The babies have arrived at the birthstool: The distress here is compared to a woman in labor whose been grasped by the pains of the labor, and the baby has reached the birthstool, about to emerge from the womb as the mother's pain is the most severe. If the mother cannot find the strength to push the baby out, then the mother is abandoned to the intensity of the birth pain without any hope of relief. Similarly, the great crisis is upon us and we lack the strength to escape it without divine intervention.
(טו) וַיִּתְפַּלֵּ֨ל חִזְקִיָּ֜הוּ לִפְנֵ֣י יְהֹוָה֮ וַיֹּאמַר֒ יְהֹוָ֞ה אֱלֹהֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ יֹשֵׁ֣ב הַכְּרֻבִ֔ים אַתָּה־ה֤וּא הָאֱלֹהִים֙ לְבַדְּךָ֔ לְכֹ֖ל מַמְלְכ֣וֹת הָאָ֑רֶץ אַתָּ֣ה עָשִׂ֔יתָ אֶת־הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֶת־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ (טז) הַטֵּ֨ה יְהֹוָ֤ה ׀ אׇזְנְךָ֙ וּֽשְׁמָ֔ע פְּקַ֧ח יְהֹוָ֛ה עֵינֶ֖יךָ וּרְאֵ֑ה וּשְׁמַ֗ע אֵ֚ת דִּבְרֵ֣י סַנְחֵרִ֔יב אֲשֶׁ֣ר שְׁלָח֔וֹ לְחָרֵ֖ף אֱלֹהִ֥ים חָֽי׃ (יז) אׇמְנָ֖ם יְהֹוָ֑ה הֶחֱרִ֜יבוּ מַלְכֵ֥י אַשּׁ֛וּר אֶת־הַגּוֹיִ֖ם וְאֶת־אַרְצָֽם׃ (יח) וְנָתְנ֥וּ אֶת־אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֖ם בָּאֵ֑שׁ כִּי֩ לֹ֨א אֱלֹהִ֜ים הֵ֗מָּה כִּ֣י אִם־מַעֲשֵׂ֧ה יְדֵי־אָדָ֛ם עֵ֥ץ וָאֶ֖בֶן וַֽיְאַבְּדֽוּם׃ (יט) וְעַתָּה֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵ֔ינוּ הוֹשִׁיעֵ֥נוּ נָ֖א מִיָּד֑וֹ וְיֵֽדְעוּ֙ כׇּל־מַמְלְכ֣וֹת הָאָ֔רֶץ כִּ֥י אַתָּ֛ה יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים לְבַדֶּֽךָ׃ {ס}
“Fair Maiden Zion despises you,
She mocks at you;
Fair Jerusalem shakes
Her head at you. (22) Whom have you blasphemed and reviled?
Against whom made loud your voice
And haughtily raised your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel! (23) Through your envoys you have blasphemed my Lord.
Because you thought,
‘Thanks to my vast chariotry,
It is I who have climbed the highest mountains,
To the remotest parts of the Lebanon,
And have cut down its loftiest cedars,
Its choicest cypresses,
And have reached its remotest lodge,-d
Its densest forest.-e (24) It is I who have drawn and drunk the waters of strangers;
I have dried up with the soles of my feet
All the streams of Egypt.’ (25) Have you not heard? Of old
I planned that very thing,
I designed it long ago,
And now have fulfilled it.
And it has come to pass,
Laying waste fortified towns
In desolate heaps. (26) Their inhabitants are helpless,
Dismayed and shamed.
They were but grass of the field
And green herbage,
Grass of the roofs that is blasted
Before the standing grain.-g (27) I know your stayings
And your goings and comings,
And how you have raged against Me. (28) Because you have raged against Me,
And your tumult has reached My ears,
I will place My hook in your nose
And My bit between your jaws;
And I will make you go back by the road
By which you came.
(31) For a remnant shall come forth from Jerusalem,
Survivors from Mount Zion.
The zeal of the LORD of Hosts
Shall bring this to pass.
(32) Assuredly, thus said the LORD concerning the king of Assyria:
He shall not enter this city:
He shall not shoot an arrow at it,
Or advance upon it with a shield,
Or pile up a siege mound against it. (33) He shall go back
By the way he came;
He shall not enter this city
—declares the LORD. (34) I will protect and save this city for My sake,
And for the sake of My servant David.”
(5) 5. "Now when Sennacherib was returning from his Egyptian war to Jerusalem, he found his army under Rabshakeh his general in danger [by a plague], for God had sent a pestilential distemper upon his army; and on the very first night of the siege, a hundred fourscore and five thousand, with their captains and generals, were destroyed. So the king was in a great dread and in a terrible agony at this calamity; and being in great fear for his whole army, he fled with the rest of his forces to his own kingdom, and to his city Nineveh; and when he had abode there a little while, he was treacherously assaulted, and died by the hands of his elder sons, (3) Adrammelech and Seraser, and was slain in his own temple, which was called Araske. Now these sons of his were driven away on account of the murder of their father by the citizens, and went into A rmenia, while Assarachoddas took the kingdom of Sennacherib." And this proved to be the conclusion of this Assyrian expedition against the people of Jerusalem.
