Thursday
Evening Bible Study
April
4, 2013
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk
– Meat – Manna Preach for a decision Is the church loved?
After the death
of King Solomon, the
kingdom of Israel split into two nations.
The northern
kingdom would be known as “Israel”.
The southern
kingdom was known as “Judah”.
We’ve now entered
that part of history where the northern kingdom has been wiped out and
scattered through the Assyrian empire.
We have been
looking that the reign of King Hezekiah in the southern kingdom.
He was a truly
“good” king.
He brought great reforms to the nation of Judah.
We last left
Hezekiah with the Assyrian army knocking on his front door. They tell the inhabitants of Jerusalem that
they will let them live if they surrender.
The Assyrians have conquered every nation they have come against.
19:1-7 God’s
Promise
:1 And so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his
clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.
:2 Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the
scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the
prophet, the son of Amoz.
:3 And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of
trouble, and rebuke, and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there
is no strength to bring them forth.
It’s a terrible thing when a woman has made it all through her pregnancy,
but is too weak to actually give birth … without the benefit of a c-section.
:4 It may be that the Lord
your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the
king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words
which the Lord your God has
heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”
:5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
:2 Isaiah the
prophet
This is THE Isaiah, the author of the book of Isaiah.
Side note: Isaiah’s daughter Hephzibah is married to
King Hezekiah, making him Hezekiah’s father-in-law. More about that next week…
:6 And Isaiah said
to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Do not be afraid of the words
which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have
blasphemed Me.
:7 Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and
return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own
land.” ’ ”
:4 lift up your
prayer
Hezekiah rallies the leaders to pray.
He himself goes to the Temple to pray, wearing sackcloth, a demonstration
of humility and mourning.
Hezekiah asks Isaiah to pray.
Lesson
Ask for prayer
Sometimes I get so consumed in worrying about some certain situation that I
forget the simplest of all things – to pray.
And when things get really tough, ask others to pray as well.
(Mt 18:19 NKJV) “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning
anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.
19:8-19 More
Threats
:8 Then the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring
against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.
:8 warring against Libnah
Play Libnah map
clip
The Assyrian army had been fighting against the Judean city of Lachish and
has now moved further west to Libnah.
:9 And the king
heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “Look, he has come out to make war
with you.”
:9 Tirhakah king of Ethiopia
We think that Hezekiah may have had some sort of an alliance with the
Ethiopians.
The Assyrian king hears that the
king of Ethiopia is going to challenge him. Ancient Ethiopia would cover modern
southern Egypt
:9 So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
:10 “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let
your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given
into the hand of the king of Assyria.”
:11 Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands
by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered?
:12 Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have
destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were
in Telassar?
:13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of
the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ”
:10 Do not let your God …deceive you
This (vs. 10-13) is all sent by letter to King Hezekiah.
:14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and
read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.
:15 Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord,
and said: “O Lord God of Israel, the
One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all
the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
:16 Incline Your ear, O Lord,
and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord,
and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the
living God.
:17 Truly, Lord, the kings of
Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,
:18 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods,
but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them.
:19 Now therefore, O Lord our
God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know
that You are the Lord God,
You alone.”
:14 spread it
before the Lord
Lesson
Connect God to the problem
I love the way that Hezekiah responds.
He responds as if God is a real person (amazing, huh?)
He takes the letter to God and spreads it out to show Him.
Tell God all about the situation you’re facing. Spread it out before Him.
It’s not that God is unaware of the problem, but Hezekiah’s act of
spreading the letter out before God is his way of inviting God into the
situation.
If Hezekiah were to convene his “war counsel”, he would have done the same
thing, spread the letter out before his advisors.
But God is His advisor.
David writes:
(Ps 34:4 NKJV) I sought the Lord,
and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.
Hezekiah wants God to
show the world that He is the only God. Isaiah wrote (close to this same time),
(Is 45:5–6 NKJV)
—5 I am
the Lord, and there is no
other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not
known Me,6 That they
may know from the rising of the sun to its setting That there is none
besides Me. I am the Lord,
and there is no other;
:15 You have made
heaven and earth
Lesson
Pray to a Big God
When we are facing our biggest challenges, it is a good spiritual exercise
to remind yourself as you pray just how big God is.
