 Yes, we finished the wisdom books yesterday. So today we are starting on the prophetic books. There are actually 17 books of prophecy in the Old Testament and the first five are called the major prophetic books only because they are lengthy. You know there are many many chapters and so they are called major and the rest the 12 remaining are called minor prophetic books. So it does not mean that the major prophetic books are in some way more important than the others. It's just because of the length of the books that the first prophetic books are called major prophetic books and all the other 12 which come after that are smaller. They have very few chapters in them. So they are called the 12 minor prophetic books. So we would be looking at them one after the other. Today we will use the entire class just for Isaiah but next time onwards we would probably have to do two books to be able to finish. So starting off with Isaiah. Isaiah is someone who did his prophesying before the Babylonian captivity. So he was prophesying to the nation of Judah. He was giving them the prophecies of God about how one day Judah will be punished. So those are mainly the prophecies that we see. He also does address even the northern kingdom to some extent and so his ministry begins sometime around 740 BC at the time of Isaiah's death. So that's basically when he begins his ministry, his prophetic ministry and he speaks, he continues his work of prophesying for around 40 to 50 years. So during the reign of Jotam and Ahaz and Hezekiah, he is the one who is doing the prophetic work. So during the reign of these three kings, you have Isaiah having his prophetic ministry. Coming to the genre of this particular book, we have one section which deals with history. That would be chapters 36 to 39 where it talks about the encounter which Hezekiah has with the commander of Sennacherib, the Assyrian king. So that happens in chapters 36 to 39. So that portion is a narrative history. The rest of it is all prophetic oracles. The rest of it is all prophecy and you have one parable also included which actually would be chapter 5. I don't think we'll have time to look at that but then later you can just go to chapter 5 and look at the little parable about the lineard which is mentioned over there. So you have basically three genres being seen in the book of Isaiah. You have narrative history, you have a whole bunch of prophecies and you also have one parable. Who are the key personalities? Obviously, Isaiah is the key personality but then his sons also can be called key personalities because their names are very significant and we will make time and look at that. Coming to the structure of the book, chapters 1 to 39 is generally regarded as one independent section because it mainly talks about the prophecies of judgment which God wishes to convey both to the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. So the first 39 chapters are mainly prophecies of judgment which the Lord is speaking out and we see this during the lifetime of Isaiah while he is still alive. In 722 BC is when God's judgment against the northern kingdom is fulfilled. So Assyria comes in attacks and the people of northern Israel are taken away as captives. So that occurs during the lifetime of Isaiah itself but as for the southern kingdom about 100 years after the death of Isaiah that is when the prophecies of judgment against the southern kingdom they are fulfilled about 100 years after his death. So all the prophecies that God speaks against these two kingdoms the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom all of them come to pass just as God had prophesied. The next major section would be chapters 40 to 55 where it mainly talks about how the people will one day come back from exile. God will have mercy upon them. They will be restored once again. So while the first 39 chapters are condemning the people and warning them of judgment there is more comfort given in the second section which is 40 to 55 where it talks about the return of the people and how they will be restored and there are words of hope spoken over here. The last section would be chapters 56 to 66 where it talks about the kingdom which will come later in the future in the end times when you will have a new heaven and a new earth. So those things are explained in the last portion and what Isaiah is hoping to convey is that even though the nation is going to go through some very very difficult times in the end those who have stood by the Lord those who have remained faithful there will be a great reward for them and as for the ones who have been wicked who have persecuted the nation who have persecuted the people of God there would be a great judgment against them. So it talks about how there would be judgment upon the evil and there would be a reward for those who have remained faithful. So these things are mentioned in the last section 56 to 66. Now coming to the author it's mentioned in many parts of the Old Testament and also in the New Testament that Isaiah is the author of this particular book so there are no doubts about that but generally it is said that chapters 1 to 39 he would have written during the first portion of his ministry where he's giving out all the words of judgment and then later on maybe in the 600s is when he would have written the chapters 40 to 66. So the first section was probably written during the early years of his prophetic ministry but the other chapters chapters 40 to 66 were probably written around 681 BC or so and it's generally believed that based on the way he has written the book of Isaiah