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Isaiah 37 Bible study: Against the Holy One of Israel

In his answer to Sennacherib the LORD names himself "the Holy One of Israel" (37:23), Isaiah's own name for the LORD, and its only use in chapters 36-39. And where 2 Kings says the king defied the Lord "By your messengers" (2 Kings 19:23), Isaiah says "By your servants" (37:24).

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“LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, who is enthroned among the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.”
Isaiah 37:16 · World English Bible

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“In Isaiah 37:24 the LORD tells the king of Assyria that he defied the Lord by his servants.”

Is that in Isaiah 37, or not? Make your call.

What's really going on

A day of trouble

In the text

Chapter 36 ends with Eliakim, Shebna and Joah coming to Hezekiah "with their clothes torn", and telling him "the words of Rabshakeh" (36:22). Chapter 37 opens: "When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the LORD’s house" (37:1). He sent "Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe" (37:2), with the elders of the priests, "to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz" (37:2). The message they carried was Hezekiah's: "Today is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of rejection; for the children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to give birth" (37:3). Rabshakeh had been sent "to defy the living God" (37:4) (tap defy), and it may be the LORD will hear it: "Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left" (37:4) (tap prayer, remnant). The answer came as the LORD's word: "Don’t be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me" (37:6) (tap blasphemed). Rabshakeh had said he was sent to speak to "the men who sit on the wall" (36:12), and the words were spoken to Hezekiah's people; the LORD calls them blasphemy against himself.

Honest questions

Questions people ask about Isaiah 37

That was a taste

The rest of Isaiah 37 is waiting in Favor

  • Spread before the LORD
  • "Against the Holy One of Israel"
  • For my own sake, and for David's
  • Side by side with 2 Kings 19
  • The prayer, beside Jesus's
  • 14 questions as you read
  • 12 more Hebrew words
  • A short check at the end
  • Your notes, saved as you go
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Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Isaiah 37 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.

The Hebrew word behind it

קָדוֹשׁqadoshsay qa-DOSH

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "sacred, holy". Strong's: "sacred (ceremonially or morally)". "Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel" (37:23). In Hebrew the Holy One of Israel is qedosh Yisra'el, the book's own name for the LORD. The WEB has it in 25 verses of Isaiah. This is the twelfth, the first since "they don’t look to the Holy One of Israel" (Isaiah 31:1), and the only one in chapters 36-39; the next is "Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel" (Isaiah 41:14). 2 Kings has the same line (2 Kings 19:22), the only time the WEB has the name in Kings.

For your group

Isaiah 37 Bible study questions

  1. 1Hezekiah sent to Isaiah, "lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left" (37:4). Who could you ask to pray with you or for you about something that weighs on you this week?
  2. 2The messengers said, "Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you" (37:10). When you hear words like these, that trusting God won't help, what in this chapter answers them?
  3. 3Hezekiah asked to be saved "that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the LORD, even you only" (37:20). When you bring a hard thing to God, what would it look like to ask first that he be known in it?

Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Isaiah 37 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.

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Questions

What is Favor?

Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home