In the next eight chapters, Isaiah 28-35, Isaiah lays out the many sins of the rulers of Israel and Judah explaining to them why Yahweh will certainly bring judgment against them.
Isaiah 28:1 Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine! 2 Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong. Like a storm of hail, a destroying storm, and like a storm of mighty waters overflowing, he will cast them down to the earth with his hand. 3 The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden under foot. 4 The fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley, shall be like the first-ripe fig before the summer, which someone picks and eats as soon as he sees it. 5 In that day, Yahweh of Armies will become a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the residue of his people, 6 and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
7 They also reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They stagger with strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment. 8 For all tables are completely full of filthy vomit and filthiness.
9 Whom will he teach knowledge? To whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts? 10 For it is precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little.
11 But he will speak to this nation with stammering lips and in another language, 12 to whom he said, “This is the resting place. Give rest to the weary,” and “This is the refreshing;” yet they would not hear. 13 Therefore Yahweh’s word will be to them precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little; that they may go, fall backward, be broken, be snared, and be taken.
14 Therefore hear Yahweh’s word, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem: 15 “Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and we are in agreement with Sheol. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it won’t come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood.’” 16 Therefore the Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes shall not act hastily. (Matthew 21:42-44, Acts 4:16, 1 Peter 2:6) 17 I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place. 18 Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it. 19 As often as it passes through, it will seize you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be nothing but terror to understand the message.” 20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in. 21 For Yahweh will rise up as on Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his unusual work, and bring to pass his act, his extraordinary act. 22 Now therefore don’t be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, on the whole earth.
23 Give ear, and hear my voice! Listen, and hear my speech! 24 Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he keep turning the soil and breaking the clods? 25 When he has leveled its surface, doesn’t he plant the dill, and scatter the cumin seed, and put in the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place? 26 For his God instructs him in right judgment and teaches him. 27 For the dill isn’t threshed with a sharp instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned over the cumin; but the dill is beaten out with a stick, and the cumin with a rod. 28 Bread flour must be ground; so he will not always be threshing it. Although he drives the wheel of his threshing cart over it, his horses don’t grind it. 29 This also comes out from Yahweh of Armies, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.
God’s judgment sometimes begins by allowing a nation to have exactly the leaders it wants. As the Apostle Paul would explain to the Romans, sometimes the sin of the people actually becomes the judgment from God. God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts. Romans 1:24 As Isaiah notes, those that rule this people in Jerusalem, the appointed leaders, prophets, priests, and judges are drunkards. They reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They stagger with strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment. 8 For all tables are completely full of filthy vomit and filthiness. Instead of being faithful to their Covenant with Yahweh, a diadem of beauty, which guarantees life, they have made a covenant with death. Having been enticed by the devil’s lies and power they have embraced the false destructive consensus of the unbelieving pagan culture. They are looking for prosperity, peace, contentment, meaning, and satisfaction. But refreshment and refuge cannot be built on a foundation of lies. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place. The pursuit of sin leads to destruction yet they mock Isaiah asking, “Whom will he teach knowledge?”
Paul names the pattern plainly. When people suppress the truth about God, God gives them over to what they insist on wanting (Romans 1:18–28). That handover does not feel like judgment at first. It feels like permission. The cost shows up later, in fractured households, in confused children, in churches that grow quiet on hard truths, and in cultures that lose the ability to tell restraint from harm. Victor Walker, Sola Veritas, 2-7-26
But, amazingly, even though the leaders are unfaithful to the Covenant Yahweh declares that he will always remain faithful. He will do his extraordinary act! Saving them from the foundation of lies that they have built their society on, he will lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation… Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand.
This promise was fulfilled in Christ.
For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11
Through Christ even former pagans are now incorporated as descendants, “seed” of Abraham and are now heirs of the Promise made to Abraham that all of the nations would be blessed through him. Galatians 3:6-14 Larry Hurtado, ‘Destroyer of the gods’
Isaiah 29:1 Woe to Ariel! Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts come around; 2 then I will distress Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation. She shall be to me as an altar hearth. 3 I will encamp against you all around you, and will lay siege against you with posted troops. I will raise siege works against you. 4 You will be brought down, and will speak out of the ground. Your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will be as of one who has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech will whisper out of the dust.
