ISAIAH CHAPTER 38

OBSERVATION STAGE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The purpose of the observation stage is to maintain focus on the text at hand within the normative rules of language, context and logic . .This limits the observer to the content offered by the book of Isaiah. This will serve to avoid going on unnecessary tangents elsewhere; and more importantly, it will provide the framework for a proper and objective comparison with passages located elsewhere in Scripture.

Remember that something elsewhere may be true, but in the text at hand it may not be in view.

I) [Isa 38:1-22]:

A) (Isa 38:1) KING HEZEKIAH BECAME TERMINALLY ILL AT THE HAND OF THE LORD JUST AFTER THE KING PLEADED FOR MERCY AND PAID A HUGE RANSOM TO ASSYRIA LARGELY BY STRIPPING GOLD FROM THE HOUSE OF THE LORD - AN ACTION WHICH EXEMPLIFIED HEZEKIAH'S ESTRANGEMENT FROM THE LORD. HEZEKIAH'S ILLNESS PRECEDED THE TIME WHEN JERUSALEM WAS PUT IN IMMINENT DANGER OF DESTRUCTION WHEN KING SENNACHERIB HAD HIS ARMY SURROUND THE CITY AND DEMANDED SURRENDER OR DESTRUCTION

B) (Isa 39:1-2) THE ARRIVAL OF A DELEGATION AT JERUSALEM CARRYING LETTERS AND A PRESENT FOR KING HEZEKIAH FROM MERODACH-BALADAN, KING OF BABYLON CORROBORATES THE TIME WHEN KING HEZEKIAH WAS TERMINALLY ILL AND RECOVERED SUPERNATURALLY BY THE HAND OF THE LORD

C) (Isa 38:2-6) HEZEKIAH PRAYED TO THE LORD FOR MERCY WITH BITTER TEARS AT THE PREMATURE ENDING OF HIS LIFE - DECLARING HIS 'FAITHFULNESS' AND 'LOYAL HEART.' WHEREUPON THE LORD ANSWERED HEZEKIAH'S PRAYER WITH A PROMISE TO ADD FIFTEEN YEARS TO HEZEKIAH'S LIFE AND DELIVER JERUSALEM FROM THE HAND OF THE KING OF ASSYRIA

D) (Isa 38:7-8) THE LORD GAVE HEZEKIAH A SIGN OF HIS PROMISES TO GIVE THE KING 15 MORE YEARS OF LIFE AND DEFEND THE CITY OF JERUSALEM FROM THE HAND OF THE KING OF ASSYRIA: THE SHADOW OF THE SUN WOULD GO BACKWARDS TEN DEGREES ON THE SUNDIAL AHAZ BUILT INTO THE STEPS LEADING UP INTO THE PALACE IN JERUSALEM

E) (Isa 38:9-20) AFTER HE WAS HEALED, KING HEZEKIAH WROTE ABOUT HIS EPISODE OF HAVING TO FACE IMMINENT DEATH DUE TO ILLNESS AND THEN HAVING THE LORD GRANT HIM FIFTEEN MORE YEARS TO LIVE. AT FIRST HE AGONIZED AND WEPT BITTERLY ABOUT HAVING TO FACE A PREMATURE JOURNEY TO THE GATES OF SHEOL - WHERE INDIVIDUALS WENT AFTER THEY DIED. HEZEKIAH MOURNED THAT THE LORD HAD NUMBERED THE REMAINDER OF HIS YEARS WHILE HE WAS IN THE PRIME OF HIS LIFE. SO HE WOULD NO LONGER BE ABLE TO SEE THE LORD IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING, NOR HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO OBSERVE MAN AMONG THE INHABITANTS OF THE WORLD. BUT HE CHANGED HIS TONE TO ONE OF THANKSGIVING FOR HIS RESTORATION AND HE ACKNOWLEDGED THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IN THE LIVES OF ALL MEN. FURTHERMORE, HE GAVE THANKS FOR THE DELIVERANCE OF HIS SOUL FROM THE PIT OF ETERNAL CORRUPTION - FOR THE LORD HAD CAST ALL OF HIS SINS BEHIND HIS BACK. HEZEKIAH CELEBRATED ALL OF THIS WITH PRAISE AND WORSHIP. HE WROTE THAT ALL MEN ARE TO PRAISE GOD IN THEIR TEMPORAL LIVES WHILE THEY HAD THE CHANCE

F) (Isa 38:21-22) ISAIAH DECLARED AS PART OF GOD'S PLAN FOR HEZEKIAH'S RECOVERY TO APPLY A POULTICE. HEZEKIAH HAD ASKED GOD FOR A SIGN TO CONFIRM THE LORD'S PROMISE THAT HE SHALL ONCE MORE GO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD - (THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM), WHICH IMPLIES THAT HE WOULD BE HEALED OF HIS TERMINAL ILLNESS. THE SIGN THE LORD PROVIDED WAS THE TO MOVE BACKWARD THE SHADOW OF THE SUN ON THE SUNDIAL IN HEZEKIAH'S PALACE. ISAIAH DECLARED THAT A POULTICE OF FIGS WAS TO BE APPLIED TO HEZEKIAH'S BOIL AND HE WOULD RECOVER

CONTINUE TO ISAIAH CHAPTER 39 .