Teach About the Bible

Chapter Summary

Isaiah 37 presents a dramatic showdown between the arrogant might of the Assyrian empire and the humble faith of Judah's King Hezekiah. Faced with certain destruction, Hezekiah turns not to military strategy but to desperate prayer in the temple. The chapter unfolds as God, through the prophet Isaiah, responds to both the king's plea and the enemy's blasphemy, culminating in a stunning, miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem.

Core Passages from Isaiah 37
Isaiah 37:14Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.
Hezekiah takes the threatening letter from Assyria and physically spreads it out before God in the temple, a powerful picture of surrendering an impossible problem completely to the Lord.
Isaiah 37:20So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.
In his prayer, Hezekiah asks for salvation, prioritizing God's glory and the knowledge of His name among all nations over mere survival.
Isaiah 37:36And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
The climax of the story is God's direct and devastating intervention, where the angel of the Lord strikes down the Assyrian army, proving that the battle truly belongs to Him.

Upholding unwavering faith in divine intervention amidst overwhelming earthly power.

Historical & Cultural Context

A Kingdom on the Brink

The chapter opens at a moment of extreme crisis. The Assyrian empire, the superpower of the day, has swept through the region, conquering nation after nation. In the previous chapter, their chief official, the Rabshakeh, stood outside Jerusalem's walls and delivered a series of terrifying, faith-shaking taunts, mocking both King Hezekiah and his trust in the Lord. Jerusalem is surrounded, cut off, and seemingly without hope.

A King's Desperate Plea

In response to the Assyrian threats, King Hezekiah doesn't rally his troops or devise a clever military plan. Instead, he demonstrates deep grief and humility by tearing his clothes and covering himself in sackcloth, an ancient sign of mourning and desperation. His first move is to go to the temple to pray and to send his top officials to the prophet Isaiah, seeking a word from God in the face of an impossible situation.

Hope emerges from the depths of despair through divine intervention and unwavering faith.

From Desperation to Deliverance

The scene is set in a besieged Jerusalem, where fear hangs heavy in the air. King Hezekiah has just heard the blasphemous threats of the Assyrian army, who claim that Judah's God is no different from the powerless idols of the nations they have already conquered. This chapter chronicles Hezekiah's faithful response and God's earth-shaking answer.

A Humble Appeal and a Word of Hope (Isaiah 37:1-7)

¹ As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.
² And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz.
³ They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth.
⁴ It may be that the Lord your God has heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.
⁵ When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah,
⁶ And Isaiah said to them, "Thus shall you say to your master, 'Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me.
⁷ Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.

Commentary:

Hezekiah responds to threats with prayer, and God promises not to be afraid because He will intervene.

Upon hearing the threats, Hezekiah immediately humbles himself and seeks God's help through the prophet Isaiah. This act of turning to God first, rather than relying on his own strength, is key to the entire story. Isaiah delivers God's initial response: 'Do not be afraid.' God promises to deal with the Assyrian king, assuring Hezekiah that the enemy's arrogance has been heard in heaven and will not go unanswered.

The Threatening Letter and the King's Prayer (Isaiah 37:8-20)

⁸ The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.
⁹ Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “He has set out to fight against you.”
¹⁰ “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
¹¹ Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered?
¹² Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?
¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?”
¹⁴ Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.
¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:
¹⁶ "O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth."
¹⁷ Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.
¹⁸ Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands,
¹⁹ and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed.
²⁰ So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.

Commentary:

Hezekiah takes a threatening letter to the temple and prays for God to save Judah for the sake of His own glory.

Sennacherib doubles down on his psychological warfare, sending a letter directly to Hezekiah that mocks God and lists all the nations whose gods could not save them. In a powerful symbolic act, Hezekiah takes this letter into the temple and spreads it out before the Lord. His prayer is a masterpiece of faith. He acknowledges God's supreme power over all creation and asks God to save them, desiring that every kingdom on earth will know He alone is the Lord, rather than simply for their own sake.

God's Answer: A Rebuke and a Promise (Isaiah 37:21-35)

²¹ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,
²² this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him: “She despises you, she scorns you - the virgin daughter of Zion; she wags her head behind you - the daughter of Jerusalem.
²³ Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes to the heights? Against the Holy One of Israel!
²⁴ By your servants you have mocked the Lord, and you have said, With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon, to cut down its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses, to come to its remotest height, its most fruitful forest.
²⁵ I dug wells and drank waters, to dry up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt.
²⁶ Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass, that you should make fortified cities crash into heaps of ruins,
²⁷ Therefore their inhabitants were of small power; they were dismayed and confounded; they were like plants of the field and like tender grass, like grass on the housetops, blighted before it is grown.
²⁸ "But I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me."
²⁹ Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.
³⁰ "And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit."
³¹ And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
³² For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
³³ "Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it."
³⁴ By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord.
³⁵ For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.

