Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 37

Verses 1-7

Isa 37:1-7

Isaiah 37:1-4

THE THREAT TO JERUSALEM CONTINUED AND CONCLUDED

The first four verses here begin to enumerate the things which Hezekiah did because of the desperate situation that confronted him. His first move was one that indicated his deep distress, repentance and sorrow. He covered himself with sackcloth and went into the temple to pray. He sent Eliakim and Shebna and the elders of the priests all covered with sackcloth to seek out Isaiah and to request his assistance in the prayers for "the remnant that is left."

Isaiah 37:1-4

"And it came to pass when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Jehovah. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the son of Amoz. And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of contumely; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. It may be Jehovah thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which Jehovah thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left."

These words represent a profound change in Jerusalem. The king himself appears as a penitent seeking the aid of God. The sinful party that advocated alliances with Ethiopia and Egypt is nowhere in evidence. Hezekiah now professes to believe what Isaiah for such a long time had been telling him, that only a remnant of Israel would finally be spared.

The reference to children that have come to birth and the absence of strength for them to be born was a well known proverb of a desperate and almost hopeless situation (Hosea 13:13). "Hezekiah rent his clothes in token of the deepest humiliation and distress. He well knew how largely he himself was responsible for the terrible blow” about to fall on the kingdom. He had disregarded God’s warning and had gone forward with that Egyptian alliance. He had also turned away from Isaiah; but now in utmost distress he sought him whom he had so long ignored. Note his reference to Jehovah as "thy God," in his words to Isaiah. That does not mean that Hezekiah did not believe in Jehovah, but that he recognized Isaiah as a more faithful follower of Jehovah than Hezekiah had been.

Isaiah 37:5-7

"So the servants of Hezekiah came to Isaiah. And Isaiah said unto them. Thus shall ye say to your master. Thus saith Jehovah, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he shall hear tidings, and shall return unto his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land."

Isaiah did not need to be solicited for prayer on behalf of Jerusalem; he had already been praying and was ready with an answer when Eliakim and Shebna with their delegation arrived. As Douglas pointed out, there were no less than four things which God promised would thwart and prevent Sennacherib’s purpose toward Jerusalem. "First, God would put a spirit into him; secondly, he would hear a rumor; thirdly, he would return to his own land; and fourthly, in that land, he would fall by the sword.”

"Servants of the king of Assyria ..." (Isaiah 37:6). Hailey tells us that, "The word from which `servants’ is here translated is a term of disparagement, a term that Leupold translates as `lads’ or `young chaps.’" It leaves us with the thought that, "you boys have not said anything of importance!"

Isaiah 37:1-5 WORSHIP: It is significant that Hezekiah, upon hearing the report of Rabshakeh’s scoffing intimidation and insulting blasphemy of Jehovah, turned immediately to worship God in penitence and sent to get God’s word from God’s prophet. Happy is any nation whose ruler turns in penitence to worship Jehovah and seek His word in national crises. It was a Hebrew custom in times of great stress and turmoil, sorrow and remorse to both rend the clothing and put on sackcloth (cf. Genesis 27:34; 2 Samuel 3:31; 1 Kings 21:27; Esther 4:1, etc.). In addition to all this Hezekiah went into the Temple (the house of the Lord) undoubtedly to pray. He did not pray to have the Lord’s will revealed directly to himself—for that he sent to the messenger of God, Isaiah. His prayer was probably one of penitence.

Not only did Hezekiah devote himself to penitence and seeking the Lord’s will, but he instructed his officials to do so also. Most political potentates are accustomed to depend too much on their own power and expertise and consult God’s spokesmen only on matters of morality and religion. Many potentates have made that mistake (Saul, Ahaz, Zedekiah, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, the Caesars, ad infinitum). Then he sent them to Isaiah. He did not order Isaiah to come to him, as many rulers would have done. Respecting God’s prophet shows Hezekiah’s deep reverence for God! There was no question in Hezekiah’s mind who was the King of the Universe—Jehovah. This is true worship, acknowledging God’s sovereignty and seeking His will.

King Hezekiah sends Isaiah his analysis of the current political-military crisis. It is dark and foreboding. The following Hebrew words are used by Hezekiah to describe the situation: tzar (trouble, anguish, distress, oppression); thokekhah (rebuke, correction, punishment); natzah (contumely, contempt, blasphemy). It was a day so dire and catastrophic that it was like a woman in labor struggling to give birth and her womb will not open to deliver. Unless some extraordinary help is forthcoming death will be the result. Hezekiah realizes Judah is at this critical juncture.

Hezekiah’s “It may be Jehovah . . . will hear” is like the “Who knows whether he will not turn and repent . . .” of Joel 2:14 and Jonah 3:9, etc. It is not a guess! It is an expression of hope that God will intervene based upon known deeds of God in the past. Hezekiah’s description of the day, trouble, rebuke, contempt, indicates his persuasion that their circumstances were by the permissive will of God to correct them for their trouble, rebuke and contempt of God. Their circumstances were designed to bring them back to God and Hezekiah was one of the first to recognize and admit it. It is no wonder God compared Hezekiah to David—after God’s own heart.