Ariel literally means “Lion of God.” Ariel, also known as the city of David, Jerusalem, was literally to serve as the Lion of God, boldly, without compromise, representing the One True God to the nations; however the priests and prophets had become unfaithful. As a result God announces that Jerusalem will be brought down to the dust. The more than obvious parallel is that when the Church, the New Jerusalem, refuses to represent God to the nations Christ announces that like salt that has lost its saltiness…it is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. Matthew 5:13 When in our busy lives we neglect being centered by the study, reading, and proclamation of God’s Word we become too easily enticed by the misdirection of Satan. The allure of this world, which is passing away, 1 John2:17, causes us to lose sight, to forget, our untold blessings, Ephesians 1:3, our eternal home, Hebrews 13:14, and our command to disciple the nations. Matthew 28:19-20
American cities are becoming strongholds of lawlessness because the Church stopped discipling Western nations… Sadly, the process of secularization has blurred the biblical view of education. Most church leaders do not even think that the Mind is the field where the seeds are sown, whether of Darkness or of the kingdom of Light. Vishal Mangalwadi, revelationmovement.com
The crisis of Christianity in Europe is not mainly a story about atheists winning arguments. It is a story about churches losing credibility, losing seriousness, and then losing the right to be heard. The cathedrals are still there. The feast days survive in the calendar. Political leaders still invoke Christian values when it suits them. Millions still tick Christian on census forms. But much of Christianity is in ruins. It is inheritance without discipleship. Memory without obedience. Identity without repentance. Richard Howell, christianpost.com
Isaiah 29:5 But the multitude of your foes will be like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless ones like chaff that blows away. Yes, it will be in an instant, suddenly. 6 She will be visited by Yahweh of Armies with thunder, with earthquake, with great noise, with whirlwind and storm, and with the flame of a devouring fire. 7 The multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, will be like a dream, a vision of the night. 8 It will be like when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his hunger isn’t satisfied; or like when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he drinks; but he awakes, and behold, he is faint, and he is still thirsty. The multitude of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion will be like that.
Although Jerusalem, God’s people, have been unfaithful, God promises that those who oppose her will also be trampled in the dust; the multitude of your foes will be like fine dust. The foes dream of defeating Jerusalem but like in a dream, when they wake up they will be unsatisfied. It was only a dream not a reality. They will discover that when governments and individuals are not bound by God’s higher Law, cultural decay, social disorder, the judgment of God, and finally the hopelessness of death inevitably follow.
Those seeking freedom from God’s Word find themselves in slavery. For 1,500 years Islam has tried to silence God’s truth with the sword. Quran, Sura 9:5 The Enlightenment denied that God was a necessary prerequisite for legal order. Stripped of all restraint secular governments answered to no one. For the past 150 years, atheists have mocked God while communists have worked to overthrow God’s natural order of church and family by murdering hundreds of thousands. Although, like ancient Jerusalem the Church is unfaithful and, at times, has made peace and adopted the practices of the world, where the church remains fiercely faithful the goal of overthrowing God’s eternal kingdom is only a dream that cannot be fulfilled. Ariel, the Lion of God, ultimately triumphs.
We can also rejoice because with the coming of Jesus Christ we are in a better place than the Old Testament saints. God promised Christ that He would give Him the nations as His inheritance (Psalm 2:8). We are no longer exiles; Jesus is “both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36), “the head of all rule and authority” (Colossians 2:10), and “the ruler of kings on earth” (Revelation 1:5). We are Christ’s loyal subjects, and the earth He rules over is now our home; it is unbelievers who are trespassers. With Christians now residents with lawful title to this world, our duty is to prepare it to be the eternal “dwelling place of God with man.” We are to transform it into the place where God “will dwell with [us], and [we] will be his people, and God himself will be with [us] as [our] God” (Revelation 21:3).
We must do this with meekness (Matthew 5:5) but also with confidence because it is the work that Christ—who has all authority in heaven and on earth—has commanded us to do (Matthew 28:18–20). We should not question His wisdom by succumbing to earthly counsel that some institutions of this world fall outside of His mandate. God will not let us fail in our work of discipling the nations. As we faithfully obey Him, one day these nations will be filled with Abraham’s “offspring [as numerous] as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore” (Genesis 22:17–18) and “as the dust of the earth” (Genesis 13:16). We shall, as God promised Abraham, “possess the gate of [our] enemies.” Bill Peacock, American Reformer
Isaiah 29:9 Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. 10 For Yahweh has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets; and he has covered your heads, the seers. 11 All vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is educated, saying, “Read this, please;” and he says, “I can’t, for it is sealed;” 12 and the book is delivered to one who is not educated, saying, “Read this, please;” and he says, “I can’t read.”
