“When the servants of King Hezekiah
Came to Isaiah,
Isaiah said to them.
‘Say to your master.
Thus says Yahweh.
Do not be afraid
Because of the words
That you have heard,
With which the servants
Of the king of Assyria
Have reviled me.
I myself will put a spirit in him,
So that he shall hear a rumor.
He will then return to his own land.
I will cause him to fall
By the sword in his own land.’”
Once again, this is almost word for word from 2 Kings, chapter 19. Here we have the first royal intervention of the great prophet Isaiah, whose influence had a great impact on future Israelite life. The response of Isaiah is quite remarkable. Because the servants of the king of Assyria had reviled Yahweh, he was going to retaliate against the Assyrian king. This oracle of Yahweh, via Isaiah, said that Yahweh would spread a rumor that would make the Assyrian army return to its own land, where the king would be killed at home in Assyria. The fact is that King Sennacherib of Assyria did return home without capturing Jerusalem. He was then killed by his sons in Assyria.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 