He Sits Enthroned Above the Circle of the Earth
40: 18-26

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth DIG: Does the Bible teach that the world is flat? Is any image or standard of comparison adequate to measure God’s worth? Why or why not? How does Isaiah approach the topic of idols? What is the point He is making?

REFLECT: What grass and flowers 40:6, or idols in 40:19 of this world seem awfully powerful to you today? How much do you depend on them? By comparison, do the promises of God just seem like words right now, or do they provide you with hope? Why? What sort of complaints do you hear today from non-believers? From believers? How might you answer them from the truths of this chapter? When have you most recently felt like God must have lost your address or phone number? What fears and thoughts arose in your mind? How might the truths of this chapter help restore strength to you?

This section introduces the conclusion to the previous arguments that the LORD was both interested and capable of saving Isra’el despite the fact that they continued to wallow in their sin (to see link click Hf – Surely the Nations Are Like a Drop in the Bucket). Isaiah knew he was called to minister to a stubborn and stiff-necked people (48:4). From the very beginning ADONAI told him that the Israelites would be ever hearing but never understanding, ever seeing but never perceiving (6:9). But I’m sure that didn’t make it any easier for the prophet to see his beloved people turn their backs on God at every opportunity.

This section, then, introduces the conclusion to the previous arguments as indicated in the opening word waw, meaning so or then. If it is true that ADONAI is absolutely alone in His creation and maintenance of the world, and if it is true that the Gentile nations are nothing when compared to Him, what image can He be compared to? What one thing from all of creation could be used for that purpose?

Isaiah then asked the question: So, to whom then, will you compare God? The word for God here is translated El, not the more common ELOHIM. The difference between the two is that while ELOHIM speaks of His general qualities, El would remind the Jews of the pagan high god of the Canaanite pantheon with the same name. By using this name Isaiah would leave no doubt of the absolute superiority of ADONAI over any such imposter (43:12; 45:14, 46:9 and 31:3). Since He alone is El, then there is nothing or no one like Him in all the universe.

What image will you compare Him to (40:18)? It has been said that this verse is the culminating experience of Hebrew monotheism found in the Scriptures. The context of this verse is idolatry. In other words, God is saying, “How can you compare Me with idols?” The point here is not how God or idols look, but what is the character of each.

But incredibly, Muslims teach that 40:18 and 25 (and also Psalm 89:6 and Jeremiah 10:6-7) contradict Genesis 1:26 where God said: Let us make man in our image, in our likeness. Is this a contradiction? Certainly not. Because we are not made with the same character as God. If that were true then we would indeed be God. But we are not God and God does not dwell in idols. That is the point made here in Isaiah, the incomparableness of the LORD to anyone or anything. This has nothing to do with us being made in the image of ADONAI. God’s Word is true when it says that the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Cor 4:4).

Of all the comparisons to ADONAI that one might choose, the most ridiculous to Isaiah was an idol. The prophet ridiculed that thought several times in his book (41:6-7, 44:9-20, 46:5-7). He reserved his deepest sarcasm to show how foolish it was to try to make a god out of worldly material. As for an idol a craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it (40:19). Humor and irony are used here. Some people were able to buy expensive gods, wood overlaid with gold and silver. Others had to buy cheap ones. But some were so poor they had to actually make their own idol from scratch.

A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple (40:20). There was a three-stage process. First, they went out in the forest and looked for wood that would not rot. For it is not nice for gods to rot. Secondly, he would choose a skillful carver to make the god look nice. For it is not nice for gods to look ugly. Thirdly, he made sure he built a strong base for the god to stand on because it is not nice for gods to topple over. . . irony and humor are heavy. It is not nice for gods to rot, it’s not nice for gods to look ugly, and it’s not nice for gods to topple over. So therefore, you, skillful worker, make sure you do a good job with this piece of wood and make me a really nice-looking god. Will the Creator, who made the heaven and the earth without any help, be represented by an idol made by a skilled craftsman from the stuff of creation and then cannot be trusted to stand up without toppling over?

Then Isaiah brings out God’s sovereign control over the world. From His sovereign position in heaven God watches over His created universe. He is the God of eternity and speaks to Gentile idolaters about His eternity. Again, Isaiah asks a series of rhetorical questions: Do you all not know? Have you all not heard? Do you all not know? Has it not been told you from the beginning? The issue is intensified with the use of the imperfect with the verbs knowing and hearing. The Septuagint translates it: Will you not know? Can you not hear? It was not only a question of being aware that the LORD transcends the world, but whether those hearing believed Isaiah’s message. It was, and is, possible to hear the message but to refuse to act on it.

From the questions of intent and response Isaiah moves to questions of fact. Have you not understood since the earth was founded (40:21)? From the beginning (Genesis 1:1), from the very foundations of the earth, God was there. Isaiah questions how people could even imagine building their own little god out of wood that would eventually rot and then believe it created the heavens and the earth? The creation of the earth begs for a Creator. If the cosmos had an origin it could not itself be responsible for that event. The current “big bang” theory for the beginning of the earth still does not address the origin of the stuff of the “bang.” Isaiah contends that God is behind it all, and nothing that is part of creation, whether gods or humans, can thwart His plans.

It is He that sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers (40:22a). One of the statements of liberal critics is that the Bible says that the world is flat. That is utterly ridiculous. In fact, the Bible says the opposite, but scientists during the days of Christopher Columbus taught that theory. Those so-called scientists did not pay attention to the Word of God and missed something. And I think they are missing something today. It is clearly stated that ADONAI sits above the circle of the earth and looks down at the inhabitants of the earth, who appear to be little tiny grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in (40:22b). The heavens are pictured as spread out like a tent for Him to live in (Psalm 104:2). Isaiah was not offering a detailed picture of God’s dwelling place. He was merely using imagery that his readers would easily understand.

He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing (40:23). Even the destinies of the greatest are in the hands of God, and their very existence, without His protection, is like stubble in the whirlwind. In controlling history God establishes rulers and removes them (Dani’el 2:21). They are easily removed. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff (40:24). When God removes them, it is as if they had never been. All it takes is the breath of the LORD. With one breath He can remove the most powerful of men because God is sovereign over the rulers of this world.

Finally, God asks: To whom will you compare Me? Or who is My equal? says the Holy One (40:25). God is speaking of the incomparableness of Himself to idols or anyone else. The LORD cannot be compared to anyone or anything. He knows everything about His creation and sustains it. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens; Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name (40:26a). In His strength He created, controls, and also sustains millions upon millions of stars; each one is individually known to Him (see the commentary on Genesis Lw – The Witness of the Stars). Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing (40:26b). The stars have not existed forever. Someone brought them into existence, who was that? It was ADONAI, who is seated on His throne in heaven, who else (see my commentary on Revelation Cd – And There Before Me was a Throne in Heaven)? When we see the power of God’s creation, we feel the power of His love.

In Chapters 40-66 God is frequently referred to as Creator and Maker, and there could not be a more dramatic contrast to the lifeless idols of Babylon. He created the heavens, the earth, the Gentile nations, and Isra’el, and He will create a new heaven and a new earth (see my commentary on Revelation Fr – Then I Saw a New Heaven and a New Earth).

Some nights when you’re away from the city lights lift your eyes and look to the heavens. There in the heavens you’ll see a luminous band of stars stretching from horizon to horizon – our galaxy. If you have good eyes, you can see about 5,000 stars, according to astronomer Simon Driver. There are, however, far more that you cannot see with the naked eye. In 1995, the Hubble Deep Field Study space probe concluded that there are billions of galaxies, each containing billions of stars. By one estimate, there are more than ten stars in the universe for every grain of sand on the earth. Yet, each night, without fail, God brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name . . . not one of them is missing.

Why then do people say: My way is hidden from the LORD (40:27a)? Yes, billions of individuals live on the earth, but ADONAI has forgotten no one. He knows those who are His (Second Timothy 2:19). If He can bring out the incalculable starry host each night one by one, He can bring you into His light. He does so by His great power and mighty strength – the power He displayed when Jesus was raised from the dead. Are the stars out tonight? Rejoice! God cares for you.

Surely the Nations
Are Like a Drop in the Bucket
40: 12-17

Surely the nations are like a drop in the bucket DIG: What is the intended effect of all these rhetorical questions? In each comparison (creation, knowledge, the Gentile nations), how does God fare? How does the LORD regard the power of the nations, even today’s superpowers (40:15-17, 23-24)? For whom was this message intended? Why?

REFLECT: Do you believe that the LORD wants to deliver you? Do you think He is capable of doing so? What could stand in His way? Do you believe you are beyond His reach? Can anything separate you from the love of God that is in Messiah? Because a God who cannot deliver on His promises cannot be trusted.

After establishing that ADONAI wants to deliver Judah (40:1-11) and will not give up on her because of her persistent sinning, Isaiah makes sure that the Jews understood in no uncertain terms that He was fully capable of doing so. In the strongest language possible the prophet of God declared that there is none like the LORD. With a series of rhetorical questions, Isaiah declares that He is unique.

We see the omnipotence of God, meaning He is all powerful. The first question is this: Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand (40:12a)? What is the hollow of your hand? It is the little space in the palm of your hand as you cup it. How much water do you think you could hold there? Maybe a mouthful. And yet God is so great He can hold all the oceans of the world in the hollow of His hand. The second question is this: Who has, with the breadth of His hand, marked off the heavens (40:12b)? The breadth of His hand is known as a span. That is the distance from the tip of your thumb to the tip of your little finger. The vastness of the universe was simply measured out by God by the breadth of, or the span of His hand. Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance (40:12c)? He is also able to measure all the particles of dust of the earth in a basket. He can hold all the mountains and hills and hold them up in a balance to give us the exact weight. That is the greatness of God. Therefore, the first point about the LORD is that He is omnipotent.

We see the omniscience of God, meaning He is all knowing. ADONAI knows no equal nor is there anyone to whom He can go for advice. Hence, there is a second series of rhetorical questions. Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed Him as His counselor? Who has ever served as a counselor to God? He is all knowing; therefore, no one serves as His counselor. Whom did ADONAI consult to enlighten Him, and who taught Him the right way? Who instructs God? No one! Who was it that taught Him knowledge or showed Him the path of understanding (40:13-14)? Who lectures God about justice? Who teaches Him knowledge? Who teaches Him the path of understanding? No one, because He is omniscient.

The implication of the discussion of counselors here is the plan of ADONAI for the redemption of His people (see the commentary on Exodus, to see link click Bz – Redemption). From whom did the LORD get that idea? Some advisor? Was it the brain child of some heavenly committee? Or did it come independently from the mind of the One on whom all things depend? If it came from a heavenly committee, then we are all in trouble. But if it came from the mind of God, then nothing can stop it. Consequently, Isaiah sets the stage for his later comments on redemption.

Then the prophet moved from the realm of the heavens to the inhabited world; from rhetorical questions to that of utter declaration (40:15-17). Nothing can compare to the Creator of the world or prevent what He has willed to accomplish. Ever the master of the Hebrew language, Isaiah uses several literary devices to make his point: metaphors for smallness in 40:15, an analogy of inadequacy in 40:16, and a blunt literal statement in 40:17. This is hardly a new concept for Isaiah. As early as Chapter 10, the prophet asserts that Assyria was merely a pawn in the hands of God. That the LORD is supreme is seen through the future reign of Immanuel in Chapter 11, and the entire group of oracles against the nations in Chapters 13 to 23. His total sovereignty over every person and every nation is seen again and again. There is no question that He is able to save.

In contrast to His greatness, we see the insignificance of the nations of the earth. Three points are made here concerning the nations. First, we see how trivial they are when compared to ADONAI. What are the Gentile nations – so impressive in their own eyes? Surely the Gentile nations are like a drop in the bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; He weighs the islands as though they were fine dust (40:15). Both of these metaphors are powerful expressions of insignificance. They are the drop of water falling back into the cistern as the bucket is pulled up, the speck of dust on the pan of the balance scales that does not even cause the scales to flutter. Both are temporary and neither are noticed.

Secondly, we see their insufficiency of the Gentile nations when compared to God. There is nothing we can do that would come close to matching the greatness of the Creator. Isaiah illustrates this point with a synecdoche, in which one part stands for the whole. Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings (40:16). God is so majestic that even the great cedar forests of Lebanon could not provide enough wood for the kinds of sacrifices He deserves. Nor would the countless animals of those forests provide enough offerings. Humanity cannot adequately pay homage to the Ruler of the world. All the forests of Lebanon, with their abundance of wood and animals, will not provide a sacrifice commensurate with His greatness. Nothing we can do puts Him in our debt. He has to save us because we cannot save ourselves. All of our efforts to take the first step toward ADONAI, to meet His demands, to satisfy His requirement of holiness, or to pull ourselves up by our spiritual bootstraps are never enough.

Thirdly, we see the nothingness of the Gentile nations when compared to the LORD. Figures of speech give way to blunt statements. All the nations who do not know Him are as nothing; they are regarded by Him as worthless and less than nothing (formless or confusion) (40:17). There are three Hebrew words that are used beautifully here. The first word means nothing, the second word means nothingness, and the third word means confusion. This word confusion is the same word that is used in Genesis 1:2, where we read that the earth was formless and empty, or the earth was formless and confused. The nations are nothing, nothingness, and mere confusion. Therefore, there is no comparison between the greatness of God and the triviality, insufficiency and confusion of the nations.

This bold appraisal does not mean the LORD doesn’t value the Gentile nations. He doesn’t think they are worthless and the many statements in the TaNaKh make this clear. It is merely that by comparison with ADONAI (in the sense of His presence), Assyria and its gods, Babylonia and its gods, Persia and its gods, fade into insignificance.

But the Jews of Isaiah’s own day were not interested in this message. They believed they were righteous, God would never violate His Temple (Jeremiah 7:1-8), and that they would always dwell in the Promised Land. They weren’t listening to Isaiah, they just mocked him (see Fm – With Foreign Lips and Strange Tongue God Will Speak to This People). But over a hundred years later their descendants would be sitting on the banks of the Euphrates River wondering what had happened to them. More than that, they would wonder if ADONAI even cared about them anymore. Did He want to save them, or more to the point, was He even capable of saving them. Very clearly, then, Isaiah declares that the LORD was not only willing, but because of His omnipotence and omniscience, He was the only One who could save them. Is it not also true for us?

The God of Hope
40: 12-31

The first eleven verses in this chapter answer the question: Does God want to deliver Israel (and us)? And that has been answered in the affirmative. But that gives rise to another question. Can ADONAI deliver us? It is one thing to want to act, but it is quite another to have the ability to act. Although God had once dramatically delivered His city from the Assyrians (37:36-37), would not its fall to the Babylonians, as predicted by Isaiah’s own words (39:6), mean that the LORD was merely one more local god who would be swallowed up by the relentless march of world empires and their more powerful gods?¹⁵⁵ Isaiah answers all of these questions with an emphatic no.

Because the exile would give ADONAI an opportunity to show His trustworthiness and His sovereignty, Chapter 40 makes two points: God can be trusted to deliver Isra’el (40:1-11), and the LORD is sovereign over all nations in the world (40:12-31). The series of questions asked by God and His prophet remind us of the long list of difficult questions directed to Job by ADONAI in Job 38-41. Like Job, God’s people in exile needed to learn that the LORD is worthy of praise because His majesty and power (40:12-26) guarantee His goodness and mercy (40:27-31).¹⁵⁶

It is into a setting just like ours that Isaiah speaks. He speaks to people who have lost hope. The impossible has happened. The Jews were sure that their nation could not fall, that their Temple could not be destroyed, and that their God would not let them down. Yet, all that happened. They were full of regret. Yes, ADONAI may have acted in the past for other people (don’t we always say that), but to the Jews sitting in Babylon, it seemed like their situation was beyond Him. It seemed like it was beyond His compassion and beyond His power. And to us it sometimes feels like He has forgotten us, and we are hidden from His sight. Well, it wasn’t true for the Jews in Babylon then, and it’s not true for us today. What is true is God’s promise: Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you (see the commentary on Hebrews, to see link click De – Believer’s Behavior in Relation to Ourselves).

