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Isaiah 36 - Assyria’s Siege of Jerusalem · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. We are in a new portion of
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  Isaiah, and from Isaiah chapter 36 to chapter 39, we're going to
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  be looking at some narrative sections of Isaiah's actual
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  interactions with people in real time.
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  And so I'm looking forward to that.
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  A lot of the things that we've been looking at over the past,
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  probably 20-5, maybe a little bit more than that, 25 chapters
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  or so, have been predominantly messages that Isaiah would have
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  preached or poems of prophecy that he would have written that
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  people needed to know about what was to come, what things God was
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  against and wickedness, wrong dealings with people.
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  And so that's been a lot of the last 25 chapters.
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  And so that is a much harder read or walk through for many of
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  us. We don't often tune our senses
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  or our spiritual appetites to consume these parts of
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  Scripture, but it's really, really important that we do so.
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  And so I've, I've enjoyed getting to go through this
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  starting today and then for the next, let me see, this is 3678
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  and 9. So for the next 4 days, we're
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  going to be looking at a narrative portion of Scripture.
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  So let's dive into history. We're jumping into seven O, 1
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  BC, 7 O1 BC in Jerusalem in the southern Kingdom of Judah.
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  This is 21 years after the northern Kingdom of Israel has
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  been destroyed by the Assyrian Empire.
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  So that took place in 722 BC. And remember when you're going
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  BC, you're going from basically 0 BC backwards.
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  So the larger numbers came come before.
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  So at 722 BC, Assyria destroys the northern Kingdom of Israel.
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  A few years later, the king of Assyria passes.
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  His son is ascending to the throne.
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  A lot of different nations go, oh, cool, now that there's a
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  change in leadership, there's going to be a whole lot of chaos
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  anyway in Assyria. And so we think that we can stop
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  sending tribute or are, if you will, taxes over to Assyria and
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  we can just live, you know, we'll make sure we have an army
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  or something. Assyria won't be able to, you
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  know, deal with us and bring us back in the line.
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  That was not true. Assyria was doing very well for
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  itself at this particular time period.
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  And so the southern Kingdom of Judah was one of those nations
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  that went, OK, we're going to use this time period to kind of
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  get out from under the yoke of Assyria.
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  And so Assyria is coming to destroy Judah.
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  So that's where we're at right now.
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  In the 14th year of King Hezekiah.
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  This is Isaiah chapter 36 and verse #1 King Sennacherib of
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  Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and
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  captured them. So there were some of these more
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  protected manned places within the southern Kingdom of Judah.
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  And Sennacherib is just doing a fantastic job of getting all of
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  those cities. Verse #2 Then the king of
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  Assyria sent his royal spokesman along with a massive army from
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  Lakish. This is one of the cities to
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  King Hezekiah. At Jerusalem.
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  The Assyrians stood near the conduit of the upper pool by the
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  road to Launderers field. This is the same place that
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  Isaiah stood in when he gave the message to Ahaz several years
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  prior back in Isaiah Chapter 7 where he told King Ahaz don't
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  trust Assyria and don't be afraid of the northern Kingdom
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  of Israel and the Kingdom of Aram or Syria above Israel.
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  I know right now they're wanting to attack you, but do don't ally
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  yourself with Assyria. I will protect you.
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  I will take care of Israel and Arab.
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  So this is that same location that Hezekiah's dad A has heard
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  from the Lord at. Verse #3 Eliakim son of Hilkiah,
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  who was in charge of the palace, Shebna, the court secretary, and
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  Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came out to him.
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  So here's the Assyrian spokesperson.
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  He's coming. He's giving a message.
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  He has a bunch of troops behind him.
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  There's a contingent of those within the court of Hezekiah,
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  king of Judah that come out to hear what this spokesperson has
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  to say. Verse #4 the royal spokesman
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  said to them, tell Hezekiah, the great king, the king of Assyria
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  says this. What are you relying on?
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  You think mere words or strategy and strength for war?
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  Who are you now relying on that you have rebelled against me?
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  Look, you're relying on Egypt, that splintered Reed of a staff
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  that will Pierce the hand of anyone who grabs it and leans on
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  it. Basically, if you're leaning on
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  the staff, this is a splintered Reed, and so it can't actually
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  hold up your weight, and so the stick is going to end up in your
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  hand. And he says that's what it's
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  like to rely on Egypt. This is the same type of thing
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  that we heard several chapters ago that God says about Egypt as
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  well. He says this is how Pharaoh,
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  king of Egypt is to all who rely on him.
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  Suppose you say to me, we rely on Yahweh, our God.
