Passage: Isaiah 37:21-25Sennacherib’s Fall.
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,
22 this is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him:
"'She despises you, she scorns you —
the virgin daughter of Zion;
she wags her head behind you —
the daughter of Jerusalem.
23 "'Whom have you mocked and reviled?
23 "'Whom have you mocked and reviled?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes to the heights?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24 By your servants you have mocked the Lord,
and you have said, With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon, to cut down its tallest cedars,
its choicest cypresses,to come to its remotest height,
its most fruitful forest.
25 I dug wells
and drank waters,
to dry up with the sole of my foot
all the streams of Egypt.
Journal: The humble prayer of King Hezekiah, his prayer of adoration and petition, was immediately answered by his intentional and sovereign God. God answered the prayer through His prophet Isaiah, the earthly advocate and faithful proclaimer of His word. The answer was an answer that reminds of how God "laughs" when the nations "rage." The answer was directed at the pride of Assyria and the haughtiness of Sennacherib.
Jerusalem is described as a "virgin," for she had not been "violated" since the days of King David. ["She despises you, she scorns you — the virgin daughter of Zion; she wags her head behind you — the daughter of Jerusalem."] Sennacherib had military success previously for only one reason - God had allowed it. Recall that Isaiah had previously penned that Assyria was a "club in God's hand" to chasten His people. [Isaiah 10:5-19]
The imagery Paul used in Romans when discussing the sovereignty of God also comes to mind. [Romans 9:20-23 -- "But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?" Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory . . ."] The stormy boasts of King Sennacherib, the most powerful man of his day, seem ludicrous as we consider the calm advancement of the kingdom of God.
Heard 'Round the House:
What was heard was a crash and the shattering of glass about 6 am yesterday morning. I walked all around the house and could not find what had broken. It was still a mystery when I left for work. Later in the morning, Jill called to explain the mystery. The light covering in our shower, which had behaved quite well for six years, decided to fall to the ground. The ceiling above the shower is a ten foot ceiling, and therefore it was quite the mess. The funny thing is that I had been in that shower about 5 minutes earlier. That would have been quite the wake up call as I did my lather, rinse, duck, wake up on the floor with a bar of soap in my mouth, repeat . . .
