Isaiah 37:2
And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
Hezekiah sent his household officer and scribe and the elders of the priests in sackcloth to Isaiah the son of Amoz for counsel when the Assyrian army threatened Jerusalem. In his distress he laid the Assyrian king's insulting letter before the Lord and asked Him to vindicate His power and promises, though outnumbered and without an army to resist. He humbly sought God's message through the prophet, and he and Isaiah together took the matter to the Lord. The Lord answered with wonderful deliverance, sending His angel to strike the invading host with the loss of 185,000 men in one night. The account stands as a witness that God is above all earthly powers and as an example of overcoming enemies through faith.
Historical Setting and Parallels
Isaiah 37:2 falls within the historical sketch and included messages that make up Isaiah 36–39, in the first part of the book, belonging to the account of Isaiah's ministry during the reign of Hezekiah. That first part, chapters 1 to 39, is made up of prophecies and historical accounts from Isaiah's active work mingling in public concerns of rulers and people and acting as God's messenger to the nation, consisting of single prophecies published at different times and on different occasions and afterward gathered into one collection while still marked as distinct and single. It belongs to the account of Hezekiah's appeal to God when the Assyrian army threatened him and his people, when he brought the Assyrian king's insulting letter before the Lord and asked God to vindicate His power and promises, trusting God to deliver despite being outnumbered and without an army.
When a great army came against Jerusalem and the king of Assyria threatened Judah, Hezekiah went to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz for counsel and sought God's message through him. This shows Hezekiah's humility in turning to God through Isaiah the prophet, receiving God's message to him through the prophet, followed by the Lord's wonderful deliverance from the power of Assyria by His angel. The chapter gives fuller details of the crisis in which, after the Assyrians blasphemed against God, Hezekiah sought Isaiah's counsel, and Hezekiah and Isaiah took the matter to the Lord, who delivered Jerusalem.
The verse belongs to the record of Sennacherib's campaign as distinguished from the campaign in Isaiah 10 attributed to Sargon, with Sennacherib's campaigns coming from the southwest while the campaign in Isaiah 10 came from the northeast. The chapter is alike to, or the same as, 2 Kings 19. It parallels 2 Kings 19 with considerable verbal difference between the two accounts. Examined alongside 2 Kings 18–19 and 2 Chronicles 32, the account shows the Assyrian army was not near Jerusalem when the angel killed 185,000 men, but was with the king of Assyria at Libnah.
Trust and Divine Deliverance
When Hezekiah stood helpless before the taunts of his enemy, he carried the insulting letter into the presence of the Lord, and in answer God smote the invading army so that 185,000 men fell in a single night. The episode stands as the means by which God did not leave Himself without witness to Assyria when that power stood next at the head of the world in might and influence, for after it had grown corrupt and departed far from God He still bore testimony to it by living witness and revelation that He is God above all, most strikingly in the slaughter of Sennacherib's host. In this, Isaiah and Hezekiah stand as examples of those who through faith and through the spiritual gifts bestowed upon the church are able to overcome their enemies.