13 The Lord said, “Because this people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but they have removed their heart far from me, (Mark 7:6-7) and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught; 14 therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the understanding of their prudent men will be hidden.” (1 Corinthians 1:18-31)
15 Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us?” and “Who knows us?” 16 You turn things upside down! (Matthew 12:34) Should the potter be thought to be like clay, that the thing made should say about him who made it, “He didn’t make me;” or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”? (Romans 9:20-21)
Jerusalem is just going through the motions. In Mark 7:6-7 Christ quotes this verse in rebuking the Pharisees and religious leaders who rejected him. This people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but they have removed their heart far from me. In reality they are spiritually blind and they stagger but not with strong drink. They stagger because although they have God’s Word they are functionally illiterate. They refuse to understand much less to live by the truth that they have been given, thinking that God doesn’t see.
Isaiah 29:17 Isn’t it yet a very little while, and Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field will be regarded as a forest? 18 In that day, the deaf will hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness. (Matthew 11:5) 19 The humble also will increase their joy in Yahweh, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. 20 For the ruthless is brought to nothing, and the scoffer ceases, and all those who are alert to do evil are cut off— 21 who cause a person to be indicted by a word, and lay a snare for one who reproves in the gate, and who deprive the innocent of justice with false testimony.
22 Therefore Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, says concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall no longer be ashamed, neither shall his face grow pale. 23 But when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in the middle of him, they will sanctify my name. Yes, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. 24 They also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, and those who complain will receive instruction.”
When God brings restoration, turning things right-side-up, the people who had turned things upside down, Isaiah 29:16, will finally come to understand. Those who were ashamed, those who had complained against God, will stand in awe of the God of Israel and will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob.
Where do you instinctively turn for help when things in your life go wrong? Where do you run for rescue when you are under attack? Are you ashamed of Christ?
If your go-to is not Christ you will ultimately be disappointed.
Isaiah 30:1 “Woe to the rebellious children”, says Yahweh, “who take counsel, but not from me; and who make an alliance, but not with my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; 2 who set out to go down into Egypt without asking for my advice, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt! 3 Therefore the strength of Pharaoh will be your shame, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. 4 For their princes are at Zoan, and their ambassadors have come to Hanes. 5 They shall all be ashamed because of a people that can’t profit them, that are not a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.
Turning from God and turning to other nations and other gods for answers, for assistance, is shame[ful].
At the time of this next prophecy the northern kingdom of Israel was under the threat of attack by the Assyrian Army. Fearing for their safety, instead of turning to Yahweh, the southern kingdom of Judah made an alliance with Egypt.
Isaiah 30:6 The burden of the animals of the South.
Through the land of trouble and anguish, of the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to an unprofitable people. 7 For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose; therefore I have called her Rahab who sits still. 8 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever. 9 For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear Yahweh’s Law; 10 who tell the seers, “Don’t see!” and the prophets, “Don’t prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits. 11 Get out of the way. Turn away from the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” 12 Therefore the Holy One of Israel says, “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on it, 13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant. 14 He will break it as a potter’s vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing, so that there won’t be found among the broken pieces a piece good enough to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
To buy the help of Egypt Judah sends a caravan laden with treasure. What did their treasure purchase? Nothing! Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose; therefore I have called her Rahab [Egypt] who sits still. In other words Egypt did nothing to help Judah. This is such an important lesson for God’s people to learn that Isaiah is told to write about this incident. Write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever.
Were the people happy that God preserved this lesson for them and their children? No. In fact they protested saying, “Don’t prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits. 11 Get out of the way. Turn away from the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.”
Although this was written down almost 3,000 years ago the Apostle Paul describes the exact same behavior today. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 2 Timothy 4:3-4
Many people want some kind of religion. Many even describe themselves as spiritual; however they do not want to hear the truth nor do they want the Holy, Living God, in their lives. They say, “Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” They want a religion that allows them to indulge the desires of their wicked, lustful, coveting hearts. They want a god of their own making that grants them the desires of their hearts without the burdens of guilt and shame. Can a pretend god grant real Salvation?
Isaiah 30:15 For thus said the Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, “You will be saved in returning and rest. Your strength will be in quietness and in confidence.” You refused, 16 but you said, “No, for we will flee on horses;” therefore you will flee; and, “We will ride on the swift;” therefore those who pursue you will be swift. 17 One thousand will flee at the threat of one. At the threat of five, you will flee until you are left like a beacon on the top of a mountain, and like a banner on a hill.
18 Therefore Yahweh will wait, that he may be gracious to you; and therefore he will be exalted, that he may have mercy on you, for Yahweh is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for him. 19 For the people will dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. You will weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the voice of your cry. When he hears you, he will answer you. 20 Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers won’t be hidden any more, but your eyes will see your teachers; 21 and when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way. Walk in it.” 22 You shall defile the overlaying of your engraved images of silver, and the plating of your molten images of gold. You shall cast them away as an unclean thing. You shall tell it, “Go away!”
