Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown. Therefore their inhabitantsThis phrase refers to the people of the cities that have been conquered or are under threat. In the Hebrew text, the word for "inhabitants" is "יֹשְׁבֵיהֶם" (yosheveihem), which implies those who dwell or reside in a place. Historically, this reflects the Assyrian campaigns where entire populations were often displaced or subjugated. Theologically, it underscores the vulnerability of those who rely on their own strength rather than on God. devoid of power
The Hebrew word "קָצְרֵי יָד" (katzrei yad) literally means "short of hand," symbolizing a lack of strength or ability to defend themselves. This imagery is powerful in conveying the helplessness of the people against the might of the Assyrian army. From a spiritual perspective, it serves as a reminder of the futility of human strength without divine support. are dismayed and ashamed
The words "חַתּוּ וּבֹשׁוּ" (chattu u'voshu) describe a state of fear and humiliation. Historically, this reflects the psychological impact of Assyrian warfare, which was designed to instill terror. Spiritually, it highlights the consequences of turning away from God, leading to a state of confusion and disgrace. They are like plants in the field
This simile uses the imagery of plants to describe the fragility and transience of human life. The Hebrew word "עֵשֶׂב" (esev) for "plants" suggests something that is temporary and easily destroyed. This serves as a metaphor for the fleeting nature of human power and the need for reliance on God, who is eternal. tender green shoots
The phrase "יֶרֶק דֶּשֶׁא" (yereq deshe) refers to young, vulnerable plants. This imagery emphasizes the initial promise and potential that is quickly lost without proper sustenance. In a spiritual context, it can be seen as a call to nurture one's faith to withstand trials. grass on the rooftops
In ancient Near Eastern architecture, rooftops were often flat and covered with a thin layer of soil where grass could grow. However, such grass was shallow-rooted and quickly withered. This metaphor illustrates the superficiality of relying on anything other than God, as it cannot withstand adversity. scorched before it is grown
The Hebrew "שָׁדַף לִפְנֵי קָמָה" (shadaph lifnei kamah) describes something that is destroyed before it reaches maturity. This imagery conveys the idea of potential that is never realized due to external pressures or lack of foundation. Spiritually, it serves as a warning against neglecting one's spiritual growth, which can lead to spiritual desolation. Persons / Places / Events 1. HezekiahThe king of Judah during the time of the Assyrian threat. He sought God's help against the Assyrian king Sennacherib. 2. SennacheribThe king of Assyria who invaded Judah and threatened Jerusalem, boasting of his conquests and power. 3. IsaiahThe prophet who delivered God's message to King Hezekiah, assuring him of divine intervention against Assyria. 4. JerusalemThe capital city of Judah, under siege by the Assyrian army, representing God's chosen people and His promise to protect them. 5. Assyrian ArmyThe powerful military force that threatened Judah, symbolizing worldly power and arrogance against God. Teaching Points Human Frailty vs. Divine PowerThe inhabitants are described as powerless, like grass that withers quickly. This imagery reminds us of our dependence on God and the futility of relying solely on human strength. God's Sovereignty Over NationsDespite Assyria's might, God demonstrates His control over nations. Believers can trust in God's ultimate authority over world events. The Importance of HumilityThe Assyrians' arrogance led to their downfall. We are called to walk humbly with God, recognizing that pride precedes destruction. Faith in God's PromisesHezekiah's faith in God's promise through Isaiah resulted in deliverance. We are encouraged to trust in God's promises, even when circumstances seem dire. The Power of PrayerHezekiah's response to the threat was prayer. This teaches us the importance of seeking God in times of trouble and relying on His intervention. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the imagery of grass in Isaiah 37:27 help us understand the nature of human strength compared to God's power? 2. In what ways can we see God's sovereignty at work in the world today, similar to His intervention in the events of Isaiah 37? 3. How can we apply the lesson of humility from the downfall of the Assyrians to our personal lives and leadership roles? 4. Reflect on a time when you faced a seemingly insurmountable challenge. How did faith in God's promises help you navigate that situation? 5. What role does prayer play in your life when facing threats or challenges, and how can Hezekiah's example inspire you to deepen your prayer life? Connections to Other Scriptures 2 Kings 19This chapter parallels Isaiah 37, providing a historical account of the same events, emphasizing God's deliverance of Jerusalem. Psalm 37This psalm speaks of the fate of the wicked and the protection of the righteous, echoing the themes of divine justice and deliverance found in Isaiah 37. Matthew 6:30Jesus speaks of God's provision, using the imagery of grass, which connects to the metaphor of grass in Isaiah 37:27, highlighting human frailty and God's care. People Adrammelech, Amoz, Assyrians, David, Eliakim, Esarhaddon, Haran, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Rabshakeh, Sennacherib, Sharezer, Shebna, TirhakahPlaces Ararat, Arpad, Assyria, Cush, Egypt, Gozan, Hamath, Haran, Hena, Ivvah, Jerusalem, Lachish, Lebanon, Libnah, Mount Zion, Nineveh, Rezeph, Sepharvaim, Telassar, Tigris-Euphrates Region, ZionTopics Blasted, Blighted, Broken, Cold, Confounded, Corn, Crop, Dismayed, Dried, Feeble-handed, Field, Grain, Grass, Green, Greenness, Grown, Grows, Herb, Housetops, House-tops, Inhabitants, Makes, Plant, Plants, Power, Powerless, Risen, Roof, Roofs, Scorched, Shame, Shoots, Shorn, Short, Sprouting, Strength, Tender, Townsmen, Vegetation, Waste, WindDictionary of Bible Themes Isaiah 37:27 4017 life, animal and plant
4402 plants
4460 grass
5966 tenderness Isaiah 37:21-29 5776 achievement Isaiah 37:21-38 5800 blasphemy Isaiah 37:22-29 8782 mockery Isaiah 37:26-27 5917 plans Library Where to Carry Troubles
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.'--ISAIAH xxxvii. 14. When Hezekiah heard the threatenings of Sennacherib's servants, he rent his clothes and went into the house of the Lord, and sent to Isaiah entreating his prayers. When he received the menacing letter, his faith was greater, having been heartened by Isaiah's assurances. So he then himself appealed to Jehovah, spreading …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureThe Triumph of Faith
'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. 15. And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying, 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. 17. Incline Thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open Thine eyes, O Lord, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The First Trumpet.
