37:33-35
Isaiah now says exactly what will happen. Assyria will not enter the city. In fact, there will be no warfare at all, no arrows fired, no siege ramps built (the normal weapons of siege warfare). Instead the king will return by the way he came. Why will this happen? Because the Lord will defend the city and save it. He will do this for His own sake, and for the sake of David.
37:36-38
The word of the Lord spoken by Isaiah is now fulfilled. The angel of the Lord put to death one hundred and eighty five thousand Assyrian soldiers. The remaining army then withdrew back to Nineveh. Sennacherib was later killed by his two sons while worshipping an idol (Nishrok).
We know that some years later Babylon attacked the city and did not destroy it. At the time the people thought that this was impossible, surely God would intervene! Jeremiah warned them that He would not. So why the difference? Why did God intervene this time, but not when Babylon attacked? Although Hezekiah was faithful to a degree, he did falter at the end, as we shall see, so Judah was not that much better morally speaking. Maybe two things were happening. First, God was demonstrating that He truly was the Lord, and even the most powerful armies could be defeated by Him, and this happened when the king put his trust in the Lord. Secondly, the people needed to realise that they needed to change, hence the Babylonian defeat.
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