23 He will give the rain for your seed, with which you will sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground will be rich and plentiful. In that day, your livestock will feed in large pastures. 24 The oxen likewise and the young donkeys that till the ground will eat savory feed, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork. 25 There will be brooks and streams of water on every lofty mountain and on every high hill in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 Moreover the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, in the day that Yahweh binds up the fracture of his people, and heals the wound they were struck with.
27 Behold, Yahweh’s name comes from far away, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke. His lips are full of indignation. His tongue is as a devouring fire. 28 His breath is as an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction. A bridle that leads to ruin will be in the jaws of the peoples. 29 You will have a song, as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a flute to come to Yahweh’s mountain, to Israel’s Rock. 30 Yahweh will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the descent of his arm, with the indignation of his anger and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast, storm, and hailstones. 31 For through Yahweh’s voice the Assyrian will be dismayed. He will strike him with his rod. 32 Every stroke of the rod of punishment, which Yahweh will lay on him, will be with the sound of tambourines and harps. He will fight with them in battles, brandishing weapons. 33 For his burning place has long been ready. Yes, it is prepared for the king. He has made its pyre deep and large with fire and much wood. Yahweh’s breath, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.
When facing adversity turning to unbelievers provides no lasting answer. Neither does fleeing on horses, or in modern terms hopping on a plane and running away. The adversity isn’t really the problem. The heart of the real problem is expecting to find solutions in someone or something other than Yahweh. Instead of running, “You will be saved in returning and rest. Your strength will be in quietness and in confidence…Blessed are all those who wait on him.” God is patiently waiting for you to return because he understands that whatever you are pursuing will not satisfy you. When you return the blessings will come in at least three forms. First, God grants salvation. You will be saved in returning and rest. Second, God delights in giving good gifts to his children. Bread of the increase of the ground will be rich and plentiful. Third, God promises to sift the nations that oppose his children with the sieve of destruction. A bridle that leads to ruin will be in the jaws of the peoples.
Since God judges the nations Isaiah continues by warning Israel, Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help rather than turning to Yahweh. In other words, don’t look to the unbelieving nations, or your unbelieving friends for solutions. Those who refuse to look to and honor Yahweh’s revelation have no lasting answers.
Isaiah 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,
and rely on horses,
and trust in chariots because they are many,
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but they don’t look to the Holy One of Israel,
and they don’t seek Yahweh!
2 Yet he also is wise, and will bring disaster,
and will not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers,
and against the help of those who work iniquity.
3 Now the Egyptians are men, and not God;
and their horses flesh, and not spirit.
When Yahweh stretches out his hand, both he who helps shall stumble,
and he who is helped shall fall,
and they all shall be consumed together.
4 For Yahweh says to me,
“As the lion and the young lion growling over his prey,
if a multitude of shepherds is called together against him,
will not be dismayed at their voice,
nor abase himself for their noise,
so Yahweh of Armies will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its heights.
5 As birds hovering, so Yahweh of Armies will protect Jerusalem.
He will protect and deliver it.
He will pass over and preserve it.”
6 Return to him from whom you have deeply revolted, children of Israel. 7 For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold—sin which your own hands have made for you.
8 “The Assyrian will fall by the sword, not of man;
and the sword, not of mankind, shall devour him.
He will flee from the sword,
and his young men will become subject to forced labor.
9 His rock will pass away by reason of terror,
and his princes will be afraid of the banner,”
says Yahweh, whose fire is in Zion,
and his furnace in Jerusalem.
What help can Egypt provide? After all, Egyptians are men and not God, and horses are flesh, not spirit. Instead call on Yahweh. Yahweh of Armies will protect Jerusalem. He will protect and deliver it. He will pass over and preserve it. If the Church would simply learn to trust in God in all circumstances God will deliver in mighty ways. God is not called Yahweh of Armies for nothing. Read 2 Kings 6:8-23!
The Assyrian will fall by the sword, not of man; and the sword, not of mankind, shall devour him. Who is going to defend Israel? Who is going to defeat Assyria? Yahweh of Armies!
We may think that the odds are stacked against us, that circumstances are too overwhelming, but that is not how God sees things. If we would only turn to our God in all circumstances we will discover that Yahweh of Armies will come down to fight on Mount Zion.
32:1 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness,
and princes shall rule in justice.
2 A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind,
and a covert from the storm,
as streams of water in a dry place,
as the shade of a large rock in a weary land. (Matthew 23:37)
3 The eyes of those who see will not be dim,
and the ears of those who hear will listen.
4 The heart of the rash will understand knowledge,
and the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly.
