Isaiah 36-39
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Isaiah 36-39
Isaiah 36-39
Good evening church. Thank you for coming out this evening. Apparently we are going to get some more winter weather this evening. Open your Bibles with me to Isaiah chapter 36. I am going to try to move rapidly through this section without leaving any of the detail out. I won’t waste a lot of time with introduction, but some explanation is necessary. We left off a couple of weeks ago in Isaiah and we were reading about the day of the Lord.
I’ll remind you that when we began this study, I told you in it’s most basic sense, the book of Isaiah can be divided into two major sections. The first 39 chapters in many ways parallels our Old Testament 39 books, if I had to give the first 39 chapters a theme those prophecies, some already fulfilled, some still yet future, very much speak of judgement. Like the Bibles that we hold in our hands have 66 books within, the Book of Isaiah has 66 chapters, the remaining 27 chapters speak largely to salvation and comfort.
The 4 chapters I hope to go through tonight are really the historical narrative as to the time in which Isaiah ministered. So we can assume it is around 700 B.C., and as we will see it speaks of the time that Hezekiah was King. This section of Isaiah very mush parallels the historical account given in 2 Chronicles 32, and 2 Kings 17, 18, and 19. In fact, you can turn and check this out if you want to, but chapter 37 of Isaiah is pretty much identical, word for word the same as 2 Kings 19. So Isaiah pretty much copied the historical account from 2 Kings to give you the back ground to the things just prophesied about the invasion of Israel and Judah by the forces of other nations, and specifically how Assyria that was surrounding Jerusalem and had defeated the 40 villages surrounding the city and now basically had Jerusalem under siege, was turned away, unable to take the City of Zion
1 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
2 Then the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller’s Field.
Notice it says sent the Rabshakeh, that was actually a title, not a name. It means chief of the princes, but we don’t know his actual name. He was what we might think of as the field commander of the Assyrian army.
3 And Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him.
4 Then the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: “What confidence is this in which you trust?
5 I say you speak of having plans and power for war; but they are mere words. Now in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?
You may remember that Hezekiah was tempted to look to the powers of Egypt, that is what made sense to align with them against Assyria, kind of the enemy of my enemy is my friend philosophy, but Isaiah told King Hezekiah not to, to just simply trust in the Lord. Isaiah 36:6
6 Look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
It appears that both God and the Rabshakeh knew that Egypt could not provide the protection and deliverance that Jerusalem needed. Isaiah 36:7
7 “But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’?” ’
Rabshakeh was trying to anticipate what their response might be and then shows his ignorance of the way in which God wanted to be worshiped. He knew that King Hezekiah has instituted major reforms, wiped out the pagan alters, and in many places we read the high places. Those were not all false gods, some of them were set up for convenience, and were considered places of individual worship to God. But this was not what God desired or desires. In fact it is strictly forbidden in the book of Leviticus. They were to come to the temple and worship corporately. It is the same as we see in the New Testament, we are not to forsake the gathering together of the Saints, to stir up love and good works.
That is what King Hezekiah did was obey the Lord and require that the people not worship wherever they felt like it, but to assemble together in the Temple of God.
8 Now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses—if you are able on your part to put riders on them!
9 How then will you repel one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
10 Have I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’ ”
He on dangerous ground here. This is complete blasphemy. He is saying, God talks to me, and God told me to come down here and destroy you guys. Isaiah 36:11-12
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”
12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat and drink their own waste with you?”
So King Hezekiah’s men, who were trying to be reliant upon the Lord and trust what their King was commanding, ask them to please talk in Aramaic, not Hebrew because all the people that have gathered can understand Hebrew and you are going to freak them out. But the Rabshakeh turns it up a notch with the prediction that they should hear because they are the ones that will eat and drink their own waste with you. Now with all the horrific things that the Assyrian warriors were known for, it would not surprise me at all if this was a threat to force them to do that.
But if you know anything about the type of warfare that was often exercised back then, especially around these walled cities, they would put them under siege, meaning they would completely surround the city, not allowing anyone in our out and thereby completely cutting off the supply chain. They would have supplies in storage, as do many of you conspiracy theorists, but eventually those supplies would be depleted. If you think back to the ministry of Elisha early in the book of 2 Kings there is writing there that talk about starvation being so great that mothers would be forced to eat children, and a donkey’s head, or dove droppings being sold for shekels of silver. So he is trying to intimidate and continues on...
