Tuesday, February 9
How did the clever oratory of the rabshakeh affect Hezekiah and his officials? 2 Kings 18:37-19:4, Isaiah 36:21-37:4.
Shaken to the core and mourning in distress, Hezekiah turned to God, humbly seeking the intercession of Isaiah, the very prophet whose counsel his father had ignored.
How did God encourage Hezekiah? Isaiah 37:5-7.
The message was brief, but it was enough. God was on the side of His people. Isaiah predicted that Sennacherib would hear a rumor that would distract him from his attack on Judah. This was immediately fulfilled.
Temporarily frustrated, but by no means giving up for long, Sennacherib sent Hezekiah a threatening message: “Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. … Have the gods of the nations delivered them …?” (Isaiah 37:10, 12; see also 2 Chronicles 32:17).
This time Hezekiah went straight to the temple and spread the message out before the Lord of hosts, “that dwellest between the cherubims” (Isaiah 37:14-16).
How did Hezekiah’s prayer identify what was at stake in Jerusalem’s crisis? Isaiah 37:15-20.
Sennacherib had pointedly attacked Hezekiah’s strongest defense: faith in his God. Rather than buckling under, Hezekiah appealed to God to demonstrate who He is, “that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only” (Isaiah 37:20).
Read prayerfully Hezekiah’s prayer (Isaiah 37:15-20). What aspects about God does he focus on? What principle do we see in this prayer that can give us encouragement and strength to stay faithful in our own personal crises?
