Tag Archives: Isaiah 37

Daily Bible Study

July 30, 2023 Bible Study — A Lesson for Those Who Say, “God Cannot…”

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 36-38.

This is the third account of the Assyrian invasion of the Kingdom of Judah during Hezekiah’s reign.  As a result, I am writing about this incident three times a year, which makes it impossible to write something different every time.  Of course, the fact that this story is retold three separate times means that the message to be learned is important.  So, what is the lesson?  At this point in history, the Assyrians were the most powerful nation on earth.  Any nation which they could reach with their armies, they could crush.   When King Hezekiah led the Judeans into resisting Assyria’s demand, the Assyrians confidently invaded.  Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem knew that they were powerless to stop the Assyrians and that their only hope was Divine intervention, but they knew that they had sinned and were unsure if God would come to their aid.  So, when the Assyrians told them that God could not protect them from the might of Assyria, they turned to God in desperate prayer.  The Assyrians attempted to break the faith of the Judeans.  God rescued Hezekiah and Jerusalem because He would not allow the Assyrians, and the rest of the world, to use the fall of Jerusalem as evidence that He could not protect them.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

July 30, 2022 Bible Study — Not Everyone Who Claims To Serve God Believes In God

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 36-38.

I always love reading the story of Sennacherib’s threat to Jerusalem.  It is really a great story about God’s power, and how He treats those who arrogantly challenge Him.  However, there is one aspect of this story that I have rarely seen touched upon.  Initially the message which Sennacherib’s field commander delivered to Hezekiah’s representatives claimed that the Assyrian king was acting on following God’s command to invade Judah in response to Hezekiah taking down the high places where people had worshiped God.  And while this message was ostensibly being delivered to King Hezekiah, the passage makes clear that it was delivered so that the general populace of Jerusalem would hear and understand what was being said.  However, the Assyrian representative was unable to maintain the ruse for long.  When Hezekiah’s emissaries pushed back a little, the Assyrian revealed what they really thought about God, that He was of no consequence.

All of that leads me to something we see time and again: people who hold God in contempt will couch their arguments as being about following God’s will, but when given a little room to run with their arguments will quickly reveal their disdain for God and for those who put their trust in Him.  Let us not be misled by those who attempt to undermine our faith by appealing to our faith.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

July 30, 2021 Bible Study — Be Careful Of Those Who Claim That God Supports Them Even When They Don’t Believe In Him

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 36-38.
I want to note for any of you who come to this from the links that I post on social media sites (FaceBook, Gab.com, and MeWe. com) that I will be going on vacation from July 31-August 9 and may not be able to post my links to those sites during that time.  I will, however have written the blogs for those dates and scheduled them to be posted.  So, please continue to visit my site to read my daily devotional.

When the Assyrian field commander spoke to King Hezekiah’s representatives outside Jerusalem (but within earshot of the city wall), initially he claimed that Sennacherib was acting at the command of the Lord.  He made the argument that God was actually on the side of the Assyrians.  However, after Hezekiah’s representatives asked him to not speak so that the people of the city on the walls could understand him, he revealed his true beliefs.  This reminded me of something we often come across today; those who use the Bible, or Christian  ideas to promote their non-Christian goals.  We should be careful to not be fooled by their appeal to Biblical authority into believing that they actually care about acting in a way consistent with the Bible.  Here the Assyrians tried to use religious language to sway the people of Jerusalem into surrendering.  In the same way many anti-religious people will attempt to use religious language to convince Believers to surrender.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

July 30, 2020 Bible Study God Gives Hope When All Hope Is Lost

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 36-38.

This is the third account of the Assyrian invasion of Judah which we read in the Bible.  All three accounts contain the same elements. I love reading this story again despite having written about it twice already this year.  Ultimately, the story boils down to the Assyrians telling the people of Jerusalem that nothing can save them from the Assyrians; King Hezekiah could not even find enough men to mount the King of Assyria’s spare warhorses.  As for God saving them, don’t be ridiculous, had any other nation’s gods been able to save them?  There was nothing the people of Jerusalem and Judah could do, they might as well surrender!

How often have we found ourselves in such a situation?  There is nothing within our power that can get us out of a terrible situation and no one to whom we can turn.  But that is exactly the situation in which God shows His power.  There existed no power on earth which could stop the King of Assyria from conquering Jerusalem.  Yet, Isaiah told King Hezekiah that not only would the King of Assyria not conquer Jerusalem, he would not even lay siege to it.  So, what happened?  Something went through the Assyrian camp and killed a large part of the Assyrian army in a single night and the King of Assyria marched home without laying siege to Jerusalem.  King Hezekiah turned to God in his time of trouble, when he had no earthly hope of avoiding defeat.  When you know that you cannot do it on your own, turn to God and He will rescue you.

Daily Bible Study

July 30, 2019 Bible Study — Do Not Be Fooled By Those Who Pretend to Honor God

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.  I am going to be on vacation starting tomorrow through August 10th.  I have read the passages and prepared my blog entries for each day.  While I am on vacation I will have limited access to the Internet, but I expect to be able to get these published each day.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 36-38.

