2Ki 19:29-37 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for 2Kgs 19:29-30: 19:29-30 Here is the proof: The Lord’s message of encouragement included a sign that Jerusalem would be rescued from the siege. The sign was God’s provision of food. Because the land had suffered devastation by the Assyrians, the people would need to depend on random crop growth for their survival. The food supply would also remain scarce as the next year came. But by the third year , there would be a return to regular planting and harvesting.

Summary for 2Kgs 19:29-30: 19:29-30 ^a Here is the proof: The Lord’s message of encouragement included a sign that Jerusalem would be rescued from the siege. The sign was God’s provision of food. Because the land had suffered devastation by the Assyrians, the people would need to depend on random crop growth for their survival. The food supply would also remain scarce as the next year came. But by the third year, there would be a return to regular planting and harvesting.
19:31 ^b The theme of the remnant occurs frequently in the Old Testament. God’s preservation of his people often serves as a promise of his care for them in the distant future (see Isa 4:2-6 ^c; 9:1-7 ^d; Zeph 3:8-20 ^e; cp. Rev 7:1-12 ^f). God’s people can be assured of their survival, for the commitment of the Lord ... will make this happen.
Summary for 2Kgs 19:32-34: 19:32-34 ^g Sennacherib’s armies did not enter Jerusalem but returned home. In Sennacherib’s own account, he gave details of capturing and despoiling forty-six cities of Judah. He made no mention of the capture of Jerusalem but recorded only that he shut up Hezekiah “in Jerusalem ... like a bird in a cage.”

• For my own honor—in light of Sennacherib’s blasphemies and arrogance against God (18:25 ^h, 28-30 ⁱ; 19:10-13 ^j, 21 ^k, 27-28 ^l)—and for the sake of my servant David, to whom God had made his covenant promise (2 Sam 7:8-16 ^m) and whose faith Hezekiah had emulated (2 Kgs 18:3 ⁿ), the Lord would defend this city (see 20:6 ^o). The Lord decisively demonstrated that he alone is God and that he is faithful to his people who trust in him.
19:35 ^p The angel of the Lord had similarly been active in the rescue of God’s people from Egypt (Exod 12:12-13 ^q, 23 ^r).
19:36 ^s Sennacherib ... went home ... and stayed there: Although this Assyrian king went on five more military campaigns, he did not return to attack Judah.
19:37 ^t his sons ... killed him: Although Sennacherib’s assassination took place twenty years later in 681 BC, the narrator includes it here to conclude his discussion of the Assyrian king and to point out the irony in his death. He had boasted that no gods were able to rescue the peoples he attacked, yet his god failed to defend him against assassins from his own family!

• At Sennacherib’s death, his son, Esarhaddon, succeeded him and reigned until 669 BC.