Isaiah 38-39 "The Coming of Babylon"

"At that time"

Or around that time-because this happened prior to the events of chapters 36-37.

The invasion of Sennacherib and the destruction of the Assyrian army

recounted in 36-37 can be clearly dated to 701 B.C.

Merodach-Baladan of Babylon mounted his attack on Assyria in 705-703,

and in 702 he was looking for western allies against Assyria.

Indeed, Sennacherib's invasion was in part retaliation for Hezekiah's

dabbling with the Babylonian rebels.

But Isaiah switches the stories around,

telling us of the Assyrian attack first,

and then telling us about the Babylonian envoy.

The stories are told in the same order in 2 Kings18-20,

suggesting that Isaiah's order had become canonical by the time of the exile.

Why does Isaiah do this?

Chapters 36-37 conclude the first section of his prophecy.

They neatly deal with the Assyrian threat, leaving no loose ends.

But history always has loose ends.

While Assyria will no longer trouble Judah,

a new power is rising in the east.

Babylon.

The second half of Isaiah's prophecy will deal with the Babylonian world,

and so Isaiah dischronologizes the coming of the Babylonian envoys

in order to set up his promise of the restoration from exile.

Alec Motyer calls this second part of Isaiah "the book of the Servant."

Just as chapters 1-37 focus on the king-the son of David,

even so chapters 38-55 focus on the Servant of the Lord.

In Kings and Chronicles Hezekiah is portrayed as a faithful king,

a reformer who restored the worship of Yahweh.

Isaiah shows us another side of this king.

This son of David was fickle.

He was self-centered.

He was a lot like us--

too much like us, in fact.

And his failure reminds us that we need a king-we need a son of David-

who will keep his eyes fixed on the glory of God,

and not his own glory.

Last week we saw Hezekiah at his best.

His prayer for deliverance was a model of what prayer should be.

In the midst of trial he desired the glory of the name of Yahweh to be revealed.

But at the beginning of chapter 38, probably around a year or so before the siege of Assyria,

Hezekiah is sick to the point of death.

This is representative of the whole house of David.

Isaiah's ministry began in the year king Uzziah died (chapter 6),

and spoke of the year that king Ahaz died (14:28),

and now it will conclude with the death of Hezekiah.

Thus says Yahweh:

"Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover."

Hezekiah-and the whole house of David-is sick to the point of death.

Hezekiah's father became a vassal of Assyria,

and now Hezekiah is about to pay for his father's sins.

Assyria is coming.

But Hezekiah does not accept the word of the LORD as the final word.

Like Abraham and Moses before him,

he pleads with God to reverse his decision.

And God does.

This must force us to ask a couple of questions:

First, what right does Hezekiah have to say to the Holy One of Israel,

"No, don't do that!"

He is the Meshiach.

He is the anointed one-the son of David-

who rules over all things for the honor of the name of Yahweh.

He has the right to come before the Holy One of Israel and plead his case.

And notice how he does it: (verse 3)

Hezekiah reminds God that he has walked in truth-in faithfulness to God's word.

He has been a faithful king-the best in Judah since the David himself.

He has restored the true worship of Yahweh and has led the people in God's ways.

At least mostly.

And we see in God's response that he is satisfied with Hezekiah.

Identifying himself as "the God of David your father,"

Yahweh declares that he has heard Hezekiah's prayer and seen his tears.

And he promises that he will add fifteen years to Hezekiah's life.

And in giving Hezekiah new life, he will also spare his people, and his city.

(Read v6)

Hezekiah, together with the whole people of Judah, deserves death.

But God will turn back the clock and have mercy on them.

And as a sign of this,

God has the shadow of the sun turn back ten steps on the sundial of Ahaz.

God turns back the clock literally, as a sign of what he will do for Hezekiah.

Second, is this works-righteousness?

Is God rewarding Hezekiah according to his works?

The answer is both no and yes.

It is not works-righteousness, but God is rewarding Hezekiah according to his works.

Both Hezekiah and Jerusalem deserve death and destruction.

That much is already clear from Isaiah 1-37.

So this is plainly an act of grace by which God will deliver his people.

Hezekiah does not attain to righteousness by works.

And yet, Hezekiah is the anointed Son of David.

Inasmuch as he is a type of Christ,

he is called to be the righteous king who leads his people in God's ways.

And so when he does what is good, he brings salvation to his people.

In effect, God is rewarding Hezekiah's righteousness,

even though Hezekiah's righteousness falls far short of God's holy standard.

He graciously rewards him for his works, even as he forgives his sins.

Our confession puts it this way:

The persons of believers being accepted through Christ,

their good works also are accepted in him;

not as though they were in this life wholly unblamable and unreprovable in God's sight;

but that he, looking upon them in his Son,

is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere,

although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections. (16.6)

God accepts and rewards the sincere good works of the believer,

not because we have earned his favor,

but because he has promised that he will do so.

Hezekiah's response, predictably, is one of gratitude.

He had despaired of life.

When God had said, "you shall die,"

Hezekiah declared, "what shall I say?

For he has spoken to me, and he himself has done it."

But now that God has spared his life,

Hezekiah rejoices, admitting that "it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness;

but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction,

for you have cast all my sins behind your back."

All things-whether trials or temptations-

work together for the good of those who love God,

who are called according to his purpose.

And now God has forgiven his sins and rewarded his sincere good works.

