37:1. “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 the Lord.”
The torn clothes speak of
confessed imperfect righteousness; the sackcloth, of genuine repentance; and
his going into the house of the Lord speaks of approach to God in humble
acknowledgement of need. This is the pattern for us when we approach God,
not just in times of heart-felt need, but always.
37:2. “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 prophet, the
son of Amoz.”
Eliakim means God will
establish; Shebna, who built; tarry, I pray; Isaiah, save thou
Jehovah; and Amoz to be strong: courageous, meanings
having a good connotation. Isaiah is here a type of the Lord Jesus Christ,
Who is the mediator between God and men, 1 Timothy 2:5, and the lesson being
taught here is that He is the One to whom we should go in every difficulty.
37:3. “And
they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and
of rebuke, and of blasphemy; for the children are come to the birth, and
there is not strength to bring forth.”
“... blasphemy” is also
rendered contumely, reproach, reviling, despising, disgrace, contempt,
frustration, all of these describing not only the plight of Israel, but
also the attitude of the Assyrian towards Israel’s God. The Jews
predicament was like that of a woman, who in spite of hard labor, was unable
to deliver the child.
37:4. “It may
be the Lord, thy God, will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of
Assyria, his master, hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove
the words which the Lord, thy God, hath heard; wherefore lift up thy prayer
for the remnant that is left.”
Their coming to Isaiah,
begging him to pray for them, implies their awareness that their own conduct
had robbed them of the right to approach Jehovah with any expectation of His
responding favorably to their prayer; and surely we must confess that all
too often we have found ourselves in the same position. But as they had an
intermediary to whom they could go, so do we, Scripture itself assuring us
that, “.... there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus,” 1 Timothy 2:5.
37:5. “So the
servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.”
37:6. “And
Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the
Lord, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the
servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.”
To blaspheme is to
revile, speak against. In the final analysis Assyria’s quarrel was with
Jehovah, not with His people Israel, relative to whom it is written, “...
for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his (God’s) eye,” Zechariah
2:8, a comforting assurance which apples to us also.
37:7. “Behold
I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor, and return to his
own land; And I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”
The “blast” came in the
form of news that his own country was being invaded, so that he had to
abandon his attack on Israel and hurry back to repel that invader; but what
he didn’t know was that he had little time left to live, for shortly after
returning home he was slain by his two sons, see
verse 38.
37:8. “So
Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah;
for he had heard that he was departed from
Lachish.”
When Rabshakeh returned he
found that Sennacherib his king had left Lachish, and was besieging Libnah,
a city of Judah.
37:9. “And he
heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war
with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,”
Tirhakah means he
searched out the pious: he searched out the one who waits; and Ethiopia
means black, meanings which point to him as being a type of Satan who
rules over the kingdom of darkness, and who searches out, with intent to
destroy or injure, those who belong to Christ, and who wait upon His
ordering of their lives.
37:10. “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.”
Upon learning of
Tirhakah’s approach against Sennacherib, Rabshakeh was about to go to his
master’s aid, but before leaving he warned the Jews not to imagine that he
was finished with them: he meant to return and chastise them further.
37:11.
“Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by
destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?”
He reminded Israel that
since Assyria had destroyed nations greater than she, it would be folly on
her part to imagine that she would be delivered out of his hand.
37:12. “Have
the gods of the nations delivered them that my fathers have destroyed, as
Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in
Telessar?”
37:13. “Where
is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of
Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”
This list of nations which
Assyria had already destroyed was meant to impress still further upon Israel
the impossibility of her escaping the same fate.
37:14. “And
Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it;
and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the
Lord.”
We would be wise to follow
his example relative to every problem or threat that confronts us, for He
will either intervene Himself on our behalf, or reveal to us the course of
action we ourselves are to take.
37:15. “And
Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying,”
37:16. “O Lord
of hosts, God of Israel; that dwellest between the cherubim, thou art the
God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made
heaven and earth.”
He began his prayer by
declaring his acknowledgement of God’s omnipotence, and his rejection of the
so-called gods of the nations: a tacit expression of his confidence in God’s
ability to deliver Israel out of the hand of the oppressor. We would enjoy
a far greater measure of peace were we imbued with that same confidence,
that nothing can happen without God’s permission or direction, and that He
orders the circumstances of our lives for His own glory and our ultimate
blessing.
37:17.
“Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open thine eyes, O Lord, and see; and
hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living
God.”
“... to reproach” is to
defy, taunt, insult, mock. Hezekiah’s first concern was for the
maintenance of God’s honor, a fact which indicates his confidence that
Israel’s preservation was inseparably linked with that honor. The
Israelites were His people, and His honor would be impugned were she to be
destroyed.
37:18. “Of a
truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their
countries.”
37:19. “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 have destroyed them.”
While not attempting to
minimize its military might, Hezekiah nevertheless pointed out that the
so-called “gods” Assyria had destroyed weren’t gods at all, but merely dead
figures carved out of wood and stone by their deluded votaries.
37:20. “Now
therefore, O Lord, our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of
the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only.”
God’s honor continued to
have first place in Hezekiah’s mind, and what happened to Israel was
inextricably linked with that honor, for if she were delivered into the hand
of the Assyrians the nations would conclude that the god of the Assyrians
was more powerful than Jehovah. That same spirit of jealously for God’s
honor is conspicuously absent from Christendom today, for He is as much
dishonored by the disobedience of professing Christians as He is by the
careless indifference of the unconverted.
