2 Chronicles 32:14
Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of mine hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of mine hand? Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of mine hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of mine hand?
The verse preserves Sennacherib's taunt that since none of the gods of the nations his fathers utterly destroyed had been able to deliver its people out of his hand, Judah's God would not be able to deliver Jerusalem out of his hand. He boasted that the gods of nations defeated by his forefathers had failed to save their people, and challenged Judah's God to do any better. His reasoning falsely put Jehovah, the living God, on the same level as the powerless idols of other nations, as though He were an idol made by human hands. He mistook the captivity of the northern kingdom, which came only after Jehovah withdrew His protection, for proof of weakness, and his confident claim was blasphemous.
The taunt belongs to the history of Sennacherib's war against Judah, when he captured Judah's cities, besieged and captured Lachish, and demanded tribute from Hezekiah. Assyrian palace inscriptions confirm parts of that history, including the capture of Lachish and the tribute exacted from Hezekiah, though the inscription gives a different amount of silver. The taunt was meant to belittle God and to discourage and frighten Jerusalem, setting before the people a direct challenge to trust in God under threat. The claim proved false, for in answer to Hezekiah and the people's humiliation, prayers, and wholehearted seeking, the Lord overthrew the Assyrians by His angel. That angel struck down the leaders and captains of the army, and Sennacherib returned home in shame and disgrace.
The parallel accounts of the siege in 2 Kings 18-19 and Isaiah 37 show that the Assyrian army was with the king at Libnah and not near Jerusalem when the angel killed 185,000 men. That fact rules out that slaughter as the fulfillment of Isaiah 30:33 concerning Tophet, the place prepared for the king. God delivered Hezekiah and Jerusalem by direct, miraculous intervention to show the nations that He was mightier than their gods and that salvation came from Him and not from human power. That deliverance teaches that God's people need not defend themselves with carnal weapons even when faced with an armed enemy.