So, the good king commits the defiance of the Rab-shakeh to the Living God who is being defied. The Hebrew word translated defy is lekharek and means literally to reproach and blaspheme—to insult and scoff at. Hezekiah requests Isaiah to pray for the shariyth (remnant) that is nimetzaah (findable, or remaining). Apparently the king is referring to besieged Jerusalem as all that is left of Judah. So Hezekiah’s servants brought his request to Isaiah.

Isaiah 37:6-7 WORD: Isaiah’s answer is authoritative, direct and simple. It is as simple as Thus saith the Lord. The answer is simple but the application of it (be not afraid) may be difficult in view of the present circumstances. This is where man’s faith is put to the test. If faith fails then he is by his own choice not of the nature fit to companion with God. Isaiah told Ahaz (Isaiah 7:4) not to fear the enemies of the covenant people earlier, but Ahaz failed in faith.

The Lord promises, through Isaiah, to “put a spirit” in the king of Assyria. The Hebrew word is ruakh which is usually translated spirit but literally means breath or wind. It is sometimes translated mind (Ezekiel 11:5; Ezekiel 20:32) and sometimes means an emotion (Proverbs 29:11; Genesis 26:35). Just how God “puts a spirit, mind, emotion, disposition” in a pagan ruler to return to his homeland when he seems of a mind to do something other must remain one of the mysteries of the Infinite and Omnipotent God. We are told in other places of such action by God (Isaiah 10:5-19; Isaiah 44:28 to Isaiah 45:6; Jeremiah 51:20-23; 2 Chronicles 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4). God is capable of speaking to pagan rulers in dreams and visions (as He did to Nebuchadnezzar) or stirring up their spirits (as He did to Cyrus). It does not appear that God gave Sennacherib a vision. He heard something from his own land that caused him to return, and 20 years later he was violently slain by his own sons. We will document this event in later comments. It should be noted here Isaiah does not predict Sennacherib’s death immediately upon his arrival back in Assyria. It is not the prophet’s purpose to predict all the details—only those which are essential to Hezekiah’s trust in the Lord.

Verses 8-13

Isa 37:8-13

Isaiah 37:8-13

"So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah; for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish. And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come out to fight against thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?"

One of the unresolved questions mentioned in the introduction to Isaiah 36 concerns the Tirhakah mentioned here in Isaiah 37:9. Some say he was too young to have led an expedition against Sennacherib at this time, being only about ten years of age; but there is too much ignorance of the whole political picture of that period of history, and there is too much ignorance about Tirhakah himself (Does this name refer to a dynasty rather than to an individual?) for anyone to be troubled by such speculations. As Hailey said, "Until contrary evidence is provided, we will assume that Tirhakah was of sufficient age to have led an army against Sennacherib.”

This message from Sennacherib was little more than a somewhat extended repetition of the message he had already sent to Hezekiah by Rabshakeh. He did mention a few more cities that had fallen to previous Assyrian kings, such as Gozan, one of the towns to which the Assyrians had deported some of the Northern Israelites (2 Kings 17:6). Haran was located on a tributary to the Euphrates river and was prominent in Jewish history; for that was where Abraham settled when he left Ur of the Chaldees; there Terah died; and there the Word of God came the second time to Abraham. There both Isaac and Jacob received their wives. Eden was an important city that had supplied the kings of Damascus, of whom Amos prophesied that, "God would cut off the inhabitants from the valley of Aven, and him that holdeth the scepter from the house of Eden; and the people of Syria shall go into captivity" (Amos 1:5). The Assyrian kings indeed had been God’s instrument in the fulfillment of Amos’ prophecy.

Kelley noticed that this message was delivered both orally and by letter, that being apparently the principal difference between them.

Isaiah 37:8-9 WARY WARRIOR: The Assyrian army commander (the Rabshakeh) left Jerusalem and went directly to Libnah, 10 and 12 miles north of Lachish and 25 miles west (and a little south) of Jerusalem. Libnah and Lachish were cities along the “Gaza strip” and were strategic military positions on the Egyptian frontier. The king of Assyria probably felt he had secured Lachish and now he must secure Libnah since he apparently had received word that an Egyptian force was marching toward his deployed troops in Palestine.

Now Tirhakah was not yet king of Egypt. He was nephew of the man (Shabaka 715–701 B.C.) who was then king of Egypt. It appears from ancient records that Tirhakah was approximately 20 years of age at the time of Sennacherib’s (701 B.C.) expedition into Judah. He would be old enough, since he was royalty, to be put in charge of a military force. Tirhakah’s brother (Shabataka 701–689 B.C.) was the Pharaoh after Shabaka and then Tirhakah became Pharaoh (689–664 B.C.). Edward J. Young thinks Tirhakah is proleptically called king. That is, Isaiah, writing some years after these events occurred, when Tirhakah was in fact king, calls him king in an event that took place before he was king. This is not unusual. Daniel calls Nebuchadnezzar “king of Babylon” proleptically in Daniel 1:1. Tirhakah was the third and last Pharaoh of the 25th Ethiopian dynasty. His Ethiopian kingdom was quite Egyptian in character. Sennacherib was successful against Tirhakah, but the mysterious loss of Assyrian troops forced Sennacherib back to Assyria. Tirhakah enjoyed a respite from the Assyrian threat for some years, but was defeated by Esarhaddon and later by Assurbanipal. He was driven south where he retained rule of that portion of Egypt.

