Isaiah 38:1-22. This is all so interesting and confusing. In earlier posts we looked at different ways of grouping the chapters in Isaiah. We also talked about two main ideas that Isaiah is dealing with; the fact that God will deal with pride and the fact that God alone deserves honor or praise. Another thing I mentioned is that many of the predictions or messages in the book were probably given at different times and put together in the book by Isaiah to make a certain point (like the two main ideas above). A couple of other things about the book are important to think about. First is that, in addition to the different sections we have already talked about, the book has two big or main parts; chapters 1-39 (which we are about to finish) and chapters 40-66. Chapters 1-39 have focused on things that happened during the lifetime of Isaiah (mostly). When most people think of a prophet they think of foretelling the future. But in the Bible a big part of a prophets job was to help people see things the way God sees things (See “What Profit?”). In this first part of the book of Isaiah we have seen proud selfish people being warned that God would deal with them and the proud selfish people around them. We have also seen the comparison of two kings of Judah, the southern kingdom of the nation of Israel, Ahaz and his son Hezekiah. Both kings were faced with invasion. Both kings were tempted to rely on their own strength and the strength of allies for their protection. Both kings were warned against making allies by Isaiah. Both kings made allies and prepared for war. Both kings were challenges by Isaiah over and over to trust God alone to save them. Ahaz rejected Isaiah’s advice and made an alliance with Assyria. As a result the people of the region, including Judah, were oppressed by the Assyrians for years to come. During this time the Assyrians took many of the Israelites fro the northern kingdom captive and spread them through out the Assyrian empire. Ahaz was succeeded by his son Hezekiah. At first Hezekiah tried to keep peace with Assyria by paying the annual tribute or ransom to keep his country “free”. In 705 BC a new king came to power in Assyria, Sennacherib. While this king secured his kingdom at home Hezekiah decided to stop paying the tribute. He also made an alliance with several of the leaders in his area and also with Egypt. This led to invasion by Sennacherib and the destruction of the alliance. As we have just seen eventually Hezekiah turned back to God and were miraculously saved from the Assyrians in 701 BC.
There was more going on during those 4 years between 705 and 701 BC in the life of Hezekiah which we will now see. Within the Assyrian empire were several kingdoms. One of these was known as Babylon. The Babylonian kingdom was close to the center of the Assyrian empire and was a big part of what Sennacherib had to deal with. The leader of the Babylonians at the time a guy named Merodach-baladan. He had been the leader of the Babylonians from 722-710 BC and had regained leadership in 704 BC. He was deposed from power in 703 BC by Sennacherib. In today’s reading we see Hezekiah becoming so sick he is going to die. In fact Isaiah very specifically told him to get his stuff together because he was going to die. Hezekiah responded by praying to God, asking God to remember that he had been faithful. He even told God that he had lived his life trying to wholeheartedly please God. Hezekiah had done great things, getting rid of false idols and restoring God’s rules of worship in his kingdom. But he also spent a lot of time fortifying his kingdom against invasions and also making a treaty with people he was told not to. So it seems like he didn’t really get it. Wholeheartedly means more than just in a religious-go-to-church way it means in every part of our lives. The odd thing is God heard the pray and had Isaiah reverse the plan, “you won’t die today you get 15 more years!”
Isaiah doesn’t say much about why Hezekiah got sick but in 2 Chronicles 32:24-25 we are told that he became sick because of his pride (remember the two big ideas in Isaiah). In 2 Chronicles 32:25 it talks about the “benefit” Hezekiah had received from God and then goes on to list all of his stuff and all that he had dome as king. This is probably talking about the preparations he had been making for the invasion, at least partly. Near the end of the list in verse 31 it talks about a visit from some officials from Babylon. In tomorrows reading we will learn more about this, but the visitors were sent by Merodan-Baladach, king of Babylon. That means that what ever that was all about it happened 704-703 BC. And from 2 chronicles 32 we know it was about Hezekiah’s pride over what he had done.
The picture that we are getting then is that Hezekiah started planning to break away from Assyria and was making and accomplishing big things. As we saw yesterday much of what he did was wasted because the solution was God not guns and grub. But god is so masterful that he can use whatever mess we make to teach us. In this case he was working of Hezekiah’s pride. But there is a lesson for us here too. When Isaiah told Hezekiah that the curse was removed he gave him a sign, a shadow from the sun on some steps that his father had built would move backwards from it’s normal direction. Reversing the earth’s rotation for a little while’s a pretty good sign, only God could do that. But I like the image. First they were his dad’s steps, Ahaz, the guy who never went back. Next, in a way it was like turning time backwards. It’s never too late to turn back to God, that is what I learn from this story. I also learn that we don’t need to be perfect for God to forgive us. That is probably why Isaiah tells the stories out of order. How can you forget the 185,000 Assyrian troops wiped out by God. A miracle like that could make you forget a miracle of forgiveness of one imperfect guy. So we put the story that reminds us of how feeble we are near the end, to remind us that God is a forgiving God, even for someone like Hezekiah. Pride is a big problem but not so big that God isn’t waiting there to take us back when we turn to him. One last thing, the figs and the boil. What ever the illness was part of it was a sore on Hezekiah. An Israelite could not enter the temple with an open wound. In verses 20 Hezekiah sings about how great it will be to live because he can go to “church”. I think in verse 22 he is basically asking Isaiah, “When will I be well enough to go back in and honor God.” Although he will fail again in tomorrows story, remember that these were before his big victory. God sure is good at forgiving. Hopefully we will deal with our pride sooner rather than later and keep it away better. God help me not be proud. Help me listen to you quickly. Help me respond the right way. And let me live to honor you.
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