John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 37:7

"Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he shall hear tidings, and shall return unto his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land." — Isaiah 37:7 (ASV)

Behold, I will bring a wind upon him. Others translate this as, “I will put my Spirit in him,” as if the Prophet were speaking of a secret influence of the heart; but that is a forced interpretation.

It is a highly appropriate metaphor that a wind or whirlwind is in God's hand to drive Sennacherib in another direction. Comparing wicked men to straw or chaff (Psalms 1:4) is an expression frequently used in Scripture, because God easily drives them wherever He chooses, even when they believe they are standing very firm.

The Prophet compares the commotion that arose in Sennacherib's kingdom to a “wind” or “storm” that drove him out of Judea. He then shows that the Lord will find no more difficulty in repelling that enemy than if He wished to move straw or chaff. Indeed, the very same thing might be said of all tyrants, however powerful.

For he shall hear a report. The words “and he shall hear” are evidently added for explanation, and therefore I have chosen to interpret them as assigning a reason: “For he shall hear.” This is the wind, by the stirring of which Sennacherib was suddenly driven away; for a report he heard about the kings of Egypt and Ethiopia constrained him to return to his own country.

And I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. This is as if to say, “He now annoys and harasses others, and endeavors to extend widely the limits of his empire; but I will raise up enemies against him in the very heart of his own land, who will defeat him.” Some expound it to mean the land of Israel, but that is an excessively forced interpretation; for the Prophet speaks of the land of the king of Assyria himself, and there is an implied contrast: “He who subdued others’ cities and kingdoms will not be able to defend his own country, but will be destroyed and perish in it.”