The Lord’s Answer to Hezekiah’s Prayer
May 1, 2019
Commentary
The Lord’s answer to Hezekiah’s request in the previous verses is recorded in the remaining verses of this chapter. This answer came through Isaiah and was delivered to the king by a messenger. He assured Hezekiah that he would be safe in Jerusalem and judgement would come to Sennacherib.
He explains how Sennacherib had not mocked or blasphemed Jerusalem or Hezekiah but the Holy One of Israel. It is true that Assyria had dominated Israel and had killed many of its citizens but Sennacherib could not claim personal credit for his success. Instead he was merely an instrument in the hand of God who said, “I have done it,” “I have brought it to pass” (v. 25). Sennacherib’s achievements were not to be attributed to his strength or another nation’s weakness, but to God who had ordained, planned and brought it to pass.
Sennacherib had planned to lead the Jews shamefully back to Assyria (l8:3l-32) but instead he himself would return shamefully, led by the very god he had ridiculed (v. 28). The Judeans had not been able to raise crops outside the walls of Jerusalem because of the Assyrians presence. God now promises that He will feed them miraculously for two years by food that grows naturally and then the third year they will be able to return to their normal cycle of sowing and reaping.
The angel of the Lord came that very night while the Assyrian army was sleeping and killed l85,000 soldiers. Sennacherib returned to Nineveh and 20 years later was killed by two of his own sons. His son, Esarhadon, then succeeded him as king.
Application
Just as in the case of Sennacherib, it is foolish for me to think that I am solely responsible for all the achievements of things that have happened under my leadership.
2 Kings 19:20– 37 (NET)
20 Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord God of Israel has said: ‘I have heard your prayer concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria. 21 This is what the Lord says about him: “‘“The virgin daughter Zion despises you, she makes fun of you; Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head after you.
22 Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at? At whom have you shouted, and looked so arrogantly? At the Holy One of Israel!
23 Through your messengers you taunted the Sovereign Master, ‘With my many chariots I climbed up the high mountains, the slopes of Lebanon. I cut down its tall cedars and its best evergreens. I invaded its most remote regions, its thickest woods.
24 I dug wells and drank water in foreign lands. With the soles of my feet I dried up all the rivers of Egypt.’
25 Certainly you must have heard! Long ago I worked it out. In ancient times I planned it; and now I am bringing it to pass. The plan is this: Fortified cities will crash into heaps of ruins.
26 Their residents are powerless, they are terrified and ashamed. They are as short-lived as plants in the field, or green vegetation. They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops when it is scorched by the east wind.
27 I know where you live and everything you do.
28 Because you rage against me, and the uproar you create has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle between your lips, and I will lead you back the way you came.”
29 “‘This will be your confirmation that I have spoken the truth: This year you will eat what grows wild, and next year what grows on its own from that. But in the third year you will plant seed and harvest crops; you will plant vines and consume their produce. 30 Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit.
31 “‘For a remnant will leave Jerusalem; survivors will come out of Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will accomplish this.
32 So this is what the Lord has said about the king of Assyria: “He will not enter this city, nor will he shoot an arrow here. He will not attack it with his shield-carrying warriors, nor will he build siege works against it.
33 He will go back the way he came. He will not enter this city,” says the Lord.
34 “‘I will shield this city and rescue it for the sake of my reputation and because of my promise to David my servant.’”
35 That very night the angel of the Lord went out and killed 185,000 in the Assyrian camp. When they got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses. 36 So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and went on his way. He went home and stayed in Nineveh. 37 One day, as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. They escaped to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.