Isaiah 37:27
Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up. Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
The verse stands in God's answer to Hezekiah when the king of Assyria threatened Jerusalem, given after Hezekiah spread the taunting letter before the Lord and he and Isaiah prayed, just before the Lord delivered the city by His angel. It describes the people of the cities and nations overrun by Assyria as weak and terrified, as frail and short-lived as field grass and green plants, as grass that quickly withers on a rooftop, and as grain ruined before it ripens. Their helplessness was because the gods of those nations were made by human hands and could not save them, and because God Himself had ordained Assyria's campaign and left its victims unable to resist. The Lord promised that the Assyrian king would not enter Jerusalem nor shoot an arrow there nor besiege it, but would go home by the way he came, and He defended the city for His own sake and for David's sake by sending an angel who in one night slew 185,000 mighty men, so that Sennacherib went home shamed and was later killed in the house of his god. That miraculous stroke witnessed to Assyria, to Judah, and to all nations that Jehovah is God above all the gods of the peoples, and it shows that no powerful majority against God can prevail, so that one who stands with Him is never truly alone and need trust in divine power rather than human strength.
Setting and Meaning
Isaiah 37:27 stands in the history of King Hezekiah's reign when the king of Assyria came up and threatened the land. It is part of God's message to Hezekiah through the prophet after his humility and prayer, before the Lord's wonderful deliverance from Assyrian power by His angel. It belongs to the story of good King Hezekiah standing alone while his enemies taunted him with his helpless condition, when he spread the taunting, insulting letter out before the Lord and he and Isaiah prayed. In that crisis the great army threatening Jerusalem was struck down by God, with 185,000 Assyrians dying within twelve hours in a single night. That setting teaches confidence in God's power rather than human strength, for one messenger of God was enough to bring down the enemy.
The chapter containing the verse gives the same account as 2 Kings 19, alike to the nineteenth chapter of 2 Kings. That parallel stands with considerable verbal difference in wording.
The verse describes the inhabitants of the cities and nations conquered or threatened by Assyria as of small power, dismayed, frightened and confounded. Their weakness is likened to grass of the field and green herb, to quickly withering grass on the housetops, and to corn blasted before it is grown up, like fragile grass and young grain that withers before it can mature. It shows the besieged and threatened peoples as powerless and dismayed, like grass or young crops that wither before they mature.
Their powerlessness was because the gods of the nations were the work of men's hands and were in no wise able to deliver their lands out of his hand. God Himself had appointed the Assyrian campaign and made the people of the conquered cities unable to resist.
Comparison with the record of Sennacherib's campaign helps distinguish this campaign from the campaign described in Isaiah 10, which is attributed to Sargon. The account examined to test whether Isaiah 30:33 was fulfilled in the destruction of the Assyrian army gives no evidence that the army was near Jerusalem when the angel slew 185,000 men, but indicates it was with the king of Assyria at Libnah.
Deliverance and Its Lessons
Jehovah promised concerning the king of Assyria that he would not come into the city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield nor cast a mound against it, but would return by the way he came, for He would defend the city to save it for His own sake and for His servant David's sake. Hezekiah spread the taunting, insulting letter out before the Lord, and he and Isaiah prayed, and the deliverance was wrought in a manner evidently miraculous. Jehovah sent an angel who cut off all the mighty men of valor and leaders and captains in the camp of Assyria, slaying 185,000 men in a single night, within twelve hours. So Sennacherib returned with shame of face to his own land and was slain in the house of his god, while Jehovah saved Hezekiah and Jerusalem from Sennacherib and from all others and guided them on every side, and many brought gifts to Jerusalem so that Hezekiah was exalted in the sight of all nations.
The slaughter of Sennacherib's host was God's witness to Assyria that He is God above all. Assyria had risen to world power and influence after Egypt but had grown corrupt and gone far away from God, and this destruction was the most notable instance of His witness borne to it again and again. To prevent glorying in human power, the deliverance was made clearly miraculous to show Judah and all nations that there is a God in heaven more mighty than the gods of the peoples of the earth, whose gods were the work of men's hands and could in no wise deliver their lands.
The weakness described in the verse illustrates that even a powerful majority opposing God cannot prevail against Him, for He can deliver His people. A person standing alone in opposition to wrong is not truly alone because God is with him, as God proved to be a majority for Hezekiah when his enemies taunted him with his helpless condition. Hezekiah's prayer in this crisis was heard, teaching confidence in God's power rather than human strength, since one messenger of God was enough to bring down the enemy. The prophecy of Sennacherib's humiliation by angelic power was a public lesson that should have warned Nebuchadnezzar to acknowledge God's rule. The victory was a revelation of the power of the true God and should have been a constant reminder of the nothingness of man and the greatness of God, the very essence of the gospel of righteousness by faith, and an opportunity for exalting the power and mercy of the King of heaven.