Isaiah gives his account of the Assyrian invasion of Judah.    I want to look more closely at the initial statement of the Assyrians versus what they really thought.  When the Assyrian envoy first spoke to King Hezekiah’s delegation he gave lip service to God’s power.  He told them that the Assyrians had invaded Judah at God’s direction.  However, when Hezekiah’s envoys pushed back, the envoy revealed what the Assyrians really thought of God.  The Assyrians thought that God was just a made up idea like the gods of other nations.  They believed that because they had defeated many nations with various gods that God was powerless to stop them.  We see similar behavior often when we speak up for God’s will.  Those who oppose us will, at first, pretend to take God seriously and pay lip service to honoring Him.  They will make a case that God supports their cause.  Do not be fooled.  An examination of what they say in other contexts will soon reveal that they hold God, and those who serve Him, in contempt.  

Daily Bible Study

July 30, 2018 Bible Study — God Does Not Need Human Action To Accomplish His Will

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 36-38.

    This is the third time I have read the account of the Assyrian invasion of Judah this year. There is an account in Kings, an account in Chronicles, and now this account in Isaiah. In each account when the envoy from the king of Assyria first talks to the officials sent from King Hezekiah to parlay with them he suggests that King Hezekiah cannot rely on God because Hezekiah had torn down the various shrines and forced everyone to worship God in Jerusalem. This initial message focused on the military weakness of Hezekiah’s army, the unreliability of Egypt as an ally, and suggested that the Assyrians had been called by God to invade and conquer Jerusalem. This strikes me as a reasonable position. One which misunderstood God’s commands for the Jewish people, but nonetheless respectful of God.

    However, when the officials requested that the Assyrians conduct the negotiations in secret, the Assyrian delegation’s arrogance took over. They revealed that their initial position claiming to be serving God was not one that they believed. Rather they believed that God was unable to stop them from doing as they pleased. They bragged about the fact that the gods of other nations had failed to stop them. From that they predicted that God would be unable to do so as well. The Assyrian delegation was called back to the King of Assyria and from there the King of Assyria needed to go face an Ethiopian army which had marched to challenge him. Before setting out, the King of Assyria sent Hezekiah a letter doubling down on the arrogance of his envoys. The King of Assyria proclaimed that he had the power to do whatever he pleased, no matter what God might do.

    King Hezekiah’s response to the Assyrian boasts was to turn to God through the prophet Isaiah (and directly by prayer). Hezekiah acknowledged Assyria’s power, but declared his faith that the God of Israel was different from the gods of other nations. Through Isaiah God sent word that the Assyrians would never again threaten Jerusalem. Isaiah prophesied that the King of Assyria would return home from his current battle with no more conquests and die without ever marching forth from his capital again. The Assyrians were confident that no army on earth at that time could defeat them and that no defensive fortifications could stop them. They were probably right, but their mistake was in thinking that God would need to raise an army to defeat them. This mistake has been repeated throughout history. Time and again people believe that evil must be stopped by human agency and become depressed because no human agency seems capable of doing so. In this account we learn that God is not dependent upon human action to bring about His will. The Assyrians were correct, no power on earth could stand against their army. But God is not a “power on earth” and He showed that He had the ability to prevent them from executing their plans.

Daily Bible Study

July 30, 2017 Bible Study — The Ruling Class Believes That They Are God

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 36-38.

    The official message given by the Assyrian chief of staff contained a modicum of respect. It lays out the reasons why King Hezekiah and Jerusalem cannot withstand the Assyrian army: Egypt is too weak to defend them, King Hezekiah had insulted God by forcing everyone to worship Him in Jerusalem (indicating a lack of understanding about God), The King of Assyria had more spare warhorses than Hezekiah had soldiers, and God Himself had told the Assyrians to attack Judah. While this is somewhat arrogant (claiming that God had sent them to conquer) and demonstrates a lack of understanding of God’s will (not realizing that centralizing the worship of God in Jerusalem was God’s will), It is not blasphemous, or something which would otherwise anger God. However, when the Assyrian chief of staff went “off script” and revealed what the Assyrians really thought he went too far. In his address to the people on the walls of Jerusalem, and then Sennacherib’s letter to Hezekiah a short time later, they revealed what they truly thought of themselves and of God.

    The Assyrians did not believe that God was any more than the gods of the other nations. I believe that the Assyrians did not believe that there truly were any gods. Or, at least, the ruling class of Assyria did not believe there were any gods. They believed that they themselves were gods. They were convinced that nothing and no one could stop them from doing whatever they pleased. As this passage demonstrates, whenever people begin to believe that they cannot be held accountable, that they are the sole arbiters of what they can accomplish, God is prepared to show them that they are mistaken. There can be no doubt that no human agency was involved in preventing the Assyrians from conquering Jerusalem. There was no human agency that was capable of preventing the Assyrians from conquering Jerusalem. Nevertheless, not only did the Assyrians fail to conquer Jerusalem, they never even laid siege to the city. I am sure that, in the day, many people said that Jerusalem got lucky because plague struck the Assyrian army before Sennacherib could turn his army to attack Jerusalem. However, those with the eyes to see and the ears to hear knew (and know) that this was the hand of God, not just coincidence.