• In 701 B.C., Sennacherib, king of Assyria reached Jerusalem and attacked the fortified cities and sent Rabshakeh (an Assyrian military title) from Lachish, a buffer city near Jerusalem. In Jerusalem Rabshakeh sent a message to king Hezekiah, ridiculing him for having trusted in Egypt for security, and for having trusted in the LORD (36:1-7). Rabshakeh also cried out to the people, urging them not to let Hezekiah deceive them into thinking that they had a chance of defeating the Assyrian army if they trusted in God. (36:8-22).
• When Hezekiah heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the Temple of the LORD. Isaiah gave the king a message from the LORD. Hezekiah should not to be afraid of Rabshakeh's blasphemous words. The king of Assyria would hear a rumor and return to his own land where he would fall by the sword
(37:1-13).
• Hezekiah prayed that the Creator LORD would deliver his people from Assyria so that all the nations of the earth would know that the LORD alone is God (37:14-20). Isaiah told the king that the LORD defend His people for David's sake (37:21-35).
• The angel of the LORD killed 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp, and when Sennacherib returned to Nineveh, he was assassinated by two of his sons while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch (37:36-38). Nisroch was an eagle-headed Assyrian god of agriculture.
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