Sennacherib apparently associated Tirhakah’s show of force with Hezekiah’s refusal to surrender to Rabshakeh. He evidently assumed the Egyptians were in collusion with the Hebrews and they were coming to rescue Jerusalem from Assyrian conquest. So the Assyrian king sent a written (Isaiah 37:14) message to Hezekiah.

Isaiah 37:10-13 WRITTEN WARNING: Isaiah 37:10 makes it appear as if the Assyrians have spies within the very chambers of King Hezekiah. It almost seems as if the Assyrians knew the very words Isaiah spoke in reply to Hezekiah’s request (Isaiah 37:5-6). Here the Assyrian messengers are told to “speak” the message to Hezekiah. In Isaiah 37:14 Hezekiah takes a “letter” from the messengers and reads it. Perhaps the messengers read the letter to Hezekiah upon their arrival and then he took it from their hand and read it for himself. The message from Sennacherib was a warning. It intended to remind Hezekiah of current political history. It was common knowledge in the world at that time of the ruthless, overwhelming, destructive power of the Assyrians and the extensiveness of their conquests. They had conquered or at least dominated the whole Asia Minor-Mesopotamian-Palestinian area. Sufficient power to resist the Assyrians could not be found anywhere in the world! Cities and territories which had existed for centuries were swiftly conquered. Famous kings and potentates had been deposed and taken captive and either killed or deported into slavery. Whole cities and areas had been repopulated with Mesopotamian immigrants. The political, cultural, racial face of the inhabited world was being drastically changed. And does little, weak, religiously-oriented Judah think it can stand against a military machine like Assyria?

Some of the cities and territories listed have been located by the archaeologists and historians. Some are still lost in the sands and dust of antiquity. The reader may refer to Map #1 for locations of those known and those conjecturally placed. Beth-eden is the Eden referred to in Isaiah 37:12. Since many leading scholars and archaeologists believe the Garden of Eden was in Mesopotamia (Greek for “between the rivers”), Beth-eden may very well have retained its name from the Garden of Eden. William F. Albright, renowned archaeologist and scholar of antiquity says, “Archaeological research has thus established beyond doubt that there is no focus of civilization in the earth that can begin to compete in antiquity and activity with the basin of the Eastern Mediteranean and the region immediately to the east of it. . . .” (Tigris-Euphrates, Mesopotamian area). Very ancient clay tablets with “creation accounts” written on them have been discovered in that general area. Ur and Haran are cities directly associated with Abraham. Telassar was probably a territory near the region of ancient Elam (Media).

The imposing, overwhelming, seemingly omnipotent power of the Assyrian Empire (and other ancient world empires) was beyond anything, comparatively speaking, modern geopolitics has ever experienced. No empire has completely ruled the known world since Rome. None was ever as cruel and terrifying as the Assyrian. Hezekiah could not take Assyrian threats lightly! These threats were extremely critical tests of the faith of the Judeans. So Hezekiah did the only thing he could do—he took it to the Lord!

Verses 14-20

Isa 37:14-20

Isaiah 37:14-20

"And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up unto the house of Jehovah, and spread it before Jehovah. And Hezekiah prayed unto Jehovah, saying, O Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, that sittest above the cherubim, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth, Incline thine ear, O Jehovah, and hear; Open thine eyes, O Jehovah, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to defy the living God. Of a truth, Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries, and their land, and have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, therefore they have destroyed them. Now therefore, O Jehovah our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art Jehovah, even thou only."

Hezekiah’s spreading out Sennacherib’s letter in the temple was "a symbolical action" representing his prayer to Jehovah. It should not be thought of as the kind of worship seen in the prayer-wheels of the Buddhists, and the petitions written on pieces of paper and attached to sacred trees.

Hezekiah’s prayer here is a model in some ways. It acknowledged that Jehovah is over all nations and all men, the creator of heaven and earth, and that in him only is salvation. The basis of his petition, moreover is directed toward the benefit of all the nations of the earth, that they might know the one true God, and it is not marked by the narrow object of what would benefit Israel only. As Archer said, "He grounded his petition upon the need for the vindication of God’s glory, not upon his own personal need, or that of his people; because he realized they little deserved divine favor.”

Isaiah 37:14-16 PRAISE: Unlike Ahaz, when threatened by the Syrian-Israeli coalition, who went to the king of Assyria for help (see comments on Isaiah 7:10-16), Hezekiah turned immediately to the Lord for help from his enemies. Hezekiah did not spread the letter before the Lord because he believed God would not know what it said had he not taken it to the Temple. His concept of God was not that of mysticism or paganism, as his prayer demonstrates. Hezekiah believed in a God who was omnipotent and omniscient.

