Isaiah 36:1-37:20

I. Introduction

II. Historical Context

This episode is more than political—it’s theologically crucial:

(a) Isaiah 14:24-27 had predicted the downfall of Assyria in God's land, a divine plan that represents God’s unshakable sovereignty over world events.

(b) Chapters 13–27 had depicted God’s rule over the nations, preparing the way for the reign of David’s ideal king (Isa. 9, 11), with Egypt and Assyria as symbols of God’s global dominion.

(c) Chapters 28–35 included six “woes” addressing the political turmoil of the late 8th century BC, involving Egypt, Assyria, and Judah. Now is the moment for God to prove His sovereign mastery of history.

On the Relationship Between Isaiah and Kings

Motyer suggests both likely accessed royal court records:

If Kings wrote it first, it would be unusual because it includes a rare reference to a prophetic book and an extended prophetic oracle, features atypical of Kings.

The chronological inconsistencies between Isaiah 36–39 and 2 Kings 18–20 are better explained if Isaiah shaped the sequence for theological purposes: placing Sennacherib’s defeat as a climax before turning to the Babylonian narrative and the hope-filled chapters of Isaiah 40ff.

Isaiah’s unique additions (like Hezekiah’s prayer) support the chronicler’s claim (2 Chron. 32:32) that Isaiah wrote about Hezekiah’s reign.

The differences in detail (e.g., the omission of Hezekiah’s tribute in Isaiah) reflect the differing purposes of the writers: Kings emphasizes completeness, Isaiah emphasizes theological meaning.

III. Outline and Commentary

A. The Enemies’ Intimidation

1. The First Challenge: On Whom Can You Depend?

Isaiah 36:1–3 ESV

1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2 And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 3 And there came out to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

Isaiah 36:4–7 ESV

4 And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 5 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6 Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7 But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”?

Isaiah 36:8–10 ESV

8 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.” ’ ”

2. The Second Challenge: Who Can Deliver You?

Isaiah 36:11–12 ESV

11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

Isaiah 36:13–16 ESV

13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. 15 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me.

Isaiah 36:16–17 ESV

16 Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

Isaiah 36:18–20 ESV

18 Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20 Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’ ”

Isaiah 36:21–22 ESV

21 But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” 22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

B. Hezekiah’s Response: Prayer and Prophetic Council

Isaiah 36:22–37:1 ESV

22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh. 1 As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.

Isaiah 37:2–4 ESV

2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”

Isaiah 37:5–7 ESV

5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’ ”

Isaiah outlines a threefold judgment God will bring upon Sennacherib:

God will put a spirit in Sennacherib, leading him to return to his homeland. Scholars debate the meaning of this “spirit.” Some compare it to the troubling spirit sent to King Saul that ultimately led to his downfall, while others interpret it as a fearful attitude or psychological unease stirred by God. Either way, the emphasis is on God’s sovereign control over the king’s internal disposition.

Sennacherib will hear a rumor that prompts his return to Assyria. While some think this rumor is linked to reports of the Egyptian army under King Tirhakah (mentioned in Isaiah 37:8-9), the timing and historical accounts don’t fully support that theory. Others, more plausibly, see this “rumor” as a later message following the miraculous death of 185,000 Assyrian troops (Isaiah 37:36). Whatever the nature of the rumor, God uses it to drive Sennacherib away from Jerusalem.

Sennacherib will die by the sword, a prophecy fulfilled in Isaiah 37:38 when his sons assassinated him.

Isaiah 37:8–9 ESV

8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9 Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “He has set out to fight against you.”

Isaiah 37:9–10 ESV

9 And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

Isaiah 37:11–13 ESV

11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’ ”

Isaiah 37:14–15 ESV

14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:

Isaiah 37:16–20 ESV

16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 17 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 18 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 20 So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”

IV. Conclusion