Text: “Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.” – 2 Kings 19:28.
Comment: However, following fervent prayers made by the king and the people, God told the people through Isaiah the prophet thus, “And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” (2 Kings 19:6, 7) Furthermore, God instructed Isaiah His servant thus: “Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city…” – Isaiah 37:33-35.
Consequently, the angel of God slew in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000 men. Sennacherib had to return to Nineveh in humiliation and while worshipping in the house of his god, he was assassinated by two of his sons. (2 Kings 19:35-37) Despite all their boasts, the Assyrians were shamefully defeated while their great king so-called was killed like a common criminal by his own children. He could not open his mouth wide against God any more.