And it came to pass when king Hezekiah heard [it], that he rent his garments, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Jehovah.
The Assyrian army has surrounded Jerusalem, and the enemy has just mocked God in front of the city's own people. Hezekiah hears it, and he answers in a way most kings would never have chosen.
We expect a war council. Instead the king gets dressed for the temple, and one writer treats that outfit as his battle gear.
The proud king of Assyria was at the gates of Jerusalem with a mighty conquering army. You would naturally expect to find Hezekiah among his men of war — buckling on his armour, strapping on his sword, mounting his chariot. But no. Hezekiah was different from most kings and captains. He had found a place of strength that Sennacherib knew nothing about. He had discovered a field of battle where he could win without striking a blow. And notice the armour he puts on.
Hezekiah had advisers, army captains and a prophet within reach. One writer notices which door he went to first.
In deep humiliation and sorrow the godly man went to the house of the Lord and sent messengers to Isaiah. This is most blessed. He did not call a council of his advisers or a meeting of the captains to talk the matter over. He did not send first to the prophet either. Faith knows a better way than that. He went straight into the presence of the LORD, and the sending to Isaiah was secondary. Many of our failures as His people happen because we do not go to the LORD first.
Hezekiah does two things here, and they are not the same kind of thing. One writer names the difference.
He tore his clothes and put on sackcloth, the symbol of repentance and self-judgment. This was negative, but he also took the positive action of going into the house of the Lord. There he would find positive help.
Sackcloth meant mourning, and it meant more than mourning. One writer reads it as Hezekiah's confession that he himself counted for nothing in this fight.
What gave Hezekiah such uncommon power in this contest was the sense that he was nothing. Human strength was no use at all. In a word, it was Jehovah or nothing. You see this especially in the act of spreading the letter before the Lord. Faith enabled Hezekiah to step out of the scene and make it entirely a matter between Jehovah and the king of Assyria. It was not Sennacherib and Hezekiah, but Sennacherib and Jehovah. This tells us the meaning of the sackcloth. Hezekiah felt himself utterly helpless, and he took the place of helplessness.
Trust in God did not make the king calm. One writer holds both together — real grief, and somewhere to carry it.
Confidence did not shut out anguish. The extreme danger did press on the heart. They do wear sackcloth and tear their garments as a sign of affliction, humiliation and mourning. But the danger drives Hezekiah and his people towards the house of God and the word of God, to receive counsel, strength and comfort... One thing was enough for the afflicted remnant, and it ought to be enough for us: the Lord is there. It is He, not we ourselves, who has been defied.
This trust was not new. It had slipped for a moment, and one writer shows the mockery driving him back to it.
All this reviling brought back Hezekiah's trust in the Lord. He saw that appeasing this world was of no use. All his trust had to be in the Lord his God, as it had been before, even though he had been caught off guard for a moment. You see this in his torn garments, his sackcloth, his going into the house of the Lord, and his sending to Isaiah the prophet.
- Heard. The insult was aimed at God, not at Hezekiah. Faith saw whose quarrel this had become.
- Tore. Torn clothes and sackcloth were the negative side. They stood for repentance and self-judgment: human strength was worth nothing here.
- Entered. The positive side was the destination. The sanctuary, not the battlefield, became his field of battle, and there he would find real help.
- Ordered. God came first, the prophet second. Many failures among God's people trace back to reversing that order.
- Returned. Appeasing the enemy had proved useless. The mockery drove him back to the trust that had marked him before.
And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz.
An Assyrian officer has just mocked Judah's God in front of Jerusalem's walls. King Hezekiah answers with torn clothes, sackcloth, a visit to the temple, and this delegation sent to the prophet Isaiah.
Hezekiah does two things, and the order matters.
He did not call a council of his advisers. He did not call a meeting of the captains to talk the matter over. He did not send to the prophet first either. Faith knows a better way than that. He went straight into the presence of the LORD, and the sending to Isaiah was secondary. Many of our failures as His people happen because we do not go to the LORD first.
That order does not make the prophet an afterthought.
He goes to Jehovah, and he sends them to Jehovah's servant. This was right. He looks in prayer to God Himself, and he expects an answer through His servant.
Sackcloth is rough mourning cloth, and both the king and his messengers wear it.
He tore his clothes and put on sackcloth, the symbol of repentance and self-judgment. This was negative, but he also took the positive action of going into the house of the Lord. There he would find positive help.
