The Book of the Prophet Isaiah
Isaiah 37
Chapter XXXVII · Vol. III, pp. 1189–1191
1 Hezekiah mourning, sendeth to Isaiah to pray for them. 6 Isaiah comforteth them. 8 Sennacherib, going to encounter Tirhakah, sendeth a blasphemous letter to Hezekiah. 14 Hezekiah's prayer. 21 Isaiah's prophecy of the pride and destruction of Sennacherib, and the good of Zion. 36 An angel slayeth the Assyrians. 37 Sennacherib is slain at Nineveh by his own sons.
1 And ita came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and bwent into the house of the LORD.
2 And he sent cEliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, dunto Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.
c ch.36.3,11,22; 22.20,22. Es.4.16. Joel 1.13.
d ch.1.1. Lu.3.4, with 1 Ki.22.13. 2 Ki.3.11; 22.12. Ja.5.16,17. 1 Sa.7.8.
3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is ea day of trouble, and of grebuke,1 and of blasphemy:2 forh the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.3
e Ps.50.15; 39.11; 123.3,4. Ho.5.9,15. ch.30.4,7,15,18,20.
g ch.25.8. Re.3.19.
1 Or, reviling.
2 Or, provocation, ch.36.20.
h Ho.13.13. ch.26.17,18; 66.9. De.32.36. Ge.22.14.
3 The meaning is, there was imminent danger; all natural powers were weak; all natural means of defence were exhausted; of themselves these were vain. Now in the critical moment, human aid was insufficient, the power of God alone could save.—P.
4 Iti may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will jreprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore klift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.4
i Am.5.15. Ps.65.2,5. 1 Sa.14.6. 2 Sa.16.12. Ex.2.23-25; 3.7. ver.23,24; ch.51.7,8.
j Ps.50.21. ver.3.
k Ro.9.27. Ja.5.14-18. Ex.8.8. 1 Sa.7.8; 12.19,23. 2 Ki.19.4. Joel 2.17. 1 Ti.2.1,2. Ps.50.15; 91.15.
4 Heb. found, 2 Ch.28.5,6. 2 Ki.17.5,6; 18.13.
5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7 Behold, nI will send a blast upon 5him; and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
n Ps.11.6; 58.9. ch.17.12-14; 25.4,5; 29.5-8; 30.27-33; 31.8,9; 33.10-12,23; 10.15-19,23-27,33,34; 14.25. 2 Ki.7.6,7. ver.36,38.
5 Or, put a spirit into him, 1 Sa.16.14. 1 Ki.22.22,23.
8 Soo Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah:6 for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
o 2 Ki.19.8; 8.22; 14.19. Jos.12.11,15; 10.29,31-34; 15.39,42. Nu.33.20,21. Jos.21.13. 2 Ch.21.10.
6 Libnah was situated in the plain of Philistia, between Makkedah and Lachish; and consequently to the north-west of the latter. The name has disappeared, and the site is now unknown. It may perhaps have stood on the isolated tell, at present occupied by Arak-el-Menshiyeh, five miles west of Eleutheropolis.—P.
9 And phe heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee: and, when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
p 1 Sa.23.27,28. 2 Ki.19.9. Ge.22.14. Re.12.16. ch.43.3.
10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, qLet not thy God in whom thou trustestr deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
A.M. cir. 3292. B.C. cir. 712.
q ch.36.4,5,15,18,20. 2 Ki.19.10-13. 2 Ch.32.7,8,15-19. Re.13.5,6. Da.3.15; 7.25. Ps.73.8,9; 42.3,10; 71.11. Jn.19.10,11.
r 2 Ki.18.5. Ps.22.8. Mat.27.43,63.
11 Behold,s thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?
s 2 Ch.32.13-17. 2 Ki.19.11-13; 18.33-35. ch.14.17; 10.7-14. ver.18,19; ch.xv.-xxi.
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as tGozan,7 and uHaran,8 and Rezeph,9 and the children of vEden which were in Telassar?1
7 Gozan was in Assyria, and through it flowed the river Habor, which is now called Khabûr. It would seem that Habor was also the name of a small province, watered by the lower Khabûr; while the upper part of the same river flowed through the province of Gozan, and was thence sometimes called the river of Gozan. Both Gozan and Haran were provinces of Mesopotamia, bordering upon the Euphrates.—P.
u Ge.12.4; 28.10; 11.31; 29.4. Eze.27.23. Ac.7.2.
8 Haran—the same as Charran, a city in the north-west of Mesopotamia.—C.
9 Rezeph—supposed to be the Rezipha of Ptolemy; also situated in Mesopotamia.—C.
v Ge.2.8. Eze.27.23; 28.13. Am.1.5.
1 Eden—Telassar. Of these places nothing is certainly known: but they are supposed to have been situated in Mesopotamia or Armenia.—C.
