Isaiah 38-39

Introduction

Our lesson this morning is uh Isaiah chapters 38 and 39, which in your workbook is lesson 15. And it’s uh I think uh one of the things that I want to point out first with these two chapters is that says something about the makeup of this prophecy of Isaiah, that these two chapters really do not fit correctly chronologically. Acts as they go, you might say, before chapters 36 and 7, if you’re talking about chronological or I kind of referred to that early on when we even started the prophecy in chapter 1, I think, so as I said, at that time, kind of gives you a summary of the whole prophecy in many respects. And uh normally if you were to sit down and we were to write a book, we’d say, well, chapter one, chapter two follows chapter one chronologically, right on, and so we’d say, you know, 30, 38, 39 all follow 36 and 37 chronologically.

But it seems that Isaiah’s prophecy has been written in such a fashion, and then maybe parts of it put together later uh and in the format that it does exist. But I hope also, while you know you may not be able to say, oh, well, I remember exactly what chapter 16 was about, or chapter 23 or whatever just called chapters, maybe we don’t have that fixed in our minds as well. But if I were to ask you really how the makeup of the book is, we say it kind of falls into two major sections. What are those two major sections? Chapter 1 through what? 39. 39 is what section we would say? Assyrian. The Assyrian period. So chapters 40 through 66 are Babylonian and Babylonia. And why do we say those?

What what what do we mean by the Assyrian and the Babylonian period? Beginning Wednesday night, of course, we’re going to study chapters 40. Start with chapter 40. We say that’s the Babylonian period. Has Babylonian in the history at the point where we’ve been studying it? Where is Babylonia a power yet? Well, we’ve been talking more about Assyria, haven’t we? We started back earlier in chapter 7 with Ephraim in Syria and talked about Egypt. But we really haven’t talked about Babylon except in the prophecies back in about chapter 13. He foretold about Babylon and it’s uh what it was, and it’s false. But as you begin chapter 40, really, it is saying what’s going to happen to the people of uh of Judah. And really probably why this chapter is put where it is, is what happens in chapter 39, is that what’s going to happen to the people of God?

They’re going to be carried into Babylonian captivity. And so what will be the destiny of God’s people? And uh, of course, there are those who would contend, well, Isaiah didn’t write that. You know, of course, the liberal especially would say that because they want to say that that you know that they don’t really believe in prophecy as such. But Isaiah could could write about things that had never happened because he was inspired of God, right? And that’s one of the, you know, one of the points is that indeed the prophecy of Isaiah is from the mind of God, not from not just a history being written by a man named Isaiah. And one of the strongest proofs of that, and I want to tell you this, and I hope you might go back and look at it as you go into this latter part.

Some of them are really questioned how could Isaiah have written those chapters 40 through 66 if he didn’t experience them? And so the next question comes up: did he really write all of this? And there are those who say, no, he didn’t write those chapters. They were put by somebody else. But one of the strongest proofs, and back in your workbook, in fact, back on page 8, uh, I had you, if you if you filled them out, some 21 different verses from Isaiah that where you have New Testament scriptures in which Isaiah is referred to by name. And from number 11 through 21, it’s from chapter 14, verse 3, right on down through chapter 65 and verse 1. New Testament scriptures that quoted these passages from Isaiah and called him by name.

So what I would say, passages like in Matthew 3 3 or John 1, John 1 23, Luke 3, where Jesus was quoting, or the prophecy was about during the lifetime of Jesus. Do you believe Jesus knew? Do you believe that even the New Testament writers knew by inspiration? Why would they call Isaiah by name if Isaiah was not the writer? That’s what the point I’m making. So I say corroborated by by the fact that they are quoted in the New Testament, and Isaiah himself is named. It’s one of the stronger proofs that that section really is by the inspiration of God. Now, what we uh have gone over thus far, and uh particularly in our lesson Wednesday night, chapters 36 and 37, what’s happening in the history of God’s people?

1. Trust in the Lord: Hezekiah’s Tunnel

What no let me let me rephrase the question? I’ve asked it every time, nearly in the last two or three class meetings, what’s the underlying theme of the book of Isaiah? Trust the Holy One. Why is that really what really puts it to the test uh at this point in the history of Isaiah? What’s really happening in chapter 36 and 7 that would really test do you trust in the Lord or not? What really would cause fear to be in the heart of the of the man of mankind? Who’s coming against us? Assyria. Assyria. And who’s Assyria? World power. How how successful has Assyria been in conquering other uh cities and nations? All right. They were it was no puppet uh uh uh nation trying to gain power, they already had power, and how many cities had they conquered before they came up against Jerusalem?