the words that he has used his writing style they say that he was most probably a very educated man which means he probably belonged to one of the aristocratic families he was somebody from a rich family from a good background and in fact they say that he probably had connections with the royal court he would have known personally many people who belong to the royal palace the main nobles and aristocrats he probably would have known them personally however he was not very well liked by the people in the royal court because he was always saying that the people of Israel should not make you know partnerships they should not make alliances with other nations they should instead just trust God now this was a very critical time for the southern kingdom and the northern kingdom because around this time when when Isaiah you know started his ministry at that time Assyria had become very very powerful Tiglath Pileser the third was the king and this man was just going from nation to nation you know waging one war after another winning all the wars because he had this really superior army and they were really efficient they had come up with some new battle strategies on how to fight and they were very very violent and had no sense of mercy so they were very powerful and people were very scared of them and so in the entire northeastern region all the nations over there began to form partnerships because the idea is that if Assyria comes and attacks one of them they can all together join their armies and fight back so they all were making political partnerships with one another and here was Isaiah saying no no no don't make a partnership with anyone just trust God if Assyria comes and attacks the Lord will help and this is not something that the royal court was willing to accept they too wanted to make alliances with other nations you know so that they can protect themselves and they did not want to trust in the Lord so as I was not very well liked by those who are in power during this time when Isaiah was having his ministry around that time you also have Hosea, Micah and Nahum also serving as prophets so that's basically the time period during the lifetime of Isaiah you also have Hosea, Micah and Nahum doing their respective ministries another interesting fact about Isaiah is that his wife was also a prophet so both of them had a prophetic ministry both husband and wife had a prophetic ministry and it's also generally believed Jewish tradition generally says that it was Manasseh who cut Isaiah into two pieces because Manasseh was a very violent man he was the one who took many of his children and offered them as human sacrifices to the pagan gods so they say that he was the one who actually cut Isaiah into two pieces now we don't know whether that actually happened or not but at least that's what Jewish tradition says Isaiah is also called the evangelical prophet this New Testament word is used for him is called the evangelical prophet because of the number of messianic prophecies which he gives so a lot of prophecies he gives on the Messiah so these are just some basic facts about Isaiah now one particular issue that we will have to deal with whenever we want to talk about the book of Isaiah is about the authorship there are some people who say no no no Isaiah did not write all of the entire book of Isaiah he only wrote the first section according to them they say he wrote only chapters 1 to 39 the rest of it must have been written by somebody else is something that you will see a lot of scholars saying why do they say that they have a huge problem with two verses because of those two verses they go on and on coming up with a whole bunch of theories about how other people wrote and how the writing style is different in the first portion the writing style is different in the other portion they talk about all kinds of things simply because they find it so difficult to absorb those two basic verses let's actually read them out Isaiah 44 verse 28 if someone could read out for us please Isaiah 44 28 yes so here in this verse God talks about how he is going to use someone named Cyrus as his shepherd to do his purposes okay so is what God says over here and then again in the next verse which is actually chapter 45 verse 1 he again mentions him what does it say over there if someone could read out 45 verse yes so again over here in this verse God very specifically mentions Cyrus by name and he says I am going to anoint this man and use him as my weapon to bring judgment upon a whole bunch of nations so in these two places very specifically God mentions Cyrus by name and the main problem was that when these verses were written out Cyrus had not even been born his parents had not even been born because this happened 200 years later so the scholars say how could Isaiah know 200 years earlier itself that such a man Cyrus will one day come upon the earth and that he will become a great conqueror and he will be able to fight no no no so this portion chapter 40 onwards must have been written by somebody when the people come back from exile when all the exiles return back to Jerusalem Cyrus gives the order saying you can all go back to your nations so at that time when all the people came back to their respective kingdoms at that time somebody must have sat down and written down chapters 40 onwards up to chapter 66 is the theory they come up with because they cannot believe that Isaiah could have given a prophecy about someone who did not even exist and how he could possibly know his name exactly and tell from which nation he is going to be king and all of those