Hezekiah’s prayer ranks alongside the great prayers of the Bible as a model men today would do well to follow. It is brief, compared to the grand prayer of Daniel (ch. 9), but equally as reverent and believing. All praying should begin and end with praise to God. Jesus taught, “Pray this way, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. . . .” The holiness, majesty, righteousness, faithfulness, and sovereignty of God should be our first concern in prayer or evangelism or worship. Our salvation, our blessedness, our development into His nature all depends upon who He is—not upon what we are or what we want. Of course, we cannot be saved or blessed unless we want it, but we could want it forever and never have it if God is not Who He Is. Too much prayer is focused on petition and not enough on praise. Too much asking has a tendency to make our wants sovereign. Let us first pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth just like it is in heaven. . . .”

The cherubim were the angel-like figures with wings, one on each end of the ark of the covenant, within the Holy of Holies in the Temple. They hovered over the “mercy seat” and were symbols to represent the place where God’s presence dwelt. Hezekiah, of course, did not think his God was a provincial God like those of the pagans, restricted to houses made with hands. He was merely reiterating his belief that Jehovah God was present where God said He would be—in His Temple. He was affirming his faith that God was with the nation in their extremity.

Isaiah 37:17-19 PETITION: Hezekiah refers to God anthropomorphically. That is, he refers to God as having human attributes (ears, eyes, etc.). This is true of both Old and New Testaments. Human attributes are the highest forms or symbols within man’s experience by which he may express nonexperienced attributes! Anthropomorphism is an attempt to express the non-rational aspects of God’s being in terms of the rational. Biblical anthropomorphism is quite different from pagan concepts of their gods. The anthropomorphism of pagan religions describes their gods in forms of man and animals, trees, stars, or even a mixture of elements. To regard Jehovah God solely as Absolute Being or The Great Unknown is to refer to him or it, but if man is ever to think of God as personal, one with whom he can fellowship, man must think of God as Thou, and man can only conceive of Thou in anthropomorphic symbols. Hezekiah is praying, not to an Idea, but to a Person.

Note also Hezekiah’s preciseness in prayer. He does not pray a generalized prayer for delivery from a general enemy. He prays the Lord to take action on the very words of Sennacherib. Specific prayer for a specific need. But what is the need? Hezekiah focuses on the fact that Sennacherib has defied the living God. The primary need, as Hezekiah sees it, is not physical deliverance but vindication of the sovereignty of Jehovah God (see Isaiah 37:20). Hezekiah is well aware of the power of Assyria. He is a realist and no foolish optimist. The kings of Assyria have done all they brag about. They have laid waste the major portion of the inhabited world. They have even wreaked havoc and desolation in their own land (Mesopotamia) (cf. Isaiah 14:20). This characterizes the Assyrians as a people thriving on war and desolation. They cared not that their warlike nature brought destitution even to their own land! One concept thoroughly established by the Assyrian conquests was the demonstration that the gods of all the nations conquered by them were not gods at all. When the Assyrians conquered a nation they took that nation’s gods (idols and images) and threw them into the fire and burned (wood and metal and stone) and melted them. The Assyrians proved that the gods of other nations were powerless. But what about the gods of the Assyrians?

Isaiah 37:20 PURPOSE: Hezekiah’s primary purpose was not for himself, not even for his country, but for the glory of God. Hezekiah is concerned for the honor of God. He prays that the power, sovereignty and uniqueness of Jehovah be vindicated before the eyes of the world. He is not willing that Jehovah be considered just another one of the provincial gods of the nations. God repeats over and over in the Old Testament that He acts for “his own sake,” and the men of faith in the Old Testament always prayed that God would act for “his own name’s sake” (cf. 2 Samuel 7:21; 1 Kings 8:41; 2 Chronicles 6:32; Psalms 6:4; Psalms 31:16; Psalms 23:3; Psalms 31:3; Psalms 25:7; Psalms 25:11; Psalms 44:26; Psalms 79:9; Psalms 106:8; Psalms 115:1; Psalms 143:11; Isaiah 37:35; Isaiah 42:21; Isaiah 45:4; Isaiah 48:9; Isaiah 48:11; Jeremiah 14:7; Jeremiah 14:21; Ezekiel 20:9; Ezekiel 20:14; Ezekiel 20:22; Ezekiel 20:44; Ezekiel 36:22; Daniel 9:17; Daniel 9:19). This is the most important concept of the Bible. All of man’s hopes in this world or the next rest upon the vindication of the Absoluteness of God’s Person. Our every motive, desire, aim, prayer, action and concern must be that God will first act for His own sake. If His Word is not verified and confirmed and established, we are lost! The faith, once for all delivered to the saints, is the veracity, sovereignty, mercy, faithfulness, holiness of God as demonstrated and manifested in the Incarnate Son of God, who was Immanuel, “God with us.” (see special study, “The Faith Once Delivered For All Time,” p. 248.)

Verses 21-25

Isa 37:21-25

Isaiah 37:21-25

"Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word which Jehovah hath spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. Whom hast thou defied and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. By thy servants hast thou defied the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof; and I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field; I have digged and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt."

This paragraph is only part of the message that Isaiah sent to Hezekiah, giving the answer of the Lord to Hezekiah’s prayer. Note that the reason for God’s favorable answer was based upon Hezekiah’s earnest prayer against Sennacherib.

