This article is part of a series on Old Testament Christophanies. For important background information, see An Introduction to Old Testament Christophanies–with Justin Martyr.
About forty years after Isaiah received his vision, the Angel of the Lord came to the defense of Jerusalem. The events leading to and concerning His arrival are found in 2 Kings 18:13—19:37, 2 Chronicles 32:1–22, and Isaiah 36–37. This is another appearance of the Angel of Yahweh that isn’t commonly identified as a Christophany. It would seem, that like with the appearance in 2 Samuel 24 and in 1 Chronicles 21, commentators are hesitant to see the preincarnate Christ as an agent of judgment. However, the Angel acting in defense of the people of Jerusalem supports the view that He is Christ.
In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign (701 BC), the Assyrians invaded Judah. They swarmed across the land, seizing every fortified city until only Jerusalem remained. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, sent some officials and a large army to Jerusalem. Speaking on behalf of Assyria’s king, the chief adviser (Rabshakeh) threatened Jerusalem and blasphemed Yahweh. He warned the people of Jerusalem that Yahweh wouldn’t be able to save them, just as the gods of the other nations had failed to protect their lands. The king went so far as to say that Yahweh told him to destroy Jerusalem (2 Kgs 18:13–35; Isa 36:1–20). Isaiah told Hezekiah that the Lord had vowed to move against the king of Assyria, leading him home to be killed. Then, the king of Assyria sent messengers with a threatening letter to Hezekiah, which included a warning not to believe promises from God that Jerusalem would be rescued (2 Kgs 19:6–13; Isa 37:6–13). Hezekiah didn’t respond to the message by surrendering or cowering in fear. Instead, he placed his trust in the Lord, seeking His intervention. In 2 Kings 19:14–19 and in Isaiah 37:14–20, Hezekiah entered the temple and spread out the threatening letter before the Lord. The king began a powerful prayer by proclaiming that Yahweh alone was God over all kingdoms and the maker of heaven and earth. Hezekiah asked the Lord to pay attention to the words the king of Assyria used to mock the living God. Hezekiah stated that the Assyrians had devastated other lands and destroyed their gods, which were made by men out of wood and stone. Hezekiah ended his prayer by asking Yahweh to rescue the people so that all the kingdoms of the earth would know that He alone was God.
Soon after Hezekiah prayed, Isaiah sent a message to him from the Lord. The Lord spoke against the king of Assyria, and He vowed to defend Jerusalem (2 Kgs 19:20–34; Isa 37:21–35). The Lord promised that a surviving remnant of Judah would go forth from Jerusalem, and that this would be accomplished by the “zeal of the LORD of hosts” (2 Kgs 19:30–31; Isa 37:31–32). The Targums read that this would be accomplished by the “Word of the Lord of hosts.”[1] The Lord finished His message by declaring that He would defend Jerusalem “for My own sake” and for His servant David’s sake (2 Kgs 19:34; Isa 37:35). The Lord was obligated to protect the people of Jerusalem, for the sake of His own majesty and for the sake of His covenant with David. The Lord had promised David an everlasting dynasty (2 Sam 7:16), which culminated in the birth of the eternal king, Messiah Jesus. If the people of Judah were all killed, then David’s line would have ended. But the zeal of the Lord to honor His promise ensured that the Messiah would reign from David’s throne (Isa 9:7).
Soon after Yahweh declared that He would defend Jerusalem, the Angel of the Lord came and did just that:
Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were dead (Isa 37:36; see 2 Kgs 19:35; 2 Chr 32:21).
Yahweh sent the Angel to destroy the Assyrian soldiers (2 Chr 32:21). In this, we may see the Father sending the Son to defend Jerusalem. The Assyrians were all killed in one night (2 Kgs 19:35). We aren’t told how the Angel struck them. He might have used a heavenly sword, brought a pestilence, or brought down fire. Or maybe the Angel just commanded the Assyrians to die, and it was so.
The Angel striking the Assyrians was a fulfillment of the Lord’s promise in Hosea 1:7:
“But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the LORD their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses or horsemen.”
Yahweh promised that He would deliver Judah by Yahweh their God. Yahweh’s use of His own name in this way emphasized that He would personally deliver the people. And this is exactly what happened; Yahweh sent the Angel who is Yahweh.
With his army destroyed, the king of Assyria returned to Nineveh (the then capital of Assyria). As he was worshiping his god, two of the king’s sons killed him. These two sons fled the land and the king’s other son took the throne (2 Kgs 19:36–37; Isa 37:37–38). Thus, the Lord’s words to Hezekiah through Isaiah had been fulfilled. The man-made gods of the other nations couldn’t save them from the Assyrians. But the Assyrians and their king were no match for the living God of Israel.
The Angel’s actions in defense of Jerusalem are in keeping with what we should expect from the Son of God. At the time of the second coming of Christ, the Lord will gather all the nations to come and battle against Jerusalem. Yahweh, in the person of Messiah Jesus, will go forth and fight against those nations (Zech 14:2–3). He won’t send others to fight on His behalf. Rather, the Lord Jesus will personally come to earth; His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, splitting it in half (Zech 14:4; see Acts 1:9–12). Like one who treads on grapes in a winepress, the Messiah—great in strength and mighty to save—will trample His enemies without any help. He will crush the nations in His anger and make them drunk in His wrath (Isa 63:1–6; see Rev 19:13–15). He who is called “The Word of God” will wear a robe soaked in the blood of His enemies (Rev 19:13; see Isa 63:3). The Son of God will be and has been a divine warrior.
[1] Targum Jonathan to 2 Kings 19:31 and The Isaiah Targum: Isaiah 37:32.
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