The first trumpet of the seventh seal begins from the final disturbance and overthrow of the Roman idolarchy at the close of the sixth seal; and as it was to bring the first plague on the empire, now beginning to fall, it lays waste the third part of the earth, with a horrible storm of hail mingled with fire and blood; that is, it depopulates the territory and people of the Roman world, (viz. the basis and ground of its universal polity) with a terrible and bloody irruption of the northern nations, …
Joseph Mede—A Key to the Apocalypse The Power of Assyria at Its Zenith; Esarhaddon and Assur-Bani-Pal
The Medes and Cimmerians: Lydia--The conquest of Egypt, of Arabia, and of Elam. As we have already seen, Sennacherib reigned for eight years after his triumph; eight years of tranquillity at home, and of peace with all his neighbours abroad. If we examine the contemporary monuments or the documents of a later period, and attempt to glean from them some details concerning the close of his career, we find that there is a complete absence of any record of national movement on the part of either Elam, …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 8 The Golden Eagle is Cut to Pieces. Herod's Barbarity when He was Ready to Die. He Attempts to Kill Himself. He Commands Antipater to be Slain.
1. Now Herod's distemper became more and more severe to him, and this because these his disorders fell upon him in his old age, and when he was in a melancholy condition; for he was already seventy years of age, and had been brought by the calamities that happened to him about his children, whereby he had no pleasure in life, even when he was in health; the grief also that Antipater was still alive aggravated his disease, whom he resolved to put to death now not at random, but as soon as he should …
Flavius Josephus—The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem Christ Rightly and Properly Said to have Merited Grace and Salvation for Us.
1. Christ not only the minister, but also the author and prince of salvation. Divine grace not obscured by this mode of expression. The merit of Christ not opposed to the mercy of God, but depends upon it. 2. The compatibility of the two proved by various passages of Scripture. 3. Christ by his obedience truly merited divine grace for us. 4. This grace obtained by the shedding of Christ's blood, and his obedience even unto death. 5. In this way he paid our ransom. 6. The presumptuous manner in which …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion The Harbinger
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD , make straight in the desert a high-way for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. T he general style of the prophecies is poetical. The inimitable simplicity which characterizes every …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1 A Discourse of the House and Forest of Lebanon
OF THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. That part of Palestine in which the celebrated mountains of Lebanon are situated, is the border country adjoining Syria, having Sidon for its seaport, and Land, nearly adjoining the city of Damascus, on the north. This metropolitan city of Syria, and capital of the kingdom of Damascus, was strongly fortified; and during the border conflicts it served as a cover to the Assyrian army. Bunyan, with great reason, supposes that, to keep …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3 The Holy City; Or, the New Jerusalem:
WHEREIN ITS GOODLY LIGHT, WALLS, GATES, ANGELS, AND THE MANNER OF THEIR STANDING, ARE EXPOUNDED: ALSO HER LENGTH AND BREADTH, TOGETHER WITH THE GOLDEN MEASURING-REED EXPLAINED: AND THE GLORY OF ALL UNFOLDED. AS ALSO THE NUMEROUSNESS OF ITS INHABITANTS; AND WHAT THE TREE AND WATER OF LIFE ARE, BY WHICH THEY ARE SUSTAINED. 'Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God.'-Psalm 87:3 'And the name of the city from that day shall be, THE LORD IS THERE.'-Ezekiel 48:35 London: Printed in the year 1665 …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3 The Prophet Amos.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. It will not be necessary to extend our preliminary remarks on the prophet Amos, since on the main point--viz., the circumstances under which he appeared as a prophet--the introduction to the prophecies of Hosea may be regarded as having been written for those of Amos also. For, according to the inscription, they belong to the same period at which Hosea's prophetic ministry began, viz., the latter part of the reign of Jeroboam II., and after Uzziah had ascended the …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament Concerning the Lord's Supper
There are two passages which treat in the clearest manner of this subject, and at which we shall look,--the statements in the Gospels respecting the Lord's Supper, and the words of Paul. (1 Cor. xi.) Matthew, Mark, and Luke agree that Christ gave the whole sacrament to all His disciples; and that Paul taught both parts of it is so certain, that no one has yet been shameless enough to assert the contrary. Add to this, that according to the relation of Matthew, Christ did not say concerning the bread, …
Martin Luther—First Principles of the Reformation Divine Support and Protection
[What shall we say then to these things?] If God be for us, who can be against us? T he passions of joy or grief, of admiration or gratitude, are moderate when we are able to find words which fully describe their emotions. When they rise very high, language is too faint to express them; and the person is either lost in silence, or feels something which, after his most laboured efforts, is too big for utterance. We may often observe the Apostle Paul under this difficulty, when attempting to excite …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2 Isaiah
CHAPTERS I-XXXIX Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he bore testimony, as …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Isaiah 37:27 NIVIsaiah 37:27 NLTIsaiah 37:27 ESVIsaiah 37:27 NASBIsaiah 37:27 KJV
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