It’s recorded in chapters 36 and 7.

In fact, uh the Assyrian king wrote it in his uh his historical record that there had been 46 cities that he had conquered, and that he even had uh Hezekiah bound up like a bird in a cage. Actually, one of the things that I did not point out, and historically is such a feat by the Israelites at that time, not only who trusted in the Lord, indeed trust in the Lord, but does that mean you’ll just fold your arms and say, Lord, I believe. Is that all that’s involved in trusting in the Lord? No, there were some preparations they made as well. Now they had to trust the Lord, but what was the outstanding event that that history records that they did in order to prevent the Assyrians from as the as they knew the Assyrians were coming and would besiege the city?

Obviously, you’re gonna be cut off from food and water, and you can’t live very long without food and water. Hezekiah’s tunnel.

And uh, thank you. I was wondering how many knew that I knew some of you did. What what anybody know anything about the tunnel? It’s not really, you don’t have it recorded so much in the scripture, you have it referred to. Look at 2 Chronicles chapter 32, for example, and 2 Chronicles 32, verses 2 through 4.

When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that his purpose was to make war against Jerusalem, he consulted with his leaders and commanders to stop the water from the springs which were outside the city, and they helped him. Dropping on down that same chapter to verse 30, the same Hezekiah also stopped the water outlet of Upper Gihon and brought the water by tunnel to the west side of the city of David. Hezekiah prospered in all his works. Now that’s a pretty brief summary. But I know what about this tunnel? How long was it? Where was it? 1749 feet. I would have said 1750, but that’s pretty close. I’m not sure if 12 inches makes a difference. But how’d they do it? From the the from the they stopped the water of the Gahan Spring and began to dig with axe.

They went through rock underneath. And they didn’t just go in one way, they started at the other end. One third of a mile. Now they didn’t have the methods we have today. Can you imagine how they dug? And then had to meet each other. That’s that’s really the question even today of uh historians or archaeologists and people who want to believe or not believe, question about that tunnel. I uh I I recommend that if you uh get on the internet and uh uh I looked up really just Hezekiah’s tunnel is the one that has YouTube. The one that has the YouTube, and it shows a man walking through the tunnel uh with a flashlight in the water. Of course, because people are not drinking that water these days.

But I I found that such a fascinating thing. You know, uh, I’m not sure I’d want to take that same trip, but uh watching somebody else do it was all right for me. I didn’t I didn’t get claustrophobia with that. But I think it’d be kind of how could they dig this and meet each other? Frankly, it wasn’t just a straight line. There was some of this a little bit, but it was a feat that they’d have to say ultimately by the hand of God, they met. And the tunnels through and preserved the city through that difficult period of time of when Hezekiah had besieged the city. So I suggest to you, in fact, uh the Siloam inscription that they found uh on that tunnel went through like this.

Quote, this is the story of the boring through. The tunnelers hewed the rock, each man toward his fellow, and the water flowed from the spring toward the reservoir for 1200 cubits. It’s an amazing story. Uh some have suggested, well, there was tapping from the bottom, you know, they made an answer so however many feet down they heard, and that’s how they kept online. Others have come along and said, We’ve tried that, and you don’t really hear that that deep, so that wasn’t the method. I’m not so sure, except I would simply say by trusting in the Lord. They did their part, God did his part, and it was an unusual human feat that did indeed save the city during that time. So I suggest you go back, you might look on the uh internet and find inferences to just simply uh tap up Hezekiah’s tunnel.

Interesting story. Anybody have a point, David? You look like you had something you want to add to that. Anybody else? Well, one of the things that we questioned in this in chapter 38, it says, in those days, Hezekiah was sick and near death. Well, when were those days? We had a little discussion last uh last Wednesday night, if you were here, how chapter 36 begins with, it came to pass in the 14th year of King Hezekiah, that’s an actor of king of Assyria came up against the fortified cities of Judah to the 14th year King Hezekiah. When is that? And so there has been some question, and even uh you know those who are certainly involved with the uh writing of commentaries, you find different men who give different dates and explanations of that.

