Isaiah 37 explained: A King Prays Under Siege

Hezekiah turns to Isaiah (vv. 1-7)

Tearing clothes and wearing rough sackcloth were ways of showing deep grief, and the image of a mother too weak to give birth was a saying for total helplessness. Isaiah answers that the king should not fear these insults to God, because the Assyrian king will hear news that sends him home, where he will die.

A threatening letter (vv. 8-13)

Sennacherib, king of Assyria, hears that Tirhakah, a ruler from the upper Nile who controlled much of Egypt, is coming to fight him, so he presses Hezekiah to surrender quickly. His letter lists cities and kingdoms Assyria had already crushed, arguing that no god had saved them and none would save Jerusalem.

Hezekiah's prayer (vv. 14-20)

Hezekiah lays the letter out in the temple, calling on the LORD who sits enthroned above the cherubim, the winged golden figures on the sacred chest in the temple that were seen as God's throne. He admits Assyria really did destroy those nations and burn their gods, which he says were only wood and stone, and asks for rescue so the whole world will know the LORD alone is God.

God mocks Assyria's pride (vv. 21-29)

Jerusalem is pictured as a young woman, still untouched, tossing her head in scorn at the boasting invader who claims he can conquer mountains and dry up Egypt's rivers. God replies that Assyria's victories happened only because he allowed them, and he will lead the king home like an animal with a hook in its nose.

A sign and a promise (vv. 30-35)

With farming disrupted by the invasion, people will live on crops that grow wild for two years, and in the third year normal planting will return, as the survivors of Judah take root again. God promises the army will not even shoot an arrow at the city, which he will defend for his own sake and because of his promise to King David's family line.

The army falls (vv. 36-38)

The text says the angel of the LORD struck down 185,000 soldiers in one night without saying how; some have suggested a plague, but no one knows, and Assyria's own records boast of trapping Hezekiah in Jerusalem yet never claim to have taken it. Sennacherib went home and, years later, was killed by his own sons while worshiping his god.

Key verse: Isaiah 37:20

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether the sudden death of the Assyrian army should be read as a literal supernatural event or as a real historical rescue, perhaps through disease, described in the language of faith.

Something to think about

When you have faced something that felt far bigger than you, where did you turn first, and what made that feel like the right place?