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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
36:1-39:8 Historical Transition: "In Whom Do You Now Trust?" These chapters form a narrative bridge between the mostly poetic chs. 1-35 and 40-66. Chapters 36-37 look back to chs. 28-35, proving through Hezekiah that faith in God is met by his blessing. Chapters 38-39 provide context for chs. 40-55, as Hezekiah's folly dooms his nation to Babylonian exile. Against the backdrop of divine faithfulness (chs. 36-37) and human inconstancy (chs. 38-39), God stands forth as the only hope of his people. Isaiah 36-39 is paralleled in 2 Kings 18:13-20:19 (see notes there).
36:1-37:38 Practical Trust in God Vindicated. When God's people align themselves with his cause, trusting in his power alone, they find him faithful to keep his word.
36:1 In the fourteenth year. Apparently, Hezekiah served as co-regent with his father Ahaz until , at which time he began to rule solely. Sennacherib king of Assyria reigned See 8:5-8. all the fortified cities of Judah. Jerusalem is surrounded, with no hope of human rescue.
36:2 Rabshakeh is the title of a high-ranking Assyrian military officer (see ESV footnote). the conduit of the upper pool. See 7:3.
36:4 Thus says the great king. Speaking unwittingly as a false prophet, the Rabshakeh pronounces a royal decree, amplified in vv. 13-14, 16. It is answered by a higher royal decree in 37:6, 21-22, and 33. On what do you rest this trust of yours? The word "trust" appears seven times in the Hebrew text of this paragraph (36:4, 5, 6, 7, 9). At the heart of Isaiah's message is a call to God's people to trust his promises with an audacious faith amid the hard realities of life.
36:6 you are trusting in Egypt. There is some truth in the Rabshakeh's speech, making its plausibility all the more cunning.
36:7 This reveals the uncomprehending Assyrian viewpoint and the key to their eventual doom. Because the Rabshakeh does not believe that the God of Israel is different from the gods of the pagan high places and altars, he misinterprets Hezekiah's reforms as offensive to the Lord (cf. 2 Kings 18:4; 2 Chron. 31:1).
36:8-9 The Rabshakeh patronizes Hezekiah as a tactic of psychological warfare.
36:10 I have come up against this land to destroy it. Hezekiah had paid Sennacherib heavy tribute (2 Kings 18:14-17), but the Assyrian attacked anyway. The Lord said to me. The Rabshakeh violates the third commandment ("You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain," Ex. 20:7) by putting his own words into the mouth of the Lord. There is some truth in what he says (Isa. 10:5-6), but not as intended by his arrogant self-confidence. He does not notice his own reliance here on "mere words" (36:5).
36:11 Aramaic was the language of international protocol. The language of Judah was Hebrew.
36:12 doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine. The starvation conditions under siege (cf. 2 Kings 6:25). The Rabshakeh may hope to terrorize the people listening so that they turn against Hezekiah and his advisers.
36:13-14 the great king, the king of Assyria. . . . Hezekiah. The Rabshakeh heaps honor on Sennacherib but does not recognize Hezekiah, the son of David, with any title (cf. 10:12).
36:14 he will not be able to deliver you. "Deliver" is the key word in vv. 13-20, occurring seven times (vv. 14, 15, 18, 19, 20).
36:15 The Lord will surely deliver us. Hezekiah had taken a public stand of faith in God's promises.
36:16-17 his own vine . . . fig tree. The Rabshakeh offers a familiar Israelite blessing (cf. 1 Kings 4:25; Mic. 4:4; Zech. 3:10). The condition, however, is surrender to him: Make your peace with me, at the cost of peace with God.
36:18-20 See 10:7-11. Who among all the gods . . . that the Lord should deliver. The Assyrian takes a fatal step, equating the Lord with the gods of this world.
36:21 Do not answer him. Wisely, Hezekiah forbade his officials to be drawn into negotiations.
37:1-2 Unlike his faithless father Ahaz in ch. 7, Hezekiah responds to crisis by turning to God (37:1) and seeking a word from God (v. 2). He tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth, expressing humility, repentance, and dependence on God (see 1 Kings 21:27-29; Neh. 9:1-2; Dan. 9:3; Jonah 3:6-9; Matt. 11:21).
37:3 Hezekiah admits that, as the moment of crisis arrives, Judah's strength fails (cf. 66:7-9). There is no stopping the events now set in motion: the situation is desperate, and God's people have no capacity for response.
37:4 to mock the living God. Hezekiah understands what matters most--not the survival of his kingdom but the triumph of what his kingdom stands for: the glory of God. the remnant that is left. The city of Jerusalem (cf. 36:1).
