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ISAIAH CHAPTER 37
OBSERVATION STAGE
The purpose of
the observation stage is to maintain focus on the text at hand within the
normative rules of language, context and logic 
.
.This
limits the observer to the content offered by the book of Isaiah. This
will serve to avoid going on unnecessary tangents elsewhere; and more
importantly, it will provide the framework for a proper and objective
comparison with passages located elsewhere in Scripture.
Remember that something elsewhere may be true, but in the text at hand it may not be in view.
The subject matter of Isaiah chapters 8 & 10, which was available for the people of Judah to know, is directly related to that of chapters 36 & 37 relative to ancient Assyria's rampage through the fortified cities of Judah, and the great army of Assyria set to do battle at the gates of Jerusalem when Hezekiah was king. For in chapters 8 & 10, Isaiah encouraged the people of Judah to trust in the LORD's promise of deliverance of Jerusalem and its people from Assyria:
****** EXCERPTS FROM ISAIAH CHAPTERS 8 AND 10 ******
Or
skip to the beginning of chapter 37: 
(Isa 7:14 YLT) '''Therefore the Lord Himself [is giving] to you [plural, i.e., Judah] a sign, [behold], the Virgin [the pregnant one] [the one giving birth to] a son, And she [has called] his name Immanuel. (Isa 7:15 NKJV) Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. (Isa 7:16 NKJV) For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings... (Isa 8:1 NKJV) Moreover the Lord said to me, "Take a large [tablet], and write on it with [an engraving tool] of man [i.e., in the language of the common man] 'Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz' [lit., 'quick to plunder, swift to the spoil']." (Isa 8:2 NKJV) And I [Isaiah] will take for myself faithful witnesses to [bear witness]: Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. (Isa 8:3 NKJV) Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, "Call his name Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz; (Isa 8:4 NKJV) for before the child shall have knowledge to cry 'My father' and 'My mother,' the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be taken away before the king of Assyria. (Isa 8:5 NKJV) "The Lord also spoke to me again, saying: (Isa 8:6 NKJV) "Inasmuch as these people [Israelites of Northern Israel] refused The waters of Shiloah that flow softly, And rejoice in Rezin and in Remaliah's son; (Isa 8:7 NKJV) Now therefore, behold, the Lord [bringing] up over them The waters of the River, mighty and great... king of Assyria and all his glory; He [ascends] all his channels And goes over all his [river] banks. (Isa 8:8 NKJV) He [passes] through Judah, He [overflows] and [passes through], He [is touching] up to the neck; ... the stretching out of His wings Will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel. (Isa 8:9 NKJV) Be shattered, O you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Give ear, all you from far countries. Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces; Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces. (Isa 8:10 NKJV) Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;" Speak the word, but it will not stand, For God is with us. (Isa 8:11 NKJV) For the Lord spoke thus to me [Isaiah] with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people [of both houses of Israel], [the LORD said] [to Isaiah]: (Isa 8:12 NKJV) "Do not say '[an unlawful alliance]' concerning all that this people call [an unlawful alliance - referring to the alliance between Aram and Ephraim against Judah], Nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled." (Isa 8:13 NKJV) The LORD of hosts, Him you shall [sanctify, i.e., set apart as God] [Let] Him [be] your fear, and [let] Him [be] your dread. (Isa 8:14 NKJV) He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of [striking] and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. (Isa 8:15 NKJV) And many among them shall stumble; They shall fall and be broken, Be snared and taken.''' =
The phrase "these people" in Isa 8:6 refers to the Israelites of the Northern Kingdom, i.e., Samaria. They were described as having "refused the waters of Shiloah [i.e., Siloam] that flow softly." Since the waters of Shiloah were a spring that fed a small reservoir within Jerusalem's walls, hence a figure of speech for Jerusalem, i.e., the kingdom of Judah; then to refuse the waters of Shiloah is to reject being aligned with the people of the LORD in Judah. So the phrase rendered "Inasmuch as these people [Israelites of Northern Israel] refused The waters of Shiloah that flow softly, And rejoice in Rezin and in Remaliah's son" indicates that the people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel had rejected their relationship and alliance with God and His chosen people in Judah. They had rejoiced amongst themselves in their alliance with Rezin, king of Aram to conquer and rule over Judah, (cf. Isa 7:1). And they had rejoiced in their own king, (Pekah) son of Ramaliah who made that foolish alliance which did not accomplish its purpose, (Isa 8:5-6).
(Isa 7:1 NKJV) "Now it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Ramaliah, [and] king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but could not prevail against it."
The LORD goes on to tell Isaiah that He will overflow, i.e., flood the kingdoms of Aram and Israel with "the waters of the River, mighty and great" traditionally referring to the Euphrates, the greatest river of that area of the world which flowed through the kingdom of Assyria, hence a figure of speech for Assyria, (cf. Isa 8:7b).
So the LORD would bring the armies of Assyria to ascend and overflow into the kingdoms of Ephraim and Aram in 732 B.C. and 734 B.C. respectively, (Isa 8:7; cf. 7:17). The armies would pass through Judah in 701 B.C. "up to the neck," (for above the neck was the capital of Judah, Jerusalem, elevated on hills, being the head), (Isa 8:8c). The phrase rendered "The stretching out of His wings Will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel" at the end of Isa 8:8 conveys an image of the LORD protecting Jerusalem against the onslaught of Assyrian stopping it short of conquering Jerusalem. The phrase rendered "O Immanuel" at the end of verse 8 which means "God is with us" conveys to Judah that the LORD would protect His people as promised - from Aram and Ephraim and Assyria, (cf. Isa 3:17). This message is corroborated in Isa 7:14 and 8:9-15; (Isa 8:8).
Isaiah goes on to report that the LORD said to those far away peoples who would try to conquer Judah, (Isa 8:9 NKJV) "Be shattered, O you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Give ear, all you from far countries. Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces; Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces. (Isa 8:10 NKJV) Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; Speak the word, but it will not stand, For God is with us.." Isaiah explains that God is with Judah, His people, and warns that those who try to conquer Judah will be broken into pieces, (Isa 7:8, 10; 8:9-10).
Isaiah went on to explain that the LORD told him and the people of Judah, (verbs are plural), not to walk in such an unfaithful manner as those people from Aram and Ephraim, who conspired to attack Judah. Note that the word rendered "conspiracy" from the Hebrew word "qesher" means an unlawful alliance, a conspiracy referring to the ungodly alliance of Aram and Ephraim. Since it had already been established that there was a conspiracy between Aram and Ephraim to the extent that these two kingdoms actually waged war on Jerusalem, (Isa 7:1, 8:6), then the word cannot mean confederacy as some maintain. So when Isaiah went on to say that that the LORD told him, (Isa 8:12 NKJV) "Do not say '[an unlawful alliance]' concerning all that this people call [an unlawful alliance - referring to the alliance between Aram and Ephraim against Judah], Nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled;" he could not be contradicting the clear evidence of the combined attack of Aram and Ephraim on Judah. The LORD had commanded Isaiah and His people, ("this people [who are] calling [this alliance between Aram and Ephraim a conspiracy") to not speak fearfully of the alliance of Aram and Ephraim against them, (cf. Isa 8:6), for this would incite "this people" to be all the more fearful. Nor were they to dread the Assyrian kingdom's forces, (cf. Isa 8:4-10). He [the LORD] will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of [striking] and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. (Isa 8:15 NKJV) And many among them shall stumble; They shall fall and be broken, Be snared and taken."
So the LORD would be a sanctuary, a place of safety, for those of His people who believed in Him. But for those who did not believe in Him, He would be the means of destruction - literally, a stone, a rock, a trap, and a snare to both houses of Israel - which included the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The LORD's prophecy through Isaiah went beyond the temporary application in Ahaz's time.
