On to Judah and Jerusalem!

Eight years after the northern kingdom fell in 740 B.C.E., a new Assyrian monarch, Sennacherib, marches against Jerusalem. Isaiah poetically describes Sennacherib's prideful plan: "I shall remove the boundaries of peoples, and their things stored up I shall certainly pillage, and I shall bring down the inhabitants just like a powerful one. And just as if a nest, my hand will reach the resources of the peoples; and just as when one gathers eggs that have been left, I myself will gather up even all the earth, and there will certainly be no one fluttering his wings or opening his mouth or chirping."  (Isaiah 10:13, 14)  Sennacherib reasons that other cities have fallen and Samaria  is no more, so Jerusalem will be easy prey!  The city might put up a halfhearted fight, but with hardly a chirp, its inhabitants will be quickly subdued, their resources plucked up like eggs from an abandoned nest.

However, Sennacherib is forgetting something Apostate Samaria deserved the punishment that it received.  Under King Hezekiah, however, Jerusalem has once again become a bastion of pure worship.  Anyone wanting to touch Jerusalem will have Jehovah to reckon with!  Indignantly, Isaiah asks:  'Will the ax enhance itself over the one chopping with it, or the saw magnify itself over the one moving it back and forth, as though the staff moved back and forth the ones raising it on high, as though the rod raised on high the one who is not wood?" (Isaiah 10:15)  The Assyrian Empire is a mere tool in Jehovah's hand, much as an ax, a saw, a staff, or a rod might be used  by a woodsman, a sawyer, or a shepherd.  How dare the rod now magnify itself over the one who uses it!

What will happen to the Assyrian?  "The true Lord, Jehovah of armies, will keep sending upon his fat ones a wasting disease, and under his glory a burning will keep burning away like the burning of a fire. And Israel's Light must become a fire, and his Holy One a flame; and it must blaze up and eat up his weeds and his thornbushes in one day. And  the glory of his forest and of his orchard  He will bring to an end, even from the soul clear to the flesh, and it must become like  the melting away of one that is ailing. And the rest of the trees of his forest-they will become such a number  that a mere boy will be able to write them down."  (Isaiah 10:16-19) Yes, Jehovah will whittle that Assyrian  "rod" down to size!  The "fat ones' of the Assyrian's army, his stout soldiers, will be stuck with "a wasting disease."  They will  no look so strong!  Like so many weeds and thornbushes, his ground troops will be burned by the Light of Israel, Jehovah God.  And "the glory of  his forest," his military officers, will come to their end.  After Jehovah finishes with the Assyrian, so few officers will remain that a mere boy will be able to number them on his fingers! -See also Isaiah 10:33, 34.

Still, the Jews living in Jerusalem in 732 B.C.E. must find it hard to believe that the Assyrian will be defeated.  The vast Assyrian is advancing relentlessly.  Listen to the list of cities in Judah that have fallen:  "He has come upon Aliath . . .Migron . . . Michmash . . . Geba . . .Ramah . . . Gibeah of Saul . . . Gallim . . . Laishah . . .Ahathoth . . . Madmenah . . . Gebim . . .Nob."  (Isaiah 10:28-32b)  What can stop the Assyrian?

In his palace in the city, King Hezekiah grows anxious.  He rips his garments apart and covers himself  with sackcloth.  (Isaiah 37:1)  He sends men to the prophet Isaiah to inquire of Jehovah on Judah's behalf.  They soon return with Jehovah's answer: "Do not be afraid . . .I shall certainly defend this city."  (Isaiah 37:6, 35)  Still, the Assyrians are menacing and supremely confident.

Next time: Continue with On to Judah and Jerusalem!

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, 2000