Lesson #33

ISAIAH 38-39
Lesson #33
HEZEKIAH’S WRONG REQUEST AND GOD’S MIRACLE

• MEMORY VERSE: ISAIAH 38:19

• READ ISA 38:1-8 AND 2CHR 32:24-26
• DURING THE TIME WHEN ASSYRIA ATTACKED THE CITY OF LACHISH (701 BC) IN HOPES OF TAKING OVER JERUSALEM, HEZEKIAH BECAME VERY ILL. HE WAS CLOSE TO DEATH BECAUSE OF A BOIL. A BOIL DOESN’T SEEM VERY SERIOUS, HOWEVER, IF IT WAS A STAPH INFECTION IT IS CERTAINLY POSSIBLE. THE THREAT FROM THE ASSYRIANS PROBABLY DIDN’T HELP HIS PHYSICAL CONDITION.
• ISAIAH TOLD HEZEKIAH THAT HE WOULD DIE FROM THIS ILLNESS.
• WE KNOW, AS WELL AS ISAIAH, WHAT GOD’S PERFECT WILL WAS AT THAT TIME.
• IT WAS GOD’S PERFECT WILL THAT KING HEZEKIAH DIE.
• HEZEKIAH CRIED TO GOD AND ANOTHER 15 YEARS WERE ADDED TO HIS LIFE. WHY DID HEZEKIAH RESIST GOD’S PERFECT WILL?
• JERUSALEM WAS SURROUNDED BY THE ASSYRIANS. WAR WAS AT HIS DOOR. KING HEZEKIAH THOUGHT THAT HE WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO COULD DELIVER HIS PEOPLE.
• PRIDE CAME IN, AND HE FORGOT THAT GOD WAS IN CONTROL. HE FORGOT THAT GOD WAS THE DELIVERER.
• GOD PROVED HE WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO COULD DELIVER HIS PEOPLE WHEN HE KILLED 185,000 OF THE ASSYRIAN ARMY IN ISAIAH 37.
• NOTICE THAT HEZEKIAH DOES NOT HUMBLE HIMSELF TO THE WILL OF GOD AND ASK FOR WISDOM THE WAY HE DID WHEN JERUSALEM WAS IN DANGER OF FALLING TO THE ASSYRIANS.
• MOST OF US ARE LIKE KING HEZEKIAH. WE HAVE GOOD INTENTIONS, BUT WE DO NOT ASK GOD FOR GUIDANCE OR WISDOM ABOUT EVERYTHING. WE ONLY SEEK GOD WHEN THINGS LOOK HOPELESS AND WE HAVE NO OTHER RESOURCES.
• THE BASIS OF ANSWERED PRAYER IN HEZEKIAH’S DAY WAS “THE GOD OF DAVID, THY FATHER”. (38:5)
• WHAT IS THE BASIS OF PRAYER TODAY? (FIND A SCRIPTURE TO PROVE IT)
• Joh 14:13
• GOD PROMISES HEALING TO HEZEKIAH (4-5)
• IF GOD’S PERFECT WILL WAS THAT HEZEKIAH DIE, WHY DID GOD ANSWER HIS PRAYER AND GIVE HIM 15 MORE YEARS?
• GOD WANTS US TO LEARN TO ASK HIM FOR THE RIGHT THINGS, AND HE SOMETIMES TO GIVE US OUR WAY SO THAT WE LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES.
• THIS IS WHAT WE CALL “GOD’S PERMISSIVE WILL”.
• GOD LINKED HEZEKIAH’S HEALING WITH JERUSALEM’S DELIVERANCE FROM THE ASSYRIANS.
• WHAT SIGN DID GOD GIVE HEZEKIAH THAT HE WOULD HEAL HIM AND DELIVER JERUSALEM FROM ASSYRIA? (7-8)
• THE SUNDIAL OF KING AHAZ
• IN THE GARDEN OF THE PALACE WAS A LARGE STRUCTURE WITH A STAIRWAY. EACH STEP REPRESENTED ONE DEGREE ON A SUNDIAL. TEN STEPS REPRESENTED 40 MIN. OF TIME. AS THE SUN SET, THE SHADOW WOULD CREEP UP THE STAIRWAY AND YOU COULD TELL TIME BY WHICH STEP THE SHADOW HAD REACHED. WHY THE NUMBER 10 DEGREES (40 MIN) IN ISA 38?
• THE EXPLANATION OF THIS MIRACLE:
• MANY CRITICIZE THE MIRACLE AS IMPOSSIBLE. IT WOULD MEAN THAT THE ROTATION OF THE EARTH REVERSED ITSELF.
• HOWEVER, REMEMBER THAT GOD IS THE CREATOR AND HE IS NOT LIMITED TO THE PHYSICAL LAWS THAT HE INSTITUTED.
• THIS MIRACLE OF A LOSS OF 40 MINUTES FITS WITH ANOTHER SIMILAR MIRACLE.
• READ JOSHUA 10;12-14
• THE SUN STOOD STILL ALMOST A WHOLE DAY. (IT WAS PROBABLY 23 HOURS AND 20 MINUTES.) THE REST OF THAT IS THE 40 MINUTES WE SEE IN ISA 38.
• ALL ANCIENT CALENDARS HAD 360 DAYS TO A YEAR, 30 DAYS TO A MONTH, AND 12 MONTHS TO A YEAR UNTIL THE YEAR 701 BC. MOST OF THESE CALENDARS STARTED WITH MARCH AS THE FIRST MONTH. MARCH IS NAMED FOR THE PLANET MARS AND A SYMBOL OF THE PAGAN GOD BAAL. THE PLANET MARS MAKES A NEAR MISS TO PLANET EARTH EVERY 108 YEARS. IN THE BOOK OF JOSHUA MARS PASSED WITHIN 70,000 MILES OF EARTH. THIS WAS ONE OF THE CLOSEST PASSES. AFTER THE 7TH PASS OF MARS IN 701 BC., THEY CHANGED THE CALENDAR.
• READ ISA 38:9-22 HEZEKIAH’S SONG OF PRAISE
• KING HEZEKIAH WROTE ABOUT HIS THOUGHTS DURING THE TIME HE WAS SICK.