You will see this in the prayers throughout the Bible.
When Jehoshaphat faced a coalition of invading armies, this is what he
prayed,
(2 Ch 20:6 NKJV) and said:
“O Lord God of our fathers, are
You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in
Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to
withstand You?
As Jeremiah prayed for Jerusalem
during the Babylonian siege, look at what God reminded him:
(Je 32:26–27 NKJV) —26 Then the word of the Lord
came to Jeremiah, saying, 27 “Behold,
I am the Lord, the God of
all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?
God would tell
Jeremiah that Jerusalem would indeed be conquered by the Babylonians, but not
because God was too weak. It was God’s
judgment.
When the early church began to face persecution, look at how they started
their prayer:
(Ac 4:24 NKJV) So when
they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said:
“Lord, You are God, who
made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them,
Hezekiah has a concept of just who God is – God is REAL
BIG.
19:20-34 A word to
Sennacherib
:20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Because you have
prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard.’
:21 This is the word which the Lord
has spoken concerning him: ‘The virgin, the daughter of Zion, Has despised you,
laughed you to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem Has shaken her head
behind your back!
:21 The virgin, the
daughter of Zion
The idea is that Jerusalem
has never been conquered since David had made it his capital.
:22 ‘Whom have
you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice,
And lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.
:23 By your messengers you have reproached the Lord, And said: “By the
multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, To the
limits of Lebanon; I will cut down its tall cedars And its choice
cypress trees; I will enter the extremity of its borders, To its
fruitful forest.
:23 cut down its
tall cedars
It might not just refer to actual trees, but the leaders of Lebanon.
:24 I have dug and
drunk strange water, And with the soles of my feet I have dried up All the
brooks of defense.”
:25 ‘Did you not hear long ago How I made it, From ancient times
that I formed it? Now I have brought it to pass, That you should be For
crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins.
:26 Therefore their inhabitants had little power; They were dismayed and
confounded; They were as the grass of the field And the green herb, As
the grass on the housetops And grain blighted before it is grown.
:27 ‘But I know your dwelling place, Your going out and your coming in, And
your rage against Me.
:28 Because your rage against Me and your tumult Have come up to My ears,
Therefore I will put My hook in your nose And My bridle in your lips, And I
will turn you back By the way which you came.
:25 you should be for
crushing fortified cities
Assyria was just a tool in God’s hands.
God had allowed
Assyria to conquer because it was being used to bring His judgment.
This is what happened with the northern kingdom. God used Assyria to bring His judgment
against the northern kingdom.
Lesson
Pride
Assyria was beginning to think it was hot stuff all on its own.
In another prophecy of Isaiah about Assyria, God challenges Assyria’s
pride:
(Is 10:13–15 NKJV) —13
For he says: “By the strength of my hand I have done it, And
by my wisdom, for I am prudent; Also I have removed the boundaries of the
people, And have robbed their treasuries; So I have put down the inhabitants
like a valiant man. 14 My hand has found
like a nest the riches of the people, And as one gathers eggs that are
left, I have gathered all the earth; And there was no one who moved his
wing, Nor opened his mouth with even a peep.” 15 Shall the ax boast itself against him who
chops with it? Or shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with
it? As if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up, Or
as if a staff could lift up, as if it were not wood!
Illustration:
There’s an old
story about a proud woodpecker who was tapping away at a dead tree when the sky
unexpectedly turned black and the thunder began to roll. Undaunted, he went
right on working. Suddenly
a bolt of lightning struck the old tree, splintering it into hundreds of
pieces. Startled but unhurt, the haughty
bird flew off, screeching to his feathered friends, “Hey, everyone, look what I
did! Look what I did!”
If we’re not careful, we can get all caught up in taking credit for some of
the things that go on around us, things that God is clearly doing. Without the
Lord no one amounts to anything, and in our own strength we cannot please Him.
Quote:
Peter Marshall:
“Lord, when we are wrong, make us willing to change. And when we are right, make us easy to live
with.”
:29 ‘This shall
be a sign to you: You shall eat this year such as grows of itself, And in
the second year what springs from the same; Also in the third year sow and
reap, Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
:30 And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take
root downward, And bear fruit upward.
