Humility could be defined as not reliant on self but totally reliant on God.

The king of Assyria thought he had strength and wisdom. He says, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;…” (v. 13)

God brings down the proud. We have no real strength and wisdom, and anything we do have, God gave to us. We may think our smart brains came up with something, but He designed our brains and we’re all just a fraction of a second away from some accident that could take that functioning brain away from us.

Here’s God’s response to the king thinking he could do anything on his own. It’s found in verse 15. “Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!”

God is basically saying that the king is just a tool in God’s hands to use as He pleases. The tool doesn’t get a say in how it’s used and certainly has no control over the one holding it.

There is a word here that Israel will learn, humility. It doesn’t use that word, but it talks about them leaning on the Lord. Here’s verse 20. “In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.”

That word leaning means they were relying on the Lord for support, their rest was in the Lord.

Before, they had leaned on the one who struck them! How foolish we are, relying on the very thing hurting us. People rely on credit and get into more debt, as an example of leaning, relying on, one that will strike you, hurt you.