details so because chapter 40 onwards it talks about how one day God will bring back his people he will restore the land and all of that so they say how could Isaiah know all of those things that much in advance so just because of that a lot of people they say up to 39 definitely Isaiah wrote it but chapter 40 onwards somebody else must have written it is what they say but then there's a lot of proof in the book of Isaiah itself and in the Bible which disproves this rather silly theory so in fact some people the term they use is Deo Tiro Isaiah the word Deo Tiro basically means second so they say somebody they don't know the name of the person but they say somebody a second person who called himself Isaiah would have written chapters 40 to 55 and maybe because the last portion 56 to 66 is talking about a new theme it's talking about the new heaven and the new earth so maybe a third man a Trito Isaiah must have written that last portion so it's rather sad that scholars who are dealing with the Bible are unable to believe the Bible it kind of makes you wonder what is motivating them and guiding their knowledge they seem to be functioning purely at a human level with absolutely no seeking from the Lord otherwise the Lord would reveal to them that he's quite capable of giving prophecies is quite capable of talking about future events so they have a huge problem accepting that and so sometimes when you're going through the commentaries you'll see this term Deo Tiro Isaiah and Trito Isaiah when you look at those terms you just wave your hand and say these poor people didn't know anything so it is basically Isaiah himself who wrote the entire 66 chapters for example let's look at some evidence if someone could read out Isaiah 62 verse 6 if you notice Isaiah 6 chapter 62 is somewhere at the end of the book of Isaiah so but the author who is writing these words he writes like as if the walls of Jerusalem are nicely standing strong and nothing as bad as ever happened to these walls ok so he says I have posted watchman on your walls Jerusalem but what do we know about from history after they come back when the exiles come back home for 85 years they don't even have guts to rebuild those walls the walls are just sitting over there the entire city is just sitting over there in a broken down condition until Nehemiah comes along and then the walls are rebuilt but here this writer is writing about the walls of Jerusalem like as if they've always been standing so it is very much Isaiah himself who is writing these words even this last portion Isaiah chapter 62 is written by Isaiah talking like as if the walls are still very much up there standing why because it is not some person who came later on who wrote that it is Isaiah himself who wrote even the last portion another piece of evidence that we can look at if someone could read out Zephaniah chapter 2 verse 15 Zephaniah 2 15 so Zephaniah is a prophet who lived during the kingship of Josiah if you remember when we went through the historical books Josiah was one of those very very faithful kings who never strayed away from the Lord and so during his reign Jerusalem was in a very prosperous condition the entire nation was doing really well during his time because that man was really dedicated and committed to the Lord so Zephaniah was prophet during those times and this is what Zephaniah prophesies regarding the future of Jerusalem and he says he is talking like as if Jerusalem is a lady and he says she that is Jerusalem said to herself I am the one and there is none besides me I know I am untouchable nobody can harm me nobody can do anything to me that was the kind of pride which Jerusalem had and he goes on to say what a ruin she has become she has become like a layer for wild beast now once upon a time human beings were living here and now we have wild animals roaming around because the entire city is so broken down so he talks about how one day judgment will come upon Jerusalem and it will be destroyed and when he quotes these words of Jerusalem saying I am the one there is none besides me those the exact wordings which even Isaiah uses when he is giving his prophecy that would be Isaiah chapter 47 verse 10 where he is also giving a word of prophecy and he says you know about Jerusalem he says when you say to yourself I am and there is none besides me so both Zephaniah and Isaiah are talking about the future of Jerusalem and they are using the same wording so if we are going to pretend that Isaiah 47 was written by a different man much later on after the exiles came back you know so should we say that even Zephaniah was also living at that time much later it doesn't make any sense you see when you look at the historical records you know the approximate timeline of each prophet so Zephaniah most definitely was alive during Josiah's time he was not someone who lived much later and he uses a quotation which is taken from Isaiah what will Isaiah has written he is quoting that same wording in his work so all these things were written much before they even went into captivity even before the Babylonians came and captured Judah these things were already written down it was not some stranger who wrote down chapter 40 onwards much later in the future another interesting thing that we see is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls now many of these Dead Sea Scrolls were you know copies of the Old Testament which were hand written and stored in large jars and they were maybe written about 200 to 300 years before the coming of Jesus so about 200 to 300 years before Jesus came someone had very