Tyndale Open Study NotesIsaiah 37

Jerusalem’s rescue from King Sennacherib of Assyria is a main event in Isaiah 1–39. The Lord promised to save his people. He would remain present with Jerusalem (see 7:14). He would also keep a remnant, a small group who would survive (see study note on Isaiah 10:20).

Much of the land became empty and the population greatly reduced. This happened because Judah made a foolish alliance with Assyria (chapters 7–8). Even so, the Lord did not allow total defeat. He preserved his people through Hezekiah, a faithful king.

Hezekiah faced the same kind of test that King Ahaz had faced. It was a test of trust in the Lord. In chapter 36, the Assyrian officer repeats the word trust as he challenges the people. But Hezekiah had learned from the earlier warnings in chapters 13–35. At least at first, he trusted God and passed the test.

This story also appears in 2 Kings 18:13–20:19.

• Hezekiah responded to the threats by seeking the Lord’s favor.

• The king tore his clothes and wore sackcloth as a sign of mourning and prayer.

Perhaps … God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh … defy the living God: Hezekiah's hope was not based on Judah's or his own goodness, nor on the presence of the temple in Jerusalem. Instead, it was based on God responding to Assyria's disrespect.

God answered that he would deal with the Assyrians and rescue the remnant of his people from their distress (see Isaiah 63:9).

Libnah was a city on the Philistine plain near Lachish. Sennacherib was preparing to fight both Egypt and Jerusalem when he sent word to Hezekiah.

King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was then the ruler of Egypt.

• The argument was that Judah's god, like the gods of other nations already conquered by Assyria, would not be able to save Judah (see also Isaiah 36:18–20).

• Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, Eden, and Telassar were cities in Mesopotamia.

When Hezekiah received Sennacherib’s boastful threat, he went back to the temple and prayed for help. His prayer was different from Ahaz’s reaction to danger decades earlier (see Isaiah 7).

• God of Israel: Hezekiah did not believe Sennacherib's false claims that the Lord was powerless. In his prayer, Hezekiah recognized that the Lord, as the creator, is the God of all the earth's kingdoms. The Lord rules over all kingdoms.

• The mighty cherubim were in the temple on top of the ark of the covenant, which was God's throne in his temple (see study note on Leviticus 16:2; see also Psalms 80:1; 99:1).

You alone, O LORD, are God: Hezekiah cared about the Lord's reputation, which Sennacherib had insulted. Hezekiah understood that if the Lord defeated the Assyrians and their gods, His holy name would be honored worldwide (see Exodus 9:16; 14:4, 17–18; Joshua 2:9–11; 1 Samuel 4:7–8).

Because you have prayed: Prayer has great power. God heard Hezekiah’s prayer and responded.

The Lord answered him with a message of hope.

The Virgin Daughter of Zion: Jerusalem is described as a young woman who taunts the Assyrian king (see also Isaiah 3:26).

Against whom: Sennacherib’s speech was not so much an insult against Judah as it was against the Lord.

Isaiah seems to be familiar with the typical royal Assyrian boasts, including that they possessed the highest mountains. These words sound very much like those found in the annals of the Assyrian kings inscribed on the walls of their temples.

I have dug wells … I have dried up all the streams of Egypt: Sennacherib's boasts show his attitude of independence. However, the Lord alone is sovereign over nature (Isaiah 42:15; 43:19; 44:27).

I planned … that you should crush … into piles of rubble: Assyria was God's agent of destruction, but the Assyrians did not understand they were just a tool in God's hand (see Isaiah 10), carrying out what God had planned long ago (Isaiah 14:24–27).

your raging against Me: Assyria was completely hostile to the Lord, which led to even greater condemnation for them.

My hook … My bit: The Assyrians would be taken away like animals, just as they had done to many of their captives.

In this prophecy of salvation, Isaiah assured Hezekiah that Jerusalem would be spared and that the remnant was under God’s protection.

The names of Isaiah and his sons anticipated God's rescue (see Isaiah 7:1–11:16). The book’s record of God’s presence and rescue provided assurance that the Lord would always have a remnant that he will protect and rescue.

This year … the second year … the third year: Due to the Assyrian siege and its impact on farming, the people of Judah could not plant and harvest as usual. The promise that life would return to normal after the siege reassured them that God was with them and would provide for their daily needs. They needed to build their trust in God over three years, believing that God's word would come true (see Isaiah 30:15, 18).

The idea was that after escaping the Assyrians, it would be too late to plant in the current year. They would have to wait until the fall of the second year to plant again and would harvest their first crop in the spring and summer of the third year.

The passionate commitment of God includes his energetic zeal to keep his promise, the best guarantee his people could ever have (see also Isaiah 9:7).

He will not enter … arrow … shield … siege ramp: Despite their advanced military technology and great power, the Assyrians did not succeed against Jerusalem.

for the sake of My servant David: God had made a promise to David. He said that David’s royal family would continue forever (see Isaiah 9:6–7; 2 Samuel 7:8–17).

• The angel of the Lord was a special heavenly messenger through whom God acted on earth. Often, he delivered important messages (see Genesis 16:7–14), but sometimes he brought judgment (see 2 Samuel 24:16).

• struck down 185,000 men: The Lord began to fulfill his repeated promises: rescue of Jerusalem and judgment of Assyria (see Isaiah 10:16, 33–34; 30:31; 31:8).

• One day: Sennacherib was likely killed in 681 BC, about twenty years after he left Jerusalem.

• Esarhaddon ruled Assyria from 680 to 669 BC. It is ironic that Sennacherib, who mocked the Lord, was killed by his sons in the temple of his own god.