Isaiah 37:16

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

⁸When the Rab-shakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah. ⁹Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: "He has set out to fight against you." On hearing this, Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah with the order: ¹⁰"Tell Hezekiah king of Judah, 'Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹¹Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries, devoting them to destruction. Will you then be spared? ¹²Did the gods of the nations my fathers destroyed rescue them-the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar? ¹³Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?'" ¹⁴So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: ¹⁶"O LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.¹⁷Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Lord: Isaiah 6:3, Isaiah 8:13, 2 Samuel 7:26, Psalms 46:7, Psalms 46:11

dwellest: Exodus 25:22, 1 Samuel 4:4, Psalms 80:1, Psalms 99:1, Hebrews 4:16

thou art: Isaiah 37:20, Isaiah 43:10, Isaiah 43:11, Isaiah 44:6, Isaiah 45:22, Isaiah 54:5, 1 Kings 18:32, 2 Kings 5:15, Psalms 86:10, Revelation 11:15-17

thou hast: Isaiah 40:28, Isaiah 44:24, Genesis 1:1, Psalms 146:6, Jeremiah 10:10-12, John 1:3, Colossians 1:16

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 6:23 - two cherubims 1 Kings 8:6 - under the wings 1 Chronicles 13:6 - that dwelleth Nehemiah 9:6 - even thou Psalms 124:8 - General 1 Corinthians 8:4 - there is

Cross-References

Song of Solomon 1:7
Tell me, O one I love, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest them at midday? Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your companions?

Luke 19:10
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubim,.... Or, "the inhabitant of the cherubim" l; which were over the mercy seat, the residence of the Shechinah, or Majesty of God, the symbol of the divine Presence in the holy of holies; a title which the God of Israel, the Lord of armies in heaven, and earth bears, and distinguishes him from all other gods, and which several titles carry in them arguments to strengthen faith in prayer; being "the Lord of hosts", he was able to do whatsoever was desired, and more abundantly; being "the God of Israel", their covenant God, it might be hoped and expected he would protect and defend them; and sitting "between the cherubim", on the mercy seat, great encouragement might be had that he would be gracious and merciful, and hear and help:

thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; this is opposed to the conceit of Sennacherib, that he was only the God of the Jews, and had no concern with other kingdoms and nations; whereas all belong to him, and him only; they are all under his jurisdiction and dominion, and at his will and control:

thou hast made heaven and earth; and so has an indisputable right to the government of the whole world, and to the disposal of all things in it.

l ישב הכרבים "cherubim inhabitator", Forerius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

O Lord of hosts - (See the note at Isaiah 1:9).

That dwellest between the cherubims - On the cherubim, see the note at Isaiah 14:13. The reference here is doubtless to the fact that the symbol of the divine presence in the temple the Shechinah (from שׁכן shâkan, to dwell, to inhabit; so called because it was the symbol of God’s dwelling with his people or inhabiting the temple) - rested on the cover of the ark in the temple. Hence, God is frequently represented as dwelling between the cherubim Exodus 25:22; Psalms 80:1; Psalms 99:1. On the whole subject of the cherubim, the reader may consult an article in the Quarterly Christian Spectator for September 1836.

Thou art the God - The only God Isaiah 43:10-11.

Even thou alone - There is none besides thee - a truth which is often affirmed in the Scriptures Deuteronomy 32:39; Psa 86:10; 1 Corinthians 8:4.

Thou hast made heaven and earth - It was on the ground of this power and universal dominion that Hezekiah pleaded that God would interpose.