BREAKING THE ENEMY'S SIEGE – ISAIAH 36 & 37

By Sam Cerny

I. OLD TESTAMENT BATTLES

1In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. Isa. 36:1-2

A. At this point in history, Assyria was a seemingly unconquerable world empire. Their armies had already conquered the northern tribes of Israel and deported many of their inhabitants. Then they pushed south and conquered all the cities of the southern tribe Judah. Now their final thrust in their campaign to conquer Judah was the capital city of Jerusalem, which had just come under siege.

B. This final battle is what we're going to look at tonight. However, before we do, we need to ask ourselves, “How should a New Testament Christian interpret Old Testament battles? Can we apply those ancient principles of warfare to our present situations? If so, how?” In answer to that, let's look at three principles of Israel's Old Testament wars...

1. Every battle Israel engage in seemed unwinnable. They were always inferior, outnumbered, and outclassed. In and of themselves, Israel had no chance for victory. When attacked by Moab and Ammon, the words of King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chron. 20:12 could have easily applied to any of these Old Testament battles, “For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

a. Regarding this siege of Jerusalem, Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, wrote in his annals which have been unearthed by archeologists, “As for Hezekiah the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke. I laid siege to 46 of his strong cities, walled forts and to the countless small villages in their vicinity, and conquered them by means of well-stamped earth ramps and battering-rams brought near to the walls combined with the attack by foot-soldiers, using mines, breaches as well as sapper work. I drove out 200,150 people, young and old, male and female, horses, mules, donkeys, camels, big and small cattle beyond counting, and considered them booty. Himself I made a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage.”

b. Regarding this Assyria's military campaign in general and this siege in particular, one historian writes, “The Assyrian invasions of the eighth century B.C. were the most traumatic political events in the entire history of Israel. The brutal Assyrian style of warfare relied on massive armies, superbly equipped with the world’s first great siege machines manipulated by an efficient corps of engineers. Psychological terror, however, was Assyria’s most effective weapon. It was ruthlessly applied, with corpses impaled on stakes, severed heads stacked in heaps, and captives skinned alive. The shock of bloody military sieges on both Israel and Judah was profound.”

2. Every battle Israel engaged in was eschatological. Every war in Israel's ancient history foreshadowed much greater wars for the church and Israel in the end-times. In other words, these Old Testament battles become blueprints for more profound battles at the end of the age. So studying these battles has never been more applicable than for our generation. “Then in chapters

30-32 Isaiah comes to grips with Egypt and Assyria by name, but the more plainly he engages with history the more easily he moves into eschatology, placing the Messianic kingdom side by side with the downfall of Assyria.” (J. Alec Motyer, Isaiah, An Introduction and Commentary) Along these lines, Paul wrote, “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” (1 Cor. 10:11)

3. Every battle Israel engaged in was spiritual. In other words, it was clearly understood by Israel and her enemies that the primary conflict was taking place among heavenly beings in the heavenly realms, and secondarily among humans soldiers on earthly battlefields.

a. When Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, sent his field commander to taunt the citizens of Jerusalem, consider what he said, “18Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, 'The LORD will deliver us.' Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? 20Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?” (Isa. 36:18-19)

b. First and foremost, it was a battle between the gods of the nations. We know, however, that these gods were not gods per se, but rather demonic beings exercising rulership and influence over nations. “They made Him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols. They sacrificed to demons, which are not God.” (Deut.

32:16-17)

c. In other words, for Israel to have victory over their enemies, there had to be an overthrow of the demonic powers influencing and leading her enemies. Israel understood this reality, and so again and again, she didn't respond to her enemies with political diplomacy or military might, but with prayer and worship. Israel knew that the key to victories on the field were victories in the heavens. So in response to very real political taunts from King Sennacherib and a very real military siege from the Assyrian army where real people in Jerusalem would die as a result, what does King Hezekiah do? Just one thing, he prays. “14Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. 15And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD...” (Isa. 37:14-15)

II. OLD TESTAMENT PRAYERS

O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Isa. 36:16

A. Notice that the Bible doesn't just say that Hezekiah prayed, but it also tells us what he prayed. Why?

Does how we pray matter? Does the content of our prayers matter? If it didn't, then the Bible would not have recorded their prayers for us. It's not just important that we pray, but how we pray.

B. When looking at Hezekiah's prayer, it is broken up into two parts: v. 16 are proclamations of who God is, and vs. 17-20 are requests for God to act. This is critical to grasp. Your understanding of God will determine the faith behind your requests to God. So let's look at what Hezekiah declared about God...

1. God has all power. “O Lord Almighty...” This phrase in the NIV is not a literal translation. The

NKV, NAS, and other versions more accurately translate it as “The Lord of Hosts...”

a. In Hebrew, this name is Yahweh Sebaot, and it is one of the most common names used for God and is used almost 300 times in the Scriptures. Yahweh literally means “He is” and is translated as “Lord” throughout the Bible. When God speaks His name, He says, “I am” (Exod. 3:14), and when we speak His name, we say, “He is” (3:15). Sebaot means hosts or armies and is taken from the root word seba meaning to fight or make war.

b. While these hosts can refer to Israel's earthly armies, they almost always refer to God's heavenly, angelic armies (see 1 Kings 22:19, Josh. 5:13-14, Ps. 89:5-8, etc…) So in essence, Hezekiah was stating that the armies on God's side were vastly larger and infinitely more powerful that the Assyrian war machine. It was Sennacherib and the

Assyrians who were really outnumbered! By using this name, Hezekiah was calling on

God to war on his behalf.

2. God is all-loving. “...God of Israel...” This phrase implies a family relationship and God's role as a loving Father. He wasn't just any God, but Israel's God. When my three-year-old daughter gets knocked down by another boy, she doesn't just yell for help to any man standing around. No, she yells directly to me for help. Why? Because she is my daughter, and I am her father. Hezekiah was appealing to this fact in prayer.

3. God has all authority. “…enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made heaven and earth.” Some governments are stronger than others. But only God is over all governments, including all earthly and spiritual kingdoms. The Assyrian king could only go as far as God allowed, and then no further. God really was in control. Considering the circumstances, this would have been easy for Hezekiah to forget, but he reasserted this fact in prayer.

C. So how did the Lord answer Hezekiah's prayer? “Then the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning-- there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.” (Isa. 37:36-37)

1. Israel could have tried to resist the Assyrian army, negotiate with Sennacherib, or flee south to Egypt. But their best plans could never have produced the result of Isa. 37:36-37. Only through prayer would such a miraculous result be achieved.

2. A saint once said, “When man works, man works. But when man prays, God works.” This is true. This angel didn't just show up by chance. No, this angel appeared because Hezekiah prayed. This is a fact, for consider Isaiah's words: “Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word the LORD has spoken against him…’” (Isa. 37:21-22)