October 10th
Isaiah, 36
1:
Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that
Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities
of Judah, and took them. 2:
And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto
king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the
upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field. 3:
Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the
house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder. 4:
And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the
great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou
trustest? 5:
I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and
strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest
against me? 6:
Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon
if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh
king of Egypt to all that trust in him. 7:
But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he,
whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said
to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar? 8:
Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of
Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on
thy part to set riders upon them. 9:
How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of
my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for
horsemen? 10:
And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy
it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
11:
Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray
thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it:
and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people
that are on the wall. 12:
But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee
to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon
the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss
with you? 13:
Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews'
language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of
Assyria. 14:
Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not
be able to deliver you. 15:
Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD
will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the
hand of the king of Assyria. 16:
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an
agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every
one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every
one the waters of his own cistern; 17:
Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land
of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18:
Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us.
Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the
hand of the king of Assyria? 19:
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of
Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20:
Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered
their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out
of my hand? 21:
But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the
king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not. 22:
Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household,
and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to
Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of
Rabshakeh.
Isaiah, 37
1:
And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his
clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house
of the LORD. 2:
And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the
scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto
Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. 3:
And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of
trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come
to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. 4:
It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the
king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and
will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore
lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left. 5:
So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6:
And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus
saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard,
wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7:
Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and
return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in
his own land. 8:
So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against
Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. 9:
And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come
forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers
to Hezekiah, saying, 10:
Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy
God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not
be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11:
Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all
lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered? 12:
Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have
destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden
which were in Telassar? 13:
Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, 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 unto the house of the LORD, and spread
it before the LORD. 15:
And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying, 16:
O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims,
thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth:
thou hast made heaven and earth. 17:
Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and
see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to
reproach the living God. 18:
Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the
nations, and their countries, 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 have
destroyed them. 20:
Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the
kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou
only. 21:
Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith
the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against
Sennacherib king of Assyria: 22:
This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The
virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to
scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. 23:
Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou
exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the
Holy One of Israel. 24:
By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the
multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains,
to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof,
and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of
his border, and the forest of his Carmel. 25:
I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I
dried up all the rivers of the besieged places. 26:
Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient
times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that
thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.
27:
Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed
and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green
herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be
grown up. 28:
But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy
rage against me. 29:
Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine
ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy
lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest. 30:
And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as
groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the
same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards,
and eat the fruit thereof. 31:
And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again
take root downward, and bear fruit upward: 32:
For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape
out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this. 33:
Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He
shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there nor come
before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. 34:
By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not
come into this city, saith the LORD. 35:
For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my
servant David's sake. 36:
Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the
Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they
arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 37:
So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and
dwelt at Nineveh. 38:
And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch
his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the
sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esar-haddon his
son reigned in his stead.
Isaiah, 38
1:
In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet
the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the
LORD, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live. 2:
Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the
LORD, 3:
And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked
before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that
which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. 4:
Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying, 5:
Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy
father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I
will add unto thy days fifteen years. 6:
And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of
Assyria: and I will defend this city. 7:
And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will
do this thing that he hath spoken; 8:
Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone
down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun
returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down. 9:
The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was
recovered of his sickness: 10:
I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the
grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years. 11:
I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the
living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.
12:
Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I
have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining
sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. 13:
I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my
bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. 14:
Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove:
mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake
for me. 15:
What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done
it: I shall go softly 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 wilt thou recover me, and make me to live. 17:
Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my
soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all
my sins behind thy back. 18:
For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they
that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. 19:
The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the
father to the children shall make known thy truth. 20:
The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the
stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the
LORD. 21:
For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a
plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover. 22:
Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the
house of the LORD?
Today
we are beginning a historical section of the Book of Isaiah. This
section begins here and extends as far as ch 39v8. This records a
number of Historical events in Isaiah’s life in relation to
Hezekiah. Ch 36v1 – 37v13 is the summons of the king of Assyria to
Hezekiah to surrender. In the 14th
year of Hezekiah Sennacherib the Assyrian king came to Judah and took
them. Then he sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem with a great
army. He stood by the water passage in the road near the fullers
field and he addressed Hezekiah the king. The first thing he did was
to try to shake the confidence of the king. He said what are you
trusting in? I have a great army and you cannot trust in Egypt for
help – Egypt is untrustworthy. Then he pre-empts Hezekiah saying
you might say We trust in the LORD our God, but has he not taken away
your high places saying you must worship only at Jerusalem. So give
us a token of good faith that you will surrender to us. And if you do
I will send you 2000 horses, that is if you can find 2000 riders. I
have been sent by your LORD to destroy the land. Rabshekah’s men
said speak to us in our language because we do not understand you.
