The Hook in Leviathan's Jaw Text: Isaiah 37:21-35
Introduction: The Language of Pride
We live in an age of industrial-grade hubris. Our political leaders, our academic elites, our tech moguls all speak the same native tongue, and that language is the language of Sennacherib. It is the language of autonomous man, the man who believes he is the master of his fate and the captain of his soul. He speaks of his great achievements, his technological prowess, his ability to shape reality to his will. He stands before the gates of Jerusalem, which is to say, before the Church of the living God, and he mocks. He says, "Look at my many chariots, my vast resources, my political victories. What can your God do against me?"
This is not a new phenomenon. It is the ancient rebellion of Babel, repackaged for a new generation. The essence of sin is the creature attempting to usurp the throne of the Creator. It is the clay telling the potter that it knows best. And whenever this prideful voice is raised against Heaven, God answers. He does not answer with a philosophical treatise or a polite debate. He answers with fire, with judgment, and with sovereign, irresistible power. He answers in a way that leaves no room for misunderstanding.
The scene here is one of high drama. The most powerful military machine on the planet, the Assyrian army, has surrounded the last bastion of God's people. They have conquered every other nation. From a human perspective, the situation is utterly hopeless. Hezekiah, the king, has done all he can. He has rent his clothes, covered himself in sackcloth, and gone to the house of the Lord. He has laid the blasphemous letter from Sennacherib before God and prayed one of the great prayers of Scripture. He did not ask for a strategic advantage or a clever escape plan. He asked God to act for the sake of His own name, so that "all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone are Yahweh."
Our text is God's answer. And it is a glorious, thunderous, and deeply instructive answer. It is a master class in the doctrine of providence. It teaches us how God governs the affairs of men, particularly the affairs of arrogant and blasphemous men. It shows us that the most powerful tyrants are nothing more than puppets on a string, tools in the hand of the God they defy. And it shows us that the security of God's people rests not in their own strength, but in the fiery zeal of God for His own glory and for the sake of His covenant promises.
The Text
Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word that Yahweh has spoken against him: “She has despised you and mocked you, The virgin daughter of Zion; She has shaken her head behind you, The daughter of Jerusalem! Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you heightened your voice And haughtily lifted up your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel! Through your servants you have reproached the Lord, And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains, To the remotest parts of Lebanon; And I cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypresses. And I will go to its highest peak, its thickest forest. I dug wells and drank waters, And with the sole of my feet I dried up All the rivers of Egypt.’ Have you not heard? Long ago I did it; From days of old I formed it. Now I have brought it to pass, That you should devastate fortified cities into ruinous heaps. So their inhabitants were short of power; They were dismayed and put to shame; They were as the plant of the field and as the green herb, As grass on the rooftops is scorched before it rises. But I know your sitting down And your going out and your coming in And your raging against Me. Because of your raging against Me And because your presumptuousness has come up to My ears, Therefore I will put My hook in your nose And My bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back by the way which you came. “Then this shall be the sign for you: you will eat this year what grows of its own accord, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.” ’ “Therefore, thus says Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield or throw up a siege ramp against it. By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city,’ declares Yahweh. ‘Indeed I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ ”
(Isaiah 37:21-35 LSB)
The Bully and the Virgin (vv. 21-23)
God's response begins by establishing the true dynamics of the situation.
"She has despised you and mocked you, The virgin daughter of Zion; She has shaken her head behind you, The daughter of Jerusalem! Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? ... Against the Holy One of Israel!" (Isaiah 37:22-23)
Sennacherib thinks he is the one doing the mocking. He sees a helpless city, ripe for the picking. But God flips the script entirely. The true object of scorn is Sennacherib himself. God personifies Jerusalem as a "virgin daughter." This is significant. She is a virgin because she has not been conquered; she is inviolate, protected by her Father. She is not cowering in fear. She is laughing. She is shaking her head in derision at the back of this strutting fool as he walks away in defeat, a defeat he doesn't even see coming yet. God is declaring the victory before the battle has even been fought.
Then God gets to the heart of the matter. This is not a geopolitical dispute. This is not about territory or tribute. Sennacherib has picked a fight with the wrong person. "Whom have you reproached and blasphemed?" The question is rhetorical and dripping with holy indignation. You have not merely insulted a weak Judean king. You have raised your voice and lifted your eyes "against the Holy One of Israel!" Sennacherib has trespassed into a theological reality he cannot comprehend. He has stumbled into the throne room of the universe and spit in the face of the King. This is the ultimate sin: a failure to recognize and honor the Creator/creature distinction. All sin flows from this fundamental arrogance.
The Autobiography of a Fool (vv. 24-25)
Next, God quotes Sennacherib's own press release back to him, exposing the rotten core of his pride.
"Through your servants you have reproached the Lord, And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I came up... I cut down... I will go... I dug wells... with the sole of my feet I dried up All the rivers of Egypt.’" (Isaiah 37:24-25 LSB)
Listen to the drumbeat of the first-person pronoun. I, I, I, my, my, my. This is the anthem of fallen man. Sennacherib is the hero of his own story. He attributes his success to his military might ("my many chariots"), his relentless ambition ("I came up to the heights of the mountains"), and his own engineering genius ("I dug wells... I dried up all the rivers"). He believes he is a force of nature, able to bend creation to his will. He is the archetypal secularist. He sees a world of matter and power, and he is the one who has mastered it. There is no God in his story, only the great man, Sennacherib.
