The Lord told Isaiah to get His message to the king, and the prophet obeyed. The answer to Hezekiah’s prayer was threefold: (1) God would deliver Jerusalem, (2) God would defeat the Assyrian army and they would depart, and (3) God would care for the people and they would not starve. But God also had a message of rebuke to Sennacherib because of his pride and blasphemy. Hezekiah’s faith was rewarded and his prayer was answered.
Rebuke (19:20–28; 37:22–29). God had used Assyria to chasten the northern kingdom of Israel, and the Lord had given Sennacherib victory over other nations, but the Assyrian king had never given God the glory. In fact, his field commander had reproached the name of the Lord (19:4, 16, 22, 24; 37:4, 17, 23, 24) and blasphemed the God of Israel. But “the virgin, the daughter of Zion”—the city of Jerusalem—would toss her head in disdain and laugh at the defeat of Assyria. The Lord used the image of a virgin because the Assyrians would not be able to take the city and violate it the way pagan soldiers did to women taken captive. But the Lord would treat the Assyrians like cattle and put hooks in their noses and lead them.
The Lord quoted back to the Rabshakeh and to Sennacherib the very words they had used in boasting about their victories. Chariots are made primarily for the flat lands, but they boasted that their chariots had ascended the high mountains of Lebanon. The dry lands and deserts didn’t stop them, nor did the rivers. Other kings used barges to cross rivers, but they dried up the Nile and walked across on dry land. (Is this a reference to Israel at the Jordan, Joshua 4—5? There is no evidence that Assyria ever conquered Egypt.) They cut down cities and people the way a farmer mows the grass, and nothing stood in their way.
But it was the Lord who planned these conquests and enabled Assyria to succeed (37:26–27). The nation was His weapon to judge Israel and the other nations and to chasten Judah (Isa. 10:5–19). How foolish for the ax to boast against the woodsman, and how foolish for Sennacherib to take credit for what the Lord had done! Instead of honoring the Lord, Sennacherib raged against the Lord (19:27; 37:28–29) and exalted himself against the God of heaven. Whatever reasons or excuses world leaders may give for what they do, the basic cause is rebellion against God and His law (Ps. 2:1–6; Acts 4:23–31). But the Lord would treat the Assyrians like cattle, put hooks in their noses, and lead them away! The Assyrians were known for doing this to their prisoners of war, but now they would be the victims.
Provision (19:29; 37:30). The Assyrians had taken possession of Judah, pillaged the land and taken the fortified cities, and now they were besieging Jerusalem. How long could the food hold out? And even if Jerusalem did survive, how long would it take to restore the land, plant the crops, and get a harvest? The field commander warned that the people of Jerusalem would die of famine and thirst if they didn’t submit to Assyria (2 Chron. 32:11). But the Lord of the harvest was in control. September and October were the months devoted to sowing, and March and April were devoted to reaping the harvest. The orchards and vineyards produced their harvest from July to September. No doubt the Assyrians came in the harvest season and confiscated the food. With the Assyrians in the land and Jerusalem under siege, the people couldn’t work their farms, but God promised that when the Assyrians left, food would grow of itself until the men could work the fields, orchards, and vineyards. God would not permit His people to starve.
Some students have seen a relationship between this prophecy and Psalm 126, one of the “Songs of the ascents [degrees].” (See chapter 10, endnote 3.) The psalm speaks of a dramatic and sudden deliverance for Jerusalem, which certainly wasn’t the case at the end of the Babylonian captivity. Could this have been Jerusalem’s deliverance from the Assyrian army, when God killed 185,000 soldiers? If so, the prayer in Psalm 126: would certainly be applicable. As the men went out in the fields to sow, they would be weeping for joy that the land was delivered, but they might also weep because the seed they were sowing could have been made into bread for their children. Seed was scarce, yet God cared for His people.
Deliverance (19:28, 30–37; 32:21–22; 37:31–38). God promised that He would deliver His “remnant” from their enemies and they would “take root” and become fruitful again. Not only would Sennacherib never enter the city, but he wouldn’t even shoot an arrow at it, attack it, or build a siege mound next to it! In one night, God’s angel killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers and that put an end to the siege of Jerusalem. The Rabshakeh had boasted that one of the Assyrian junior officers was stronger than 2,000 Jewish charioteers (36:8–9), but when the Lord wanted to wipe out 185,000 enemy soldiers, all He had to do was send one of His angels!
It was a humiliating defeat for the Assyrians, but the event brought great glory to the Lord and honor to Hezekiah (2 Chron. 32:23; see Ps. 126:2–3). Sennacherib left the scene and went home, and there one of his sons killed him. His gods were unable to give him victory in Judah and they couldn’t protect him from his own family in his own homeland. Why did God deliver His people? For the glory of His own name, of course, and for the sake of David whom He loved (19:34). Why does He bless His people today? For the sake of His own glory and because of His love for His own Son who died for us.
Death (2 Kings 20:20–21; 2 Chron. 32:27–33). “And Hezekiah prospered in all that he did,” states 2 Chronicles 32: (nasb). Because of the blessing of the Lord, he had immense wealth, huge flocks and herds, and large storage buildings for grain and wine. “He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel” (2 Kings 18: nasb). “And the Lord was with him; wherever he went he prospered” (2 Kings 18: nasb). He was a model of the “blessed man” in Psalm 1, the person who obeys the Word, meditates on it, and depends upon the power of God.
Hezekiah was not only in favor with God, but he was also beloved by his people. He was buried with the kings in Jerusalem, “and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death” (2 Chron. 32:33). Like all of us, Hezekiah had his lapses of faith and his failures, but was undoubtedly one of the greatest kings in Jewish history.