Hezekiah: Isaiah 36-39 (3)

Pray Psalm 79.8, 9.
Oh, do not remember former iniquities against us!
Let Your tender mercies come speedily to meet us,
For we have been brought very low.
Help us, O God of our salvation,
For the glory of Your name;
And deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins,
For Your name’s sake!

Read Isaiah 37.8-20.

Reflect.
1. The tone of Sennacherib’s communication with Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem has changed. In what way?

2. Ultimately, what is Hezekiah seeking in his prayer?

Meditate.
Sennacherib was clearly ticked off. He had to put his plans concerning Hezekiah on hold, to deal with Libnah and Ethiopia, which had come out against him (vv. 8, 9). But he didn’t want Hezekiah to think this meant he was off the hook. He sent a stern missive to Hezekiah in which all the nice talk disappeared, and now his intentions were clear: Sennacherib meant to destroy Jerusalem (vv. 11, 12).

Hezekiah’s response was just right. He took the letter to the temple and “spread it before the LORD” (v. 14). He must have read the letter in the Lord’s hearing (v. 17), not because the Lord didn’t know what was in it, but because Hezekiah wanted to put the whole matter into the Lord’s hands. He wanted it off his shoulders and on to the Lord’s, so he called on the Lord to hear and see the Big Talker’s “reproach” of the living God.

In his prayer, Hezekiah acknowledged the greatness of God, and His sovereignty over all the earth (v. 15). He rehearsed the details of Sennacherib’s threat (v. 17), and acknowledged the truth of what the Assyrian king asserted concerning his destruction of other nations and their gods (vv. 18, 19). But then he expressed his confidence in the Lord, called on Him to save His people, and – this is most important – to vindicate and manifest His Name to all the nations (v. 20).

God’s works are always toward the honor of His Name. The sooner we learn this, the more effective will be our prayers, and the more we will guide and direct our own works – all our works – to bring Him praise and glory (1 Cor. 10.31).

Prepare.
1. What threats to our faith or practice do we as believers daily face? How should we prepare for these each day?

2. Hezekiah wants to be saved. He doesn’t want Jerusalem to be destroyed – not on his watch, at least (cf. Is. 39.8). But he is concerned above all for the honor of God. How do you see that? How should Hezekiah’s example instruct us?

3. What “gods” do people today trust in rather than the Lord our God? How should you pray for the lost people in your Personal Mission Field?

Against the blasphemies of King Sennacherib, Hezekiah’s customary armory failed. So he goes back to the temple and opens his letter before the Lord. Previously he was silent, for he did not dare to open his mouth in the temple for fear of the Lord, nor to pour out extemporaneous prayers to God. Now, however, because he has already heard Isaiah saying, “Do not be afraid of the words which you hear, with which the sons of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me,” and so on, he beseeches the Lord boldly and claims that the Lord alone is the living God, through whom we understand idols to be images of the dead.. Jerome (347-420 AD), Commentary on Isaiah 11.37.14-20

Lord, today I will have many opportunities to honor Your Name. Help me to prepare for them, so that…

Pray Psalm 79.
Whatever troubles or oppresses us, and whatever vexes our churches, God is greater, and He can deliver. Offer your trials and challenges to the Lord in prayer.

Sing to the Lord.
Psalm 79 (Passion Chorale: O Sacred Head, Now Wounded)
O God the nations all Your inheritance have spoiled!
Your City have they ruined, Your temple they have soiled!
Your servants’ bodies all to the birds of heav’n are thrown;
The flesh of all Your faithful the jaws of beasts now own.

The blood of faithful servants like water flows around;
And none are there Your saints to commit into the ground.
Our neighbors mock and scorn us: How long, O Lord, how long?
How long will You be angry and scorn our mournful song?

Pour out, O Lord, Your wrath on all who deny Your Name;
Who trust You not nor seek You, bring down to deepest shame!
For they have with great rancor Your precious saints devoured;
Lay waste their habitation at this late dreadful hour.

Why should the nations mock and say, “Where now is their God?”
Let there be known among them harsh vengeance for our blood!
Hear, Lord, our groans and sighing; preserve us by Your pow’r.
For we are fairly dying each day and hour by hour.

Reproach those who reproach us with judgment sevenfold!
Let thanks and praise to You by Your precious flock be told.
We are Your sheep, O Savior, we thank You all our days.
Look on us with Your favor as we declare Your praise.

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006).All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).