patiently sat down the Qumran community had patiently sat down and written down they had made copies hand written copies of all the scrolls and so when they made a copy of the book of Isaiah also and when you look at that particular scroll they are writing chapter 39 and then once they finish chapter 39 immediately in the next line itself they begin chapter 40 they don't even use a new column to write down chapter 40 because in their mind they are basically writing the writings of one single man there is a continuous piece of work they don't leave any gap between 39 and 40 because you know they who lived about 300 years before the coming of Jesus they were very much aware that one single person had written this whole thing so they don't even leave a gap between 39 and 40 they just write it as one continuous text so it's these modern scholars who are unable to believe that God could know the name of Cyrus and so they are coming up with silly theories which you know don't really deserve much credit another piece of evidence in the New Testament also when John is writing and he mentions Isaiah he takes two portions of Isaiah and he you know talks about it so maybe we can actually just look at this passage John chapter 12 if someone could read out verses 38 to 41 John 12 38 to 41 yeah and then it says in 41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus glory and spoke about him so here if you look at John chapter 12 John mentions Isaiah three times in verse 38 he says this was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet and then verse 39 again he mentions the same thing he says because as Isaiah says elsewhere he doesn't say in verse 39 you know a different Isaiah not the first Isaiah whom I talked about in the earlier verse but a different Isaiah said he doesn't say that he just talking about the same Isaiah and again in verse 41 he says Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus glory that he's talking about one single Isaiah he's not talking about two or three different Isaiah's at all and the interesting thing is that if you look at verse 38 that is taken from the last portion of the book of Isaiah the quotation that he has made over here Lord who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed that is a quotation taken from Isaiah 53 the last portion Isaiah 53 1 but the next portion for this reason they could not believe because as Isaiah says elsewhere so what he says elsewhere that is taken from the beginning of the book of Isaiah Isaiah chapter 6 verses 9 and 10 so he's taking quotations from different portions of Isaiah and he is under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he's completely convinced that one single person has written all of this okay so based on all of this evidence and of course there are many many other you know pieces of evidence but just based on these basic facts we would have to accept that one single Isaiah has written the entire book okay so Isaiah is considered the book of Isaiah is the most quoted book in the New Testament most of the Old Testament quotations that we find it comes from the book of Isaiah and also from Psalms so the most of the quotations we find in the New Testament are basically from Isaiah and Psalms and then chapters 7 to 12 Isaiah 7 to 12 are called by some people as the book of Immanuel because in chapters 7 to 12 you have a series of prophecies about the Messiah so it's called the book of Immanuel Isaiah is also the book in which you have a record of how Lucifer fell down you know he was an angel he turns into the devil his own fault he does that to himself then we have chapter 53 Isaiah 53 which talks about how the suffering servant who will come on behalf of the people he will be punished for hours since so he so that very famous prophecy is found in Isaiah chapter 53 and that according to your textbook it says that as chapter 53 of Isaiah has been quoted 85 times that I don't really know okay it just sounds like a very large number so where are these 85 quotations references found I'm no clue so I don't know I'll just take that with a pinch of salt not very sure it's correct or wrong but maybe it's correct or maybe it could be a printing mistake so I don't know coming to the names of Isaiah's two sons and there's a lot of story behind it okay so we will look at that so I think this is an important section which we would need to know so we are going to be talking about the names of Isaiah's sons but in the process we will also be talking about a lot of historical events which took place and the prophecies which was spoken all of that so I think that will probably take up the rest of our time so when we look at the book of Isaiah and the way it begins right in chapter 1 God begins with a prophecy of judgment he talks about how one day he's going to burn down you know Judah so Isaiah chapter 1 verse 7 if you can if someone could read out yeah so he's talking about very serious judgment which is going to come upon Judah but in the very same chapter if you look around the ending the last few verses there are also words of hope being given for instance we can maybe read out verses 25 and 26 if someone could read out first chapter itself okay so even though God is speaking about very strong punishment which is going to come upon Judah he also offers words of comfort he says a day will come when I will take you through this really terrible time of punishment and then you will be refined all the dirt which is there inside you it will be removed and you will become polished like silver and then I will bring you back to your land you will