13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in Hebrew, and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!
14 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you;
15 nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ’
16 Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make peace with me by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern;
Don’t trust your Godly leader, just come out and pay me some taxes, I’m from your new government, I want to help, you can trust me, pay me and then come out and work in your own fields…until verse 17
17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
Remember one to the tactics of the Assyrians when they conquered a city or a nation was to repopulate the land. They would take the people captive and move them to another land, they would move their leaders into the conquered land and repopulate that with captives from a different area. It was smart really, because everything was different, different culture, different people, it would not be as easy to unite in rebellion if you weren’t even familiar with the land.
verse 18 Isaiah 36:18
18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
Quite a bold statement here, don’t let your king lie to you and say The Lord will deliver you, no other gods of the other nations have been able to save them from the king of Assyria. Pride goeth before the fall… Isa 36:19-22
19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
20 Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ”
21 But they held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.”
22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
what was that a sign of when they tore their clothes? Mourning…this is going to be bad, we are mourning king, and the king’s response, chapter 37 vs 1 Isa 37:1
1 And so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.
He’s mourning a bit too as this doesn’t look good at all. He steps it up a notch and covers himself in sackcloth, like itchy burlap just to make himself more miserable. But look what King Hezekiah does, I love his response here, this should always be our response to tribulation…first Isa 37:2-3
2 Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.
3 And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth.
They are seeking the counsel of the Lord. But in this last statement, you can see that the effects of the seige are starting already. Those that are with child, when it comes time to deliver, don’t have enough strength in their bodies to complete the delivery. Isa 37:4
4 It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”
Isaiah, we need your help, pray prophet, pray! Ask God to help this little remnant of His people that remains.
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
7 Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”
God answers and says don’t worry about what this bird says, I’m going to return him to his own land and he is going to die there.
8 Then the Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.
9 And the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come out to make war with you.” So when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10 “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”
11 Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?
13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ”
14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.
This is so awesome! Tribulation starts and this leader seeks a word of the Lord. Now he gets a threat against him in the form of a letter and the first thing he does is go to the house of the Lord and completely lay it out before God. We all need to take heed and learn from this. Not have our first response be worry and fear, not have our first response be to try to figure out a way of deliverance in our own strength, resources, and knowledge, but to turn it over and lay it out before the Lord. Not seek the counsel of friends, or imaginary friends on social media, but to lay it out before the Lord.
15 Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying:
16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
Hezekiah acknowledges that God, is the only living and true God. No matter what the other nations say, or the terrorists that are coming against them are saying, He is seeking the One true and living God. And He says, Isa 37:17
17 Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.
Lord please listen to me, hear and see Sennacherib sent a message and, well, some of it is true…Isa 37:18
18 Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands,
They’ve wiped everybody out…Isai 37:19-20
19 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them.
20 Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord, You alone.”
God you alone are awesome, I have a real problem here, and we need your help. Isa 37:21-22
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,
22 this is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him: “The virgin, the daughter of Zion, Has despised you, laughed you to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem Has shaken her head behind your back!
So to the King of Assyria, our little girls despise you and laugh at you. Isa 37:23-26
23 “Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice, And lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.
24 By your servants you have reproached the Lord, And said, ‘By the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, To the limits of Lebanon; I will cut down its tall cedars And its choice cypress trees; I will enter its farthest height, To its fruitful forest.
25 I have dug and drunk water, And with the soles of my feet I have dried up All the brooks of defense.’
26 “Did you not hear long ago How I made it, From ancient times that I formed it? Now I have brought it to pass, That you should be For crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins.
27 Therefore their inhabitants had little power; They were dismayed and confounded; They were as the grass of the field And the green herb, As the grass on the housetops And grain blighted before it is grown.
28 “But I know your dwelling place, Your going out and your coming in, And your rage against Me.
29 Because your rage against Me and your tumult Have come up to 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 which you came.” ’
This was one of the very things that the Assyrian army was famous for, putting hooks into the faces of their prisoners and dragging them around like that. What comes around goes around says God. I’m the One you are really raging against, so I’ll put My hook in your nose and turn you around from attacking my Israel...
