Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+036

 

Chapter 36 (ESV)

¹³ Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! ¹⁴ Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. ¹⁵ Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹⁶ Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, ¹⁷ until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. ¹⁸ Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of 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 out of my hand? ²⁰ Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

²¹ But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” ²² Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Sennacherib’s field commander called for Jerusalem’s surrender. He repeatedly challenged Hezekiah: did they depend on Egypt? or on God?  None of the gods of other peoples were able to protect their lands against Assyria’s military might.
2. The Assyrian commander scoffs Judah’s God. God may exist somewhere, he may be important to us.  But he is irrelevant now, for he is powerless to act.  He continued to taunt them, “On what are you basing this confidence of yours?”  As events unfolded, it became clear that Isaiah’s and King Hezekiah’s confidence was rightly placed – in God.  There are no circumstances we can imagine which can limit God’s power to save.
3. Have you been taunted by others because of your faith? Or have you ever felt that God was not relevant in your situation?  Recall the circumstances, your response and feelings.  Continue to converse with God.  Ask for strengthened faith and whatever the situation there is “no turning back”.

 

PRAYER:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

 

HYMN:

Sovereign – youtu.be/JMTG13qVY3g