(Isa 10:5 HOLMAN) '''[The LORD spoke] "Woe to Assyria [lit., ashur] the rod of My anger - the staff in their hands is My wrath. (Isa 10:6 NKJV) I will send him against an ungodly nation, And against the people [destined for] My wrath. I ... give him charge, To seize the spoil, to take the prey, And to tread them down like the mire of the streets. (Isa 10:7 YLT) And he [the Assyrian king] - he thinks not so, [in the sense of this is not what he intends] And his heart reckons not so, [in the sense that this is not what he plans] For - to destroy [is] in his heart, And to cut off nations not a few [i.e., it is his intent to destroy and to cut off many nations]. (Isa 10:8 NKJV) For he [Assyrian king] says, 'Are not my princes kings? (Isa 10:9 NKJV) Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? (Isa 10:10 NKJV) As my [Assyria ruler] hand has [seized] the kingdoms of the idols [in the sense of graven images], Whose carved images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria, (Isa 10:11 ASV) Shall I [Assyrian ruler] not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?' " (Isa 10:12 NKJV) Therefore it shall come to pass when the LORD has performed all His work on Mount Zion and Jerusalem [through Assyrian conquest], that He will say, "I ... punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks. (Isa 10:13 NKJV) For he [has said] 'By the strength of my hand I have done [it,] And by my wisdom, for I am prudent: Also I have removed the boundaries of the people, And have robbed their treasures; So I have put down the inhabitants like [the mighty ones - in the sense of mighty gods]. (Isa 10:14 NKJV) My hand [finds] like a nest the riches of the people, And as one gathers eggs that are left, I have gathered all the earth; And there was no one who moved his wing, Nor opened his mouth with even a peep.' " (Isa 10:15 NKJV) Shall the ax boast itself against him who chops with it? Or shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it? As if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up, Or as if a staff could lift up, as if it were not wood! (Isa 10:16 NKJV) Therefore the LORD, the LORD of hosts, Will send leanness among his [Assyria's] fat ones; And under his [Assyria's] glory He [the LORD] will kindle a burning Like the burning of a fire. (Isa 10:17 YLT) And the [Light] of Israel [has] been for a fire, And his [Israel's] Holy One for a flame, And it [has] burned, and devoured his thorns [Assyria's] And his [Assyria's] briers in one day. (Isa 10:18 NKJV) And [He, the LORD] will consume the glory of his [Assyria's] forest and of his [Assyria's] fruitful field, Both soul and body; And they will be as when a sick man wastes away. (Isa 10:19 NKJV) Then the rest of the trees of his [Assyria's] forest [in the sense of soldiers] Will be so few in number That a child may write them [down, in the sense of number them]" ''' =
The Hebrew word rendered, "Woe," in 10:5, indicates that the LORD would severely punish Assyria. Hence verse 5 in Isaiah chapter ten moved from the exercise of the LORD's wrath upon His people of the Southern Kingdom of Judah to the rod of His anger and wrath which He used in that exercise: Assyria. He would severely punish Assyria once He had performed all His work on Mount Zion and Jerusalem. Although He would send Assyria as His unwitting agent "against an ungodly nation," referring to Judah - the people who were destined for the wrath of the LORD; and although He gave Assyria "charge to seize the spoil, take the prey, and tread His people down like the mire of the streets;" the Assyrians would nevertheless experience the wrath of the LORD after that. It is implied that in His sovereignty, the LORD has the capacity to and did use, as His agent, nations such as Assyria, a stranger to Him, and an ungodly people, to be His tool to exercise His wrath due upon His people, Judah, (Isa 10:5-6).
The Assyrian king of that time in history did not consider that he was the tool of the LORD. He thought his power was superior to the idols/gods of the nations his nation had conquered including Samaria [the Northern Kingdom, its capitol - indicating that Samaria was worshipping idols instead of the LORD]; and superior to the idols which he considered that Judah was worshipping because that nation was successfully attacked a number of times by some of the nations which his army had conquered, (Aram and Samaria and others). The king's heart (mind) was set upon destroying many nations without any help from the LORD, or from any of the gods whom the conquered nations worshipped. The king had no thoughts of serving anyone but himself. He arrogantly justified his motives in his own mind, 'Are not my princes kings?' [referring to his subordinate leaders and implying that he would conquer nations and give his princes rule over them] - as if it was his right and destiny to rule over the nations of the world through those who were subordinate to him. The Assyrian ruler noted to himself that the following Aramean cities had been conquered by Assyria: Calno and Arpad, (in northern Syria. Calno was conquered by Tiglath-Pileser III in 738 B.C.), Damascus, (in 732), Samaria, (the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed by Shalmaneser V in 722), Hamath, (on the Orontes in 720), and Carchemish, (a former capital of the Hittite Empire, on the upper Euphrates was conquered by Sargon II in 717). Note that these conquests were accomplished by a series of Assyrian monarchs - not just one king. Evidently all the kings of Assyria were of the same arrogant, ungodly attitude and practice. Each one prided himself on being above the gods of those nations they conquered, declaring himself to be King of the Universe - hence exalting themselves even above their own gods.
Hence the king of Assyria at this time would reason, 'Is not Jerusalem attainable.' For in his mind, the gods of Aram, which nation was conquered by Assyria, were greater than "the idols," which he considered Jerusalem, (Judah), worshipped. For Aram had succeeded in battle against Judah a number of times, short of taking the city. By this the king of Assyria was measuring the strength of a kingdom's god(s) with the capacity and accomplishments of its military power egoistically limited to the short period of time in history when the Assyrians were dominant in their part of the world. So the Assyrian ruler arrogantly and boastfully concluded that he could easily conquer Jerusalem, impugning the sovereignty of the LORD - the God of Israel, Whom he did not know, for he indicated that those of Jerusalem worshipped idols, (cf. Is 36:19-20; 37:12). This arrogance corroborated that the current king, typical of the kings of Assyria, was chiefly motivated by aggressive and cruel expansionism - which would bring about his undoing by the LORD. The sad fact is that Samaria and Jerusalem at this time were worshipping idols instead of the LORD, which made them the target of the wrath of the LORD and easy prey for Assyria, (Isa 10:7-11).
Therefore, when the LORD has performed all of His work on Mount Zion and Jerusalem, "Zion" referring to the rulership as opposed to "Jerusalem," the people in general, through the actions of Assyria; then He will say, "I ... punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks. For he [has said] 'By the strength of my hand I have done [it,] And by my wisdom, for I am prudent... [The first person singular "I" and "my" are repeatedly used by the king to convince himself that he had achieved all of this by his own strength and wisdom - not recognizing God's sovereignty]: "Also I have removed the boundaries of the people, [in the sense of scattering the people or taking them into captivity as slaves and including their territory into the Assyrian Empire] And have robbed their treasures; So I have put down the inhabitants like [the mighty ones - in the sense of mighty gods]. [i.e., he considers himself invincible and godlike]. My hand [finds] like a nest the riches of the people, And as one gathers eggs that are left, I have gathered all the earth; And there was no one who moved his wing, Nor opened his mouth with even a peep,' " ''' In his insufferable arrogance he thought to himself how he had conquered other nations and took their wealth as easily as one takes eggs left in a nest. No one was able to oppose him, (Isa 10:12-14).
But the LORD declared, "Shall the ax [referring to Assyria] boast itself against Him who chops with it? [referring to the LORD and His sovereignty in the working of Assyria to do His bidding - not the other way around]. "Or Shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it?" [i.e., the instrument is not above the One who uses it, nor has a choice in what it does outside of the sovereignty of that One - referring to the LORD]. In the same vein, the verse goes on to say, "As if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up, Or as if a staff could lift itself up, as if it were not wood [but a sentient being]!" (Isa 10:15).
The consequence of the arrogance of Assyria is declared in the next four verses with graphic imagery portraying the destruction of the Assyrian army through the wasting away of consumptive disease and suddenly as a forest fire quickly burns up everything in its path: "Therefore the LORD, the LORD of hosts, Will send leanness among his [Assyria's] fat ones; [in the sense of causing a wasting away of human flesh, i.e., consumptive disease] And under his [Assyria's] glory He [the LORD] will kindle a burning Like the burning of a fire. And the [Light] of Israel [the phrase the Light of Israel is a title for the God of Israel Who enlightens with absolute truth] [has] been for a fire, And his [Israel's] Holy One for a flame, And it [has] burned, and devoured his thorns [Assyria's] And his [Assyria's] briers in one day. And [He, the LORD] will consume the glory of his [Assyria's] forest and of his [Assyria's] fruitful field. Both soul and body [i.e., utterly]."
[Note that the word rendered "fruitful field," literally, "Carmel," was a rich mountain in Assyria. It was used figuratively for Sennacherib's mighty army.]
"And they will be as when a sick man wastes away. Then the rest of the trees of his [Assyria's] forest [in the sense of soldiers] Will be so few in number That a child may write them [down, in the sense of number them]" '''
Verse 19 corroborates the subject of verses 16-19 as the Assyrian army. So the LORD would destroy Assyria's soldiers through consumptive disease or destroy them as trees are massively and suddenly burned in a forest fire. Note that in 701 B.C., 185,000 Assyrian soldiers surrounding Jerusalem were killed in a single day, (37:36-37). Then in 609 B.C. the Assyrian Empire fell to Babylon. The number of soldiers that survived would be so few that even a child could count them. Notice that not all of the Assyrians would be destroyed. There would be a remnant of them who would survive, (Isa 10:16-19).
