Sermon Tone Analysis

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

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.

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

It appears that both God and the Rabshakeh knew that Egypt could not provide the protection and deliverance that Jerusalem needed.

Isaiah 36:7

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.

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

Isaiah, we need your help, pray prophet, pray!

Ask God to help this little remnant of His people that remains.

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.

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.

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

Lord please listen to me, hear and see Sennacherib sent a message and, well, some of it is true…Isa 37:18

They’ve wiped everybody out…Isai 37:19-20

God you alone are awesome, I have a real problem here, and we need your help.

Isa 37:21-22

So to the King of Assyria, our little girls despise you and laugh at you.

Isa 37:23-26

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

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.

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...

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

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

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.