Isaiah 37:5

⁴Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.”⁵So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah,⁶who replied, “Tell your master that this is what the LORD says: ‘Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.

Summary

In this verse, King Hezekiah sends messengers to the prophet Isaiah seeking guidance and help in the face of a threatening Assyrian invasion. Hezekiah's actions demonstrate his faith and reliance on God's wisdom and power to deliver his people. This passage illustrates the importance of seeking God's counsel and intervention in times of trouble, showing that true strength and victory come from trusting in the Lord rather than relying on human strategies alone. It serves as a reminder for believers to turn to God in prayer and seek His guidance in all circumstances.

Commentary

Keil-Delitzsch
John Gill
Tyndale

Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary

Isaiah's reply. "And the servants of king Hizkiyahu came to Isaiah. And Isaiah said to them (אליהם, K. להם), Speak thus to your lord, Thus saith Jehovah, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Asshur have blasphemed me! Behold, I will bring a spirit upon him, and he will hear a hearsay, and return to his land; and I cut him down with the sword in his own land." Luzzatto, without any necessity, takes ויּאמרוּ in Isa 37:3 in the modal sense of what they were to do (e dovevano dirgli): they were to say this to him, but he anticipated them at once with the instructions given here. The fact, so far as the style is concerned, is rather this, that Isa 37:5, while pointing back, gives the ground for Isa 37:6 : "and when they had come to him (saying this), he said to them." נערי we render "servants" (Knappen) (Note: Knappe is the same word as "Knave;" but we have no word in use now which is an exact equivalent, and knave has entirely lost its original sense of servant. - Tr.) after Est 2:2; Est 6:3, Est 6:5; it is a more contemptuous expression than עבדי. The rūăch mentioned here as sent by God is a superior force of a spiritual kind, which influences both thought and conduct, as in such other connections as Isa 19:14; Isa 28:6; Isa 29:10 (Psychol. p. 295, Anm.). The external occasion which determined the return of Sennacherib, as described in Isa 37:36-37, was the fearful mortality that had taken place in his army. The shemū‛âh (rumour, hearsay), however, was not the tidings of this catastrophe, but, as the continuation of the account in Isa 37:8, Isa 37:9, clearly shows, the report of the advance of Tirhakah, which compelled Sennacherib to leave Palestine in consequence of this catastrophe. The prediction of his death is sufficiently special to be regarded by modern commentators, who will admit nothing but the most misty figures as prophecies, as a vaticinium post eventum. At the same time, the prediction of the event which would drive the Assyrian out of the land is intentionally couched in these general terms. The faith of the king, and of the inquirers generally, still needed to be tested and exercised. The time had not yet come for him to be rewarded by a clearer and fuller announcement of the judgment.

John Gill Bible Commentary

So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. And delivered the above message to him from the king: these servants are mentioned Isa 37:2. Musculus thinks that the third and fourth verses are the words of the king to the messengers, and not of the messengers to the prophet; and that the first clause of the "third" verse should be rendered, "that they might say unto him", &c.; and having received their instructions, here is an account of their going to the prophet with them, which they delivered to him, and which it was not necessary to repeat. The Arabic version reads this verse in connection with the following, thus, "when the servants of King Hezekiah, came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them", &c. . Musculus thinks that the third and fourth verses are the words of the king to the messengers, and not of the messengers to the prophet; and that the first clause of the "third" verse should be rendered, "that they might say unto him", &c.; and having received their instructions, here is an account of their going to the prophet with them, which they delivered to him, and which it was not necessary to repeat. The Arabic version reads this verse in connection with the following, thus, "when the servants of King Hezekiah, came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them", &c. Isaiah 37:6 isa 37:6 isa 37:6 isa 37:6And Isaiah said unto them, thus shall you say unto your master,.... Or, "your lord" (q); King Hezekiah, whose ministers and messengers they were: thus saith the Lord, be not afraid of the words thou hast heard; be not not terrified by them, they are but words, and no more, and will never become facts: wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me; by representing him as no better than the gods of the Gentiles, and as unable to deliver out of the hands of the king of Assyria the city of Jerusalem, when he had said he would. The word (r) for "servants" signifies boys, lads, young men; so Rabshakeh and his two companions, Rabsaris and Tartan, are called, by way of contempt, they acting a weak and childish part as well as a wicked one. (q) "ad dominum vestrum", Montanus. (r) "pueri recens nati, infantes, pueri judicio", Gusset.