Chapter Index

  Isaiah Institute Translation   Comparative Translation   Apocalyptic Commentary   Interactive Concordance   Isaiah Chapter Index

Vignette 1

Highlight Menu

APOCALYPTIC COMMENTARY

  Isaiah

37

Isaiah 37

As King Hezekiah intercedes on behalf of his people Jehovah delivers them from the besieging Assyrians.
1 When King Hezekiah heard it, he rent his clothes and put on sackcloth and entered the house of Jehovah. 2 And he sent Eliakim the overseer of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and the elders of the priests in sackcloth to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz.

King Hezekiah’s devotion to Jehovah is evident from his first response to his delegation’s evil report: he ascends to the temple to pray wearing the penitent attire of sackcloth. His second response is to enlist the help of Jehovah’s prophet Isaiah who undoubtedly served as his long-time mentor. Of Hezekiah it is thus written: “He trusted in Jehovah the God of Israel, so that after him there was no one like him of all the kings of Judah, nor any before him. For he adhered to Jehovah and digressed not from following him, but he kept his commandments as Jehovah had commanded Moses” (2 Kings 18:5-6).

5 a And when King Hezekiah’s servants came to Isaiah, 3 they said to him, Thus says Hezekiah: This is a woeful day, a day of reproof and disgrace. Children have reached the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them. 4 It may be that Jehovah your God has heard the words of Rabshakeh, whom his lord the king of Assyria has sent to scorn the living God, and will rebuke him for the things Jehovah your God has heard, were you to offer up prayer on behalf of the remnant that is left.

As Hezekiah’s emissaries, the servants repeat verbatim his report to a higher authority. The “woeful day”—of suffering Jehovah’s collective curse on the nation for its cumulative transgressions (Isaiah 7:17-25)—is a type of Jehovah’s end-time Day of Judgment. Like that future event, however, it presents an opportunity for spiritual rebirth and regeneration, not only for “the remnant that is left” (Isaiah 10:20-23) but also for the king. Called “the Birthpangs of the Messiah,” Jehovah’s people collectively go into travail like a woman in labor until Jehovah sends them a deliverer such as Moses or David.

By asking Isaiah to intercede with Jehovah on behalf of the people, Hezekiah in no way shifts the burden of his responsibility for his people’s protection to Isaiah. The king himself intercedes with Jehovah on their behalf, even in the midst of grievous personal anguish (vv 14-20; Isaiah 38:1-20). Hezekiah simply recognizes that Isaiah is able to appeal to Jehovah on a higher spiritual level than his own and thus exercise greater power with God. He also acknowledges that under his people’s present unequal circumstances “there is no strength to deliver” them from Assyria’s siege without Jehovah’s help.

6 And Isaiah said to them, Tell your lord, Thus says Jehovah: Be not afraid because of the words with which you have heard the king of Assyria’s subordinates ridicule me. 7 See, I will give him a notion to return home upon hearing a rumor, and will cause him to fall by a sword in his own land.

Jehovah’s initial words to Hezekiah through his prophet—“Be not afraid”—repeat the same message Jehovah gave Ahaz under similar dire circumstances a generation earlier (Isaiah 7:4). So long as the king keeps the terms of the Davidic Covenant, Jehovah will intervene to deliver his people. In other words, despite what appears, this is a chance for the king to serve as his people’s proxy savior and for the people to be reborn on a higher spiritual level by proving loyal to their king under duress. Jehovah can cause the king of Assyria to depart and also raise up a sword or enemy against him (v 38).

8 And when Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found him fighting against Libnah.
9 Now Sennacheribb received a report that Tirhakah king of Cush had set out to fight against him. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, telling them,

Because Cushite or black pharaohs ruled Egypt during Isaiah prophetic ministry, Isaiah includes Cush or Upper Egypt in his prophecies about Egypt (Isaiah 11:11; 18:1; 20:3-5; 43:3; 45:14). By so doing, he posits the idea of a black pharaoh functioning as the type of an end-time counterpart. As with other historical names and persons, all prefigure an end-time repetition of history. Tirhakah king of Cush (Pharaoh Taharqa, the third and last ruler of Egypt’s 25th dynasty) was of Sudanese birth, not a native-born Egyptian. His reign ended with Assyria’s invasion of Egypt in 663 B.C. (cf. Isaiah 20:3-5; 31:3).