13 Where is the king of xHamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim,y Hena, and Ivah?
14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah zwent up unto the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
z ver.1. 1 Ki.8.28,33,34,44,45. Ps.123.3,4; 121.1,2; 25.1; 130.1. Joel 2.17-20.
15 And Hezekiah aprayed unto the LORD, saying,
a Ps.50.15; 91.15. Ho.5.15. Ja.5.13-18. Phi.4.6. Mat.7.7. 1 Ti.2.1,8. 2 Sa.7.18,27. Eze.36.37. Da.9.2,3. Mat.26.39.
16 O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellestb between the cherubims, cthou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; dthou hast made heaven and earth.
b Ex.25.22. 1 Sa.4.4. Ps.80.1; 99.1. 2 Co.5.19.
c ch.43.10,11; 44.6; 45.22. Ps.86.8-10. ver.20. Da.4.34,35. ch.54.5. Ezr.5.11. Ps.68.33. De.10.17.
d Je.10.11,12; 32.17. Ps.96.5. Je.10.11.
17 Inclinee thine ear, O LORD, and hear; openg thine eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God.
19 And have cast3 their gods into the fire: fori they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them.
3 Heb. given, 2 Sa.5.21. De.7.25. Ex.32.30.
i ch.40.19,20; 41.7; 44.9-20. Je.10.3-16. Ps.115.4-7; 135.15-17. Je.2.13.
20 Now therefore, jO LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth kmay know that thou art the LORD, even thou only.
21 Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, lWhereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:
l Pr.15.29. Lu.18.1. 2 Ki.19.20-24. Da.9.20-23. ch.58.9; 65.24. Ps.65.2. Ac.4.31. Ps.50.15; 91.15; 81.7; 34.6.
22 This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The nvirgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and olaughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
23 Whomp hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the qHoly One of Israel.
24 By thy servants4 hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, rBy the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of sLebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir-trees thereof:5 and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest6 of his Carmel.7
A.M. cir. 3292. B.C. cir. 712.
4 Heb. by the hand of thy servants.
r Ex.15.9. ch.10.7-14; 14.13. Ps.20.7. ch.36.10,20; ver.10. 1 Ki.20.10.
s Eze.17.3. ch.35.1. Zec.11.1.
5 Heb. the tallness of the cedars thereof, and the choice of the fir-trees thereof, ch.10.18.
6 Or, the forest and his fruitful field, Mi.7.4.
7 The word 'Carmel,' as employed here and in ch.29.17, is not a proper name. The prophet does not refer to the mountain range of Carmel. It signifies a rich and beautiful country—a country blooming like a garden with fruit-trees and flowers. It is descriptive of Lebanon, the slopes of which are covered with vineyards and orchards.—P.
25 It have digged, and drunk water;8 and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged9 places.
t ch.36.12; 44.27.
8 Made a permanent settlement in the country.—C.
9 Or, fenced and closed, or Egypt, ch.19.6; 7.18. Eze.29.10.
26 Hast1 thou not heard long ago, how I have done it;2 and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.
1 Or, hast thou not heard how I have made it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? should I now bring it to be laid waste, and defenced cities to be ruinous heaps? ch.10.5,6; 45.7. Am.3.6.
2 Have you not heard how, 'long ago,' I have adjudged cities and kingdoms to be laid waste for their sins? and heard from the prophecies of 'ancient times' that I had formed the purpose of so chastising the wicked and idolatrous people whom you have overthrown?—C.
27 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power,3 they were dismayed and confounded: they were uas the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house-tops,4 and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
* The grass which in early spring, while rain is falling, grows up rapidly on the flat clay roofs of eastern houses, withers and dies the moment the rain ceases, and the fierce beams of the summer sun fall upon it. The figure is beautiful and expressive.—P.
3 Heb. short of hand, Je.5.10. Nu.11.23; 14.9. Ps.127.1,2. ch.50.2; 59.1.
u Ps.37.2; 90.5,6; 103.15; 129.6. ch.40.6.
4 See note * in first column.
28 Butv I know thy 5abode,6 and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
v Ps.139.1-3; 10.11-14. De.28.19. He.4.13. Je.16.17,18.
5 Or, sitting.
6 I know where to find you when the time of thine own judgment arrives.—C.
29 Because xthy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore ywill I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
30 And this shall be za sign7 unto 8thee, aYe shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.
z ch.7.14; 38.7. Ex.3.12.
7 A sign. The word also signifies an evidence of an assertion or confirmation of a promise—this address is to Hezekiah.—C.
8 The preceding verses were addressed to Sennacherib. These are addressed to Hezekiah. Judgment was pronounced on the haughty Assyrians; in that judgment was implied the deliverance of Israel. In mercy and condescension to human weakness God now gives a sign to Hezekiah that in due time the promised deliverance would be effected.—P.
a Ps.37.3. Le.25.4,5. Ex.23.10,11.