(Isa 10:19 NKJV) "Then the rest of the trees of his [Assyria's] forest [in the sense of soldiers] Will be so few in number That a child may write them [down, in the sense of number them] ... (Isa 10:24 NKJV) Therefore [returning to ancient times of Judah and Assyria] thus [has said] the LORD GOD of hosts, 'O My people, who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian. He shall strike you with a rod and lift up his staff against you, in the manner of Egypt. (Isa 10:25 NKJV) For yet a very little while and the [destruction] will [have ceased], as will My anger in their [Judah's] destruction.' (Isa 10:26 NKJV) And the LORD of hosts [will have stirred up] a scourge [a whip] for him [Assyria] like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; as His [the LORD's] rod [Egypt] was on the sea, so will He [the LORD] [will have lifted] it [the new rod] up [against Assyria] in the manner of Egypt. (Isa 10:27 NKJV) And it shall come to pass, in that day, That His [the LORD's] burden [Assyrian oppression of Judah] will [have been turned away] from your [the people of the LORD's] shoulder, And his yoke [Assyria] from your neck, And the yoke will [have been] destroyed because of the [fat] [in the sense of the fatness of the oxens' neck being so thick it breaks the yoke]. (Isa 10:28 NKJV) He [Assyria] has come to Aiath, He has passed Migron; At Michmash he [deposits in the sense of storing] his [warfare equipment]. (Isa 10:29 NKJV) They [have passed over at the ford], They have taken up lodging at Geba. Ramah is afraid, Gibeah of Saul has fled. (Isa 10:30 NKJV) Lift up your voice, O daughter of Gallim! Cause it to be heard as far as Laish - O poor Anathoth! (Isa 10:31 NKJV) Madmenah has fled, The inhabitants of Gebim seek refuge. (Isa 10:32 NKJV) As yet he [Assyria] will remain at Nob that day; He will shake his fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. (Isa 10:33 NKJV) Behold, the LORD of hosts, Will lop off the bough with [with violence]; Those of high stature will be hewn down, And the haughty will be humbled. (Isa 10:34 NKJV) He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One." =
Therefore, [returning to ancient times of Judah and the details of the fall of the Assyrian Empire, and in light of the LORD's promise to His people conveyed in verses 20-23 above], Isaiah conveyed to the reader which included his people, "The LORD GOD of hosts has said, 'O My people, who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian. He [the Assyrian] shall strike you with a rod and lift up his staff against you, in the manner of Egypt," [i.e., it will not last and won't lead to total destruction]. For yet a very little while and the [destruction] will [have ceased], as will My anger in their [the people of Judah's] destruction.' Note that only those who trusted in their deliverance by the LORD - the remnant of believers who choose to be faithful - would be comforted by this message. The many unbelievers and believers who chose to be unfaithful, will not be comforted. Many of these latter individuals had already succombed to Assyria's onslaught of the villages and cities surrounding Jerusalem. Although all of those inside the walls of Jerusalem would not be harmed by the Assyrian attack to come upon the city. "The LORD of hosts [will have stirred up] a scourge [a whip] for him [in the sense of against Assyria] like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb, (Jud 7:1-25) [referring to when the LORD gave Israel victory against Midian]; as His [the LORD's] rod [Egypt] was on the sea [referring to the LORD's destruction of the Egyptian army using the Sea of Reeds, (Exodus 14:19-28)], so will He [the LORD] [will have lifted] it [the new rod] up [against Assyria] in the manner of Egypt. And it shall come to pass, in that day, That His [the LORD's] burden [Assyrian oppression of Judah] will [have been turned away] from your [the people Judah's] shoulder, And his [Assyria's] yoke from your neck, And the yoke will [have been] destroyed because of the [fat] [the image is conveyed of a strong, fattened ox breaking its yoke, i.e., the Power of the LORD behind Israel is such that she would not be fully conquered; and Assyria would be destroyed.
Note that the RSV has the phrase, "because of the fat" as "he [Assyria] as gone up from Rimmon,"which assumes that the advance of the Assryian Army begins with the last phrase of verse 27; but the Masoretic Text is best rendered "because of the fat," which rendering is supported by 1QIsa and the LXX (B), (Isa 10:24-27).
In the next 5 verses, in dramatic fashion with vivid imagery in his vision of the future, Isaiah conveyed the future path of the Assyrian onslaught toward an attempt to defeat Judah and Jerusalem. The actual attempt occurred in 701 B.C: "He [Assyria] has come to Aiath [another name for Ai, in the north of the territory of the tribe of Benjamin, about eight miles north of Jerusalem]. He has passed Migron. At Michmash [nine miles northeast of Jerusalem] he has deposited [in the sense of storing] his warfare equipment. They have passed over at the ford at Michmash, [at the Wadi Suwenit], They have taken up lodging [in the sense of making an encampment] at Geba [about 6 miles north-northeast of Jerusalem]. Ramah is afraid, [nearby Geba, seven miles from Jerusalem]. Gibeah of Saul has fled, [Saul's birthplace and residence, in Benjamin, six miles from Jerusalem - distinct from Gibeah of Judah]. Isaiah wrote on, "Lift up your voice, O daughter of Gallim! Cause it to be heard as far as Laish, [Not the town in Dan (Jdg 18:7), but one of the same name near Jerusalem (1 Maccabees 9:9)]. O poor Anathoth! [Anathoth - three miles from Jerusalem in Benjamin; the birthplace of Jeremiah] Madmenah has fled [not the city in Simeon (Jos 15:31), but a village near Jerusalem], The inhabitants of Gebim seek refuge. [Note that the site of all but four of the 12 towns are known today] As yet he [Assyria] will remain at Nob that day [in the sense of a 24 hour day of rest before moving on to the gates of Jerusalem. Nob is northeast of Jerusalem on Mount Scopus just north of the Mount of Olives - within sight of Jerusalem; a town of the priests, (Neh 11:32)]; He [Assyria] will shake his fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem." Note Isaiah's prophecy in chapter 10 stopped short of Assyria's final maneuvers to the point from which it positioned an army from Lachish to the north to an encampment around Jerusalem and made a demand for its surrender in 701 B.C. Note that Sennacherib’s records indicate his army did surround Jerusalem in 701 B.C., so this prophecy would have been fulfilled some time during that year, (Isa 10:28-32).
The account in chapter ten verses 33-34 jumps to the point in future time to when the LORD of hosts has taken Assyria down, (cf. Isa 36:3): The LORD of hosts had other plans for Assyria - she would not succeed in her plans to take Jerusalem: "Behold, [in the sense of an exhortation to visualize and to take special note of what the LORD will do]: the LORD of hosts, Will lop off the bough [the king of Assyria] [with violence]; Those of high stature will be hewn down [referring to Assyrian leaders, (cf. 10:19)], And the haughty [everyone who is arrogant, especially the leaders] will be humbled. He will cut down the thickets of the forest [the Assyrian army] with iron, And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One," i.e. those in Lebanon, known for its thick forests of cedar trees - refers to the Assyrian army] would be cut down. The word rendered "iron" refers to an iron axe that is used to fell trees - a reference to the 185,000 Assyrians who were cut down by the Angel of the LORD at the gates of Jerusalem, (Isa 37:36). The phrase rendered, "Mighty One," refers to the LORD, (Isa 10:33-34).
****** END OF EXCERPTS FROM ISAIAH CHAPTERS 8 & 10 ******
With revolt in Babylon having been put down in 703 B.C.; and now in 701 B.C., the Egyptian army defeated at Eltekeh, the fortified cities and innumerable villages of Judah smashed, the countryside devastated - the population tortured to death, in captivity or refugeed in Jerusalem - and a large Assyrian army encamped around Jerusalem; Hezekiah recognized that help from Egypt would not be forthcoming, nor from Babylon. So he sent a letter of repentance and petition for mercy to Sennacherib, and then he was compelled to provide a huge tribute.
(2 Kings 18:14 NKJV) "Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, 'I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay.' And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver [~ ten metric tons] and thirty talents of gold.
(2 Kings 18:15 NKJV) So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house.
(2 Kings 18:16 NKJV) At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
(2 Kings 18:17 NKJV) Then the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh from Lachish, with a great army against Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they went and stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool, which was on the highway to the Fuller's Field.
(2 Kings 18:18 NKJV) And when they had called to the king, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them."
[THE ASSYRIAN - TAYLOR - CHRONICLE]
[Mazar, 1990 pp. 427-428]:
" 'As for Hezekiah the Jew, who did not submit to my yoke, forty-six of his strong-walled cities, as well as the small cities in their neighborhood, which were without number - by constructing ramparts out of trampled earth and by bringing up battering rams, by the attack of infantry, by tunnels, breaches and axes - I besieged and conquered.
Two hundred thousand one hundred and fifty men, young and old, male and female, horses, mules, asses, camels, oxen and sheep without number I brought out from them, I counted as spoil. Hezekiah I shut up like a caged bird in Jerusalem, his royal city; the walls I fortified against him. Whoever came out of the gates of the city I turned back. His cities which I had plundered I divided from his land and gave them to Mitinti, king of Ashdod, to Padi, king of Ekron, and to Sillibel, king of Gaza, and thus diminished his territory. To the former tribute, paid yearly, I added the tribute of alliance of my lordship and laid that upon him.
[Note: there is no evidence that Sennacherib built any fortified walls around Jerusalem, nor any assault ramps]
Hezekiah himself was overwhelmed by the fear of the awful splendor of my lordship. The Arabians and his other faithful warriors whom, as a defense for Jerusalem his royal city he had brought in, fell into fear.
