DAY 206: Isaiah 37–39; Psalm 76

Assyria's Threat and God's Promised Deliverance

Welcome to 5-Minute Bible, your daily guide for your daily reading. Today's July the 25th and we'll be looking at Isaiah 37 -39 in Psalm 76. Now yesterday Assyria stood outside of Jerusalem and mocked Jerusalem's confidence.

The Rabshakeh claimed that no God has ever stopped Assyria before and demanded that the people admit that their Lord could not also save them either. But Isaiah 35 had already promised that God himself would save them.

And today that promise is answered. Hezekiah carries the enemy's words into the house of the Lord and Isaiah announces deliverance. And Assyria falls without conquering Jerusalem. Psalm 76 fittingly celebrates the God who breaks the weapons of war in Zion and yet the story does not end with victory.

Hezekiah has healed from a deadly illness and later proudly displays the treasures to Babylon. The enemy outside the walls is defeated but weakness remains on the inside of the king. Now in that way Isaiah 37 begins with Hezekiah tearing his clothes and covering himself with sackcloth and entering into the house of the Lord.

And then Sennacherib sends another message repeating his blasphemy and warning Hezekiah not to trust in Yahweh or his promises. Hezekiah then spreads the blasphemous letter before the Lord and he prays.

Because Assyria has truly destroyed nations and they really have burned their other gods. But those gods were only the work of human hands and he asks the Lord to save Jerusalem so that all the kingdoms on earth may know that he alone is God.

And the Lord answers through the prophet Isaiah. He says Sennacherib has mocked the Holy One of Israel and therefore he will not enter Jerusalem. He will not shoot an arrow there and he will not build a siege ramp against it.

The Lord will defend the city for his own namesake and for the sake of his servant David. That night the angel of the Lord strikes down 185 ,000 soldiers in the Assyrian camp and Sennacherib returns home defeated.

And later his own sons kill him while he worships in the temple of his pagan god. And that way Isaiah 38 -39 then turns from Assyria to Babylon. These events occurred around the same Assyrian crisis but Isaiah places them here to expose the limitations of Hezekiah's deliverance and to prepare the reader for the coming exile.

Hezekiah's Healing and Babylonian Pride

Hezekiah becomes mortally ill and he prays again to the Lord and he receives 15 additional years from Yahweh along with the sign of the shadow moving backwards. And afterwards Babylonian envoys arrive in the city and Hezekiah who could have been faithful in that moment shows them his treasures, the weapons and wealth inside of the temple.

And while there is a way in which we can brag about the Lord and his faithfulness, Isaiah exposes that Hezekiah was actually trusting in his own power and strength and showing the treasures to Babylon.

He's not only being incredibly foolish but he was being prideful and Isaiah announces that all of these treasures and some of his descendants are going to one day be carried off to the same people he's showing off to, the Babylonians.

Psalm 76 and the Lord's Victory Over War

Then Psalm 76 gives fitting language for Jerusalem's deliverance against Assyria. God is known in Judah, His dwelling is in Zion, therefore He breaks the yoke of the enemies, the flaming swords, the shields, the weapons of warfare.

He breaks them and crushes Israel's enemies. So as you read today I want you to ask the following question. What happens when God defeats the enemy outside the wall but pride still survives inside the heart?

Divine Deliverance and Lingering Human Pride

Isaiah 37 -39 shows that the Lord alone can save his people from overwhelming danger and yet miraculous deliverance doesn't remove the need for humility and repentance or even the need for a better king.

Assyria can be shattered in a single night while pride quietly opens the door toward Babylon over decades. And the central tension in this passage is between divine deliverance and lingering human pride.

Hezekiah responds to Assyria very differently from his father Ahaz. Ahaz faced danger and he ran toward the foreign power while Hezekiah enters the temple and he spreads the enemy's letter before the Lord and he prays showing that he's running toward Yahweh.

He doesn't deny Assyria's strength, he brings the real threat before the greater God and his prayer seeks more than survival. He asks for deliverance so that the nations may know the Lord God is God alone.

And the Lord answers decisively. Assyria has conquered cities and shattered armies and terrified many kingdoms but it cannot cross the boundary that God forbids. Sennacherib boasts as though he's the one who controls history and yet his victories occur beneath God's sovereign government.

And Psalm 76 celebrates this truth. The Lord does not tremble before weapons, he breaks them. Warriors cannot stand when he rebukes them. Even the wrath of man must end up ultimately redounding to his praise.

The Danger of Pride After God's Blessing

But Hezekiah's own heart is what remains vulnerable. The king who humbly spreads Assyria's letter before the Lord, which is a good thing, later proudly spreads his treasures before Babylon. Crisis drives the man to prayer and again that's good but admiration draws out his pride.

And that gives the passage sharp personal application for us as well because we may seek God desperately when the enemy is obvious and when times are hard but then forget about him when good times and praise arrives.

Threats can humble us surely while compliments can make us careless. The greatest danger is not always the army that exists outside the gate, sometimes it's the pride that opens up the treasury from within.

So today these chapters end with both a comfort and a warning. God can destroy Assyria without Judah even lifting a finger but Hezekiah can't cure his own heart and Jerusalem's deliverance cannot cancel the exile that their sin is preparing.

Christ the Greater Hezekiah

And in that way Isaiah 37 through 39 and Psalm 76 point us directly to Jesus as the greater Hezekiah, the victorious king and the conqueror of death. Hezekiah enters the temple and intercedes for Jerusalem while Christ is the eternal king and priest who lives forever to intercede for his people.

Another way that we see Christ all over this passage is that Hezekiah receives 15 additional years but he eventually dies. Christ however enters death and doesn't merely postpone it, he rises to never die again.

Hezekiah receives a sign including the shadow while Christ's resurrection is the great sign that the dominion of darkness and shadows has been broken. Psalm 76 also anticipates Christ's victory because at the cross rumors and powers appear to conquer him but through his death and resurrection Christ disarms them, triumphs over them and reigns as the true king from the true Zion.

The contrast with Hezekiah is equally important because Hezekiah displays his treasures and pride and he helps prepare the narrative for the exile coming in Babylon but Christ possesses all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge acknowledging that he humbles himself and gives the riches of his kingdom to his people and brings his scattered people home forever.

So as you read today I want you to notice in Isaiah 37 -39 and Psalm 76 both the glory and the limitation of this particular deliverance. Syria cannot enter Jerusalem but Babylon will. Hezekiah receives more years but he's going to die.

Isaiah's Promise of Comfort and the Coming Redeemer

And tomorrow after exile has been announced Isaiah is going to cry comfort, oh comfort my people and reveal who the shepherd is the servant of the Lord, the Redeemer who's going to gather his people home.

But with that, read your Bible carefully, devotionally and joyfully and may the Lord use his word to sanctify you completely and we will continue our journey tomorrow. God bless you.