Isaiah 37:36

36 The LORD's messenger went out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand soldiers in the Assyrian camp. When people got up the next morning, there were dead bodies everywhere.

Isaiah 37:36 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 37:36

Then the angel of the Lord went forth
From heaven, at the command of the Lord, being one of his ministering spirits, sent forth by him, as for the protection of his people, so for the destruction of their enemies; this was the same night, either in which the Assyrian army sat down before Jerusalem, as say the Jews ^F24; or, however the same night in which the message was sent to Hezekiah; see ( 2 Kings 19:35 ) :

and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and fourscore and
five thousand men:
a prodigious slaughter indeed! which shows the power and strength of an angel. Josephus ^F25 says they were smitten with a pestilential disease; but other Jewish writers say it was by fire from heaven, which took away their lives, but did not consume their bodies, nor burn their clothes; but, be that as it will, destroyed they were:

and when they arose early in the morning:
those of the army that survived; Sennacherib, and his servants about him; or Hezekiah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that were besieged:

behold, they were all dead corpses;
the whole army, excepting a few; this may well be expressed with a note of admiration, "behold!" for a very wonderful thing it was.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 T. Bab. Sanhedrin: fol. 95. 1.
F25 Antiqu. l. 10. c. 1. sect. 5.

Isaiah 37:36 In-Context

34 He'll go back by the same way he came. He won't enter this city, declares the LORD.

35 I will defend this city and save it for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.

36 The LORD's messenger went out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand soldiers in the Assyrian camp. When people got up the next morning, there were dead bodies everywhere.

37 So Assyria's King Sennacherib left and went back to Nineveh, where he stayed.

38 Later, while he was worshipping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with a sword. Then they escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon ruled after him.