Isaiah 37:1-13, NIV
Map stones: ..sackcloth…Hezekiah..This is a say of distress and rebuke and disgrace….no strength to deliver them…the king of Assyria…ridicule the living God…; Isaiah…tell your master, “This is what the LORD says: vs 5. Do not be afraid of what you have heard…underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me;…going to put a spirit in him so that when he hears a certain report….I will have him cut down with the sword (vs 1-7, NIV); king Hezekish’s prayer..vs 14-20, …you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth..ear. eyes.. listen..words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God…deliver us from his hand..all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God.
Thoughts: A gravest mistake or sin to insult the living God. God can use any tool or scheme or method to destroy; in this case, a spirit. Do not play play with God. The fear of the living God (you, alone, are God) is wisdom. Be humble but speak from your heart to the living God. Hezekiah’s prayer, what a bold and earnest prayer-Ed, 30-03-2021.
Isaiah 37:1-18, GNB
[1]As soon as King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes in grief, put on sackcloth, and went to the Temple of the Lord.
[2]He sent Eliakim, the official in charge of the palace, Shebna, the court secretary, and the senior priests to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They also were wearing sackcloth.
[3]This is the message which he told them to give to Isaiah: “Today is a day of suffering; we are being punished and are in disgrace. We are like a woman who is ready to give birth, but is too weak to do it.
[4]The Assyrian emperor has sent his chief official to insult the living God. May the Lord your God hear these insults and punish those who spoke them. So pray to God for those of our people who survive.”
[5]When Isaiah received King Hezekiah’s message,
[6]he sent back this answer: “The Lord tells you not to let the Assyrians frighten you by their claims that he cannot save you.
[7]The Lord will cause the emperor to hear a rumour that will make him go back to his own country, and the Lord will have him killed there.”
[8]The Assyrian official learnt that the emperor had left Lachish and was fighting against the nearby city of Libnah; so he went there to consult him.
[9]Word reached the Assyrians that the Egyptian army, led by King Tirhakah of Ethiopia, was coming to attack them. When the emperor heard this, he sent letter to King Hezekiah
[10]of Judah to say to him, “The god you are trusting in has told you that you will not fall into my hands, but don’t let that deceive you.
[11]You have heard what an Assyrian emperor does to any country he decides to destroy. Do you think that you can escape?
[12]My ancestors destroyed the cities of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and killed the people of Betheden who lived in Telassar, and none of their gods could save them.
[13]Where are the kings of the cities of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”
[14]King Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went to the Temple, placed the letter there in the presence of the Lord,
[15]and prayed,
[16]“Almighty Lord, God of Israel, enthroned above the winged creatures, you alone are God, ruling all the kingdoms of the world. You created the earth and the sky.
[17]Now, Lord, hear us and look at what is happening to us. Listen to all the things that Sennacherib is saying to insult you, the living God.
[18]We all know, Lord, that the emperors of Assyria have destroyed many nations, made their lands desolate,