But uh I’m gonna give the floor to John for a moment. He’s done a lot of study, and and I asked if we could kind of quickly summarize and when the 14th year was and really how did that fit into this point in time? John, you want to come up here and do it? First of all, I do not set myself before you here as an expert on this subject, but I have done a lot of reading and a lot of studying, and I know, I know that uh there’s a lot of disagreement on it. And the disagreement comes from if we take, beginning, if we begin with uh Rehoboam and the divided kingdom in 931, and we take all of the kings of Judah in that period and we add them up, we come up with a discrepancy of 72 years thereabouts.

Give or take a few weeks or a few days. Now, when we bring that on through to the days of Hezekiah, it becomes very, very apparent that something does not fit. Does this mean the scripture’s wrong? Absolutely not. It’s the way we as men have understood it over the years. Now, what I’m going to attempt to outline to you here now, I don’t know if it’s accurate or not, but it does fit with the scriptural accounts and also the relics that have been dated from history. From Nineveh, from Babylonia, from Egypt, from Old Judea, from Samaria, from Phoenicia, a man named Edwin R. Thiel or Thal devoted essentially his life’s work to taking these artifacts and fitting them with the scripture. Not trying to change the scripture, but trying to make it make sense.

Now, I would begin here by drawing your attention to 2 Kings 18. If you would turn your Bible to 2 Kings 18 and also to Isaiah 36.

The third year of Hosea, we have the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah, the son of Ahab, King of Judah, became king. Now, when was that? That is the question. When did Hezekiah become king? What we have is that which is traditionally taught would be that Hezekiah became king 728 to 726, somewhere in this time period. I believe that Brother Harkwriter, that his information in our workbook says 726, but others date it to 728. Is that right, Bob? You used 726.

The uh what Edwin Thiel did was say, yes, that is correct. This is it was this time period, 728 to 726, but I believe Brother Thil, I call him a brother, I’m not sure he is. I think he uses 727. 727. And what he does here is he goes back and takes a look at Ahaz. When did A, when was Ahaz king? We don’t have time today to go back that far, but there was co-regency. Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah, they had co-regency according to Theel from 727 to 715. Co-regency. Now, Ahaz dies. Hezekiah is king over all Judah. He’s king over all Judah. Now, we have, where does it say that Hezekiah served for 18 2? He was 25 years old, uh 2 Kings 18 2.

He was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. Hezekiah, according to the records, died in 686, 687. Let’s take 715 and go with 686. That’s 29 years. Okay. That is how he dated the Bible. Or that’s how Theel dates this. Now, what is important here, and how does everything else fit? Well, in uh 2 Kings 18, beginning in verse 9. In the fourth year, now in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hosheah, son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmanzer, king of Assyria, came up against Samaria and besieged it. Alright. There are differing dates on this that would put this. Some will put this at 722, some will put it at 720. But Brother Theel does not do this based on based on historical documents, uh Steles, prisons, cuneiform tablets, etc.

Things that he looked at and has examined, he places it in a different time period or a different frame. But what he does say, and I may miss this a little bit, I may be off a little bit because I’m going from memory right now rather than having Brother Theel’s document in my hand. But what he will say is this, or what he sets forth is yes, he became king in 715. And the uh at the end of that three-year period, at the end of the three-year period of that besieging of Samaria, we’re dealing with 713 to 712. Now, it was 712. Brother Harkrider a moment ago mentioned Hezekiah’s tunnel. 712 to 711 in that time frame is when the tunnel was dug because of the besieging out there and the threat to Judah and Jerusalem.

So that is when the tunnel was dug. Then we go forward in time a little bit. The key period here, and essentially everyone agrees with this, is I’m gonna do a big number here, is 701. 701, 701, according to Theil, will be in those days. That’s where he dates in those days at, and many things occurred in 701 or right close to it. 701 would have been 701 would have been when Rabshaka. When Rab Shaka came, and uh he was told, or he was asked to speak in what language was it?

Arabic. He was asked to speak in Aramaic and he actually spoke in Hebrew according to the scripture. This occurred in 701, according to Theel. This occurred in 701, and uh we have prior to 701, Sargon dies. He doesn’t die, he’s killed in battle in Asia Minor. Sinatra takes his place in 705. So it is Senatrib, Senatrib’s commander that comes forth in 701 and makes the statement to the people.