The whole substance of God’s answer may be seen at once in the fact of the daughters of Zion and of Jerusalem shaking their heads and despising Sennacherib. The rest of the paragraph deals largely with God’s acknowledgment of the arrogant and sinful ambition and boasting of the Assyrian invader.

Such expressions as "the virgin daughter of Zion," are not references to the moral excellence of the people. "They mean that the city, or cities, referred to have not been conquered, or raped, by a conqueror.”

The last verses here are a continuation of the boastful threats of Sennacherib. He brags about what he has done and will do! He will even dry up all the rivers of Egypt with the sole of his feet. What a terror he is to the people of all nations. There is an amazing amount of truth in what this beast of a heathen was saying. As a matter of fact, no other nation of human history ever surpassed the sadistic cruelty and ruthless passion for destruction that marked the ravages of Assyria. They were referred to throughout the world as "the breakers." The monuments they left behind show how they gloried in the suffering of their captives and the injustices heaped upon the helpless people by their wicked conquerors. It is amazing that God tolerated their existence as a world power as long as he did. Such merciless behavior on their part deserved the sentence that God executed upon them as foretold in the prophecy of Nahum.

Isaiah 37:21-25 DEFIANCE: Perhaps some of the details of what transpired between Hezekiah and Isaiah are omitted. Perhaps Isaiah was informed in writing or by messenger of Hezekiah’s prayer. Or, perhaps God began to answer Hezekiah’s prayer even as Hezekiah was praying! (cf. Daniel 9:20-23). The Lord knows our hearts and minds better than we—He is able to answer our prayer before we ask. Whatever the case, the Lord answered in a propositional, verbal message, through a messenger, Isaiah. Hezekiah was not left to try to discern the Lord’s answer through a mystical feeling or through a providential “fleece.”

The expression, virgin (Heb. bethulath) daughter of Zion, is probably to symbolize Jerusalem’s untouchableness by the Assyrian king who desires to ravish the city. Virgin is sometimes used to symbolize faithfulness. It is also used to symbolize covenant relationship between Israel and God. Amos speaks of Israel’s (the northern kingdom) unfaithfulness and covenant-breaking as a “fallen virgin’s” behavior (Amos 5:1-2; see also Ezekiel 16:1 ff). Perhaps all of this, untouchableness, faithfulness and covenant relationship, are involved in the figure virgin here. The point may be that Jerusalem, for its persistent refusal to prostitute itself to the Assyrian intimidations and dogged determination to trust faithfully in God, is being despised by its antagonists. But God promises the reversal of that. Soon, very soon, Assyria the despiser will be despised. God’s promise is so certain it may be predicted as having already occurred! The proud, arrogant, powerful Assyrian king will soon return to his own land, his boasting unfulfilled, to die by assassination. For shaking of the head as a gesture of scorn, see Psalms 22:7; Psalms 109:25; Matthew 27:39.

The question of Isaiah 37:23 is rhetorical. God is not asking for information, He is challenging the arrogance of Assyria. The king of Assyria, through the servants he sent to Hezekiah, has defied the Sovereign God of the universe. Sennacherib is being warned that he is not dealing with a god of wood or stone, a provincial god of man’s making. This is Almighty God, the Only True God. This is The God who holds all kings and potentates mentally and morally responsible to Himself, whether they acknowledge him or not (cf. Amos, ch. 2–3; Isaiah, ch. 13–23; Jeremiah ch. 46–51; Ezekiel, ch. 26–32; Daniel, ch. 1–6, etc.). Even in the New Testament, rulers and men of all nations are declared morally responsible to the Sovereign God, whether they believe in Him or not (cf. Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:1-29; etc.).

The Assyrian monarch boasted that nothing could stand in his way if he decided to march with his army. Not even the mountains of Lebanon (a range of mountains 20 miles long, with two of its peaks rising to over 9000 feet, and remaining snow-capped the year round) could stop him. The mountains of Lebanon formed a formidable natural barrier against invasion of Palestine. To go over the mountains was the only alternative to going across the Arabian desert for those Mesopotamian nations who wished to conquer Palestine. Chariots are made for flat open country. To move an army of chariots over forest-laden, snow-capped mountains 10,000 feet in altitude, would be no small task. But Sennacherib did it and considered such a feat proof that he could conquer any land or people he wished. Egypt’s Nile River would not stop him—he would go across that as if he were walking on dry land. Hezekiah’s God would not stop him—he boasted—he considered himself god of the world! Nothing could stand in his way. If it were mountains, he would cross over them; if it were the absence of water, he would dig wells and sustain his army; if it were the presence of waters, he would bridge them and take his armies across. He considered himself sovereign over all circumstances and persons. That is blasphemy!

Verses 26-29

Isa 37:26-29

Isaiah 37:26-29

"Hast thou not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? now have I brought it to pass, that it should be thine to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as a field of grain before it is grown up. But I know thy sitting down, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy raging against me. Because of thy raging against me, and because thine arrogancy has come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest."