And now to Hezekiah, Isa 37:30
30 “This shall be a sign to you: You shall eat this year such as grows of itself, And the second year what springs from the same; Also in the third year sow and reap, Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
This is how you will know that this is really going to happen. That I am going to deliver you from the enemy and restore the land.
31 And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take root downward, And bear fruit upward.
32 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, And those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
33 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound against it.
34 By the way that he came, By the same shall he return; And he shall not come into this city,’ Says the Lord.
35 ‘For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ ”
What an awesome response to a prayer pleading for the help of God. Just laying out the problem before Him. When I read things like this, I often wonder how I would have responded in King Hezekiah’s shoes. This terrorist invader who has destroyed your brothers to the north already, has destroyed everyone around you, so you have no earthly help. Has offered to give you 2,000 horse, oh, but you don’t even have that many soldiers to ride them. Your women are so weak, they can’t deliver their children. How strong would my faith be in his shoes, even after receiving a promise from God? Lets see how God delivers...
36 Then the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead.
37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh.
When the people of Jerusalem arose obviously, the Assyrians didn’t wake up dead. And the word of the Lord was fulfilled as Sennacherib returned home to Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria.
Chapter 38 Isa 38:1
1 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’ ”
Man, what a bummer! After seeing the Lord fulfill His Word through the prophet Isaiah, that same prophet comes and tells you to get things ready because you are going to die, and if there is any confusion that means not live. Isa 38:2-5
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord,
3 and said, “Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying,
5 “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will add to your days fifteen years.
6 I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.” ’
7 And this is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing which He has spoken:
8 Behold, I will bring the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down with the sun on the sundial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.” So the sun returned ten degrees on the dial by which it had gone down.
God hears His prayer and answers His prayer. He then says I’m going to do this thing so you know it’s true and won’t be waiting to die at any second. Now I wish God had not answered his prayer. God’s plan for us is always the best for us. For one thing we know that during this additional 15 years that God gave him, he had a son, Manasseh that was a very evil king. The bible tells us that he began to reign when he was 12 years old, so we know that he was born during this time. God’s plan is always better. Isa 38:9
9 This is the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:
This is not an example of positive confession…in fact, I hope I don’t bum you out by reading it…Isa 38:10-13
10 I said, “In the prime of my life I shall go to the gates of Sheol; I am deprived of the remainder of my years.”
11 I said, “I shall not see Yah, The Lord in the land of the living; I shall observe man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
12 My life span is gone, Taken from me like a shepherd’s tent; I have cut off my life like a weaver. He cuts me off from the loom; From day until night You make an end of me.
13 I have considered until morning— Like a lion, So He breaks all my bones; From day until night You make an end of me.
14 Like a crane or a swallow, so I chattered; I mourned like a dove; My eyes fail from looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; Undertake for me!
15 “What shall I say? He has both spoken to me, And He Himself has done it. I shall walk carefully all my years In the bitterness of my soul.
16 O Lord, by these things men live; And in all these things is the life of my spirit; So You will restore me and make me live.
17 Indeed it was for my own peace That I had great bitterness; But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
18 For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth.
19 The living, the living man, he shall praise You, As I do this day; The father shall make known Your truth to the children.
20 “The Lord was ready to save me; Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments All the days of our life, in the house of the Lord.”
Finally at the end, the proper response of praise for saving him. And we see at the end here that God does in fact heal him. I think it is interesting to note that it appears that God chose to heal him through a medical treatment, although he certainly didn’t have to.
21 Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a lump of figs, and apply it as a poultice on the boil, and he shall recover.”
22 And Hezekiah had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?”
Very short chapter 39, so we can be in the salvation and comfort section, next time we gather in Isaiah.
1 At that time Merodach-Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered.
Oh, here is another bad thing about his miraculous recovery he pleaded with the Lord for…Isa 39:2-5
2 And Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them the house of his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.
3 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” So Hezekiah said, “They came to me from a far country, from Babylon.”
4 And he said, “What have they seen in your house?” So Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”
5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts:
6 ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord.
7 ‘And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ”
8 So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good!” For he said, “At least there will be peace and truth in my days.”
Hezekiah started well and finished poorly. His heart was not centered on others, but only himself in the end. As judgement is announced upon him, he pronounces relief that it won’t harm him, just his kids. Sad ending which is why we must continue to abide in Christ and stay in fellowship with each other.
Grace and Peace