Grief and confidence are not rivals here.
This confidence did not shut out anguish. The extreme danger did press on the heart. They do wear sackcloth and tear their garments as a sign of affliction, humiliation and mourning. But the danger drives Hezekiah and his people towards the house of God and towards the words of God. There they receive counsel, strength and consolation.
Isaiah had already named both men, and their titles here record a reversal.
Isaiah 22:15 speaks of Shebna as "over the household." But in Isaiah 36:3, 22 and Isaiah 37:2, Eliakim is the one "over the household," and Shebna comes after him as "the secretary." So during the reign of Hezekiah, Eliakim was rising, and Shebna was falling from his very high position.
Eliakim's rise was more than palace politics.
Eliakim must have held a high office. His name comes before the scribe and the recorder. In Isaiah 22 God calls him His servant: God would set Shebna aside, and clothe Eliakim and raise him up as governor. Eliakim would have the key of David, and be able to open and shut with full effect. He is here a picture of Christ when He comes to take His place over Israel.
Strip away hindsight, and the scene looks hopeless.
Note, then, this wonderful scene. Go to the sanctuary. There you see one poor, weak, solitary man on his knees, pouring out his soul to Him who dwelt between the cherubim. There are no military preparations and no reviewing of troops. "The senior priests, covered with sackcloth" pass back and forth from Hezekiah to the prophet Isaiah. Everything looks like weakness. On the other hand, see a mighty conqueror leading a huge army flushed with victory, all eager for plunder.
Judah had lost almost everything. Yet what remained was worth more than it looked.
Did they have any resource, this weak "remnant that is left"? Yes, indeed! They still had the Lord's temple, His beloved city, Mount Zion, the son of David and his throne, and the prophet who carried the word of God. They still had much more than David himself had in the cave of Adullam! … Faith alone can discover it, "the remnant that is left." But faith does discover it. It prefers the house of God to all the tents of wickedness … it listens to the voice of the prophet, and closes its ear to the blaspheming voice of the enemy's servants.
- Order. Hezekiah goes to God first, then sends to the prophet. Our failures come from reversing that order.
- Channel. He prays to God Himself. He expects the answer through God's servant.
- Clothing. Sackcloth is the symbol of repentance and self-judgment. Entering the house of the Lord is the positive side of the same move.
- Messengers. Eliakim now stands over the household, above Shebna the secretary. Writers see in his rise a picture of Christ taking His place over Israel.
- Resource. A praying king, priests in sackcloth and a prophet — more than David had when he hid in a cave, and enough for faith.
And they said to him, Thus says Hezekiah This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of reviling; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
Hezekiah's officials come to Isaiah in sackcloth, sent by a king whose city the Assyrian army has surrounded and whose God the enemy has mocked out loud. He names the day for what it is, and he names his own weakness with a picture of a birth that starts but cannot finish — so where does rescue come from when the strength to finish is gone?
Hezekiah's words admit real anguish. But the danger drives him towards God, not away from Him. (The writers quoted here use an older translation, which reads "trouble… rebuke… reviling" where the ESV has "distress… rebuke… disgrace.")
Their confidence did not rule out anguish. The extreme danger did press on the heart. They wear sackcloth and tear their garments as a sign of affliction, humiliation and mourning. But the danger drives Hezekiah and his people towards the house of God and towards the words of God, to receive counsel, strength and comfort. "This day is a day of trouble and of rebuke and of reviling; for the children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring forth." In such times, and in our own, we must feel that these are days "of trouble and of rebuke." Our part is deep humiliation. Like this little remnant, we have to take the reproach of a great people upon ourselves. But one thing is enough for the afflicted remnant and ought to be enough for us: the Lord is there; it is He, not ourselves, who has been defied.
The crisis has reached its final stage, and the strength to meet it is gone. One writer sees the same distress repeating among God's people.
Distress like this has often returned in the history of the Church. A crisis arises that finds the saints of God pitifully weak in meeting the attacks of the enemy. What is their resource? Only the grace of God.
Hezekiah does two things at once. He prays, and he sends others to the prophet.
He goes to the Lord; they are sent to the Lord's servant. This was right. He looks in prayer to God Himself, and he expects an answer through His servant.
Outward strength was gone, yet the list of what remained is long. The same writer weighs it against David's lowest days in the cave of Adullam.
