Isaiah 37:24
By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel.
It is the boast of Assyria's king spoken through his messengers, claiming his vast chariot force had scaled the high mountains and Lebanon's slopes to fell its tallest cedars and finest firs and to push into its farthest heights and fruitful forests. The insult went beyond a military threat to rail directly upon God, ranking Him with the handmade gods of the nations and insisting that no god had rescued any land from Assyria, much less could Hezekiah's God rescue Jerusalem. Against it Hezekiah laid the threatening letters before God and with Isaiah cried to heaven for God to vindicate His own name. God answered by barring the invader from the city and sending His angel to strike down 185,000 warriors in a single night, driving Sennacherib home in shame to fall by the sword in the house of his own god. The deliverance proves God is mightier than armies and idols, and that trust and prayer are safer than human strength, for one messenger from God can overthrow thousands.
Setting and Boastful Meaning
Isaiah 37:24 records the reproach of the Assyrian ruler against the Lord spoken through his servants. He boasts that by the multitude of his chariots and military power he has come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon. He boasts that he will cut down its tall cedars and choice fir trees and enter into the height of its border and the forest of its Carmel.
The reproach railed on Jehovah by speaking of the God of Jerusalem as the work of men's hands like the gods of the nations. It boasted of what the Assyrian king and his fathers had done to all peoples of the lands. It claimed that no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver out of his hand, and belittled the God of Hezekiah as even less able to deliver.
The setting is the reign of Hezekiah when the king of Assyria came up and threatened Judah. After taking forty-six cities of Judah and besieging Lachish he sent servants to Jerusalem with insulting letters. This campaign of Sennacherib against Judah came from the southwest, in contrast to the campaign described in Isaiah 10 which came from the northeast.
The thirty-seventh chapter of Isaiah in which the verse stands gives the same account as the nineteenth chapter of 2 Kings. The two parallel accounts are alike in substance but with considerable verbal difference between them. The verse belongs to the account of the slaughter of Sennacherib's host, by which God bore witness to Assyria after it had grown corrupt and gone far from God that he is God above all. When the angel killed 185,000 men the Assyrian army was with the king at Libnah, not near Jerusalem. This historical setting rejects the claim that Isaiah 30:33 was fulfilled by the destruction of the Assyrian army.
Prayer and Divine Deliverance
Against the boast stood Hezekiah's humility and God's word to him through the prophet, for Hezekiah took the insulting letter and spread it out before the Lord in prayer. He pointed to the insult against God and the threat against Jerusalem, and he and Isaiah prayed and cried to heaven that God would vindicate His own name. The army that boasted of conquering Jerusalem and reproached the Lord perished after that prayer.
The Lord answered the arrogance by promising that the Assyrian king would not enter the city, and He miraculously delivered Jerusalem. Jehovah sent an angel who cut off all the mighty men of valor and the leaders in the Assyrian camp. In a single night, reckoned as twelve hours, 185,000 men were destroyed. Sennacherib therefore returned with shame to his own land and was slain with the sword in the house of his god, while Hezekiah and Jerusalem were saved and exalted.
That boast of conquering nations and cutting down their strength was an insult against the Lord and not merely a threat against Jerusalem. Its answer shows that God vindicates His power and is mightier than human armies and the gods of the nations. Dependence on God is therefore safer than dependence on human strength or wisdom. Prayer prevails against overwhelming human power, for one messenger from God is enough to bring the doom of thousands. One who stands alone in opposition to wrong is not truly alone, because God is with him and God is a majority.