9 Now Sennacheribb received a report that Tirhakah king of Cush had set out to fight against him. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, telling them, 10 Speak thus to Hezekiah king of Judah: Let not your God in whom you trust delude you into thinking that Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 You yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done, annexing all lands. Shall you then escape? 12 Did the gods of the nations my fathers destroyed deliver them? Did they deliver Gozan and Haran, Rezeph and the Edenites in Tel Assar? 13 Where are the kings of Hamath and Arpad and the kings of the cities of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?

Sennacherib’s second attempt to cause Jerusalem to surrender—this time via a letter from the king himself (v 14)—repeats parts of the message Rabshakeh had delivered previously in the king’s name (Isaiah 36:13-15, 18-20). Just as Hezekiah’s people’s loyalties to their king were sorely tested, now Hezekiah’s loyalties to Jehovah are tested. He had accepted Jehovah’s revelation through the prophet Isaiah (vv 6-7), but time has elapsed and Isaiah’s prediction hasn’t as yet come to pass. The king of Assyria is still threatening him and Hezekiah’s fortress city of Lachish has just fallen. What should he do?

14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the house of Jehovah and unrolled it before Jehovah. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to Jehovah and said,
16 O Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, who sits enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. It is you who made the heavens and the earth . . .
17 O Jehovah, give ear and hear; O Jehovah, open your eyes and see. Listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God.

Again entering the temple, Hezekiah addresses Jehovah as he who “sits enthroned between the cherubim”—that is, in the midst angelic beings who dwell in Jehovah’s presence (Genesis 3:24; Psalm 80:1; Ezekiel 10:1-22; cf. Isaiah 6:2). When Moses made the Ark of the Covenant from which Jehovah spoke with him, he thus constructed a “mercy seat” of pure gold on top of the ark featuring two cherubim, one on each side (Exodus 25:17-22; 37:6-9). As the God who “made the heavens and the earth,” who is “over all the kingdoms of the earth,” Jehovah can’t be compared to the gods of the nations.

18 O Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have indeed destroyed all peoplesc and their lands, 19 committing their gods to the fire. For they were no gods, but mere works of men’s hands, of wood and of stone, and so they could destroy them. 20 But now, O Jehovah our God, deliver us out of his hand, that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone are Jehovah.

On different occasions in the history of his people, Jehovah manifested himself in the eyes of “all kingdoms on earth.” He did so, for example, when he delivered his people from bondage in Egypt (Numbers 14:15; Deuteronomy 2:25; 4:6-8) and when he empowered David to deliver Israel from all its enemies (2 Samuel 3:18; 7:8-9). He will do so again at the end of the world when many events in Israel’s history repeat themselves (Isaiah 41:2; 42:13; 52:10; 59:17-20; 62:1-2; 64:1-4). In that day, an end-time king of Assyria—Jehovah’s fire and (left) hand—will repeat what occurred in Hezekiah’s day.

21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is what Jehovah has spoken against him:
The Virgin Daughter of Zion holds you in contempt; she laughs you to scorn. The Daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head at you.

Hezekiah’s intercessory prayer on behalf of his people gets an immediate response from Jehovah through his prophet Isaiah. Using the imagery of a young woman who rejects the overtures of an unwanted suitor, Isaiah depicts Hezekiah’s people as the Virgin Daughter of Zion and the Daughter of Jerusalem. From formerly being identified with the Jacob/Israel category of Jehovah’s people (Isaiah 1:3; 9:8; 10:20), they are now identified as Zion/Jerusalem. At the same time, Isaiah shows the character traits of people on that level. Having passed Jehovah’s test of their loyalties, they have spiritually ascended.

As the only instance of the name “Virgin Daughter of Zion” in the Book of Isaiah, that distinguishes it from the usual name “Daughter of Zion” (Isaiah 1:8; 16:1; 62:11). While the latter designates a “holy” or elect category of Jehovah’s people (Isaiah 4:3; 52:1; 62:11-12)—Jehovah’s wife whom he marries and who bears him children (Isaiah 54:5; 62:5; 66:8-9)—the name “Virgin Daughter of Zion” points Jehovah’s people who have just attained the Zion/Jerusalem category to that higher or elect category, to which some living among them may in fact already have ascended.

23 Whom have you mocked and ridiculed?
Against whom have you raised your voice,lifting your eyes to high heaven?Against the Holy One of Israel! 24 By your servants you have blasphemed my Lord.You thought, On account of my vast chariotryI have conquered the highest mountains,the farthest reaches of Lebanon.I have felled its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses.I have reached its loftiest summit, its finest forest.