As Prof. Haim Tadmor has observed, Sennacherib uses a standardized formula when describing the conquest of an enemy town: "Four elements which constitute a fixed structure, without which one cannot speak of a description against a renegade enemy." The four elements are: (1) Sennacherib's conquest of the kingdom (including the capital city), (2) execution of the king, (3) the appointment of a vassal in place of the former king, and (4) the imposition of heavy taxation. These are fixtures in recording each and every conquest- except one: the war against Jerusalem in 701 BCE. Sennacherib describes the siege and Hezekiah's tribute, but fails to record the fall of Jerusalem and the execution or incarceration of its king."
(ישעיהו ט, ו) לםרבה המשרה ולשלום אין קץ וגו' א"ר תנחום דרש בר קפרא בציפורי מפני מה כל מ"ם שבאמצע תיבה פתוח וזה סתום ביקש הקב"ה לעשות חזקיהו משיח וסנחריב גוג ומגוג אמרה מדת הדין לפני הקב"ה רבש"ע ומה דוד מלך ישראל שאמר כמה שירות ותשבחות לפניך לא עשיתו משיח חזקיה שעשית לו כל הנסים הללו ולא אמר שירה לפניך תעשהו משיח לכך נסתתם מיד פתחה הארץ ואמרה לפניו רבש"ע אני אומרת לפניך שירה תחת צדיק זה ועשהו משיח פתחה ואמרה שירה לפניו שנאמר (ישעיהו כד, טז) מכנף הארץ זמירות שמענו צבי לצדיק וגו' אמר שר העולם לפניו רבש"ע צביונו עשה לצדיק זה יצאה בת קול ואמרה רזי לי רזי לי אמר נביא אוי לי אוי לי עד מתי יצאה בת קול ואמרה (ישעיהו כד, טז) בוגדים בגדו ובגד בוגדים בגדו ואמר רבא ואיתימא ר' יצחק עד דאתו בזוזי ובזוזי דבזוזי
§ Apropos Hezekiah, the Gemara cites that which is stated: “That the government may be increased [lemarbe] and of peace there be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it through justice and through righteousness, from now and forever; the zeal of the Lord of hosts does perform this” (Isaiah 9:6). Rabbi Tanḥum says that bar Kappara taught in Tzippori: Due to what reason is it that every letter mem in the middle of a word is open and this mem, of the word lemarbe, is closed? I This is because the Holy One, Blessed be He, sought to designate King Hezekiah as the Messiah and to designate Sennacherib and Assyria, respectively, as Gog and Magog, all from the prophecy of Ezekiel with regard to the end of days (Ezekiel, chapter 38), and the confrontation between them would culminate in the final redemption.
The attribute of justice said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, and if with regard to David, king of Israel, who recited several songs and praises before You, You did not designate him as the Messiah, then with regard to Hezekiah, for whom You performed all these miracles, delivering him from Sennacherib and healing his illness, and he did not recite praise before You, will You designate him as the Messiah? It is for that reason that the mem was closed, because there was an opportunity for redemption that was thwarted.
Immediately, the earth began and stated before Him: Master of the Universe, I will recite song before You in place of that righteous person, i.e., Hezekiah, and designate him as the Messiah. The earth began and recited a song before Him, as it is stated: “From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs: Glory to the righteous. But I said, my secret is mine, my secret is mine, woe unto me. The treacherous deal treacherously; the treacherous deal very treacherously” (Isaiah 24:16).
The angel appointed to oversee the world said before Him: Master of the Universe, perform the will of this righteous person. A Divine Voice emerged and said: “My secret is Mine, My secret is Mine”; this matter will remain secret, as I am not yet bringing the redemption. The prophet said: “Woe unto me,” woe unto me; until when will the exile continue? A Divine Voice emerged and said: “The treacherous deal treacherously; the treacherous deal very treacherously” (Isaiah 24:16). And Rava, and some say Rabbi Yitzḥak, says: Until looters and looters of looters come, the Messiah will not come.
(17) And you, O mortal, say to every winged bird and to all the wild beasts: Thus said the Lord GOD: Assemble, come and gather from all around for the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you—a great sacrificial feast—upon the mountains of Israel, and eat flesh and drink blood. (18) You shall eat the flesh of warriors and drink the blood of the princes of the earth: rams, lambs, he-goats, and bulls—fatlings of Bashan all of them. (19) You shall eat fat to satiety and drink your fill of blood from the sacrificial feast that I have prepared for you. (20) And you shall sate yourselves at My table with horses, charioteers, warriors, and all fighting men—declares the Lord GOD. (21) Thus will I manifest My glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see the judgment that I executed and the power that I wielded against them. (22) From that time on, the House of Israel shall know that I the LORD am their God. (23) And the nations shall know that the House of Israel were exiled only for their iniquity, because they trespassed against Me, so that I hid My face from them and delivered them into the hands of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. (24) When I hid My face from them, I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions. (25) Assuredly, thus said the Lord GOD: I will now restore the fortunes of Jacob and take the whole House of Israel back in love; and I will be zealous for My holy name. (26) They will bear their shame and all their trespasses that they committed against Me, when they dwell in their land secure and untroubled, (27) when I have brought them back from among the peoples and gathered them out of the lands of their enemies and have manifested My holiness through them in the sight of many nations. (28) They shall know that I the Lord am their GOD when, having exiled them among the nations, I gather them back into their land and leave none of them behind. (29) I will never again hide My face from them, for I will pour out My spirit upon the House of Israel—declares the Lord GOD.
Nor any of the inhabitants of the world,
That foe or adversary could enter
The gates of Jerusalem.