be restored you will have leaders once again so these are the things that God speaks so even though God speaks judgment he also speaks hope he speaks about restoration in the future which is why God advises instructs Isaiah to name his son Shear Yashu okay so you will actually find that in chapter 7 later on but that is basically the name okay Shear Yashu is a Hebrew term which basically means a remnant shall return the word remnant basically means a small portion of the people so a small portion of the people will return so even as Isaiah goes on speaking one word of judgment after another the people every time they look at that little child growing up they would be reminded yes God's judgment is going to come down upon us but there is also hope because one day a remnant small portion will come back to the land God will build us up once again so even though God is so harsh in the words that he speaks he places this little boy like a kind of example a reminder to the people and so everyone you know someone calls out you know Shear Yashu come come come here come have your dinner all the people will be reminded okay Shear Yashu one day one day God will again bring his people back so it's a very practical very real reminder to all the people and so he names his son Shear Yashu a remnant a small portion of the people will return so around this time in 735 BC you know when this piglet palacer the third is going around fighting wars everywhere and you know defeating the people and taking gold and silver from them as tribute and is doing all of these things you know while he is in that in that mode you have all these nations coming together and forming political alliances to protect themselves so at that time the king of Syria and the king of the northern kingdom they both decide let's come together and form a partnership so that if Assyria attacks us our two armies can come together and we can fight why don't we ask even the southern king Ahas to join us because then three armies can come together and we can fight this Assyrian king so they come to Ahas who is on the throne and they say why don't you join us in this partnership now Ahas is kind of scared to join because Assyria is very powerful and he thinks what if we get defeated then the Assyrian king will be really angry with me and I will really get into trouble so he is not very happy with the idea and he says no no no I think I don't want to join in the partnership so the king of Assyria and the king of Israel get really angry and they say look at this man he is refusing to join us and make a partnership with us let's go attack him let's see what he is going to do two of our armies will go against him let's see what happens to him so Ahas is really scared and terrified at this time and then you have the events of Assyria chapter 7 happening so Assyria is really scared that these two kings are now going to come against him to take revenge and at that time the lord speaks to Assyria and he says take your little boy take Shia Yashub along with you and go and meet Ahas talk to him tell him that this is what God is saying and he says in verse 4 Isaiah chapter 7 verse 4 God says do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood okay God calls these two kings the king of Syria and the king of Israel he says you know don't be worried about them they are like two pieces of wood you know you lit them with fire they burnt for a while now the fire has gone out you just have that you know this red sparks which are still flying but the fire is almost going out you know you notice right you burn a piece of wood and then when the flame goes out for a few minutes it continues to look red and it's glowing nice and bright but it's just a smoldering stub of wood in a few minutes if you watch the red embers will die out and that's it all you have is one burnt up piece of wood so God says these two kings are like that so don't even worry about them don't even be afraid I will be your strength I will protect you and shield you from these two kings is the word of assurance that God gives Ahas and then he goes on to say in verse 8 in 65 years you know Ifrayim which is the northern kingdom will not even be an independent people anymore they will be finished so you don't even have anything to worry about from these two kings is the word which God gives to Ahas you know words of such comfort such encouraging strengthening words and just in case you know Ahas is unable to believe such a beautiful promise Isaiah says you know the Lord is saying ask him for a sign and he will give you a sign that he will do this for you and Ahas says in verse 12 he says I will not ask I will not put the Lord to the test God himself is saying you know ask for a sign and I will give it to you and this man is like trying to sound very very religious and he's saying no no Pa how can I ask how can I test God I will not do that but actually in his heart he's already come up with an idea and this idea is that if this Assyrian king comes and tries to you know attack me I'll give him off all the gold and silver I have then he will leave me alone so he's already come up with a plan inside he doesn't want to trust in God he doesn't want to rely on God and so he says no no no I don't want any sign it's okay it's alright and then the Lord is really angry and this is what Isaiah says in verse 13 he says here now your house of David is it not enough to try the patients of humans will you try the patients of my God also you know so then he says whether you want a sign or not you're going to be given a sign and this is the sign which Isaiah