But he spoke to the Jews in their own language. He addressed the
people over the head of the king. He said don’t let your king
deceive you, because he is unable to deliver you. And may Hezekiah
not trust in the LORD because we will destroy this city. If you
surrender then I will take you to a land full of food and wine. Don’t
listen to your king, has any god ever delivered anyone that we have
attacked? No-one answered him. Because the king had commanded
silence. When Hezekiah heard all that was said he humbled himself
before the LORD and rent his clothes, covered himself in sackcloth
and went into the house of the LORD. They sent a message to Isaiah
the prophets saying this is the day of trouble, rebuke and blaspheme
and the king has no heir. When the message came to Isaiah he replied,
tell him not be afraid, because I will send a destroying wind on him
and he will return to his own land and be killed by the sword there.
The exchanges go back and forth but Hezekiah went up to the temple
and spread it out before the LORD. And then we have his prayer
recorded.
O
LORD of hosts, God of Israel,
that
dwellest between the cherubims,
thou
art the God, even thou alone,
of
all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.
Incline
thine ear, O LORD,
and
hear; open thine eyes, O LORD,
and
see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib,
which
hath sent to reproach the living God.
Of
a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations,
and their countries,
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 have destroyed them.
Now
therefore, O LORD our God,
save
us from his hand,
that
all the kingdoms of the earth may know
that
thou art the LORD, even thou only.
Then
the LORD answered him through his prophet Isaiah. Isaiah says ‘This
is what the LORD says’. The virgins have despised you and laughed
and shaken their heads at you, but they have spoken against the LORD
and even against Christ himself. You have come here to conquer but I
will send you back where you have come from because you have trusted
in yourselves. Then the LORD gave a sign to know this will be true.
You will eat this year what grows by itself. And the second year but
in the third year you will sow and eat and reap and plant vineyards.
Those that are left will put roots downward and bear fruit upward.
The enemy will not come and shoot one arrow. The LORD will do this.
The Lord said I will defend this city for David my servants sake.
Then the angel of the LORD went forth and smote the camp of the
Assyrians 185,000 died that night. And when the rest rose the next
day they found all the dead. So Sennacherib left and went to live in
Nineveh. And one day when he was worshipping his god his sons killed
him and fled and Esar-haddon became king in his place. In Isaiah ch
38 Hezekiah became sick and he was near to death Isaiah came to him
and told him he was going to die. Hezekiah turned to face the wall
and wept, not because he was sorry for himself but because he had no
heir. Having an heir meant that Gods promises to David could be
fulfilled. Hezekiah prays again but this time its for his life and
heir. He pleads his righteous life. (This could never be what
Christians do. Our mortal life is not the main thing nor our heirs
and never can we plead righteousness of our own) Hezekiah wept sore
because he felt God was going to let him down. He had been faithful
under the law and yet God had given him no son and now he will loose
his life to sickness. Then the LORD answered his prayer again and the
LORD spoke again through Isaiah. The Lords answer was… I have hear
your prayer and seen your tears and look I will add 15 years to your
life. And I will deliver you from Assyria and save the city.
(Salvation in the OT was not about the salvation of the soul from sin
but the salvation of their mortal lives from death) Then the Lord
gave him a sign. The LORD will bring again the shadow of the degrees.
In other words the shadow on the clock of Hezekiah will go back by 10
degrees. (It’s interesting that the Songs of Degrees in the Psalms
describe this who story of Hezekiah. So the sun rose by ten degrees
on the sundial of Ahaz. Hezekiah became well again. And he said I had
said I will not see the LORD in the land of the living, but I will go
to my grave and loose the rest of my years. And he goes on to
describe his pinning away in sorrow and sickness. Undertake for me!
(The first mention of an undertaker) he praises the LORD who
delivered him from the grave. He says the dead cannot praise you. (He
is speaking about the dead body not the spirit) It is the living that
praise the LORD. He says the LORD was ready to save me (from death)
and therefore I will sing on my stringed instruments all the rest of
my days in the house of the LORD. This is because Isaiah had
proscribed a cure for Hezekiah. A lump of figs plastered on the boil
and he recovered.
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