Yeshua says to us as he said to them, “No! There is nothing beyond My compassion or My power.” We are persons of worth to Him. Are there chains of doubt about God that are just as real as the Judeans endured? Of course there are. But the LORD can break those chains. To be sure, the way He does it is His business. One of the recurring themes in the following chapters is the discomfort the people have with the way ADONAI chooses to act on their behalf. We cannot dictate the terms or the means, but we can hold on to Him with confident hope because He is the God of hope.

In the same way, we can believe that the LORD can change our circumstances. There can be real change for the better. That is, there can be if we believe in a God who is both outside and inside of history. ADONAI can intervene in our lives and change it for the better. But so much depends on our faith. I am not talking about getting some idea in our heads and then doing a mental number on ourselves until we really believe it is going to happen. I am talking about a life of faith in God, a life where we truly release ourselves into His hands without any reservation.

This is clearly what the Jewish exiles were going to have difficulty doing in the crisis of the exile, and Isaiah knew it. In a real sense the problem he addresses in his own day and the problem we face today is the same. In his own day, the people did not believe they could trust the LORD to deliver them, so they trusted in other nations. They needed to hear God’s Word in ways that changed how they thought. That is what we need to do also. We need lives of faith that are shaped by God’s Word and His view of reality. If I cannot believe ADONAI and hope in Him in the sense of surrendering my life to Him in a kind of life that I know pleases Him, then His power cannot transform me. But if I will actively believe in His Word, there really are no limits to what He can do for me. There is hope.¹⁵⁷

That Her Hard Service Has Been Completed
40:12 to 48:22

These chapters particularly address the questions concerning the LORD’s ability and desire to deliver His people in light of the Babylonian captivity (see my commentary on Jeremiah, to see link click Gu – Seventy Years of Babylonian Rule). Would the exile prove that God had abandoned His people? Would it mean that He was unable to defend His people from the pagan nations surrounding them? Would it mean that He had been defeated by His people’s destructive sinfulness? No! Not only would it not prove that the LORD had abandoned His people, the exile would give ADONAI an even greater opportunity to display His sovereignty and trustworthiness. Remember the main points that are going to be brought out in these nine chapters. First, it is written within the light of the Babylonian captivity. Secondly, there is going to be a contrast between God and idols. Thirdly, there is going to be a contrast between Isra’el and the Gentiles. Fourthly, there will be a message of deliverance, both from the near historical Babylon and the far eschatological Babylon. Finally, God is going to emphasize the final overthrow of Babylonian idolatry.

Comfort, Comfort My People Says Your God
40: 1-11

Comfort, comfort my people says your God DIG: Jerusalem’s deliverance in 701 BC from the Assyrian King Sennacherib in Chapter 37 climaxes the prophecies of Chapters 1-39. Chapters 40-48 deal with events that occur 150 years later. In 587 BC Jerusalem was sacked, its people deported to Babylon, the new world power (2 Kings 25). Given this situation, what does Isaiah mean when he says comfort and speak tenderly to my people? How far was Isaiah looking into the future when he wrote the second half of his book?

REFLECT: The gospels quote 11:3 in reference to John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus. What does that imply about the identity of Yeshua? How can you prepare the way for the Lord in your own life? What needs leveling or shoring up? In verse 11 Yeshua comes as a Shepherd as well as a King. What sort of sheep do you feel like: Cradled? Content? Wandering? Caught? or Lost? Why?

At this point we need to pause and reflect on Isaiah’s life in his later years. The last time we read about Isaiah involved in public ministry was the invasion of the Assyrian King Sennacherib in 701 BC. If Isaiah was about thirty years old when he started his public ministry, he would have been about sixty-nine years of age when King Uzziah died (6:10). By the time Hezekiah died, three years later, Isaiah would have been seventy-two. But more than likely he lived longer than that because tradition teaches that he died as a martyr during the reign of Manasseh, who had him sawed in two (Hebrews 11:36-37). Therefore, if he lived several years after his public ministry had ended, what might he have done during this latter part of his life?

As early as 712 BC, possibly as much as twenty years before his death, Isaiah could see that the Babylonian exile was coming (39:5-7). It must have weighed heavily upon him, but as far as we know he did not preach on it. For most of the following fifteen years the more immediate Assyrian crisis demanded his attention and, with the accession of Manasseh and the fierce repression that came with it, it would have been impossible to preach anyway. The nation and its leaders were unwilling to listen. It would only be after the Babylonian captivity for seventy years that they would become teachable again, and then they would not need judgment, but comfort.

It is more likely, therefore, as the gap in time between Chapter 39 and Chapter 40 implies, that in the latter part of his life Isaiah was called to a new task, to comfort Isra’el in words that they would remember and preserve in the dark days ahead until she was ready to hear them again.¹⁵³

The specific question dealt with in 40:1-11 is this: Does God want to deliver Judah (and us)? And doesn’t He give up on Judah (and on us) because of our persistent sinning? The message God gives is for people whose whole world has fallen apart. And for people like that, cheap comfort is not only a waste of time, it is cruel. Comfort not grounded in reality is no comfort at all; it must be based on truth. And the truth is that sin, Judah’s or ours, does not defeat ADONAI. Not only does He want to restore the united kingdoms of Isra’el and Judah (and us), but He intends to use her (and us) in the proclamation of the Good News. The LORD can be trusted to deliver Isra’el (and us).

Comfort, comfort My people, says our God (40:1). This verse starts out with a command to comfort. The command then is to the Jewish prophets, Isaiah in particular, and perhaps his contemporary Micah, or the later prophets of the Babylonian captivity such as Jeremiah, Ezeki’el, Dani’el, or the post-exilic prophets such as Zechariah, Haggai, and Malachi. The basic thrust now is comfort my people. The word comfort is so emphatic that the NIV says it twice. My people is the object, meaning My people of the united kingdom of Isra’el. Up to now the first 39 chapters have been chapters of judgment against Judah, with the final threat in Chapter 39 that although ADONAI will save Judah from the Assyrians, about one hundred years later the LORD would send the southern kingdom of Judah into captivity. But now the content and the tone of the message changes; it is one of comfort rather than judgment.

The method of speaking is given in the first part of the next verse, which says: Speak tenderly to Jerusalem (40:2a). Literally, the Hebrew reads: Speak comfortably, or speak to the heart of. The basic thrust of the message is that you must win the heart of the nation. Not merely threaten them, but win the heart of the nation. This phrase win the heart of is used elsewhere in Scripture for courtship (Genesis 34:3: Judges 19:3; Hosea 2:14). The one that is closest to what Isaiah is saying here is in Hosea 2:14. In the first 13 verses of Chapter 2, Hosea had a message of judgment. God was going to destroy the nation for her idolatry, for chasing after other gods. But sometime after the fall of the nation Hosea prophesied: Therefore, behold, I will allure her, I will bring her back into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her (Hosea 2:14). In other words, the word for comfort in 40:1 and the word for tenderly in 40:2 are two different Hebrew words. This is why the NIV uses the word comfort in 40:1 and speak tenderly to in 40:2. The word for comfort in 40:1 means to soothe in time of grief or to console. But the word tenderly in 40:2 is the Hebrew word meaning speak to the heart of, meaning to win the heart of, in the sense of wooing for the purpose of courtship.

In the second part of the verse, the prophet had a three-fold message of comfort to declare. Proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, and that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins (40:2b). First, that her warfare had been completed. Second, that her sin had been pardoned. And third, that she had received from the LORD double for all her sin. This three-fold message is the outline for the rest of the book of Isaiah. And each section ends with one verse that describes the state of the wicked.

First, that her warfare had been completed is developed in 40:1 to 48:22. This first section will be divided between Isaiah’s consolation (Chapters 40-41, 44-45) and his Creator (Chapters 42:5 to 43:28 and 46 to 48).

The person primarily, but not exclusively, talked about is Cyrus and how God will use Cyrus to bring about the return of the Jews from Babylon. Because of this, there is more near historical prophecy than far eschatological prophecy.

Back in Isaiah 29, God was viewed as being at war with Ariel, which is another name for the city of Jerusalem. In 42:25, Isaiah tells us that God had poured out on Judah His burning anger, the violence of war. But now in 40:2 we see that ADONAI’s war against the people of Judah is finished. Throughout this section we are going to see a contrast of several things. First, we will see a contrast between the LORD and idols. Secondly, we will see a contrast between the Jews and the Gentiles. And thirdly, we will see a motif of contrast between a near historical fulfillment and a far eschatological fulfillment regarding Babylon. The Bible talks about two Babylons. In Isaiah’s day there was the city and empire of Babylon. Because the near fulfillment would be the Babylonian captivity, which would begin one hundred years after the prophecy of Isaiah, we call this the near historical Babylon. Then after the Babylonian captivity, when her warfare had been completed, men like Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, and Ezra would lead her back to Jerusalem to occupy the Land in 536 BC. But the Bible also talks about another Babylon. There is a Babylon yet to be rebuilt and become the worldwide capital of the antichrist during the Great Tribulation. We call this the far eschatological Babylon.

Finally, Isaiah is going to be talking about the overthrow of the Babylon gods. Remember that the main reason why ADONAI had to send the Jews into captivity in Babylonian was because of their idolatry. The Jews from the time of Abraham down to the Babylonian captivity were always prone to idolatry. So, throughout Chapters 40 to 48 there will be constant references made to God’s war against idols and idolatry for the purpose of showing the absolute stupidity of idolatry. This will especially be true in Chapter 41 and Chapters 46 and 47. But Isra’el did finally learn her lesson because once the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity in 536 BC, idolatry would never again be a Jewish problem. This section ends with a statement that describes the state of the wicked. There is no peace, says the LORD, for the wicked (48:22).

Second, that her sin had been pardoned is seen in 49:1 to 57:21. This second section will be divided between Judah’s Redeemer (Chapters 49:7 to 50:3, 50:10 to 52:12, and 54 to 57) and Judah’s Servant (Chapters 42:1-4, 49:1-6, 50:4-9 and 52:13 to 53:2).

In this section, the reason that her sin had been pardoned was because of the death of the Servant of the LORD. Here Isaiah deals with the final salvation and restoration of the united kingdom of Isra’el and Judah. Because of this, there is more far eschatological prophecy than near historical prophecy.

Isaiah will make four points. First, her sin had been pardoned. This is the reason that her hard service had been completed. The Hebrew word pardoned here means to be satisfied. In other words, God’s righteousness and justice has been satisfied because the price of sin has been paid. The theological word is propitiation. It means the averting of ADONAI’s wrath by means of the substitutionary sacrifice of Messiah, which satisfies every claim of God’s holiness and justice so that the LORD is free to act on behalf of sinners. On the cross, Yeshua said: It is finished in Aramaic. In Greek it would be translated paid in full or tetelestai.

Second, there is a connection between the suffering of the Servant and His future glory. On the one hand, Isaiah will speak of a suffering Messiah; on the other hand, he will speak of a conquering Messiah. Today we understand that this was fulfilled by Yeshua coming twice; His First Coming to die for sins, and His Second Coming to rule in the millennial Kingdom. The sages have never completely comprehended the truthfulness of One Person fulfilling both prophecies. So, they invented the theory of two Messiahs. The first Messiah would come and die and the second Messiah would come to reign and bring the first Messiah back to life again. This section ends with a statement that describes the state of the wicked. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked (Isaiah 57:21).

Third, that she had received from the LORD double for all her sin is discussed in Isaiah, Chapters 58 to 66. This third section is about Isaiah’s Messiah and will be divided between Judah’s sins (Chapters 58 and 59), the coming Messiah (Chapters 60 to 62), and finally judgment and salvation (Chapters 63 to 66).

The second section gives the reason for the first, because her sins had been pardoned, her hard service had been completed. Likewise, the third section gives the reason for the second. The reason that she had received double for all her sins was so that her sins could be pardoned. So, we have a progression in thought.

The principle of Judah receiving double for all her sins comes out of the Torah. It clearly states that the first son was to receive double. So, if you had three sons, you would divide your land into four parts. The two youngest sons would be given one part each. But the first-born son would be given two parts. The firstborn son always received double. When Pharaoh would not let the people go, God sent Moses to Pharaoh with a message: Then say to Pharaoh, this is what ADONAI says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, let my son go, so he may worship me. But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son (Exodus 4:22-23). For that reason, Judah is to receive double in blessing and punishment. What is emphasized here is not the double blessing, but the double punishment aspect. Isaiah is not the only one to say this (Jeremiah 16:18 and Zechariah 9:12). This principle, found in both the five books of Moshe and the Prophets, is the reasoning behind the statement by Paul: There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile (Romans 2:9). The reason why God would move against the Jew first in punishing sin is because of the principle of receiving double for her sins. But the other side of the coin is also true. But glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile (Romans 2:10). So because the nation of Israel was the first born of the nations and has a special relationship with God, Israel receives double blessings, but she also receives double for all her sins.

In this third section, aside from the point that the nation of Isra’el had received double for all her sins, Isaiah will mainly be concerned with the distinction between Isra’el the whole, the faithful remnant of believing Jews, and the Suffering Servant. This section, and book, ends with the condemnation of the wicked: And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind (Isaiah 66:24).

From this simple command to comfort His people (40:3-11), four different voices respond. First, there is the voice of urgency in 40:3 to 5. This takes us back to a long-standing custom of the ancient world. Roads of some kind must have existed in former times in Palestine, though nothing worthy of the name is to be found there today. The use of chariots, and the opening and preservation of the way to the Cities of Refuge, and such expressions as are found in this text, seem to imply a knowledge and a use of artificial roads. It has been the custom from ancient times for Oriental monarchs, when wishing to travel through their dominions, to send men before them to prepare their way, by removing stones (see 62:10), leveling rough places, filling up hollows, and making the road pleasant and easy for the distinguished travelers. The Assyrian Queen Shammuramat (in Greek, Semiramis), on one of her journeys, coming to a rough, mountainous region, ordered the hills leveled and the hollows filled, which was done at an enormous cost. Her object was not only to shorten the way, but also to leave to posterity a lasting monument of herself. There have been modern instances of a similar character, though not involving so much labor and expense.¹⁵⁴ The point here is that the LORD is coming so there had to be a way prepared for Him.

A voice of one calling, “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, and the rugged places a plain” (40:3-4). This is quoted in reference to John the Immerser by all four gospel writers (Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; and John 1:23). John the Immerser could have fulfilled this prophecy had Jesus been accepted. That is the point of the gospel writers quoting him. John the Immerser was a forerunner of the Messiah of Isra’el. But Messiah was rejected, so this prophecy awaits fulfillment at some other time (Mark 9:9-13).

And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it (40:5a). The synoptic writers all describe what took place on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13; Mark 9:1-13; and Luke 9:28-36). The disciples had seen the Sh’khinah glory manifested in the person of Jesus Christ. That raised a theological question. Why did the sages teach that before the Messiah would come, Elijah must come first? This is based on Malachi Chapter 4 where it clearly teaches Elijah must return before the coming of Christ, but before the Second Coming not before the First Coming. So first, Jesus said that Elijah would indeed come first and restore all things, but if Elijah had come before the First Coming all the prophecies regarding the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ would never be fulfilled. That is why Elijah was not promised to come and restore all things before the First Coming, but only before the Second Coming. John the Immerser was a type of Elijah, in that he was a forerunner of the First Coming. Had Yeshua been accepted as the Messiah, then John would have fulfilled the prophecy of 40:3-5. But He was rejected. As a result, this prophecy awaits a future fulfillment when Elijah will indeed return and fulfill all things. Then a smoothing of the way is described so all obstacles are removed. Then Isaiah speaks about the Sh’khinah glory. At that point, when the way has been prepared for the coming of the King (when all Isra’el is saved as a nation in Chapter 66) and Jesus will come back, His Sh’khinah glory will be seen by all mankind (Matthew 24:29-30). The guarantee that all of this will come to pass is given at the end of this verse. For the mouth of God has spoken (40:5b). Because He said it, it will indeed come to pass. That was the first voice; now comes the second voice.