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  Isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has
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  removed saying to Judah in Jerusalem, you are to worship at
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  this altar. Now here this spokesperson
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  doesn't realize the one true God and what God himself had, which
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  was there was 1 altar. There was 1 altar there in
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  Jerusalem at the temple, and all of the various high places and
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  altars that were for false gods that in centuries past the
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  southern Kingdom of Judah and the Israelites had put up all
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  across the land. Hezekiah knew and loved and
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  followed Yahweh, and so he actually had the high places be
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  torn down and the altars to the false gods be destroyed.
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  And he told Israel like, we are supposed to be God's people, so
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  we will only worship in this place that God has set up for
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  his name. This Syrian spokesperson, he
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  didn't understand that. And so he thought, OK, well,
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  this doesn't really make sense. If you have a God in your land,
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  you're supposed to set up a bunch of different altars.
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  And that way the God can have more food and he will be more
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  willing to listen to you. And so he didn't understand how
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  it worked with the One through God.
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  I'll toss this in as well. God knows how He ought to be
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  worshipped, and He has told us the way that He desires to be
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  worshipped. Part of what we as Baptist
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  historically have been is those that would believe in the
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  regulative principle of worship. That is, we ought to worship God
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  only in the ways that He has told us he wanted to be
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  worshipped. He's given us the wedding
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  registry, and He doesn't want us to come up with our own things
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  that are not on the registry, just buy the items that are
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  there. So God has told us that he wants
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  his word read and he wants his word preached.
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  You can read that in first Timothy where Paul tells Timothy
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  tell I come give attendance to the public reading of Scripture,
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  to doctrine and to teaching. He says that God it is pleased
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  God through the foolishness of preaching to save those who need
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  to believe. We are told to pray together.
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  We can read that in First Timothy chapter 2.
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  I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy
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  hands without wrath and doubting.
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  We are told that we are to observe the Lord's Supper.
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  We would read that even in Acts chapter 2.
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  Every day they went from house to house.
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  And I'm going to turn over there real quick because I have
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  blanked on with the specific phrasing of the verses, and I
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  want to make sure that I tell you guys correctly.
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  Verse #46 Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together
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  in the temple, and they broke bread from house to house.
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  They eat their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God
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  and enjoying the favor of all the people.
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  And back in verse #42 and Acts 2, they devoted themselves to
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  the apostles teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of
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  bread, and to prayer. And this is the registry, if you
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  will, that God has outlined for us.
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  And so Hezekiah was following the registry that God had for
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  his day. They're in Israel with the
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  temple there in Jerusalem. And so let's worship God the way
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  that he desires to be worshipped, because as we'll see
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  next episode in chapter 37, God's blessing comes for those
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  that pursue his way and trust His wisdom, not their own.
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  Verse #8 The Assyrian spokesperson continues on.
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  He's like, don't, he says you can't trust Egypt.
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  Egypt's not going to help you out, Southern Kingdom of Judah.
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  And then he says you can't trust Yahweh because you've torn down
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  a bunch of these altars. And so Yahweh is going to be
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  less able to help you, which again, not how that works, but
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  he didn't know that. Verse #8 Now make a deal with my
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  master, the king of Assyria. I'll give you 2000 horses if
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  you're able to supply riders for them.
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  He's basically saying you don't even have 2000 people in your
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  army. Wasn't correct, but he said.
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  Verse #9 How then can you drive back a single officer among the
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  least of my master's servants? How can you rely on Egypt for
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  Chariots and horsemen? Have I attacked this land to
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  destroy it without Yahweh's approval?
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  You always said to me, attack this land and destroy it.
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  He's likely lying here that you could say this about anything,
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  like, oh, you know, Allah told me this, or I can't remember
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  offhand any of the names of the Hindu gods, but you could say
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  that a God told you something that doesn't actually mean that
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  it's true. Verse #11 Then Alaikum, Shebna
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  and Jawa said to the royal spokesman, Please speak to your
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  servants in Aramaic, since we understand it.
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  Don't speak to us in Hebrew within earshot of the people who
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  are on the wall. Basically, he's saying some
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  really scary things. He's speaking to them in Hebrew.
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  They don't want the people to freak out.
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  And so they're like, OK, well, talk to us in Aramaic.
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  That way we can understand you. But all of these people here on
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  the wall that they won't freak out.
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  Now, if you're trying to do negotiations, if I'm the
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  Assyrian spokesperson, I'm going to tell them no, absolutely not.
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  Like, I'll keep speaking in the Hebrew.