With thirty talents of gold and eight hundred talents of silver, precious stones, rouge dakkassi, lapis lazuli, couches of ivory, thrones of ivory, ushu wood, ukarinnu wood, various objects, a heavy treasure, and his daughters, his women of the palace, male and female musicians, to Nineveh, the city of my lordship, I caused to be brought after me. And he sent his ambassadors to give tribute and pay homage.' "
[Note: the 800 talents in Sennacherib's accounting evidently includes silver, precious stones, rouge dakkassi and lapis luzuli; whereas the accounting in 2 Kings 18:14 lists 300 talents of only silver]
Despite Hezekiah's repentance and payment of tribute, king Sennacherib demanded surrender. The king of Assyria had already devastated the other cities of Judah, and captured more than 200,000 prisoners to be relocated to reduce their rebellion potential. Jerusalem was the most heavily fortified city of Judah, requiring a seige to conquer it. It was a key source of rebellion in Sennacherib's empire. Hence Sennacherib determined to capture its people, settle them elsewhere, and demolish the city. This was precisely what Sennacherib did to rebellious Babylon in 689 B.C.
Chapter 36
concluded with Hezekiah's entourage, Eliakim, Shebna and Joah bringing the
words of Sennacherib's demand for surrender to Hezekiah
(Isa 36:22 NKJV) '''''Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh [chief officer].
(Isa 37:1 ASV) 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 Jehovah.
(Isa 37:2 ASV) 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.
(Isa 37:3 HOLMAN) They said to him [Isaiah], ''''This is what Hezekiah [has said]: '''Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.
(Isa 37:4 NKJV) It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, [Assyrian chief officer] whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.''' ''''
(Isa 37:5 NKJV) So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
(Isa 37:6 NKJV) And Isaiah said to them, ''''Thus you shall say to your master [Hezekiah], '''Thus says the LORD: "Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
(Isa 37:7 YLT) [Behold], I am [putting] in him [king of Assyria] a spirit, and he [will have] heard a report, and [will have] turned back [to] his land, and I [will] have caused him to fall by the sword in his land." ''' ''''
(Isa 37:8 NKJV) Then the Rabshakeh [Assyrian chief officer] returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he [had] heard that he had departed from Lachish.
(Isa 37:9 YLT) And he [the king of Assyria] [heard] concerning Tirhakah (Taharqa) king of Cush, [Ethiopia] saying, ''''He [has] come out to fight [against you];'''' and [when he heard this], [then he sent] messengers unto Hezekiah, saying,
(Isa 37:10 NKJV) ''''Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: '''Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, "Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."
(Isa 37:11 NKJV) Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered?
(Isa 37:12 NKJV) Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?
(Isa 37:13 NKJV) Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?''' ''''
(Isa 37:14 NKJV) And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
(Isa 37:15 NKJV) Then Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying:
(Isa 37:16 ASV) ''''O [LORD] of hosts, the God of Israel, that sittest above the cherubim, [You are] the God, even [You] alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; [You have] made heaven and earth.
(Isa 37:17 NKJV) Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach [in the sense of revile, abuse and taunt] the living God.
(Isa 37:18 NKJV) Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands,
(Isa 37:19 NKJV) and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands - wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them.
(Isa 37:20 NKJV) Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD, You alone.''''
(Isa 37:21 NKJV) Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, ''''Thus says the LORD God of Israel, '''Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,
(Isa 37:22 NKJV) This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him: "The virgin, the daughter of Zion, Has despised you, laughed you to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem Has shaken her head behind your back!
(Isa 37:23 NKJV) Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against Whom have you raised your voice, And lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.
(Isa 37:24 NKJV) By your servants you have reproached the Lord, And said, 'By the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, To the limits of Lebanon; I will cut down its tall cedars And its choice cypress trees; I will enter its farthest height, To its [fertile field].
(Isa 37:25 HOLMAN) I dug wells and drank water. I dried up all the streams of Egypt with the soles of my feet.'
(Isa 37:26 KJV) Have you not heard [from] long ago, how I have [made] it; and [from] ancient times, that I have formed it? Now have I brought it to pass, that [you should] lay waste [fortified] cities into ruinous heaps.
(Isa 37:27 ASV) 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 a field of grain before it is grown up.
(Isa 37:28 NKJV) But I know your dwelling place, Your going out and your coming in, And your rage against Me.
(Isa 37:29 NASB) Because of your raging against Me And because your arrogance has come up to My ears, Therefore I will [have] put My hook in your nose And My bridle in your lips, And I will [have turned] you back by the way which you came.
(Isa 37:30 NKJV) Then this shall be the sign for you [Hezekiah and the surviving remnant of the house of Judah, (cf. vv. 31-32)]: you will eat this year what grows of itself, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
(Isa 37:31 HOLMAN) [And] the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
(Isa 37:32 HOLMAN) For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem and survivors, from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this."
(Isa 37:33 HOLMAN) Therefore, this is what the LORD [has said] about the king of Assyria: He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or build up an assault ramp against it.
(Isa 37:34 HOLMAN) He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city. This is the LORD's declaration:
(Isa 37:35 NKJV) "For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David's sake." ''' ''''
(Isa 37:36 NKJV) Then the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, [behold all of them] corpses - dead [men].
(Isa 37:37 NKJV) So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and [dwelled] at Nineveh.
(Isa 37:38 NKJV) Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.'''''
(Isa 36:22 NKJV) '''''Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh [chief officer]. (Isa 37:1 ASV) 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 Jehovah. (Isa 37:2 ASV) 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. (Isa 37:3 HOLMAN) They said to him [Isaiah], ''''This is what Hezekiah [has said]: '''Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them. (Isa 37:4 NKJV) It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, [Assyrian chief officer] whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.''' '''' =
When the servants of Hezekiah: Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh [chief officer]; Hezekiah also rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth as an act of mourning because of the impending disaster to Jerusalem which seemed sure to come from Assyrian forces and because of the outrageous, arrogant blaspheming words toward the LORD spoken by the king of Assyria through his chief officer, the Rabshakeh. So the first thing that Hezekiah did was to go into the House of the LORD - which implied Hezekiah's renewed trust in the LORD in order to seek the promised help of the LORD. For there was no one to turn to, Hezekiah and Judah had been brought to an end of themselves with only the LORD to look to. As Isaiah had been saying throughout his book, (cf. Isa 10:20-34; 30:1-2), the destiny of the people of the LORD was and will always be solely in the hands of the LORD, (Isa 36:22-37:1).
So Hezekiah sent an entourage to Isaiah the prophet: his top two leaders Eliakim and Shebna and the elders of the priests - all of whom wore sackcloth. Notice that the king did not send for Isaiah to come to him, but sent his two leaders and the elders of the priests to Isaiah. This implies respect for Isaiah being the spokesman for the LORD, and Hezekiah's falling short in his relationship with the LORD. And the entourage said to Isaiah, ''''This is what Hezekiah [has said]: '''Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them." ''' Hezekiah's message to Isaiah portrayed the situation in Jerusalem as children who have come to the point of birth when there was no strength to deliver them within the mothers. This portrayal conveyed imminent disaster - death for all in view. This implied that Hezekiah recognized the imminent, deadly danger to Jerusalem imposed upon them by the great army of Assyrians camped nearby. In view of the people of Jerusalem's total helplessness to defend themselves against such an overwhelming force; there was evidently overpowering distress felt by Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem. They were at the end of themselves, with no one to turn to but the LORD. Furthermore, Hezekiah told his messengers to say to Isaiah, "It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh [chief officer] whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left." Notice the conditional tone, "It may be that the LORD your God..." which implies that the LORD may or may not "hear" the words of reproach in the sense of responding in Righteousness and Justice to them and thereby, in grace, come to the aid of Hezekiah and Judah. For they implied that they may not have demonstrated sufficient faith in Him. Although Hezekiah had removed all the high places used to worship other gods such as Baal, he had made alliances with Egypt and Babylon to rebel against Assyrian rule; and he used mercenary forces and his own forces in that rebellion instead of trusting alone in the LORD.
(Isa 30:1 NKJV) " 'Woe to the rebellious children,' says the LORD, 'Who take counsel. but not of Me, And who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, That they may add sin to sin;
(Isa 30:2 NKJV) Who walk to go down to Egypt, And have not asked My advice, To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, And to trust in the shadow of Egypt!' "
Hezekiah's words to Isaiah were, "the LORD your God..." as opposed to "the LORD our God," affirmed that Hezekiah and Judah had not acted very faithfully toward the LORD. Hezekiah was not confident enough to pray himself or to tell Isaiah, "Pray that the LORD.our God will hear...." Nevertheless Hezekiah referred to the words of the Assyrian spokesman which arrogantly reproached the LORD and requested that Isaiah pray that the LORD might rebuke the words in the sense of punishing those who spoke them. Hezekiah also requested that Isaiah pray to lift up in protection the remnant of God's people in Jerusalem, in view of Assyria's sadistic, tortuous destruction of the villages and fortified cities of Judah, (Isa 37:2-37:4).