Second is the voice of hope in 40:6a. The second voice says: Cry out, meaning, Cry out to Jerusalem the same three-fold message of comfort, the same message found earlier in 40:1-2.

Third voice is the voice of discouragement in 40:6b-7. Immediately after that, the voice of discouragement asks: What shall I cry? This voice emphasizes the transitory, or temporary nature of man. The voice of discouragement says: All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of God blows on them. Surely the people are like grass (40:6b-7). In effect this voice says, “What good is it? We have had revivals before. There have been periods during Isra’el’s history when we have turned to God, only to let that period of righteousness slip through our fingers as the nation returned to a life of sin. All we do is see continuous cycles. Why bother giving the message of comfort in 40:1-2? It is useless because human righteousness is so fickle, it comes and goes.

But then the voice of hope responds to the voice of discouragement. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God stands forever (40:8). This voice says, “You are right. Man’s righteousness is fickle. But I will give you some hope, and tell you something that is not fickle. That is the Word of our God spoken by His prophets. It is sure. It is not transitory. It is not temporary. Therefore, since the promise of the final restoration and redemption of the united nation of Isra’el is sure, because the mouth of the LORD has spoken it, let us proclaim that message!

We have heard three voices so far, but now comes the fourth voice, the voice of good tidings in 40:9-11. Finally, the command to comfort and speak tenderly to My people in 40:1-2 is carried out. Though God is a mighty warrior striking down Isra’el’s oppressors, He is also like a good Shepherd, gentle and considerate to His redeemed people.

You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid. Say to the towns of Judah, “Here is our God” (40:9)! Here the phrase good tidings is the Hebrew word for the Gospel. Ultimately, the way the promise of 40:2 is going to be fulfilled is by means of preaching the Gospel to both Isra’el and Judah. This will ultimately bring about the salvation of the united kingdom Isra’el. She has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Isra’el will be saved, as it is written: The deliverer will come from Zion; He will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins (Romans 11:25b-27). That will be especially true in the preaching of the Two Witnesses (see the commentary on Revelation, to see link click Dc – I Will Give Power to My Two Witnesses and They Will Prophesy for 1,260 Days).

But what are we to preach? The answer to that comes next. See, the LORD of heaven’s angelic armies (CJB) comes with power, and His arm rules for Him, and His reward accompanies Him (40:10). In 40:10 the word See, has a special meaning in the book of Isaiah. When he uses it, it always means something in reference to the future. In other words, “See, your God is coming in the future.” And when He comes, He will come with power, and His arm rules for Him. This is the second of nine references to the arm of the LORD in Isaiah (30:30 and 32, 50:2, 51:5 and 9, 52:10, 53:1, 59:1 and 16, 62:8, 63:5). In His Second Coming, He will come as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5), but in His First Coming, He came as the Good Shepherd.

Even though the nation of Judah would have to endure the discipline of the Babylonian captivity; He would eventually come to them as the Good Shepherd. The arm raised in discipline would be lowered in compassion. He tends His flock like a shepherd (Ps 23:1, 80;1; Heb 13:20; 1 Pet 2:25 and 5:4), He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart (Jeremiah 13:17 and 20; Micah 4:8, 5:4 7:14; Zechariah 10:3); He gently leads those that have young (40:11). He said of Himself: I am the good Shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me – just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father – and I lay down My life for the sheep (John 10:14-15). Does God want to deliver Isra’el (and us)? Indeed He does. Doesn’t He give up on Israel (and on us) because of our persistent sinning? No, He does not! And that, my friend, is Good News.

The Redemption and Restoration of Isra’el
40:1 to 66:24

The Bible has 66 books, 39 books in the TaNaKh and 27 books in the B’rit Chadashah. While both Covenants have elements of both judgment and hope, the TaNaKh speaks forcefully about inevitable judgment and the New Covenant speaks forcefully about redemption and return. This is exactly what we have in the book of Isaiah. There are 66 chapters, 39 chapters speak forcefully of inevitable judgment, while 27 chapters, 40 through 66, speak just as forcefully of inevitable redemption and return.

The first 39 chapters of Isaiah were written during the time that the Assyrian Empire was the main threat against the kingdom of Judah. The recurring theme in those chapters is that ADONAI could be trusted in the face of the threats from surrounding nations. Nevertheless, the people of Isra’el were continually tempted to trust other nations to help them. God told them that those nations would fail them and they would be destroyed, sometimes from the very nation she had trusted for help (8:5-8, 30:1-5). But Isaiah declared that even after their well-earned destruction, God would not abandon them, but deliver them (9:2-7, 30:9-33).

The second part of Isaiah, Chapters 40 to 66, are written in a more prophetic format in that Isaiah is projecting himself either 150 years into the future when the Jews are in the Babylonian captivity, or into the end times during the Great Tribulation and Messianic Kingdom. It is not unusual for Isaiah to go back and forth between the two dispensations. These chapters are the tenth major section, the largest of them all comprising 27 chapters. The theme of these chapters is the redemption and restoration of Isra’el, and in them ADONAI displays that His trustworthiness does not end at the point of disobedience. The Israelites did not deserve it and God was not required to deliver them. Yet, ADONAI did it anyway. Even though He knew they would desert Him, He promised in advance to redeem them without money and without cost (55:1b).

There are those who have argued that there are two authors of Isaiah, the writer of Chapters 1-39 and another for Chapters 40-66. For seventeen centuries no one dreamt of doubting that Isaiah the son of Amoz was the author of every part of the book that goes under his name, until a few German scholars began to question the unity of this book about 1780.¹⁵² There are seven reasons that I argue for unity.

First, the New Testament knows only one Isaiah (especially John 12:38-41 with Isaiah 53:1 and 6:10 where John mentions Isaiah without making any distinction, but also: Mt 12:17-18 with Isaiah 42:1; Matthew 3:3 with Isaiah 40:3-5; Acts 8:32-33 with Isaiah 53:7-8; Romans 10:16 with Isaiah 53:1; Romans 10:20 with Isaiah 65:1).

Secondly, the ideas of Isaiah 1-39 are often repeated and /or expanded in Chapters 40-66 (1:29 with 57:5; 29:13 with 58:2-4; 1:15 with 59:3,7; 10:1-2 with 59:3-9). The style and language are often similar in both parts, with scores of expressions from the first part being repeated almost verbatim in the second part (a striking example is the way Isaiah describes God as The Holy One of Isra’el, found 12 times in 1-39, 14 times in 40-66, and only 5 times elsewhere in the TaNaKh).

Thirdly, the setting of 40-66 is Canaan, not Babylonian (40:9; 58:6; 59:1-8; 44:14; 41:19; 43:14; 45:22; 46:11; 52:11).

Fourthly, idolatry is a widespread and prevalent evil (44:9-20; 57:4ff).

Fifthly, literary resemblances between the eighth-century Micah and Isaiah 40-66 are numerous and striking (Micah 2:13 with Isaiah 52:12; Micah 3:8 with Isaiah 58:1; Micah 7:17 with Isaiah 49:23; Micah 4:13 with Isaiah 51:15). This is a very important issue.

Sixthly, most contemporary prophets of Isaiah seem to reflect Chapters 40-66 (Zephaniah 2:15 with Isaiah 47:8; Nahum 1:15 with Isaiah 52:7; Jeremiah 31:35 with Isaiah 51:15).

Lastly, why isn’t the mysterious author of Isaiah 40-66 mentioned in the TaNaKh if he was someone other than Isaiah of Jerusalem? There are no anonymous prophecies in the TaNaKh. This would be the only one. No, there is only one human author of this book; it is Isaiah son of Amoz who lived in Jerusalem.

The King of Babylon Sent Hezekiah a Gift
39: 1-8

The king of Babylon sent Hezekiah a gift DIG: What treasure is Hezekiah showing off? Why is he strutting his stuff (see Second Chronicles 32:22-25)? How does this puffed up Hezekiah compare with the Hezekiah in 37:20 and 38:15-19? What happened in the meantime?

REFLECT: What hero (religious or political) have you idolized? How has seeing his or her faults forced you to look again to Yeshua as the model for your life? Is it harder for you to be faithful during times of hardship, or times of success? Why?

While the previous chapter presented Hezekiah in both a positive and negative light, Chapter 39 is entirely negative. Hezekiah, like Jerusalem, is too easily seduced by the world. Trust, faith, and belief in ADONAI is a way of life, not a one-time affair. The source of our hope cannot lie in sinful humanity: well-intentioned, but entirely human. No, if there is hope for us it must come from Someone greater. Given that God may be trusted, what then? Given that one-time trust is not enough, how is a life of continuous trust possible? Given that the best of God’s people fail, where is our hope?¹⁴⁹

Chapters 38 and 39 form a suitable introduction to Chapters 40 to 66, which largely describe Judah’s future relationship with the Babylonians. But more than that, these chapters point us to the blessed Hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ (Titus 3:13). Here Hezekiah receives a Babylonian embassy with gifts. Isaiah announces that all that the king and his royal ancestors had accumulated, in addition to his children, would be carried off by the king of Babylon. This section is written in prose. A parallel passage for this is Second Kings 20:12-19 and Second Chronicles 32:24-31.

At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters (probably encouraging Hezekiah to join Babylon in rebellion against Assyria) and a gift, because he had heard of his illness and recovery (Second Kings 20:12; Isaiah 39:1). Merodach means a rebel, and Baladan means not the LORD. Behind that king, of course, is Nimrod (see the commentary on Genesis, to see link click Di – The Line of Ham), and the Adversary, who is the archrebel of ADONAI and who is the god of this world (Second Corinthians 4:4). Merodach-Baladan heard that Hezekiah was ill and sent him a gift. Wasn’t that nice of him! But he had ulterior motives with this delegation. Meradach-Baladan had captured Babylon and had ruled from the year 721 BC to 710 BC. But then Sargon II drove him out. Meradach-Baladan later recaptured Babylon and reigned for nine months from the years 704 BC to 703 BC. Then Sennacherib drove him out again.

This delegation took place when Meradach-Baladan was ruling Babylon for the second time from 704 BC to 703 BC. He was also getting ready to revolt against Assyria and the delegation was sent to involve Hezekiah and Judah in the plot against Sennacherib. This made Hezekiah’s lack of discretion all the worse because of Isaiah’s prophecy that God was using Assyria to punish Judah. It would lead to the crisis in Chapters 36 and 37. So in that sense Chapters 38 and 39 lead up to the events of Chapters 36 and 37. Merodach-Baladan’s visit preceded Sennacherib’s planned attack of Jerusalem in 701. Therefore, these three events happened in this order: Hezekiah’s illness, Merodach-Baladan’s visit, and then Sennacherib’s planned attack.

After Hezekiah was restored to health (see Gy – Hezekiah Became Ill and Was at the Point of Death), he became rather proud and arrogant. In the book of Chronicles, which is God’s viewpoint of history, we are told: But Hezekiah’s heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore, ADONAI’s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem (Second Chronicles 32:25).

Instead of reading the letter that Merodach-Baladan had sent him, and spreading it out before ADONAI like he had done with Sennacherib (37:14), he put it aside. The Babylonians had flattered him and so he gave them the VIP treatment. He took them on a tour of the grounds of Jerusalem. His pride got in the way of his discernment. He had a perfect opportunity to glorify Ha’Shem before the pagan Babylonians, to tell of His greatness and of His grace. Instead, he gave in to the temptation to glorify himself and to prove to the Babylonians that he would be a worthy partner in her rebellion against Assyria.

Hezekiah received the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses – the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine oil, his entire armory and everything found among his treasures. At this time, Hezekiah still had the riches that David and Solomon had gathered. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show him (39:2). He would have been glad to have the support of Babylon against the looming Assyrian threat. Instead of trusting God, Hezekiah trusted in Babylon and all the wealth of Judah. This was exactly what the first half of the book is warning against. The Gentile nations could not and should not be trusted. However, in pride Hezekiah showed the Babylonian envoys everything of value in his storehouses, palace, and kingdom (Second Chronicles 32:27-30). It was as if he thought those riches belonged to him instead of God. The scene is very humiliating. It depicts Hezekiah running around showing off the wealth of God before the politely approving Babylonians, who in fact had wealth many more times over in their own storehouses back in Babylon. Trusting in the riches of God will deliver us from making fools of ourselves in the eyes of the world.

Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah. The prophets of God needed no invitation to address the king, and here Isaiah arrives unannounced. When Isaiah heard of the foreigners’ visit, he asked Hezekiah what they said and where they came from (38:3a). Hezekiah answered the second of Isaiah’s questions but evaded the first, apparently conscious of the prophet’s objection to any flirting with the Babylonian king. His only hope was to make it appear that he was being hospitable to these travelers and said: From a distant land, they came to me from Babylon (38:3b). A rabbinic tradition classes Hezekiah among three persons, the others being Cain and Balaam, whom God tested and found wanting. When the prophet came and asked him, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?” He should have replied, “You are a prophet of ADONAI to whom all secrets are known.” Instead, he made a show of his greatness saying: They came to me from a distant land. He boasted that they had traveled all that distance to pay honor to him and court his friendship. On account of his arrogance and lack of faith in Ha’Shem, he would be punished. Then the prophet delivered an ominous message to the king.

But Isaiah is not taken in by Hezekiah’s deception. He moved quickly to the gloomy question: What did they see in your palace? Hezekiah’s answer had a defiant ring to it: They saw everything in my palace. There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them (38:4). Along with Hezekiah’s lack of discernment there was pride. It seemed to have slipped his mind that the treasure in the Temple was God’s and not his. He was a good man and a godly king (Second Chronicles 31:20-21), but here he was painfully mortal. He needed to learn that prayer is not a last resort, but a first defense, that faith, trust, and belief are not a once-in-a-while practice, but a daily habit. This is a good lesson for us all.

With deadly calm the prophet announced that the possessions of Hezekiah’s pride would be taken to Babylon (Second Kings 24:13, 25:13-17; Second Chronicles 36:7-8 and Daniel 1:2). Hear the word of the LORD of heaven’s angelic army (CJB): The time will come when everything in your palace, and all that your father’s have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left (39:5-6). This sin of self-sufficiency that characterized Hezekiah and the people of Judah would eventually result in their captivity about one hundred and fifty years from the time of this prophecy. Yes, later Hezekiah would trust in the LORD and the nation would be spared destruction by the Assyrian army. But, as Isaiah could see by the inspiration of God, Judah’s reprieve would only be temporary. Although Hezekiah was the ideal representative of the people, there would still be the Babylonian captivity. Although God had delivered Judah from the Assyrians, they were not delivered from Babylon. Ironically, the Babylonians, who were seducing Judah as a friend, would eventually destroy her.

In addition to the treasure, some of Hezekiah’s children will also be taken to Babylon. (Second Kings 24:12-16; Second Chronicles 36:9-10 and Daniel 1:2). And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon (39:7). Because Hezekiah would recover, he would have sons and the unconditional divine promise of God to provide Isra’el forever with a godly king like David would be kept (Second Samuel 7:5-16).

But some would be captives in Babylon and become the king’s eunuchs. Eunuchs were castrated men who were also employed in various offices of the court. They often became the confidential advisers of the monarch, were frequently men of great influence, and sometimes had high military office (Jeremiah 34:3). That was especially the case in Persia, where they acquired great political power, and filled positions of great prominence and sometimes engaged in conspiracy against the life of the king (Esther 2:21). The Hebrew kings had them in their courts (First Samuel 7:15; First Kings 7:9; Second Kings 8:6, 9:32, 25:19; First Chronicles 28:1; Jeremiah 29:2, 34:19, 38:7 and 52:25). Though it was the barbarous custom of eastern sovereigns to mutilate many of their young prisoners in this manner, there is no evidence that the Hebrew kings ever did this. The eunuchs employed by them are supposed to have been imported. The most famous of the Hebrew eunuch was Dani’el (Dani’el 1:3-7), in fulfillment of the prediction of the judgment on the house of David in Second Kings 20:17-18.¹⁵⁰ Hezekiah’s descendants would not have any thoughts of their own line and authority, but would merely be content to serve the king of Babylon. This would be the result of generation after generation of refusal to trust in God.

