Isaiah 37:23
Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
Sermons
God His People's DefenceChristian AgeIsaiah 37:23
Holy One of IsraelR. Tuck Isaiah 37:23
Isaiah's Saving Idea of GodNewman Smyth, D. D.Isaiah 37:23
The Divine Holiness and FatherhoodNewman Smyth, D. D.Isaiah 37:23
Hezekiah's PrayerHerodotus.Isaiah 37:14-38
Hezekiah's Prayer and DeliveranceG. F. Pentecost, D. D.Isaiah 37:14-38
Hezekiah's Prayer and DeliveranceT. T. Holmes.Isaiah 37:14-38
Prayer a Way of EscapeI. E. Page.Isaiah 37:14-38
Prayer for Help AnsweredSunday School ChronicleIsaiah 37:14-38
Sennacherib's LetterIsaiah 37:14-38
The Intoxication of Success, EtcW. Clarkson Isaiah 37:21-29














It is singular to find the holiness of God introduced here rather than his majesty or his power. Yet it is significant. The sublime greatness of God is his character, and this is expressed in the word "Holy One." The insults of Assyria are not levelled so much against God's throne, or God's rule, as against God himself. It is the insult offered to the Divine Name. The contrast between Jehovah and the gods created by heathen imaginations is very striking in this particular - they are embodiments of powers; he is a moral Being. They imply force; his Name involves character. Our security lies in this. The possibility of a reasonable trust lies in this. Our conviction of Jehovah's sensitiveness to what troubles us lies in this. The full suggestions of this most suggestive name for God may be drawn out under these divisions.

I. THE GOD WHO ALWAYS DOES THE MORALLY RIGHT.

II. THE GOD WHO ALWAYS RESPONDS TO TRUST.

III. THE GOD WHO IS EVER FAITHFUL TO HIS PROMISE.

IV. THE GOD WHO IS JEALOUS OF HIS PERSONAL HONOUR.

V. THE GOD WHO REQUIRES TO BE SERVED WITH OUR GOODNESS. On the jealousy of the Divine Name, see Ezekiel 36:22, 23; and show how the views of God, thus unfolded, become the basis for the great atonement, whereby the world is redeemed. The "just God" is also the "Saviour." - R.T.

Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed?
Isaiah in his day saved Jerusalem by teaching the people a better idea of their God. For forty years he had been witnessing to a truer thought of God, and at last the crisis and the triumph of his religious statesmanship came. Jerusalem would have surrendered to Assyria had not Isaiah at last brought king and people, in their despair, to the faith in God to which for forty years he had borne witness. At an hour when the Assyrian was making his rapid march towards the city, two props of the people's confidence had entirely given way: their reliance upon Egypt, and their confidence in their religion. Isaiah had told them over and over again that these supports were rotten, and would give way when the crash came. And they did when at last came the scourge of the nations which had swept other cities before it reached Jerusalem. For a moment the luridness of the popular despair was lit up by a wild light of passion and revelry: "Let us eat and drink," they said, "for to-morrow we shall die." Then the hour for the triumph of the prophet's lifelong truth was come. He led a sobered people and a humbled king to the Holy One of Israel

(Newman Smyth, D. D.)

The historic truth is that wherever a better idea of God prevails men are delivered. The deep, permanent, at all times greatly needed lesson is, that the prophet's truer teaching of God is for the salvation of a city. The subject for us to inquire concerning is, whether we are being saved by any truer, stronger ideas of our God? Are we saving our society, our neighbour-hood, our city, our land by nobler knowledge of God?

1. Do you hope to work out the redemption of men by education? It is a means, a sharp instrument for good or evil, but Rabshakeh could blaspheme in two languages. We have to face the question: "What leaven is to keep the school itself from moral corruption?"

2. But much, it is said, may be accomplished through sanitary and political science. Undoubtedly. Even Ahaz did a good thing when he looked after the water supply of Jerusalem in fear of a siege, although he would not hear a word that Isaiah was saying to him by the upper pool in the fuller's field. But if Isaiah had not been the heart and the soul of the city in its critical hour, all the work that the kings had done in repairing the walls and looking after the watercourses, would never have kept the Assyrian out. Sooner or later we shall have to go down to the God on whom we depend, if we are to build anything of permanent worth.

