20150725 Saturday, July 25 2015
Isaiah 37: The LORD's Regime Change In Iraq

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"The angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand ... So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh ... Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword ... and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead"

The territory that is known today as Iraq has the most-ancient recorded history of any country. Humanity was created there when it was known as Eden (see How Did Eden Become Babylon?). Noah (see the Fact Finder question below) was born there, and humanity began there again after the Flood (see The First Nations Of The New World). Abraham was born in Iraq (see A Biography Of Abraham: The Genealogy Of Abram).

Iraq was also the homeland of two of the most-powerful empires of Bible history - the Assyrian Empire (see The Nineveh Prophecies), and then the Babylonian Empire (see The Medes And Chaldees Prophecies) that conquered and superseded it. The Kingdom of Israel (see Israel In History and Prophecy: The Lost Ten Tribes) fell to the Assyrian Empire by 721 BC and the Kingdom of Judah (see Israel In History and Prophecy: Kingdom Of Judah) fell to the Babylonian Empire by 586 BC - both as a result of the LORD permitting and bringing about the invasions and exiles.

In the time of Isaiah, the Assyrian Empire had conquered Israel, but Judah remained because they had not yet become irreparably corrupt. When Assyria decided to go beyond their mandate and invade Judah also (see Why Did The Assyrian Army Cross The Line? and The Invasions of Shalmaneser and Sennacherib), the LORD brought about a "regime change" in the Assyrian Empire of Iraq.

Hezekiah was the King of Judah when Assyria attacked (see also Hezekiah's Healing).

"37:1 And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD. 37:2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. 37:3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. 37:4 It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.

37:5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 37:6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 37:7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

37:8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

37:9 And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 37:10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 37:11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered? 37:12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar? 37:13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?" (Isaiah 37:1-13 KJV)

The Assyrians had not merely committed an illegal invasion - they did so while blaspheming the LORD (see The Identity Of The LORD God), saying that the LORD could not stop them. They were inviting the response that they surely received.

"37:14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. 37:15 And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying, 37:16 O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth. 37:17 Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God.

37:18 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries, 37:19 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. 37:20 Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only." (Isaiah 37:14-20 KJV)

The prophet Isaiah was present in Jerusalem during the Assyian siege - hearing their blasphemous mouths. Isaiah assured Hezekiah that the LORD would tend to the matter at hand - and that then still-righteous Judah would return to peace and prosperity (see What Did Isaiah Do During The Siege Of Judah?).

"37:21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria: 37:22 This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him;

The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. 37:23 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. 37:24 By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel. 37:25 I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.

37:26 Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps. 37:27 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.

37:28 But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. 37:29 Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

37:30 And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. 37:31 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward: 37:32 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.

37:33 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria,

He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. 37:34 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. 37:35 For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake." (Isaiah 37:21-35 KJV)

That night, the LORD annulated the 185,000 Assyrian troops that surrounded the city. Sennacherib fled back to Assyria, but the LORD wasn't done with him yet. Sennacherib was assassinated by two of his own sons who then fled north. The regime change was completed when "Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead."

"37:36 Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 37:37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

37:38 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead." (Isaiah 37:361-38 KJV)

Fact Finder: What yet-future world regime change is going to be accomplished through a descendant of two righteous men of Iraq?
See The LORD's Seed Covenants With The Two Men Of Iraq