The Babylonian captivity did not occur because of Hezekiah’s failure to seize an opportunity to glorify God before the Babylonians. To be sure, it is intriguing to think of how history may have been different if he had, but that is not the point Isaiah is making. Hezekiah’s behavior is illustrative, not contributory. Why did the Babylonian captivity occur? Because the nation, like Hezekiah, saw trust as a one-time affair rather than a way of life. So, Hezekiah’s reign, perhaps the best overall in Judah’s history (after the split of the northern kingdom of Isra’el and the southern kingdom of Judah), was followed by Manassehs’, unquestionably the worst reign (Second Kings 21:10-15).

A similar action occurs with Josiah, Manasseh’s grandson. For reasons the text does not specify, Josiah had a heart for God and led his nation in a remarkable revival (Second Kings 23:1-3). Yet after his untimely death, the revival seems to have disappeared overnight, and his son Jehoiakim led as cynical a regime as one could imagine. It was the people who failed in their trust. They saw trust only as a means of getting their needs met. But that reduces trust into a device for manipulation. When it is used in that way, it is bound to fail, for ADONAI cannot be manipulated. The result is the same today as it was in Judah and Isra’el. People today merely turn to other means of manipulation to supply their needs; in Israel’s and Judah’s case, it was the worship of other gods.

Idolatry is merely an attempt to manipulate our environment in such a way as to meet our needs. Because of our sin nature, this idolatrous instinct is embedded within us. And as soon as we abandon trust in ADONAI, idolatry in one form or another is waiting in the wings. This is even more likely if we evaluate our successes in life, as Hezekiah seems to have done, by our possessions. We keep confusing the ends and means. The intended end of our lives is abundant life, the life in which God’s fullness is poured into ours. A by-product of that fullness is material blessing. But that is only a by-product. When we make it an end and put it forward as the evidence of our success in life, manipulation of the Lord in order to secure that end is almost always inescapable. Manipulation and trust are incompatible.¹⁵¹

The reason that Hezekiah’s heart was pure, was that when he was rebuked, he repented on the spot, saying: The word of the LORD you have spoken is good. Then he thought: There will be peace and security in my lifetime (39:8). Some have questioned the sincerity of this statement. But Second Chronicles 31:20-21 gives us God’s estimation of his servant. After purifying the Temple, reestablishing the celebration of the Passover and the worship of God in the kingdom, the Ruach ha-Kodesh inspired the author of the Chronicles to write this: This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God. In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so, he prospered. For an evaluation of Hezekiah’s illness, turn to Second Chronicles 32:24-26 and 31.

Because of God’s estimation of Hezekiah, we must not then be cynical and think that he was merely relieved that he was not going to be destroyed when responding to Isaiah in this verse. No, we must conclude that although Hezekiah desired prosperity for his descendants it would have been disingenuous of him to begrudge the mercy of God in delaying judgment. God is merciful in that He postponed the calamity until after Hezekiah’s death. Hezekiah acknowledged his error and submitted to God’s will, but we see in the deferment of the punishment evidence of ADONAI’s mercy to him.

Therefore, on the one hand, Hezekiah submits with humility to the word of the LORD through His prophet Isaiah, and feels that he has been mercifully spared inasmuch as God’s blessing of peace and stability would continue. But on the other hand, the same fate that hung over the northern kingdom of Isra’el eight years earlier by Assyria, was now hanging over the southern kingdom of Judah by Babylon. As a result, the end of the kingdom of Isra’el and the beginning of the end of the kingdom of Judah coincided during the reign of Hezekiah.

The message of Isaiah does not end here. Several questions have been answered. Yes, God is sovereign over the nations. Yes, God’s counsel and wisdom is superior to human leaders. Yes, God can deliver us from the Assyria’s of the world. Yes, God is the Promise Keeper and can be trusted. But there are still questions to be answered. How can a sinful people become the servants of God? It is clear that He is trustworthy, but getting sinful humans to trust him is another matter altogether, as Chapter 39 makes clear. What will motivate us to trust Him? How can our sinfulness and His holiness be reconciled? How can sinful and rebellious Jacob become holy, and Isra’el submissive Genesis 32:28? Trust God? Yes, but how? Chapters 40 to 66 provide that answer.

You Have Put All My Sins Behind Your Back
38: 9-22

DIG: In this song of Hezekiah, what images does he use to talk about death? What aspect of death and dying do they each convey? To what does he credit his temporary deliverance from death? What part has divine forgiveness played in his healing? What resolve does he make in light of that deliverance? What does Hezekiah’s psalm here have in common with Psalm 88? What can be concluded from these poems concerning views of the afterlife in the TaNaKh?

REFLECT: Hezekiah realized his illness and his deliverance were both from ADONAI. What does it mean to you that suffering is part of the LORD’s plan for you? What role does suffering serve in your life? Hezekiah viewed life as a gift from God to be used for His purposes. How will this affect how you will live out your numbered days? How do you feel about ADONAI throwing all your sins into the depths of the sea?

After he was healed, Hezekiah wrote a song to express his thankfulness to ADONAI. At that time, there was a great welling up of praise in his heart. His song of praise was evidently set to music and sung. This psalm of thanksgiving is outside the book of Psalms (although many believe that Hezekiah composed Psalm 116 at that time), and makes two important points. First, even the most powerful are helpless before death. And second, Hezekiah is not the promised Messiah. Chapters 40 to 66 will speak to that. Therefore, this psalm serves to emphasize Hezekiah’s humanness more than his deliverance. In a larger sense, the same can be true of Judah and Jerusalem. Saved, yes, but most certainly human.

Hezekiah did not claim to be infallible or perfect. His mention of God’s putting away his sins (38:17) is evidence enough of that. But he is saying on a conscious, intentional level, that he has kept his promises to ADONAI. This is the meaning of walking faithfully with wholehearted devotion. He had not willingly deceived the LORD or others. He had been careful about what he promised and had found the grace of God to keep his promises. The Hebrew concept of the heart is the control panel of life, where thought, affection, and will come together. The Hebrews did not separate these three aspects of human personality, as if they each function independently of each other. Hezekiah said that as far as it was up to him, his heart had been focused on only one thing: serving, pleasing and obeying ADONAI.

Every believer should aspire to have the same testimony on our deathbed that Hezekiah had. To be sure, we live in an increasingly broken and corrupt society, where it is not as easy to be faithful and to have an undivided heart as it may have been for some of our ancestors. But if ever there was a broken and corrupt society, it was the one in which Hezekiah lived. Shall we today, the children of God, live below the standard of Hezekiah?¹⁴⁶

A writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah, after his illness and recovery (38:9). This sounds very familiar to the titles of many of the Psalms. This psalm might be headed A Michtam (NKJ) of Hezekiah since it has the characteristics of A Michtam of David in Psalm 16. It was composed after his illness as a psalm of thanksgiving. Like Psalms 88 and 89, it has words and phrases that sound like those in the book of Job.

The first part of the psalm is a lament. Hezekiah said: In the prime of my life must I go through the gates of death and be robbed of the rest of my years? He thought to himself, “I will not again see the LORD, the LORD in the land of the living; no longer will I look on mankind or be with those who now dwell in this world” (38:10-11). He said his illness came in the prime of his life and he was facing death at the age of 39. Notice the expression the gates of sh’ol (NKJ) or death (NIV). The gates of death is a figure of speech for physical death. That is what Christ meant when he said: and the gates of Hades (Matthew 16:18b). Hades is the Greek name for the place of departed spirits, generally equivalent to the Hebrew sh’ol. It is also found in Job 38:17 and Psalms 9:13, 107:18. When he says he would not see the LORD in the land of the living, he is expressing what he will miss at death. This expression has the meaning of not being able to appear before ADONAI in public worship at the Temple. It is a figure of speech used in Psalm 11:7 and 17:15.

Like a shepherd’s tent my house, literally encampment, has been pulled down and taken from me. Like a weaver I have rolled up my life and He has cut me off from the loom; day and night you made an end to me (38:12). Here the poet uses two graphic similes that are both figures of death. One of these was the removal of a shepherd’s tent. Like a tent that was moved from one place to another, so his life was to be removed from one place to another. A second figure was a thread cut from a loom. When a fabric is finished, it is cut off from the loom, and so is Hezekiah’s life.

Hoping to get well was in vain because he got nothing but worse. I waited patiently till dawn, but like a lion He broke all my bones; day and night you make an end of me. I cried like a swift or thrush, I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens. I am troubled; O LORD, come to my aide (38:13-14)! He groaned all night for help, but his illness was like a lion breaking all his bones between his powerful jaws (Job 3:23-26). At night there seemed no hope at all and he was afraid that he would not see the light of day. Step by step, his life was ebbing away. In some way his cries of pain sounded like a bird and his moaning like the cooing of a mourning dove (Isaiah 59:11 and Nahum 2:7). As the hours went by, he looked up to the heavens for help for so long that his eyes grew weak. Why continue to hope? Hezekiah knew, and we should know, that although God may be the One who sometimes crushes our bones, He is also the only One who cares enough to save us. Hezekiah looked to his “oppressor” to deliver him. Simon Peter knew this instinctively when he said: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life (John 6:68).

The second part is a psalm of praise and its tone changes as Hezekiah looks forward to the joy of his recovery. God has spoken and answered his prayer. But what can I say? He Himself has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this. I will walk humbly in all my years because of the anguish of my soul (38:15). Here Hezekiah says he will be able to appear before the LORD in public worship. That was one of the things he said he was going to miss if he died. These things I remember as I pour out my soul; how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God (Psalm 42:4). This was the desire of his heart.

ADONAI, by such things men live; and my spirit finds life in them, too. There is a lesson here for everyone. By such things, by suffering bathed in prayer, by the LORD’s answer to prayer, and by responding commitment. Here is a way of life that all should practice. Hezekiah could vouch for it in his own experience. His spirit found life and vigor as a result. He could say, when I called out in weakness for Your strength, You restored me to health and let me live (38:16). Not only that, ADONAI promises that He will have compassion on us, He will subdue our iniquities. Moreover, He will throw all of our sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19).

Hezekiah says: Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction (38:17). He was saying that he had been kept from the grave or physical death by a physical healing. The special mode of capture referred to in this text is by means of the pit. A hole is dug in the ground, and covered over with the branches of trees and with sod. The animal treading on this slight covering falls into the pit, where it is either taken out alive or killed by the hunters on their arrival.¹⁴⁷ Hezekiah affirms that God is his strength and was grateful that ADONAI restored him to health. With hindsight, he could see that it was really for his benefit that it happened (Romans 8:28). During his illness he sensed God’s love, felt that the LORD was gracious to him by saving his life and not dealing with him as his sins deserved.

He speaks of physical death when he says: For the grave cannot praise You, death cannot sing Your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness (38:18). Remember, under the Torah, long life was one of the promises for obedience. This isn’t necessarily true for the believer today. But to be cut short at a young age was, in the TaNaKh, a sign of divine displeasure. But progressive revelation tells us that we have more light than Hezekiah had concerning the abode of the dead. The statement death cannot sing your praise means walking in the solemn funeral procession. These verses do not teach soul sleep as the Seventh Day Adventists teach. Certainly, the dead could not praise God here on earth. In heaven, yes. But not on the earth. This was one of the things he said he would miss at death.

The living, the living – they praise you, as I am doing today; fathers tell their children about your faithfulness (38:19). In contrast to the dead, it is the living that praise Him. When he says fathers tell their children about Your faithfulness, he recognizes that now he will have sons. Manasseh, who was one of the worst kings in the history of Judah would be his son. Even for godly parents, sometimes the most fervent wishes and desires for our children do not come true. The world (1 Jn 2:15-17), the flesh (Mk 14:38), and the devil (1 Pet 5:8) are still at work. This was true, even for such a godly man as Hezekiah. But as for Hezekiah himself, God saved him. Now he hoped that he and his sons would praise God together. God will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the Temple of the LORD (38:20).

Isaiah had said: Prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover. Hezekiah had asked: What will be the sign that I will go up to the Temple of the LORD (38:21-22)? These verses are merely explanatory notes, giving background to what has already been presented in 38:7. An abbreviation, they were never intended to include earlier details given in Isaiah or in Second Kings 20:1-11. It should be noted that it was God who did the healing, but there was a human element to aid the process. Figs were placed upon the boil. According to Second Kings 20:5, Isaiah had promised Hezekiah that he would be in the Temple in three days’ time praising God. Hezekiah requested confirmation of that promise. What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me and that I will go up to the Temple of the LORD three days from now? God’s response was the backward movement of the sun’s shadow, suggesting both reprieve from the darkness of death and increased time for life.¹⁴⁸

When Hezekiah asked for a sign, he was not “testing” God in a negative sense such as in Deuteronomy 6:16 or Matthew 4:7. He was not doubting God and, therefore, demanding proof. This kind of testing is forbidden (Mal 3:15; Mt 12:39; Jn 6:30). But it is not contrary to the will of God to ask for confirmation (Isaiah 10:7; Judges 6:36-40; Mal 3:10). The LORD delights in revealing His will to those of faith, as He did to Hezekiah.

It is interesting to note that in generations to come, Jacob, Joseph, Mordecai and others would compare Hezekiah’s miraculous recovery to the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53. But even after fifteen additional years of life, the death of one-hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrian troops, and the death of Sennacherib, ultimately, Judah’s efforts to break free from Assyria failed. After Hezekiah’s death, his son (the wicked Manasseh 688-642 BC) returned to the pro-Assyrian policy (under Esarhaddon 681-669 BC and Ashurbanipal 669-633 BC) of his grandfather Ahaz. No, Hezekiah was not the promised child of 7:14 and 9:56 (to see link click Iy – The Death of the Suffering Servant).

Hezekiah Became Ill and Was at the Point of Death
38: 1-8

Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death DIG: Why is Hezekiah so distressed by the message from Isaiah? What is the track record of wholehearted devotion on which he appeals to the LORD to spare his life (see Second Kings 18:1-3)? Hezekiah asked Isaiah for a sign that his healing would occur (also see Second Kings 20:8-11). How does this contrast with Ahaz’ response to Isaiah in 7:11-14, when Ahaz was told to ask for a sign but refused to do so? Which man, Ahaz or Hezekiah, demonstrates more faith? How so? What does God’s response tell you about the LORD and His mysterious ways?

REFLECT: Wicked people often live easy lives, or long lives, whereas those serving God often experience great hardships. How do you deal with the seeming unfairness (see Psalms 37 and 73)? What might be God’s perspective be on the matter? How do you think you will face death? How would the prospect of death change your view of material things? What hope does the Gospel give you that was unknown to Hezekiah?

This chapter deals with King Hezekiah’s illness, prayer and healing. His deliverance from death was before the Assyrian defeat by the Angel of the LORD (37: 36-38). Hezekiah reigned twenty-nine years. He reigned fifteen years after this event, so his illness was in the fourteenth year of his reign, and we are told that Sennacherib came up against Jerusalem in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign (36:1). So the illness of Hezekiah and defeat of the Assyrian army all happened in the same year.

This section is about Hezekiah’s serious illness, his prayer to God, the divine promise of a longer life and his thanksgiving. A parallel version with slight variations and the omission of Hezekiah’s psalm of thanksgiving is found in Second Kings 20:1-11. At the time Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death, Isaiah son of Amoz was sent to him with a message (38:1a). The LORD said that he was to put his house in order, because he was going to die. He would not recover (38:1b). This meant drawing up his last will and testament, and also appointing a successor. This became especially necessary because at that time Hezekiah had no sons. Another member of the house of David needed be chosen because Isaiah told the king that the illness was terminal.

It was evident that Hezekiah knew something of ADONAI’s character that Moses also knew (see the commentary on Exodus, to see link click Gs – Now Leave Me Alone So That My Anger May Burn Against Your People): God is always waiting to hear from us. He is relentless in His desire to bless us. He is the LORD of second chances (see the commentary on Jonah). It does not mean that we can pray to God to tell Him what to do, or that failure to pray is not necessarily a sign of surrender to His unyielding will. Rather, it may be a sign of apathy, or an unwillingness to wrestle with God (see the commentary on Genesis Hw – Jacob Wrestles With God). This is an antimony; two things that are seemingly opposite, but both are true. For example, the trinity is an antinomy, three distinct, separate persons, yet one. It’s hard to get your mind around it. We probably will not truly understand it until we get to heaven. On the one hand, we cannot play God and dictate the events of our lives to Him; yet on the other hand, we cannot expect ADONAI to help us if we do not pray (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Ih – The Parable of the Persistent Widow). We must believe that prayer changes things.

