Please Read: Chapter 16 The Beginning of the End, The Fall of Israel, 2 Kings
17-19, Isaiah 3, 6, 13-14, 49, 53
Timeless Truth: God deals with disobedience, but His compassion never ends.
For 209 years, the
northern kingdom of Israel had endured one evil king after another. Their failure to keep God’s covenant meant
they would be expelled from the covenant.
They had been chosen to be a blessing to all other nations, but now they
would be delivered over to those very nations.
Shalmaneser, King
of Assyria, set up a puppet government for the northern tribes of Israel and
appointed Hoshea as king. Hoshea was as defiant of Shalmaneser as he was of
God, the true King of Israel. He stopped
paying tribute and as a result, the Assyrian army destroyed the capital city of
Samaria and captured Hoshea. The king,
along with many of his fellow Israelites, was deported by Shalmeneser’s
successor, Sargon II. By resettling
them throughout Assyria, God was settling His own accounts. Idolatry, disobedience and stubbornness
provoked God’s anger, and led him to expel the northern kingdom from His land.
Meanwhile, just to
the south in the kingdom of Judah, godly King Hezekiah was nervously watching
these world-shaking events on his northern border. Hezekiah stands out from all of the other
kings of Judah for his efforts to remove every vestige of idolatry in the
land. He rebelled against the new
Assyrian king Sennacherib. The Assyrians
sent envoys, claiming that they wanted to negotiate a peaceful surrender with
Hezekiah in Jerusalem. Their reasoning
was faultless: What other nation had been able to stand against the Assyrian
might? Had not God Himself commissioned
them for this task? Sennacherib’s
commander appealed directly to the populace of Jerusalem, speaking to them in
Hebrew.
King Hezekiah
trusted in the LORD and prayed for deliverance.
The prophet Isaiah promised that God would deliver them. What faith it must have taken to trust the
prophet’s prediction! The angel of the
LORD swept through the Assyrians army as they slept. The next morning Sennacherib’s camp was
littered with 185,000 dead Assyrian soldiers.
The army retreated, and Judah was saved.
Isaiah had been
called to be a prophet during the last year of King Uzziah’s life. In a majestic vision of the LORD, he was
commissioned to speak for God to turn the people of Judah away from sin and
toward their God. He warned that Judah
was walking in her sister Israel’s footsteps, and therefore would reap similar
judgment. Unfortunately, he seldom found
a listening audience.
The threat of
foreign exile failed to curb the widespread social injustice, moral decay and
religious apostasy. Judah’s pride would
be her downfall; God loved His people too much to allow their sin to go
unchecked. And although He warned of
judgment, He also promised a future restoration. When Israel perceived herself as forsaken and
forgotten, her compassionate God would fully restore her. The whole world would know that the LORD is
their Savior and Redeemer.
What a comfort
Isaiah’s prophecies must have been to the faithful remnant of Judah: God’s Upper Story of redemption would triumph
over the sin of His people. Even the
godliest of kings could not overcome the sin nature of mankind. In his most memorable passage, Isaiah
described a Suffering Servant, who took on was “pierced for our
transgressions.” Looking down from the
Upper Story, we can see that this was a description of the true King, who would
suffer for all mankind.
Questions: Can you think of a time when you suffered an unjust punishment or
consequence? What about a time when you
deserved a consequence for your actions but were “let off the hook”?
- Why did God send the northern kingdom into captivity? (See 2 Kings. 17:7-17 for more details.) Compare God’s actions against Israel to Moses’ warning in Deut. 28:45-50 and 30:1-5. What do you discover?
- God frequently reminded Israel of examples of his faithfulness, such as their deliverance from Egypt (p.181). What past experiences have you had that remind you of God’s faithfulness? (See Rom. 8:31)
- How have you seen people respond when they receive just consequences for sinful actions? How should a Christian respond to the consequences of sin and the discipline of God?
- King Sennacherib of Assyria sent his envoy to Jerusalem to persuade King Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem to surrender peacefully, claiming he came on the LORD’s orders (p. 183). Isaiah’s message to Hezekiah said otherwise. How do you evaluate people who claim to have a word from the LORD?
- What is King Hezekiah’s view of YHWH the God of Israel (p. 184)? What is the result of a correct understanding of God?
- What about the vision of God in the temple made Isaiah realize that he was a sinner? Compare Isaiah’s response with Peter in Luke 5:8 and John in Rev. 1:17. What are the implications?
- According to Isaiah’s prophecy (p. 186-187), what was the southern kingdom of Judah like? What did he say that God would do as a result?
- Isaiah’s prophecy predicted punishment and captivity for Judah as well as return and restoration. (p. 188,189) How did Zion (Jerusalem and Judah) react to this message?
- List the qualities of the Suffering Servant (pp. 189,190). (See Matt. 8:16-17, 26:63-67; 1 Pet. 2:22-25; Rom. 5:19; Lk. 22:37 for further insights.) What does this teach us about God’s Upper Story?