"Hast thou not heard how I have done it long ago ..." (Isaiah 37:26). "Jehovah is here the speaker"; and the message is addressed to Sennacherib. He is not to believe for a moment that his conquests were due to any special ability on his part, but to the fact that God was merely using him as an instrument, such as a saw, or a razor, and that his conduct was so offensive to God that he would be sorely punished and that God would use another instrument to punish him, and that he would be rewarded with the same kind of cruel and inhumane punishment he had so ruthlessly meted out to his unfortunate victims.

Douglas pointed out that, "Isaiah 37:29 here is God’s explanation a little more fully of what he had already prophesied in Isaiah 37:7.” As we have frequently observed this procedure of adding details with each subsequent mention of prophesies or commandments in the word of God is followed throughout the Bible.

"I will put my hook in his nose ..." (Isaiah 37:29).. Assyrian sculptures represent both captives and beasts as being led in this manner.” Some of these ancient sculptures may be seen at a place called, "Khorsabad, where captives are led before the king by a cord attached to a hook or ring passing through the underlip, the upper lip, or the nose.” The ear was also used for such purposes. Archer noted that animals, especially bulls, were led in this manner, and that God here promised to humiliate Assyria by treating her like a wild beast, "And compelling her to return home with her objectives unrealized.”

Isaiah 37:26-29 DOWNFALL: How could the king of Assyria have heard of the predetermined plan of God to use him to “waste fortified cities”? Perhaps God is saying, has it never occurred to you through conscience or common sense that there is Someone greater than you controlling circumstances and lives, There is abundant evidence that God spoke or revealed His will to the ancients, including pagan rulers, in direct ways. He spoke to the Assyrians once through Jonah, the prophet. He spoke to others through dreams, visions, and prophets (cf. Daniel 1-6). He also spoke of His eternal power and deity through nature (cf. Romans 1:18-32; Acts 14:14-18; Acts 17:22-29, etc.). Whatever the case, the Assyrian nation had plenty of proof (through Jonah’s demonstration of the sovereignty of Jehovah and through nature) that man does not control circumstances or destiny. God uses governments and nations as tools to carry out His sovereign purposes (cf. Jeremiah 27:5-7; Daniel, ch. 7–12; Romans 13:1-7; Rev. ch. 1–22; Isaiah 10:5-34, etc.). That the Assyrian monarch did not recognize the certainty of a Higher Power directing history, in light of all the evidence, indicates his pride overcame conscience and common sense. In other words, his unbelief was deliberate and moral. (See Special Study, Unbelief Is Deliberate, pg. 99). It was God who gave other nations into the hand of the Assyrian. They fell because God permitted it. It was the height of moral perversity for Assyria to think they controlled the world. There are men today who think by their scientific expertise (atomic or nuclear physics; genetic restructuring; space exploration) they are approaching the ability to control circumstances and destiny. That is just as intellectually dishonest and morally perverse as Sennacherib’s boasting.

Whatever the king of Assyria does is not outside the knowledge of God. God knows Sennacherib’s “sitting down, and going out, and coming in,” (cf. Psalms 11:4; Psalms 44:20-21; Psalms 139:1-12; Jeremiah 12:3; Jeremiah 17:9-10). God knows man’s thoughts and deeds (John 2:23-25; Mark 9:33-35; Luke 9:46-48; Matthew 25:31-46). God knows when arrogant men rage against Him and He deals with them in His own good time (cf. Daniel 4-6). The Lord declares He will put a khakhiy (a hook for animal’s noses) in the Assyrian’s nose and a mitheggiy (a bridle for animals) in the Assyrian’s mouth and turn him back to his own land.

The arrogancy that blasphemes must be dealt with by the Sovereign God. When a human ruler attempts usurpation of Divine sovereignty he must be brought low. God must show that He is still sovereign, so He will intervene through supernatural and providential actions to humiliate the Assyrian braggart and lead him around where God would have him to be. There are bas reliefs in ancient Assyrian monuments depicting prisoners being led by ropes attached to rings in their noses. God will put His own “ring” in Sennacherib’s nose and lead him (slaying 185,000 soldiers, and a rumor from Nineveh that he should come home).

Verses 30-35

Isa 37:30-35

Isaiah 37:30-32

"And this shall be the sign unto thee: ye shall eat this year that which groweth of itself, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of mount Zion they shall escape. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this."

Dummelow’s explanation of these verses is as follows:

"This year, the year of the invasion, since the harvest has been destroyed they must eat of the aftergrowth (the volunteer production). Since they have not been able to sow this year, next year they must also depend upon what grows of itself, but the year after, they will be able to sow and reap freely, for the land will be free from enemies.”

"It is evident here that the person addressed has been changed from Sennacherib to Hezekiah. Such transitions without a clear indication of them are common in this prophecy.”

Archer observed that this promise of the restoration of suburban Jerusalem was fulfilled during, "The 113-year interval that elapsed before Jerusalem fell to the Chaldeans." "The blessing of God was upon them, and in a short time, Judah recovered her ancient vigor and was able to extend her dominion over nearly all of the old Israelite territory.”

Despite this, however, there is a frightening and ominous note here in Isaiah 37:32 where "the remnant" is repeatedly mentioned. It is a warning that the punishment of Judah is yet destined to fall upon the city, that it will be sacked and devastated, and that "only a remnant" will be preserved. Historically, Judah paid little or no attention to this warning.