:31 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, And those who escape from
Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord
of hosts will do this.’
:29 This shall
be a sign to you
This is for Hezekiah – to give him hope that he will indeed have been
delivered from the Assyrians.
How will he
know that they won’t come back?
For the first
two years, they will be reaping grain from crops even though they hadn’t been able
to sow seed in their fields because of the siege of Assyria.
In the third
year they will be back to farming as usual.
It sounds as if it will take the people at least a year
and a half before they will have the courage to go plow and plant their fields.
:31 out of
Jerusalem shall go a remnant
Sennacherib
claimed to have taken 200,150 prisoners from Judah, but the nation would survive. They would repopulate the land.
:32 “Therefore
thus says the Lord concerning the
king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there,
Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound against it.
:33 By the way that he came, By the same shall he return; And he shall not
come into this city,’ Says the Lord.
:34 ‘For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My
servant David’s sake.’ ”
19:35-37 God’s
Deliverance
:35 And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp
of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people
arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead.
:35 the angel of the LORD
Jesus?
:35 one hundred and
eighty-five thousand
God took care of His people.
With just one
angel.
This would have taken place in 701 BC
:36 So Sennacherib
king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at
Nineveh.
:37 Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his
god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and
they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his
place.
:37 Nisroch
Part eagle, part human. Looks like something from
a Japanese horror flick.
:37 Adrammelech and
Sharezer
Sennacherib is assassinated by two of his own sons.
This would take
place in 681 BC, twenty years after returning home.
A third son,
Esarhaddon, takes over.
:37 Ararat
Play Ararat map
clip
Ararat is thought to be about 300 miles north of Nineveh, in the area of
modern Armenia and Turkey. This is where
the assassins flee to.
:35 it came to pass
on a certain night
Be careful about thinking that your situation is impossible.
God can do anything.
Lesson
Miracle ingredients
A man of
obedience – Hezekiah was a good king.
A man of faith
– Hezekiah trusted God.
A man of
humility – sackcloth and ashes
A man of prayer
– spreading it out before the Lord.
A man of action
– the reforms, building the tunnel.
20:1-11 Hezekiah’s
illness
:1 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet,
the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you
shall die, and not live.’ ”
:1 Hezekiah was
sick and near death
At the time, Hezekiah would have
been 39 years old.
He lived to be 54 years old, this
was 15 years before his death.
The sickness somehow involved some kind of boil (vs.7). Sorry, no pictures here.
The account in
2Chronicles 32 seems to indicate that this illness occurred just after this amazing deliverance
while Hezekiah was being showered with gifts and praise from the surrounding
nations.
The writer of Chronicles also tells us that Hezekiah developed a pride
problem:
(2 Ch 32:25 NKJV) But Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor shown him,
for his heart was lifted up; therefore wrath was looming over him and over
Judah and Jerusalem.
Lesson
Hardship and humility.
Sometimes God allows difficult times in our lives to help us cultivate
humility.
Paul wrote:
(2 Co 12:7 NKJV) And lest I
should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in
the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted
above measure.
God desires His
people to be humble.
God desires that His people realize where their blessings have been coming
from.
Sometimes God has to allow hard times our way to break our pride:
Illustration:
Former
heavyweight boxer James (Quick) Tillis is a cowboy from Oklahoma who fought out of Chicago in the early 1980s. He still remembers his first day in the Windy City
after his arrival from Tulsa. “I got off the bus with two cardboard suitcases under my arms in
downtown Chicago
and stopped in front of the Sears Tower.
I put my suitcases down, and I looked up at the Tower and I said to
myself, “I’m going to conquer Chicago.” “When I looked down, the suitcases were gone.”
The Bible says:
(Jas 4:10 NKJV) Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you
up.
:1 Set your house
in order
What would you do if you got a message like this from God?
Lesson
Being ready
Is your house in order?
We’ve had a few friends pass away lately.
This is real stuff.
If your doctor tells you at your next checkup that you have a rare disease
that will cause your death in a few days, what kind of things would you be
trying to take care of?
