Isaiah 36:18

18 "Don't let Hezekiah fool you, saying, 'The Lord will save us.' Has a god of any other nation saved his people from the power of the king of Assyria?

Isaiah 36:18 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 36:18

Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you
To trust in the Lord, stand up in your own defence and not listen to these proposals; or, lest he "deceive you" F13; with vain words; whom he would represent not only as not being their lawful king, and therefore never gives him that title, but also as a deceiver and impostor, of whom they should be cautious, and guard against: saying, the Lord will deliver us;
and therefore need not fear the boasts and threats, the force and fury, of the enemy: hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land;
over whom he presided, and to whom the people of it were devotees: out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
this reasoning would have had some weight in it had the Lord God of Israel been like the gods of the nations, but he is not; he is the Former and Maker of all things, and sits in the heavens, and does whatsoever he pleases in heaven and in earth; and therefore, though they could not deliver their nations that worshipped them, it did not follow that the God of Israel could not deliver Hezekiah and his people.


FOOTNOTES:

F13 (Mkta tyoy Np) "ne forte decipiat vos", Calvin, Vatablus; "ne seducat vos", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Isaiah 36:18 In-Context

16 "Don't listen to Hezekiah. The king of Assyria says, 'Make peace with me, and come out of the city to me. Then everyone will be free to eat the fruit from his own grapevine and fig tree and to drink water from his own well.
17 After that I will come and take you to a land like your own -- a land with grain and new wine, bread and vineyards.'
18 "Don't let Hezekiah fool you, saying, 'The Lord will save us.' Has a god of any other nation saved his people from the power of the king of Assyria?
19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? They did not save Samaria from my power.
20 Not one of all the gods of these countries has saved his people from me. Neither can the Lord save Jerusalem from my power."
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.