nineveh.] Where he had not lived fifty-five days before he was butchered, saith Tobit; {/APC Tob 1:21} who also telleth us, {/APC Tob 1:18} that at his return he in a rage slew many of the Israelites in Nineveh. The like whereunto we read of Selymus II, that in revenge of his loss at the battle of Lepanto, he would have put to death all the Christians in his dominions, and did many.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ki 19:36. So Sennacherib departed — Ashamed to see himself, after all his proud boasts, thus defeated, and disabled to pursue his conquests, or even to secure what he had gained, the flower of his army being cut off; nay, and continually afraid of falling under the like stroke himself. The manner of the expression, He departed, and went, and returned, intimates the great disorder and distraction of mind he was in.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19:36 Sennacherib . . . went home . . . and stayed there: Although this Assyrian king went on five more military campaigns, he did not return to attack Judah.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

So Sennacherib king of Assyria . . . went and returned--the same way as he came (Kg2 19:33). The route is described (Isa 10:28-32). The early chariot track near Beyrout is on the rocky edge of Lebanon, which is skirted by the ancient Lycus (Nahr-el Kelb). On the perpendicular face of the limestone rock, at different heights, are seen slabs with Assyrian inscriptions, which having been deciphered, are found to contain the name of Sennacherib. Thus, by the preservation of these tablets, the wrath of the Assyrian invaders is made to praise the Lord.

dwelt at Nineveh--This statement implies a considerable period of time, and his Annals carry on his history at least five years after his disastrous campaign at Jerusalem. No record of his catastrophe can be found, as the Assyrian practice was to record victories alone. The sculptures give only the sunny side of the picture.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 36. Dwelt at Nineveh.] This was the capital of the Assyrian empire.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(36) Departed, and went.—Broke up camp, and marched. There should be a stop at returned.

And dwelt at Nineveh.—Or, and he abode in Nineveh, implying that he did not again invade the west. Sennacherib records five subsequent expeditions to the east, north, and south of his dominions, but these obviously were nothing to the peoples of Palestine. (See Notes on 2Ki_20:12.)

Nineveh.—The capital of Assyria, now marked by large mounds on the east bank of the Tigris, opposite Mosul. (The Arabic version has “the king of Mosul,” instead of “the king of Assyria.”) It is usually called Ninua in the inscriptions; sometimes Ninâ, seldom Ninû (Greek, Nîvos.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

36. and dwelt at Nineveh] Apparently, and very naturally, deterred from any of his grander schemes by the terrible calamity which had befallen him, Sennacherib went to his own capital. How long a time elapsed between this overthrow around Jerusalem and the death of the king, spoken of in the next verse, we have not sufficient data to decide. The canon of Ptolemy fixes the accession of Sennacherib in b.c. 702, his death in b.c. 680. These dates cannot be made to harmonize with the Scripture chronology.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Dwelt at Nineveh - The meaning is not that Sennacherib made no more expeditions at all, which would he untrue, for his annals show us that he warred in Armenia, Babylonia, Susiana, and Cilicia, during his later years; but that he confined himself to his own part of Asia, and did not invade Palestine or threaten Jerusalem anymore. Nineveh, marked by some ruins opposite Mosul, appears here unmistakably as the Assyrian capital, which it became toward the close of the 9th century B.C. It has previously been mentioned only in Genesis (marginal reference). Sennacherib was the first king who made it his permanent residence. Its great size and large population are marked in the description of Jonah Jon 3:2-3; Jon 4:11, whose visit probably fell about 760 B.C.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

God spared

Sennacherib, not in mercy, but in wrath, reserving him to a more dreadful and shameful death by the hands of his own children.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

So Sennacherib King of Assyria departed, and went and returned. The, original is more lively, and more expressive of haste. Sennacherib, it is said, "decamped, and departed, and returned the heaping up of the verbs expressing the hurry of the march home (Keil); 1Ki_19:3. And dwelt at Nineveh. Nineveh was Sennacherib"s favorite residence. He had built himself a palace, there, marked by the modern mound of Koyunjik. Sargon, his father, had dwelt mainly at Dur-Sargina or Khorsabad, Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaueser at Calah or Nimrod. Sennacherib"s palace and his ether buildings at Nineveh are described in his annals at some length (see "Records of the Past," vol. 1. pp. 50-52). The expression, "dwelt at Nineveh," does not mean that he never quitted it, but merely implies that he dwelt there for some considerable time after his return, as he appears to have done by his annals. The Eponym Canon makes his last year B.C. 682.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So Sennacherib, &c. - The manner of the expression intimates the great disorder and distraction of mind he was in.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

And dwelt in Nineveh. It was the capital of Ashur.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.