In I have this date I have forgotten, but Theil very clearly puts forth what we studied last Wednesday and gives the date, the date that Hezekiah went into the temple and spread uh spread the documents out or the letter out before the Lord. And it is, as I recall, it’s going to be three or four years after this date when that occurred. Now in Theel’s work, he goes forth, and I’ve already mentioned that Hezekiah, Hezekiah’s death is 787 to 786. And this is supposed to be well documented. Whether it is or not, I don’t know. Bear in mind now, I’m doing this from the works of other people. And this was the day of his soul reign begin.

You recall that he also dates that, and he dates it at I believe that that is 701 also. All of that occurring in the same time period. But what it what was striking about his work is that when we read about uh Senatrib, when we read in the scripture about Senatorib going back to his homeland or Nineveh and being killed by a Dramelech and another son, it seems when we read the scripture that all of that happened suddenly. Well, Senatrib, Sinatra, according to Theel and his studies.

I’m sorry, 681 is his date of death. And this is well documented. 681. So Sinatrab lived another 20 years after this, and he was killed by his two sons. And Isar hadn’t another son took his place.

John has done a lot of studying. He was talking to me yesterday. I said, Well, I’m gonna let him kind of do that explanation because he has given a great deal of time. Obviously, though, there are a lot of scholars who have a read deal. And it those are dates that you have to say, even when you say, all right, uh it was 727 or 713 or 712. Uh sometimes you have a dating in there that may have a year. Um let’s just say Samaria fellow 722. You might read some that says wrote 723, or others say 721. So those dates are not specifically given all the time. So basically, the these two chapters you’re saying happened before the previous two chapters. That is correct. Because that makes something something else kind of interesting too, which I didn’t think about without knowing that information, but it seems like there’s kind of a downward spiral with Hezekiah, you know, from the time that he’s told that his descendants are going to be taken away.

You know, he says, Well, that’s not at least it’s not going to happen to us. But we see you know other things too, him going to Egypt for protection. And then when he paid this tribute to Assyria, he paid that out of the house of the Lord, but was showing the Babylonians the riches in his own house. So it seems like there’s, you know. Well, that this is one of the things I was just about to bring up, even the date, and I’m wondering if you did this. I didn’t try to double check. Uh, in our lesson for today, he showed all the values that valuables that he had to to Meredog Baladin of uh Babylon. And the date uh that I had in the book and had been uh recovered, uh I’m certainly I uh got it from some other source that knew more than I did about it, but that he was king of Babylon from 721 to 710 BC.

So he would have shown his treasures to the the king of Babylon before the Assyria Empire came down. Yes. Uh I believe, I believe that what he did was showed uh showed that he showed his treasures in that short reign. It was a few months reign, the second reign. Uh not uh not the longer reign. And uh I believe you have it in your workbook, that shorter, that shorter reign. Of course, you know, for our study though, I would have to say ready, it it is not that critical for us to say, okay, it has to be this date. Well, it got us started on that was what was the 14th year. In the 14th year, the scripture uh speaks in Isaiah, that uh that uh uh these things occurred, and so that starts us off with well, was it the 14th, or as I quoted in the workbook, young said, well, it was meant to be the 24th year, and so we got into this discussion as to which year was it?

Basically, though, for our value and study is the only way that that uh Jerusalem was spared was by the hand of God, that uh the Assyrians had the power to come down. The people of of Jerusalem did their part, they dug the tunnel, they prepared well for it, and what they could do. But they had no way, if it was a battle militarily, that they would ever defeat the Assyrians, but only by the hand of God, as Isaiah uh exhorted Hezekiah to turn to the Lord, to pray to the Lord, and Hezekiah did pray to the Lord. The Lord answered the prayer. The Lord did his part. And there were 185,000 who indeed were slain. And then in our in our lesson for today, uh Hezekiah was sick, and he was sickened to death.