When Isaiah left, Hezekiah turned his face to the wall in prayer, and turning away from the people gathered around his bed, he withdrew to himself (2 Kings 20:2). At that time, he summarizes his spiritual state saying: Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes. And Hezekiah wept bitterly for he wanted to live (38:2-3).

That he was faithful to ADONAI was not only Hezekiah’s evaluation, it was also the LORD’s evaluation. God the Holy Spirit tells us that he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it (It was called Nehushtan). Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Isra’el. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses (Second Kings 18:3-6). David was a man after God’s own heart, and yet in the evaluation of Hezekiah, God says that his spirituality exceeded that of David himself or any other king in Judah’s history.

It is worth noting that Hezekiah did not withdraw completely because he did not withdraw from God. But he also didn’t lecture the LORD on the injustice of it all, nor demand that ADONAI heal him because of his position or reputation. Rather, he simply poured out the feelings of a wounded heart to a heavenly Father. No father’s heart can be unaffected by such a cry. Nor was the LORD’s.

Almost immediately God answered Hezekiah’s prayer. Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him (Second Kings 20:4-5 and Isaiah 38:4). The middle court was the central portion of the City where the royal palace stood. The Hebrew word keri, or the middle court, was not the middle court of the Temple but the middle court of the royal palace.¹⁴³ Therefore, before Isaiah had left the palace on his way home after talking to Hezekiah, ADONAI gave him the message to return to Hezekiah and say: This is what the LORD, the God of your relative David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; therefore, I will add fifteen years to your life (38:5).

Hezekiah had behaved like a true son, or descendant, of David in the way he reacted to the news of his impending death.¹⁴⁴ In addition, it was clear that the Davidic Covenant said that David would never be without a man to sit on his throne (Second Samuel 7:5-16). Hezekiah, the king, had no children at this time. God had seen Hezekiah’s tears, heard his prayer, and would add fifteen years to his life. We know from the account in Second Kings that Hezekiah was 54 years old when he died, so that would make him 39 here. In Second Kings 20:5 we learn that the healing would occur within three days of Isaiah’s prophecy.

Besides healing him, Isaiah also prophesied that he would also be delivered from Sennacherib and Jerusalem will be delivered from the Assyrians. And I will deliver you and this City from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this City (38:6). This may seem confusing if we do not remember that Chapters 38 and 39 come chronologically before Chapters 36 and 37.

Unfortunately, when God said: I will defend this City and as a result when the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-thousand men in the Assyrian camp (37:36), it would eventually lead to a false theology on the part of the Jews called the inviolability of the Temple (see my commentary on Jeremiah Cc – False Religion is Worthless). Because God did defend His city, the Jews came to look upon the Temple as their “good luck charm.” And since God did deliver Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib and the Assyrian army, the Jews came to assume that they had guaranteed security because of the existence of the Temple.

Even worse, they believed that because of the supposed security net of the Temple, they could do anything they wanted there and there would be no consequences. This thinking ended up in idol worship within the Temple itself (Ezeki’el 8)! When ADONAI said: I will defend this City (38:6b), the Israelites believed He would never violate or destroy His Temple because He made His dwelling place among His people. Like a child’s abuse of a parent’s love, they falsely concluded that there would never be any consequences. But Jeremiah knew better and so he warned the Levites: Do not trust in deceptive words and say: This is the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD (Jeremiah 7:4). In the process of worshiping their idols they would actually walk around the Temple chanting: This is the Temple of the LORD, over and over again as if to remind God of His promise.

The Levites in the Temple of the LORD disregarded Jeremiah’s warning. They would find out soon enough that while God did love His Temple, He hated their sin even more. The people of Jerusalem, in Jeremiah and Ezekiel’s day, did not realize that the Sh’khinah glory of God had departed from the Temple because of their sin and idol worship (Ezeki’el 10-11). Jeremiah’s point was that the mere existence of the Temple did not guarantee protection. Their only real security was that guaranteed security only comes through obedience to the Word of God (Jeremiah 7:5-7).

All of it was almost too wonderful to be true, thus Hezekiah himself requested a sign of confirmation. Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that ADONAI will heal me and that I will go up to the Temple of the LORD on the third day from now? Isaiah answered, “This is the LORD’s sign to you that He will do what He has promised. Isaiah asked Hezekiah an easy question: Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps? “It is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps,” said Hezekiah. Then the prophet Isaiah called upon ADONAI, and the LORD made the shadow go back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway that Ahaz built (Second Kings 20:8-11; Isaiah 38:7-8). This was exactly the opposite of Ahaz’s refusal to accept a sign when offered one (see Bz – A Sign for Ahaz). Therefore, the long and the short of it was that Hezekiah chose to trust God, where Ahaz did not.

The king had an option; he could choose the shadow to go forward, or to go back. Since forward was the normal pattern for a shadow to move, Hezekiah chose for the shadow to go back. It is unclear if the Hebrew word maaloth should read sundial, or steps. It was either the sundial of Ahaz, in which the shadow went back ten degrees, or steps constructed in such a way that the shadow of an obelisk (a tall, four-sided shaft of stone, usually tapering and monolithic, that rises to a pyramidal point) might indicate the hours. Both could be true, but either way the shadow went back down ten steps. The sun and its shadow moved in a way that was opposite of its normal movement. It went back instead of forward. This sign guaranteed that Hezekiah would recover within three days.

The Holy Spirit transports us to the king’s bedside. There lies the king on his bed, but his face was no longer turned to the wall. With joy and hope brightening his eyes, he looks out of his window to the gardens below, in the middle of which, and in full view, stood the sundial of Ahaz with a series of steps leading up to it. Then sun had gone down and at least ten of the steps were in the shadows. But look again, the once darkened steps were then in the brightest sunlight! It was the exact sign for which the king had asked.

The illness of Hezekiah is an important clue to the significance of Chapters 38 and 39 as well as the book of Isaiah as a whole. A parallel is being drawn between king and nation, Hezekiah and Jerusalem (which is effectively all that is left of Judah). Both are in crisis, and both have been given a reprieve. But there is more than a hint that, just as Hezekiah’s reprieve was temporary (fifteen years), so will Jerusalem’s be. In short, the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC at the hands of the Babylonians is already beginning to loom on the horizon of the story. It will be foreshadowed in Chapter 39 and will dominate the scene from there on.¹⁴⁵

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery
38: 1-22

In Chapters 36 to 39 Hezekiah is depicted as the representative of the people who discover that God can be trusted. He will keep His promises and He will redeem His people. In that sense these chapters form a theological turning point in the book. Chapters 40 to 66 build on the truth of God’s trustworthiness. But there are still questions to be answered. If Hezekiah is the ideal representative of the trusting people, why the captivity? Or, if God can deliver His people from Assyria, why not Babylon? Or, is Hezekiah the promised child of 7:14 and 9:6-7? Chapters 38 and 39 answer these questions and point beyond Hezekiah to Yeshua Messiah.¹⁴¹

In those days, the events of Chapters 38 and 39 actually occurred before Chapters 36 and 37. The parallel passage for the events in Chapter 38 is in Second Kings 20:1-11 and Second Chronicles 32:24. The Ruach ha-Kodesh, through Isaiah, has chosen not to put this in strictly chronological sequence. But why? The reason is that Chapters 36 and 37 fittingly conclude Chapters 1-35, which have a strong Assyrian orientation. And also, Chapters 38 and 39 form a suitable introduction to Chapters 40-66, which largely describe Judah’s future relationship with the Babylonians. But there is a theological reason as well. Chapters 36 and 37 answer the questions posed in Chapters 7-12. Is God sovereign over all the nations? Can God deliver us from Assyria? And most importantly, can God be trusted? Whereas Chapters 38 and 39 demonstrate that our trust, faith, and belief in ADONAI must be a way of life, not a one-time affair. They reveal that the source of our hope cannot lie in sinful humanity. Like Hezekiah, given that the best of God’s people fail, these remaining chapters point us towards source of our hope . . . Yeshua Messiah.

This chapter, then, is the crisis behind the crisis. It presents Hezekiah in both a positive and negative light. One the one hand, he is still the Hezekiah who can submit to ADONAI and trust Him completely. But on the other hand, he is the Hezekiah who is clearly human. The promises, which were made through Isaiah and recorded in Chapters 7 through 12, had not been fulfilled in him and more revelation would be necessary in order to understand to whom they did refer. This man might be given fifteen years by God’s grace, but he is only a man, not the Messiah.¹⁴²

Then the Angel of the LORD Put to Death
a Hundred and Eighty Five Thousand Men
in the Assyrian Camp
37: 36-38

Then the Angel of the LORD put to death a hundred and eighty five thousand men in the Assyrian camp DIG: Other ancient writings speak of Sennacherib’s army being decimated by fear and panic because of a plague. How does this fulfill the earlier prophecies (see 10:33-34; 29:5-8; 30:31)? If you were living in Jerusalem, how would you react when you heard that 185,000 Assyrians had died? Would you be more likely to respond like those described in 33:14-15, or in 35:10? Why? Isaiah 37:38 records an event that occurred twenty years after the events of 37:36-37. What irony do you see in Sennacherib’s death as he enters his temple (see 37:1, 14-17 where Hezekiah goes into his Temple)?

REFLECT: When have you reaped the unintended consequences of sin in your life? Have you, or do you know someone who reaped the consequences in a single day? How long had their sin been building to the point where the dam broke and the flood of sin overtook them? What happens when sins build up over a long period of time?

701 BC

The sudden destruction of the Assyrian army by divine intervention is almost anticlimactic, occupying only three verses. It is, however, the crux of the entire account. Although Sennacherib captured forty-six cities, the biblical and secular records both show that as he was preparing to move against Jerusalem with his entire army he had to temporarily divert its attention to Egypt because of the military threat posed by Judah’s ally, King Tirhakah. After the Egyptian-Ethiopian submission, Sennacherib returned to Jerusalem where his army was annihilated (Second Chronicles 32:21). That night the Angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp (to see link click Gp – The Timeline of Sennacherib’s Invasion of Judah). When the people in Jerusalem got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies in front of them (37:37). They were not killed by the sword, but by means of the Angel of the LORD. Whenever the phrase: the Angel of the LORD is seen in the TaNaKh, it is always the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ (Genesis 16:7; Exodus 3:2). It is never a common, ordinary, run of the mill angel. So what Isaiah said did come true; Sennacherib did not set foot in Jerusalem, nor was he able to besiege it (Second Kings 19:36). God was indeed sovereign over the nations and He certainly could be trusted.

In the past, ADONAI has sent the Angel of the LORD to bring death to sinful people. In Genesis 19:24, the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed all those living in those cities in one day. In Exodus 12:29, on the first Passover the LORD struck down all the first born in Egypt in one night. In Second Samuel 24:15-16, the LORD sent a plague on Israel that killed 70,000 in one day, from that morning until the evening sacrifice was offered. And in Revelation 18:8 Commercial/Political Babylon will fall in one day (see the commentary on Revelation Eo – In One Day Her Plagues Will Overtake Her). Therefore, it is not surprising for the same to happen here. The slaughter did not come from the hands of the Cushite army, but by the Angel of the LORD, who killed 185,000 soldiers as Isaiah had prophesied earlier in 10:17. In the evening, sudden terror! Before the morning, they are gone (17:14a)!

Earlier Isaiah had spoken in general terms of the destruction of the Assyrian army (30:27-33; 31:8-9; 33:1 and 18-19). But in 10:16, he prophesied very specifically that ADONAI-Tzva’ot would send a wasting disease upon the Assyrian enemy. Here then, is the fulfillment of that prophecy. In the Fifth Century BC a Greek historian named Herodotus traveled all over the Middle East looking for historical records. He documented that the Assyrian army was infected by a plague spread by mice. When Sennacherib arrived in Egypt, an army of field mice or rats chewed through the leather fittings of the soldiers’ weapons. But not to worry, the Egyptians had submitted to them without a fight. It may well be that Herodotus’ rodents actually were carriers of a powerful disease – like a septicemic plague, for example, which often causes its victims to become comatose and die within twenty-four hours.¹⁴⁰ The Bible simply states that the destruction came from the angle of the LORD and does not mention the specifics.

In addition to the Greek historian Herodotus, we also have the account of Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian. He also mentions Sennacherib’s defeat, explaining that it was caused by a plague. He cites an earlier historian who had written: “Now when Sennacherib was returning from his Egyptian war to Jerusalem, he found his army in danger by a plague, for God had sent a pestilential distemper upon his army; and on the very first night of the siege (of Jerusalem), a hundred fourscore and five thousand, with their captains and generals, were destroyed” (Antiquities of the Jews, Book X, Chapter 1, Section 5).

It is interesting that the element of rats or mice saved Jerusalem from Sennacherib because there is a corollary to this in the TaNaKh. There is a story about ADONAI’s judgment, an account about rats or mice in First Samuel 4: 1 to 7:1. The Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant and the people were afflicted with an outbreak of disease. It is likely that the rats or mice were carriers of the disease, which may have been a form of the plague. And part of their repentance for taking the Ark of the Covenant was to offer Isra’el five golden tumors and five golden rats (or mice) to take it back. So this element of rats in God’s judgment has one account in Herodotus and another account in Scripture. Therefore, we see that sometimes ADONAI used a plague spread by rats or mice to destroy the enemy. So we have three separate accounts of what happened to the Assyrian army that all agree; the biblical account (Isaiah 37:36-37; Second Kings 19:35-36, and Second Chronicles 32:21), the Fifth Century BC account by the Greek historian Herodotus, and the First Century AD account by the Jewish historian Josephus.

So many of his soldiers had died of the plague that was spread by mice that Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there (37:37). Twenty years later he was assassinated. One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, an idol of Nineveh, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king (37:38). This was extremely ironic. Who did Sennacherib say would not help Hezekiah? The LORD. Where did Hezekiah go to get help? He went into the Temple and prayed to the LORD his God. Where did Sennacherib go to pray? In his temple, to his god. Did his god help him? No, not even against his own two sons. Hezekiah prayed in his Temple to his God and was delivered. Sennacherib prayed in his temple to his god and was assassinated. This man who thought of himself as a god was as mortal as any other. And like his father Sargon II before him, Sennacherib was to prove that great wealth is no security against an untimely death. In fact, according to Yeshua, it is no security at all. But God said to him: You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself (Luke 12:20). It is a principle of God’s moral universe that evil should return, sooner or later, on those who practice it.

I Will Defend This City and Save It
37: 21-35

I will defend this city and save it DIG: What is the intended impact of this woman taunting her attacker? How does this taunt song suit the occasion? What is Isaiah asserting about God’s relationship to Jerusalem by portraying Him as the woman’s defender. What insults have the Assyrians made against the LORD (see 36:18-20; 37:10-12)? How will they end up eating their own words? What sign does ADONAI give Hezekiah? Why give a sign that will be fulfilled only after the event it is meant to show? How does this sign relate to the promises of restoration (as in 10:20-23)? In what way is God saving Jerusalem for His sake?

REFLECT: When have you felt like Hezekiah – backed up against a wall with no recourse but to pray? What happened? How have you seen God’s affirmation of His love for you? What is the difference between spiritual pride and a rightful sense of accomplishment? What are the indications of each? Since all we have comes from the LORD, what is the place for human planning, preparing, and hard work? How have you taken credit for something that was, in reality, far more than you could possibly have pulled off by yourself? What did it take to wake you up to that fact?