Illustration
A fellow went to the doctor who told him that he had a bad illness and only
a year to live. So he decided to talk to his pastor. After the man explained his
situation, he asked his Pastor if there was anything he could do. “What you
should do is go out and buy
a late ‘70 or early ‘80 model Dodge Pickup,” said the Pastor. “Then go get married to the meanest
woman you can find, and buy
yourselves an old trailer house in the panhandle of Oklahoma.” The fellow
asked, “Will this help me live longer?” “No,” said the pastor, “but it will
make what time you do have seem like forever.”
I hope that if you ever go to your pastor with a question
like that, you’ll get a better answer than this fellow got. This is actually no laughing matter. What if you knew your life was to end in four
more weeks?
For unbelievers:
Are you ready to meet
God?
When you make it to the pearly gates, and you are asked,
“Why should we let you in?” What will you respond?
Do you think you have enough good deeds stored up to
outweigh your bad deeds?
You’ll
never have enough to pay for your sins without help from Jesus.
For believers:
Do you have
unfinished business?
Are there people you need to talk to about Jesus?
Are there people you need to forgive?
Why don't we get these things done now?
Jesus told a story about a man who was so wrapped up in his work, that he
had no time for God.
(Lk 12:16–21 NKJV) —16
Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain
rich man yielded plentifully. 17 And he thought within himself,
saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 18 So he said, ‘I
will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will
store all my crops and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have
many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be
merry.” ’ 20 But God said to
him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those
things be which you have provided?’ 21 “So is he who lays up treasure for
himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Don’t
wait until you get the bad news. Live
“ready” now.
Moses wrote:
(Ps 90:12 NKJV) So teach us to
number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
:2 Then he turned
his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord,
saying,
:3 “Remember now, O Lord, I
pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have
done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
:3 Remember … how I
have walked
This can come off sounding kind of proud also.
But there's an element of truth to it.
There was no king like Hezekiah in following the Lord.
(2 Ki 18:5 NKJV) He trusted in the Lord
God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of
Judah, nor who were before him.
:3 Hezekiah wept
bitterly
Loud tears.
Lesson
Pour out your heart
It's okay to be a little weepy before the Lord.
Tell Him what's on your heart.
David wrote:
(Ps 62:8 NKJV) Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before
Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah
:4 And it happened,
before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
I think you could make the point
that Isaiah had been praying with Hezekiah because Isaiah actually recorded the
things that Hezekiah prayed. (Isaiah 38)
Before Isaiah could even get out of Hezekiah's house (or, palace), God's
answer came to him.
:5 “Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: “I
have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the
third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord.
:5 heard your
prayer … seen your tears
Lesson
God cares
David wrote:
(Ps 56:8 NKJV) You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are
they not in Your book?
Apparently
there were several customs about tears, one where friends would bring little
tear bottles and save the tears of a loved one who was in pain, as a way of
remembering a difficult time.
God matches
your sorrow with comfort.
(2 Co 1:3–5 NKJV) —3 Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of
all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all
our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble,
with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as the
sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through
Christ.
Sometimes when people come to me for comfort, I’m running
on empty and have nothing to offer. But
God has all the comfort we need.
When God explained His name to
Moses, this is what He said,
(Ex 34:6–7 NKJV) —6 And the Lord
passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord,
the Lord God, merciful and
gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and
transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the
third and the fourth generation.”
The first three
traits are mercy, grace, and patience.
He cares.
You can put all your worries in His hands.
(1 Pe 5:7 NKJV) casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
:5 On the third day
Hezekiah will
be healed in three days. Interesting
number.
:6 And I will add to
your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the
king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake
of My servant David.” ’ ”
:6 I will add to
your days fifteen years
God promises to grant fifteen more years to Hezekiah's life.
It's kind of interesting to note the age of Hezekiah's son when he takes
the throne:
(2 Ki 21:1 NKJV) Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five
years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.
It appears that Manasseh could have been born sometime after Hezekiah's
illness.
Perhaps one of the reasons Hezekiah was so upset was because he didn’t have
an heir to take the throne.
Also, since Manasseh was the worst king of the south ever, some have
questioned whether or not Hezekiah did the right thing in praying for healing. I’m not sure about that…
:7 Then Isaiah said,
“Take a lump of figs.” So they took and laid it on the boil, and he
recovered.