• READ ISA 39:1-8
• KING MERODACH-BALADAN REIGNED (721-710 BC) IN THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE BEFORE KING SENNACHERIB. THEN CAME KING SENNACHERIB. AFTER KING SENNACHERIB, MERODACH RULED AGAIN (703-702).
• THE NAME MERODACH-BALADAN:
• MERODACH MEANS = “REBEL”
• BALADAN MEANS = “NOT OF GOD”
• THIS MAN WAS FROM BABYLON, THE HEART OF SATAN’S RELIGIOUS SYSTEM THAT BEGAN AT THE TOWER OF BABEL WITH THE KING NIMROD. (GEN 10:8,10) NIMROD MEANS = “REBEL”
• THIS VISIT BY KING MERODACH AND HIS ENTOURAGE PROBABLY HAS MORE MEANING THAN JUST TO CONGRATULATE KING HEZEKIAH ON HIS HEALING.
• KING MERODACH WAS KNOWN AS “THE INVADER”. HE HAD TWICE TRIED TO THROW OFF THE YOKE OF THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE, BUT FAILED. HE PROBABLY WAS VISITING HEZEKIAH TO SEE IF HE WOULD BE AN ALLY AGAINST ASSYRIA.
• FOR KING HEZEKIAH, THIS VISIT WAS GOD’S TEST OF HEZEKIAH’S CHARACTER.
• THE HARDEST TESTS COME IMMEDIATELY AFTER A GREAT VICTORY. GOD HAD SPARED HIS LIFE AND PROMISED THE DEFEAT OF THE ASSYRIANS.
• WHAT DID HEZEKIAH DO THAT LACKED WISDOM AND PROMPTED THE FALL OF THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM?

• ISAIAH’S TWO PART PROPHECY OF JUDGMENT:

• ALL THE KING’S WEALTH WOULD BE CARRIED OFF TO BABYLON.
• SOME OF HEZEKIAH’S DESCENDANTS WOULD BE FORCED TO SERVE IN THE COURTS OF BABYLON. (2KI 24-25)
• THIS WAS FULFILLED IN 605 BC WHEN DANIEL AND OTHERS WERE TAKEN CAPTIVE TO BABYLON. (DAN 1)
• HEZEKIAH WAS RELIEVED THAT HE WOULD NOT SEE THE FULFILLMENT OF ISAIAH’S PROPHECY.
• WHAT WERE THE LAST 15 YEARS OF KING HEZEKIAH’S LIFE LIKE?
• A DISAPPOINTMENT WITH MANY ERRORS AND WASTED TIME.
• DISCUSSION: WAS HEZEKIAH RIGHT IN ASKING THE LORD TO LENGTHEN HIS LIFE? WHY OR WHY NOT?

HOMEWORK
ISAIAH 40
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• APPLICATION OF ISA 38-39
• RELATE HOW YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED ANY OF THE FOLLOWING IN YOUR LIFE:
• GOD’S PERMISSIVE WILL

• PRIDE

• TESTING AFTER A GREAT VICTORY

• PREPARATION FOR ISAIAH 40
• READ ISA 40
• IN WHAT WAYS DOES THIS CHAPTER TELL US ABOUT JESUS CHRIST AND HIS MINISTRY?
• MEMORY VERSE: ISAIAH 40:31