gives and that is when you have verses 14 to 16 being written out if someone could read out Isaiah 7 verses 14 to 16 yes so here God says you know the word used over there for virgin is the Hebrew word Alma so he says Alma basically means you know young lady so the Lord is saying this is the sign which I'm going to give to you a young lady will give birth to a child and that child's name will be Immanuel which basically means God is with us God will be there to protect us to strengthen us we don't have anything to be afraid of so a young lady will give birth to a child and that child's name will be Immanuel now before this child is old enough to understand right and wrong before this child is old enough to even be able to eat curds and honey even before that itself in that brief period of time these two kings will be completely wiped out so you don't have anything to be afraid of okay is the word that God gives now over here it's basically talking about the second child which Isaiah is going to give you know have so the young lady mentioned over here is the prophets wife Isaiah's wife so Isaiah's wife is going to give birth to a child and that child will actually be given the name Immanuel and before that child is old enough you know in their days they would give the mother's milk for about two years three years maybe around the age of two and a half you know they would start giving some curds and some honey to the baby so what here the Lord is saying is that before this little boy is even two years old by that time both of these two kings will be completely destroyed so you don't have anything to worry about no God says he will take care now this particular passage later on when they were you know translating the Hebrew scrolls into the Greek language and when they were translating this particular verse God inspired the translators to use a particular word when they were doing the translation here when you have in your Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14 in the Hebrew word which is used over here it just basically means young woman so Alma can be a young woman who has got married and she has slept with a man or it could refer to a young woman who has never slept with a man it's just it's just talking about the age it's just talking about a young girl a young woman on the other hand when the translation was being done into the Greek and the Greek Septuagint was being created they don't use the just the general word for young woman they specifically use the Greek word Parthenos which literally means a virgin who has never slept with a man and later on when Matthew talks about this verse you know in the New Testament he also uses the same Greek word Parthenos which is which basically means a woman who has never got married so we see that this prophecy which God gives over here to Ahas had two levels the first level of the prophecy would happen in the lifetime of Isaiah itself because the child would be born and then the two kings would be destroyed in 722 BC Assyria would come and you know wipe out this northern Israel and then later on he would go to the king of Aram and the Syrians he would wipe out even the Syrian people all of this will happen even before this little child is two years old but there's another second level layer to this prophecy which they don't realize at that point of time and then later when it is fulfilled in the New Testament Matthew says you know what the prophecy had two layers and the second layer is now fulfilled so it is so interesting the translators could have just simply used any term for young woman but God inspired in such a way that they chose to use a word which would be scientifically ridiculous to use it would have been better for them when they are doing the translation to have said a young lady who will give birth but they chose to use that word virgin and say that the virgin will give birth so God led events in such a way that they did this translation in that particular manner so these events take place you know Isaiah finishes giving the prophecy to Ahas he goes back after he goes back God says to Isaiah you know I wanted to take a large scroll and I wanted to write down in big letters I wanted to write down one particular term on the scroll because this is the prophecy which I am giving and this is the word which God asks him to write down on the scroll that you will find in your Isaiah chapter 8 verse 1 the word is that's the Hebrew word that he says and so Isaiah calls Uraya the prophet he calls Zechariah and in their presence he writes down this particular term on the large scroll what is the meaning of this? it's like God is symbolically trying to convey a message God is saying what is written on this scroll is going to happen the wording basically means this if you were to translate into English it means speed, spoil, hasten plunder those are the four words speed, spoil, hasten, plunder by spoil it means the spoils of war when you go and fight a war with someone and you are able to get their gold you are able to get their cattle those are called the spoils of war the word plunder also means basically the same thing, you are plundering that kingdom and you are taking all of their valuables from them so if you were to translate it properly it would be the Mahar Shalal would basically mean go speedily to the spoils go quickly to the plunder so it's like God is giving permission and saying go quickly and plunder these two places the land of Syria and northern Israel I am giving you permission to go ahead and do this it's like as if God is giving permission to the Assyrian