37:8-9a The Rabshakeh returned to his master having learned that Hezekiah would not surrender. He found him five miles closer to Jerusalem than Lachish, at Libnah, where he was fighting the Judahites. The message that Tirhakah, King of Ethiopia, was coming to engage him in battle caused Sennacherib to decide to terminate further campaigns in Palestine and return to his homeland temporarily.362
37:9b-13 Sennacherib warned Hezekiah, through messengers and a letter (v. 14), not to let messages from Yahweh deceive him into thinking that Jerusalem would survive. After all, all the lands that the Assyrian kings had invaded had fallen to them, he claimed. None of the powerful cities of the upper Euphrates received help to overcome Assyria from their gods. Likewise the cities of Aram had not been able to resist takeover.
