In his earlier years, Hezekiah had heavily relied on an alliance with Egypt, 2 Kings 18:19-25, even though Isaiah had warned him over and over again that he must rely on God to protect Judah, 2 Chronicles 32:9-19. The situation he finds himself in here is extreme and so he now turns to Isaiah.
It appears that the message that Rabshakeh told Eliakim and Shebna not only deeply discouraged them, 2 Kings 18:28-37, but also deeply discouraged Hezekiah. This is seen in the tearing of his clothes and wearing a sackcloth, 2 Kings 19:1. He then sends Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah with a message, 2 Kings 19:2.
This is the first mention of Isaiah in Kings, but we do know that Isaiah himself had prophesied even in the days of Hezekiah’s father Ahaz, Isaiah 7:10-17, but that ruler had shunned Isaiah’s warnings. He basically tells Isaiah that the people are deeply distressed with no strength left, just as a woman at the moment she is about to give birth, 2 Kings 19:3.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The Jewish state is here represented under the emblem of a woman in travail, who has been so long in the pangs of parturition, that her strength is now entirely exhausted, and her deliverance is hopeless, without a miracle. The image is very fine and highly appropriate.’
He hopes that God heard what Rabshakeh said and then he asks Isaiah to pray for those who survive, 2 Kings 19:4. Notice that Hezekiah refers to the Lord as ‘your God’, 2 Kings 19:4, he doesn’t say ‘my God’ or ‘our God’. However, we mustn’t mistake this as a lack of faith on Hezekiah’s part, it was more of a confession that he hadn’t been as faithful as he should have been.
When Eliakim, Shebna and the leading priests they report to Hezekiah what Isaiah told them, 2 Kings 19:5. Isaiah tells Hezekiah if they don’t get help from God, then Judah would fall into the hands of the Assyrians, Isaiah 37:1-13. There are four things the Lord said here.
1. Do not be afraid and listen, 2 Kings 19:6.
2. He would hear a certain report, 2 Kings 19:7 / 2 Kings 19:35-37.
We are not told where he would hear this certain report from or what the certain report was.
3. He would return to his own land, 2 Kings 19:7.
The prophets were telling Hezekiah that God would spare a remnant of His people. Because the Northern Kingdom of Israel had already been taken into Assyrian captivity, 2 Kings 17:5-6, the rest of God’s people remained, Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, remained in the Southern Kingdom.
It is clear that Hezekiah believed that Judah was that remnant, however as we know, Judah was going to be taken into captivity by the Babylonians. The remnant, therefore, were a few from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and a few from the other tribes which were taken to Assyria.
4. In that land he would fall by the sword, 2 Kings 19:7.
The result of his hearing this certain report would be his return to his own land, where he would be killed.
Rabshakeh, Sennacherib’s commander of his army, left Lachish and found Sennacherib fighting against Libnah, 2 Kings 19:8. Tirhakah, the king of Cush, that is, Egypt, wanted to come to Hezekiah’s rescue, 2 Kings 19:9, unfortunately, Sennacherib sent another dispatch of soldiers to Hezekiah, saying that Egypt wasn’t going to help them, 2 Kings 19:10-13. They must have seen how vast an army Sennacherib had with him, 2 Kings 17:24 / 2 Kings 19:12.
Sennacherib basically offers Hezekiah a choice, those living in Jerusalem could swap living in captivity for death. It would have been so easy to surrender to Sennacherib and his army, but Hezekiah stood firm in his faith that God would deliver them.
After receiving the letter from the messengers, Hezekiah goes to the temple and spreads out the letter before God, 2 Kings 19:14.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The temple was considered to be God’s dwelling-place and that whatever was there was peculiarly under his eye. Hezekiah spread the letter before the Lord, as he wished him to read the blasphemies spoken against himself.’
He now prays and notice he mentions that God is enthroned between the cherubim, 2 Kings 19:15.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The reference is to the Shechinah, or miraculous glory, which from time to time appeared above the mercy-seat from between the two cherubim, whose wings overshadowed the ark of the covenant, 1 Kings 6:23-27 / Exodus 25:22 / Leviticus 16:2, etc.’
He now prays to God and notice that he says that God is over all the kingdoms of the earth, 2 Kings 19:15. This tells us that God wasn’t just concerned about Israel as a nation, but all nations throughout the earth, Isaiah 37:14-20 / Jonah 1:1-2 / Jonah 4:11 / John 3:16. God obviously doesn’t have physical eyes and ears, 2 Kings 19:16, these are used as metaphors so that we can relate to God in human terms, John 4:24.
Hezekiah knows that the Assyrian gods were not real gods, they were made of wood and stone and made by humans2 Kings 19:17-18. Hezekiah says there is a clear distinction between these man-made gods and the living God of Israel, it was God who created Israel and He was working in and through them, 2 Kings 19:19.
Isaiah sends a message to Hezekiah telling him what God has said. God has heard his prayer and God is about to act upon his prayer, 2 Kings 19:20-21. What the Lord says about Sennacherib is clearly a rebuke which would have hit hard in the arrogant heart of Sennacherib, 2 Kings 19:21-22 / Isaiah 37:21-38.
Notice that Sennacherib’s views against Judah were actually viewed as against the God of all creation. He is the Holy One of Israel, 2 Kings 19:22 / Isaiah 5:24 / Isaiah 30:12 / Jeremiah 50:29 / Jeremiah 51:5 / Psalms 71:22 / Psalms 78:41 / Psalms 89:18.
Sennacherib, who was so arrogant and full of pride had been ridiculing Judah because their army, 2 Kings 19:23-24, who were hiding behind the walls of Jerusalem were so small compared to God. The way God felt towards Sennacherib and his army should have been the way Judah felt towards them.