(Isa 37:5 NKJV) '''''So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. (Isa 37:6 NKJV) And Isaiah said to them, ''''Thus you shall say to your master [Hezekiah], '''Thus says the LORD: "Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. (Isa 37:7 YLT) [Behold], I am [putting] in him [king of Assyria] a spirit, and he [will have] heard a report, and [will have] turned back [to] his land, and I [will] have caused him to fall by the sword in his land." ''' '''' =
When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, he said to them that the LORD said that they were not to be afraid because of the words which the Assyrians had spoken - words which had blasphemed the LORD and threatened devastation upon Jerusalem. The LORD's answer began with the word rendered, "Behold...," to emphasize the reason why they were not to fear the Assyrians: The LORD would put in the king of Assyria a spirit such that he would hear a report and return to his land, evidently before causing harm to Jerusalem; whereupon [in the passing of time] the LORD would cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. Notice that the message of the LORD is not accompanied with much detail relative to the timeframe, or to the particulars of the report, or to the specific events leading up to Sennacherib's death in his own land. It is evident that this was a test of the faith of Hezekiah and Jerusalem of their dependence upon the LORD. The LORD's message to Hezekiah that Sennacherib would return to his land implied that the Assyrian king would abandon his western campaign. The Assyrian threat to Jerusalem would be no more. This corroborated that there would be no return / second campaign, as some contend. For Sennacherib to return would contradict the context of the LORD's answer of Assyria being no further threat to the people of Jerusalem.
(Isa 37:8 NKJV) "Then the Rabshakeh [Assyrian chief officer] returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he [had] heard that he had departed from Lachish. (Isa 37:9 YLT) And he [the king of Assyria] [heard] concerning Tirhakah (Taharqa) king of Cush, [Ethiopia] saying, ''''He [has] come out to fight [against you];'''' and [when he heard this], [then he sent] messengers unto Hezekiah, saying..." =
After giving
Sennacherib's demands for surrender to Hezekiah, the Assyrian chief
officer left Jerusalem to find his master the king of Assyria. The chief
officer learned that Sennacherib had departed from Lachish, near Jerusalem
- the second most fortified city in Judah. Archeological evidence
including the carved wall reliefs in Sennacherib's Southwest Palace in
Ninevah, indicated that Lachish was destroyed - the population viciously
tortured, mutilated and murdered. Sennacherib was found warring against
Libnah, about five miles north. At that time, Isaiah wrote in verse 9 that
Sennacherib heard "concerning Tirhakah (Taharqa) king of Cush"
that he [Tirhakah] had advanced with an army to fight against him. Notice
that in that verse, Isaiah wrote, "Tirhakah, king of Cush,"
which stipulated him as king of Cush, his title in the timeframe of
Isaiah's writing his account which title Tirhakah received in 690/689 B.C.
In 701 B.C., he was 20 years old, a prince of Cush, destined to be king in
about 11 or 12 years. This is not unfounded, as some contend, for young
men of a royal family often led armies into battle, leaving their generals
to perform the tactical moves, while the young ruler-to-be served the
function of learning by experience, inspiration to the troops,
representing the authority of the king of his nation.
Corroboration from K.A. Kitchen,
Egyptologist: ..The
Cushites were rulers of Egypt during the 25th dynasty for 40 to 50 years
beginning in 715/711 B.C. Before setting off to meet with Tirhakah in
battle, Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah with another demand for
Jerusalem to surrender, evidently to keep the pressure on while he battled
in Egypt with the rest of his forces, and before he returned to begin a
seige of the city. For Hezekiah evidently had begun to trust alone in the
counsel and protection of the LORD and had not given an answer to
Sennacherib's first demand.
(Isa 37:7 YLT) [The LORD said to Hezekiah's entourage, "[Behold], I am [putting] in him [king of Assyria] a spirit, and he [will have] heard a report, and [will have] turned back [to] his land, and I [will] have caused him to fall by the sword in his land.".... (Isa 37:22 NKJV) [Isaiah said to Hezekiah's second entourage] '''This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him [the king of Assyria]: "The virgin, the daughter of Zion, Has despised you, laughed you to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem Has shaken her head behind your back! (Isa 37:23 NKJV) Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against Whom have you raised your voice, And lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel. (Isa 37:24 NKJV) By your servants you have reproached the Lord, And said, 'By the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, To the limits of Lebanon; I will cut down its tall cedars And its choice cypress trees; I will enter its farthest height, To its [fertile field]. (Isa 37:25 HOLMAN) I dug wells and drank water. I dried up all the streams of Egypt with the soles of my feet.' (Isa 37:26 KJV) Have you not heard [from] long ago, how I have [made] it; and [from] ancient times, that I have formed it? Now have I brought it to pass, that [you should] lay waste [fortified] cities into ruinous heaps. (Isa 37:27 ASV) 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 a field of grain before it is grown up. (Isa 37:28 NKJV) But I know your dwelling place, Your going out and your coming in, And your rage against Me. (Isa 37:29 NASB) Because of your raging against Me And because your arrogance has come up to My ears, Therefore I will [have] put My hook in your nose And My bridle in your lips, And I will [have turned] you back by the way which you came.''' ... (Isa 37:33 HOLMAN) Therefore, this is what the LORD [has said] about the king of Assyria: He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or build up an assault ramp against it. (Isa 37:34 HOLMAN) He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city. This is the LORD's declaration: (Isa 37:35 NKJV) "For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David's sake." ''' '''' (Isa 37:36 NKJV) Then the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, [behold all of them] corpses - dead [men].''''' =
Historical records indicate that in 701 B.C., king Sennacherib of Assyria made a sweep through Palestine, encountering and defeating an Egyptian / Ethiopian force at Eltekeh, evidently led by Tirhakah (Taharqa) when he was a prince of approximately 20 years old. After destroying countless villages and 46 fortified cites throughout Judah, king Sennacherib encamped a great army surrounding Jerusalem, the last fortified city in Judah. He sent an entourage to king Hezekiah of Judah to demand his surrender, while he remained in Laschish, finishing his destruction there, after which he departed for Libnah to destroy it. At Libnah he heard a report that an army led by Tirhakah (Taharqa), had come out to fight against him. (Note that the Scriptures report him as king of Cush [which included Egypt at the time of the 25th dynasty] - his title at the time of the written accounts, (Isa 37:9, cf. 2 Kgs 19:9; cf LXX, Targum Jonathan 1st century and Josephus first century). So Sennacherib departed Libnah with his forces to go against Tirhakah, pausing to give a message of a second demand to surrender to his messengers to deliver to Hezekiah. He evidently left Jerusalem surrounded with his great army, taking his other forces to meet Tirhakah in battle. But then Sennacherib suddenly abandoned his campaign and returned to his land, before engaging with Tirhakah. Some historians contend that an unexpected disaster must have befallen the Assyrian forces on the borders of Palestine causing Sennacherib to abandon his campaign in Egypt, such as a plague. But the timeframe for a plague to destroy thousands of lives would most likely be more than one night. Isaiah chapter ten indicates that Assyria's armies would be destroyed in two ways (1) via a wasting away through disease and (2) suddenly by some other means in one day:
(Isa 10:16 NKJV) '''Therefore the LORD, the LORD of hosts, Will send leanness among his [Assyria's] fat ones; And under his [Assyria's] glory He [the LORD] will kindle a burning Like the burning of a fire.
(Isa 10:17 YLT) And the [Light] of Israel [has] been for a fire, And his [Israel's] Holy One for a flame, And it [has] burned, and devoured his [Assyria's] thorns And his [Assyria's] briers in one day.
(Isa 10:18 NKJV) And [He, the LORD] will consume the glory of his [Assyria's] forest and of his [Assyria's] fruitful field, Both soul and body; And they will be as when a sick man wastes away.
(Isa 10:19 NKJV) Then the rest of the trees of his [Assyria's] forest [in the sense of soldiers] Will be so few in number That a child may write them [down, in the sense of number them]" '''
****** EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 10 ******
The consequence of the arrogance of Assyria is declared in the next four verses with graphic imagery portraying the destruction of the Assyrian army through the wasting away of consumptive disease and suddenly as a forest fire quickly burns up everything in its path: "Therefore the LORD, the LORD of hosts, Will send leanness among his [Assyria's] fat ones; [in the sense of causing a wasting away of human flesh, i.e., consumptive disease] And under his [Assyria's] glory He [the LORD] will kindle a burning Like the burning of a fire. And the [Light] of Israel [the phrase the Light of Israel is a title for the God of Israel Who enlightens with absolute truth] [has] been for a fire, And his [Israel's] Holy One for a flame, And it [has] burned, and devoured his thorns [Assyria's] And his [Assyria's] briers in one day. And [He, the LORD] will consume the glory of his [Assyria's] forest and of his [Assyria's] fruitful field. Both soul and body [i.e., utterly]."
[Note that the word rendered "fruitful field," literally, "Carmel," was a rich mountain in Assyria. It was used figuratively for Sennacherib's mighty army.]
"And they will be as when a sick man wastes away. Then the rest of the trees of his [Assyria's] forest [in the sense of soldiers] Will be so few in number That a child may write them [down, in the sense of number them]" '''
Verse 19 corroborates the subject of verses 16-19: the Assyrian army. So the LORD would destroy Assyria's soldiers through consumptive disease or destroy them as trees are massively and suddenly burned in a forest fire. Note that in 701 B.C. 185,000 Assyrian soldiers surrounding Jerusalem were killed in a single day, (37:36-37). Then in 609 B.C. the Assyrian Empire finally fell to Babylon. The number of soldiers that survived would be so few that even a child could count them. Notice that not all of the Assyrians would be destroyed. There would be a remnant of them who would survive, (Isa 10:16-19).
