Isaiah 37
Notes
Transcript
Hezekiah Seeks Help...
Hezekiah Seeks Help...
Good evening friends, we come back to the book of Isaiah and with it we have the opportunity to see more of what God is doing among is people in the present time of Isaiah’s writing and sharing of God’s message and what will come in the days to come...
Remember God has promised deliverance, yet the people, the nation, they do not know how all these things will happen. And this is concerning for them.
The King, and the people will have to learn to trust God in the midst of great adversity.
So lets open up the text today....
1 As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.
Just as those who had gone out to meet those from King Sennacherib’s men and hear their report, they returned heart broken and mourning..
So now the King hearing this news is also mourning. He is beside himself and look at his response, it is sadness, grief, tearing his clothes, and covering himself with sack cloth he went not to his residence, not to his throne, but very meaningful … he goes to the temple, to the house of the Lord.
It seemed if they all might be about to die in the hands of a foreign hostile enemy....
if you remember back in chapter 22, Isaiah condemned the people for their pursuit of living for self, eating and drinking and giving themselves to sin instead of grieving, weeping and wailing over sin and then coming back to His house and returning to the Lord
But now the King and his officials are responding appropriately.
Hezekiah is going to the right place to seek God in that day.
Now lets move on and look at verses 2-4 Isa 37:2-4
2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 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 mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”
So look at what we see here, Hezekiah sent two of his officials and some senior priests from the temple to the prophet Isiaiah.
Here is a change of pace… The one, no one wanted around is suddenly called for...
And with verse 3 they begin to deliver Hezekiah’s message to Isaiah. Interesting enough, this is the first time in the book that Isaiah is called the prophet. And it really suggests that Isaiah’s has been detested by the king, but with all that is happening… Hezekiah is having a change of heart and mind.
But nonetheless, they come to him and share this message.
Hezekiah’s message describes the day as a day of distress, rebuke and disgrace, referring to the terrible situation the city of God is facing because of Sennacherib’s threats.
This king has mocked God, speaking of a woman who is about to give birth but doesn’t have any strength to deliver… it is implied that God has no strength to help...
But in verse 4, Hezekiah understands what matters most… it is not the survival of the kingdom it self but for what the kingdom stands for… God, the glory of God.
Hezekiah is hoping God will hear and act to defend himself.
Notice here that Hezekiah is not blaming God for the mess they are in, nor does he mention his own piety or actions that might cause God to act...
Hezekiah is broken, and now he knows the only thing that can help is God’s justice to act on behalf of his people and deal with the sin of those outside of the nation.
And the call at the end of verse 4, He calls for Isaiah to pray for the remnant that is left...
The nation has been beaten down, the fortified cities over run, all that is left are those hold up in the city.
Now lets look at verses 5-7 Isa 37:5-7
5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’ ”
And now Isaiah has a message for those servant who came from Hezekiah to Isaiah....
Verse 6… Isaiah says for them to relay this message to their master.
Isaiah first says for them to not fear the words they have heard and how they blasphemed the Lord their God. Their words have no power of the Lord their God.
So what will God do? God is sovereignty over the life of Sennacherib,
First... God will put a spirit in him, which will eventually will cause him to return to his own country were he will die..
Second, God will cause the king to hear a rumor and this news will motivate him to return to his own land of Assyria.
Third God will cause him to fall by the sword...
Here is a thought.. God’s plans and purposes are centered around the establishment of his honor and glory, not theirs.
Now with verses 8-13 we move into another section where Sennacherib gives Hezekiah a final warning…
So lets look at verses 8-9.... Isa 37:8-9
8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9 Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “He has set out to fight against you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
Remember that Sennacherib has sent Rabshakeh to Jerusalem to convey his wishes to Hezekiah, but the Assyrian army is still on the march, conquering these smaller fortified cities, putting an end to their threat to Sennacherib’s plans.
He has defeated Lachish, and now is fighting in Libnah and Rabshakeh has returned to the King to help him conqueror that city so not all the resources can be directed at Jerusalem.
Now a new point has become concerning, the Tirhakah, the King og Cush has come out to fight against him,. And in light of this, Sennacherib sends another message to Hezekiah...