God asks Sennacherib has he not heard? Long ago God ordained it, Isaiah 10:5. In days of old God planned it and now He has brought it to pass, that he have turned fortified cities into piles of stone, 2 Kings 19:25 / Isaiah 10:13.
It was God who drained the people of power and put them to shame. It was God who planted them like a plant in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, scorched before it grows up, 2 Kings 19:26. God know where Sennacherib is, 2 Kings 19:27, and says He will turn Sennacherib back to where he came from, 2 Kings 19:28 / Isaiah 10:12-19.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following, concerning 2 Kings 19:28.
‘This seems to be an allusion to the method of guiding a buffalo, he has a sort of ring put into his nose, to which a cord or bridle is attached, by which he can be turned to the right, or to the left, or round about, according to the pleasure of his driver.’
The sign is for Hezekiah, 2 Kings 19:29.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The prophet now once more addresses Hezekiah, and gives him a ‘sign,’ or token, whereby he and his may be assured that Sennacherib is indeed bridled, and will not trouble Judaea anymore. It was a sign of the continued freedom of the land from attack during the whole of the remainder of Sennacherib’s reign, a space of 17 years.’
Judah has obviously been trapped inside the city walls of Jerusalem for some time and as a result, they haven’t been able to plant any food in the fields. However, as these words were being spoken, plants that grow by themselves would provide the food they needed, when the Assyrian army had left, 2 Kings 19:29.
This harvesting of these self-growing plants would continue into the second year because of what was happening and in the third year, 2 Kings 19:29, they would be able to get back to farming on their own. Those who survived in Jerusalem would be the remnant of Israel that would repopulate the land, 2 Kings 19:30-31. We see this fulfilled later in 2 Kings 23:15-20.
God now gives six proofs that Jerusalem will not be taken by Sennacherib, 2 Kings 19:32-33.
1. Sennacherib will not enter the city, 2 Kings 19:32.
2. He won’t get close enough to shoot an arrow, 2 Kings 19:32.
3. He won’t be able to bring an army before it, 2 Kings 19:32.
4. He won’t be able to use a shield against it, 2 Kings 19:32.
5. He won’t be able to use a siege ramp against it, 2 Kings 19:32.
6. He will go back the way he came, 2 Kings 19:33.
Why did God make these promises to Hezekiah? Simply because of God’s own sake and for the sake of David, 2 Kings 19:34 / 2 Kings 19:10-12 / 2 Samuel 7:10-16. In other words, because God promised David that the Messiah, who would sit on David’s throne, would come through him, Psalms 132:12-18. When this prophecy was fulfilled, Judah would then know that God was still with them.
If these verses don’t put the fear of God in people I don’t know what will. Here we find the angel of the Lord, Genesis 16:7 / Exodus 3:2 / Zechariah 1:12, that is, just one angel totally wiping out one hundred and eighty-five thousand, of God’s enemies in just one night, 2 Kings 19:35.
Who is this angel of the LORD? This is a Christophany, which suggests that this is a preincarnate appearance of Christ, Genesis 12:7. Remember the word ‘angel’ in Hebrew is ‘malak’ and it simply means messenger. Christ is God not an angel, Genesis 16:13.
Haynes Jr, in his commentary, says the following.
‘A study of these passages reveals that the Angel of the Lord appeared in human form, Genesis 18:2 / Genesis 22:1-18 / Hebrews 13:2, and performed normal human functions, Genesis 32:24 / Numbers 22:23 / Numbers 22:31, yet he was an awe-inspiring figure, Genesis 32:30 / Judges 6:22 / Judges 13:22, exhibiting divine attributes and prerogatives including predicting the future, Genesis 16:10-12, forgiving sin, Exodus 23:21, and receiving worship, Exodus 3:5 / Judges 13:9-20.’
God decided enough was enough and sent the angel of LORD to deal with the Assyrian army. We know it happened all in one night because in the morning when the people woke up, they saw all the dead bodies, 2 Kings 19:35. Sennacherib returned to Nineveh, 2 Kings 19:36 / Jonah 3:2-3 / Jonah 4:11, but notice the text doesn’t tell us he was killed immediately.
According to Assyrian history, he was killed around twenty years after he returned to Nineveh. He was killed by his sons, Adrammelek and Sharezer, 2 Kings 19:37 / 2 Chronicles 32:20-21. They flee to Ararat and Esarhaddon another son of Sennacherib now becomes king of Assyria, 2 Kings 19:37.
In the British Museum, we can see ‘the Annals of Sennacherib’ also called ‘the Taylor Prism.’ Sennacherib, 705-681 B.C., was an Assyrian king noted for his campaigns against Judah. The prism was found at Nineveh in 1830. The best-known passage on this prism describes that because Hezekiah had not submitted to the Assyrian ‘yoke,’ Sennacherib laid siege to forty-six fortified Judean cities, deported 200,150 people, and shut up Hezekiah in Jerusalem ‘like a caged bird.’
It reads as follows.
‘As to Hezekiah, the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke, I lay siege to 46 of his strong cities, walled forts and the countless small villages in their vicinity, and conquered them by means of well-stamped earth-ramps, and battering-rams brought thus near to the walls combined with the attack by foot soldiers, using mines, breeches as well as sapper work. I drove out of them 200,150 people, young and old, male, and female, horses, mules, donkeys, camels, big and small cattle beyond counting, and considered them booty. Himself I made a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage.’
The prism tacitly agrees with the Biblical version by making no claim that Jerusalem was taken, Isaiah 36-37 / 2 Kings 18-19. The Greek historian Herodotus tells of ‘field mice’ eating ‘leather handles, quivers, and bow strings’ of the Assyrian army.