This is precisely the lie that our own culture tells itself. We believe our scientific progress, our economic prosperity, and our military strength are all products of our own ingenuity. We have forgotten that we are creatures, utterly dependent upon the God who gives us every breath, every heartbeat, and every brain cell. Sennacherib's boast is the mission statement of every godless nation and every prideful heart.
God's History Lesson (vv. 26-29)
Having allowed the fool to speak, God now delivers the devastating rebuttal. He reveals who has actually been in charge all along.
"Have you not heard? Long ago I did it; From days of old I formed it. Now I have brought it to pass, That you should devastate fortified cities into ruinous heaps... Therefore I will put My hook in your nose And My bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back by the way which you came." (Isaiah 37:26, 29 LSB)
The question "Have you not heard?" is a staggering rebuke. It implies that this truth is common knowledge, that Sennacherib is not just wicked, but willfully ignorant. God informs this supposed master of the universe that his entire career was planned and ordained by God "from days of old." Sennacherib thought he was a conqueror; in reality, he was a tool. He was God's axe, used to chop down the rotten trees of other wicked nations. His victories were not a testament to his strength, but to God's sovereign purpose. The nations he defeated were weak and "short of power" because God had determined to judge them, using him as the instrument.
This is the doctrine of divine providence in its starkest form. God is not a spectator. He is the author, director, and producer of history. He raises up kings and he brings them down. He uses the wicked purposes of men to accomplish His own righteous ends, without being the author of sin Himself. Sennacherib's sin was in his heart, in his proud motives. God's righteousness was in His purpose, which was to judge the nations and ultimately to display His power and glory.
And because Sennacherib has raged against God, the tool will now be broken and discarded. The imagery is utterly humiliating. God will treat this mighty emperor like a wild, dangerous animal. A hook in the nose and a bridle in the lips were used to control and lead captive beasts. God is saying, "You think you are a king, but you are nothing more than a dumb ox to Me. I will put a ring in your nose and lead you back home, disgraced and defeated." This is the end of all human pride when it comes against the living God.
The Sign of the Sabbath and the Zeal of God (vv. 30-32)
God then turns from the enemy to His own people, giving Hezekiah a sign. It is not a sign of military might, but of quiet, covenantal trust.
"Then this shall be the sign for you: you will eat this year what grows of its own accord... And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward... The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this." (Isaiah 37:30-32 LSB)
The Assyrian siege had prevented the people from planting their crops. God's sign is that for two years, He will provide for them supernaturally, through volunteer crops. It is a forced Sabbath rest. He is teaching them to depend entirely on Him, not on their own agricultural labor. After this period of rest and dependence, normal life will resume. And the remnant that survives will not just endure; it will flourish. They will "take root downward and bear fruit upward."
This is a foundational principle of the Christian life and a beautiful picture of postmillennial optimism. True and lasting fruitfulness does not come from frantic, superficial activity. It comes from first taking root downward, deep into the soil of God's Word, His covenant, and His truth. When our roots are deep, the upward fruit is inevitable. The kingdom of God does not just survive attacks; it grows stronger through them. The remnant emerges from the trial and begins to bear fruit that fills the earth.
And what is the engine of this restoration? What is the guarantee? It is not the piety of the remnant or the wisdom of their king. The text is explicit: "The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this." God is passionately, fiercely, and jealously committed to His people and His purposes. Our salvation and our perseverance depend entirely on His fiery, covenant-keeping love. His zeal is our only security, and it is an unbreakable security.
The Unbreakable Word (vv. 33-35)
Finally, God gives a series of specific, falsifiable prophecies that leave no doubt as to who is in control.
"He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there... By the way that he came, by the same he will return... I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake." (Isaiah 37:33-35 LSB)
This is not a vague, spiritual promise. It is a concrete, military guarantee. The siege will not even begin. Not a single arrow will fly over the walls. Sennacherib will be turned back, humiliated. And the reason for this deliverance is twofold. First, God will do it "for My own sake." His reputation is on the line. Hezekiah understood this when he prayed. The greatest motivation for God to act is the glory of His own name. Second, He will do it "for My servant David's sake." This is a direct appeal to the Davidic covenant, the promise of an everlasting throne and kingdom. God is a covenant-keeping God. He keeps His promises, even when His people are unfaithful.
This points us directly to the greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our ultimate defense, our ultimate salvation, is secured for the very same reasons. God saves us for His own sake, to display the glory of His grace. And He saves us for the sake of His Son, Jesus, honoring the covenant promises that were fulfilled in His life, death, and resurrection. We are not saved because we are strong, but because He is zealous for His glory and faithful to His Son.
Conclusion
The story does not end here. That very night, the angel of Yahweh went out and struck down 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in their camp. When Sennacherib woke up, his mighty army was a field of corpses. He limped back home in disgrace, the hook of God firmly in his nose. And later, while worshipping his pathetic, man-made god, he was assassinated by his own sons. Every word of God came true, precisely as He had spoken it.
This is the God we serve. He is the God who laughs at the boasts of tyrants. He is the God who governs every molecule and every monarch. He is the God whose purposes cannot be thwarted. When the proud voices of our age rise up against the Lord and against His Christ, we are not to fear. We are to remember the virgin daughter of Zion, shaking her head in derision. We are to remember the hook in Leviathan's jaw.
We must see our own pride for what it is: the same foolish rebellion of Sennacherib. We must repent of our self-reliance and learn to rest in the Sabbath promise of God. We must send our roots down deep into the truth, so that we might bear fruit upward for His glory. And above all, we must trust in the unbreakable engine of our salvation: the zeal of Yahweh of hosts. He will defend His city, the Church. He will save His people, for His own sake, and for the sake of His Son, our King, Jesus.