Verse 10 Isa 37:10
10 “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
He calls for Hezekiah to doubt the promises of God.. Why? he cannot ( he is implying God has no power) defeat me. my plans are sure and certain. He is calling God a liar...
He is confident in himself, But he is no match for the Lord our God.
verses 11-13 Isa 37:11-13
11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’ ”
What was the basis of Sennacherib’s claim, all that the people had heard from the news of devastated cities.
He wanted Hezekiah to remember that you thought the past kings and armies were tough, Tiglath Pilesser, Shalmanessar, you thought those were bad, I am more worse and you think you will be delivered…HA
He is really saying, how can you be so blind King?? You are just a rock waiting to be kicked out of the way… Sennacherib just didn’t know who the Rock was… he wasn’t moving God...
Verse 12 he begins asking him if the gods of the other nations delivered them, well no. But they were not gods, just wood, stone or something similar…
He had not encountered the wrath of almighty God yet.
And in verse 13 he calls for him (Hezekiah) to recount the kings who depended on those lands… they have all ben defeated and killed, he is implying the same will happen to him. But in truth he is only foretelling his own future
Now verses 14-15 Isa 37:14-15
14 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. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:
So we know at some point King Hezekiah received the message from Sennacherib, and his response is the most appropriate response we could ever see in the Bible, he took it to God and prayed...
Verses 16-17 Isa 37:16-17
16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 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 mock the living God.
Hezekiah prays, calling upon God and listen he confesses just who God is…
1. He is the Lord almighty the Lord of hosts.... - God is the commander of all His army in heaven and of course the world.
2. The God of Israel, - the God of His covenant people Israel… not the Assyrians.
3. Enthroned between the cherubim, - the mighty angels of heaven, he is the one who rules above the temple and the mercy seat where the cherubim stand as well on the Ark.
4. You alone are God … There is no other god… He alone is the sovereign God
5. He is over all the kingdoms of the earth. - He is the one sovereign God of the universe, no others.
6. The creator of the heavens and the earth.... he owns the world, it and all in it are His possession. He made it and he could also destroy it.
And as you move into verse 17, Hezekiah invites God to see and hear all that Sennacherib has said about God and to him and the nation.
Understand, God was completely aware of all that was in Sennacherib heart and the fear that may have possessed Hezekiah in that moment as well...
But Hezekiah believed God could intervene in their reality and change their present and future.
Now moving on to verses 18-19 Isa 37:18-19
18 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed.
Hezekiah begins by telling God how the Kings of Assyria have defeated all the nations around them, how they have devastated the people, tore down their false altars and threw their gods into the fires of destruction.
Hezekiah is careful to state these were no gods at all, but false gods the work of mans hands and thus they were easily destroyed.
And verse 20 Isa 37:20
20 So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”
And Hezekiah's call is simple… Lord save us from his hand. Let all the kingdoms of the earth know (because of your hand of salvation) that you alone are God...
He is calling on God to act and share a testimony to the world. He alone is God.
Verse 21 Isa 37:21
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,
And God sent his answer to Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah.
I like this line.... Because you have prayed to me.... Lets stop right there and consider this...
Hezekiah didn’t think about turning to the countries around him as His father has done. he didn’t listen to any advisors.. he turned straight to the Lord
When will man learn where our help comes from… it always comes form the Lord.
Verse 22 Isa 37:22
22 this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:
“ ‘She despises you, she scorns you—
the virgin daughter of Zion;
she wags her head behind you—
the daughter of Jerusalem.
Isaiah announces one initial promise concerning the people in Jerusalem and their future relationship to Sennacherib.
Instead of fearing the army of Sennacherib, the children of Israel will despise and mock the king of Assyria
Verses 23-25 Isa 37:23-25
23 “ ‘Whom have you mocked and reviled?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes to the heights?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24 By your servants you have mocked the Lord,
and you have said, With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon,
to cut down its tallest cedars,
its choicest cypresses,
to come to its remotest height,
its most fruitful forest.
25 I dug wells
and drank waters,
to dry up with the sole of my foot
all the streams of Egypt.
So because the King of Assyria has blasphemed against God,....God in turns tells him he will act this way toward Sennacherib...