31 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah9 shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:
9 Heb. the escaping of the house of Judah that remaineth, ch.1.9; 4.2; 10.20,21; 27.6. Ps.80.9. 2 Ch.32.22.
32 For bout of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape1 out of mount Zion; the czeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.
b ch.4.2; 10.22. Ro.9.27.
1 Heb. the escaping.
c 2 Ki.19.31. ch.9.7; 59.17; 63.5. De.32.36. Ps.135.4,14. Zec.1.14,15. Joel 2.18. Nu.14.14,15.
33 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, dHe shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it.
d ch.10.32; 29.3; 36.2.
34 Bye the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.
36 Then the hangel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and wheni they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.2
h 2 Ki.19.35. 2 Sa.24.16. 1 Sa.6.19. Ps.34.7; 35.5,6. Ac.12.23. Da.12.1. 2 Ch.32.21,22. ch.10.12,16-19,25-27,33,34; 14.25; 17.12-14; 24.21,22; 27.1,4; 29.5-8; 30.27-33; 31.8,9; 32.19; 33.1-3,11,12,18,19,23.
A.M. cir. 3292. B.C. cir. 712.
i 1 Th.5.2,3. Job 20.5; 24.24; 31.3.
2 See note on 2 Ki.19.35.—C.
37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria jdeparted, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.k
j ver.7,29. Ps.68.2. ch.17.13.
k Ge.10.11,12. Jonah 1.2; 3.3. Na.2.8.
Notes
Ver. 2. The doctrine of intercessory prayer runs through the whole Word of God. It was exemplified when Abraham prayed for the cities of the plain; when Aaron ran with the censer between the people and the plague; when Job sacrificed for his children, and was directed to pray for his friends; when Paul prayed for the churches, and entreated them in turn to pray for him; and when James directs the sick to send for the elders of the church to pray over him both for health and forgiveness. It does not supersede private and personal prayer, as the case of Hezekiah shows, see ver. 15-20. Yet does it present (1) a more public testimony for God and his providence than secret prayer can furnish; (2) it excites him who is called to pray to godly sympathy with his brethren in distress; and (3) it reminds the believer of his only surety of salvation, the righteousness and intercession of Jesus his Redeemer and Advocate. C.
Ver. 7. I will cause him to fall by the sword. God did not command the sons of Sennacherib to assassinate their father; then would God have been the author of sin, which it is blasphemy to assert, but God judicially gave up his wicked sons to their own evil passions and devices, and to the will of Satan, whom they serve. C.
Ver. 9. Tirhakah king of Ethiopia. There can be no doubt that the name of Ethiopia was, in the days of Isaiah, given to Upper Egypt and the adjoining districts, see 2 Ch. 12. 2, 3; and it appears that Ethiopia at this period under Tirhakah, by profane historians called Taracus and Tearcon, had attained the supremacy. C.
Ver. 21. Thou hast prayed against Sennacherib. The duty of praying for enemies by no means forbids praying against them, that is, against their evil designs. Had Hezekiah been bound to pray for Sennacherib without this limitation, he would, by necessary consequence, have been praying for the ruin of his kingdom, the captivity of his people, the overthrow of religion, and the establishment of idolatry; for all these designs were openly avowed by Rabshakeh. C.
Ver. 30. Some have supposed the first to have been the sabbatical, and the second the jubilee year. But that the sabbatical year and the jubilee coincided, seems probable, according to the computation of the Universal History. See Jenning's Jewish Antiquities, p. 398. Is it not likely that from the spring of the first year till the spring of the second, the Assyrian invaders had interrupted agriculture, and that God gives as a sign or evidence of his protection the unexampled fruitfulness of these two years, confirmed by his foretelling the precise period at which peace and prosperity were again to return? C.
Reflections.—The best way to baffle the malicious designs of enemies is to be driven to God and our duty by them. And the greatest ought to engage the prayers of Christ's ministers and saints in their favour. The more pinching our distresses, the more earnest ought to be our supplications. The weakest hopes of mercy should encourage, and the fearful reduction of God's people should excite, us to that duty. When we are ready to despair, God can eminently magnify his power and grace in our deliverance. God's proud enemies may hiss against his people, but they cannot hurt them. And they who attempt to terrify them from their holy profession will soon be made a terror to themselves. Those who delight in war shall have enough of it at last; and their terrors do but presage their ruin. Success ordinarily hardens men in their evil ways, and renders them more and more deliberate in blasphemy. Earnestness and liberty in prayer is of infinite importance in a time of danger. And believing views of God's leading characters powerfully encourage distressed minds. If he give us inward satisfaction in his promise, we may bear with every possible abuse from men. All our fears of great destroyers ought to drive us to the great God our Saviour: and while we plead his glory in our own behalf, he will quickly answer our prayers, and manifest that he takes all the injury done to us as done to himself. He will show himself at once a kind benefactor and almighty protector, who takes notice of all the motions, projects, and speeches of our enemies. And such as magnify themselves against him and his people do but render themselves contemptible. They will find that there is no standing before his judgments, when they come with his commission to destroy.