All Judah sacked, the Assyrian army besieging the only city still left standing, the Lord's servant despised and treated as an evildoer by the nations, the name of the Lord trampled underfoot… Did they have any resource, this weak "remnant that is left" (v. 4)? Yes, indeed! They still had the Lord's temple, His beloved city, Mount Zion, the son of David and his throne, the prophet — bearer of the word of God; they still had much more than David himself had in the cave of Adullam! The flesh might grow discouraged; faith could not.
Isaiah does not leave this birth unfinished. One writer follows the picture to the end of the book, where God asks whether He brings a birth this far and then stops.
Again, "The children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth" (Isa. 37:3). Now note Isaiah 66:9-10, "Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth? says the Lord… Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her." Why? She has given birth to a son (v. 7). Who has heard such a thing? A NATION born at once! "As soon as Zion was in labour she brought forth her children" (v. 8).
One writer warns against reading that national birth as the new birth of individuals:
At the time of their deliverance the remnant will come to the birth as the new nation of Israel. That is true, and that is what these words mean. The suggestion that they were not born again as individuals before that has no support and is false.
- Name the day. Hezekiah calls it a day of trouble, rebuke and reviling. Faith's part in such a day is deep humiliation, not a brave face.
- No strength. The crisis has reached full term and his power to meet it is gone. The only resource left is the grace of God.
- His quarrel, not ours. The enemy defied the Lord Himself, not the remnant. So the answer must come from Him.
- Strength borrowed. With no strength of his own, the king prays and sends to the prophet for God's word — both at once.
- Strength supplied. God does not abandon a birth He has brought this far; the unfinished travail here points on to a nation born at once.
It may be Jehovah thy God will hear the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which Jehovah thy God hath heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that is left.
The king of Assyria's officer had just stood outside Jerusalem and mocked Judah's God. Hezekiah does not argue back. He asks for prayer. His words sound unsure — "it may be" — yet they name what matters: the Assyrian has mocked the living God, and only a remnant is left to plead. (Older translations read "reproach the living God" where the ESV has "mock.")
Hezekiah says "the LORD your God" to the prophet, not "my God." That small word measures his faith.
If Hezekiah's faith had been stronger, he would have been able to say "my God" instead of "your God," but despite feeble faith, God answered, for the feeble faith was in a strong and powerful living God. What encouragement there is for us in this. Our faith may be very feeble, like Hezekiah's. It is not the strong faith of a Paul, who could write, "And my God will supply every need of yours" (Phil. 4:19). But "the faintest, feeblest cry we raise will reach the Saviour's ear."
Hezekiah grasps one thing. The insult went past him and struck God, so the quarrel is God's to settle.
But one thing is enough for the afflicted remnant, and it ought to be enough for us. The Lord is there. It is He, not ourselves, who has been defied. So let us say like Hezekiah: perhaps the Lord will hear the words of the one who reproaches the living God, and will punish the words He has heard (v. 4). And the Lord will answer us.
Hezekiah does two things at once. He prays himself, and he sends his men to the prophet.
He goes to the Lord; he sends them to the Lord's servant. This was right. He looks in prayer to God Himself, and he expects an answer through His servant… And the answer is immediate.
Hezekiah asked for prayer because the attack was beyond him. That weakness is not unique to him.
A crisis comes that finds God's people pitifully weak against the attacks of the enemy. What is their resource? Only the grace of God. So Hezekiah asked Isaiah to pray that God would rebuke the words of the Rabshakeh. He asked that God would preserve the small remnant of Israel left in the land (v. 4).
Hezekiah asks for prayer for "the remnant that is left." He will not claim a bigger name than that.
He spoke of them as "the remnant that is left." He recognised the unity of all Israel. The ten tribes had now gone into captivity. He did not fall into the trap of assuming that the two tribes he ruled were more than a "remnant," left by the mercy of God. Today the enemy has carried much of the professing church away from its true place and portion. So let any who have escaped this, and who remain true in any degree to their original calling, never forget one thing: they have no other standing than a remnant of the whole. They are not re-formed as a separate body.
Small is not the same as empty-handed.
Did they have any resource, this weak "remnant that is left" (v. 4)? Yes, indeed! They still had the Lord's temple, His beloved city, Mount Zion, the son of David and his throne, the prophet who carried the word of God. They still had far more than David himself had in the cave of Adullam! The flesh might become discouraged; faith could not. In the middle of this indescribable disaster, faith had everything that gave it firm assurance — Immanuel, God present with His people.
