Isaiah 37:9
And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
Isaiah 37:9 belongs to the historical section of Isaiah in chapters 36-39, recording the history of Hezekiah's reign when the king of Assyria came up and threatened the land. It is the same history as 2 Kings 19, its parallel account of the same events with considerable verbal difference, and gives the fuller detail of the account in 2 Chronicles 32:9-23. When the Assyrian army was with the king at Libnah and not near Jerusalem, and Tirhakah was reported coming to war, Sennacherib sent messengers and blasphemous letters to Hezekiah and Judah at Jerusalem likening Jehovah to the gods of the nations. Though outnumbered, lacking an army, and taunted as helpless, Hezekiah in humility spread the insulting letter before God and with Isaiah prayed to heaven for God to defend His power and promises and vindicate His name. The Lord answered through the prophet with wonderful deliverance from Assyria, when His angel cut off the host and 185,000 men died in one night, God's most notable witness to Assyria that He is God above all.
Context and Parallel Accounts
Isaiah 37:9 belongs to the historical section of Isaiah, chapters 36-39, which contains historical accounts and messages. It belongs to the history during Hezekiah's reign when the king of Assyria came up and threatened the land, and the Lord later delivered Judah from Assyria. In that account Hezekiah, though outnumbered and lacking an army, brought the Assyrian king's insulting letter before God and pleaded for God to defend His power and promises. It shows Hezekiah's humility, God's message to him through the prophet, and the Lord's wonderful deliverance from the power of Assyria by His angel.
The campaign against Judah recorded in the chapter came from the southwest under Sennacherib. It was a different invasion from the one described in Isaiah 10, which was made by Sargon from the northeast. Isaiah 10:11 refers to Sargon's threat against Jerusalem after his conquest of Samaria. The chapter gives the fuller detailed account of Sennacherib's invasion recorded in 2 Chronicles 32:9-23. That fuller account includes Sennacherib before Lachish sending servants and letters to Hezekiah and Judah at Jerusalem, and their blasphemy likening Jehovah to the gods of the nations.
The thirty-seventh chapter of Isaiah is alike to, the same as, the nineteenth chapter of 2 Kings as its parallel account of the same events. There is considerable verbal difference between the two accounts. Considered with the accounts in Kings and Chronicles, the verse shows that the Assyrian army was not near Jerusalem when the angel destroyed it, but was with the king of Assyria at Libnah.
Deliverance and Its Meaning
Isaiah 37:9 belongs to the history of Hezekiah's humility under the Assyrian threat, when outnumbered and without an army he took the insulting letter of the king of Assyria and spread it before God. Taunted by his enemies as helpless, he joined Isaiah in prayer to heaven, pleading for God to defend His own power and promises and to vindicate His name against blasphemy that likened Jehovah to the gods of the nations. In answer God sent His message to Hezekiah through the prophet and wrought a wonderful deliverance from the power of Assyria, when His angel cut off the Assyrian army and 185,000 men died in one night.
That slaughter of Sennacherib's host was God's most notable witness to Assyria that He is God above all. After Assyria rose to world power and influence, He bore witness to it again and again by revelation and living testimony, and not by rain and fruitful seasons alone, that He had not left Himself without witness. Isaiah and Hezekiah thus stand as examples of subduing enemies through faith and spiritual gifts rather than by relying on human warfare, proving that God can defend those who stand alone against opposition.
The destruction of that army, which was not near Jerusalem when the angel struck but was with the king of Assyria at Libnah, does not fulfill the prophecy about Tophet in Isaiah 30:33.