Introduction: I guess it wasn’t in English because there was no such language as English at that time! But why poetry? In this case poetry is leaving people to guess, or more accurately, to ponder and hassle the hidden thoughts which need to be arrived at. Sennacherib, the blood thirsty, tyrannical leader of Assyria would no doubt have been furious at being called a ‘she’! Was this meant as an insult to him? Probably not! Countries, cities etc were in ancient Hebrew designated as ‘female’. Obviously Assyria had mocked the Jews, but the poetic reply of God penned by Isaiah asks, ‘Whom have you mocked and reviled?’ The answer is obvious – ‘Against the Holy One of Israel!’ I guess we can feel that is straight forward so far but let’s read on!
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him:
“‘She despises you, she scorns you—
the virgin daughter of Zion;
she wags her head behind you—
the daughter of Jerusalem.
23 “‘Whom have you mocked and reviled?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes to the heights?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24 By your servants you have mocked the Lord,
and you have said, With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon,
to cut down its tallest cedars,
its choicest cypresses,
to come to its remotest height,
its most fruitful forest.
25 I dug wells
and drank waters,
to dry up with the sole of my foot
all the streams of Egypt. – On initially reading it this portion marked in green isn’t, or at least to me, isn’t simple ! Fairly obviously the Assyrians are accused of boasting. The boast about a captain of the Assyrian army being able to win a chariot fought war with the whole Israel army is referred to. (see ch36 v8-9). Their boasting continues that from the tip of Lebanon (the next country to the north) to the power of Egypt (to the south) they had been glorious victors! v25 in the New Living Translation reads ‘I have dug wells in many foreign lands and refreshed myself with their water.
With the sole of my foot, I stopped up all the rivers of Egypt!’ I think that this is a bit clearer but what does it mean about the ‘rivers of Egypt’? Apparently Egypt had built a number of canals from the Nile to help in irrigating their crops and as a means of transport. I think the meaning is that these constructions in no way hindered the march of the Assyrian army – they ‘took them in their stride’ treading them ‘under the sole of their army’s foot’
26 “‘Have you not heard
that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
what now I bring to pass,
that you should make fortified cities
crash into heaps of ruins,
27 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
are dismayed and confounded,
and have become like plants of the field
and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops,
blighted before it is grown.
28 “‘I know your sitting down
and your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me. – Comment: God is still speaking to Assyria. He says something like ‘Surely you should have heard that I have been involved in history from the beginning! With My knowledge you have been a destructive conqueror. You haven’t cared what happened to the people whom you conquered. I know everything about you – I know how you rage against Me!
29 Because you have raged against me
and your complacency has come to my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and I will turn you back on the way
by which you came.’
Comment: Complacency means ‘a feeling of smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one’s achievements.’ . That was Assyria’s feeling about what it had done in going far beyond what God had ordered them to do in conquering Israel. God meant correction – they murdered and behaved cruelly without listening to conscience or human decency! They would feel the weight of God’s judgement! ‘I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.’ There is historical record of this sort of thing happening!
Proverbs 22: 8 – Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,
Prayer: Please help me to leave vengeance to You, even when I long to get my own back on people who offend me and treat me badly.