****** END OF EXCERPT FROM ISAIAH CHAPTER 10 ******
The first century Jewish historian, Josephus in his "Antiquities of the Jews," quoted Berosus a third-century B.C. Babylonian priest and historian: "Now when Sennacherib was returning from his Egyptian war to Jerusalem, he found his army under Rabshakeh in danger, for God had sent a pestilential distemper upon his army; and on the very first night of the siege, a hundred fourscore and five thousand, with their captains and generals, were destroyed. So the king was in great dread, and in a terrible agony at this calamity; and being in great fear for his whole army, he fled with the rest of his forces to his own kingdom, and to his city Nineveh."
Herodotus, the Greek historian in his "Histories" ca. 450 B.C. speaks of a divinely-appointed disaster which destroyed an army of Sennacherib. It was destroyed by the Egyptian god Sethos after the Egyptians prayed to their gods. Herodotus wrote that Sethos, one of the Egyptian gods, sent "a multitude of field-mice, which devoured all the quivers and bowstrings of the enemy, and ate the thongs by which they managed their shields, causing Sennachrib to turn tail from the Egyptian advancing army and return to his land. This is commemorated in a stone statue of Sethos, with a mouse in his hand, and an inscription to this effect - 'Look on me, and learn to reverence the gods.' " Note that the mouse was the Egyptian emblem of destruction. For a number of years afterward, Egypt prospered and Tirhakah gained in power.
K. A. Kitchen, University of Liverpool, wrote in his, "Late-Egyptian Chronology and Hebrew Monarchy, p. 229-230, summarized from his "Third Intermediate Period in Egypt :"ThIP," (1100-650 B.C., Warminster, 1972, pp. 229-230]:
"With Piankhy [Pharaoh at the time of Hezekiah] dying at the very latest in 714-713 B.C. (and in fact at any time back to 717/716 B.C.!), Taharqa could not, as his son, be a boy of but nine years old in 701 B.C. [as some contend, thus invalidating the accounts in Scripture] - in that year, he could not be less than twelve years old, and in fact could be anything up to sixteen or seventeen years old at a minimum. No child is born three to seven years posthumous! [i.e., after his father died] In point of fact, he was pretty certainly twenty to twenty-one in 701 B.C. [and not nine years old as some contend and then conclude that Sennacherib must have made two compaigns against Egypt and Jerusalem].
[Some contend that ...] Taharqa ... was only twenty in 690 B.C. .... based on [an] interpretation of Kawa stelae IV and V. [But] that interpretation is wrong, both on the above dating-factors, and on other facts [that are fully detailed in ThIP, by Kitchen, p 132f). In fact, Taharqa was aged twenty when summoned north by his brother Shebitku, directly following Shebitku's accession [to the rulership of Cush / Egypt]. Insofar as twenty years is three to eight years in excess of the twelve to seventeen years already proved above, Taharqa would have been born to Piankhy three to eight years before the latter's death. Furthermore, as Taharqa came north as first of a bunch of brothers, these may fairly be taken as younger, lesser brothers, which would favor the birth of Taharqa being nearer eight than three years before Piankhy's death, with a correspondingly higher accession-date for Shebitku....
A drastic change [began] in Egyptian policy from neutrality and passivity to hostile action in or before 701 B.C., although the political situation remained the same as it had been for decades (i.e., Assyria resolutely imposing her rule on Palestine). Thus, one may fairly infer from these facts that, in an unchanged situation, new men in Egypt were adopting new policies. Which means, in effect, a new pharaoah at the helm, with consequent changes in his counsellors. Therefore, one may infer that Shabako had died and was replaced by Shebitku in or just before 701 B.C., and that the ambitious new king had decided on a more aggressive Egyptian policy in Western Asia. This meant use of armed force. Taharqa, aged twenty, was summoned north with an army, as well as his brothers, to meet Shebitku following the latter's acession. And in or just before 701 B.C., this would fit perfectly with Shebitku's new war policy in Western Asia.
The result is that one may set Shabako's reign (fourteen years' minimum) at 716 / 715-702/701 B.C., and thus Shebitku's reign at 702/701-690 B.C. The year 701 is possible, but to accommodate the events involved, an accession of Shebitku in 702 B.C. makes better sense. Hence, these two reigns may be quite closely set at Shabako 716 (in Egypt, 715) B.C. to 702 B.C., and Shebitku in 702 to 690 B.C.
No consideration is here accorded to the supposed co-regency of Shebitku and Taharqa... It is contradicted by the express statements of the Kawa stelae; the ambiguous passages in those stelae now have to be understood quite differently [and not as some contend to include a co-regency]... the year-dates of Taharqa make no allowance whatever for any such co-regency; and a six-year co-regencey would stretch the reign of Shebitku to an impossible eighteen years...
What, then, does this mean for Taharqa? Simply that as a grown young man of about twenty-one in 701 B.C. (because twenty years old in 702), he would be perfectly able to serve as at least nominal leader (and possibly more) of an army-force in Palestine in 701 B.C., doubtless supported by generals. There is, therefore, contrary to popular mythology... no difficulty whatever in having Taharqa himself in 2 Kings 19:9 and Isaiah 37:9.
Alone remains that tiny Hebrew phrase "melek-kûs", [rendered "the king of Cush" in the YLT] ... it is the phrase, not of the speaker in 701 B.C., but of the eventual narrator, distinctly after 701, at a time when Taharqa was principally known as king of Egypt and Nubia (Kush). Second, it may be clearly noted that in both Hebrew accounts, the section is rounded off by the narrator for his own good purposes with a brief accoung of the death of Sennacherib - an event that occured in 681 B.C., a decade after the accession of Taharqa. In other words, the writers of Isaiah and Kings used (in 681 B.C. at earliest) a title by which Taharqa had been known to everyone for a decade, to identify him as the same man who had been present at the events of 701 B.C. Third, let it be finally grasped that such a method of break-reference, using a current title later, is a universal literary procedure, ancient and modern, a form of mental shorthand."
According to Isaiah chapter 37:7a, the LORD would put "a spirit in Sennacherib, and he will have heard a report and he will have turned back to his land," abandoning his campaign against Jerusalem and Egypt. Then Isaiah 37:33-36 reported that in one night the great army which Sennacherib left surrounding Jerusalem, 185,000 men, were corpses the next morning. And there was not a single Jerusalmite casualty, nor a single arrow shot, nor a shield brought up in battle, nor an assault ramp built to beseige Jerusalem. The work of the Angel of the LORD in destroying the great Assyrian army at Jerusalem and the words that the LORD directed to Sennacherib in answer to the Assyrian king's demand for Hezekiah's surrrender, (Isa 37:22-29), caused Sennacherib to abandon his campaign to return to his land, and never come back. When it was made clear that it was the God of Israel Who had defeated Sennacherib and his "gods," Sennacherib attempted to distance himself from the God of Judah, as if that were possible. For the LORD would cause the Assyrian king to die by the sword in his own land, at the hands of two of his sons.
There is an absence of an account in the numerous and highly detailed annals of Sennacherib of his abandonment of his western campaign leaving Egypt and Jerusalem unconquered and virtually untouched; and allowing them to prosper without having to pay further tribute. This corroborates Scripture's account of the loss to Sennacherib's great army at Jerusalem.
(Isa 37:5 NKJV) '''''So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. (Isa 37:6 NKJV) And Isaiah said to them, ''''Thus you shall say to your master [Hezekiah], '''Thus says the LORD: "Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. (Isa 37:7 YLT) [Behold], I am [putting] in him [king of Assyria] a spirit, and he [will have] heard a report, and [will have] turned back [to] his land, and I [will] have caused him to fall by the sword in his land." ''' '''' (Isa 37:8 NKJV) Then the Rabshakeh [Assyrian chief officer] returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he [had] heard that he had departed from Lachish. (Isa 37:9 YLT) And he [the king of Assyria] [heard] concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, [Ethiopia] saying, ''''He [has] come out to fight [against you];'''' and [when he heard this], [then he sent] messengers unto Hezekiah, saying...''''' =
So
after receiving the report of the loss of his great army at Jerusalem, and
the words from the LORD God of Judah - of Israel - Who brought it about,
Sennacherib broke camp and went back to his land. For the first time,
neither Sennacherib nor his gods were greater than the people he was
trying to conquer. His defeat by the LORD God of Israel was so devastating
that He abandoned his campaign to conquer the rest of Egypt. He would
neither take the people of Jerusalem off into captivity as he had promised
he would in his demand to surrender .
nor destroy the city, like he had done to 46 fortified cities in
Jerusalem. Instead He left Egypt and Jerusalem to prosper. And he would
never return westward. He evidently dwelled in Nineveh until trouble
brewed in Babylon with another rebellion in 700 B.C. Sennacherib's battles
for control of Babylon began in 703 B.C. when he defeated
Marduk-Apla-Idinna [Merodach-Baladan] from the Yakin tribe in alliance
with the Chaldean, Aramaean tribes of Southern Babylon and the Elamites;
and Sennacherib retook Babylon. Historical records indicate that between
701 and 700 B.C., the forces of Marduk-Apla-Idinna [Merodach-Baladan] had
regrouped and were preparing to overthrow Assyria's rule of Babylon once
again. So in 700 B.C., Sennacherib began a series of battles for taking
back control of Babylon. After gaining and losing ground to various
alliances against him, he finally and completely defeated the last
rebellion in a series of bitterly fought battles and destroyed the city in
689 B.C., flooding it into a marshland, (Isa 13:1-22 .).
Marduk-Apla-Idinna [Merodach-Baladan] was forced to flee to Elam, where he
later died. Sennacherib's last campaign was not like his previous
campaigns which were dominating and overwhelming on his side. His military
strength appeared to be waning, corroborating his great loss at Jerusalem.