3. What, then, is our better saving thought of God?(1) We are coming to know better the Divine Fatherhood of men.(2) Yet, this first truth of the Divine Fatherhood of men, and His special Fatherhood towards the son of His trust and love, does not exhaust our redeeming knowledge of God. Our text exalts the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah's vision of Him whose glory fills the whole earth was the vision of the Holy One. In the holiness of the prophet saw the falsehoods of the court and the people burning as with everlasting fire. And when Jesus Christ in that sublime moment to which St. John has borne witness in the seventeenth chapter of his Gospel, summed up His whole lifelong teaching in His last prayer for the disciples, He lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, Holy Father, O righteous Father.(3) There is one way in particular by which we, with all our worldliness, may be brought more fully into the saving power of these truths of God. It is through our increasing sense of God's omnipresence, of the Divine immanence, of Immanuel, God with us.

(Newman Smyth, D. D.)

Christian Age.
A magistrate in Hamburg once held up his finger and said to Mr. Oncken, the Baptist preacher: "Do you see that finger, sir? As long as I can hold up that finger I shall put you down." "I can see," said Mr. Oncken, "what you cannot see; I can see the mighty arm of God, and as long as that arm is held up for my defence, you will never be able to put me down."

(Christian Age.)

People
Adrammelech, Amoz, Assyrians, David, Eliakim, Esarhaddon, Haran, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Rabshakeh, Sennacherib, Sharezer, Shebna, Tirhakah
Places
Ararat, Arpad, Assyria, Cush, Egypt, Gozan, Hamath, Haran, Hena, Ivvah, Jerusalem, Lachish, Lebanon, Libnah, Mount Zion, Nineveh, Rezeph, Sepharvaim, Telassar, Tigris-Euphrates Region, Zion
Topics
Bitter, Blasphemed, Defied, Evil, Exalted, Hast, Haughtily, Holy, Lift, Lifted, Loud, Mocked, Pride, Raised, Reproached, Reviled, Taunted, Voice, Yea
Outline
1. Hezekiah mourning, sends to Isaiah to pray for them
6. Isaiah comforts them
8. Sennacherib, going to encounter Tirhakah, sends a blasphemous letter to Hezekiah
14. Hezekiah's prayer
21. Isaiah's prophecy of the destruction of Sennacherib, and the good of Zion
36. An angel slays the Assyrians
37. Sennacherib is slain at Nineveh by his own sons.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 37:23

     1205   God, titles of
     5196   voice
     8807   profanity

Isaiah 37:21-24

     5893   insults

Isaiah 37:21-29

     5776   achievement

Isaiah 37:21-38

     5800   blasphemy

Isaiah 37:22-23

     7271   Zion, as symbol
     8816   ridicule, nature of

Isaiah 37:22-25

     8672   striving with God

Isaiah 37:22-29

     8782   mockery

Isaiah 37:23-25

     4448   forests

Library
Where to Carry Troubles
And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.'--ISAIAH xxxvii. 14. When Hezekiah heard the threatenings of Sennacherib's servants, he rent his clothes and went into the house of the Lord, and sent to Isaiah entreating his prayers. When he received the menacing letter, his faith was greater, having been heartened by Isaiah's assurances. So he then himself appealed to Jehovah, spreading
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Triumph of Faith
'And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. 15. And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying, 16. O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: Thou hast made heaven and earth. 17. Incline Thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open Thine eyes, O Lord, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The First Trumpet.
The first trumpet of the seventh seal begins from the final disturbance and overthrow of the Roman idolarchy at the close of the sixth seal; and as it was to bring the first plague on the empire, now beginning to fall, it lays waste the third part of the earth, with a horrible storm of hail mingled with fire and blood; that is, it depopulates the territory and people of the Roman world, (viz. the basis and ground of its universal polity) with a terrible and bloody irruption of the northern nations,
Joseph Mede—A Key to the Apocalypse

The Power of Assyria at Its Zenith; Esarhaddon and Assur-Bani-Pal
The Medes and Cimmerians: Lydia--The conquest of Egypt, of Arabia, and of Elam. As we have already seen, Sennacherib reigned for eight years after his triumph; eight years of tranquillity at home, and of peace with all his neighbours abroad. If we examine the contemporary monuments or the documents of a later period, and attempt to glean from them some details concerning the close of his career, we find that there is a complete absence of any record of national movement on the part of either Elam,
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 8

