What is the meaning of Isaiah 36:19? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? - Isaiah records the Assyrian field commander boasting, “Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?” (Isaiah 36:19; cf. 2 Kings 18:34). - Hamath and Arpad were prominent Syrian cities already conquered by Assyria (2 Kings 17:24; Jeremiah 49:23). Their capture proved the impotence of their idols. - The commander’s taunt treats these images of wood and stone (Isaiah 37:19) as if they were peers of the LORD. Scripture insists otherwise: “For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens” (Psalm 96:5). - His mockery is meant to undermine Judah’s confidence in the living God, yet the very question underscores that false gods cannot save (Isaiah 44:9–11). Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? - Next he asks, “Where are the gods of Sepharvaim?” (Isaiah 36:19; 2 Kings 19:13). Sepharvaim, possibly in Mesopotamia, had been emptied by Assyria and its people resettled in Samaria (2 Kings 17:24). - Their deities, “Adrammelech and Anammelech” (2 Kings 17:31), could not protect them. The contrast with the LORD is stark: “Those who make them will be like them” (Psalm 115:8), but “the LORD reigns forever” (Psalm 146:10). - By listing successive defeated gods, the commander builds his case that no divine power has ever stopped Assyria—overlooking the fact that idolatry guarantees defeat (Deuteronomy 4:28). Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? - He finishes, “Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?” (Isaiah 36:19). Samaria, capital of the northern kingdom, fell in 722 BC (2 Kings 17:6; 18:9–12). - Samaria’s downfall was judgment for forsaking the LORD (2 Kings 17:7–18; Hosea 13:4). The commander twists that event, claiming it proves the LORD’s inability, when in fact it proves His covenant faithfulness to discipline His people (Leviticus 26:14–17). - Hezekiah faces a choice: accept the taunt or trust the One who “forms the light and creates darkness” (Isaiah 45:7). His prayer in the next chapter (Isaiah 37:14–20) shows he knows the LORD is incomparable. summary Assyria’s spokesman strings together three rhetorical questions to belittle Judah’s faith. Each conquered city’s powerless idols highlight a truth Assyria misses: only the LORD is God. The false gods of Hamath, Arpad, and Sepharvaim collapsed; Samaria fell because it abandoned the LORD; yet the living God remains sovereign. Isaiah 36:19 challenges every generation to reject idols and rest in the saving power of the one true God who later proved His supremacy by delivering Jerusalem in a single night (Isaiah 37:36). |
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