Isaiah Chapter 37

God will deliver jerusalem

 

What is your first reaction when challenges or problems arise?  Are you inclined, as the saying goes, to see your cup half-empty or half-full? That saying merely reminds us that there is more than one way to view most situations. We can consider problems to be either obstacles or opportunities. We can look at our past and bring the lessons learned there to assist us in the present, or we can unreflectively make the same mistakes over and over.

The past should be an important part of today’s actions and tomorrow’s plans. The people of Judah had a rich past filled with God’s actions, guidance, and commands. But with each passing generation, they also had a growing list of tragedies resulting from disobedience when the people forgot their God. God had cared for them in the past and also cared about their present and future as well as demanding their continued obedience. King Hezekiah was one of the few kings who was aware of God’s acts in the past and His interest in the events of each and every day in the present and future. The Bible describes him as a king who had a close relationship with God.

Hezekiah saw the need for change and went about the work of accomplishing it. He destroyed all idols, altars, and pagan temples throughout Judah. The Temple in Jerusalem that was closed by his father was reopened. The Passover was re-instituted as a national holiday, and revival came to Judah.

During Hezekiah’s reign as both co-regent and king from 729 B.C. to 686 B.C., Assyria, the most powerful nation in the world was conquering land all around Israel and Judah, and in 722 B.C. captured the northern kingdom of Israel( also referred to as Samaria). This single event may have been the trigger that caused Hezekiah to reform his own nation of Judah. All during his reign as king up until the actual invasion of Judah by Assyria which finally ended in 701 B.C., Judah was under threat by the Assyrians.

This threat led Hezekiah to make a great mistake by forming an alliance with Egypt against Assyria rather than depending solely on the protection of God. You may remember from last time that God had strictly forbidden Israel from any further alliances with Egypt after the exodus (Deuteronomy 17:15,16). This disobedience led God to punish Judah by allowing the Assyrians to conquer most of the cities of Judah and prepare for an invasion of Jerusalem itself. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, boldly threatened Hezekiah warning him that Judah would be much better off if it surrendered, and that is where we again pick up the story in Isaiah chapter 37.[fn]

Isaiah 37:1-14 NAS:
1 When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the Temple of the Lord to pray.
2 And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, all dressed in sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.
3 They told him, “This is what King Hezekiah says:
This is a day of trouble, insult, and disgrace. It is like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver it.
4 But perhaps the Lord your God has heard the Assyrian representative defying the living God and will punish him for his words. Oh, pray for those of us who are left!”

5 After King Hezekiah’s officials delivered the king’s message to Isaiah,
6 the prophet replied, “Say to your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian king’s messengers.
7 Listen! I myself will make sure that the king will receive a report from Assyria telling him that he is needed at home. Then I will make him want to return to his land, where I will have him killed with a sword.’ ”

8 Meanwhile, the Assyrian representative left Jerusalem and went to consult his king, who had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah.
9 Soon afterward King Sennacherib received word that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was leading an army to fight against him. Before leaving to meet the attack, he sent this message back to Hezekiah in Jerusalem:

10 “This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don’t let this God you trust deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria.
11 You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have crushed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different?
12 Have the gods of other nations rescued them—such nations as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar? The former kings of Assyria destroyed them all!
13 What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”

14 After Hezekiah received the letter and read it, he went up to the Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord.

The first fourteen verses of this chapter are just basically the same thing we covered in chapter 36. King Sennacherib of Assyria continued boasting how undefeatable the army of Assyria is and that it’s futile to try and fight against them. He goes on to boast that not even their God could help them against such a powerful army. When Hezekiah heard this message, he went to the Temple and held out the message for God to see. The important thing to note here is what Hezekiah did.

His first reaction was to bring the message and the problem before the Lord in prayer. Is that our first reaction to a problem?

Isaiah 37:15-29 NAS:
15 And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord:
16 “O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth.
17 Listen to me, O Lord, and hear! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God.
18 “It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations, just as the message says.
19 And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands.
20 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God.”

Hezekiah’s prayer has some guidelines for us. He had a major problem. It was weighing on him heavily, but what is the first thing in Hezekiah’s prayer? Worship. He acknowledges who God is and what His position is as Creator of the universe and praises Him. Then he states the problem and makes his request. Note too that the request is not just for what Hezekiah and the people can get, but also a desire to bring glory to God: “then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God.”  

