The Invasion Isaiah 8

UIsaiah 8:7 "Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory; and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks; v8 And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel." See also Matthew 1:23

This is a continuation of chapter 7 which was headed up as during the reign of Ahaz.

II Kings 16:10 "And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus; and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the patter of it, according to all the workmanship thereof."

Uzziah is now dead. He was a good king. Now we have a bad king and those prophecies about the destruction because of idol worship and other sins is coming to pass.

Isaiah had a child and it was said that before the child could ask for his father or mother, these things would come to pass.

v3 "And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son, Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Mahershalalhasbaz." which means 'hasting in the spoil.

v4 "For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria."

See Kings for the details of the invasion.

The Sign Isaiah 7

Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." See also Matthew 1:23 Luke 1:35

These words were spoken in the days of Ahaz the king of Judah. He was ganged up on, on all sides. Even Israel was against Judah. It is in this conversation that the great prophecy shown above was given. Of course, it was not subscribed to the future by these men for they did not know the mystery that was to come to pass.

Judah was defended with these words by the Lord.

v4 "And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah."

v7 "Thus saith the Lord God, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass."

The rest of the chapter is notable for this phrase "And it shall come to pass..." or similar phrases. Chapter 8 gives us the birth of a child to Isaiah which clouds the prophecy of verse 14 in this chapter but the prophecy stands.

This would be a good place to go back to the records of the kings and check me out. Doctor Vernon McGee was an excellent Bible teacher and you can see his Isaiah study here.

Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding."

Hezekiah Part 1 II Chronicles 29

II Chronicles 29:1 "Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. V2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done."

We will notice first that Hezekiah is the son of a very bad king named Ahaz. Next we see that his mother is mentioned, her name was Abijah. It is the grace of God that Hezekiah was such a good king after the example he had but his mother must have surely taught him for many years before he was king.

A lot is written about Hezekiah and it takes several chapters to tell his story. So much so that some have mistakenly said that there is a book of the Bible called Hezekiah. Indeed more is written of him by the prophet Isaiah as noted in chapter 32 verse 32. See Isaiah chapters 36-39.

v3 "He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them."

The Levites are called in to prepare themselves to do service in the house of the LORD. Hezekiah recounts the wrongs that have been done and encourages them to do the work.

v15 "And they gathered their brethren and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD."

It took them eight days to sanctify the house of the LORD. v17 They went to work on the vessels and got everything in order.

v20 "Then Hezekiah the king, rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the LORD.

So the brought sacrifices and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They brought forth goats for the sin offering and made reconciliation with their blood on the altar. v23-24. All Israel was included in these offerings. v24. It was Hezekiah's intention to bring all Israel together at the house of the LORD.

With the house of the LORD prepared, they began the worship service.

v28 "And all the congregation worshipped and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished."

Much was done that day. They sang the songs of David and Asaph and offered the offerings as in Leviticus 7:12, the thank offerings.

v35b "...So the service of the house of the LORD was set in order."

v36 "And Hezekiah rejoiced and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly."

So, Hezekiah started to rebuild Judah and reached out to Israel by first getting the house of the LORD in order and the hearts of the people turned toward God again. The faith of the people was centered on the house of the LORD and when it was in disarray so was their faith.

Next we continue with Hezekiah in chapter 30. What did he do next?

Psalm 34:11 "Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

Hezekiah, a good king of Judah, starts to rebuild.

Advertisement: Preserved Intellect, a fiction tale by the writer.

Ahaz II Chronicles 28

II Chronicles 28:1 "Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he DID NOT that which was right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father; v2 For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim."

Ahaz reigned between the times of two good kings. His father Jotham did pretty well but was hampered by the legacy of his father who was a bad king. Following Ahaz is Hezekiah who is a very good king of Judah.

Ahaz reigned sixteen years and crammed a lot of wrong doing into those sixteen years. He immediately turned to worshipping idols. He dishonored the house of the LORD and even went so far as to burn his children.

v3 "Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel."

He further brought back the high places and spread them as far as he could.

v4 "He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree."

It is as if he was daring God to do something about it. He was delivered into the hands of the Syrians and others went about Judah slaying the people. Even Israel carried people away to make them servants or slaves. A group of the leaders of Israel arose to stop this though. They said we have sinned enough without this.

v13 "And said unto them, Ye shall not bring in the captives hither; for whereas we have offended against the LORD already, ye intend to add more to our sins and to our trespass; for our trespass is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel."

The people held captive were freed. They were given clothing, food and drink and returned as far as Jericho.

Ahaz tried to buy some help but after taking his the money he stole from the house of the LORD they did not help him. v21

Ahaz did not repent and was buried in Jerusalem instead of with the kings.

v24 "And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem."

I know that must have been a terrible sixteen years for Judah but they survived and a new king, actually the son of Ahaz, came to power and tried his best to turn the people back to God. We should note that his mother was not mentioned.

Psalm 4:3 "But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself; the LORD will hear when I call unto him."

Ahaz, a bad king who turned to idols.

-----------------------------
Advertisement: Mother's Coat

Jotham II Chronicles 27

II Chronicles 27:1 "Jotham was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok."

Jotham had been doing the kings business already in the king's house because his father had gotten leprosy and moved out into other residence.

Jotham was a good king but never went into the temple, I expect because of what happened to his father.

v2 "And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah did: howbeit he entered not into the temple of the LORD. And the people did yet corruptly."

Jotham, too, was a builder and a warrior and was successful in both. He fought the king of the Ammonites and took tribute from them.

v6 "So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God."

He reigned 16 years. Ahaz, his son, took over then.

Psalm 95:3 "For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

Jotham reigns as king.