The Lord gives the message through the prophet Isaiah. "Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word the Lord has spoken against him: 'Virgin daughter Zion despises and mocks you. Daughter Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee.'" (Isaiah 37:21-22)
Most scholars believe that the reason the Lord refers to Jerusalem (rendered here as "Zion") as a virgin is because she has never been conquered and plundered by the enemy. Many other cities in that region of the world had already been conquered and plundered by Assyria and by other nations, but not Jerusalem.
Earlier in our study King Sennacherib used mocking words for Jerusalem, for her king, and for her God. In response the Lord says that the people of Jerusalem are mocking Sennacherib. Sennacherib can threaten all he wants but his plans against Jerusalem will not come to pass. The Lord is going to rise up against him and judge him for his blasphemy.
The Lord says to this Assyrian king: "Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel! By your messengers you had ridiculed the Lord." (Isaiah 37:23-24a)
Sennacherib boasted of his many conquests earlier in our chapter and went so far as to state that not even the Lord would be able to stand against him. The Lord now quotes this king's boasting words back to him---words he will "eat" as the saying goes---because nothing at Jerusalem will turn out the way Sennacherib thinks it will.
"And you have said, 'With my many chariots I have ascended the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of the junipers. I have reached its remotest heights, the finest of its forests. I have dug wells in foreign lands and drunk the water there. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.'" (Isaiah 37:24b-25) As was common with many pagan kings of ancient times, Sennacherib uses grand imagery for the things he has accomplished and in that imagery he goes farther than he actually went in real life, resorting to hyperbole when he states that the soles of his feet dried up all the streams of Egypt. If we should read the annals of various ancient nations, such as Egypt or Assyria or Babylon, we would find their kings making sweeping generalizations about the way they dealt with other nations and peoples. They claim to have wrought far more destruction than they actually did, in many cases.
The Lord is going to make some very broad and sweeping claims when we continue on with His message this week but, in contrast to the words of Sennacherib, the Lord is able to do everything He says He is going to do. The Lord will point out that nothing which has ever happened on earth has ever been outside of His control and His purpose---and nothing ever will! He is going to state that He is in control of Sennacherib's army and is in control of Sennacherib himself. The king won't be able to protect his army from the angel of the Lord and the king won't be able to protect himself from a murderous conspiracy that forms within his own household.
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