Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Isaiah 37:30-35
Yahweh's Assurance of Deliverance to Jerusalem (Isaiah 37:30).
At this point Isaiah turns his thoughts back to what Hezekiah really wants to know. What is about to happen to Jerusalem?
‘And this shall be the sign to you, you will eat this year what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that, and in the third year, sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.'
The sign that what he has described will come on Sennacherib is given by a promise of what is to occur in the future (compare Isaiah 7:14). While for the next year or so they will have to survive on crops that grow of themselves, they have Yahweh's promise that by ‘the third year' they will once again be eating cultivated crops and grapes. (Even if we take it literally this is not exactly three years. Part of the first year had gone so that the period was less than three years). But the sign is found in the promise. The fact that Yahweh could promise crops within three years was a satisfactory sign that His words could be depended on.
The words reveal the practicalities of the situation. What is gathered by the population once the Assyrians have left, ‘what grows of itself' (compare Leviticus 25:5; Leviticus 25:11) will be sparse. It would be required for survival. For no sowing had taken place since their arrival, and the Assyrians will have made use of much that was there. By the second year enough would grow to enable some to be set aside for sowing. Thus the fuller harvest awaited the third year. The vines would take a little longer to bring under control, but would be sufficient to produce some sort of crop within the period, for some vines would have survived the ordeal. It would be a case of restoring them to fruitfulness. He may also have had in mind that the Assyrian withdrawal would take time.
This incidentally demonstrates that the Assyrian army were still encircling Jerusalem. Had they not been, some sowing would have taken place. People were used to taking advantage of lulls in the fighting in war-torn countries, but here there had been no lull.
‘And the remnant who are escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downwards and bear fruit upwards, for out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion they who will escape. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will perform this.'
Then the remnant who remain will flourish. The mention of Mount Zion stresses that this will be Yahweh's deliverance. It is reminding us that it was because Mount Zion was His earthly dwellingplace, and was in Jerusalem, that Jerusalem will be delivered. Through His power they will have escaped destruction, and will be able to rebuild their shattered lives. We must remember that Jerusalem would not only have its own population but would be packed full with refugees. They will again be able to take root (find security) and bear fruit (enjoy blessing and prosperity).
This is the closest that Isaiah comes to equating Mount Zion with Jerusalem, but its distinction must be maintained. It is not without significance that ‘escaping' is linked with Mount Zion. They escaped because He was protecting them. The deliverance was Yahweh's, the result of His zeal on behalf of His people.
The remnant here are not the godly remnant of Isaiah 10:21 but the remnant of Isaiah 1:9, they are survivors, like the one tenth in Isaiah 6:13 a rather than the holy seed of Isaiah 6:13 b. They are, however, a reminder that God is preserving the nation with a view to what He will produce from it in the future.
‘Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria, “He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor will he come before it with a shield, nor cast a mount against it. By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city,” says Yahweh.'
The besieged city would expect that one day Sennacherib himself would come to supervise the final taking of the city. He would want to be in on the final action, and like kings often liked to do, he would want to fire a symbolic arrow there. But here Yahweh promises that he will not even approach it, never mind arriving and shooting a token arrow, and bearing a shield and supervising the building of a siege mount.
It was typical of even great men that they liked to be thought of as warriors, and to display themselves in armour and have at least a token part in the action so as to mention their presence there in their inscriptions. (Compare the heads of armed forces today who love to display row upon row of medals which mean little). But Sennacherib would not go through these false paces here. His departure to Assyria would be soon enough for this not to happen. He would return to Assyria by the route that he had taken, and it would not lead past Jerusalem.
Interestingly the reliefs in Sennacherib's former palace illustrate this, for they did portray him as personally viewing the spoils from Lachish, a siege in which he did personally take part. So he did like to be personally connected with his triumphs, a fact which is brought out in these verses.
Alternatively this may be referring to the fact that Jerusalem is ring-fenced by the Assyrian army but not actually under attack, so that Yahweh is saying that that attack will never come.
Note again the fourfold description, “he will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor will he come before it with a shield, nor cast a mount against it.'
“For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for the sake of David my servant.”
The defence of the city is not for its own sake but because of His past promises, and because of His future intentions. And especially because of His promises to the Davidic house. His future intentions include within them a crucial place for the line of David, as Isaiah has already made clear, especially in Chapter s 6-11, even though it will not apply to the current house of David. It is not without significance that David is here called ‘my servant'. This is preparing for Isaiah's coming revelation concerning God's Servant, and linking Him back to the coming David.