You Can Read the Bible Guided Podcast

Our reading opens today with a story of illness and prayer, like those from the days gone by.  It is important to remember that while these great temporal and eternal waves pass by, people are giving birth, living, and dying.  The tale of Hezekiah’s illness is a human story of divine intervention.  His psalm of thanks is worth remembering. 

Chapter 39, however, opens with a line that should immediately trigger suspicion: At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys and letters and a present to Hezekiah.   You’ll remember that Babylon is in the foreground when the LORD promises to “…put an end to the pomp of the arrogant…”  Hezekiah receives their envoys; Isaiah is piqued, and lets Hezekiah know how this will all end. 

There is a lot of intrigue here.  Babylon and Assyria were not friendly with each other.  Babylon had chafed under Assyrian rule for centuries, and was perpetually looking for the upper hand.  Sennacherib spent most of his reign trying to subdue them.  Isaiah and Hezekiah both would have known this history.  Judah had just survived its dalliance with Egypt, and now Babylon is hoping to befriend them?  It’s possible that Isaiah smells a rat, and wishes that Hezekiah did too. 

But be careful about drawing a moral conclusion about Hezekiah’s act.  Was it profound carelessness with the LORD’s goodness?  Was it pride?  Was it testing Assyria’s patience?  Isaiah doesn’t name Hezekiah’s error; in fact, what feels like a consequence might only be foresight.  More important to the author is this insight into Hezekiah’s thoughts: At least “there will be peace and security in my days.” 

Our verse for this week is 1 John 1:9: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Isaiah 38 and 39.  Now let’s read it!

Chapters 36 through 39 present the final narrative in this book.  It covers the same events as 2 Kings 18 through 20, when Sennacherib’s army invades Judah and besieges Jerusalem.  Remember Isaiah’s warnings against seeking help from Egypt; remember also the LORD’s promise to Ariel – Jerusalem -  that He would lead Assyria to “encamp against you all around, and will besiege you with towers.”  Today that promise is fulfilled. 

In chapter 36 The Rabshakeh – Sennacherib’s general – approaches the walls of Jerusalem with a sinister question: “On what do you rest this trust of yours?”  Is it Egypt?  Is it Hezekiah?  Is it the LORD? 

Imagine the scene as his arrogance pours forth: his words are not for Hezekiah; they are for Hezekiah’s soldiers, for their families, for the people of Jerusalem.  Against this siege, for how long will their food and water last?  Unless Egypt comes to their aid, for how long will the walls hold? 

Picture the men on the wall, listening as The Rabshakeh turns their God against them: “Is it without the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it?  The LORD said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it’”   This is not only a fight between nations or gods, this is a battle over who is really telling the truth about the LORD.    Is it Isaiah and Hezekiah… or this general who has the Assyrian army standing behind him? 

Assyria has Hezekiah right where it wants him, with nowhere to turn.  Ironically, this is exactly where the LORD wants him as well.  The political and spiritual turning point of the story comes early in chapter 37, as Hezekiah casts his lot and the LORD responds. 

Our verse for this week is 1 John 1:9: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Isaiah 36 and 37.  Now let’s read it!

At the beginning of today’s reading Isaiah continues the LORD’s warning that Judah not seek help from Egypt.  Remember that this was not only a politically foolish act, but one that was unfaithful to the LORD.  Listen carefully to the argument Isaiah makes in chapter 31: should Israel trust in those who are made of flesh, or spirit?

The remaining visions today proclaim the strength and zeal of the LORD.  In chapter 32 Isaiah describes what life will be like in the day when “…a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice.”  This is followed by warnings to those who are presently at ease, and encouragement for those who seek His salvation.  Even “all the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll.”

In the very center of today’s reading, the LORD reminds Judah of His ultimate purpose: “Now I will arise,” says the LORD, “now I will lift myself up; now I will be exalted.”  This is critical language.   The LORD doesn’t need Judah, or Israel, or Assyria to lift Him up.  The LORD can carry Himself.  “The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high… He will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.”  He alone is judge, lawgiver, and king. 

As you’ll see tomorrow, these proclamations come as Assyria’s army marches across the desert toward Judah.  These aren’t abstract assertions; Isaiah is preaching on the eve of trial: “Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not!  Behold, your God will come with a vengeance, with the recompense of God.  He will come and save you.”

Our verse for this week is 1 John 1:9: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Isaiah 31 through 35.  Now let’s read it!

“You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.  Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine…”
 - Exodus 19:4-5

After Sennacherib took the Assyrian throne around 705 B.C., he spent his first year subduing a revolt in Babylon.  Egypt took advantage of this distraction and sent emissaries to Judah, trying to forge an alliance with King Hezekiah.  Up to this point, Judah had been under nominal Assyrian control –Hezekiah’s father had asked Sennacherib’s father for help against Israel and Aram – and Sennacherib quickly turned his army westward to deal with them. 

The LORD is displeased with Hezekiah on multiple fronts:  “Ah, stubborn children,” He declares in chapter 30, “Who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of My Spirit, who set out to go to Egypt, without asking for My direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh!”    

The LORD has at least three charges against Judah.  First, obviously, is that Judah did not consult Him regarding this plan.  That may sound petty, unless you consider that Judah’s primary covenant was with the LORD; they were His treasured possession, not Assyria’s or Egypt’s.  A concurrent charge is that asking Egypt for help was an acknowledgement that the LORD couldn’t protect them.  Judah was both unfaithful and faithless. 

But third, Deuteronomy 17 strictly forbids Israel’s king from causing the people to acquire horses from Egypt, “since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’” Egypt, that land of both refuge and slavery, was a perpetual tease throughout the Exodus and now, 600 years later, sustains its siren call. 

In the background of these visions listen for the sounds of soldiers and horses, of chariots and siege works, of tumult and fear.  It’s into this cacophony that Isaiah promises that “The LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard… The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the LORD, when He strikes with His rod… Battling with brandished arm, He will fight with them…” 

Our verse for this week is James 1:22: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Isaiah 28 through 30.  Now let’s read it!

Behold, the LORD will empty the earth and make it desolate,
and He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.  And it shall be:
as with the people, so with the priest;
as with the slave, so with the master;
as with the maid, so with her mistress;
as with the buyer, so with the seller;
as with the creditor, so with the debtor.
The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered;
for the LORD has spoken this word.  
Isaiah 24:1-3

Most of today’s reading is an exposition of the coming day when the LORD “will punish the host of heaven… and the kings of the earth.”  In that day, “The moon will be confounded, and the sun ashamed, for the LORD of hosts reigns on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, and His glory will be before His elders.”  In that day Judah will sing, “We have a strong city; He sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks…”  In that day, “Leviathan” will be punished; in that day, “A pleasant vineyard” will be kept by the LORD.

The middle chapters today read more like a psalm than a vision.  Often referring to the LORD in the second person, the prophet sings to Him, “You have done wonderful things, plans from of old, faithful and sure.”  The prophet implores his hearer to “Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD God is an everlasting rock.” 

Let the words of the prophet wash over you today.  After an oracle against Tyre and Sidon in which the LORD informs them that it is He who has wrought their destruction, Isaiah’s attention looks wholly beyond Tyre, and Assyria, and the Chaldeans, to his great central concern: “O LORD our God, other lords have ruled over us, but Your name alone we bring to remembrance.”

Our verse for this week is James 1:22: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Isaiah 23 through 27.  Now let’s read it!