The Golden Eagle is Cut to Pieces. Herod's Barbarity when He was Ready to Die. He Attempts to Kill Himself. He Commands Antipater to be Slain.
1. Now Herod's distemper became more and more severe to him, and this because these his disorders fell upon him in his old age, and when he was in a melancholy condition; for he was already seventy years of age, and had been brought by the calamities that happened to him about his children, whereby he had no pleasure in life, even when he was in health; the grief also that Antipater was still alive aggravated his disease, whom he resolved to put to death now not at random, but as soon as he should
Flavius Josephus—The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem

Christ Rightly and Properly Said to have Merited Grace and Salvation for Us.
1. Christ not only the minister, but also the author and prince of salvation. Divine grace not obscured by this mode of expression. The merit of Christ not opposed to the mercy of God, but depends upon it. 2. The compatibility of the two proved by various passages of Scripture. 3. Christ by his obedience truly merited divine grace for us. 4. This grace obtained by the shedding of Christ's blood, and his obedience even unto death. 5. In this way he paid our ransom. 6. The presumptuous manner in which
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

The Harbinger
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD , make straight in the desert a high-way for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. T he general style of the prophecies is poetical. The inimitable simplicity which characterizes every
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

A Discourse of the House and Forest of Lebanon
OF THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. That part of Palestine in which the celebrated mountains of Lebanon are situated, is the border country adjoining Syria, having Sidon for its seaport, and Land, nearly adjoining the city of Damascus, on the north. This metropolitan city of Syria, and capital of the kingdom of Damascus, was strongly fortified; and during the border conflicts it served as a cover to the Assyrian army. Bunyan, with great reason, supposes that, to keep
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Holy City; Or, the New Jerusalem:
WHEREIN ITS GOODLY LIGHT, WALLS, GATES, ANGELS, AND THE MANNER OF THEIR STANDING, ARE EXPOUNDED: ALSO HER LENGTH AND BREADTH, TOGETHER WITH THE GOLDEN MEASURING-REED EXPLAINED: AND THE GLORY OF ALL UNFOLDED. AS ALSO THE NUMEROUSNESS OF ITS INHABITANTS; AND WHAT THE TREE AND WATER OF LIFE ARE, BY WHICH THEY ARE SUSTAINED. 'Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God.'-Psalm 87:3 'And the name of the city from that day shall be, THE LORD IS THERE.'-Ezekiel 48:35 London: Printed in the year 1665
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Prophet Amos.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. It will not be necessary to extend our preliminary remarks on the prophet Amos, since on the main point--viz., the circumstances under which he appeared as a prophet--the introduction to the prophecies of Hosea may be regarded as having been written for those of Amos also. For, according to the inscription, they belong to the same period at which Hosea's prophetic ministry began, viz., the latter part of the reign of Jeroboam II., and after Uzziah had ascended the
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Concerning the Lord's Supper
There are two passages which treat in the clearest manner of this subject, and at which we shall look,--the statements in the Gospels respecting the Lord's Supper, and the words of Paul. (1 Cor. xi.) Matthew, Mark, and Luke agree that Christ gave the whole sacrament to all His disciples; and that Paul taught both parts of it is so certain, that no one has yet been shameless enough to assert the contrary. Add to this, that according to the relation of Matthew, Christ did not say concerning the bread,
Martin Luther—First Principles of the Reformation

Divine Support and Protection
[What shall we say then to these things?] If God be for us, who can be against us? T he passions of joy or grief, of admiration or gratitude, are moderate when we are able to find words which fully describe their emotions. When they rise very high, language is too faint to express them; and the person is either lost in silence, or feels something which, after his most laboured efforts, is too big for utterance. We may often observe the Apostle Paul under this difficulty, when attempting to excite
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

Isaiah
CHAPTERS I-XXXIX Isaiah is the most regal of the prophets. His words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the King, vi. 5. The times in which he lived were big with political problems, which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events, and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history. Unlike his younger contemporary Micah, he was, in all probability, an aristocrat; and during his long ministry (740-701 B.C., possibly, but not probably later) he bore testimony, as
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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