FRAMEWORKS:
Isaiah 37: The downfall of Sennacherib
v.1-4
Hezekiah send to Isaiah for help
v.5-8
Isaiah prophesies the downfall of the king of Assyria
v.9-13
Sennacherib tells Hezekiah not to think he's safe
v.14-20
Hezekiah prays
v.21-29
The Lord speaks a word against Sennacherib
[Introductory
Comment: This
chapter follows directly on from the previous one with the king
turning for spiritual help from Isaiah [v.1-4] who simply prophesies
the downfall and death of the king of Assyria [v.5-8]. When Assyria
has to attend to other opposition, the king warns Hezekiah against
feeling complacent [v.9-13]. The provokes Hezekiah to pray [v.14-20]
and the Lord concludes with a further word against Assyria's king
[v.21-29]. God is Lord, not the king of Assyria!]
v.1-4
Hezekiah sends to Isaiah for help
v.1
When
King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth
and went into the temple of the Lord .
v.2
He
sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and
the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah
son of Amoz.
v.3
They
told him, ‘This is what Hezekiah says: this day is a day of distress
and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of
birth and there is no strength to deliver them.
v.4
It
may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the field
commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule
the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the
Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still
survives.'
[Notes:
When
Hezekiah hears the report from his officials he sends to Isaiah
with a request that he will seek the Lord for help.]
v.5-8
Isaiah prophesies the downfall of the king of Assyria
v.5
When
King Hezekiah's officials came to Isaiah,
v.6
Isaiah
said to them, ‘Tell your master, “This is what the Lord says:
do not be afraid of what you have heard – those words with
which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
v.7
Listen!
When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return
to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the
sword.”'
v.8
When
the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish,
he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.
[Notes:
Isaiah
prophesies that God says that the Assyrian king will hear a report
that causes him to return home where he will be killed.]
v.9-13
Sennacherib tells Hezekiah not to think he's safe
v.9
Now
Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush,
was marching out to fight against him. When he heard it, he sent
messengers to Hezekiah with this word:
v.10
‘Say
to Hezekiah king of Judah: do not let the god you depend on deceive
you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hands
of the king of Assyria.”
v.11
Surely
you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the
countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered?
v.12
Did
the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors
deliver them – the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and the
people of Eden who were in Tel Assar?
v.13
Where
is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings
of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?'
[Notes:
The
king of Syria hears that another king is coming to attack him
and realises he will have to go out against him and thus leave
off his attack on Jerusalem. But he doesn't want to lose face
before Hezekiah and so implies he will be back to finish the job.
He declares his unbelief in respect of the Lord [v.10], looking
instead to what they have achieved so far despite the gods of
the other nations [v.11-13].
v.14-20
Hezekiah prays
v.14
Hezekiah
received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went
up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.
v.15
And
Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:
v.16 [he
first declares the Lord's greatness] ‘Lord
Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you
alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made
heaven and earth.
v.17
[he
asks the Lord to note what the enemy has said] Give
ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to
all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.
v.18
[he acknowledges their
victories] ‘It is true, Lord,
that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and
their lands.
v.19
They
have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they
were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.
v.20
[But
now he asks the Lord to intervene on their behalf] Now,
Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms
of the earth may know that you, Lord, are the only God.'
[Notes:
There
is a similarity here with the prayer of the early Christians in
Acts 4:24- as they first glorify God [v.24], acknowledge the enemy's
activities [v.27], asked the Lord to listen to their enemies [v.29]
and asked Him to intervene [v.30]. It is a prayer of dependance
on the all-powerful God.]
v.21-29
The Lord speaks a word against Sennacherib
v.21
Then
Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: ‘This is what the
Lord , the God of Israel, says: because you have prayed to me
concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,
v.22
this
is the word the Lord has spoken against him:
[we
mock you retreating king] ‘Virgin
Daughter Zion
despises and mocks you.
Daughter Jerusalem
tosses her head as you flee.
v.23 [you
clearly don't realise who you are against – Almighty God!]
Who is it you have ridiculed and
blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
v.24 [you
have ridiculed Him and boasted of your power] By
your messengers
you have ridiculed the Lord.
And you have said,
“With my many chariots
I have ascended the heights of the mountains,
the utmost heights of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
the choicest of its junipers.
I have reached its remotest heights,
the finest of its forests.
v.25 I
have dug wells in foreign lands
and drunk the water there.
With the soles of my feet
I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”
v.26
[Don't you realise God
has planned all this to discipline peoples] ‘Have
you not heard?
Long ago I ordained it.
In days of old I planned it;
now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
into piles of stone.
v.27 Their
people, drained of power,
are dismayed and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field,
like tender green shoots,
like grass sprouting on the roof,
scorched before it grows up.
v.28
[…but I know everything
about you…] ‘But I know where
you are
and when you come and go
and how you rage against me.
v.29 [puny
man, because you insult me I'll turn you round] Because
you rage against me
and because your insolence has reached
my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and I will make you return
by the way you came.
[Notes:
There
is a delightful disdaining of the enemy in this prophecy, mocking
his pride and his puny activities, not having realised that God
allowed him to invade other lands to discipline those lands.]
v.30-32
The Lord declares within three years it will be safe to sow
v.30
‘This
will be the sign for you, Hezekiah:
‘This
year you will eat what grows by itself,
and the second year what springs from
that.
But in the third year sow and reap,
plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
v.31
Once
more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah
will take root below and bear fruit above.
v.32
For
out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,
and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
[Notes:
Three
years from now [v.30] security will return to Judah when the faithful
remnant will be established.]
v.33-35
The Lord declares Jerusalem safe from this king of Assyria
v.33
‘Therefore
this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria:
‘He
will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
or build a siege ramp against it.
v.34
By
the way that he came he will return;
he will not enter this city,'
declares the Lord.
v.35
‘I
will defend this city and save it,
for my sake and for the sake of David
my servant!'
[Notes:
It
is a simple declaration from the Lord through Isaiah that this
king will never enter Jerusalem because he will simply return
home. Previously He had declared [v.7] that the king would be
killed when he returned home.]
v.36-38
God acts in judgment, the king return home and is murdered
v.36
Then
the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and
eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got
up the next morning – there were all the dead bodies!
v.37
So
Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned
to Nineveh and stayed there.
v.38
One
day, while he was worshipping in the temple of his god Nisrok,
his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and
they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded
him as king.
[Notes:
The
word of God – after God intervenes against the Assyrian army –
is perfectly fulfilled.]
CONTINUE
TO CHAPTER 38