37:6 reviled me. The sin that dooms Sennacherib is blasphemy against God.
37:7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him. The God whom Sennacherib reviles is in complete command of Sennacherib. His "great army" (36:2), too impressed with itself to respect "mere words" (36:5), will be dispersed by a rumor. Sennacherib will fall by the sword. See 37:38.
37:8-13 Drawn away from Jerusalem by news of an approaching Cushite force, the Assyrian king warns Hezekiah that he still intends to attack. Libnah . . . Lachish. See Josh. 10:29, 31; Isa. 36:2.
37:10 Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising. The Assyrian makes the issue clear as he intensifies his blasphemy. To him, what counts is not divine promise but human intimidation (cf. 36:5, 7, 15, 18).
37:14 Hezekiah says nothing to the messengers. His business is with God, for it is God's glory at stake.
37:16 Hezekiah does not put his own safety first, nor does he plead his own righteousness. He bases his prayer on the character of God. enthroned above the cherubim. See Ex. 25:10-22; Num. 7:89; 1 Sam. 4:4. The cherubim were composite creatures, symbolizing creation. The ark represented God's earthly throne. Hezekiah directs his thoughts to the King who is above all creation and yet decisively present in everything here below.
37:17 Hezekiah begs the God who is over all not to regard this slight upon his character as beneath his notice.
37:18-19 These verses show Hezekiah's realism. His faith is not a blind optimism but an overruling sense of God.
37:20 save us. Isaiah's life message was that the Lord alone saves (cf. 12:2-3; 25:9; 26:1; 30:15; 33:2, 6, 22; 35:4; 37:35; 43:3, 11; 45:15, 17, 21-22; 49:6, 25-26; 51:5-8; 52:7, 10; 56:1; 59:1, 16-17; 60:16, 18; 62:1, 11; 63:1, 5). Now Hezekiah gives voice to that faith, bringing the message of the book to a focal point. that all the kingdoms of the earth may know. The ultimate reason why God intervenes for his people is to make them living proof of his glory. you alone are the Lord. Hezekiah sees the exclusivity of God not as an embarrassing problem but as the message the world must know. A real salvation puts the unique reality of God on visible display in human experience.
37:21 Because you have prayed to me. Hezekiah expressed his dependence on God alone by praying and waiting for an answer before acting. Hezekiah's prayer actually affected the way God acted in history.
37:22 the word that the Lord has spoken. The final and decisive word in what has been a war of human words. The virgin daughter of Zion is Jerusalem, like a girl mocking her would-be but defeated rapist. Not only is Jerusalem untouched, she triumphs with a defiant joy, the weak over the strong.
37:23 Whom have you mocked and reviled? See vv. 4, 6. This question counters, "In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me?" (36:5). raised . . . lifted. Rebellion and pride, belittling God. the Holy One of Israel. Sennacherib's fatal mistake is to lump the Holy One in with other gods and powers (cf. 36:18-20; 37:10-12). But the Holy One is unique, and to deny the truth of who he is defies reality (cf. 40:25).
37:26-29 Have you not heard. God holds Sennacherib responsible to acknowledge God (cf. Rom. 1:18-21). I determined it long ago. The ancient plan of God means that he is not responding to unfolding events, but that events reveal his own long-intended purpose (cf. Isa. 14:24-27; 25:1; 44:6-8). I will put my hook in your nose. The Assyrians handled their prisoners of war in this way (cf. Obad. 15).
37:30-32 the sign. God promises Hezekiah that he will faithfully preserve the land, feeding the people as they recover from the invasion, to show that his purpose, not chance, orchestrated the entire event. Moreover, the agricultural miracle will symbolize the spiritual miracle of a remnant preserved by grace.
37:33-35 God controls every arrow in the Assyrian arsenal. He shall not come into this city. The annals of Sennacherib boast, "I made [Hezekiah] a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage," leaving unstated his failure to enter the city (see notes on 2 Kings 18:13-19:37 and 18:13). God will defend his city for his own glory and out of covenant faithfulness to David, suggesting his larger kingdom purpose for history consummated in Jesus Christ (cf. 2 Sam. 7:12-13; Isa. 9:7; 11:1; 55:3-4; Rom. 1:1-5; Rev. 22:16).
37:36-38 God keeps his promise, vindicating Hezekiah's faith with a stunning demonstration of his power over his enemies (cf. 8:8-10; 10:33-34; 31:8). The narrative is brief and undramatic. The real drama took place in prayer (37:14-35). the angel. One against