No further campaigns appeared in the annals of Sennacherib into Judah or
Egypt, or anywhere from 689 to 681 B.C., when he died by the sword, at the
hands of two of his sons, (Isa 37:5-9).
(Isa 37:10 NKJV) ''''Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: '''Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, "Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria." (Isa 37:11 NKJV) Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered? (Isa 37:12 NKJV) Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? (Isa 37:13 NKJV) Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?''' '''' =
In 701 B.C., in his second message to Hezekiah to surrender, while his great army was still intact and encamped surrounding Jerusalem, and before he moved out to battle with Tirhakah (Taharqa) with the rest of his forces; Sennacherib said to his messengers to relay to Hezekiah, ''''Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: '''Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, "Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."
[Notice that Sennacherib again blasphemed the LORD, and contradicted Isaiah's prophecy that the LORD would deliver Jerusalem, stating that God was a deceiver Who should not be trusted, (Isa 37:10)]
"Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan [a city on the Habor River, conquered 100 years earlier by the Assyrians] and Haran [a city in Aram which at the time was an Assyrian stronghold] and Rezeph, [an Aramean city, captured 100 years earlier by the Assyrians] and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? [Eden being a territory in northern Mesopotamia in which Telassar was a city] Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah [in Babylonia] [cf. Isa 36:19 - Sennacherib is repeating himself here]?"
[Sennacherib gave a history lesson to Hezekiah on how Assyria over the centuries could not be stopped by any god, or any nation from cruelly conquering so many nations. In light of this further, Sennacherib implied that the LORD could not deliver Jerusalem from Assyria's hands either, (Isa 37:11-13)]
(Isa 37:14 NKJV) '''''And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. (Isa 37:15 NKJV) Then Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying: (Isa 37:16 ASV) ''''O [LORD] of hosts, the God of Israel, that sittest above the cherubim, [You are] the God, even [You] alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; [You have] made heaven and earth. (Isa 37:17 NKJV) Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach [in the sense of revile, abuse and taunt] the living God. (Isa 37:18 NKJV) Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, (Isa 37:19 NKJV) and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands - wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. (Isa 37:20 NKJV) Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD, You alone.'''' ''''' =
In response to the second demand from King Sennacherib to Hezekiah to surrender, Hezekiah took Sennacherib's letter immediately to the LORD and spread it before Him in the temple, showing much greater faith in the LORD, leaving behind his dependence upon others to pray for him. Hezekiah prayed to the LORD,
"O [LORD] of hosts, the God of Israel, that sittest above the cherubim, [You are] the God, even [You] alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; [You have] made heaven and earth."
[This time Hezekiah declared and honored God for Who He is. The phrase "that sittest above the cherubim" refers to His presence in the Jerusalem temple and thus in the presence of His covenant people, Israel. Hence Hezekiah indicated that the LORD has an everlasting covenant relationship with the people of Israel. Hezekiah declared that the LORD God of Judah - of Israel - is the God of all the kingdoms of the world. That He alone is Creator of heaven and earth - of all things], (Isa 37:14-16).
Hezekiah prayed, "Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach [in the sense of revile, abuse and taunt] the living God. Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands - wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them."
[Notice the phrase "the living God" which implies the uniqueness of the LORD as opposed to all other gods - who are not living, but false gods, and idols. Note that king Hezekiah stipulated that Sennacherib destroyed the idols (the gods) of the nations he defeated in order to ridicule, humuliate and intimidate his conquered foes. But in Sennacherib's ridicule there was a vein of truth. Hezekiah indicated that this destruction of idols actually reflected the truth of the matter. For their gods were not gods at all, but the work of men's hands.]
"Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD, You alone."
[Notice that Hezekiah prayed differently from the last time he prayed to the LORD in the temple for deliverance from Assyria. This time Hezekiah's prayer for deliverance focused upon the LORD - His glory and His reputation throughout the nations of the world - that all would know that He alone is Almighty God, the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the nations of the world, Creator of heaven and earth. The previous time Hezekiah was in sackcloth begging for deliverance through Isaiah to the LORD for his own sake and the sake of Jerusalem. Sennacherib's second demand to Hezekiah to surrender also blasphemed the LORD, implying that God was a deceiver. Sennacherib contradicted Isaiah's prophecy that Jerusalem would come to no harm from Assyria], (Isa 37:17-20).
(Isa 37:21 NKJV) '''''Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, ''''Thus says the LORD God of Israel, '''Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, (Isa 37:22 NKJV) This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him: "The virgin, the daughter of Zion, Has despised you, laughed you to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem Has shaken her head behind your back! (Isa 37:23 NKJV) Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against Whom have you raised your voice, And lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel. (Isa 37:24 NKJV) By your servants you have reproached the Lord, And said, 'By the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, To the limits of Lebanon; I will cut down its tall cedars And its choice cypress trees; I will enter its farthest height, To its [fertile field]. (Isa 37:25 HOLMAN) I dug wells and drank water. I dried up all the streams of Egypt with the soles of my feet.' " ''' '''' ''''' =
The LORD responded to Hezekiah's prayer in the temple by sending a message to the king through Isaiah the son of Amoz - the prophet of the LORD. This is especially noteworthy because the LORD responded to King Hezekiah's prayer to Him in the Temple through His prophet Isaiah - affirming Isaiah as His prophet. Although the LORD had already determined to preserve Jerusalem and His people from being destroyed by Assyria for His sake and the sake of His servant, David; Hezekiah was nevertheless moved by the LORD to pray for deliverance in the sense of participating in the LORD's plan to preserve His city for the LORD's sake and for the sake of the LORD's servant David, (cf. Isa 37:35). Then Isaiah said, ''''Thus says the LORD God of Israel, '''Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him: "The virgin, the daughter of Zion, Has despised you, laughed you to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem Has shaken her head behind your back!"
[God calls Jerusalem "The virgin, the daughter of Zion" implying that she was still unconquered and would remain unharmed by the Assyrians. The LORD declared, directly addressing the king of Assyria, saying "The virgin, the daughter of Zion, Has despised you, laughed you to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem Has shaken her head behind your back!"
So God's city has despised the king of Assyria, and laughed scornfully at him. The daughter of Jerusalem - in the sense of being the daughter of the LORD - "Has shaken her head behind your [the king of Assyria's] back," in the sense of expressing unseen scorn and ridicule, largely implying how the king of Assyria would be forced to abandon his plan to conquer Jerusalem, fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy in Isa 37:7.
(Isa 31:5 NKJV) "Like birds flying about, So will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem. Defending, He will also deliver.it; Passing over, He will preserve it."
Isaiah continued to relay the words of the LORD in answer to Hezekiah's prayer - chastizing words directed to Sennacherib. This implies that Sennacherib would be given the words of the LORD's answer. And in that answer, the LORD asked Sennacherib, "Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against Whom have you raised your voice, And lifted up your eyes on high? [implying that Sennacherib acted as if he himself were God]" And the LORD gave Sennacherib the answer to His questions: "Against the Holy One of Israel," (Isa 37:21-23).
Isaiah then stated the LORD's case against Sennacherib, still addressing him directly: "By your servants you have reproached the Lord, And [Sennacherib] said, 'By the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, To the limits of Lebanon; I will cut down its tall cedars And its choice cypress trees; I will enter its farthest height, To its [fertile field].' " [In the sense of conquering kingdoms and overcoming any natural obstacle - from the mountainous, tree-covered terrain of Lebanon to the waterless lands of southern Palestine and Sinai to the streams of the Nile Delta. Sennacherib was claimed that only he was responsible, (notice Sennacherib's seven I's and my's in vv. 24-25) - by his power alone he did it all. He declared that the conquests he had made and would make were solely by his will. He arrogantly exaggerated his stature for grandiose effect. He thought he could accomplish anything that he set his mind to - with no outside help], (Isa 37:24).