Indeed, Hezekiah is a perfect example of what the Confession speaks of,

because Hezekiah's good works are full of imperfections.

No one could ever claim that Hezekiah earned God's grace through his prayer.

But God is merciful and gracious and rewards even our imperfect works.

They do not merit the forgiveness of sins or the gift of eternal life,

but as with Hezekiah, they are rewarded with God's favor and lovingkindness.

For God is true.

That would be another way of translating "faithfulness" in verses 18 and 19.

He is true to his word.

"For Sheol does not thank you; death does not praise you;

those who go down to the pit do not hope for your faithfulness/truth"

Instead, "the living, the living, he thanks you, as I do this day;

the father makes known to the children your faithfulness/truth."

Hezekiah speaks all this as one who is a father to his people.

As the Son of David, he is the king of Israel.

And he makes known to his children-to his people-the faithfulness of God,

through teaching them his songs.

Verse 20 declares (read)

Stephen Pribble has pointed out that this verse

demonstrates that OT Israel sang uninspired hymns in worship.

The term "play my music" is the verbal form of the noun "stringed instruments."

It is found 14 times in the OT, seven times as the title of a psalm.

So Hezekiah is saying that his music would be played at the house of the LORD.

We are never told of any canonical psalms written by Hezekiah,

so it appears that uninspired songs were sung and played in the temple,

with the full endorsement of Isaiah.

The point for us is that we should rejoice and give thanks to God for his salvation.

And it is entirely appropriate that the people of God should write music

that expresses that thanks in every generation.

The canonical psalms should form the foundation of any hymnal,

and then we should add psalms and hymns from every generation,

so that we give thanks with all the saints in heaven and on earth.

I wish we could stop there.

For Hezekiah's sake, I could wish that chapter 39 had never been written.

But for your sakes, I am glad that we may hear of the failure of Hezekiah.

Because we too must learn that the people of God only come to Zion through Babylon.

Because Merodach-Baladan sent envoys with letters to Hezekiah,

congratulating him on his recovery.

And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly,

thinking, perhaps, that Babylon would be a useful ally against Assyria.

Let us not be too harsh with Hezekiah.

Would we have done any better?

Hezekiah might have thought, "well, but God does use means to accomplish his ends;

perhaps Babylon will be God's means for defending us from Assyria!"

Yes, God had warned against foreign alliances,

and perhaps Hezekiah sought to follow the letter of the law-

because it does not say that Hezekiah entered into an alliance with Babylon-

merely that he showed them everything in his storehouses and his whole realm.

He did not violate the letter of the law, perhaps,

but plainly he was attempting to convince Merodach-Baladan

that Judah would be friendly toward any rebellion that Babylon had in mind.

But Isaiah caught wind of the envoys' visit.

And he smelled a rat.

So he went to the king and asked, "What did these men say?

And from where did they come to you?"

And when he learned that they were from Babylon, he asked, "what have they seen?"

Everything.

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah,

(Read 5-7)

All that you fear regarding Assyria is a phantom.

God will strike them down, and he will preserve his city from their attacks.

But Babylon?

Babylon will come and plunder all that "your fathers have stored up till this day."

Even your own sons will serve the king of Babylon as eunuchs.

And Hezekiah-who had grieved when his own death was foretold-

now smiles and says, "The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good."

Hey, there will be peace and security on my watch!

I suppose it depends on your perspective.

Hezekiah feared that Judah would be overthrown in a matter of months,

and here Isaiah has promised him 15 years,

and now says that destruction will not come for at least another generation.

That's good news!

And in a way, it was.

He had grown up hearing Isaiah prophesying the end of the northern kingdom,

and as his teenage years came to an end, he watched Isaiah's word come true.

Now as king, for the last fifteen years, he has heard Isaiah preaching the end of Judah.

God's judgment is coming upon Judah and Jerusalem

for their refusal to walk in his ways.

Isaiah has subtly, carefully, but no less clearly,

condemned his own conduct in foreign affairs.

He knows that God's prophet is not pleased with the Egyptian alliance,

and he has sat through six sermons on the "woes" to those who trust in Egypt,

none of which name him-but all of which speak directly to him.

He fears that he will be the last of the house of David,

and so when he hears that the judgment will not come yet,

he breathes a sigh of relief.

Perhaps he even hopes that this will give his reforms time to work.

Maybe if his sons improve upon his efforts,

maybe God will relent and bring prosperity to Zion.

That is about as charitably as I can read Hezekiah's response.

And it still falls woefully short of the proper response.

What is the proper response?

The proper response is found in Isaiah 40-66.

Notice that Isaiah spends no time calling Judah to repent.

It's too late.

Babylon is coming.

They will finish the job that Assyria started.

They will carry you off to exile.

There is nothing more to be said or done.

Babylon is coming.

So instead, Isaiah turns to preparing Judah and Jerusalem for the restoration.

Many scholars have tried to argue that Isaiah 40-66 was written after the fact,

by some anonymous prophet,

whose work was incorporated into Isaiah in the 5^th or 6^th century.

We'll deal with specific issues as we come to them,

but it renders the book of Isaiah as we have it complete nonsense.

Isaiah 1-37 is a coherent package,

but chapters 36-39 are also a unit.

And the book of Kings is plainly using Isaiah's dischronologization in its account of Hezekiah.

And chapter 39 is used to set up chapters 40-66.