Today’s passage: Isaiah 39

Helpful thoughts:

• We saw the good in Hezekiah in the last few days…now we see the bad.
  • When the Babylonians came to rejoice in his recovery (Which God brought about), Hezekiah flaunted his own wealth (Which God brought about as well).
  • He had desired to live to tell others of God, but instead used his breath to entice a treaty with Babylon for added security against the Assyrians (Which God alone can truly provide).
  • After having been told that Judah would fall and a number of his sons would be made eunuchs in the service of a foreign pagan king, Hezekiah rested in the fact that nothing bad would happen while he was still king…at least he wouldn’t have to see it or be around to deal with it.

Questions to consider:

1. In showing Babylon the wealth and armory of Judah, what did Hezekiah show he was trusting in for his security?  Where had Judah’s security come from?
2. What kinds of things are people turning to today for provision and protection?  How are people treating one another in order to try to get what the security they want?  How does this compare to Matthew 6:33?
3. What opportunity did Hezekiah miss?  What did the Babylonian officials need to hear from him?  How can you show the people you know where you turn for security?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 38

Helpful thoughts:

• In Hezekiah’s prayer and song, the appeal he made to God to prolong his life was rooted in a commitment to be pleasing to God.
• In verse 15, we see Hezekiah’s determination to “walk slowly” (Deliberately) as a result of this experience.
• For the believer, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).  However, Hezekiah was right in that he would no longer be able to minister to others and point them to God after his death.

Questions to consider:

1. If you were told, “You have ____ years left before you die,” what would you do?  What would you want to have in order? What would you change?  With eternity in view, how do you want to spend the rest of the time God has given you in this life?
2. God calls David, “Your father” when addressing Hezekiah.  Both men had sin problems, neither was perfect, but what positive similarities can we find  in chapter 37 and 38 between David and Hezekiah?  What has Hezekiah done when faced with troubling things?  To whom did he turn in these two instances?
3. In what way could we also compare Hezekiah to Gideon (Verse 22)?  Even when we fervently pursue Christ, are we successful in loving God with our whole heart?  Where does our righteousness truly come from?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 37:21-38

Helpful thoughts:

• The people of Jerusalem shake their heads at the king of Assyria because they know who he’s now up against.  Sennacherib has reviled the Holy One of Israel.
• In verse 26, God informs King Sennacherib that the reason he has had any success was because of the the Lord’s sovereign will.  The king of Assyria owed his success to the God of Israel.
  • God has total control, he would lead the king of Assyria back to his home like people would their captives or animals (Verse 29).
  • Proverbs 21:1 – The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.
  • God uses leaders to bless and to judge a people (2 Samuel 24:1)
• The Lord did what He promised and Sennacherib certainly saw it come to pass, but he did not repent.  Even though God told the king where his success came from, he continued to worship his false god to ask for more.

Questions to consider:

1. What would true repentance have looked like for Sennacherib after having heard these truths from the Lord?  What did he hear that should have ended his worship of Nisroch?
2. Is there a leader on the face of this earth who works independently of God’s sovereignty?  Regardless of who is in the oval office, who is on the throne?
3. If Sennacherib’s greatest sin was rejecting and reviling God, what is the greatest sin of leaders and citizens in our day?  What root sin is the cause of all of the problems we face today?  What kind of “grassroots” movement does our country truly need (Matthew 28:18-20)?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 37:1-20

Helpful thoughts:

• Hezekiah chose wisely. He went to the Lord and the Lord responded, “I will make him fall.”
• Hezekiah also understood what the king of Assyria did not.  God is not one among many gods, He is the one true God, creator of all things, Lord of hosts.
• This prayer in verse 20 appeals to the truth of God’s power and glory, “That all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD.”
  • No one else had been able to stand against Assyria. No other gods could contend.
  • Psalm 46:10

Questions to consider:

1. When was Hezekiah justified in his request? With whom had the king of Assyria picked this fight?  What was the matter of highest importance in this crisis?  What issues may have felt more worrisome at the time?
2. What is the most significant issue at stake in our culture today?  What issues may feel more worrisome?
3. How should we look at the issues in the world around us?  How does God through the Scriptures speak to the issues of our day?  When people disagree with Scripture, who are they rejecting?  What do the people around us need most?

Today’s passage: Isaiah 36

Helpful thoughts:

• Isaiah 36-39 contains the events recorded in 2 Kings 18:13-20:19.
• A “rabshakeh” was a high ranking military officer in the Assyrian army.
• In verse 7, the Assyrians mistake the removal of the “high places” as an abandonment of the worship of God.  On the contrary, the high places were against God’s commands.  Hezekiah had ordered their destruction in obedience to God’s will.
• There was a military and a theological threat made on the king and the people of Israel.
  • Militarily, they were no match for Assyria.
  • Theologically, the Assyrian king Sennacherib was seeking to convince the people they could find more protection and prosperity under his care than under God’s.

Questions to consider:

1. What was supposed to be the answer to the questions of verses 4-5?  Who was Israel’s true defender?
2. In what ways was the Rabshakeh right and in what ways was he wrong?  Why would a right understanding of scripture be necessary to think rightly about this offer?  How would a wrong understanding (or an ignorance) of scripture cause someone to make the wrong choice?
3. In times of trouble, to whom or to what do you turn?  Whose counsel do you receive?  How can you ensure it is pleasing to the Lord and in accordance to His Word?