In my last post, we continued t learn about Yerushalayim’s Deliverance Foretold ~ Part 3 in Yesha’hayu 37:21-29. In this post, we conclude our mini-series of Yerushalayim’s Deliverance Foretold ~ Part 4 in Yesha’hayu 37:30-38.

Adonai directed these words to Hizkiyahu, king of Y’hudah, to show him that the future would see a turn for the better for Adonai’s people.

³⁰ “‘This will be the sign for you [people of Isra’el]: this year, you will eat the grain that grows of itself; the second year, you will eat what grows from that; but in the third year, you will sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

Because of the siege by Ashur, the people were penned up behind the walls of Yerushalayim and had not been able to plant their crops. Adonai’s promise to His people is that they would eat the fruit of their land, that they wouldn’t be carried away captive.

³¹ “‘Meanwhile, the remnant of the house of Y’hudah that has escaped will again take root downward and bear fruit upward; ³² for a remnant will go out from Yerushalayim, those escaping will go out from Mount Tziyon. The zeal of Adonai-Tzva’ot will accomplish this.’

Now the prophecy speaks of a metaphorical harvest of the surviving remnant of the people of Adonai. The future will see the remnant become productive.

³³ “Therefore this is what Adonai says concerning the king of Ashur: “‘He will not come to this city or even shoot an arrow there; he will not confront it with a shield or erect earthworks against it. ³⁴ “‘By the way he came he will return; he will not come to this city,’ says Adonai. ³⁵ ‘For I will defend this city and save it, both for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.’”

Wow, what a promise and comfort! Adonai announced that Sancheriv would fail at his attempt to take the city. He would not even begin the assault but would return to Ashur. Adonai would do this for His glory and because of the promise He had made to David. Adonai promised David that “your house and your kingdom will be made secure forever before you; your throne will be set up forever.” ~ 2 Samuel 7:16 (CJB)

^,36 Then the angel of Adonai went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of Ashur. Early the next morning, there they were, all of them, corpses – dead. ³⁷ So Sancheriv king of Ashur left, went and returned to live in Ninveh.

One hundred eighty-five thousand Ashurim were wiped out in one evening by the angel of the Adonai – an incredible, monumental victory. Adonai’s ways are beyond even our wildest imaginations.

³⁸ One day, as he was worshipping in the temple of Nisrokh, his god, his sons Adramelekh and Shar’etzer struck him with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. So, his son Esar-Hadon took his place as king. ~ Isaiah 37:21-38 (CJB)

Nisrokh was an unknown Ashurim god or, more likely; the name was given by the Hebrews to a god known by another name. Ararat was a region located around Lake Van north of Ashur. It was known in antiquity as Urartu and was a long-standing foe of Ashur, thus a likely place for the murderous sons of Sancheriv to escape. While Adramelekh and Shar’etzer are not known by name, Esar-Hadon is known to have succeeded his father Sancheriv after the king’s death in 683 BCE. It appears that almost 20 years passed from the time Sancheriv withdrew from Yerushalayim in 701 BCE to the time when he died at the hands of his sons. [1]

It was a fitting, although tragic end to this one who worshiped idols created by man instead of the Creator of the universe.

In my next post, we begin to examine Hizkiyahu’s Illness in Yesha’yahu 38.

Click here for the PDF version.

[1] HCSB Study Bible.