Responding to Hezekiah’s prayer (37:14-20), the LORD sent a message to him through Isaiah that Assyria would be defeated. That message included three parts. Even as he was praying, ADONAI had been revealing His word to Isaiah, so that the king barely had time to rise from his knees before he received an answer. God said: Because you have prayed to Me . . . this is the word the LORD has spoken against him (37:21). We must not miss this, because it is part of the Bible’s strong teaching about prayer. Because someone has prayed, God steps in and changes the course of history. It is a breathtaking truth, and at first sight a worrying one, because it appears to put humans, rather than ADONAI, in control. But this is an illusion. There is no conflict between the LORD’s absolute sovereignty and the power of prayer, because, quite simply, this is the way God has chosen to work. Through prayer He draws us up into His purposes and involves us in what He is doing. What a privilege! Even the desire to pray is a gift.¹³⁴

The LORD answers by means of Isaiah, son of Amoz. This is one more attempt by the prophet to let the reader know the authenticity of his statements (1:1, 13:1, and 20:2). Evidently, the Spirit of God wanted us to know the precise identity of the human author. Isaiah sent a message to Hezekiah, “This is what the LORD, the God of Isra’el says concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria” (37:21). The answer to Hezekiah’s prayer came at once, linking the response to the prayer. The king was very fortunate to have God’s messenger ministering to him at that time, a person who could convey His comforting words in a timely fashion. But it would not have happened if Hezekiah had not prayed to ADONAI.

This is the word the LORD has spoken against him (37:22a). Sennacherib had spoken to Hezekiah concerning God. Hezekiah had spoken to God concerning Sennacherib; now God speaks to Hezekiah concerning Sennacherib. ADONAI always has the last word. We can say what we want about Him; others can say what they want about us; but it is what ADONAI says about you and me that is what ultimately counts.¹³⁵

In the first of a three part message, the Assyrians would be driven back. Isaiah could look to a day when the virgin daughter of Zion, now prone and helpless before the Assyrian rapist, will mock her would-be assailant’s impotence. Sennacherib will fail to take Jerusalem and she will shake her head in contempt (37:22b). The reason for the Assyrian failure was the blasphemy of God. Who is it you have insulted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? By your messengers you have heaped insults on the Lord. And you have said: With my many chariots I have ascended the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon (10:34), I have cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its pines. I have reached its remotest heights, the finest of forests. In a figurative way, he boasted that he had conquered mighty nations. I have dug wells in foreign lands and drunk the water there. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt (37:23-25). The Egyptian farmer ran water from the Nile through small irrigation channels into his fields. He could block the flow simply by making a little heap of soil with his foot. Sennacherib boasted that his foot could block the Nile. His confidence was based on his many chariots, and even his easy conquest of the Nile would not prove to be much of a barrier. Although it is questionable that he ever entered Egypt, he claimed to have conquered it (he did, however, defeat the Egyptians in Philistia). This was not surprising because it was common for him to embellish his accomplishments (to see link click Gq – In the Fourteenth Year of Hezekiah’s Reign).

But Sennacherib did not realize that in reality, ADONAI was in total control. Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it, literally I did it, in Hebrew it is a perfect form of certainly. A past action with assured, continuing future results. Now I have brought it to pass, you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone (37:26). Whatever Assyria accomplished was merely the carrying out of God’s own plan. Sennacherib could not do what he planned because he had mocked the One who is the maker of all plans (James 4:13-16).

Isaiah then agrees with Sennacherib that the results of his conquests have been impressive. The people that he had conquered had been drained of all their power. They were dismayed and put to shame. To the Assyrian king people were like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, no people, but crops to be harvested for his own use. Like grass sprouting on the roof, scorched before it grows up (37:27). This phrase can easily be demonstrated on the roofs of Middle Eastern houses. The flat roofs of the houses in this region are constructed by laying, first, large beams at intervals of several feet; then, rude joist, on which, again, are arranged small poles close together, or brushwood, and upon this is spread earth or gravel rolled hard. This rolling is often repeated, especially after rain, for these roofs are apt to be weak. For this purpose a roller of stone is kept ready for use on the roof of every house. Grass is often seen growing on these roofs (Second Kings 19:26; Psalms 129:6).¹³⁶

But despite his many conquests, it was ADONAI who is in control of Sennacherib. And because of his boastings, God was going to punish him. The LORD would break him as a man breaks a wild horse, and lead him home humiliated and exhausted. But I know where you stay and when you come and go and how you rage against Me. Because you rage against me and because your insolence has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came (37:28-29). This message is for Hezekiah and not for Sennacherib. It is not meant to bring Sennacherib to repentance. He has gone too far and the LORD had already passed judgment on him. But it was important that Hezekiah understand that he had nothing more to fear from the king of Assyria.¹³⁷

An allusion is made here to the custom of inserting a ring in the nose of a headstrong animal for the purpose of subduing and leading him. The metaphor is a favorite one with the Arabian poets. The language used here, however, is not altogether metaphorical in its reference to human beings. In the sculptures taken from Khorsabad there are representations of prisoners brought before the king, each prisoner having an iron ring thrust through the lower lip. To these rings, cords are attached, which the king holds in his left hand, while in his right he holds a spear, which he thrusts into the eyes of the poor prisoners (2 Kings 25:7, 19:28; Ezekiel 29:4, 38:4).¹³⁸ Because of Sennacherib’s blasphemies against the LORD, he will go back to his land a failure.

The first part of Isaiah’s message from God concerned Sennacherib, but now the prophet addresses Hezekiah. The second of this three part message concerned Judah; a faithful remnant would remain and life would go on as usual. This will be the sign for you, O Hezekiah. God offered Judah a sign and it had to do with agricultural production: This year you will eat what grows by itself (because of the Assyrian army), and the second year what springs from that (because the land would still be unsettled). But the third year, sow and reap (37:30), plant vineyards and eat their fruit (because by the third year normal conditions will return to the land and it will again yield its abundant produce).

Once more a remnant of the house of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above (37:31). These metaphors remind us that Isaiah prophesied of a returning faithful remnant. He said that he and his two sons would be a sign to the nation and that God would choose their divinely appointed names for their significance to the nation. And only by heeding the LORD’s word through Isaiah, reinforced by the signs and symbols that Isaiah and his sons represented, would the light dawn for Isra’el. In 7:3 he uses the name Shear-Jashub, a remnant will return to illustrate that a remnant will indeed return (10:20-21; 11:11 and 16). For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors (37:32a). And here, once again, God demonstrates that He is the Promise Keeper, and can be trusted.

The zeal of ADONAI of heaven’s angelic armies (CJB) will accomplish this (37:32b). The concept of the zeal of the LORD of heaven’s angelic armies appeared earlier where the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom was promised (9:6-7). Consequently, this temporary restoration promised here in Chapter 37 is just a foretaste of what will happen in the final restoration made possible through the Messiah. If it were not for the unconditional love for His people, both Jew and Gentile, none of this would be possible. He would have long ago abandoned us to wallow in our sins (1:9).

Like spilled grain, the remnant will bear fruit again, like an old root below the ground, the remnant will send up its shoots again, like a field plowed and sown, the remnant will spread over the land once more. God loves his people and whenever there is the slightest spark of faith, trust, and belief, He is there to fan it into flame. When they realize that everything is back to normal, they will realize the truthfulness of Isaiah’s prophecy. Once again Isaiah will confirm that he is indeed a prophet of the LORD.

In the third part of this three-part message, the king of Assyria would not set foot inside Jerusalem and would have to return home. He will not enter this City or shoot an arrow here (37:33a). If one of the one hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrian soldiers had shot an arrow over the walls of Jerusalem, the LORD’s word would have been inaccurate! How wonderful are the promises of ADONAI! This is the logical conclusion of the two previous parts of Isaiah’s message. If Sennacherib’s arrogant blasphemy against God was to be punished, and if a remnant were to once again fill the land, then only one outcome would be possible. Sennacherib would not be allowed to enter the City, and Jerusalem would survive. God did exactly what He said He was going to do.

Not only would the City be delivered, it would not even be physically threatened. God told Isaiah that Sennacherib would not come before it with shield, would not set foot inside Jerusalem or even build a siege ramp against it (37:33b). A siege ramp was an inclined plane, which the besiegers of a walled town built up to the walls so that they could bring their engines of war closer, and work them to greater advantage. It was made of all sorts of materials: earth, timber, boughs, and stones, the sides being walled up with brick or stone, and the incline top made of layers of brick or stone, forming a paved road up which the war engines could be drawn. (See Uzziah king of Judah; Second Chronicles 26:11-15).138

By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this City, declares the LORD. Sennacherib would return to Assyria and never see Jerusalem. God would defend His City and save it. For what reason? For His sake and the sake of His servant David (37:34-35), meaning also for the sake of the Davidic Covenant (see the commentary on the Life of David, to see link click Ct – The LORD’s Covenant with David). For all of Hezekiah’s piety, the plans of God did not revolve around him, but around God Himself, and His Servant Yeshua Messiah. Hezekiah was saved, not for his own sake, but for the sake of Another. As the book moves on, of course, David will be dwarfed by a far greater Servant of God (42:1-4), and the question of how, or on what basis, God saves His people will be explored in far greater detail later in the book.¹³⁹

How happy is the nation, city, or person who has God as a shield? How many times has He protected us against that which we could not bear, but provided a way out so that we can stand up under it (First Corinthians 10:13b)? When tragedy comes, how often do we ask why we have been singled out? Do we blame God or Satan? Rather, we ought to be thankful for all the tragedies that might have come our way, but did not because God was our shield (Genesis 15:1; Psalms 13:3, 28:7 and 84:11).

Isra’el has continued to be assaulted by Satan and the world until this very day. There are times when one could get very discouraged. But this these verses should be an encouragement to us all. Would ADONAI defend His City then and allow it to be destroyed today. Heaven forbid! He is the Promise Keeper.

Hezekiah Spread the Letter Before the LORD
37: 14-20

Hezekiah spread the letter before the LORD DIG: On what basis does Hezekiah believe God will help him (see Second Chronicles 32:6-8)? How does Hezekiah’s prayer compare to what the LORD had called the leadership of Judah to do all along (see 1:15)? What truths about God does Hezekiah grasp? Why does he dwell on these? How is the point of his prayer like that of the Exodus (see Exodus 15:14-16)?

REFLECT: Hezekiah models how to respond to intimidation. What big threat to Christianity do you worry about? What might intimidate you about that, except for what Hezekiah models for you? What does this prayer have in common with that of the disciples in Acts 4:23-31? What do these prayers show you about God’s and Hezekiah’s characters? What do you see here about the proper focus of prayer?

Hezekiah, king of Judah, had received Sennacherib’s letter denouncing the LORD. This was a critical moment in the history of Isra’el. What will she do at this time, stripped of all her allies, face-to-face with the crushing realities of which the field commander had spoken? Will she agree with the Assyrian field commander that ADONAI is simply one more national god, helpless before Sennacherib? Or will she admit the foolishness of her ways and, for the first time in a very long time, commit herself to God alone? Had she sided with Sennacherib, all succeeding human history would have been very different. For Judah’s unconquerable faith that the LORD was unique, was the necessary ground for the coming of the Messiah. In fact, that challenge was what made all the difference. It was like a slap in the face. It was as if Judah said, “Thanks, I needed that.” She finally realized what Isaiah had been saying all along: No one can be trusted but God!

When Hezekiah received the letter from Sennacherib he read it (37:14a). Repentance was in order; not only repentance, but also responsibility. City after city had fallen to Sennacherib and long lines of refugees were already snaking their bitter way to exile – and it was all Hezekiah’s fault. As king, Hezekiah was responsible for leading the people down the wrong path of rebellion with the lunatic alliance with Egypt. But he doesn’t blame anyone else. Rather, it is he who must go to the Temple and admit the foolishness of his and the nation’s dependence on Egypt. Whereas Ahaz had refused to even ask for a sign of God’s help, Hezekiah finally realizes that ADONAI is his only hope. At the end of his rope, he resorts to prayer. It has finally come to that! So this was a defining moment for Hezekiah and for the nation.

Then Hezekiah went up to the Temple of ADONAI. In a crisis, people are normally driven away from God or driven to Him. They either look to the world for answers, or they are driven even deeper into the LORD’s embrace. Hezekiah, wisely, chooses the latter. Hezekiah spread it out before ADONAI as a symbolic act, displaying the Assyrian’s blasphemies in the presence of God (37:14b). As with the Maccabees, who spread a copy of the defaced Torah before ADONAI (First Maccabees 3:48), this was not an attempt to inform God of something He did not already know, but an expression of outrage. He places it before the LORD as if to say, “Surely this cannot go unanswered.”

This was perhaps Hezekiah’s finest hour. He was not perfect. In fact, the mess he was in was largely of his own making. But in the last analysis, he knew that the LORD reigned, and therefore nothing was impossible or hopeless.¹³³ Then Hezekiah offered a magnificent prayer, proclaiming the basis on which his plea for deliverance was made. How feeble it makes our own prayers seem by comparison. His prayer was not based on the circumstances in which he found himself. No, it is solely based on the character of ADONAI. The king was not asking that Sennacherib be defeated because Judah was so righteous. Obviously, it was not. Rather, it was because the Assyrians had called God’s name and reality into question. This is how it should be for us. When it is ADONAI’s reputation that matters most to us, we are free from the crippling self-concern that will otherwise eat us up. That is what we see in Hezekiah’s prayer. Here was a man whose personal success and survival are no long the number one thing in his life. This was a free man.

And Hezekiah prayed, “ADONAI-Tzva’ot, God of Isra’el, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are YHVH over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, God, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God” (37:15).

Hezekiah’s prayer begins and ends with ADONAI. Referring to Him as the God of Isra’el, he recalled the special relationship that the Jews had with ADONAI. Then Hezekiah identifies the LORD in two most important ways: as King and Creator. First, God’s being enthroned between the cherubim refers to His presence in the Most Holy Place in the Temple (First Kings 8:10-13). God was above all because the cherubim were the highest order of created beings (Exodus 25:22; First Samuel 4:4; Psalm 80:1, 99:1). Secondly, he said the LORD is the Creator over all the kingdoms of the earth. Hezekiah prayed that God would both hear and see the words of Sennacherib and the defiance to the Living God.

It is true, O LORD that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not god but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, therefore, ADONAI our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, ADONAI, are God (37:16-20).

He admitted some truth in Sennacherib’s boastings. Assyria had laid waste to all these peoples and their lands. Assyria had burned up their gods. But their gods were useless because of what they were, only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. As he concluded his prayer, he asked for deliverance. He asked God to save Judah on the basis of who He is. If only we could learn to pray like this, what a difference it would make!

Hezekiah Sent Eliakim and Shebna to the Prophet Isaiah
37: 1-13

Hezekiah sent Eliakim and Shebna to the prophet Isaiah DIG: What is the significance of Hezekiah tearing his clothes and wearing sackcloth? How would you react if a leader you admired did something like that? How does his response to this threat differ from that of his father Ahaz (see 7:2-13)? What changed Sennacherib’s plans? How would his withdrawal affect the people of Jerusalem? In terms of mocking God, how does Sennacherib even outdo his field commander? What’s the point of Sennacherib reminding Hezekiah of all his conquests?

REFLECT: How must the faith of Hezekiah have appeared to the Assyrians? In what situation has your faith in God’s promises appeared equally foolish? Given your level of faith now, would you have clung to Isaiah’s prophecies at this point, or would you have caved in to “reality?” Why? What “Assyrian threat” faces you now? To what promises of God are you clinging? Isaiah’s promises must have been the anchor to which Hezekiah held. What promises of God serve as an anchor for you in times of crisis?

Hezekiah and the nation had disobeyed Isaiah, which brought about this invasion to begin with. When Hezekiah heard the Assyrian demands from Sennacherib’s field commander, he himself joins the mourning. His reaction to the report of his messengers revealed a man of faith. He tore his clothes and put on sackcloth, a biblical sign of mourning, but also repentance and humiliation, and went to the Temple of God. In addition, he sent Eliakim, the palace administrator, Shebna, the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz (37:1-2). So shyly, and with much difficulty I am sure, the king and his delegation requested Isaiah to intercede. The irony of this situation could not be missed by anyone.

