Old Testament Commentary - Isaiah 37

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 37 Hezekiah seeks counsel from Isaiah to save Jerusalem—Isaiah prophesies defeat of Assyrians and death of Sennacherib—Hezekiah prays for deliverance—Sennacherib sends a blasphemous letter—Isaiah prophesies destruction of Assyrians, and that a remnant of Judah will flourish—An angel slays 185,000 Assyrians—Sennacherib slain by his sons.
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. 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.
3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of ^atrouble, and of rebuke, and of ^bblasphemy: for the children are come to ^cthe birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. 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. 5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 ¶ And ^aIsaiah 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. 7 Behold, I will ^asend a blast upon him, and he shall hear a ^brumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
8 ¶ So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. 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, 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.
11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?
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. 15 And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying, 16 O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, *that dwellest between* the ^acherubims^a*, thou art* the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.	*16^a that dwellst between* the cherubims** The itallisized 'between' is added by translators per their understanding. It is true that in the Holy of Holies the Lord does dwell between the two angels whoses wings do surround the mercy seat but this is but the earthly symbolic representation of the heavenly throne and dwelling place of God on high which is that heaven among the angels on high. In either case it is a reference to God and his dwelling place, either that center in the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle/temple or that grand heaven of God above.
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 ^areproach the living God. 18 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their ^acountries, 19 And have cast their gods into the fire: for *they were* no ^agods^a*, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. 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.	*19^a they were* no gods** This is no God but God, there are no other Gods whether made by the hand of the contrivance of the minds of men. This fact has been corrupted by those who would worship false contrivances of god. Today man in his 'all wise' pride of self has set forth that there is no god at all, but logic denies them this. If there is man then there is a man who stands as the most intellect and advances of men. Certainly man is no acient of nature alone in this vast universe and in the realm of eternity certianly the intelligence of man is or has advanced to overcome even death and the grave. If men so think and strive to do so today within the limited confines of this simgle earth among an infinity of such, then certainly at some time in the past of eternity man has prevailed and become suppreme above all else. This 'Man' is God. If man can think to do so in the pride of their heart, God has done so already. Only the humility of man will allow him to see this truth so expressed by Abraham to the Egyptians that if one man is above the other in intelligence, then there is such of men continuously all the way until one reaches God who is more intelligent than they all (Abraham 3:19).
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: 22 This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; ^aThe virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. 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.
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 ^acedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel. 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. 26 Hast thou not heard long ago, how ^aI 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.
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. 28 But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. 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.
30 And this shall be a sign unto ^athee, 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. 31 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward: 32 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a ^aremnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the ^bzeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.
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 ^abank against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.
35 For I will ^adefend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake^a. 36 Then the ^aangel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the ^bAssyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when ^cthey arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.	35^a I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake Jerusalem, the city of Israel in the east, has much more far reaching significants than we may be aware of. From before the foundation of the world the name Jerusalem has been associated with the followers of Christ, that is Jehovah who is the same as Jesus Christ (see commentary Zechariah 3:2). That Jerusalem, and the land thereof should be preserved for the coming day of Jesus' birth and ministry in the meridian of time is certainly one great asspect of why the 'city' was to be defended and preserved. But beyond that it is the whole 'community of Christ', the whole of the followers of Jehovah from the beginning that Jerusalem is to be preserved for. And just as the New Jerusalem in America will be the 'host' of the return of the city of Enoch, so also we may look to the Jerusalem in Palestine to be the 'host' for the return of the City of Peace of Melechizedek. Both of those translated cities also bare 'his name' the very name of his people, even 'Jerusalem'. And in this more universal sense 'the preservation of Jerusalem' is but the keeping and the fulfilling of the greater 'Everlasting Covenant' of God which is the very Plan of God toward the eternal life and exaltation of man. And in this the preservation of Jerusalem is esential, it being that very community which is the people who are Christ's and of Christ's salvation.
37 ¶ So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. 38 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping 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 Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.