:7 Take a lump of
figs
A “poultice” of
figs was a common remedy for boils in the ancient world.
It's kind of as if Isaiah gives Hezekiah a prescription, and God heals
Hezekiah through medicinal means.
Lesson
God uses medicine
We get to thinking at times that God’s healing is only when somebody is
cured without the help of doctors or medicine.
But God isn’t limited to that.
God can use anything to heal.
(Jn 9:6–7 NKJV) —6 When He
had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and
He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of
Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back
seeing.
Even some yucky spit-mud!
:8 And Hezekiah
said to Isaiah, “What is the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the
Lord the third day?”
Hezekiah needs some encouragement that he is really going to be healed.
You might wonder why he isn’t just going to wait for three days. But when you’re in pain, you want to know
there’s a time when it’s going to stop.
:9 Then Isaiah said, “This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing which He has spoken: shall the
shadow go forward ten degrees or go backward ten degrees?”
:10 And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down
ten degrees; no, but let the shadow go backward ten degrees.”
:11 So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the Lord, and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by
which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.
:11 the shadow ten
degrees backward
The shadow on the sundial
went backwards. Amazing miracle to
convince Hezekiah that he was going to be healed.
20:12-19 Babylonian
Visitors
:12 At that time Berodach-Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent
letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick.
:12
Berodach-Baladan
At this time, Babylon
was just a powerful city-state, not a worldwide kingdom.
History tells
us that this fellow had revolted against the Assyrians, was currently on the
run as a hunted man.
Also known as “Merodach-Baladan”, and as “Marduk-apal-iddina”, the
invader.
Under the Assyrian emperor Sargon, he revolted and took control over
the city-state of Babylon from 721-710 b.c.
Sargon mounted a counter attack, and Merodach-Baladan was defeated.
When Sargon died, Merodach-Baladan attacked again, and ruled Babylon
for six months, from 703-702 b.c., until he was again kicked out, this time by
Sennacherib.
Note: Babylon was not yet the
world empire it would become, only a powerful city-state.
In 702 b.c. he fled to the country of Elam where he continued his
efforts to resist the Assyrian control as a refugee.
It is thought that at this time he possibly heard about Hezekiah's
encounters with the Assyrians, and may have sought support from Hezekiah as an
ally.
:12 sent letters
and a present
The letters and present were presumably sent under the guise of get-well
presents, but more
likely were meant to win Hezekiah as an ally.
The parallel passage records:
(2 Ch 32:31 NKJV) …they sent to him to inquire about the wonder that was done
in the land…
After all, if
there were 185,000 dead Assyrians lying around a man's kingdom, you'd want to
be his friend too. He might be a good
friend to have.
:13 And Hezekiah
was attentive to them, and showed them all the house of his treasures—the
silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory—all that
was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his
dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.
:13 showed them all
… his treasures
This might seem like a harmless thing, but its going to cause Hezekiah some
problems.
The parallel passage reads:
(2 Ch 32:31 NKJV) However, regarding the ambassadors of the princes of
Babylon, whom they sent to him to inquire about the wonder that was done
in the land, God withdrew
from him, in order to test him, that He might know all that was
in his heart.
God “left him alone” for a period of time.
It wasn't so that God could find out what was in
Hezekiah's heart, He already knew.
It was so Hezekiah could find out what was in his heart.
(Je 17:9–10
NKJV) —9 “The heart is deceitful above
all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? 10 I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give
every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.
Sometimes we forget just how deceitful our own hearts can
become.
Lesson
The Alone Test
Illustration
At Duke University,
there were four sophomores taking Organic Chemistry. They did so well on all
the quizzes, midterms and labs, etc., that each had an “A” so far for the
semester. These four friends were so confident that the weekend before finals,
they decided to go up to University of Virginia and party with some friends up there. They had
a great time. However, after all the partying, they slept all day Sunday and
didn’t make it back to Duke until early Monday morning. Rather than taking the
final then, they decided to find their professor after the final and explain to
him why they missed it. They explained that they had gone to UVA for the
weekend with the plan to come to study, but, unfortunately, they had a flat tire on the way
back, didn’t have a spare, and couldn’t get help for a long time. As a result,
they missed the final. The Professor thought it over and then agreed they could
make up the final the following day. The guys were elated and relieved. They
studied that night and went in the next day at the time the professor had told
them. He placed
them in separate rooms and handed each of them a test booklet, and told them to
begin. They looked
at the first problem, worth 5 points. It was something simple about free
radical formation. “Cool,” they thought at the same time, each one in his
separate room, “this is going to be easy.” Each finished the problem and then
turned the page. On the second page was written: (For 95 points): Which tire?
