Second Quarter 2004 Adult Sabbath School Lessons:
Isaiah "Comfort My People"

Insights to Lesson 7
Defeat of the Assyrians
May 8-14

(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)

Key Text: Isaiah 36-39

The passage for our study this week prompts us to remember the history of how Israel has responded to both political and spiritual crises. The messages of the Assyrian king through Rabshakeh, the temptations those threats meant to Israel, and Hezekiah’s initial faith victory but subsequent fall due to flattery, provide a unique insight into the work of character building. More importantly, we are able to see the work of redemption from past mistakes that are basic to the cleansing of the sanctuary.

As is usually the case, small, seemingly insignificant details signal God’s work among His people. When Sennacherib sends Rabshakeh to Judah it is (about 135 years) after Jonah preached repentance in the Assyrian capital. (Think of the possibilities that could have been if the nation had not forsaken their faith in God’s power to redeem.) Clearly Assyria has returned to its arrogance and reputation for bullying other peoples. Note however, the simple mention of where the commander began his tirade to discourage Jerusalem is the exact place where God sent Isaiah to tell King Ahaz (Hezekiah’s father) of the sign of the virgin who would bear a son named Immanuel (God with us!). Coincidence? I doubt it. Did King Hezekiah catch the Divine hint and promise of salvation his father refused?

The Assyrian commander’s attitude and message sound like an echo of Goliath as he defied armies of the Lord. The difference here is how accurate the assault is upon those sources of confidence that Israel has relied on in the past. See how many examples you can remember for each point.

1. Military strength (36:5): How many times had Israel acted as if they could solve their own problems?

2. Political Alliances (36:6): How often had Israel attempted to unite with other nations only to realize they had lost far more than they had gained in the process.

3. “We are depending on the Lord our God” (36:14). The nation has been on a roller coaster ride up and down in their fickleness in serving God. How can they have the confidence now that God is with them?

4. “Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you” (36:14): Now that there is a king who is really committed to the Lord’s ways, the people are tempted that he might actually be leading them into trouble like so many other leaders before him.

How is Israel to have a chance when they look back over their past and see their failures and broken promises? Despite Rabshakeh’s calculated attempt to discourage the people standing on the wall, the people respond by following the king’s instruction to be silent. What motivates the people’s obedience here? Is it the faith of the king that gives the people courage to stand? Are they encouraged by the way Hezekiah approaches this challenge to his faith that exudes his confidence in God? Whatever the cause, the results are quite amazing. Israel submits their will to God and He does not disappoint. Surely Heaven was cheering loudly over this victory!

The final story in this section contains a warning for us all. Hezekiah’s strong faith in the Lord in a crisis is encouraging but when a superpower with real influence like Babylon acknowledges this little nation, the king does not grasp the danger.

Looking carefully at the chronology, we see that Hezekiah was 39 years old when he became sick. This would place this incident during the Assyrian invasion of Sennacherib. His illness brings to his mind all that he could have done to serve the Lord. Chapter 38:10-20 describes his feelings of despair. When Isaiah comes to him with the Lord’s willingness to extend his life, it would have been during the assault on Jerusalem. In those 15 years following, Hezekiah was not only going to expose the nation to the threat of invasion from the Babylonians, but also father Manasseh who would become the worst king Israel ever had.

Babylon had heard of Hezekiah’s illness and miraculous recovery. It is not hard to think that the apparent shift in the earth’s rotation, which probably caused the sun to reverse 10 degrees, was detected by the astronomers of Babylon. They wanted to know the connection between the natural phenomenon and the God of Israel.

When the envoys come to visit Jerusalem, Hezekiah shows God’s blessings instead of proclaiming the unique character of the Lord who gives blessings. What reasons could he have had to do such a thing? What is so bad about showing people what God had provided for them?

The lesson here is, I believe, critical. Hezekiah had been told by Isaiah about Babylon’s threat, still he shows the ambassadors all of Israel’s riches. Ray Stedman describes Isaiah’s visit to Hezekiah this way:

“The old prophet says to the king, ‘I see you have had visitors. Who were these men?’ ‘Oh,’ replies Hezekiah, ‘they are ambassadors from Babylon, the great power to the east. This superpower has recognized our tiny kingdom, and that makes me feel proud and honored.’ Doubtless he had shown the letter to his wife, exclaiming, ‘Look, dear, the king of Babylon has now taken note of us.’ Asked by Isaiah what he had shown these ambassadors, Hezekiah replied, ‘I showed them everything we’ve got—all our treasures, all our defenses, everything.’”

We often do not recognize our inner agendas. We understand the enemy when the culprit is someone else, but when it is us we tend to be blinded. Hezekiah “got to first base” when he submitted the battle to the Lord. Yet when faced with the battle himself, Hezekiah struggled. He needed the eye salve of the Holy Spirit to see himself as Heaven does. We are no different. For the mystery of godliness to be finished, self must be conquered.

The work for this time of cleansing the heavenly sanctuary includes bringing to light things we might be unaware of in our characters. God has always given His people ample light to see their defects and His remedy. This was and still is the purpose of the message given in 1888.

“Since the time of the Minneapolis meeting, I have seen the state of the Laodicean church as never before. I have heard the rebuke of God spoken to those who feel so well satisfied, who know not their spiritual destitution. … Like the Jews, many have closed their eyes lest they should see” (Review and Herald, Aug. 26, 1890).

“If the Lord has brought up sins to us that we never thought of before, that only shows that he is going down to the depths, and he will reach the bottom at last; and when he finds the last thing that is unclean or impure, that is out of harmony with his will, and brings that up, and shows that to us, and we say, ‘I would rather have the Lord than that’—then the work is complete, and the seal of the living God can be fixed upon that character. … Let him go on, brethren; let him keep on his searching work” (A.T. Jones, General Conference Bulletin, 1893, p. 404).

—Robert Van Ornam

Read the study notes for Lesson 8