Isaiah 37 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Isaiah 37

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help

37:1 As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’”

5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”

8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9 Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush,¹ “He has set out to fight against you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer for Deliverance

14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: 16 “O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 17 Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 18 Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19 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 were destroyed. 20 So now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD.”

Sennacherib’s Fall

21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him:

  “‘She despises you, she scorns you—
    the virgin daughter of Zion;
  she wags her head behind you—
    the daughter of Jerusalem.
23   “‘Whom have you mocked and reviled?
    Against whom have you raised your voice
  and lifted your eyes to the heights?
    Against the Holy One of Israel!
24   By your servants you have mocked the Lord,
    and you have said, With my many chariots
  I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
    to the far recesses of Lebanon,
  to cut down its tallest cedars,
    its choicest cypresses,
  to come to its remotest height,
    its most fruitful forest.
25   I dug wells
    and drank waters,
  to dry up with the sole of my foot
    all the streams of Egypt.
26   “‘Have you not heard
    that I determined it long ago?
  I planned from days of old
    what now I bring to pass,
  that you should make fortified cities
    crash into heaps of ruins,
27   while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
    are dismayed and confounded,
  and have become like plants of the field
    and like tender grass,
  like grass on the housetops,
    blighted² before it is grown.
28   “‘I know your sitting down
    and your going out and coming in,
    and your raging against me.
29   Because you have raged against me
    and your complacency has come to my ears,
  I will put my hook in your nose
    and my bit in your mouth,
  and I will turn you back on the way
    by which you came.’

30 “And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

33 “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD. 35 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”

36 And the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 37 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. 38 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Footnotes

[1] 37:9 Probably Nubia
[2] 37:27 Some Hebrew manuscripts and 2 Kings 19:26; most Hebrew manuscripts a field

Commentary

v1: Hezekiah's first response was to tear his clothes, identifying with his people. Apart from the king of Nineveh (Jonah), no other king in the Bible did this. He then went into the temple to pray. Here is a spiritual response.

v2-3: Hezekiah sent his trusted leaders to Isaiah, that he might find the mind of the Lord.

v4: Hezekiah's desire, that the Lord would respond righteously to the words of the king of Assyria.

He made no reference to the large and apparently undefeatable army on his doorstep; he saw the issue as something spiritual, not military, as in 1 Sam 17.26, 36, 45-47. Hezekiah also refers to the remnant of Israel, see 1.9.

v5-6: The first words from God, "Do not be afraid." Such is God's concern for His own. The king of Assyria had blasphemed the Lord; therefore he was doomed to destruction. The Lord was ignorant of neither the king's words, nor His people's predicament.

v7: The specific prophecy about the king, that he would return to his own land, and be killed there; fulfilled v37-38.

v8-10: A new development, taking the field commander away. He sent another message to Hezekiah, this time in a letter read by his messengers.

v11-13: As in 36.18-20, referring to Assyria's past victories. Jerusalem, he claimed, would be swallowed up, just like these other places. See also 30.27-33, where Isaiah prophesies the defeat of Assyria.

v14-15 Hezekiah returned to prayer; a new development, a new message, demanded more prayer. His prayer is based on the uniqueness of God, answering the accusations of the field commander. Hezekiah's prayer shows his love for God and his knowledge of the word of God.

v16: The God who dwells between the cherubim, in the temple in Jerusalem, close to His people. He is the God of all the kingdoms of the earth, He is the creator of all things; these things set the true God apart from all others.

v17: The issue at hand, the blasphemy of Sennacherib; although he was king of Assyria, which Hezekiah does not even mention here, he was just a man; he was therefore helpless before the omnipotent God.

v18-19: Hezekiah acknowledged Assyria's past victories. Their victories had been over nations who trusted in idols; Hezekiah knew the true God, and knew Him to be different.

v20: 'Save us, Lord,' so that the earth might know Him to be the true God; i.e: first as a testimony to His Name, not just for the good of His people.

v21: Again the Lord God gave Hezekiah an answer, "because you have prayed;" for the Lord honours the prayerful attitude.

v22: The Lord gave strength to Jerusalem, the pure virgin daughter. As far as the enemy is concerned, the Lord finds no fault in His people, see Num 23.21 (margin).

v23: The attack by Sennacherib was seen as a blasphemy against the Holy One of Israel; putting the issue into a wider, spiritual, picture.

v24-25: Assyria's successes were attributed to its own powerful army.

v26-27: See 10.5-19; Assyria was ignorant of the plan of God, for Assyria was ignorant of the true God. Assyria had been victorious over many nations (v11-13, 18), but this was ordained by God.

The attack on Jerusalem, and the destruction of the army may well have been a turning point in the fortunes of Assyria. Babylon soon became the new power in the Middle East, and did defeat Jerusalem.

v28-29: The test; that they raged against God, therefore He acted against them.

v30-32: Promises for Hezekiah and Jerusalem in a difficult time. There was famine in the land, brought about by the invading army; they were dependent upon what grew of itself, and the Lord would ensure that that was sufficient. The Lord would preserve the remnant of His people, taking root into God himself, and bearing fruit of faithful lives.

v33-34: Repeated prophecy, that Assyria would return home defeated.

v35: God acted on behalf of His people.

v36-38: God's mighty power to fulfil His own word.