5 The fool will no longer be called noble,
nor the scoundrel be highly respected.
6 For the fool will speak folly,
and his heart will work iniquity,
to practice profanity,
and to utter error against Yahweh,
to make empty the soul of the hungry,
and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
7 The ways of the scoundrel are evil.
He devises wicked plans to destroy the humble with lying words,
even when the needy speaks right.
8 But the noble devises noble things,
and he will continue in noble things.
King Hezekiah was the king that immediately fulfilled this prophecy.
He did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done…. He trusted in the LORD God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any who were before him. For he held fast to the LORD; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the LORD had commanded Moses. 2 Kings 18:3, 5-6
Ultimately however, Hezekiah was a picture of the Promise of the future Messiah, King of Kings, Jesus Christ.
Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. Jeremiah 23:5
And just like Hezekiah had loyal princes, Eliakim, Shebna the scribe, the elders of the priests, and prophets, 2 Kings 19:2, the future righteous King, the Branch of David, also has priests.
You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God. 1 Peter 2:9-10
And [You] have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth. Revelation 5:10
When you are facing trials and opposition do you see yourself as kings, priests, and elders in the Messiah’s kingdom, being trained, even through adversity, by God to accomplish his purposes?
Isaiah 32:9 Rise up, you women who are at ease! Hear my voice!
You careless daughters, give ear to my speech!
10 For days beyond a year you will be troubled, you careless women;
for the vintage will fail.
The harvest won’t come.
11 Tremble, you women who are at ease!
Be troubled, you careless ones!
Strip yourselves, make yourselves naked,
and put sackcloth on your waist.
12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
for the fruitful vine.
13 Thorns and briers will come up on my people’s land;
yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city.
14 For the palace will be forsaken.
The populous city will be deserted.
The hill and the watchtower will be for dens forever,
a delight for wild donkeys,
a pasture of flocks,
15 until the Spirit is poured on us from on high,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is considered a forest.
16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness;
and righteousness will remain in the fruitful field.
17 The work of righteousness will be peace,
and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.
18 My people will live in a peaceful habitation,
in safe dwellings,
and in quiet resting places,
19 though hail flattens the forest,
and the city is leveled completely.
20 Blessed are you who sow beside all waters,
who send out the feet of the ox and the donkey.
Following the formula of first judgment and then hope, Isaiah explains that God will use the Assyrian invasion to humble the people, preparing them for an outpouring of his Spirit. The palace will be forsaken. The populous city will be deserted … until the Spirit is poured on us from on high.
But after judgment, God, who will never leave or forsake his people, desires to bless his people with good gifts. He is not content to dribble out a few drops of blessings. He pours out blessings from on high and fills the land with justice and righteousness. In [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. Ephesians 1:7-8
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: you anoint my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:5-6
Do you understand the far-reaching extent of the overflowing grace that God has lavished on you?
Isaiah 33:1 Woe to you who destroy, but you weren’t destroyed,
and who betray, but nobody betrayed you!
When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed;
and when you have finished betrayal, you will be betrayed.
2 Yahweh, be gracious to us. We have waited for you.
Be our strength every morning,
our salvation also in the time of trouble.
To discipline Israel for abandoning their Covenant, God is going to allow the ruthless unstoppable army of the Assyrians to invade the land. And although Israel was unable to stop Assyria, when the people turned to God in prayer, Yahweh, be gracious to us, the all-powerful God of Israel promises to stop the Assyrians, telling them, When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed.
Isaiah 33:3 At the noise of the thunder, the peoples have fled.
When you lift yourself up, the nations are scattered.
4 Your plunder will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers.
Men will leap on it as locusts leap.
5 Yahweh is exalted, for he dwells on high.
He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
6 There will be stability in your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.
The fear of Yahweh is your treasure.
7 Behold, their valiant ones cry outside;
the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.
8 The highways are desolate.
The traveling man ceases.
The Covenant is broken.
He has despised the cities.
He doesn’t respect man.
9 The land mourns and languishes.
Lebanon is confounded and withers away.
Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.
When the sure judgment of Yahweh arrives like the noise of the thunder…the nations are scattered. Though like Israel, we are slow to recognize and realize, God is with us all the time. Why do we insist on fleeing elsewhere for protection and rescue? God will provide stability in your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of Yahweh is your treasure.
Isaiah 33:10 “Now I will arise,” says Yahweh.
“Now I will lift myself up.
Now I will be exalted.
11 You will conceive chaff.
You will give birth to stubble.
Your breath is a fire that will devour you.
12 The peoples will be like the burning of lime,
like thorns that are cut down and burned in the fire.
13 Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
and, you who are near, acknowledge my might.”
