Have the gods of any nations ever delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? Who of all the gods of these countries have been able to save their lands from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand? Isaiah 36:18-20
In this passage the Assyrian army commander is saying, Israel’s God is just like other gods. Other gods couldn’t save people from their lands and since this commander had already taken Samaria and captured the fortified cities of Judah (verse 1), he thought it would be no different for Jerusalem. The commander told them that their God wouldn’t save Jerusalem but he didn’t realise it was the Lord who had given Samaria into his hand because of their sins (2 Kings 17). Ultimately the commander was proved wrong and he wasn’t able to capture Jerusalem.
The common thought by God’s prophets and kings throughout the Old Testament was, there is no God like Jehovah. God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt amongst other incidences testified to this. It was something God’s leaders reiterated to the people regarding God—there was none like theirs.
The phrase, “none like you” often occurs in modern songs because these songs are based on Scripture. What does it mean for us to sing, “none like you” when we mostly don’t live in a polytheistic society?
It means there’s nothing or no one who can satisfy the needs of the human heart like God. There’s nothing or no one who can cleanse our sins like God. There’s nothing or no one who can give us security for the future like God.