Isaiah 37:33-35

"Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning the king of Assyria, he shall not come unto this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come unto this city, saith Jehovah. For I will defend this city to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake."

This is a prophecy that, "Sennacherib, after meeting the Egyptians under Tirhakah at Eltekeh, would not return to renew the siege of Jerusalem, but would flee homeward by the shortest route possible.” We believe that this prophecy was fulfilled exactly as indicated here. We are aware that some have tried to contradict this by inscriptions deciphered from ancient Assyria; but, as stated above, no Christian should allow Satan to contradict the word of God with any kind of inscription ordered by any unqualified son of the Devil such as Sennacherib.

Isaiah 37:30-35 DELIVERANCE: One must not forget that God’s central purpose in the Assyrian downfall was the deliverance of His faithful remnant and the fulfillment of His redemptive plan in them. God uses the wicked schemes of wicked men as tools to work out His redemptive purpose. When God’s people became so wicked they needed chastening, He allowed the cruel Assyrians to bring them back to dependence upon Him. Now that Hezekiah has led the nation in a turning back to God, He will punish the arrogant boasting of the Assyrian (cf. Isaiah 10:5-34) as further evidence of His power to fulfill His redemptive program.

Isaiah is predicting a complete removal of the Assyrians from the land of Palestine—not just a temporary let-up of the siege of Jerusalem. The massiveness of the Assyrian army, its need to live off the land it occupied and its complete disregard for life or property would have brought unparalleled devastation to the agricultural and economic situation of Palestine! The Assyrians had conquered 46 cities of Judah and had ravaged the whole land except Jerusalem. He had been there for more than a year. But Isaiah predicts the Assyrian will be gone and as soon as can be expected, the people left in Judah will be reaping and harvesting their own crops again. There will be no miraculous, immediate restoration of the agricultural-economic prosperity. For the immediate year and the one following the people will suffer the effects of the Assyrian devastation of their land; that is, they will eat from crops produced by volunteer seed for the first two years. There would not be enough harvest for two years to provide seed for a full sowing. But the third year would see agriculture returned to its normal processes. That would signify to them God had delivered them from the Assyrian.

The remnant will be saved. God has always carried out His work with a “left-over” segment of mankind. The cosmic work of redemption has always been trusted to a minority. It will not be any different when God closes the historical, human part of this work. The New Testament indicates the way that leads to life is “strait and narrow” and few will find it. The majority will be found, at any time, on the broad way that leads to destruction. Great men like Isaiah and Hezekiah were able to persuade a few to trust God and make themselves available to Him that He might bring the Messiah into the world. The remnant of this faithful few can be traced throughout the Old Testament right up to Mary, the mother of Jesus.

The zeal (kineath, in Hebrew) of the Lord will accomplish this (see comments on Isaiah 9:7). The Lord is jealous for His own work and His own people. He is jealous for His own sovereignty, so He will not let the king of Assyria carry out his boast to ravage Jerusalem. In fact, God will not even permit the king of Assyria to come to the city. No siege mound will be built up surrounding Jerusalem by the Assyrians. God is going to save it to vindicate His own power and fulfill His promise to David (2 Samuel 7:12, etc.). This is quite a prediction by Isaiah in view of the fact that the Assyrians at that moment controlled all of Palestine except the immediate city of Jerusalem! But if God is for us, who can be against us?! (cf. Romans 8:28-39).

Verses 36-38

Isa 37:36-38

Isaiah 37:36-38

"And the angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and four score and five thousand; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead bodies. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass that as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead."

Scholars make a point that the actual assassination of Sennacherib took place in 681 B.C., some twenty years after the events of this chapter; but, if this is indeed accurate, it does not contradict what is said here. The text merely states that "it came to pass."

Tradition has a story that these two sons of Sennacherib who murdered him lived to found substantial dynasties in Armenia. Nothing is known of their motives for murdering their father, but it was evidently not for the sake of succeeding him in the throne. The identity of what god Sennacherib claimed and which he was in the act of worshipping when they killed him is not positively identified. "Nisroch might have been the title of some better-known deity.”

Homer Hailey’s summary of this section is excellent:

"It is not impossible for Isaiah himself to have added this historical section. If he began his prophetic work at age 30, he could have lived unto the murder of Sennacherib, which was about sixty years from the beginning of Isaiah’s ministry. The account was probably added as Isaiah edited his book before his death. Two facts stand out clearly: (1) Through Isaiah, God declared what he would do, and (2) he did it; but how quickly was this remarkable deliverance forgotten by Manasseh, Hezekiah’s son, who was one of the most wicked kings of Judah!”

Some love to speculate with regard to just how "the angel of the Lord" executed so many men so quickly. No dogmatic answer is possible; but Barnes pointed out that God usually employed natural means in achieving many of his great miracles, as, for example, in the instance of the "strong wind" that rolled back the waters of the Red Sea, or the terrible hail as one of the plagues in Egypt (Exodus 9:22-25). His conclusion was that, "The most satisfactory explanation is that it was a great storm of hail, with thunder and lightning ... This description in its suddenness, its terror, and its ruinous effects accords more nearly with the account of the destruction than any other speculation that has been made.”