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  And hopefully those people get scared enough that then they,
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  you know, surrender all on their own, even without the
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  instruction of their king. The royal spokesman replied in
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  verse #12 As my master sent me to speak these words to your
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  master and to you, and not to the men who are sitting on the
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  wall who are destined with you to eat their own excrement and
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  drink their own urine. Basically, you're going to
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  undergo a siege because of. So instead of just fighting one
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  another in open field, if Jerusalem can just stay within
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  its city walls, it'll be relatively safe, but it can't
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  get out in order to, you know, get new food or anything like
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  that. And so eventually, they're going
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  to run out of food, which is actually what happened to the
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  northern Kingdom of Israel's capital city, Samaria, at
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  various points that they were put under siege.
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  And it got so bad that people were having to, you know, buy
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  pigeon poop for food. And it was incredibly expensive.
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  You can read about that. I forget if that's first or
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  second Kings. We'll go through that at some
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  point on Tabernacle Talk. So he says these guys are
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  destined for a really, really bad siege.
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  And so, yeah, I'm talking to you, but I'm actually talking to
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  these people because I'm hoping these people will do a coup and
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  they will surrender. And we won't have to have a
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  giant, you know, long stay here. Verse #13 Then the royal
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  spokesman stood and called out loudly in Hebrew.
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  Listen to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.
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  Don't let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot rescue you.
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  Don't let Hezekiah persuade you to rely on Yahweh, saying Yahweh
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  will certainly rescue us. This city will not be handed
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  over to the king of Assyria. Don't listen to Hezekiah, for
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  this is what the king of Assyria says, Make peace with me and
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  surrender to me. Then everyone of you may eat
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  from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink water from
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  his own cistern until I come and take you away to a land like
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  your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread
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  and vineyards. So here he's saying we will
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  leave you all in peace for a little bit.
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  When you surrender, we're going to get another group of people.
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  We're going to bring them to the land here of Canaan, of Israel,
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  and they will be the new people to dwell in the land.
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  And then Assyria would take the like, Jewish people from the
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  southern Kingdom of Judah, and they would take them away and
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  put them in a different land. It was one of the ways that
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  Assyria made it so that people didn't rebel because they were
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  no longer even in their homeland.
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  And so they didn't really have as much of a reason to fight
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  against Assyria. It was made much harder to do
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  so. You're in unfamiliar territory
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  and you would likely not know the terrain, the geography to be
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  able to know, you know, good spots for maintaining guerrilla
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  warfare, all that kind of stuff. And so he's like, hey, if you
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  surrender, you'll live here for a little bit till we come and
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  move you guys away to a different land, which is what
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  happened already to the northern Kingdom of Israel.
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  So even as the Assyrians are telling the the southern Kingdom
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  of Judah this, this is something that they saw 21 years ago
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  happen to their fellow Israelites living in the
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  northern Kingdom. And so this would be an
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  incredibly fearful time. Verse #18 Beware that Hezekiah
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  does not mislead you by saying Yahweh will rescue us.
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  Has any one of the gods of the nations rescued his land from
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  the power of the king of Assyria?
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  Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpat?
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  These are cities. Where are the gods of Sephar
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  vein? Have they rescued Samaria from
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  my power? Who among all the gods of these
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  lands ever rescued his land from my power?
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  So will Yahweh rescue Jerusalem from my power?
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  Basically none of these local deities have been able to
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  protect their people from Assyria.
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  And you guys think that Yahweh is going to make a difference.
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  Summer 21 But they kept silent. They didn't say anything, for
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  the King's command was don't answer him.
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  Then Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace,
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  Shebna, the court secretary, and Joe, a son of Asaph, the court
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  historian, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported
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  to him the words of the royal spokesman.
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  So here's where this particular chapter ends is on a cliffhanger
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  of what's going to happen to Jerusalem.
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  There are several cities already in Judah that have been
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  destroyed and taken down by this army. 21 years ago, the northern
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  Kingdom of Israel was destroyed by this army.
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  And So what is going to happen? Is Yahweh going to deliver
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  Judah? We even read several prophecies
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  that Isaiah had given in previous years about the fact
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  that Assyria would be judged. It would come to nothing.
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  It would be downtrodden that Judah needed to trust the Lord,
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  not trust in Assyria or trust in Egypt.
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  What are they going to do? And the answer to that, we find
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  it next episode in chapter 37 as Hezekiah brings this time of
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  fear and trembling to the only one who could actually help.
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  And so I'm really looking forward to that with you.
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  Tune in next episode to Isaiah chapter 37.
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  As always, don't forget to like, share, subscribe, leave us a
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  review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify Podcasts.
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  And if you reach the end of this episode, comment the word
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  pigeon. And if you comment pigeon, I'll
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  give you some Tabernacle talk points.
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  I don't know what those are for yet, but you will get them.
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  And looking forward to next episode with you.
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  God bless.