And Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and abode at Nineveh.
The army that had surrounded Jerusalem is gone, and the king who mocked the living God simply goes home. This short line records a retreat. Commentators read it as the outcome God had announced in advance. They also read it as a preview of something far larger.
God had told Hezekiah how this siege would end: the invader would go back the way he came, and fall in his own land. One writer follows the retreat through to the king's death.
The result was that the king retreats in dismay. He returns and lives in Nineveh. But as Jehovah had sent a blast upon him in Palestine, so now he must fall in his own land. "While he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword. They escaped into the land of Armenia, and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place." So every word of Jehovah was accomplished.
Assyria's victories were not self-made. The same writer shows why the campaign stopped where it did.
The great king of Assyria might insult God, either himself or through his servants. But he had to learn that God knew all about him. God was making him only the instrument of His own dealing with the nations. This work done, he had to go back humbled and struck down, for he had gone beyond his commission. Would God approve his rage against Himself? … "But I know your sitting down, and your going out, and your coming in, and your raging against me. Because your raging against me and your arrogance has come up into my ears, I will put my ring in your nose and my bridle in your lips. I will make you go back by the way you came."
Sennacherib went home to his own god's temple. There the boast he had made to Hezekiah turned back on him.
He himself, the head of his army, suffers the sentence pronounced against him by the prophet (v. 37). His sons strike him with the sword as he bows down in the house of Nisroch his god. He had said to Hezekiah: The Lord will not deliver you; and look, his god Nisroch was unable to deliver him when he worshipped before him.
Another writer notes that the journey home gave Sennacherib time to turn to the true God, and that he did not.
Perhaps Sennacherib realised that Hezekiah's God was greater than he was. So he left Jerusalem with his remaining army and returned to Nineveh. But there he did not turn to the true God, as his experience told him he ought to. Instead, while he was worshipping in the temple of Nisroch, his idolatrous god, two of his own sons killed him. They escaped to the land of Ararat (v. 37). Nisroch was no protector of his deluded worshipper. But the living God was behind this judgment on Sennacherib. Though the wheels of God's government grind slowly, their results are absolutely certain.
A parallel account names who did the saving, and what came of it for Hezekiah.
"So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all others. He guided [literally, protected] them on every side. And many brought gifts to the Lord in Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that from then on all the nations held him in honour."
One writer explains why Scripture dwells so long on this one reign.
Hezekiah's life is told at length, because his reign held a foreshadowing. Sennacherib's attack on Jerusalem pictured a still greater deliverance from a future king of Assyria. God so controls the evil and passions of men that He makes them serve His purpose. In this way He gives a hint of what He will yet do for His own glory.
The same writer weighs this rescue against what is still ahead, and adds a word for the proud.
The total fall of the haughty Assyrian's kingdom followed a few years later. Those who walk in pride God is able to abase. How blessed to hear His voice and know His love! Real as it was, however, it was no more than a shadow of the great chief of the eastern nations in the latter day.
- Sent — God used Assyria as His instrument against the nations. Here He turns that instrument back, because it went beyond its commission.
- Struck — the retreat matched the sentence God gave in advance: back by the road he came, then death in his own land.
- Sheltered nowhere — he had told Hezekiah that the Lord could not deliver him. Then his own god could not deliver him from his sons.
- Slow but sure — he went home and never turned to the true God. The wheels of God's government grind slowly, but their results are certain.
- Shadow — the rescue was real, but it was only a shadow. A far greater deliverance is still to come.
And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
This verse ends the story of Sennacherib. The king who mocked the living God dies in the temple of his own god, killed by his own sons. Commentators read it as the exact fulfilment of what God had said. They also read it as a picture of how every power that lifts itself against God ends.
The story does not end outside Jerusalem. It ends where God said it would end, in Assyria itself.
The result was that the king retreats in dismay. He returns and lives in Nineveh. But as Jehovah had struck him in Palestine, so now he must fall in his own land. … So every word of Jehovah was accomplished.
Sennacherib had told Hezekiah that the Lord would not rescue him. He died proving himself wrong, in front of the god he trusted.
He himself, the head of his army, suffers the sentence the prophet pronounced against him. His sons struck him with the sword while he was bowed down in the house of Nisroch his god. He had said to Hezekiah: The Lord will not deliver you; and look — his god Nisroch was unable to deliver him while he worshipped before him.
Sennacherib got home alive. He had time to change course, and he did not use it.
Perhaps Sennacherib realised that Hezekiah's God was greater than he was, so he left Jerusalem with his remaining army and returned to Nineveh. But there he did not turn to the true God, as his experience told him he ought to. Instead, while he was worshipping in the temple of Nisroch, his idol, two of his own sons killed him. They escaped to the land of Ararat. Nisroch was no protector of his deluded worshipper. But the living God was behind this judgment on Sennacherib. Though the wheels of God's government grind slowly, their results are absolutely certain.
A man expects safety in his own temple. Sennacherib found none there, and the writers see a pattern in it.
He might naturally have hoped for security at least in the temple of his god. But no. He did not know what it was to cover himself with sackcloth in the presence of Him who dwells between the cherubim. So this was the treatment he received at the shrine of the god he worshipped. Such will be the end of all those who exalt themselves against the Lord and His people.
Readers using an older Bible will see a different country named here.
This name occurs in the Authorised Version in 2 Kings 19:37; Isaiah 37:38, as the place to which two sons of Sennacherib fled after killing their father; but in both these passages the Hebrew word is Ararat. Armenia lies west of the Caspian Sea.
The son who takes the throne was no small figure himself.
Son of Sennacherib and grandson of Sargon. He succeeded Sennacherib as king of Assyria. … It was this king who sent foreigners to settle Samaria. … From the records on the monuments he appears to have been one of the most powerful of the Assyrian kings. He reigned from B.C. 681 to 668.
The writers do not stop at ancient history. Kelly reads the fall of this king as a shadow of something later.
The complete fall of the proud Assyrian's kingdom followed a few years later. Those who walk in pride God is able to humble. How good it is to hear His voice and know His love! Real as it was, however, it was no more than a shadow of the great chief of the eastern nations in the latter day.
Rossier names the enemy this points forward to.
It will be the same for the Assyrian of the end time, the king of the North. He too will meet his judgment; as Daniel 11:44-45 says, he will come to his end with no one to help him.
- Word. God said this king would fall in his own land, and he did. Every word of Jehovah came true.
- Idol. The man who told Hezekiah that no god could deliver him died while worshipping the god who could not deliver him.
- Delay. He reached home and had time to turn to the true God. He did not. God's government grinds slowly, but its results are certain.
- Pride. Even his own shrine gave him no shelter — this is how everyone ends who exalts himself against the Lord and His people.
- Shadow. Real as the fall was, it was only a small picture of the judgment awaiting the last great enemy of God's people.