Eliakim, of whom we read in chapter 22, with others brought news of all this to Hezekiah, and his reaction to it is found in the first five verses of chapter 37. God was first in his thoughts, for covered with sackcloth, indicating sorrow and humiliation, he “went into the house of the Lord.”
Then, in the second place, he turned to the prophet, through whom God had been speaking, confessing the low estate of himself and his people. He spoke of them as “the remnant that is left.” He recognized the unity of all Israel. Now that the ten tribes had been deported, he did not fall into the snare of assuming that the two, over whom he was king, were more than a “remnant”, left by the mercy of God. Much of the professing church today has been by the adversary deported from their true place and portion, so let any who have escaped this, and remain in any degree true to their original calling, never forget they have no other status than a remnant of the whole. They are not reconstituted as a separate entity.
Isaiah’s response was one of assurance. God would deal with Sennacherib, firstly by causing him to hear a report as to the king of Ethiopia, lastly by death in his own land, and in between by the destruction of his boasted and apparently invincible army, of which we read at the end of the chapter.
Though not for the moment attacking Jerusalem, Sennacherib sent a further boastful message to Hezekiah— verses 10-13— and Hezekiah’s response follows. Instead of replying to man, he turned to God, spreading the letter before Him. In his prayer he acknowledged the military might of the Assyrian king, yet asked for deliverance on the ground that the Assyrian had sent “to reproach the living God.”
This brought forth God’s immediate answer through Isaiah, accepting the Assyrian challenge, which was not only reproachful but blasphemous also. The Assyrian would become a laughingstock to Jerusalem. His earlier successes against other cities had been ordained of God; now turning against God, he would be utterly crushed, and the remnant of Judah should be delivered for the time being. The city should be spared for the Lord’s own sake, as well as for David’s sake.
The chapter closes with a brief record of the drastic smiting of the Assyrian army. No record of this has been found among the dug-up remains of Assyrian libraries and monuments, we understand; and no wonder! These ancient monarchs no more desired to keep their defeats and abasements in the memory of their public than the men of today. Sennacherib himself came to an ignominious end, as the last verse of our chapter declares.
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