Hezekiah: Isaiah 36-39 (4)

Pray Psalm 146.1, 2.
Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
While I live I will praise the LORD;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Read Isaiah 37.21-38.

Reflect.
1. How many different ways had Sennacherib offended against God?

2. In the midst of wrath, God does not forget His remnant. What does He promise them? 

Meditate.
It’s not a good idea to reproach God, or to abuse His servants, or to violate His gifts and properties, or to neglect His Law. Sennacherib would learn this the hard way, as our passage for today makes clear.

In lieu of further exposition, I want to share a poem by George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824), on the subject of this passage:

The Destruction of Sennacherib

  The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
   Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.
   For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!
   And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.
   And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.
   And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

And as a fitting conclusion to the Lord’s anger, upon returning to Assyria from this inglorious defeat, Sennacherib was murdered by his own sons.

Prepare.
1. What do we learn from the demise of Sennacherib about the power of God?

2. Clearly, it’s not a good idea to offend against the Lord. What should we learn from God’s wrath against Sennacherib? 

3. The going forth of a remnant from Jerusalem indicates the lifting of the siege. What does the remnant begin to do after that (vv. 30-32)? Does God still have a remnant today? What is their calling?

The going forth is thus contrasted with the narrow limits within which the trembling Jews had been forced by the dread of enemies to confine themselves. Yet by this word he expresses not only liberty to go out, but the increase of the nation, which had been reduced to a small number. When not only was Judea again covered by a multitude of men, but from the remnant there sprung vast multitudes who were spread over the various countries of the world, this could not have been done, unless out of that small number the Lord had created not merely a single nation, but many nations. John Calvin (1509-1564 AD), Commentary on Isaiah 37

Lord, count me among Your faithful remnant, I pray, and let me go out today to…

Pray Psalm 146.
Thank God for the joy and hope He gives us, and for the justice, provision, and healing we have by His grace.

Sing to the Lord.
Psalm 146 (Hallelujah! What a Savior: Man of Sorrows)
Praise the Lord, my soul, give praise! While I live, His Name I’ll raise, 
and exalt Him all my days – God forever reigns in Zion!

Trust we not in prince or man – no salvation’s in their hand. 
Death shall take them, breath and plans – God forever reigns in Zion!

Blessed are they whose hope resides in the Lord, Christ at His side. 
By Him heav’n and earth abide – God forever reigns in Zion!

He is faithful evermore; He gives justice to the poor, 
Feeds the hungry from His store – God forever reigns in Zion!

Jesus sets the pris’ner free, heals blind eyes that they may see, 
lifts those burdened painfully – God forever reigns in Zion!

He the righteous loves the best; wand’rers in His grace are blessed;
Needy ones in Him find rest – God forever reigns in Zion!

But the wicked who defame His eternal blessèd Name, 
Them He brings to ruin and shame – God forever reigns in Zion!

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).