The message they sent to Isaiah was a message of distress because the Assyrians have taken the Land. This is what Hezekiah said: This is a day of rebuke because they finally realized it was the result of their Egyptian alliance. This was a day of disgrace because the Assyrians had disgraced the God of Jerusalem. And it was a time of birth pangs and there was no strength left to deliver (37:3). This is a metaphor for a critical moment, which finds one utterly helpless or unprepared. A woman in this situation would die. And Judah was in the same situation, facing imminent death. Forty-six cities were already gone; only Jerusalem was left. They requested divine help.

The delegation said to Isaiah, very humbly: It may be that ADONAI your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that He will rebuke him for the words ADONAI your God has heard. Therefore, pray for the remnant that still survives (37:4). When speaking to Isaiah they refer to ADONAI as your God because they recognize that they have been in disobedience. They admit that the field commander has defied the living God. Perhaps ADONAI will rebuke the words of Sennacherib and let those who remain survive.

It is important to take note that Hezekiah’s words: This is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace (37:3a) are an utter admission of failure. Not only had his policies brought Judah into Assyria’s crosshairs, but more importantly they had also brought about Judah’s rebuke from God. When the delegation was sent to Isaiah, it signaled the end of the pro-Egyptian policy. At long last they had discovered the error of disobeying ADONAI and His prophet. But even more seriously, God Himself had been brought into contempt. This is a lesson of life: the believer who lives a life of sin and debauchery will, at some point, bring reproach upon the LORD in the eyes of the world. The world will associate the sinful activity on the believer’s part, with inability on God’s part. And ultimately, they bring YHVH into contempt. Should we continue in such a lifestyle merely because we know that we are saved (see the commentary on Romans, to see link click Bq – The Background of the Messianic Mikveh)? Heaven forbid (chalilah, meaning it makes no sense), repentance is needed.

This kind of admission of helplessness is frequently necessary before God can help us. So long as we believe that we can handle any given situation, still claiming to be the lord of our own life, we are without hope. Only when we admit that we are completely spiritually bankrupt, are we able to receive what the LORD has for us. That was what Hezekiah did. But what will happen? Hezekiah and his officials had repudiated Isaiah for his words (30:8-11). What would Isaiah do? Would he reject them and leave them to wallow in the consequences of their own blindness?¹³²

When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, he takes no satisfaction that his predictions have come true, or that the leaders of Judah, including Hezekiah, have to admit their foolishness by coming meekly to him (37:5). On the other hand, he makes no promises of Judah’s deliverance. First, he speaks to the king: Tell your master, This is what ADONAI says, “Do not be afraid”. These were the same words he had spoken to Hezekiah’s father Ahaz (7:4). God was greater than any obstacle; that being so, he did not need to live in fear. As a result, although Hezekiah was concerned as to whether the LORD had heard the blasphemy of the field commander and Sennacherib, God was concerned that Hezekiah had heard it and had become frightened. Do not be afraid of what you have heard – those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me (37:6). God’s contempt for the Assyrian blasphemy is seen by the way He sees the underlings, like the field commander and the other officers. Their power and authority might frighten others, but ADONAI was not particularly impressed.

The prophet declared that he would put a spirit in Sennacherib. He said: Listen! I am going to put a spirit in him so that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword (37:7). The word spirit here denotes a sense of compulsion. He would put a compulsive spirit in Sennacherib that would influence his thoughts, attitude, and conduct. God was going to predispose Sennacherib to leave Judah. He said that the king of Assyria was going to hear a rumor of rebellion back home which will force him to return to Nineveh, and there the LORD will have Sennacherib cut down by the sword. Not surprisingly, this was exactly what happened, although there was a slight delay. Isaiah tells us that Sennacherib, king of Assyria, broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. Twenty years later when Sennacherib was praying in the Temple to his own god, his own two sons killed him by the sword.

In the meantime, the field commander returned to Sennacherib empty-handed because he was unsuccessful in getting Jerusalem to surrender. By that time Lachish had fallen and another city of the countryside, Libnah, was besieged. When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah. Also, the news reached him that a Cushite invasion under Tirhakah was under way. Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the Cushite king of Egypt, was marching out to fight against him (37:8-9).

Feeling very confident, Sennacherib writes a letter to Hezekiah before leaving to meet the threat from Tirhakah. He wrote to the king of Judah, saying: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says: Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria. Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? Did the gods of those nations which my fathers have destroyed deliver them, even Gozan, or Haran, or Rezeph or the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? Where is the King of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena or Ivvah (37:10-13). But in writing his letter, Sennacherib made the mistake that the field commander had made. Sennacherib accused ADONAI of being deceptive. Basically, he was saying to Hezekiah, “Don’t trust your God if He says Jerusalem will not fall. Indeed it will.” He said other nations had fallen and the gods of those nations had proven to be defenseless. He listed the various nations that he had conquered and made the same point that the field commander made. The gods of those other nations failed to deliver them from the hand of Assyria. The implication was this: “What do you think your God is going to be able to do?”

Pride is the worst of all sins. It is the purest form of rebellion possible because we expel the LORD from the throne of our lives and put ourselves in His place (14:12-15). It is the sin of Adam and Eve, and before them the Adversary himself. It is the original sin, from which all others grow. And it was especially true of Sennacherib.

At that time Hezekiah wrote Psalm 46 just after the mighty Assyrian army besieged Jerusalem. But he trusted in ADONAI when all seemed lost. He was a different man. Inspired by God the Ruach Ha’Kodesh, he wrote:

God is our refuge and strength,
     an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore, we are unafraid,
     even if the earth gives way,
     even if the mountains tumble
     into the depths of the sea,
Even if its waters rage and foam,
     and mountains shake at its turbulence. Selah

There is a river whose streams
     gladden the city of God,
     the holy habitation of ‘Elyon –
God is in the city.
     It will not be moved –
     when daybreak comes, God will help it.
Nations were in turmoil, kingdoms were moved;
     He lifts His voice and the earth melted away.

The LORD of heavens armies is with us,
     the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

Come and see the works of ADONAI,
     the astounding deeds He has done on the earth,
To the ends of the earth He makes wars cease –
     He breaks the bow, snaps the spear,
     He burns the shield in the fire.
Be still, and know that I am God,
     supreme over the nations,
     supreme over the earth.

ADONAI of heavens armies is with us,
     the God of Jacob is our fortress (Psalm 46 CJB). Selah

Do Not Let Hezekiah Mislead You
36: 13-22

Do not let Hezekiah mislead you DIG: What alternatives does the field commander offer them? Compared to the gods, where is ADONAI in all of this? Do the people respond as expected? Why or why not? Why does the field commander speak in Hebrew to the people on the walls of Jerusalem in 36:11-20?

REFLECT: Have you ever been misled by the world (First John 2:15-17)? Has someone convinced you that the world is more trustworthy than God? When was the last time in your life that someone tried to make sin seem as attractive as possible? Does sin tear at your heart or have you become so calloused that it doesn’t bother you much anymore? If that is the case, what is the solution?

Sennacherib’s field commander hoped that mere logic would undermine the people’s morale and frighten Jerusalem into submission. Calling out to the people in Hebrew, he addresses all who can hear him along the wall of the City. Raising his voice, he said: Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you! Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, “The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria” (36:13-15). The irony of this statement is that Sennacherib claimed to be more trustworthy than God! He called upon the people to distrust Hezekiah and made the same points to the people as he had the Jewish delegation. He states that Hezekiah cannot save them. That was true. But once again he made the mistake of saying that the God of Isra’el could not save them (36:7). That, however, was false.

Pressing for a quick decision, the field commander demanded: Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, until I come and take you to a land like your own – a land of grain and new wine, and a land of bread and vineyards (36:16-17). He made his offer sound as attractive as possible. He could not hide the well-known Assyrian policy of deportation (Second Kings 17:24), but he did his best to sweeten that bitter pill.

But he kept making the same mistake by insisting that it was futile to trust in ADONAI. He said: Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says: The LORD will deliver us. Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand (36:18-20)? Again the field commander exhorted the people not to be deceived by Hezekiah, for the gods of these other nations had proven useless in helping them against the Assyrians. And he infers that those gods were superior to the God of Isra’el. Therefore, his reasoning is that if greater gods than the God of Jerusalem were of no help, what could your God possibly do? He also boasts that since YHVH did not help Samaria (it had fallen to Assyria 21 years earlier in 722 BC), why should the people of Jerusalem count on their God to protect them? This fatal mistake will bring about his downfall.

The common people were not as easily swayed as the Assyrians expected them to be. But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because king Hezekiah had commanded them not to answer him (36:21). But even if Hezekiah had not told his envoys not to answer, it is difficult to see what they could have said. The field commander had bluntly blasphemed ADONAI and told them to surrender or die. There was not much room for negotiation at that point. To their credit, they remained silent (there are times when silence is the most eloquent testimony to who we are and to whom we serve). Blasphemy of that sort would not be corrected with words. No answer was possible. They could only go back in shock and dismay and tell Hezekiah what the field commander had said.

Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator, Shebna, the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder went back to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said (36:22). The ball is firmly back in Hezekiah’s court. But this is where the greatness of Hezekiah is seen. He sees what needs to be done, and he does it.

Please Speak to Your Servants in Aramaic
36: 2-12

Please speak to your servants in Aramaic DIG: What arguments does the field commander offer for why Jerusalem should surrender? What tone of voice do you hear? How do Assyria and Isaiah compare in their view of Judah’s alliance with Egypt (19:14-15; 30:3-5)? As a Judean leader, how would you feel, hearing the field commander repeat the same things Isaiah had been saying for years? What was Assyria’s undoing? What is the meaning of the sarcastic offer in 36:8? What is he implying by his final statement in 36:10?

REFLECT: Can you remember a time in your life that you lacked spiritual discernment? Was that before you were saved? What changed? Where does one get spiritual discernment? How does one get it (First Corinthians 12:10c)? What must happen first? Why does the world lack spiritual discernment?

Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. A great army accompanied him for the purposes of intimidation. Hezekiah was now isolated. In Second Kings 18:17 the field commander was accompanied by two other men, his supreme commander, the second to the king in command of the army (20:1) and his chief officer, the king’s personal advisor. But the one in charge was the field commander. He stood at the very same place where the confrontation between Ahaz, the king of Judah and Isaiah, the prophet took place back in 7:3. It was at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field (36:2). There, Isaiah gave Ahaz the option of trusting in God, or trusting in Assyria. Ahaz chose to trust Assyria and put Judah under her yoke. And now over twenty years later Hezekiah stood where his father stood, at the perilous crossroads where the way of faith and the way of works, trusting in God and self-reliance, meet. And like his father Ahaz, Hezekiah had the same choice.

If we don’t get it right the first time, God will bring us right back to the same lesson. How many times has this happened in your life or mine? How many times have you thought to yourself, “Why do I keep going through the same thing?” I think you will agree with me that with the LORD, it is better to get it right the first time!

The Jewish delegation was composed of three men. The first man was Eliakim son of Hilkiah who had become the palace administrator in fulfillment of 22:2-024. Secondly, there was Shebna the secretary that is a partial fulfillment of 52:15-19 and 25. He had been demoted in the first stage shown here, but his exile will come later. The third man, Joah, son of Asaph the recorder, also went out with them (36:3).

Without any diplomatic niceties the field commander moves directly to the attack. Speaking on behalf of the king of Assyria he points out the futility of Judah’s confidence. The field commander spoke to them. He says that Judah’s rebellion will prove to be completely fruitless. Judah has no defense. He bluntly bypasses the Judean emissaries and addresses himself to Hezekiah, whom he refuses to call king. The field commander spoke to them. Tell Hezekiah that this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, said: What are you basing your confidence on? You say you have strategy and military strength – but you speak only empty words (36:4-5). But at the same time, he tries to demonstrate the supremacy of the king of Assyria by calling him the great king. Simply put, he says that Hezekiah is just a man of empty words, not actions. His words of war never got past the talking stage. Clearly then, this is not a request, but an ultimatum.

His first attack was against Egypt and the trust the Judeans had put in them. Using words which were not so different than Isaiah’s (19:14-16, 30:7 and 31:3), he said that Egypt had proven to be no help because the Egyptian army had been defeated. The very thing that Isaiah had predicted had then been fulfilled. Look now, you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a man’s hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who depend on him (36:6). Egypt was nothing but a bruised, or splintered reed. Whoever leans on a splintered reed will fall. Sometimes we give our opponents ammunition to use against us because we have betrayed our trust in God by trusting in the world instead. God had prohibited trusting in Egypt, and now the field commander was able to mock them for doing such a foolish thing. Therefore, we need to examine closely our beliefs and actions to see if, in fact, they are a denial of our professed faith in God. If there are any practices or relationships in our lives that will give others a chance to say that we talk a good game, but are really no different from the world (First John 2:15-17), we need to get rid of them now before it kills our testimony.

And if you say to me, “We are depending on ADONAI our God,” isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar” (36:7)? Many people today have no spiritual discernment. They are like Sennacherib’s field commander. Had he stopped with Assyria defeating Judah, just as Isaiah had said, he would have been on safe ground. But he went on to say that ADONAI was of no help to the Jews. He was saying, “Don’t you know that Hezekiah had all those high places destroyed?” He thought Hezekiah had destroyed the worship of the nation so that it had no God to turn to. He thought that the worship of heathen alters on the high hills was the same was worshipping the living God in Jerusalem.

That would be his undoing. He did not understand the difference between Jewish monotheism and the worship of idols. He reasons that the God of Isra’el would prove useless because Hezekiah had not been faithful to his God. Speaking for his king, Sennacherib, he feels that God would not help Judah because Hezekiah had removed all of the high places and altars. So why would any god want to help him? He did not realize that those very high places themselves were contrary to what ADONAI had instructed. Thus, Sennacherib and his field commander reveal a total lack of knowledge of the God of Isra’el.

The Bible teaches us that only Ruach ha-Kodesh enables us to have spiritual discernment. It is possible to read, study and memorize large parts of the Bible and still not understand it. The scribes and Pharisees of Yeshua’s day were highly trained in the Torah and the TaNaKh, yet they missed its central message. They completely failed to recognize the Messiah when He came, even though He lived right among them (John 5:37-39). People without the Holy Spirit do not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to them, and they cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned (First Corinthians 2:14). Because Sennacherib and his field commander did not belong to the LORD, they could not understand the LORD. God’s Word is spiritually evaluated, discerned and understood. But people in their fallen state, before salvation, are spiritually dead.

To the field commander, Jerusalem’s only reasonable action was to surrender. In contrast to the weakness of Judah, he brags about the superiority of Assyria. “Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses – if you can put riders on them (36:8)! Mockingly, he even offered to give the Jews 2,000 horses if they could provide 2,000 riders to fight against him. The point of this taunt is that Judah does not have enough men to withstand the assault of the Assyrians. He obviously believes that Judah is not strong enough to withstand Assyria. He points to the superiority of Egypt, who was much stronger than Judah. How then can you repulse an officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen (36:9)? However, the help of Egypt could not turn the smallest and the weakest Assyrian officer back. The point here is that Egypt is not strong enough to help them either.

His speech was so convincing precisely because it contained so much that was true. But its basic premise was false; namely, that ADONAI had forsaken Judah, and therefore, that trust in Him was futile. It is always Satan’s way to make us think that God has abandoned us, and to use logic woven from half-truths to convince us of it. This speech was so subtly devilish in character that it might have been written by Satan himself. The truth is that the LORD brought Judah to the end of her own resources so that she might learn again what it meant to trust Him completely. He had not abandoned and would not abandon her. He has not and will not abandon us (John 6:37-40 and 47, 10:27-30; Jude 24).

Finalizing his argument, the field commander arrogantly boasted that ADONAI, the God of Isra’el, had ordered him to destroy Judah. Furthermore, have I have come to attack and destroy this land without the LORD? The Lord Himself told me to march against this country and destroy it (36:10). It is Judah’s own God, he says that has brought Assyria to conquer. Chapter 10:5-11 makes it clear that Assyria was commissioned by God to invade Judah. But Assyria went far beyond her commission in 10:12-19. That will prove to be a serious error. The field commander’s point here is that your God cannot help you. This was and is the purest form of defiance possible; it is ousting ADONAI from the throne of our lives and putting ourselves first. It is the sin of Adam and Eve, and before them, of Satan himself. It is the primal sin from which all others grow. And it was especially, in this case, the sin of the king of Assyria, the great king (36:13, 37:23).¹³¹

What the field commander did in his speech was to reveal the essential nature of the issue that is always before us. Shall we commit ourselves to God or to human might and glory? But more importantly, he threw down the gauntlet to the LORD Himself. If God wants to be known as God, He would need to reveal Himself. ADONAI was waiting for the right opportunity.

