2 Kings 19:20 - Meaning and Application

Here we have the gracious and full answer God gave to Hezekiah’s prayer. The message sent through the same messenger, Isaiah, son of Amoz (2 Kings 19:6, 2 Kings 19:7), might seem enough by itself. Yet God gave Hezekiah more, so he could have strong comfort, resting on two unchanging things in which it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18).

In general, God told Hezekiah that his prayer had been heard, especially his prayer against Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:20). It is a sad thing for those against whom God’s people pray. If the oppressed cry out to God against the one who oppresses them, he will hear (Exodus 22:23). God hears and answers, and he hears with the saving strength of his right hand (Psalm 20:6).

This message speaks of two things, judgment for Sennacherib and relief for Hezekiah.

First, it foretells confusion and shame for Sennacherib and his army. The prophet turns his speech toward him in a striking way, as in Isaiah 10:5, where Assyria is called the rod of God’s anger. The message was not actually sent to Sennacherib in these words, but he was made to know it by what happened. Providence spoke to him clearly, and perhaps his own heart whispered it to him too, for God has more than one way of speaking in wrath and troubling sinners in his displeasure (Psalm 2:5).

Sennacherib is shown as the scorn of Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:21). He thought he was terrifying the daughter of Zion, Jerusalem, pictured as a pure young woman in her father’s house. He believed his threats could force her to submit. But she is under her Father’s protection, so she despises him and laughs at him. His empty rage is ridiculous. He who sits in heaven laughs, and so do all who live under his shadow. God said this to quiet the fears of Hezekiah and the people. To human sight the enemy looked fearsome, but to faith he looked foolish.

He is also shown as an enemy of God, and that alone made him miserable. Hezekiah had said, “Lord, he has insulted you” (2 Kings 19:16). God answers, “He has, and I take it as done against myself” (2 Kings 19:22). He has insulted the Holy One of Israel, whose honor is precious to him and whom he is able to defend, unlike the gods of the nations.

Sennacherib is also exposed as a proud, boastful fool, speaking great words of vanity and claiming credit for what was not his. In his boasts, as well as in his threats, he insulted the Lord. He magnified his own deeds far beyond the truth (2 Kings 19:23, 2 Kings 19:24). God says, “You have said this and that.” These words were not in the letter itself, but God showed Hezekiah that he not only saw what was written, he also heard what Sennacherib said elsewhere, likely in council or before his armies. God notices the boasts of proud people and will call them to account, so that he may humble them (Job 40:11).

Sennacherib pictured himself as a great conqueror. He spoke as if he had driven his chariots to mountain tops, cut through forests, crossed rivers, and overcome every obstacle. Nothing, he claimed, could stand before him. No hill was too high, no tree too strong, no water too deep. He spoke as if he had God’s own power, able to say and make it done.

He also took for himself the glory of things that were really done by the Lord (2 Kings 19:25, 2 Kings 19:26). In his letter, he had pointed to what Hezekiah had heard about the kings of Assyria (2 Kings 19:11). God answers by reminding Hezekiah of what he himself had done for Israel in the past, drying up the Red Sea, leading them through the wilderness, and planting them in Canaan. What were Sennacherib’s deeds compared with those? As for the ruin he had brought on the earth, and especially in Judah, he was only God’s instrument, a tool in his hand. God says, “It was I who brought it to pass. I gave you your power, your success, and your place. I raised you up to lay waste fortified cities and to punish them for their sins. That is why their people had so little strength.”

How foolish and daring it was for Sennacherib to lift himself above God and against God, using what God had done through him. Isaiah explains his boasting in Isaiah 10:13, Isaiah 10:14, where he says, “By my own strength and wisdom I have done it.” God answers that with the image of an axe boasting against the one who cuts with it (Isaiah 10:15). It is absurd for the fly on the wheel to say, “Look at the dust I make,” or for the sword in a hand to say, “Look at the destruction I work.” If God is the main worker in all things, boasting has no place.

