Isaiah 37:26

And yet what he was able to do was not the result of his own power, but of the counsel of God, which he subserved. Fourth turn, "Hast thou not heart? I have done it long ago, from (K. lemin, since) the days of ancient time have I formed it, and now brought it to pass (הבאתיה, K. הביאתיה): that thou shouldst lay waste fortified cities into desolate stone heaps; and their inhabitants, powerless, were terrified, and were put to shame (ובשׁוּ, K. ויּבשׁוּ): became herb of the field and green of the turf, herb of the house-tops, and a corn-field (וּשׁדמה, K. and blighted corn) before the blades." L'mērâcōq (from afar) is not to be connected with the preceding words, but according to the parallel with those which follow. The historical reality, in this instance the Assyrian judgment upon the nations, had had from all eternity an ideal reality in God (see at Isa 22:11). The words are addressed to the Assyrian; and as his instrumentality formed the essential part of the divine purpose, וּתהי does not mean "there should," but "thou shouldest," e!mellej e)chremw=sai (cf., Isa 44:14-15, and Hab 1:17). K. has להשׁות instead of להשׁאות (though not as chethib, in which case it would have to be pointed להשׁות), a singularly syncopated hiphil (for לשׁאות). The point of comparison in the four figures is the facility with which they can be crushed. The nations in the presence of the Assyrian became, as it were, weak, delicate grasses, with roots only rooted in the surface, or like a cornfield with the stalk not yet formed (shedēmâh, Isa 16:8), which could easily be rooted up, and did not need to be cut down with the sickle. This idea is expressed still more strikingly in Kings, "like corn blighted (shedēphâh, compare shiddâpōn, corn-blight) before the shooting up of the stalk;"…

In this chapter we have a further repetition of the story which we had before in the book of Kings concerning Sennacherib. In the foregoing chapter we had him conquering and threatening to conquer. In this chapter we have him falling, and at last fallen, in answer to prayer, and in fulfillment of many of the prophecies which we have met with in the foregoing chapters. Here we have, I. Hezekiah's pious reception of Rabshakeh's impious discourse (Isa 37:1). II. The gracious message he sent to Isaiah to desire his prayers (Isa 37:2-5). III. The encouraging answer which Isaiah sent to him from God, assuring him that God would plead his cause against the king of Assyria (Isa 37:6, Isa 37:7). IV. An abusive letter which the king of Assyria sent to Hezekiah, to the same purport with Rabshakeh's speech (Isa 37:8-13). V. Hezekiah's humble prayer to God upon the receipt of this letter (Isa 37:14-20). VI. The further full answer which God sent him by Isaiah, promising him that his affairs should shortly take a happy turn, that the storm should blow over and every thing should appear bright and serene (v. 21-35). VII. The immediate accomplishment of this prophecy in the ruin of his army (v. 36) and the murder of himself (v. 37, 38). All this was largely opened, 2 Kings 19.

37:26 I planned for you to crush . . . into heaps of rubble: Assyria was God’s agent of destruction, but the Assyrians did not realize that they were only a tool in God’s hand (see ch 10), fulfilling what God had planned long before (14:24-27).