Up to this point the field commander has been speaking in Hebrew. But realizing the seriousness of their situation, the three Jewish negotiators request that the negotiations be carried on in Aramaic rather than Hebrew. Aramaic was the major diplomatic language in that day. It was similar to Hebrew, but different enough that the common people could not understand it. Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall” (36:11). The reason for this request is to prevent the inhabitants of Jerusalem, many of whom were standing on top of the wall and listening to the proceedings, from hearing the Assyrian threats.

Of course, the Jewish delegation’s protest only caused the field commander to talk all the louder. Sennacherib had sent him to speak to all of the people. As a result, He arrogantly declared: Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the men sitting on the wall – who, like you, will have to eat their own filth and drink their own urine (36:12)? Confident of victory, he said that the Jews would be forced to eat and drink their own body waste to survive in the siege. The Assyrians used psychological warfare to their greatest advantage. And so does the devil, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies (see the commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Gs – Before Abraham Was Born, I Am).

In the Fourteenth Year of Hezekiah’s Reign
36: 1

In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign DIG: The Assyrian army had already routed Egyptian forces twenty miles west of Jerusalem, and were fighting at Lachish, some twenty miles southwest. What would the people in Jerusalem feel as they saw this Assyrian army approaching their city? How does this invasion fulfill what Isaiah warned in 7:3, 18-25 and 8:6-8?

REFLECT: When was the last time you didn’t listen to ADONAI or His Word and came face to face with the consequences of your actions? How did you react? Hezekiah went to the Temple and sought the LORD. That is still pretty good advice for us today.

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them (36:1).

In 701 BC the Assyrians, with Sennacherib as their king, came down like a flood from the north, destroying everything in his wake. He seemed invincible. He had captured every nation and city that stood in his path, or they submitted to him. The main part of the Assyrian army had come down the coast to Mount Carmel, and there Sennacherib split his army in two, with the main army coming down the coast. A smaller part of his army began to move down the central mountain range. There, a number of the rebelling nations, Edom, Mo’ab, and Amon, surrendered without fighting. This didn’t help Hezekiah one bit. The Assyrians continued traveling down the coast and took the Philistine cities. After the Philistines were defeated, the main army began marching toward Jerusalem.

The cities defeated along this route are mentioned in Isaiah 10:28-32 and Micah 1:8-16. Micah mentions them because this is his home territory. With the cities in the north taken, the last one standing was Lachish. While Lachish was still being besieged, Hezekiah sued for peace and gave the Assyrian king eleven tons of silver and one ton of gold (Second Kings 18:14). In addition to his initial demands, Sennacherib said that Hezekiah must release Hatti, so he could become king of Echelon again, which Hezekiah did. But even though Hezekiah paid Sennacherib handsomely and released Hatti, the king of Assyria decided to conquer the city anyway. He wanted Hezekiah to capitulate and to agree to deport all its citizens. At that point Sennacherib sent his field commander to Jerusalem to demand their surrender. But then he went one step beyond where God permitted him to go, saying that ADONAI could not help the Jews. At that point the Egyptian records, the Assyrian records, and the biblical record all show that something happened that made this invasion of Jerusalem a failure.

As Sennacherib was preparing to move against Jerusalem with his entire army he had to divert his attention because of the threat coming out of Egypt under the Cushite (Ethiopian) King Tirhakah (2 Kings 19:9). After defeating the Egyptian-Ethiopian army on the plains of Eltekeh in southern Palestine he invaded Egypt proper and forced her surrender, but after returning to Jerusalem his army was annihilated (2 Chron 32:21).

In 1919 the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago purchased a fifteen-inch clay cylinder, called the Prism of Sennacherib. This artifact testifies to eight of Sennacherib’s military campaigns. Regarding the third, the narrator describes Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah. So here is Sennacherib’s own version of what happened; keep in mind the Assyrian kings were not apt to admit their failures. When failure came, they would put a spin on it. They would word it in such a way that you wouldn’t know that it was a failure. Here is what Sennacherib wrote about this campaign in Isaiah 36 and 37.

“In my third campaign I set out against Hatti, as for Lulli, the king of Sidon, the awe inspiring splendor of my lordship overwhelmed him, and he ran away. In the midst of the siege he fled and disappeared. Sidon the great, Sidon the small, the cities, strong and fortified, supplied with food and drink, well provisioned for its garrisons, the awe inspiring weapons of Assyria my lord, overwhelmed him. And they obeyed and bowed at my feet. I placed a symbol of the throne over them, and gifts given to me as overlord, given without ceasing, I imposed upon him. I forced others to submit to me. The Moabite, the Ammonite, and the Edomite, splendid gifts they brought before me and kissed my feet. Others, who did not submit to my yoke, I took to the gods of the house of his father, himself, his wife, his sons, his daughters, his brothers, the seat of the house of his father, I deported to Assyria. Others, I placed a tribute, the gift of alliance with my lordship I imposed upon him. Cities that did not bow quickly unto my feet, I besieged, I conquered and I took away the spoil. The officials, the nobility and the populace of Eckron, who had thrown Hatti their king, lord with a sworn treaty with Assyria, into chains, and gave him over to Hezekiah the Judean, like an enemy, they committed sacrilege, the Egyptian kings, the bowmen, the charioteers, the king of Ethiopia. An army without number they came, called upon, and came with their aide. In the plain of Elteckah. The battle line being drawn up in front of me, they sharpened their weapons. With the thrust of Assiure my god, I fought with them and brought about their defeat. The Egyptian charioteers, the princes, together with the charioteers with the king of Ethiopia I captured in the midst of battle. Elteckah I beseeched, I conquered, and I took away the spoil. I approached Ekron and the officials, the nobles who devised the crime. I killed one hundred in the city. As for the ordinary citizens, the perpetrators of sin and infamy, I counted them as spoil. The remainder of those that were not guilty of sin and contempt, which had no punishment due them, I ordered their release. Hatti, the king from the midst of Jerusalem, I brought out as the lord on the throne. Over them I placed him. The tribute due to my lordship I imposed upon him. As for Hezekiah, the Judean, who had not submitted unto my yoke, forty six of the strong walled cities (and the small cities that surround them, which are without number), by piling up siege ramps, bringing rear battering rams, the battling of foot soldiers, and supplement of siege, I besieged and I conquered. 200,140 people, young and old, male and female, horses, mules, camels, oxen and small cattle from their midst without number, I brought out and counted as spoil. Himself (Hezekiah), like a bird in a cage in the midst of Jerusalem, it’s capital city, I shut up. Earthworks against it I raised. I prohibited exit from the city.

Beyond the formal tribute, the gifts of the land, in presence due to my lordship, I imposed against him. As for Hezekiah, himself, the awe-inspiring splendor of my lordship overwhelmed him. I took as tribute, 30 pounds of gold, 800 pounds of silver, costly stones, ivory armed chairs, elephant hide, ivory, ebony and all kind of valuable treasures, together with his daughters, his concubines, the male and female musicians to Nineveh my capital he sent to me. And for the payment of tribute and the performance of servitude, he sent his messengers.”¹³⁰

Sennacherib boasts of his siege of Jerusalem. His language leads the reader to expect that he captured Jerusalem, just as he had taken forty-six of Judah’s strong fortified cities (36:1). But at the end the account turns curiously quiet. Isaiah says that Sennacherib did not succeed in capturing the city of Jerusalem (to see link click Gw – Then the Angel of the LORD Put to Death a Hundred and Eighty Five Thousand Men in the Assyrian Camp). The Assyrian king, however, never states that he actually conquered the city. Although the Assyrian records are awkwardly silent, the Bible tells the rest of the story.

The Timeline of Sennacherib’s Invasion of Judah

An accurate understanding of Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah, his temporary military campaign into Egypt, then his return and destruction in Jerusalem can be confusing without a timeline. It is based on biblical accounts, but I have also used some secular reports to create a clearer picture of what really took place (to see link click Gw – Then the Angel of the LORD Put to Death a Hundred and Eighty Five Thousand Men in the Assyrian Camp). The main reason that a timeline is needed, is to explain how 185,000 Assyrians could die in a single night (37:36).

1. Sennacherib invades Judah through conquered Isra’el from the north.

2. He divides his army in half. One army goes down the coast to defeat the Philistines, while the other goes down the center of Judah to Lachish.

3. In the meantime, Edom, Mo’ab, and Amon surrender and are no longer a threat to him.

4. While Sennacherib lays siege to Lachish, a city in the countryside, Hezekiah strikes for peace and sends him tribute. But Sennacherib decides to take Jerusalem anyway, and sends his Field Commander to Jerusalem to demand an unconditional surrender.

5. Unsuccessful, the Field Commander returns empty-handed to Sennacherib because he could not convince Hezekiah to surrender.

6. By this time Lachish had fallen and Libnah was besieged. At this point, news reached Sennacherib that an Egyptian-Ethiopian invasion under King Tirhakah had begun.

7. Feeling very confident, Sennacherib writes a letter to Hezekiah telling him that his God could do nothing to prevent the destruction of Jerusalem and her people.

8. Sennacherib meets and defeats King Tirhakah at Eltekeh in southern Palestine.

9. With Egypt helpless before him, Sennacherib seizes the advantage and crosses the Egyptian border and receives a declaration of surrender.

10. While in Egypt, God sent a plague spread by mice that infected the Assyrian army. 

11. Having conquered Egypt, Sennacherib now turned his attention back to Jerusalem.

12. As Sennacherib and his army returned to Jerusalem his army came down with the aforesaid wasting disease.

13. On the first night of the siege, a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp died (37:36). The Light of Israel became a fire, their Holy One a flame; in a single night it burned and consumed his foot soldiers and generals (10:17). They were infected in Egypt, but they died several days later outside Jerusalem.

14. He did not set foot in Jerusalem, nor was he able to surround it.

Hezekiah and the Assyrians
36:1 to 37:38

With something of a jolt, the prophet calls us back to the grim realities of his own situation.¹²⁹ The Assyrians were convinced that they were invincible and that the God of Isra’el was no different from any of the other gods they had overcome on their westward march. As a result, in this section, Isaiah stresses the pride of the Assyrians, and that her arrogance would result in her judgment by God. Judah had been under the Assyrian yoke ever since Chapter 7 because of the disobedience of Ahaz to the prophecy of Isaiah. Assyria’s dominance continued through Ahaz’s life and right into the fourteenth year of the reign of his son Hezekiah.

Hezekiah undertook sweeping religious reforms after he became king in the year 715 BC. He reinstituted Temple worship and did away with the high places of pagan worship. But in foreign policy, he continued the subservience of his father. The whole land, including the Philistines, was subservient to the Assyrians. But in the year 713 BC, Ashdod, one of the five Philistine cities, rebelled. When this happened, the Assyrian king, Sargon II, came down and replaced the king of Ashdod. In the year 712 BC Ashdod rebels again under Egyptian agitation and this time Mo’ab and Edom rebel with the Philistines. Once again Sargon II comes down to control things. Mo’ab and Edom surrender immediately, and Sargon II takes Ashdod. This is the background of 20:1-6. Consequently, from 7:12 onward, the Land is securely under Assyrian domination. As I pointed out earlier, Hezekiah’s government had a pro-Egyptian and pro-Assyrian element. The pro-Egyptian element was pushing for an alliance with Egypt against the Assyrians. Isaiah opposed this rebellion against Assyria as seen in the prophecies of Chapters 28 to 35.

In the year 705 BC Sargon II died and Sennacherib became king. Hezekiah probably reflected the anti-Assyria discontent of many in the nation. As a result, Hezekiah, encouraged by unrest all over the Assyrian empire, seemed to have joined a coalition of states in open rebellion. He not only joined the revolt against the Assyrians; he led it. This was in direct disobedience to the prophecy of Isaiah (2 Kings 18:7). As Hezekiah joined the revolt, with Egyptian backing, alliances were made with both Edom and Mo’ab. The city of Gaza refused to join the revolt, so Hezekiah took the city and settled it with Judeans (Second Kings 18:8). Hatti, the king of Eckron, another Philistine city, refused to join the revolt, although the citizens of Eckron wished to join the revolt. As a result, Hatti was deposed by the citizens and turned over to Hezekiah, who had Hatti imprisoned in Jerusalem. Much of this information comes from the Assyrian records. But we do have parallel accounts between the biblical account and the Assyrian account on what happened in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign. The historical narrative in these chapters is mirrored in 2 Kings Chapters 18 and 19.

With the rebellion in motion, Hezekiah began to prepare for an extensive siege. He plugged up all the available water sources outside of Jerusalem so the onslaught of Assyrians could not use them. In addition, he diverted water from an underground spring into the Pool of Salome within the walls of Jerusalem. This underground tunnel, which became known as Hezekiah’s Tunnel, extended for about a half a mile. In doing this he hid away Jerusalem’s main water supply and denied its access to the Assyrians. This tunnel is mentioned in Second Kings 20:20 and Second Chronicles 32:30. Archaeologists have since discovered it.

Anytime we knowingly go against the word of ADONAI, we put ourselves at risk. Like a loving Father, ADONAI has our best interests at heart. His discipline is to protect us, not withhold good things from us. The lie of the Adversary is that God is holding out on us. After all, we can handle it. We don’t need Him. This was the lie in the Garden of Eden. And it always ends up the same. Once we are separated from His protection, we end up in trouble.

The Historical Interlude
Concerning the Crisis
of the Fourteenth Year of Hezekiah
36:1 to 39:8

These chapters are, in effect, the pivot on which the book turns, and appear to have been designed to act as a bridge between the two halves. Likewise, the issue of these chapters is central to the entire book. It is the issue of trust, and where that trust can ultimately be placed. Ironically, it was the Assyrian invader who put the issue most succinctly: On whom are you depending (36:5)? It is a question that Isaiah forces us to ponder again and again, and with good reason, for our response to it will determine the whole shape of our lives.¹²⁷

Shortly after the fall of the northern kingdom of Isra’el, the Assyrian king Sennacherib descended on Judah. His assault came in 701 BC, during the reign of Ahaz’s son Hezekiah (to see a video of King Hezekiah click here). In Chapters 28 to 35 we saw the prophecies that precipitated this crisis. Now in Chapters 36 to 39 we will see the events of the crisis itself. Up until now, the book of Isaiah has been written in Hebrew poetry; in Chapters 36 to 39 it is written in Hebrew prose. The poetry will continue in Chapter 40. The entire book is a poetic book, as well as a prophetic book. Of the 66 Chapters, 62 are written in poetry and only these 4 chapters are written in prose. Two parallel passages described in this section are Second Kings 18:3 to 20:21, and Second Chronicles 32:1-31.

These four chapters are important for two reasons. First, we will see the fulfillment of many prophecies in the first 35 Chapters of the book. What was promised in the first 35 Chapters will now become history. The second reason that these four chapters are important is that they are a transitional period from Assyrian domination to Babylonian domination. The second part of Isaiah, Chapters 40 to 66, focuses on Babylon. Chapters 38-39 represent a flashback, since the events of 701 BC had not yet occurred (38:6) and the envoys of the Babylonian king Merodach-Baladan (who ruled 721-710 BC and again in 703 BC) arrived after Hezekiah’s recovery from illness (39:1). Just as Chapters 36-37 fittingly conclude Chapters 1 to 35, which have a strong Assyrian orientation, so also Chapters 38-39 form a suitable introduction to Chapters 40 to 66, which largely describe Judah’s future relationship with the Babylonians.¹²⁸ In these two chapters Isaiah seeks to answer the questions, “Can God rescue Judah from Assyria?” and, “Can God be trusted?”