He hath delivered them to ... hissing - See 1 Kings 9:8 note. It was an expression which Hezekiah might naturally use, for it had occurred in a prophecy of Micah M1 Corinthians 6:16, his contemporary and monitor Jeremiah 26:18-19, which was probably uttered toward the close of the reign of Ahaz. In Jeremiah the phrase becomes common (marginal references).

He hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment - He probably refers here chiefly to that dreadful defeat by the Israelites in which a hundred and twenty thousand were slain, and two hundred thousand taken prisoners; see the preceding chapter, 2 Chronicles 28:6-8 (note).

Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was upon. Judah and Jerusalem,.... As appeared, by suffering the Syrians, and Israelites, and Edomites, and Philistines, to come upon them, and distress them, as the history of the preceding chapter shows:

and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes; such desolation and destruction were made among them, as not only threw them into a stupor, that they knew not what to do, but were amazing to all their neighbours, and caused them to hiss at them, which they could not but be sensible of.

Wherefore the wrath of the Lord came upon Judah and Jerusalem. Cf. for the expression, 2 Chronicles 24:18; 2 Chronicles 32:25; on 2 Chronicles 29:8, cf. Deuteronomy 28:25, Deuteronomy 28:37; Jeremiah 24:9; Jeremiah 25:9, etc. "As ye see with your eyes." The shameful defeats which Judah had sustained under Ahaz from the Syrians, Ephraimites, Philistines, and Edomites, and the oppression by the Syrian king (2 Chronicles 28:5., 2 Chronicles 28:17-21), are here referred to, as we learn from 2 Chronicles 29:9.

{d} Wherefore the wrath of the LORD was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes.

(d) He shows that the contempt of religion is the cause of all God's plagues.

29:8 Hissing - To such calamities as all that see and hear of, shall be astonished at, and hiss at those, who by their own sin and folly have brought such miseries upon themselves. When we are under the rebukes of God's providence, it is good for us to enquire, Whether we have not neglected God's ordinances, and whether that be not the controversy he has with us?

trouble: Heb. commotion

8, 9. Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem-This pious king had the discernment to ascribe all the national calamities that had befallen the kingdom to the true cause, namely, apostasy from God. The country had been laid waste by successive wars of invasion, and its resources drained. Many families mourned members of their household still suffering the miseries of foreign captivity; all their former prosperity and glory had fled; and to what was this painful and humiliating state of affairs to be traced, but to the manifest judgment of God upon the kingdom for its sins?

29:1-19 When Hezekiah came to the crown, he applied at once to work reform. Those who begin with God, begin at the right end of their work, and it will prosper accordingly. Those that turn their backs upon God's ordinances, may truly be said to forsake God himself. There are still such neglects, if the word be not duly read and opened, for that was signified by the lighting the lamps, and also if prayers and praise be not offered up, for that was signified by the burning incense. Neglect of God's worship was the cause of the calamities they had lain under. The Lord alone can prepare the heart of man for vital godliness: when much good is done in a little time, the glory must be ascribed to him; and all who love him or the souls of men, will rejoice therein. Let those that do good work, learn to do it well.