The historical account described in these chapters presents a case study of the right response to the truth set forth in chapters 13-35: trust in the Lord for salvation rather than any nation (including your own). The action picks up in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, when armies of the mighty Assyrians were plowing down the surrounding nations and Israelite cities. From their field headquarters near the city of Lachish, King Sennacherib sends one of his commanders (the “Rabshakeh”) as an envoy to demand the surrender of Jerusalem (36:2). In an ironic occurrence, the Assyrian commander delivers his ultimatum while standing “by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field” (36:2). This was the very location Isaiah had spoken to a faithless king Ahaz (7:3). Would Hezekiah respond any differently than Ahaz to the imminent threat of an invading army?
The Assyrian commander issues a trash-talking ultimatum to the officials of Jerusalem (Eliakim, Shebna and Joah—36:3) and to the soldiers stationed on the walls (36:11). He disparages Hezekiah for daring to stand against “the great king, the king of Assyria” (36:4). Ridiculing Hezekiah for trusting in Egypt (36:6—a false charge in Hezekiah’s case) and in the Lord (36:7—an accurate accusation), the commander belittles any chance of resistance against Assyria: “Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria; I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able to n your part to set riders on them” (36:8). The commander closes out his initial speech with a subversive comment that Assyria was attacking Jerusalem at the Lord’s command: “The Lord said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it” (36:10).
Eliakim, Shebna and Joah plead with the Rabshakeh to speak in Aramaic rather than Hebrew, not wanting the troops on the wall to be disheartened by these ominous threats. However, the Assyrian commander does just the opposite; he addresses the Judean soldiers within earshot, inviting them to surrender and receive mercy (a peaceful deportation) rather than resist and die a grisly death (see 36:12). He closes his second speech by listing the defeated nations that had relied on their gods but still been steamrolled by the Assyrian army (36:19). In light of this, what chance does Jerusalem have believing the Lord would deliver the city (36:20).
When king Hezekiah receives the report of his officials, he tears his clothes, puts on sackcloth and heads straight for the house of the Lord (37:1). He dispatches Eliakim, Shebna, and senior priests to seek out Isaiah, asking him to pray to the Lord for His help (37:3-4). Hezekiah emphasizes how the Assyrians were mocking the “living God” (37:40). Isaiah responds with the assurance from the Lord that Hezekiah need not “be afraid” (37:6). The Lord has indeed taken note “of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me” (37:6). The Lord promises to stir up the Assyrian king (“I will put a spirit in him”) so that he departs for his homeland where he will fall by the sword (37:7).
Receiving no favourable reply, the Rabshakeh returns to Sennacherib’s camp which had moved to Libnah from Lachish. The Assyrians had heard a rumor that Tirhakah was coming from Cush/Egypt to attack. With this new development, Sennacherib sends a letter to Hezekiah telling him not to consider this temporary reprieve a victory. He affirms that he will come and take Jerusalem and that the Lord, like every other god he and his fathers have defeated, will not be able to deliver them from his hand (37:10-13).
Hezekiah takes the letter into the Temple of the Lord, spreading it out before the Lord and praying for God’s help. His prayer affirms the majestic, absolute sovereignty of YHWH who is “enthroned above the cherubim” (37:16). Perhaps Isaiah had reported or recorded his vision of God (6:1-6) for Hezekiah and others to read. Hezekiah’s prayer shows he sees all other gods as simply the “work of men’s hands” (37:19). He implores the Lord to deliver Jerusalem “that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord” (20).
Isaiah sends word to Hezekiah that the Lord has indeed heard his prayer and will deliver His people (37:22-29). In the lengthy reply, the Lord dismisses the proud boasts of Sennacherib by revealing that He had determined “long ago” (37:26) to allow Assyria to prevail against other kings. God is controlling the events of history. What’s more, the Lord is monitoring Sennacherib’s “sitting down” and “going out” (37:28). He has heard the Assyrian king’s “raging” against him (37:28). As such, the Lord will treat him like an animal, putting “a hook in your nose and a bit in your mouth” and leading him back where he came from (37:29).
The Lord’s message through Isaiah is not finished yet. Though given in prose rather than poetry, verses 30-35 provide Hezekiah with a sign (37:30): the people in Jerusalem will survive by eating what grows in their fields (without fresh plantings) for the coming year and the following year. But the “third year” they will return to a more normal sowing and reaping (37:30). God will indeed preserve a “remnant” in Zion, a “band of survivors” that evidence God’s zeal to protect His people (37:32).
Further, the Assyrian armies would never even make it to Jerusalem. Currently, they were camped near Libnah (likely near the coast). The Lord promises these armies would 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” (37:33). Instead, they would return home the way they came for the Lord would “defend this city to save it, for my own sake and the for the sake of my servant David” (37:35).
Sometime after this—we are not told when—the “angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians” (37:36). Sennacherib and his remaining troops leave the dead bodies lying on the ground and head for home. The Lord is not finished judging this arrogant king. As he is in the house of his god Nisroch, Sennacherib is struck down and killed by two of his sons. Another son, Esarhaddon, reigns in his place. While Nisroch can’t protect Sennacherib, the Lord delivers Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem.
Behold Your God
The Lord alone is the God of all the kingdoms of the earth. The king and captains of Assyria foolishly mock the Hezekiah’s God as just another impotent deity, unable to deliver his people from the Assyrian armies. How wrong they were. The Lord demonstrates his holiness, doing with no man-made gods of wood and stone can do: He defends His people and defeats His enemies. He vindicates His honour and displays His glory in a memorable way. The Assyrian king who exalted himself above Israel’s God sees his armies decimated without a battle and is assassinated while worshiping an idol that can’t protect him.
The Lord hears the desperate prayers of those who trust in Him. Hezekiah’s response to the Assyrian threat is to immediately call for prayer from Isaiah (37:2) and to head to the Temple to pray (37:14). Isaiah brings God’s answer to the king: “Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib the king of Assyria, this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him” (37:22). Prayer makes a difference when it is directed to the Lord from a trusting heart.
The Lord’s answers to prayer can change things suddenly or gradually. In response to Hezekiah’s prayer the Lord brings sudden, overnight death and destruction to the Assyrian forces; 185,000 troops die in an evening, without human intervention (37:36). While this deliverance came suddenly, the national recovery would come much more gradually. God gives his frightened people a sign for good: “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” (37:30). This would seem to indicate their return to normal would take several years. Crops would not be planted for the next two years. The Lord brings restoration to the economy, but not nearly as quickly as He brought decimation to the Assyrian troops.
Here Am I
Because God hears and answers desperate prayers, I desperately want to pray. The Lord’s answer to Hezekiah through Isaiah reminds me of the difference our prayers can make: “Because you have prayed to me. . .” (37:21). Would things have turned out differently if Hezekiah had not prayed? We don’t know. What we do know is that God mentions his prayer as playing into His defeat of Sennacherib. So, I need to pray, looking to the Lord as my Help and Deliverer.
As I pray for deliverance, I must have a heart for God’s glory. Hezekiah asks God to intervene and save Israel from the Assyrian armies, “that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord” (37:20). God’s glory is seen as He shows His saving power for His people. As I make my appeal for God’s help, I should link my request to the greater request that He would be glorified on the earth.
Rick and Linda Reed 