We are not to pray according to “formulas” so we are not to just unthinkingly copy this prayer. But the pattern of Hezekiah’s prayer indicates his relationship with God. So it is probably safe to say that the pattern of our prayers also indicates our relationship with God. Do we only pray in crises? Do we rush in with our requests? Do we forget the thank-yous? Hezekiah took this letter to the Temple as an indication that he was consciously going into God’s presence. Do we have a great sense of awareness when we pray that we also are entering into God’s presence?

Now let us see what the answer was.

Isaiah 37:21,22 NAS:
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:
This is my answer to your prayer concerning King Sennacherib of Assyria.
22 This is the message that the Lord has spoken against him: ‘The virgin daughter of Zion despises you and laughs at you. The daughter of Jerusalem scoffs and shakes her head as you flee.

The “daughter of Zion,” Jerusalem, was still a virgin; she had not been ravaged by the enemy. She could look at the Assyrians and shake her head in scorn, for they could not touch her. God would spare His remnant and plant them once more in the land.[fn]

Isaiah 37:23-29
23 ‘Whom do you think you have been insulting and ridiculing? Against whom did you raise your voice? At whom did you look in such proud condescension? It was the Holy One of Israel!
24 By your messengers you have mocked the Lord. You have said, “With my many chariots I have conquered the highest mountains— yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars and its choicest cypress trees. I have reached its farthest corners and explored its deepest forests.
25 I have dug wells in many a foreign land and refreshed myself with their water. I even stopped up the rivers of Egypt so that my armies could go across!”
26 ‘But have you not heard? It was I, the Lord, who decided this long ago. Long ago I planned what I am now causing to happen, that you should crush fortified cities into heaps of rubble.
27 That is why their people have so little power and are such easy prey for you. They are as helpless as the grass, as easily trampled as tender green shoots. They are like grass sprouting on a housetop, easily scorched by the sun.
28 ‘But I know you well— your comings and goings and all you do. I know the way you have raged against me.
29 And because of your arrogance against me, which I have heard for myself, I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your mouth. I will make you return by the road on which you came.

It is not a real good idea to boast before the Lord God, especially when you claim that your abilities far exceed His. Sennacherib was about to pay the ultimate penalty for blasphemy.

Isaiah 37:30 NAS:
30 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Here is the proof that the Lord will protect this city from Assyria’s king. This year you will eat only what grows up by itself, and next year you will eat what springs up from that. But in the third year you will plant crops and harvest them; you will tend vineyards and eat their fruit.

God’s response to Isaiah’s prayer was to send King Hezekiah of Judah another threefold message of assurance: Jerusalem would not be taken (verses 22, 31–35); the Assyrians would depart (verses. 23–29); and the Jews would not starve (verse 30).[fn] God provided for Jerusalem during the 2 years they were under attack by the Assyrians. When Sennacherib gave up and headed home in the third year, the people were able to plant crops again. God will provide the same kind of protection to those that trust in Him for their every need.

Isaiah 37:31,32 NAS:
31 And you who are left in Judah, who have escaped the ravages of the siege, will take root again in your own soil, and you will flourish and multiply.
32 For a remnant of my people will spread out from Jerusalem, a group of survivors from Mount Zion. The passion of the Lord Almighty will make this happen!

Those who survived this attack soon produced many offspring who populated the land once again.

Isaiah 37:33-38 NAS:
33 “And this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
His armies will not enter Jerusalem to shoot their arrows. They will not march outside its gates with their shields and build banks of earth against its walls.[fn]
34 The king will return to his own country by the road on which he came. He will not enter this city, says the Lord.
35 For my own honor[fn] and for the sake of my servant David[fn], I will defend it.” 36 That night the angel of the Lord[fn] went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian troops. When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere.
37 Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh[fn] and stayed there.
38 One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords. They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Esarhaddon, became the next king of Assyria.

God Himself defeated the enemy and protected the people of Jerusalem. Think of how the remaining Assyrian soldiers must have felt when they awakened in the morning and there were so many dead bodies around them. Think also of how the people of God must have felt as they watched the army who had sworn to conquer them just pick up and walk away. That is the kind of God we have. But now Hezekiah is faced with another challenge.

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© Ron Teed - Used by permission. All rights Reserved.