Isaiah 37:36-37 DEPARTURE: This epilogue is an historical record of the fulfillment of all of Isaiah’s prophecies of the failure of the Assyrian empire to destroy the covenant people of God. The only possible way God could carry out His promise to deliver Jerusalem and Palestine from the Assyrian was by supernatural intervention (either directly or indirectly through providence). It is a matter of record (see also 2 Kings 19:35-37, and 2 Chronicles 32:20-23), that God intervened supernaturally and directly. An angel (Heb. maleak) of Jehovah (Heb. Yahweh) went into the Assyrian army camp and killed 185,000 soldiers. The account in 2 Kings 19 records that the slaying took place the same night Sennacherib’s message of arrogant blasphemy was delivered to Hezekiah. How would the angel of the Lord perform such a herculean task? This event reminds the Bible student of the destroying angel of Exodus 12:12-23 and 2 Samuel 24:1-16. The ministry of angels is spectacular and comprehensive in the Biblical record. One angel had the power to restrain Persia and Greece (cf. Daniel 10:15-21). One angel has the power to harm a third of the earth (Revelation 8, 9). God is able to make His angels wind and fire (Hebrews 1:7), and sends them forth as “ministering spirits to serve for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation” (Hebrews 1:14). Angels do not necessarily have to take human form to do God’s service. They may serve in any form, wind, fire, disease, pestilence, war, famine, or whatever suits God’s purposes. We simply do not know how the angel of the Lord smote 185,000 men in one night. The Hebrew verb yaceh generally means to smite with a disease. America suffered approximately 50,000 war deaths in the more than two years of war in Korea. There were over 55,000 American soldiers slain in the over ten years of war in Viet Nam. With all man’s modern technology and massive destructive powers 185,000 dead in a single night still seems a staggering number.

The annals of King Sennacherib make no mention of a disaster to his troops in Palestine. However, there is an interesting tradition preserved by Herodotus (II, 141) which relates that Sennacherib, “king of the Assyrians and the Arabians,” led a great army against Egypt. This military move seems to have been subsequent to the subjugation of Philistia and Judea, and to have been a final stroke to secure one of the ultimate objects of his expedition—the conquest of Egypt. The tradition states that the Egyptian army was made up of “traders, artisans, and merchants, and that in great fear they encamped at Pelusium, within range of the enemy (Assyrians).” The Assyrian’s camp was completely overrun by an army of field mice, which gnawed apart all of their leather trappings, such as bowstrings, quivers, and shield-straps. On the next morning with only fragments of weapons, the Assyrian troops were routed, put to flight, and many of them slain. This tradition probably has some basis in fact and is an echo of some calamity to the Assyrian army. Some have suggested the mice may have carried bubonic plague, which is both swift and deadly in its working. When Sennacherib and the remainder of his army awoke in the morning the scene must have stunned them. Death on such a massive, sudden scale would cause first, dumbfoundedness, then fear, then, perhaps, chaos. The Hebrew language is forceful—“and behold! all of them, corpses, dead ones!” What else could Sennacherib conclude but that a Power greater than he and his army had visited during the night. This great catastrophe had happened so unexpectedly, so silently, so suddenly. No one had awakened during the night when it was happening. This was no place for Sennacherib. He would not dare go boasting to Hezekiah now. He had never before suffered such an inglorious defeat. So he left Judea. His departure is stated in the Hebrew language in short, rapid terms, “And he set out, and he went, and he returned to Nineveh.”

Although Sennacherib subjugated the entire eastern coastline of the Mediterranean Sea, carried off a vast amount of booty, and levied tribute on the conquered cities and provinces, there is no hint in his records during the remaining 20 years of his reign that he ever again visited this territory. Nor does the Babylonian chronicler of this period mention any such campaign. It seems that some specter haunted his memory and chilled his ambition regarding the final conquest of Egypt.

Isaiah 37:38 DEATH: Sennacherib lived another 20 years after he left Judea. Then one day as he was worshipping in the temple of his god, Nisroch (which Edward J. Young thinks is an intentional corruption of Marduk), he is slain by two of his sons who apparently are attempting an insurrection. Sennacherib’s son, Esar-haddon, in an inscription found by archaeologists at the Dog River near Beirut, Lebanon, tells of this event (see our comments, Isaiah, Vol. I, pg. 189–190). Hezekiah worshipped his God and Jehovah delivered him from his enemies. Sennacherib worshipped his god and found not deliverance but assassination. The two assassins did not gain the throne. They had to flee for their own lives to the land of Ararat (modern Armenia). Esar-haddon, another son of Sennacherib, succeeded to the throne of Assyria, eventually restored the city of Babylon, conquered Egypt, imported foreigners into Samaria, forced Manasseh (Hezekiah’s son) to pay heavy tribute to help build Esar-haddon’s palace in Nineveh, and extended the Assyrian empire to its greatest power. In a second Egyptian campaign, Esar-haddon died and his son, the famous Assurbanipal, the one who built the great library from which archaeologists get most of their Assyrian artifacts, succeeded him.