Hezekiah was
“left” alone by the Lord. And it was a
test.
I think it’s
kind of like those “dry” periods we go through, where nothing much is happening
in our walk with God.
Not much good is happening.
Not much bad is happening.
You read your Bible, and you can hardly wait until you’re
finished so you can do something else.
For Hezekiah, God “left him” and we find out what Hezekiah is trusting in his
riches, and no longer in God.
Another good test for
our walk is to see what we do when we’re alone.
Sometimes we rely a little too much on the people around us.
We look to them to hold us accountable – which is not a
bad thing.
The real test for our walk is not whether we have a good accountability
system, but whether or not we will pass the test during those moments when we
are “alone”.
I’m not recommending you dump your accountability friends.
But how well would you do without them?
Would you still make the right choices, even if nobody was
watching you?
:14 Then Isaiah
the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say,
and from where did they come to you?” So Hezekiah said, “They came from a far
country, from Babylon.”
As if to say, "Don't worry Isaiah, these guys can't hurt us ..."
Of course, Babylon
is a "far country", but so is Assyria.
:15 And he said, “What have they seen in your house?” So Hezekiah answered,
“They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my
treasures that I have not shown them.”
:16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord:
:17 ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and
what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon;
nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord.
:17 all … shall be
carried to Babylon
All of Hezekiah’s boasting to the ambassadors of Babylon was only serving to provoke them to
one day attack Jerusalem.
It would go down in the annals of history, for future Babylonian kings to
know that there was a jewel of a city to conquer in Jerusalem.
Illustration:
It’s like driving
a nice car into a bad neighborhood, leaving the car unlocked, with the keys in
the ignition, and an expensive watch lying on the dashboard, and a big fat
wallet with money hanging out of it on the seat.
:18 ‘And they shall
take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and
they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ”
:18 take away some
of your sons
Hezekiah's son,
Manasseh will be taken away to Babylon (2Chron.33:11) for a period of time.
Future kings will also be taken away to Babylon (it is currently about 700 b.c.)
Jehoiachin
would be taken to Babylon,
605 b.c. (2Ki.24:1)
Daniel and his
friends were of the "royal seed" and taken to Babylon, 605 b.c. (Dan.1:3)
Zedekiah would
be blinded and taken to Babylon,
586 b.c. (2Ki.25:7)
:18 eunuchs in the palace
This could simply refer to servants
or “chamberlains”, but may also refer to men who have been castrated.
It is thought
that Daniel and his friends fulfill this prophecy, though we don’t know for
sure if Daniel was properly a “eunuch”.
:19 So Hezekiah
said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord
which you have spoken is good!” For he said, “Will there not be peace
and truth at least in my days?”
:19 The word … is good
I have a hard time thinking this is a “good” word.
It almost sounds as if Hezekiah is saying, “Well at least I don’t have to
suffer for this mess I’ve made!”
(2 Ki 20:19 The Message) Hezekiah said to
Isaiah, “If God says it, it must
be good.” But he was thinking to himself, “It won’t happen during my
lifetime—I’ll enjoy peace and security as long as I live.”
20:20-21 Hezekiah’s
Death
:20 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah—all his might, and how he made a
pool and a tunnel and brought water into the city—are they not written
in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
:20 the acts of
Hezekiah
We’ve ended on a bit of a bad note on Hezekiah, but keep in mind, overall he was one of
the best of the “good” kings.
:20 he made a pool
and a tunnel
We talked about this back in chapter 18, the digging of Hezekiah’s Tunnel.
:21 So Hezekiah
rested with his fathers. Then Manasseh his son reigned in his place.
Manasseh – things are about to take a turn for the worse …