2. Set Your House in Order

When did that occur? It seems to have occurred, perhaps even maybe at about the same time that uh this war from Assyria was taking place. They were coming down against Jerusalem. I want to make a couple of points from it. In verse one, Isaiah, the prophet, son of Amos, went to him and said, Thus says the Lord, set your house in order, for you shall die and not live. What does it mean by set your house in order? Have any of us set our house in order? What does that mean? Take care of all the business. Are there things that we ought to do to prepare? And uh uh you know, there are times where I have used that as a text in a funeral before, where I knew an individual who, you know, uh had cancer.

The doctor says this is a certain date. This individual did everything they knew to do to set their house in order. None of us are perfect. And obviously, there are times where we have to say, Look, uh, you know, I’ve got plans for tomorrow. Do you have plans for tomorrow? Everybody in this room has some kind of plan for tomorrow, I’m sure. But you have to say, well, if the Lord wills, tomorrow may come. But I still need to set my house in order if tomorrow doesn’t come. If today were my last day, would I be prepared to meet the Lord in judgment? To me, that’s a serious thought and an important thought as we look at this. But when God told or through Isaiah to set your house in order, you’re going to die.

He is very, very ill. Hezekiah reacted in a way we might think, well, how can a man of faith react this way? What did he do? Turned his head to the house. As verse 2 said, he turned his face toward the wall. You know, it’s almost almost sound like some a child pouting a little bit, doesn’t it? Turn his face toward the wall and prayed to the Lord and said, Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before you in truth and with a loyal heart and have done what is good in your sight. And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

What? Why do you think Hezekiah would have reacted in that way? Anybody? Any good reasons that he might have had for that? He not having children. Yeah, all right. I think that’s the key. At least that’s what it most of us. How is the throne of David going to exist? Hezekiah has no children at this point in time. And the fact is, uh, God has made a promise to David earlier. Here’s the lineage that’s going to be on the throne. And uh, how could it be if he has no child? And yet, God, of course, spares his life, and also there’s a child that is born, whose name is Manasseh. Manasseh. And you say, here is a man who is saying, Lord, we need a descendant, and yet what kind of descendant did Manasseh turn out to be?

3. Why Would God Allow a Son Like Manasseh

One of the worst kings ever. And that’s that was kind of what I was getting to with with what I was saying before. You see this spiral at the end of Hezekiah’s life. Yeah, he’s considered a good king. You see uh a correction of everything at the end of Manasseh’s life, and he’s considered the worst king. So how how is that how is that gauged? Well, in fact, uh Manasseh is thought to be the one who had Isaiah kill Saul and two with a wooden saw. How can that be? Uh, I’m gonna read it before I try to answer your question. In 2 Kings 18 and 5, uh he trusted, talking about Hezekiah, 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.

That’s pretty high praise, right? But was he perfect? Obviously not. So, how could it be? Uh uh Andy’s asked a pretty good question. Anybody want to get a thought to him? How could how could why would God allow a son like Manasseh to be the eye born and he’s one of the worst? All right, John. Uh, I don’t know if this is the answer or not. It can be an answer. See, the God uh uh the prophecy had already come forth that uh uh the Lord had already spoken through the prophets that uh Judah not only Israel is going to fall and has fallen, but Judah is going to do likewise. And uh to me, this is the Lord carrying forth with that which he has promised through the prophets.

Uh you cannot possibly continue unless you return to the Lord. And it seems as he went along, it became a little bit more wicked, a little bit more wicked. As we read chapters 40 through 45, and I’ll say this starting with tonight, David’s gonna be teaching the next section. It’s a beautiful section of Isaiah. But shows God versus the idols. And what was the major thing that that really comes out? What can God do that the idols cannot do? The future. Tell you the future before it happens, before they spring forth. I tell you of them, I tell you the end from the beginning. Did God know, uh John is inferring here, did God know that God’s people that that Judah would eventually be taken into Babylonian captivity?

Yes. Did God make it happen? No. I still believe God gave man choice, the right of choosing. But God knew. And so even this son that’s gonna be born, there is indeed the continuation, Andrew, of the kingly said on the world. Right, no, no, and that wasn’t the question. The question was at the end of Manasseh’s life, he repented and tore down the high places and all that, but yet he’s still considered the the worst king ever. But the indication is at the end of his life he was he was pretty good. So why don’t any of them is that say, well, you know, could it could a man repent and still have been an evil king? You mean as over for the overall, Manasseh was one of the worst, right, of the kings of Judah, and that’s what he’s remembered.