By mocking Hezekiah and his people—with whom Jehovah has covenanted to be their God and they his people—and by comparing Jehovah with the lifeless gods of the nations, the king of Assyria has mocked the living God. The “Holy One of Israel,” who serves as a paradigm of holiness to his people (Isaiah 5:16; 6:3, 13; 13:3; 29:23; 35:8; 48:17; 62:12), stands in stark contrast to the Assyrian tyrant, the unholy paradigm and voice of the wicked. By violating the rights of Jehovah’s covenant people, the king of Assyria unwittingly brings upon himself the curses of the covenant Jehovah made with them.

24 By your servants you have blasphemed my Lord.You thought, On account of my vast chariotryI have conquered the highest mountains,the farthest reaches of Lebanon.I have felled its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses.I have reached its loftiest summit, its finest forest. 25 I have dug wells and drunk of foreignd waters.With the soles of my feetI have dried up all Egypt’s rivers!

Like the conquering heroes of Mesopotamian mythology, the king of Assyria boasts of cutting down the cedars of Lebanon. As noted, while “Lebanon” represents Jehovah’s elite people in the writings of the prophets (Isaiah 37:24; Jeremiah 22:23; Ezekiel 17:3), synonymous parallels identify “mountains” as nations or kingdoms (Isaiah 13:4; 64:1-3), “forests” as cities (Isaiah 32:19), and “cedars” and other trees as people (Isaiah 14:8; 61:3). Isaiah further compares the king of Assyria/Babylon to an axe and saw that hews down the wicked (Isaiah 10:15; 14:3-8), signifying his primary function as a power of chaos.

These are things Isaiah had foretold: “Jehovah of Hosts has a day in store for all the proud and arrogant and for all who are exalted, that they may be brought low. [It shall come] against all the lofty cedars of Lebanon that lift themselves up high, and against all the oaks of Bashan, against all high mountains and elevated hills” (Isaiah 2:12-14); “Then will my Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, shatter the towering [trees] with terrifying power; the high in stature shall be hewn down, the lofty ones leveled. The dense forests will be battered down with [the force of] iron, and Lebanon fall spectacularly” (Isaiah 10:33-34).

26 Have you not heardhow I ordained this thing long ago,how in days of old I planned it?Now I have brought it to pass.You were destined to demolish fortified cities,turning them into heaps of rubble, 27 while their timorous inhabitantsshrank away in confusion,becoming as wild grass, transiently green,or like weeds on a roofethat scorche before they grow up.

Even before the creation of the earth, God had ordained that it would attain a paradisiacal glory (Isaiah 11:6-9; 35:1-2; 51:3; 65:25). This means that at some point the wicked who refuse to repent—the world’s “wild grass” and “weeds”—must perish (Isaiah 10:23; 16:4; 34:1-2; 54:16). Jehovah has appointed the king of Assyria and his alliance of nations to execute the wicked’s destruction (Isaiah 10:5-7; 13:4-12; 21:2; 28:22). As at the Flood in the days of Noah (Genesis 7:23; Isaiah 8:7-8; 54:9), only Jehovah’s righteous people survive into the millennial age (Isaiah 4:2-3; 10:22; 26:2-3; 33:12-24).

28 But I know where you dwell,and your comings and goings,and how stirred up you are against me. 29 And because of your snortingsand bellowings against me,which have mounted up to my ears,I will put my ring in your noseand my bit in your mouthand turn you back by the way you came.

Jehovah’s knowing where the king of Assyria dwells, and his comings and goings, alludes to king’s spiritual condition as much as to his physical presence. A state of being “stirred up [in anger]” against Israel’s God, for example, is typical of Perdition or antichrist types (Isaiah 51:13; Daniel 7:23-26; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-9; Revelation 13:3-8). The archtyrant’s comparison to a wild bull or animal whose nose snorts and whose mouth bellows marks him as less than human. In Isaiah’s theology, he is an example of de-creation, in which people who descend spiritually become less than they once were.

30 But to you this shall be a sign:This year eat what grows wild,and the following year what springs up of itself.But in the third year sow and harvest,plant vineyards and eat their fruit:

Just as Jehovah gives King Ahaz a “sign” under a similar circumstance of a threatening king of Assyria (Isaiah 7:14-20), so he gives Hezekiah a “sign.” In fact, Jehovah’s sign to Ahaz a generation earlier—of a son Immanuel (“God Is with Us”) who would eat cream and honey during a time of upheaval and invasion—was fulfilled in Hezekiah’s childhood when Tiglath Pileser III deported peoples of Israel’s ten-tribed Northern Kingdom into Mesopotamia (2 Kings 15:29). Like the son Immanuel, those who survived in the land would likewise eat cream and honey, the food of nomads (Isaiah 7:21-22).

