And here is the account of Sennacherib threatening Jerusalem....this isn't the prophet's account this is the Kings records.....it really matches up to Isaiah! Hezekiah prays for deliverance and Isaiah tells Hezekiah that God has heard his prayer and will take care of old Sennacherib...sure enough, in one night God strikes 185,000 Assyrian soldiers dead. Sennacherib returns to Ninevah (remember old Jonah?) and is assassinated by two of his sons. Hezekiah almost dies, and prays to God for more time. Isaiah says that the Lord's son is time actually going backwards, and it did. Hezekiah recovers and word of this miracle spreads. The envoys from Babylon come to hear about it, and rather than give glory to the Lord, Hezekiah brags about all his riches and shows everything to the envoys. He has planted a fateful seed. Babylon would later become a world power and come back and steal the very treasures. Isaiah rebukes Hezekiah, but tells him there will be peace in Hezekiah's lifetime. Do you think that was selfish of Hezekiah?
Psalm 46:10 is one of my favorites: Be still and know that I am God...
Psalm 80 has a plea of "Restore us O God" 3 times......the point is being made... and it continues to "make your face shine on us" The thought is that this was probably written when the Northern kingdom (of Israel) was taken into Assyrian captiviy.. Since Israel had so many evil kings and stayed in sin, God allowed them to be defeated. This is one reason that Hezekiah was so nervous.
Psalm 135 is praise...God is great, idols are not....remember verse 16-17 from yesterday:
They have mouths, but cannot speak
eyes, but they cannot see;'
they have ears, but cannot hear,
nor is there breath in their mouths..
This makes an idol seem pretty stupid....but whenever we put things before the Lord, they are our idols...we have moved way past the graven images...our culture is different, our idols are different, but the message is very much the same. God can save; our idols cannot.
Look what comes up from the depths of the sea.
After you read, feel free to make a comment or ask a question in the comment box. You can sign up as a follower on the right, or you can sign up by e-mail at the bottom if you would like to follow the whole year. You may also chose to simply read along and make no comments. Whatever you choose. If you fall behind, as most people will do, don't worry...the whole year is here and you can catch up at your own speed. I highly encourage you to stick with it, If you read the Bible, you are going to mine some real jewels and insights.
I'm still reading....some of this is kinda hard but your blog really helps.................
ReplyDeleteI am so glad it helps...Isaiah is a difficult book.....ask any questions you have.....
ReplyDelete