when Hezekiah saw
2 Chronicles 32:2
32:2 when Hezekiah saw. Until this time, the Assyrians had been so occupied with conquering Israel and other nations in the region that Hezekiah had been able more or less to ignore them. His father Ahaz had tried unsuccessfully to bribe Tiglath-Pileser into an alliance, paying much tribute in the process (II Chronicles 28:21), but Hezekiah had “rebelled against the king of Assyria (II Kings 18:7). In Hezekiah’s fourteenth year, however, the Assyrians were ready to attack Jerusalem and Judah (II Kings 18:13). As his father had done, Hezekiah attempted now to pay belated tribute to Sennacherib, but this was not what the Assyrian wanted (II Kings 18:14-16). Probably the latter was expecting eventually to invade Egypt and would need to control Judah to do so.