The reply came back through Isaiah at once. It dealt with the insult first.
Even if Hezekiah's faith was small, the Lord answered his cry. The glory of His Name was in question. So we have the divine reply to the king: "Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him… and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land."
- Small faith. "It may be" and "the LORD your God" show a weak grip. Yet that feeble faith rested on a strong, living God, and the faintest cry still reached Him.
- Not your fight. The taunt was against God, not really against Hezekiah. It is He, not we, whom the enemy defies.
- Two directions. He went to God in prayer and sent to God's servant for the answer. Asking others to pray admits the crisis is too big for you.
- Remnant honesty. He claimed no more than "the remnant that is left." Those left today have no other standing either.
- Rich in ruin. Stripped of everything else, the remnant still had the temple, Zion, the son of David and the prophet. That was more than David had in his cave. And God answered for the glory of His Name.
And the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
Isaiah 37:5 records one step in a national crisis: Hezekiah's officials reach the prophet. What matters is the message they carried and the answer they carried home.
Hezekiah did not send men to Isaiah instead of praying. One commentator notes the double action behind this short verse:
He goes to Jehovah; they are sent to Jehovah's servant. This was right. He looks in prayer to God Himself, and he expects an answer through His servant... And the answer is immediate.
One writer notes what Hezekiah did not do first:
He did not call a council of his advisers or a meeting of the captains to talk the matter over. He did not send first to the prophet. Faith knows a better way than that. He went straight into the presence of the LORD, and the sending to Isaiah was secondary. Many of our failures as His people happen because we do not go to the LORD first.
The distress behind this errand was not unique to Judah. One commentator sees it repeated:
Similar distress has been often repeated in the history of the Church. A crisis comes that finds the saints of God pitifully weak against the attacks of the enemy. What is their resource? Only the grace of God. So Hezekiah asked Isaiah to pray. He asked that God would rebuke the words of the Rabshakeh and keep the small remnant of Israel left in the land.
What Hezekiah left out of his message says as much as what he put in:
And equally beautiful is his message to God's prophet. He does not mention himself in the danger of Jerusalem. It is the honour of Jehovah which is at stake; the honour of the living God is at stake. The Assyrian had defied the God of Israel. Yes, Hezekiah's comfort was that Jehovah had heard it all and knew it all.
Another writer adds that the answer did not depend on the size of Hezekiah's faith:
Hezekiah was not a man of great faith, but he saw that the godless king of Assyria was not only challenging him — he was reproaching the God of Israel... Even if Hezekiah's faith was small, the Lord answered his cry, for the glory of His name was in question.
The answer Isaiah sent back named what Jehovah would do with the Assyrian:
His clothes torn, the king covers himself in sackcloth and goes to the house of Jehovah. There he asks the prophet. The prophet returns Jehovah's answer: they were not to fear the words of blasphemy. Jehovah would take the matter in hand and send the Assyrian back to die in his own land.
The remnant looked to have nothing left. One writer lists what they still had:
Did they have any resource, this weak "remnant that is left"? Yes, indeed! They still had Jehovah's temple, His beloved city, Mount Zion, the son of David and his throne, and the prophet who carried the word of God. They still had much more than David himself had in the cave of Adullam! The flesh might become discouraged; faith could not.
One writer reads the whole episode as a pattern for a later rescue:
Isaiah 36-39 relate the history of the invasion of Sennacherib, its result... These chapters instruct the remnant on how to wait on the Lord. In substance, this deliverance is a picture of the one that will take place with the Assyrian in the last days.
- Pray first. Hezekiah went into God's house before he sent anyone anywhere. Going to advisers, or even to the prophet, before God is where failure begins.
- Then send. The king looked to God in prayer and expected the reply through God's servant. The reply came at once.
- Admit the weakness. The same crisis returns in the history of the Church. When God's people are that weak against the enemy, their only resource is the grace of God.
- Name God's honour. Hezekiah left himself out and put the honour of the living God in front of the prophet. God answered his small faith, because the glory of His name was at stake.
- Count what is left. The remnant still had the temple, the throne of David, and a prophet with God's word. That is more than David himself had in the cave of Adullam. It also points ahead to a greater deliverance still to come.