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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 36:21 - 36:22
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Isaiah's Prophecy and its Fulfillment
v. 21. Then, after Hezekiah had laid his matter before the Lord in prayer, Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to Me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria:
v. 22. this is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him, and therefore the plan which would be carried into effect: The virgin, the daughter of Zion, Jerusalem with its in habitants, as representing the Church of God, hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee, namely, in derision, as she looked after the Assyrian, who was forced to retreat without having accomplished his object. The reason for this change of fortunes is now stated:
v. 23. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed, and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, in boastful mockery, and lifted up thine eyes on high? in a gesture of supercilious contempt. Even against the Holy One of Israel. That is where Sennacherib had made his mistake, in directing his blasphemous scorn against the true God, who is jealous of His honor.
v. 24. By thy servants, Rabshakeh and his companions, hast thou reproached the Lord and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, thus relying entirely upon his own strength; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, the finest trees of the mighty forests, and the choice fir-trees thereof, the splendid cypresses to be found there; and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel, the most luxuriant part of his forest. The reference, as has been repeatedly noted, is not only to the occupation of the Lebanon district by the Assyrian forces, but there is also a hint here of Sennacherib's plan to conquer Jerusalem with its Temple, whose buildings were largely constructed of cedars and cypresses from Lebanon.
v. 25. I have digged and drunk water, so the boast of Sennacherib went on, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places, that is, where water was lacking, he had his men provide it, and where streams hindered his progress, he had but to call upon the resources at his command and the waters were diverted. Over against this proud boasting of the Assyrian concerning his own might the prophet explains that he was but the tool in the hands of God.
v. 26. Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, the Lord Himself having planned this punishment for the purposes of His mercy, and of ancient times, that I have formed it? everything being ordered in accordance with His plans. Now have I brought it to pass that thou shouldest be to lay waste defensed cities into ruinous heaps, the Lord having decided upon their destruction in order to call their inhabitants to repentance, if possible.
v. 27. Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, helpless before the invaders; they were dismayed and confounded, rendered powerless by terror; they were as the grass of the field and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, with but a thin layer of soil, and as corn blasted before it be grown up, such vegetation being unable to withstand even a moderate amount of blasting winds. The prophecy now turns directly against Sennacherib.
v. 28. But I know thy abode, namely, when he is at home, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against Me, the entire course of Sennacherib's life being known to the Lord, also the preparations for the present campaign and its success hitherto.
v. 29. Because thy rage against Me and thy tumult, his proud self-confidence, is come up into Mine ears, therefore will I put My hook in thy nose, as one controls an unruly beast, and My bridle in thy lips, so that he must submit, though unwillingly, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest. The prophet's message now turns to Hezekiah:
v. 30. And this shall be a sign unto thee, a token whose fulfillment would assure him of the truth of the entire prophecy, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself, volunteer grain; and the second year that which springeth of the same, for the Assyrian invasion had not only destroyed the harvest of the last year, but had also made it impossible to put out the new crop; and in the third year, that is, about one year after the present prophecy, sow ye, this being done in the fall of the year, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof, everything being restored to its usual order by that time.
v. 31. And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah, those who survived after Sennacherib's invasion, shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward, be firmly settled once more, for the kingdom of Judah lasted for another century after this prophecy;
v. 32. for out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, those who had found shelter in the city before the advance of the Assyrians, and they that escape out of Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this. There is more than a hint here concerning the rejuvenation of the Messianic period. The Lord now abandons His figurative language and makes a direct statement.
v. 33. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, not subdue it, nor shoot an arrow there, he will not even begin his threatened siege of the city, nor come before it with shields, for the purpose of storming it, nor cast a bank against it, the usual trenches of siege warfare.
v. 34. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, without accomplishing his object, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord.
v. 35. For I will defend this city to save it for Mine own sake, to defend His own honor against the bragging of Sennacherib, and for My servant David's sake, the establishment of whose kingdom was connected with the safety of his capital. Cf 2Ki_20:6.
v. 36. Then the Angel of the Lord, the Son of God, who bears this name throughout the Old Testament, went forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand, the calamity being in the nature of a pestilence or some other similar visitation. And when they, the survivors, arose early in the morning, behold, they, the Assyrians, were all dead corpses, their army had been practically annihilated.
v. 37. So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed, he abandoned his campaign, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh, the capital of his empire.
v. 38. And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch, his god, one of the chief idols of Assyria, an eagle-headed human figure, that Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, smote him with the sword, his own offspring becoming guilty of assassination; and they escaped into the land of Armenia, where they, according to some accounts, established kingdoms of their own. And Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his stead, who is mentioned Ezr_4:2. "Such was the end of the haughty Sennacherib, who had dared to blaspheme the God of Israel. He who had boasted that no god or people could resist him must fall before the swords of his sons. He that regarded himself unconquerable by the help of his idols must suffer death in the temple, in the presence of his idol!" (Lange. ) Thus the Lord ever upholds the honor of His holy name.