Isaiah 36:22-37:20.  Again behind.  Been sick.  But here we go.  God’s reputation is on the line.  The Assyrian ambassador, Rabshakeah, has challenged the people of Judah not to trust in Hezekiah or God, no other kings or their gods have been able to stop Assyria, he has told them.  Hezekiah now has to choose, do what God has said thorugh Isaiah or trust his own plans and instincts.

The first thing Hezekiah did was go to where he was used to meeting God, the temple.  He did this with torn clothes and wearing sackcloth, these were symbols to him of extreme sadness.  Then he sent his leaders to ask Isaiah to talk to God, he was particularly upset by the fact that Sennacherib (the Assyrian king) and his leaders had challenged God’s abilities.  Isaiah told them it would be all right, they did not have to worry, the king of Assyria would leave and be killed in his own country.

In the mean time Rabshakeah went back to find the Sennacherib, his king.  Sennacherib had finished his conquest of Lachish and had moved on to the town of Libnah.  Interestingly the conquest of Lachish is recorded not only in the Bible but in ancient records which the Assyrians kept and archaeologists have found.  The conquest was also found recorded in a carving on the wall of Sennacherib’s palace in Ninevah.  At that time the Assyrian’s heard a rumor that the Egyptians were coming.  From his own records we know that Sennacherib fought and beat the Egyptians around this same time at the city of Eltekeh.  In the mean time Rabshakeah sent a written message to Hezekiah basically telling him they would be back and not to trust in God.  This time Hezekiah took the letter to the temple and personally prayed to God asking him to deal with this challenge of his (God’s) power.  In his prayer he admitted that the god’s of the other nations had not saved them and that they had not been able to withstand the invasions.  He concluded his prayer by asking God to save them so that the whole earth would know who the real God was.

Remember that the point of Isaiah so far has been that God will deal with pride and that God should be honored.  In this section we see Hezekiah go from being religious to actually laying himself before God.  He has made many reforms in his day, getting rid of false idols and working hard to follow God’s rules.  It seems interesting to me that the first time God is challenged that he sent his leaders to have Isaiah pray to “your God” but the second time he actually went to the temple to pray.  He asked Isaiah to pray that God would protect those left in Jerusalem but in the answer to Isaiah all he got was that the Assyrian army would be distracted and that eventually Sennacherib would be killed.  In his prayer Hezekiah didn’t ask for Jerusalem or the people to be spared but for God to be honored in the world.  What we see here is a guy losing his pride.  We see a guy going from what he can do for God to a guy who wants God to be honored.  Tomorrow we will see what happens when we put God and his honor first.  For me it is important to learn that it’s not about what I can do for God or what I do do for God but about realizing who God is (look at all the titles or descriptions in v. 16) and making sure he gets all the credit.  Lord help me live for you not so I can get the credit but so you can.  Let any victory in my life lead back to you.  Help people see who you are through what happens in my life.  Thank you for being a caring God who is there when we call to you.  Let me have the right reasons when I pray to you, for your honor.