Individually, could he have at the very end turned and repented and been forgiven? He could have. That’s an individual. But but for 55, 55 years, 54 years at least. I’m not sure exactly what point in time it is said as far as the number of years. So perhaps the memory of him outlasting. He certainly remembered as one of the worst kings of Judah. Okay. And uh, but I’m saying also that God allowed that to occur because God didn’t force the hand of man, he didn’t make Manasseh that way. But he showed the justice and the righteousness of God, even as the people turned to wickedness, that he also took them into Babylonian captivity. Not only that, and I’ll kind of short on time now, but even in our story today, in the lesson today, God also said, here’s another reason why you will.

4. The Shadow on the Sundial of Ahaz

The fact is, you will go into Babylonian captivity. Because what did Hezekiah done? Sort of bragged a little bit, really, didn’t he? When Mark Baladin came down to show him all the treasures in the house. And uh out of pride, it deserved indeed to fall. But back to Isaiah chapter 38. Uh in verses 4 through 8, the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying, You go tell Hezekiah, thus saith the Lord the God of David, your father. I’ve heard your prayer, I’ve seen your tears. Surely I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you in this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city. And this is the sign to you from the Lord that the Lord will do this thing which he has spoken.

Behold, I’ll bring the shadow on the sundial which has gone down with the sun on the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees on the dial by which it had gone down. Now, this is also recorded in 2 Kings, where in 2 Kings is given a choice. Do you want to go forward or do you want to go backward? And I was and uh Hezekiah chose to make it go backward. Much discussion is given on this by the critics. You know, people like, so where’s in a record of the of the times being changed? If the sun, if the sun backed up for uh 10 degrees, and and what what was the sun dial of Ahaz? Another discussion that it had to be the steps as the shadow on the steps coming down uh from the palace that as has as Hezekiah would look at it, he would see it go back up three steps.

Not a dial like we are thinking of, but maybe on the steps he would see the shadow of the sun. Uh so how do you answer that? Uh some have referred to uh in Joshua 10 where it was a long day when the Israelites are fighting the Amorites and God had the sun stand still. Well, there’s two fallacies in the Bible, the sun never stood still, did it? So, how do you answer those questions? How do you answer the fact that the steps that it went ten steps may be back? Anybody have an answer there? It was a miracle, so it doesn’t necessarily have to be explained scientifically. Oh, that’s too simple. Well, anybody have a better answer? Well, I did this. This is not a better answer, but what uh the way I read that is uh instead of it being literal, it’s symbolic that the Lord, the Lord can do anything.

Now, I’m not saying that Hezekiah did not see that. Maybe he was the only one that saw it. In his eyes, he knew that the Lord had kept his promise. Alright. That’s a possible. I read one possibility. Well, literally, uh, there’s some ice crystals that form at certain times and maybe in the sky. And just like light is reflected differently through the prism of glass or ice, that that’s what God used to cause the sundial to go back. Come up all the explanations that may be given. I like the one Kathy just said, best of all. How did the Lord walk on water? You know, scientists want to come along and explain every miracle, and they try to explain how miracles occurred. I say the human mind doesn’t know how God did it.

That’s why it’s supernatural. Is the word that God did it? And how he did it is not really necessary for us to explain. Hezekiah believed it, didn’t he? And this point John just made. Whatever method or reason that it appeared as though and did happen, as though the sundial moved or the shadow moved backward ten steps, God did it. It was by the hand of the Lord that gave Hezekiah the assurance that he would be given 15 more years. And obviously from history, he he was given 15 more years. Now, what sign was uh given for him that uh that he was to be healed? We don’t know really what kind of sickness he had, maybe it was a sore boil or or whatever, but what did he do to make that heal?

Verses 21 and 22. Isaiah said, Let them take a lump of figs and apply it as a poultice on the boil, and he shall recover. And Hezekiah had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord? So today, has anybody tried the figs on the boil to make it healed? We’re not told that was the method, that that is exactly the healing method, but it was what God told him to do, right? And again, perhaps another miracle is involved in that healing. Sugar does heal bulls. Well, yeah. But there’s no proof that figs are are are a medicinal value any more than as uh I think I put it in the book, the waters of Jordan, Jordan were healing to Nahum and the leper.

