Isaiah 37 (HCSB)
Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Counsel
1 When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord’s temple. 2 Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, who were wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them. 4 Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke him for the words that Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.’”
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, 6 who said to them, “Tell your master this, ‘The Lord says: Don’t be afraid because of the words you have heard, which the king of Assyria’s attendants have blasphemed Me with. 7 I am about to put a spirit in him and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”
Sennacherib’s Letter
8 When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he returned and found him fighting against Libnah. 9 The king had heard this about Tirhakah king of Cush: “He has set out to fight against you.” So when he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God, whom you trust, deceive you by promising that Jerusalem won’t be handed over to the king of Assyria. 11 Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: they completely destroyed them. Will you be rescued? 12 Did the gods of the nations that my predecessors destroyed rescue them—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah?’”
Hezekiah’s Prayer
14 Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers, read it, then went up to the Lord’s temple and spread it out before the Lord. 15 Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:
16 Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are God—You alone—of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. 17 Listen closely, Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see. Hear all the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God. 18 Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated all these countries and their lands. 19 They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but made by human hands—wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. 20 Now, Lord our God, save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord—You alone.
God’s Answer through Hezekiah
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “The Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:
Virgin Daughter Zion despises you and scorns you:
Daughter Jerusalem shakes her head behind your back.
23 Who is it you have mocked and blasphemed? Who have you raised your voice against and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
24 You have mocked the Lord through your servants. You have said, “With my many chariots I have gone up to the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, its choice cypress trees. I came to its distant heights, its densest forest.
25 I dug wells and drank water. I dried up all the streams of Egypt with the soles of my feet.”
26 Have you not heard? I designed it long ago; I planned it in days gone by. I have now brought it to pass, and you have crushed fortified cities into piles of rubble.
27 Their inhabitants have become powerless, dismayed, and ashamed. They are plants of the field, tender grass, grass on the rooftops, blasted by the east wind.
28 But I know your sitting down, your going out and your coming in, and your raging against Me.
29 Because your raging against Me and your arrogance have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will make you go back the way you came.
30 “‘This will be the sign for you: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 31 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem and survivors, from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.’
33 “Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or build up an assault ramp against it.
34 He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city. This is the Lord’s declaration.
35 I will defend this city and rescue it because of Me and because of My servant David.”
Defeat and Death of Sennacherib
36 Then the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned home and lived in Nineveh.
38 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. Then his son Esar-haddon became king in his place.
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 23): For far too long I have been filled with fleshly pride and arrogance, which has led me to dwelling in anger and raising my voice quite often. Please forgive me of this sin, Father. It is such an easy default emotion to go to when I don’t know how to express myself in the moment or when I let my pride be an over-powering mark I wear. Help me to let go of these ways so that I can be more like the Godly man You expect me to be, Father.
PROMISE (verses 28-29): Through all the times that the world speaks against You and mocks You, You promise us that You are faithful to Your people. Thank You for always proving to us that You are there for us, Father, and that the mockers and blasphemers of the world have no power over Your will.
ATTITUDE (verse 23): Going back to my confession, Father, please help me to change this prideful attitude I’ve been embracing and living in for the majority of my life. Help me to be more humble; help me to be more like Jesus and less like what my flesh and the world wants me to be. Remove this attitude of selfish pride and arrogance from me, Father.
COMMAND (verse 6): You tell us to not be afraid of the words we hear from those who mock or blaspheme You, Father. Those are the words of sinners and have no ground to stand against the Truth You have blessed us with through Your word, Lord. Thank You for giving us Your words to have as our solid foundation so we do not live in fear of the world.
EXAMPLE (verses 3-4, 16-20): Hezekiah provides us such an amazing example here for how we should react to those who rise against You. He was faithful to You, immediately went to prayer, and then trusted in Your Truth through all of the hardships him and his people were going through with Assyria. Help me to remember to lean on You always, Father.
*DAILY NOTE: I have struggled so much with pride and arrogance in my life, Father, and I don’t even know why. I feel like I’m always having to prove myself to this world and to never back down from any conflict. I even get to the point where even if I know I am wrong, I somehow can’t seem to stop myself because I am so fueled by anger in the moment. Please help me stop this horrible habit so that I can be more like You and less like me, Father. Help me to show Your glory and Your blessings to others instead of my fleshly ways, Father. Thank You for providing such an amazing lesson in this Scripture for me to learn from.
*GENERAL NOTE: I always "sandwich" my quiet time with God in prayer and do it in a location that I will not have any distractions so that I can be focused on my quiet time with God. Do not worry about how short or long your journal entries are for that day's quiet time. Just focus on the actual quiet time and relational conversation with God through the Holy Spirit and His Word. The journaling is an enhancement to your quiet time conversation with God, but also to allow you to reflect on things later as you can look back on your journal entries later when you do the chapters again in the future to see how you have grown. See the FAQ for more detail on how I do my quiet time.
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