14 The sinners in Zion are afraid.
Trembling has seized the godless ones.
Who among us can live with the devouring fire?
Who among us can live with everlasting burning?
15 He who walks righteously
and speaks blamelessly,
he who despises the gain of oppressions,
who gestures with his hands, refusing to take a bribe,
who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed,
and shuts his eyes from looking at evil—
16 he will dwell on high.
His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks.
His bread will be supplied.
His waters will be sure.
17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty.
They will see a distant land.
18 Your heart will meditate on the terror.
Where is he who counted?
Where is he who weighed?
Where is he who counted the towers?
19 You will no longer see the fierce people,
a people of a deep speech that you can’t comprehend,
with a strange language that you can’t understand.
When Yahweh arises…the sinners in Zion are afraid.
Why are the sinners afraid?
Trembling has seized the godless ones.
Who among us can live with the devouring fire?
Who among us can live with everlasting burning?
On the other hand, when Yahweh arises…he who walks righteously…will dwell on high.
What does it mean to walk righteously?
Isaiah 33:20 Look at Zion, the city of our appointed festivals.
Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation,
a tent that won’t be removed.
Its stakes will never be plucked up,
nor will any of its cords be broken.
21 But there Yahweh will be with us in majesty,
a place of wide rivers and streams,
in which no galley with oars will go,
neither will any gallant ship pass by there.
22 For Yahweh is our judge.
Yahweh is our Lawgiver.
Yahweh is our king.
He will save us.
23 Your rigging is untied.
They couldn’t strengthen the foot of their mast.
They couldn’t spread the sail.
Then the prey of a great plunder was divided.
The lame took the prey.
24 The inhabitant won’t say, “I am sick.”
The people who dwell therein will be forgiven their iniquity.
The righteous, those who speak blamelessly… will experience Zion, the city of our appointed festivals. Yahweh will be the king and his Law will be valued and followed. Those who dwell in Zion will be forgiven their iniquity.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:3-4
Isaiah 34:1 Come near, you nations, to hear!
Listen, you peoples.
Let the earth and all it contains hear,
the world, and everything that comes from it.
Next God implores the nations of the world to learn from the lesson that he has taught Israel. Why?
Isaiah 34:2 For Yahweh is enraged against all the nations,
and angry with all their armies.
He has utterly destroyed them.
He has given them over for slaughter.
3 Their slain will also be cast out,
and the stench of their dead bodies will come up.
The mountains will melt in their blood.
4 All of the army of the sky will be dissolved.
The sky will be rolled up like a scroll,
and all its armies will fade away,
as a leaf fades from off a vine or a fig tree.
5 For my sword has drunk its fill in the sky.
Behold, it will come down on Edom,
and on the people of my curse, for judgment.
6 Yahweh’s sword is filled with blood.
It is covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat of the kidneys of rams;
for Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 The wild oxen will come down with them,
and the young bulls with the mighty bulls;
and their land will be drunken with blood,
and their dust made greasy with fat.
8 For Yahweh has a day of vengeance,
a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
9 Its streams will be turned into pitch,
its dust into sulfur,
and its land will become burning pitch.
10 It won’t be quenched night or day.
Its smoke will go up forever.
From generation to generation, it will lie waste.
No one will pass through it forever and ever.
11 But the pelican and the porcupine will possess it.
The owl and the raven will dwell in it.
He will stretch the line of confusion over it,
and the plumb line of emptiness.
12 They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there;
and all its princes shall be nothing.
13 Thorns will come up in its palaces,
nettles and thistles in its fortresses;
and it will be a habitation of jackals,
a court for ostriches.
14 The wild animals of the desert will meet with the wolves,
and the wild goat will cry to his fellow.
Yes, the night creatures shall settle there,
and shall find herself a place of rest.
15 The arrow snake will make her nest there,
and lay, hatch, and gather under her shade.
Yes, the kites will be gathered there, every one with her mate.
16 Search in the book of Yahweh, and read:
not one of these will fail.
None will lack her mate.
For my mouth has commanded,
and his Spirit has gathered them.
17 He has cast the lot for them,
and his hand has divided it to them with a measuring line.
They shall possess it forever.
From generation to generation they will dwell in it.
Why does Yahweh implore the nations to hear?
Yahweh is enraged against all the nations…Yahweh has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
If the nations will not listen now before God’s sure judgment is carried out God instructs Isaiah to write it all down so that after the judgment is complete the people can go back and see that everything happened just as predicted. Search the book of Yahweh, and read: not one of these will fail.
After judgment, in Isaiah 35 there is promised restoration.
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11
Isaiah 35:1 The wilderness and the dry land will be glad.
The desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.
2 It will blossom abundantly,
and rejoice even with joy and singing.
Lebanon’s glory will be given to it,
the excellence of Carmel and Sharon.
They will see Yahweh’s glory,
the excellence of our God.
3 Strengthen the weak hands,
and make the feeble knees firm.
4 Tell those who have a fearful heart, “Be strong!
Don’t be afraid!
Behold, your God will come with vengeance, God’s retribution.
He will come and save you. (Matthew 1:21)
5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,
and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
6 Then the lame man will leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute will sing;
for waters will break out in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert. (Matthew 11:2-6)
7 The burning sand will become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water.
Grass with reeds and rushes will be in the habitation of jackals, where they lay.
8 A highway will be there, a road,
and it will be called “The Holy Way”.
The unclean shall not pass over it,
but it will be for those who walk in the Way.
Wicked fools shall not go there.
9 No lion will be there,
nor will any ravenous animal go up on it.
They will not be found there;
but the redeemed will walk there.
10 Then Yahweh’s ransomed ones will return,
and come with singing to Zion;
and everlasting joy will be on their heads.
They will obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
After judging the nations God promises a time of beautiful restoration. The wastelands will bloom. The weak and fearful will be strengthened. The sick will be healed. They will have a beautiful new future. A highway will be there called “The Holy Way”. Yahweh’s ransomed ones will return, and come with singing to Zion; everlasting joy will be on their heads.
This restoration is promised for ancient Israel. They will be released from captivity and return to Zion. But this promise also looks forward to a greater restoration when the Messiah comes into the world offering salvation to all the nations.
You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a New Covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Hebrews 12:22-24
In a moment of doubt, after he had been thrown in prison, John the Baptist sent his disciples to Jesus with a question.
“Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” 4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Matthew 11:2-5
Jesus responded by quoting Isaiah 35:5-6, “The eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.”
The next three chapters, Isaiah 36, 37 & 38, describe Yahweh’s response to the Assyrian threat. These events are also recorded in 2 Kings 18:13-27 and 2 Chronicles 32:1-19.
Isaiah 36:1 Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all of the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2 The king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. He stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool in the fuller’s field highway. 3 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph the recorder came out to him.
By now the Assyrian army had come down from the north and along the way had conquered Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel just as Isaiah had prophesied. Isaiah8:3-4 Heading south the Assyrian army attacked the fortified cities of Judah again, just as Isaiah had prophesied. Isaiah 7:16-17 Before beginning a siege of Jerusalem the commander of the Assyrian army, Rabshakeh, presents Hezekiah terms of surrender. Rabshakeh points out that even Israel’s alliance with Egypt cannot save Jerusalem.
Isaiah 36:4 Rabshakeh said to them, “Now tell Hezekiah, ‘The great king, the king of Assyria, says, “What confidence is this in which you trust? 5 I say that your counsel and strength for the war are only vain words. Now in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6 Behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even in Egypt, which if a man leans on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7 But if you tell me, ‘We trust in Yahweh our God,’ isn’t that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’?” 8 Now therefore, please make a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 Have I come up now without Yahweh against this land to destroy it? Yahweh said to me, “Go up against this land, and destroy it.”’”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don’t speak to us in the Jews’ language in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”
12 But Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you, to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?” 13 Then Rabshakeh stood, and called out with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 The king says, ‘Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you. 15 Don’t let Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, “Yahweh will surely deliver us. This city won’t be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”’ 16 Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for the king of Assyria says, ‘Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and each of you eat from his vine, and each one from his fig tree, and each one of you drink the waters of his own cistern; 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, “Yahweh will deliver us.” Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 20 Who are they among all the gods of these countries that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”
Rabshakeh argues that, as a matter of fact, just as Egypt cannot save Jerusalem neither can Yahweh save Jerusalem. Look at the evidence.
Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, “Yahweh will deliver us.” Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 20 Who are they among all the gods of these countries that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”
In trying to get the people to defect Rabshakeh argues, as the gods of the other nations didn’t save them, neither will Yahweh save Jerusalem. He thinks Yahweh is just another powerless god.
Isaiah 36:21 But they remained silent, and said nothing in reply, for the king’s commandment was, “Don’t answer him.”
22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
37:1 When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into Yahweh’s house. 2 He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Hezekiah says, ‘Today is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to give birth. 4 It may be Yahweh your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’”
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘Yahweh says, “Don’t be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”’”
8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish. 9 He heard news concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come out to fight against you.” When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem won’t be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?’”
Fearing annihilation Hezekiah went up to Yahweh’s house…and prayed.
