Isaiah 37 Study Notes

37:1 The report from Hezekiah’s officials (36:22) led the king to assume a posture of mourning, indicated by the customary tearing of his clothes and putting on sackcloth, a rough and uncomfortable material. He then went to the temple, demonstrating the proper response to such a crisis. He did not turn to a foreign nation like Egypt for help, but he turned to God.

37:2-4 Hezekiah then sent two of his officials, Eliakim and Shebna, along with senior priests, to elicit prayers on behalf of the nation from the prophet Isaiah. One of the main roles of a prophet was to provide intercessory prayer. The first mention of a prophet in the Bible links the office with prayer (Gn 20:7). Most of the prophets, beginning with Moses (Ex 33) and Samuel (1Sm 12:23), demonstrated the important role of prayer in their work.

37:5-6 Isaiah assured King Hezekiah through his men that God would remedy the threat presented by the Assyrian army. God took the Assyrian challenge personally. The king had shown trust in the Lord by approaching Isaiah, his servant, to pray.

37:7 God would send a spirit of deception to the Assyrian king so he would hear and believe a falsehood that would cause him to retreat. The fact that God would send such a spirit evokes memory of the “evil spirit” God sent to torment Saul (1Sm 16:14) and the “lying spirit” God used to deceive King Ahab (1Kg 22:22).

37:8 When the royal spokesman had traveled to Jerusalem, the Assyrian king and his army was at Lachish (36:2); but when the spokesman returned, the king was at Libnah, a town about eight miles northeast of Lachish. Sennacherib had completed the capture of La-chish and had moved on to the next city on what seemed to be an unstoppable march toward Jerusalem.

37:9 King Tirhakah of Cush at this point in history (701 BC) may have been crown prince of Egypt. He became pharaoh of all Egypt in 690 BC and ruled until 664 BC.

37:10 The rumor of Tirhakah’s advance on his rear flank caused Sennacherib to retreat from his advance on Jerusalem, but before he left he sent a message in the form of a “letter” (v. 14) to warn Hezekiah that his departure was only temporary.

37:11-13 Sennacherib again told Hezekiah (see the spokesman’s speech in 36:18-20) that he should not trust the Lord. After all, the gods of other nations and cities conquered by Assyria in the past had been unable to help them. Most of the sites listed here were in what is today eastern Turkey (Haran, the city where Abraham and his family stayed for a while before descending into the promised land; see Gn 11:31-32) or northern Syria (Gozan . . . Rezeph and Eden). One site, Telassar, has been associated with a location (Til-Ashshuri) in what is today Iraq near the Diyala River. On Hamath . . . Arpad, and Sepharvaim, see note at 36:18-20. The locations of Hena and Ivvah are unknown.

37:14-15 Hezekiah immediately goes to the Lord, his only hope. He does not suppose to inform God of the contents of the letter, but lays it out as an expression of faith—only God can reply to such outrageous claims.

37:16 Hezekiah addressed his prayer to God whom he described as enthroned between the cherubim. The cherubim were among the most powerful of God’s heavenly creatures and are often represented at places close to the divine presence. In particular, this refers to the statues of two cherubim whose wings covered the ark of the covenant as it rested in the holy of holies in the tabernacle and temple. Their wings touched and their heads were bowed so they were not overwhelmed by God’s glorious presence since he was said to be enthroned above their wings with the ark as his footstool (Ex 25:18-22; 1Kg 8:6-7). Hezekiah appealed to God as the one who made the heavens and the earth—the one who is sovereign over all kingdoms, not just Judah—since Sennacherib had mocked God as a mere local deity.

37:17 Hezekiah believes that the Lord will not stand for being mocked, but will act on behalf of his name.

37:18-20 Sennacherib had dared to compare the true God to mere idols and suggested that he would defeat the Lord’s people as easily as he had defeated the gods of the other countries. Hezekiah appealed to God based on his glory. If Judah should be defeated, then the nations, and in particular Assyria, would believe that Yahweh was just like the false gods of all the other nations.

37:21 God responded to Hezekiah through his divinely chosen spokesman, the prophet Isaiah. As Isaiah spoke, he spoke in the name of God.

37:22 Daughter Zion is a personification of Zion, the most holy location in Judah. This reminds the reader of the intimate relationship God enjoyed with his people. The response was addressed to none other than Sennacherib, so the use of this title for God’s people shows from the start how important they were to Yahweh.

37:23 God was enraged by Sennacherib’s mocking condescension toward him, treating him as a local and powerless deity. He was the Holy One of Israel, one of Isaiah’s favorite titles for God, emphasizing his separateness, moral perfection, and uniqueness.

37:24 Lebanon’s cedar forests were well known throughout the ancient Near East, and glory was attached to anyone who could go there and take its precious wood.

37:25 It was always the dream of Mesopotamian kings to defeat Egypt. Sennacherib had boasted that he was able to travel to Egypt.

37:26-27 Now God revealed to Sennacherib the true nature of things. Sennacherib had boasted of his achievements, but God announced that he had done nothing without divine design. His victories had come about only because God had willed it.

37:28 In language reminiscent of Ps 139, God asserted his extensive knowledge of the Assyrian king. The Lord was in control.

37:29 It was Assyrian practice, as illustrated in the bas-reliefs that adorned their palaces, to put a hook in the nose or the mouth of captives as they carried them into exile. God told Sennacherib that he would be subjected to this brutal and degrading treatment.

37:30-32 God directed these words to Hezekiah, king of Judah, to show him that the future would see a turn for the better for God’s people.

37:30 Because of the siege by Assyria, the Judeans were penned up behind the walls of Jerusalem and had not been able to plant their crops. Thus, they would eat what grew on its own, an unreliable volunteer crop. After Assyria lifted the siege, they would be able to plant, but not until the third year would agriculture get back to normal.

37:31-32 Now the pronouncement speaks of a metaphorical harvest—of the surviving remnant of the people of God. The future will see the remnant become productive.

37:33-35 God directed his attention back to the king of Assyria. He announced that Sennacherib would fail at his attempt to take the city. He would not even begin the assault but would return to Assyria. God would do this for his own glory and because of the promise he had made to David. God promised David that “your house and kingdom will endure before me forever, and your throne will be established forever” (2Sm 7:16).

37:36-37 God sent his angel to kill the Assyrians without a battle. No proximate cause is given for the death of the enemy soldiers, though it is likely that God used disease to accomplish his goal.

37:38 Nisroch was an unknown Assyrian god or, more likely, the name given by the Hebrews to a god known by another name. Ararat was a region located around Lake Van north of Assyria. It was known in antiquity as Urartu and was a long-standing foe of Assyria, thus a likely place for the murderous sons of Sennacherib to escape. While Adrammelech and Sharezer are not known by name, Esar-haddon is known to have succeeded his father Sennacherib after the king’s death in 683 BC. Since these events happened in 683 BC, it appears that almost twenty years passed from the time Sennacherib withdrew from Jerusalem in 701 BC to the time when he died at the hands of his sons.