Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria, Whereon do ye trust, that ye abide in the siege in Jerusalem?
Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria in asking whereon they trusted that they abode in the siege in Jerusalem, sending the question through his servants to Hezekiah king of Judah and to all Judah at Jerusalem while he himself lay before Lachish with all his power. The question belongs to his campaigns against Judah to take Jerusalem, in connection with the siege of Lachish. The challenge was pressed while his forces brought the battle to the city gates. At the same time he claimed that Hezekiah was leading the people to die of hunger and thirst.
It was an argument of slur made with great display of power to discourage and frighten Hezekiah and Jerusalem. By making light of his God it sought to undermine confidence that God could deliver them. The taunt was that no god of any nation or kingdom had delivered his people from Assyria, much less would their God deliver them. It was repeated with much emphasis in the ears of the people of Jerusalem in order to frighten them.
The verse stands within 2 Chronicles 29-36 to be read with Ezra 1-8 and Hosea 1-7 in the week ending December 5, giving the condition of the Israelitish nation contemporary with the minor prophets. The Lord answered the humility and prayers of Hezekiah and the people by overthrowing the Assyrians with His angel. That angel cut off all the mighty men of valor and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria and destroyed his forces, so that Sennacherib returned with shame of face to his own land. The ensuing deliverance shows that Jerusalem's safety comes from God's power, not human strength. The same account records Sennacherib's later death at the hands of his sons while he was worshiping his idol.
The Assyrian army was not near Jerusalem but was with the king of Assyria at Libnah when the angel slew 185,000 men, so that destruction cannot fulfill Isaiah 30:33. The setting shows the Lord's people facing an armed enemy without defending themselves with carnal weapons, for their warfare is not against flesh and blood. Such contempt for God ends in disaster for the scorner.
Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria in asking whereon they trusted that they abode in the siege in Jerusalem, sending the question through his servants to Hezekiah king of Judah and to all Judah at Jerusalem while he himself lay before Lachish with all his power. The question belongs to his campaigns against Judah to take Jerusalem, in connection with the siege of Lachish. The challenge was pressed while his forces brought the battle to the city gates. At the same time he claimed that Hezekiah was leading the people to die of hunger and thirst.
It was an argument of slur made with great display of power to discourage and frighten Hezekiah and Jerusalem. By making light of his God it sought to undermine confidence that God could deliver them. The taunt was that no god of any nation or kingdom had delivered his people from Assyria, much less would their God deliver them. It was repeated with much emphasis in the ears of the people of Jerusalem in order to frighten them.
The verse stands within 2 Chronicles 29-36 to be read with Ezra 1-8 and Hosea 1-7 in the week ending December 5, giving the condition of the Israelitish nation contemporary with the minor prophets. The Lord answered the humility and prayers of Hezekiah and the people by overthrowing the Assyrians with His angel. That angel cut off all the mighty men of valor and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria and destroyed his forces, so that Sennacherib returned with shame of face to his own land. The ensuing deliverance shows that Jerusalem's safety comes from God's power, not human strength. The same account records Sennacherib's later death at the hands of his sons while he was worshiping his idol.
The Assyrian army was not near Jerusalem but was with the king of Assyria at Libnah when the angel slew 185,000 men, so that destruction cannot fulfill Isaiah 30:33. The setting shows the Lord's people facing an armed enemy without defending themselves with carnal weapons, for their warfare is not against flesh and blood. Such contempt for God ends in disaster for the scorner.