nation to come and destroy these two places go speedily and plunder them go quickly and take all the spoils of war from them is what God is saying and definitely so shortly after this the both the kings, the Assyrian king and the the Israelite king they come and they attack Judah and Ahas has not turned to the Lord he has not asked the Lord for protection and so God allows many of the cities of Judah to be overrun these two kings are able to you know wreak a lot of havoc and in fact they come and they lay a siege around the city of Jerusalem so at that time even then at that point of time Ahas could have turned to the Lord I am looking to you I want you to help me but no he does not do that rather what does he do he takes money from the temple he takes gold and silver from the temple and he takes gold and silver from his own treasury and he sends it to the Assyrian king and says you know these two guys are attacking me you know I am willing to come under your protection I will start paying tribute to you so why don't you help me against these two kings very very foolishly he goes and he places himself under the Assyrian king because he thinks you know they will be able to protect me which is actually a very foolish thing because God said you look to me and I can you know save your nation but that's a choice which Ahas chooses not to make and shortly after this you know Isaiah's wife gives birth to the second son and God had told earlier that the name of this child would be Emmanuel now a second name is given to this boy and the name that the boy is given is Maharshalal Hashbash wow what a mouthful so that's the name which this boy is given because God is declaring is reminding and saying you know what I told right before this kid is two years old what I prophesied is going to happen and it actually does come to take place just as God had said so what happens to Judah in the meantime now because of the foolishness of Ahas now they are paying a very heavy tribute to the Assyrian king and is the Assyrian king very very grateful for all the money that is being given no 30 years later he comes to the doorstep of Jerusalem and he puts a siege around them you know that's the commander of Sennacherib's army the Rabshaka was the title which that man had so he comes he puts a siege around Jerusalem about 30 years later and Hezekiah is very very scared Hezekiah does not behave like Ahas he quickly goes to the Lord and he says he kneels down and he says Lord look at what has been done now Lord you have to defend us we cannot do anything on our own you have to help us there's a big contrast in the way Ahas behaved and the way Hezekiah responds and because of the humility and trust with which Hezekiah responds you know God changes events for them you know we already looked at this in kings and we looked at it in chronicles the same stories mentioned in both the places and here you know you have more details being given so as you know what happens is that yeah God sends the Ethiopian army to attack Damascus the capital of so when this commander the Rabshaka when he hears about the army big army which is coming towards Damascus he immediately has to go back right and take care of that problem so he says to Hezekiah you know you think I'm going away now but don't worry I'm coming back because which king has ever been able to stand against us our gods have defeated all the peoples and the same thing will happen to you so don't think that your God is extra special and he can do anything for you so with those words of warning the Rabshaka goes quickly back you know to fight the Ethiopian army which is coming towards their capital and in the meantime what does the angel of the Lord do over here to all the soldiers who have camped around the angel of the Lord comes at night kills the entire Lord in the morning when they wake up not a single person alive they're all dead and what about Sena Sharib himself when he goes back to his hometown to his palace his two sons murder him they assassinate him and you know that's basically what happens so Ahas could have seen miracles like that happen in his time if he had chosen to respond to the words of comfort and encouragement which God brought but Ahas chose not to believe on the other hand Hezekiah has a very different attitude and God does a mighty miracle for Hezekiah okay so we see all of these details happening and this is mentioned in your Isaiah 36 to 37 alright there is absolutely no time for even one sentence more I really hope nobody has doubts we have no time for doubts let's just close with the word of prayer Lord we just thank you so much for the amazing things that we can learn from your word every time we open it thank you O Lord for putting down the stories of all of these people so that we can learn from their lives so that we can have a better more secure faith filled relationship with you O Lord help us not to be foolish like Ahas O Lord but rather help us to be people like Hezekiah who are willing to depend on you trust in you and see amazing miracles being done on our behalf I pray O Lord that we would be like Isaiah who was willing to withstand a lot of opposition from the royal court and he continued to warn the nation against making foreign alliances Lord we pray that we would be loyal like Isaiah rather than looking to please humans we would be willing to place our eyes on you and choose to please you alone O Lord in all our life's choices Lord we just ask all of this in Jesus name thank you Lord in Jesus name Amen thank you so much for paying attention and thank you to all of you who are on hand