God has been building his evidence against the king of Assyria. This is more than just a physical battle, why? because there will be a spiritual outcome to the fight.
God points the finger toward the one who is guilty and it is Sennacherib. The Assyrian king will be reminded on his words and actions that he has given toward Israel and God himself.
Sennacherib was proud and blasphemous and now he has suggested that Hezekiah cannot trust God, as if God was deceiving his people....
Sennacherib claims that he can reach toward the heavens and praising himself for all that he has gained like the fruitful forests.
And look at verses 26-27 Isa 37:26-27
26 “ ‘Have you not heard
that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
what now I bring to pass,
that you should make fortified cities
crash into heaps of ruins,
27 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
are dismayed and confounded,
and have become like plants of the field
and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops,
blighted before it is grown.
it is here that God calls for Sennacherib to come to an understanding, haven’t you figured it out that I am the one who controls history....
God says “surely you’ve heard”.... you know these things to be true. He God is the controlling one of the universe.
And Sennacherib was truly blasphemed the Lord by claiming supernatural attributes and accomplishments.
God is telling him, I have shaped your history as I needed it. it is not saying God plans every detail of a person’s life he is saying Sennacherib victories over his enemies were shaped into God’s plans
Why couldn’t Sennacherib see this… Too much pride.
Now verses 28-29 Isa 37:28-29
28 “ ‘I know your sitting down
and your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me.
29 Because you have raged against me
and your complacency has come to my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and I will turn you back on the way
by which you came.’
And consider this, God says I am completely aware of all your doing, going in and coming out. Your peace and even when you rage against me.
But because of his raging and his uncontrollable anger toward God, which has ultimately ended up in blaspheming God…
God says he will put a hook in your nose…and a bit in your mouth and I will turn away for you/.
God’s divine punishment will fall on Him and his army. Like leading cattle or oxen, horses away, God says he will take Sennacherib back to his own people in Assyria.
The hooks in the nose goes a step further than just leading animals. It was also that hooks were placed through the cheeks of captives so they could be led away.
So here God says he will lead him away...
Verses 30-32 Isa 37:30-32
30 “And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Now as we open this text here, it is meant to be a sign of encouragement for Hezekiah.
And it is neat to see, that the Lord is helping Hezekiah grow in faith, grow closer to Him which his father Ahaz refused to do...
Verse 30 is the food that provided for the people… it is a 3 year plan to see that which grows in the ground prosper a bit more each year and this will increase not only Hezekiah faith, but the people’s as well.
You see the war, the seige would have cut off their ability to cultivated the land, grow and harvest crops.
The Assyrians has devoured their food and fruit trees and whole the people were focused on defending the city and not planting crops, God will ensure they have food to eat.
Like manna from heaven, God will ensure they are fed as the ground gives forth to their needs more and more each year.
So the sign would be the plant, plants developing and growing and they would know the Lord had done this..
Why would God do all this, because he has promised a remnant would survive.
This would not be the end of his people.
Now verses 33-35 Isa 37:33-35
33 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. 35 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
Verse 33 is important, He will not breach the city walls and or harm any on the city.
He would not even be able to finish his work of a seige ramp upon the city. why?
The Lord will not allow it. God says he will defend this city and save it for my sake and the sake of my servant David.
Isaiah 1–39 (4) God’s Promise to Rescue Hezekiah (37:14–35)
This miraculous act of God would demonstrate to all future kings of Judah that only those who follow the ways of David will receive God’s protection.
Now the last passge 36-38
36 And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 37 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. 38 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
And the Lord acted…
The angel of the Lord went out… 2 Kings tells us that the Lord acts quickly, suddenly or in a instant without any human assistance.
And just as God fortold that Sennacherib would return by the way he came, so he did and returned home to his house in Nineveh.
And his own sons kill him as he worshipped his false god and his Son ruled in his place....
So we have seen God deliver Hezekiah and his people out of the hands of their enemies and destroyed the forces that sought to Kill them.
Hezekiah like his father Ahaz was faithless at one point… they trusted in themselves and others to help. But Hezekiah’s faith returned and he turned to God.
God in turn acted on their behalf.....
Let me ask you a question.... IN the battle you now face…do you believe God can act on your behalf....
He can, he will, seek him above all else.
