Isaiah 37

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Isaiah 37:1-38 (KJV) 

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. 

Hezekiah's reaction to the news from the Assyrians.

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.

Hezekiah is king, did what a good leader will do, let's take the matter to God.  Find a man who hears from God and tell him the matter. 

 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.

Hezekiah listened.  (Solomon listened to the two prostitutes). God so graciously listens to us when we pray.  When a leader listens, God gives instructions.

God is rebuking Judah.  Hezekiah shares the sins of Judah and at the same time explains what 

God is giving him to say.

 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. 

Hezekiah is saying perhaps God will take it as a threat to Him personally.  In the meantime pray for those Jews who are left.  A lot of Jewish lives are gone but Hezekiah did not think it too small to ask God for those who were left  to help them.

5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 

These servants are well trained.  Each time they were sent to carry out a message, they followed through.

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. 

God said don't be afraid.  This tells me that I have the power over fear.  How do you keep yourself from being afraid?

To keep from being afraid, respond to things you would normally do and do not give attention to what is bombarding your mind.  When we go into a state of shock we freeze and things that need to get done, go left undone.  Clean, wash, organize, etc; for these things are an act of our faith.

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.

God said, I will blast him and he will hear a rumor and return home and he will be destroyed 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. 

Look at the difference of what was going on in the enemy's camp.  Hezekiah was where he should have been and Isaiah was where he should have been.  The Assyrians were very disorganized and when we are disorganized, it shows a delay in the outcomes expected.

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, 

Now Ethiopia wants to fight the Assyrians.  The Assyrians do not know what to do.  So he sends a message back to Judah.  When he found out that the Ethiopians were joining in on an attack against them the Assyrians, he sent messages to warn Judah.

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. 

His message instructs the king of Judah to disbelieve God. Don't let God lie to you, we will take over Judah.

11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered? 

Check out our past.  What we did before we will do again.

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?

Do you remember what my ancestors did to the surrounding cities of your area?

 13 Where [is] the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?

Look for the evidence of those whom we've attacked.

 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. 

This time Hezekiah said I will pray.

15 And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying, 

 Hezekiah prayed.

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. 

Our Father who is in heaven........

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. 

Hezekiah did not leave out one desire.  He told God what the enemy said against the people he lead.

Hezekiah said, Lord, it is You he is talking against.

18 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries, 

Lord, they have done the things he boasted about...

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. 

They destroyed their so-called gods...All of whom the Assyrians named.

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.

Lord, deliver us out to the hand of the enemy and prove that You are our Living God. 

It is God's good pleasure to show His strength.  Israel is His and God will protect His children.

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:

Now Isaiah is not in the same place Hezekiah is in, but the Lord used Isaiah to send an answer to Hezekiah's prayer through Isaiah.

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.

Judah will not be destroyed and you will not touch her.

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. 

God asked the question, are you coming against me?

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.

You sent your unstable servants to give your message and you bragged of all you will do. 

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. 

You boast about the water you stole from the people.  The people could not drink, clean or even bathe.  You hit people where it hurt.  I saw you do it and now you admit and boastfully brag about it.

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.

The Assyrians continued their boast.

 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. 

You measure yourself against smaller nations and call yourself stronger?

28 But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. 

I know you and I know your every move said, the Lord.

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. 

Watch what I am going to do to you Myself.

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. 

You will eat whatever you can find for two years and in the third year, you will be like regular men.  You will be growing your own food by working with your own hands.

31 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward: 

Anyone one who escapes will start at the bottom to make enough to have something to eat.  You will have nothing to boast about.

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. 

I give you my word.  Every thing I have spoken will come to pass.

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. 

Tell the king I said he is as good as dead.

34 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. 

The path he took to get here will be the path that will lead him back home.  He will not have any new ideas or strategies.

The same Uber Driver that will bring him will be the same Uber Driver who will take him back home.

35 For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. 

God said I will defend this city!! I will put my reputation as being the one who saved my people.

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. 

God sent an angel and he hit 185000 men with a plague and they all died in one night.

37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. 

The leader went home, his soldiers died.

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 Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

His sons killed him while he was worshipping his own man made idea of a god. Another one of his sons took his place.