Isaiah 36:10
10 Have I attacked this land to destroy it without the Lord’s approval? The Lord said to me, ‘Attack this land and destroy it.’”
This was a representative of King Sennacherib of Assyria. Assyrians were not believers in God at the time.
Is this like people claiming to be Christian but really don’t have Jesus in their heart? Using a claim of God to convince someone of something to get their way? I can think of some politicians that are playing this card!
Isaiah 37:4
4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all the words of the royal spokesman, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke him for the words that the Lord your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’”
Mocking, that’s what I was looking for. The royal spokesman was mocking God–lumping God in with man-made gods.
Isaiah 37:15-20
15 Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:
16 Lord of Armies, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you are God—you alone—of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. 17 Listen closely, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see. Hear all the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God. 18 Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated all these countries and their lands. 19 They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but made from wood and stone by human hands. So they have destroyed them. 20 Now, Lord our God, save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are God—you alone.
Short, sweet, Hezekiah didn’t have to go on and on and on.
Isaiah 37:34-37
34 He will go back
the way he came,
and he will not enter this city.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
35 I will defend this city and rescue it
for my sake
and for the sake of my servant David.”
Defeat and Death of Sennacherib
36 Then the angel of the Lord went out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies! 37 So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned home and lived in Nineveh.
Then, in Isaiah 37:38, King Sennacherib was assasinated by his own sons.
This is after Jonah. So when did Jonah preach in Nineveh? When did the Assyrians fall away? How long- or short-lived was their belief in the Lord?