and according to Jer 20:7; 1Ki 16:22, is to be translated, to overcome. But this translation does not at all suit the reason given in the following clause: “for Ahaz had plundered the house of Jahve, ... and given it to the king of Asshur; but it did not result in help to him.” The sending away of the temple and palace treasures to the Assyrian king, to obtain his help, cannot possibly be stated as the reason why Tiglath-pileser besieged Ahaz, but did not overcome him, but only as a reason why he did not give Ahaz the expected help, and so did not strengthen him. חזקו ולא corresponds to the לו לעזרה ולא, 2Ch 28:21, and both clauses refer back to לו לעזר, 2Ch 28:16. That which Ahaz wished to buy from Tiglath-pileser, by sending him the treasures of the palace and the temple, - namely, help against his enemies, - he did not thereby obtain, but the opposite, viz., that Tiglath-pileser came against him and oppressed him. When, on the contrary, Thenius takes the matter thus, that the subjection of Ahaz under Tiglath-pileser was indeed prevented by the treasures given, but the support desired was not purchased by them, he has ungrammatically taken חזק as imperfect, and violently torn away the לו לעזרה לו ולא from what precedes. If we connect these words, as the adversative ולא requires, with וגו ויּתּן, then the expression, “Ahaz gave the Assyrian king the treasures of the temple, ... but it did not result in help to him,” gives no support to the idea that Tiglath-pileser besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. The context therefore necessarily demands that חזק should have the active signification, to strengthen, notwithstanding that חזק in Kal is mainly used as intransitive. Moreover, לו ויּצר also does not denote he besieged, as אליו ויּצר or עליו, 2Sa 20:15; 1Sa 23:8; but only, he oppressed him, and cannot here be translated otherwise than the לו חצר, 2Ch 28:22, which corresponds to it, where Bertheau also has decided in favour of the signification oppress. It is not stated wherein the oppression consisted; but without doubt it was that Tiglath-pileser, after he had both slain Rezin and conquered his kingdom, and also taken away many cities in Galilee and the land of Naphtali from Pekah, carrying away the inhabitants to Assyria (2Ki 16:9 and 2Ki 15:29), advanced against Ahaz himself, to make him a tributary. The verbs חלק and ויּתּן (2Ch 28:21) are pluperfects: “for Ahaz had plundered,” etc. Not when Tiglath-pileser oppressed him, but when he besought help of that king, Ahaz had sent him the treasures of the temple and the palace as שׁחד, 2Ki 16:7-8. חלק denotes to plunder,
