Isaiah 37 · a question people ask
Why did the LORD save Jerusalem: because Hezekiah prayed, or for David's sake?
The chapter gives both, in the LORD's own words. To Hezekiah: "Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria" (37:21), "this is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him" (37:22). Of the city: "For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake" (37:35). And to the king of Assyria he names what the king had done against him: "Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears" (37:29). David's sake is not a new reason. Solomon was told that one tribe would be given to his son "for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen" (1 Kings 11:13), and in Jehoram's days "the LORD would not destroy Judah, for David his servant’s sake" (2 Kings 8:19). In the next chapter the LORD says to Hezekiah, "I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city" (Isaiah 38:6). The chapter doesn't set these reasons against each other. It gives them side by side.
The verses
“Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “The LORD, the God of Israel says, ‘Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.”
“Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into 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 by which you came.”
“‘For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.’””
“However, I will not tear away all the kingdom; but I will give one tribe to your son, for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.””