5. Hezekiah’s Song of Thanksgiving

God was hand was involved in the healing, wasn’t it? The song, though, that Hezekiah sung in uh chapter 38, beginning in verse 10, uh Hezekiah’s song of Thanksgiving. Uh in the prime of my life, I shall go to the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the remainder of my years. Uh with Joshua’s sermon this morning, you all should know where is Sheol and what is Sheol? Part of the grave. In fact, uh uh where I found it interesting in Psalm 6, where I believe it was verse 6. Uh Josh’s text used the word Sheol. The New King James Version had the word grave instead of Sheol. So uh in the Hebrew, the word Sheol stood for the pit or the word grave. Uh question comes out of that in the New Testament.

There is the word Hades that is also sometimes found. And was he talking about hell? No, he’s talking about the Greek. So, anyway, he gave this song of thanksgiving unto the Lord. And in this section, really, um, rather than viewing death like the Apostle Paul did, it’s something where he said to depart to be the Lord is far better. Hezekiah thought only the aspect of departing from the land of the living, and he wept over it, perhaps mostly, and while it’s not said here, because he did not have a child to assume the throne and the throne of David. Why he said that, you know, he spoke of death as being uh removed to maybe like a shepherd’s tent, or cut off like a rug being woven and it’s suddenly uh cut loose from the loom and rolled up, or even as swiftly as daylight passes into the night.

He felt as shattered as if a lion had broken all his bones, and he chattered like a crane or a swallow and moaned like a dove. Verse 15 to 17, he continued this song by expressing gratitude and the life that the Lord granted him extended life. And he promised to live submissively. The words really in the New King’s Anthys is to walk carefully. In other words, he recognized that the Lord alone could grant him this recovery. And so he praised the Lord all the days of his life. In reality, uh in reality, the sufferings of Hezekiah was a benefit to him. Perhaps turned him even more closely to walk with the Lord. And as uh even when trouble and sorrows even come our way and remind us of the frailty of life, it makes us perhaps also turn more closely to walk with the Lord.

6. All Shall Be Carried to Babylon

Chapter 39, though, sort of stands as a unique chapter, it’s a short one, only eight verses. But uh at that time, Meridoch Baladin, the son of Balat, the king of Battle, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that he had been sick and had recovered. And Hezekiah was pleased with them, showed them the house of his treasures, the silver, the gold, the spices, precious ointment, and all his armory, and all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or all this dominion that Hezekiah did not show them. Kind of a strange reaction in it. But it’s kind of like, you know, the Lord has given me life and he’s blessed me, and here’s no doubt he knew Babylon was a rising power at that time.

It wasn’t the power. Assyria still was the one to uh uh really be considered as the great threat uh all nations. But uh he showed them everything. And Isaiah then went to him and said, What did these men say? From where did they come to you? His God said, They came to me from our country, oh, from Babylon. What have they seen in your house? Hezekiah answered, they’ve seen all that’s in my house. There’s nothing among my treasures that I’ve not shown them. Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, and this is important, verses five and six, hear the word of the Lord of hosts. Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and what your fathers have accumulated unto this day shall be carried to Babylon.

Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. 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. That occurred, certainly did. And uh we we usually date the Babylonian Empire, of course, gaining its power, and the first captives somewhere around 605, 606 BC, when Daniel, among the others from Jerusalem were taken captive. Verse 8, though the last verse, so Hezekiah said to Isaiah, the word of the Lord which you have spoken is good. For he said, At least there will be peace and truth in my days. You can take that one verse and sort of set it out and say, Well, that’s that sounds kind of strange.

What did he mean by the word of the Lord is good when he’s just been told all of your children to be taken, and all that you’ve just shown? It’s gonna lead to tragedy, not really a blessing. What did he mean by that? The Lord is going to keep his promise. And whatever the Lord does is righteous and good. He’s not trying to say, oh yeah, yes, he, I’m glad all this is going to happen. But he’s saying, so be the will of the Lord. When the will of the Lord is accomplished, it is good and it is right. And in fact, uh, he uh praise the Lord for the mercy extended to him and the the sufferings of future generations. Wasn’t you couldn’t just say, Oh, Hezekiah made us suffer.

The suffering was as from a righteous Lord, a direct result of their own sins that they were taken into captivity at the time later on. All right, well, begin your reading in chapter 40 and the