Isaiah 36 - Introduction

These Chapter s form the conclusion of the first part of the book of Isaiah. They contain narratives of three important historical events, each of which illustrates the commanding influence exercised by the prophet in the reign of Hezekiah. These are: (1) the unsuccessful efforts of Sennacherib to obtain possession of Jerusalem by threats and blandishments (ch. 36, 37); (2) Hezekiah's sickness and recovery ch. 38); and (3) the embassy of Merodach-Baladan to Hezekiah ch. 39). At a time when the books of Scripture circulated separately it was important that readers of the book of Isaiah should have before them all the information about the career of the great prophet that could be collected from authentic sources; and there is no reasonable doubt that these Chapter s are an excerpt from the canonical books of Kings (2 Kings 18:13 to 2 Kings 20:19). The view of Vitringa and others that Isaiah himself is the author, and that the passage was transferred from his pages to those of the historian, is not borne out by a comparison of the two texts. Not only is the text in Kings on the whole superior to that in Isaiah, but the narrative before us reveals its secondary character by a tendency towards abridgement and simplification; and in other respects shews "manifest traces of having passed through the hands of the compiler of Kings" (Driver, Introd., p. 215). Moreover, it is extremely unlikely that the death of Sennacherib (b.c. 681) recorded in Isaiah 37:38 happened within the lifetime of Isaiah. That the editor of the books of Kings drew in his turn upon an older document is probable; but there is no reason to suppose that the Isaianic editor used this work as an independent authority.

The only important differences between the two narratives are: (a) the omission in Isaiah of the account of Hezekiah's submission (2 Kings 18:14-16); and (b) the addition of Hezekiah's Psalm of Thanksgiving on his recovery (ch. Isaiah 38:9-20). The omission (a) can be explained by the author's desire to pass over an incident which was not of immediate interest for the biography of Isaiah. (Other critical and historical questions raised by these verses do not concern us here; but see General Introduction, pp. xix ff.) The Song of Hezekiah must have been added from a separate source.

Ch. 36, 37 Hezekiah, encouraged by Isaiah, resists Sennacherib's summons to surrender

We have here to all appearance the record of two successive attempts of the Assyrian king to extort the surrender of Jerusalem; in the first instance by a display of armed force (Isaiah 36:1 to Isaiah 37:8), and then by a threatening letter to Hezekiah (Isaiah 37:9-38). There is certainly some improbability in the view thus presented of Sennacherib's conduct. The advance of Tirhakah no doubt rendered the possession of Jerusalem more than ever indispensable to his safety, and a second summons to Hezekiah after the first had failed is in these circumstances perfectly intelligible. But it is less easy to suppose that he could have expected Hezekiah, with Ethiopian succour at hand, and after having defied a detachment of the Assyrian army, to yield to a mere letter, and one that simply repeats the former arguments with no additional inducement to surrender. There is besides a close parallelism between the two incidents which suggests the possibility that the Chapter s may contain two versions of the same occurrence instead of a single narrative of two successive events. If this view be correct the first narrative breaks off in the middle of Isaiah 37:9 with the words "and when he heard it," and is resumed and concluded in Isaiah 37:37. The duplicate version is given in the intermediate section (Isaiah 37:9 b Isaiah 37:36). The assumption may not be quite necessary, but it has commended itself even to cautious critics like Dillmann and Kittel, and deserves consideration. Nor does it seriously affect the historic credibility of the record. The discrepancies are perhaps not greater than between parallel accounts in the four Gospels.