Jehovah’s sign to King Hezekiah of just such a time of scarcity, however, has a happy ending. Because he and his people have passed Jehovah’s test of their loyalty, Jehovah is bound by the terms of his covenant to deliver them. In spite of their suffering covenant curses reaching back a generation, Hezekiah’s people can reverse the curse and again generate covenant blessings. In a future version of these events, an end-time son Immanuel—Jehovah’s son and servant—similarly eats nomadic fare and intercedes with Jehovah on behalf of his people when an end-time Assyrian archtyrant invades their land.

31 the remnant of the house of Judah that survivesshall once more take root below and bear fruit above. 32 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant,and from Mount Zion a band of survivors.The zeal of Jehovah of Hosts will accomplish it.

While people in Isaiah’s Babylon category are “cut off” and leave no remnant in Jehovah’s Day of Judgment (Isaiah 14:22), of the Zion/Jerusalem category a “remnant” of Jehovah’s people bears good “fruit” (Isaiah 11:1, 11, 16): “In that day the plant of Jehovah shall be beautiful and glorious, and the earth’s fruit the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel. Then shall they who are left in Zion and they who remain in Jerusalem be called holy—all who were inscribed to be among the living at Jerusalem” (Isaiah 4:2-3). Jehovah’s zeal—his end-time servant—brings it about (cf. Isaiah 9:6-7).

33 Therefore, thus says Jehovahconcerning the king of Assyria:He shall not enter this city or shoot an arrow here.
He shall not advance against it with armor,nor erect siegeworks against it. 34 By the way he came he shall return;he shall not enter this city, says Jehovah. 35 I will protect this city and save it,for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.

Jehovah’s deliverance of his people in the days of Hezekiah forms a classic model of the Davidic Covenant in action. All aspects of the covenant are operative: Jehovah protects his people “for my own sake” because he established his covenant with King David and his heirs (Psalm 89:3-4; Jeremiah 33:19-26); and he protects them “for the sake of my servant David” because Hezekiah, David’s heir and his people’s proxy savior, intercedes with Jehovah on their behalf (vv 17-20). In an end-time context, a literal “servant” or vassal named David fulfills that role (Isaiah 55:3-4; Ezekiel 34:23-31; 37:21-27).

36 Then the angel of Jehovah went out and slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. And when men arose in the morning, there lay all their dead bodies!

Proxy salvation may extend to divine intervention, as in this case, when a proxy savior intercedes with God on the seraph level. The person doing so here, however, is not Hezekiah but Isaiah (vv 3-5). While Hezekiah fulfills the role of a proxy savior of his people on the son/servant level (vv 15-20), Isaiah intercession on a higher level results in a greater deliverance. At Assyria’s siege of Jerusalem, loyalties to Jehovah are thus tested on three ascending levels—Zion/Jerusalem, sons/servants, and seraphs—establishing a pattern in Jehovah’s dealings with his covenant people that applies to the end of time.

37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. And he returned to Nineveh, where he dwelt.
38 And as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer slew him with a sword and fled to the land of Ararat. And his son Esarhaddon succeeded him as king.

The curses of Jehovah’s covenant with Hezekiah and his people come upon the king of Assyria for violating their rights. Instead of serving as his people’s proxy savior, he engineers their demise and also his own. Although not all that occurred anciently serves as the type of an end-time scenario in every detail, the pattern of covenant blessings and curses is clear. While, historically, Sennacherib’s son Esarhaddon went on to invade Egypt in 671 B.C., in Isaiah’s end-time scenario the archtyrant’s invasion of “Egypt” forms an integral part of Jehovah’s Day of Judgment (Isaiah 19:16-17; 20:3-6).

  • a5 Verse appears out of sequence in the text.
  • b9 Hebrew he.
  • c18 Hebrew hāᵓǎrāṣot, the lands, emended to haggôyîm; compare 2 Kings 19:17.
  • d25 So 1QIsaa; 2 Kings 19:24. Term not in MT.
  • e27 So 1QIsaa; MT reading obscure.


Isaiah Video Vignettes


Support IsaiahExplained.com!

Help spread Isaiah’s end-time message to the world!


Testimonials


Isaiah Video Vignettes


Support IsaiahExplained.com!

Help spread Isaiah’s end-time message to the world!


Testimonials


Isaiah Explained

Home
About
KJV Bible
Testimonials
Study Tools

Isaiah Institute Translation
Comparative Translation
Apocalyptic Commentary
Interactive Concordance
Social



Mobile Apps




© 2021 Hebraeus Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
Isaiah Explained