Isaiah 37:14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to Yahweh’s house, and spread it before Yahweh. 15 Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh, saying, 16 “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, who is enthroned among the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17 Turn your ear, Yahweh, and hear. Open your eyes, Yahweh, and behold. Hear all of the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to defy the living God. 18 Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the countries and their land, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them. 20 Now therefore, Yahweh our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are Yahweh, even you only.”
Yahweh heard Hezekiah’s prayer and sent Isaiah with an answer. The king of Assyria will not harm Jerusalem because Yahweh himself will defend the city.
Isaiah 37:21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Yahweh, the God of Israel says, ‘Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word which Yahweh has spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you. 23 Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel. 24 By your servants, you have defied the Lord, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees. I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field. 25 I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt.”
26 “‘Have you not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities, turning them into ruinous heaps. 27 Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like a field before its crop has grown. 28 But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against me. 29 Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.
30 “‘This shall be the sign to you: You will eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from it; and in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 The remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. 32 For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and survivors will escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.’
33 “Therefore Yahweh says concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither will he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. 34 He will return the way that he came, and he won’t come to this city,’ says Yahweh. 35 ‘For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.’”
God really does answer prayer. So that Hezekiah and the people could be at ease as Assyria’s army was gathering Yahweh gave them sign, a promise. Instead of enduring a brutal siege the people would have plenty of food for two years until the crops again begin producing in abundance.
Isaiah 37:36 Then Yahweh’s angel went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, went away, returned to Nineveh, and stayed there. 38 As he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.
How could Yahweh defeat the entire Assyrian army when all of the gods of the other nations failed?
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For the gods of the nations are idols, but it is the Lord who made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty fill his sanctuary. Psalm 96:4-6
When unbelievers mock you and mock the God you serve do not retreat or cower. Great is the Lord. He is to be feared above all gods.
Isaiah 38:1 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Set your house in order, for you will die, and not live.’”
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh, 3 and said, “Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” Then Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 Then Yahweh’s word came to Isaiah, saying, 5 “Go, and tell Hezekiah, ‘Yahweh, the God of David your father, says, “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. 6 I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city. 7 This shall be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this thing that he has spoken. 8 Behold, I will cause the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down on the sundial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps.”’” So the sun returned ten steps on the sundial on which it had gone down.
As if things weren’t bad enough Hezekiah became deathly ill and Isaiah told him, set your house in order, for you will die. This is not a message that you would like to receive from a prophet of Yahweh. But Hezekiah, having already learned that he could go to God in prayer, even in the worst of circumstances, went to God in fervent prayer. In response to his prayer God extended Hezekiah’s life by fifteen years and confirmed his healing with a miraculous sign.
In response to God Hezekiah wrote the following prayer and praise.
Isaiah 38:9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered of his sickness:
10 I said, “In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol.
I am deprived of the residue of my years.”
11 I said, “I won’t see Yah,
Yah in the land of the living.
I will see man no more with the inhabitants of the world.
12 My dwelling is removed,
and is carried away from me like a shepherd’s tent.
I have rolled up my life like a weaver.
He will cut me off from the loom.
From day even to night you will make an end of me.
13 I waited patiently until morning.
He breaks all my bones like a lion.
From day even to night you will make an end of me.
14 I chattered like a swallow or a crane.
I moaned like a dove.
My eyes weaken looking upward.
Lord, I am oppressed.
Be my security.”
15 What will I say?
He has both spoken to me, and himself has done it.
I will walk carefully all my years because of the anguish of my soul.
16 Lord, men live by these things;
and my spirit finds life in all of them.
You restore me, and cause me to live.
17 Behold, for peace I had great anguish,
but you have in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption;
for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
18 For Sheol can’t praise you.
Death can’t celebrate you.
Those who go down into the pit can’t hope for your truth.
19 The living, the living, he shall praise you, as I do today.
The father shall make known your truth to the children.
20 Yahweh will save me.
Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life in Yahweh’s house.
As an Old Covenant believer Hezekiah did not have the fuller understanding of the afterlife that Christ has revealed to the New Covenant believers. Hezekiah speaks of Sheol as that place of the dead, but heaven
…has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, [who] has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 2 Timothy 1:10
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Revelation 14:13
Isaiah 38:21 Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a poultice on the boil, and he shall recover.” 22 Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I will go up to Yahweh’s house?”
Because the Levitical Laws forbade any illness to enter into Yahweh’s house, Hezekiah was concerned. He wanted to go to the temple to worship. Isaiah made a poultice so that Hezekiah could recover from a boil he had contracted.
Do you sing [the] songs of Yahweh, the Psalms that he has given his people, all the days of [your] life in Yahweh’s house?