37:21. “Then
Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God
of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib, king of
Assyria:”
37:22. “This
is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him: the virgin, the
daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the
daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.”
God’s response to the King
was the certainty that He, Jehovah, would answer his prayer, and vindicate
Israel beyond Hezekiah’s greatest expectation; and His similar comfort to us
is conveyed in the assurance recorded in Ephesians 3:20, that God, “... is
able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think ....”
“... hath shaken her head
at thee,” is also translated “has made sport of you, and tosses her head in
scorn as you retreat.”
37:23. “Whom
hast thou reproached and blasphemed? And against whom hast thou exalted thy
voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of
Israel.”
The jeering Assyrian was
about to be dramatically silenced, for in taunting Israel he was also
mocking her God, “For thus saith the Lord of hosts; After the glory hath he
sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you
toucheth the apple of his eye,” Zechariah 2:8.
37:24. “By thy
servants hast thou reproached the Lord and hast said, By the multitude of my
chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of
Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir
trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the
forest of his Carmel.”
In the present context
“reproach” means to boast against, to defy, insult, mock, taunt.”
The trees mentioned here
are generally understood to be metaphoric references to the Assyrian’s
purposed slaughter of all ranks of the people, and since Carmel means
fruitful field, the utter devastation of the land is implied.
37:25. “I have
digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all
the rivers of the besieged places.”
This is also translated,
“I have made water-holes and taken their waters,” “wells you’ve dug in
conquered lands,” “Egypt with all its armies is no obstacle ....”
37:26. “Hast
thou not heard long ago, how I have done it, and of ancient times, that I
have formed it? Now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to
lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps. ”
It is generally agreed
that the Speaker here is Jehovah, Taylor’s rendering being, “But do you not
yet know that it was I who decided all this long ago? That it was I who gave
you all this power from ancient times?” The most cunningly devised plans
can’t change God’s purposes, nor can men do anything apart from His
direction or permission.
37:27.
“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 corn blasted before it be grown up.”
The conquered cities had
been overcome, not because of superior might on the part of Sennacherib, but
because God had so ordered it for the accomplishment of His own purposes.
This however, should not be taken to mean that man doesn’t have a free
will. He does; but such is God’s omnipotence that He can allow man
free-willed choice, and still use those choices for the accomplishment of
His own grand designs. When however, that freedom produces reckless
contempt of God to the point where His patience becomes exhausted, He will
execute judgment, see verse 29.
37:28. “But I
know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against
me.”
By His omniscience God
foreknows what each man will do, while leaving each one free to make his own
choices; and Sennacherib was no exception. Nothing man does ever takes God
by surprise.
37:29.
“Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is 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.”
“... tumult” is also
rendered contempt, arrogance, insolence, fury, proud ravings.
Sennacherib had exhausted God’s patience, and was now to become the object
of His righteous wrath. His captain Rabshakeh was going to be compelled to
return to his own country and be among the 185,000 whom God was about to
slay in one night, see verse 36.
“... my hook in thy nose”
is believed by many commentators to be related to the fact that the
Assyrians are reported to have led their prisoners by means of hooks through
their noses, and God was now repaying them in kind.
God’s warning to all men
is, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man,” Genesis 6:3; “He who being
often reproved hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that
without remedy,” Proverbs 29:1; “It is a fearful thing to fall into the
hands of the living God,” Hebrews 10:31.
37:30. “And
this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of
itself; and 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.”
Taylor has translated this
verse, “This year he will abandon his siege. Although it is too late now to
plant your crops, and you will have only volunteer grain this fall, still it
will give you enough seed for a small harvest next year, and two years from
now you will be living in luxury again.”
37:31. “And
the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root
downward, and bear fruit upward;”
Moffatt’s translation
reads, “And what survives of the house of Judah, the remnant, shall once
more strike down its roots and then rise to be fruitful.”
37:32. “For
out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of Mount
Zion; the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.”
God would not permit
Israel to be destroyed, but would preserve a remnant to be the nucleus of
the spared and revived nation.
37:33.
“Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not
come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with
shields, nor cast a bank against it.”
This promise was designed
to allay the apprehension of His people. God would not permit the enemy to
enter Jerusalem.
37:34. “By the
way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this
city, saith the Lord.”
This reiteration of the
promise was to emphasize the certainty of God’s protection of His own.
37:35. “For I
will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant
David’s sake.”
The king who will reign in
Jerusalem during the Millennium will be a descendant of David who is a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ, for whose sake God also preserves believers of
this present dispensation.
37:36.
“Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the
Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand; and when they arose
early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.”
In Ephesians 3:20 we are
reminded that God “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask
or think ....” and surely this destruction of the Assyrian army is an
outstanding example of His miraculous intervention on behalf of His own
beyond their wildest dreams.
37:37. “So
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at
Nineveh.”
Sennacherib means the
thorn laid waste, and surely no more appropriate name could have been
given him, for thorns are symbolic of a curse, and he whose hatred of Israel
had made him accursed in God’s sight was indeed “a thorn laid waste,” as is
recorded in verse 38.
37:38.
“And it came to pass, as he was worshiping 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 Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his
stead.”
Nisroch means ensign of
delicateness; Adrammelech, the glorious king: glory of the king;
Sharezer, he beheld treasure; Armenia, the curse reversed:
precipitation of curse; Esarhaddon, captivity of the fierce: I will
chastize the fierce.
I believe that there is
spiritual significance attached to all of these names, as there is to every
Biblical name, but I regret being unable to determine what that lesson is
here.