When Sennacherib claimed, 'I dug wells and drank water. I dried up all the streams of Egypt with the soles of my feet,' he arrogantly boasted of his campaign of slaughter throughout Arabia - such that digging wells to supply his armies with water was of no consequence for the great Sennacherib. And now that he was approaching Egypt, he boasted that he had dried all the streams of the Egyptian Nile River by just pushing a little dirt around with the soles of his feet - that's how easy he claimed it would be for him to conquer Egypt. However, Sennacherib would not finish his campaign to conquer Egypt], (Isa 37:25).
(Isa 37:26 KJV) ''''' '''' ''' "Have you not heard [from] long ago, how I have [made] it; and [from] ancient times, that I have formed it? Now have I brought it to pass, that [you should] lay waste [fortified] cities into ruinous heaps. (Isa 37:27 ASV) 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 a field of grain before it is grown up. (Isa 37:28 NKJV) But I know your dwelling place, Your going out and your coming in, And your rage against Me. (Isa 37:29 NASB) Because of your raging against Me And because your arrogance has come up to My ears, Therefore I will [have] put My hook in your nose And My bridle in your lips, And I will [have turned] you back by the way which you came." ''' '''' ''''' =
Isaiah continued to give the LORD's answer to Hezekiah's prayer for deliverance from Assyria. These words were addressed to Sennacherib. They rebuked his arrogance and blasphemy, "Have you not heard [from] long ago, how I have [made] it; and [from] ancient times, that I have formed it? Now have I brought it to pass, that [you should] lay waste [fortified] cities into ruinous heaps. 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 a field of grain before it is grown up."
[Sennacherib boasted like he was a god. But the Holy One of Israel - the true God - declared to Sennacherib that from ancient times - the beginning of creation of all things - He was and is Creator of all things, long before Sennacherib was born. The LORD declared that all that Sennacherib had accomplished was by the LORD's direction and power - all the fortified cities Sennacherib had laid waste into ruinous heaps. For the inhabitants of those cities which Sennacherib laid to waste the LORD declared were weak, dismayed and confounded - easily conquered - as easily as the grass of the field, the green herb, the grass on housetops, and the young field of grain before is grown up are cut down or scorched by the sun], (Isa 37:26-27).
The LORD went on to declare, "But I know your dwelling place, Your going out and your coming in, [In the sense of knowing every detail of Sennacherib's existence - the whole course of his life]. And your rage against Me. Because of your raging against Me And because your arrogance has come up to My ears, Therefore I will [have] put My hook in your nose And My bridle in your lips, And I will [have turned] you back by the way which you came."
Furthermore, the LORD stipulated that He knew where Sennacherib dwelt, and his goings and comings, and his rage against the LORD - implying the God consciousness which is inherent in every human being, and to which Sennacherib reacted with rage. Whereupon the LORD declared that because of Sennacherib's rage toward Him and his arrogance - in the sense that he had no conscience about his actions before the LORD, then the LORD will put His hook in Sennacherib's nose and His bridle in Sennacherib's lips, and turn Sennacherib back the way he came, as the Assyrians did to their captives. Hence Sennacherib would not come to Jerusalem and destroy it as he had threatened to in his demands for surrender, (Isa 37:28-29).
(Isa 37:30 NKJV) ''''' '''' ''' "Then this shall be the sign for you [Hezekiah and the surviving remnant of the house of Judah, (cf. vv. 31-32)]: you will eat this year what grows of itself, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. (Isa 37:31 HOLMAN) [And] the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. (Isa 37:32 HOLMAN) For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem and survivors, from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this." (Isa 37:33 HOLMAN) Therefore, this is what the LORD [has said] about the king of Assyria: He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or build up an assault ramp against it. (Isa 37:34 HOLMAN) He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city. This is the LORD's declaration: (Isa 37:35 NKJV) "For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David's sake." ''' '''' ''''' =
"Then this shall be the sign for you [referring to the remnant in Judah - that the LORD will preserve the remnant of His people, (cf. v. 31)]: you will eat this year what grows of itself [in the sense of spontaneous growth without one sowing a crop], in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit," [in the sense of reaping a harvest from what has been sown]
[This implies that the Assyrian occupation of Judah had devastated the fields surrounding Jerusalem. So for two years the remnant would have to spend time rebuilding and repairing the damage done to the farmlands. They would eat what grew spontaneously the first two years as a wild crop. But in the third year, after building and repairing the farmland was done and after sowing the first crop, in the normal time it takes for a vineyard to begin producing grapes, they would be able to reap a harvest of fields of grain and eat the grapes of their vineyards. Note that this demands a sudden and complete departure by Assyrian forces from Judah; for the people of Jerusalem would require freedom and several years time to rebuild and then plant in order to enjoy a harvest in the third year of their freedom], (Isa 37:30).
"[And] the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward."
[In the same way as a vine or fruit tree grows and bears fruit - growing roots downward and bearing fruit upward, so too will the people of the house of Judah take root downward and bear fruit upward - they will take root in their home land and bear fruit upward toward the LORD], (Isa 37:31).
"For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem and survivors, from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this."
[The word remnant here refers to a remnant from the twelve tribes of Israel who will go out from Jerusalem. For the remnant included those from the ten tribes who had survived the Assyrian onslaught of the Northern Kingdom 20 years ago and their descendants. And now the remnant will survive the Assyrian threat to Jerusalem due to the zeal, the passion and the power of the LORD Almighty Who would accomplish this], (Isa 37:32).
"Therefore, this is what the LORD [has said] about the king of Assyria: He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or build up an assault ramp against it. He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city. This is the LORD's declaration: "For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David's sake." ''' ''''
[Notice that
neither a single arrow would be shot at, nor would a single soldier
holding his shield come before the walls of, nor would an assault ramp be
built against; nor would Sennacherib enter the city of Jerusalem.
Sennacherib had inscribed in a chronicle - on the six-sided baked-clay 38
cm high called the Taylor prism, "Hezekiah I shut up like a caged
bird in Jerusalem, his royal city; the walls I fortified against him.
Whoever came out of the gates of the city I turned back." But he
omitted his failure to complete the seige. Not a single assault ramp was
built, nor was there any evidence that Sennacherib built fortified walls
around Jerusalem. Instead, Sennacherib went back the way he came - toward
his land. Historical records corroborate Scripture's implication that the
destruction of Assyrian's 185,000 man army surrounding Jerusalem was the
cause of Sennacherib's sudden abandonment of his Egyptian / Jerusalem
campaign, .
Notice that the LORD's motivation to defend the city of Jerusalem was to
save it for His own sake - to protect His Honor and Glory especially in
the light of Sennacherib's blasphemy; and for the sake of His servant,
David - in the sense of fulfilling the covenant He made with David, upon
whose throne in Jerusalem the Son of Israel, the Son of God would sit and
rule the world forever, (cf. Isa 9:6-7 ,
.chapter 11
;
(Isa 37:33-35).
(Isa 37:36 NKJV) '''''Then the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, [behold all of them] corpses - dead [men]. (Isa 37:37 NKJV) So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and [dwelled] at Nineveh. (Isa 37:38 NKJV) Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.''''' =
During the
night the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the
Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand of them; and when the
people of Jerusalem arose early in the morning, they saw that all of the
Assyrians were dead. There is no historical evidence that they had died of
the plague, as some contend. The timeframe for a plague to destroy
thousands of lives would most likely be more than one night. Isaiah
chapter ten indicates that Assyria's armies would be destroyed in two ways
(1) via a wasting away through disease and (2) suddenly by some other
means in one day .
The conclusion must be made that when Sennacherib heard of the devastating
loss of his great army - with not a single arrow shot, or a shield
wielded, or an assault ramp built, he immediately departed and returned
home. He evidently dwelled at Nineveh until rebellion broke out in
Babylon. Note that the Hebrew word "wayyEseb" in Isa 37:37 means
[dwelled] and appears as "remained" in the NKJV. After gaining
and losing ground against various alliances of tribes against him, he
finally and completely defeated the last rebellion and destroyed Babylon
in 689 B.C.
Up to this time, Sennacherib had issued a highly detailed, self-aggrandizing, often exaggerated annual report of his horrific exploits. But this practice ceased in 701 B.C. Thereafter Sennacherib only provided a summary of his exploits. But for the last seven years of Sennacherib's life, (689-681), no historical records have been found, even of his campaign that ended in his destruction of Babylon in 689 B.C. The fact that historical findings show no campaigns after 701 B.C. except Babylon and none after that corroborates the biblical record which portrays a single campaign to the west in 701 B.C. After his destruction of Babylon in 689 B.C., Sennacherib remained in Ninevah. In 681 B.C., eight years later, and twenty years after he had abandoned his western campaign of 701; while worshipping in the house of his god, Nisroch in a temple in Nineveh, Sennacherib was struck down by the sword by two of his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer. They escaped into the land of Ararat, which is modern Turkey. Despite his devastating and overwhelming defeat at the hands of the LORD, and despite the message that the LORD sent to him, (Isa 37:22-29), Sennacherib had continued to worship his god, Nisroch - distancing himself from the people and the city of Jerusalem, whose God was the LORD. Esarshaddon his son reigned in Sennacherib's place. This is confirmed by Assyrian documents as well, (Isa 37:36-38).