Sennacherib is also shown as being under the check and rebuke of the God he blasphemed. All his movements were under God’s eye (2 Kings 19:27). God says, “I know where you live, and I know what you plan in secret. I know your coming and going, your marches and countermarches, your rage against me and my people, and the noise of your preparations.” Hezekiah wanted news of the enemy’s movements, but what need was there for that when God’s eye was always watching him (2 Chronicles 16:9)?

His actions were also under God’s control (2 Kings 19:28). God says, “I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your jaws.” As with a great sea monster, God will restrain him, manage him, and turn him wherever he pleases. He will send him home like a fool, empty-handed and defeated. This is a great comfort to all who love the church. God has a hook in the nose and a bridle in the jaws of all her enemies. He can make even their anger serve his praise, and then hold back the rest of it. Here the proud waves must stop.

Second, the message brings salvation and joy to Hezekiah and his people. It will be a sign of God’s favor, proof that he is reconciled to them and that his anger has turned away (Isaiah 12:1). It is a wonder in their eyes, a sign that points to good, and a pledge of more mercy still to come. Their present trouble will end well in every way.

Food was scarce and costly, so what would they eat? The Assyrian army had eaten up the land’s produce (Isaiah 32:9, Isaiah 32:10). Yet they will not only remain in the land, they will truly be fed. If God saves them, he will not let them starve after sparing them from the sword. In that year they will eat what grows by itself, and there will be enough. The Assyrians had reaped what they did not sow, but now they will reap what they themselves did not sow.

The next year was the Sabbath year, when the land was to rest and they were neither to sow nor reap. What would they do then? The answer is simple, Jehovah-jireh, meaning “The Lord will provide.”

God’s blessing will save both the seed and the labor. Even that year, the voluntary growth of the earth will sustain them, reminding them that the earth brought forth produce before there was any man to till it (Genesis 1:11). Then, in the third year, their farming life will return to normal, and they will sow and reap as before.

The land had been laid waste, families had been broken apart and scattered, and everything was in confusion. That is no surprise when such an army had overrun the country. But God promises that the remnant of the house of Judah, that is, the country people who escaped, will be planted again in their own homes and estates. They will take root there, increase, and prosper (2 Kings 19:30).

Notice how their prosperity is described. It is like roots going down deep and fruit growing upward. They will be firmly settled and well supplied, and from that position they will also help others. This is also a picture of true prosperity for the soul. The soul takes root downward by faith in Christ, then bears fruit upward in the fruits of righteousness.

The city had been shut up so that no one could go out or come in. Now the remnant in Jerusalem and Zion will go out freely, and no one will stop them or make them afraid (2 Kings 19:31). Great destruction had come on both city and country, but in both places there was a remnant that escaped. That remnant pointed ahead to the true saved remnant of Israel, as seen by comparing Isaiah 10:22-23 with Romans 9:27-28, where the same event is in view. They will go out into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

The Assyrians were moving toward Jerusalem and were close to besieging it. The city was in real danger of falling into their hands. Yet God promises that the siege they feared will never happen. Even if the enemy had already camped around the city, they would never enter it, and they would not even shoot an arrow into it (2 Kings 19:32-33). The king of Assyria would be forced to retreat in shame and live long with regret over his attempt.

God himself promises to defend the city (2 Kings 19:34). When God takes up a person’s cause, or a place’s cause, that person or place is safe. The honor and truth of God stand behind all of this. These are great promises, but how will they happen? They will be done by the zeal of the Lord of hosts, his strong, jealous concern for what belongs to him (2 Kings 19:31).

He is the Lord of hosts, so all creatures are under his command, and he is fully able to do it. He is deeply jealous for Jerusalem, with a holy jealousy (Zechariah 1:14). He has joined her to himself as a pure bride, so he will not allow her to be mistreated (2 Kings 19:21). They had reason to feel unworthy that such great things should be done for them, but God’s own zeal would do it.

His zeal works for two reasons. First, it works for his own honor, “I will do it for my own sake, to make my name last forever” (2 Kings 19:34). God’s reasons for showing mercy come from within himself. Second, it works for his own truth. “I will do it for my servant David’s sake,” meaning not because David deserved it, but because of the promise made to him and the covenant made with him, those sure promises to David. In the same way, all the deliverances of the church are done for the sake of Christ, the Son of David.