Commentary:

God, through Isaiah, rebukes Sennacherib's pride, promises to defend Jerusalem, and guarantees its future restoration.

God sends a message back through Isaiah, this time addressed directly to Sennacherib. In a stunning poetic rebuke, God belittles the Assyrian king's pride, revealing that his conquests were never the result of his own might but were part of God's sovereign plan all along. God declares that because Sennacherib has raged against Him, He will put a hook in his nose and lead him away like a captured animal. To Hezekiah, God gives a sign of future peace and promises to defend Jerusalem for His own sake and for the sake of His promise to David.

Miraculous Deliverance and Final Judgment (Isaiah 37:36-38)

³⁶ And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
³⁷ So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh.
³⁸ And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Commentary:

The angel of the Lord destroys the Assyrian army overnight, and Sennacherib returns home only to be killed by his sons.

The narrative shifts from prophecy to fulfillment in a sudden and dramatic way. That very night, the angel of the Lord moves through the Assyrian camp, striking down 185,000 soldiers. The threat is neutralized overnight without a single Israelite sword being drawn. Sennacherib retreats in disgrace to his capital, Nineveh, where he is ultimately assassinated by his own sons while worshiping his god, a final, ironic end for a man who mocked the living God.

The Clash of Pride and Prayer

The Sovereignty of God

This chapter powerfully illustrates that God is in control of all human history. He tells the mighty king of Assyria that his victories were only possible because God allowed it, using him as a tool to accomplish His purposes. It's a reminder that no ruler or empire is outside of God's ultimate authority.

The Power of Humble Prayer

Hezekiah's response to an impossible situation was not military might but desperate, dependent prayer. By laying the problem before God and appealing to His character, Hezekiah accessed a power far greater than any army. His actions show that humility and faith are the correct postures in the face of overwhelming odds.

God Defends His Own Honor

Sennacherib's fatal mistake was blaspheming Judah's God, rather than simply threatening Judah. Hezekiah's prayer wisely focuses on this, asking God to act so His name will be known. The resulting deliverance is a clear statement that God will not allow His name to be mocked and will vindicate His own holiness.

Surrendering earthly struggles to divine strength fosters ultimate victory and peace.

Bringing Our Battles to God

How does Hezekiah's response to a crisis challenge my own first reactions to problems?

Hezekiah's immediate turn to mourning, prayer, and seeking godly counsel (Isaiah 37:1-2, 14) provides a powerful model. Instead of reacting with panic or trying to solve everything on your own, this chapter encourages you to bring your biggest fears and problems directly to God first, trusting that He hears and is in control.

Where in my life have I been tempted to trust in 'chariots' or human strength instead of God?

Sennacherib boasted in his 'many chariots' (Isaiah 37:24), representing military and human power. This story challenges you to examine where you place your ultimate security - in your career, finances, or personal abilities. The outcome shows that these things can fail, but God's power is absolute and He is the only one who can truly save (Isaiah 37:35).

How can I make my prayers more focused on God's glory, like Hezekiah did?

Hezekiah prayed, 'save us... that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord' (Isaiah 37:20). This shifts the focus from personal deliverance to God's reputation. You can apply this by asking 'God, how can you be glorified through this situation?' rather than simply 'God, get me out of this.' This aligns your heart with God's ultimate purpose.

God Hears and Defends His Name

Isaiah 37 powerfully declares that no human arrogance or military might can stand against the living God. When His people turn to Him in humble, desperate prayer, He not only listens but acts decisively. The story is a timeless reminder that God is intimately involved in our world, defending His own honor and delivering those who trust in Him.

What This Means for Us Today

Hezekiah's prayer was an invitation for God to intervene in an impossible situation, and God's answer was overwhelming. This chapter invites us to do the same - to lay our own 'impossible situations' before the Lord, trusting that He is both able and willing to act for His glory and our good.

What 'threatening letter' do you need to spread before the Lord today?
How can you shift your prayers from being only about your comfort to being about God's glory?
In what area of your life do you need to be reminded that God's power is greater than any human threat?

The profound comfort found in divine assurance amidst overwhelming challenges.

Discussion Questions

Hezekiah 'spread the letter before the Lord' (Isaiah 37:14). What does this physical act teach us about how we should approach God with our specific anxieties and problems?
God says to Sennacherib, 'I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me' (Isaiah 37:28). How does the reality of God's intimate knowledge of our lives bring both comfort and challenge?
The deliverance of Jerusalem was sudden and miraculous (Isaiah 37:36). How can this story encourage our faith when God's answers to our prayers don't seem as immediate or dramatic?