342: Roger Lewis – The Writing and The Psalter

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Welcome to good Chris Selfian
talks.

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I’m Levi.
I’m Chris.

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I’m Jason.
And I’m Brian, thank you for

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joining us this week on this
podcast.

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We select one talk a week to
help us get the Bible in our

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Daily News feed.
Each week we post a talk that we

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previewed from suggestions sent
in by listeners from around the

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world.
Then we record a short intro

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beforehand as a personalized
recommendation to you on why we

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are sharing the talk.
And now let’s talk more about

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this week’s talk.
Hello, my name is Mike

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Livermore.
I’m a disciple of Christ from

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the state of Michigan.
Here to share with you a class

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that I loved, the hearing this
past summer.

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This class was given at the
Midwest Bible School AKA Trine

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in summer of 2024.
The teacher is Roger Lewis and

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this is class four in a series
on the crisis of Hezekiah.

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This class title is The Writing
and the Psalter.

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So a few notes on this series in
class.

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I recommend so highly listening
to the entire series.

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It was phenomenal.
I thought this particular class

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was the most applicable, at
least for me, and had the most

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interesting things in it, but
all of the classes and even the

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exhortation to follow were just
just so, so worthwhile.

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One thing I would recommend is
before you listen to this class,

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if you’re not going to listen to
the whole series, I would

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recommend reading Isaiah 38,
chapter 38.

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So if you’re already in your car
and listening to this, you can’t

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pull over and read the Bible,
obviously.

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But I would definitely, if
you’re at maybe at a desk, if

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you’re on a laptop, just pause
the podcast right now, read

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Isaiah 38 and then come back to
the class.

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Or if you have to finish the
audio first, you’re driving,

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read Isaiah 38, the full chapter
after you’re done listening.

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I think the context of that
chapter is really helpful to

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already have in your mind.
A few notes.

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About 40 minutes in, there was a
technical outage in the

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auditorium.
So if not sure what’s going on

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the the projector, the slides
froze for about a minute, but

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they got it fixed.
So just bear with that as you

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listen.
And around the 46 minute mark, a

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train goes by the theater.
For anyone who’s been to trying,

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you know that this happens from
time to time.

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There are train tracks are right
next to the theater where the

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classes are held.
So a class or a train hits goes

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right past the theater exactly
when Rodger was hitting the

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climax of the class.
It’s kind of funny to let go

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back and listen to it now, but
that’s what’s going on.

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Yes, you are hearing a train
horn in the background.

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Also, I should mention that it’s
very helpful to reference

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Rodger’s slides, particularly
when he talks about the Songs of

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Degrees later in the class.
The visuals when you can see the

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slides help you understand the
the lessons that Rodger was

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bringing out from the structure
of the Songs of Degrees in

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particular.
So you can see the slides on our

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website,
themidwestbibleschool.com.

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If you browse there, there’s a
tab for recordings and you can

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look up the classes for 2024.
We have a PDF of the slides you

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can download.
So I recommend highly that you

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reference the slides as well
when you listen to the class or

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afterwards.
And with this class, so

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inspirational, it’s about how we
respond when we are delivered

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out of a trial like so
applicable that like that, that

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moment of that, that period of
relief when the stress is behind

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you, when you can exhale.
What do we do after that?

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How do we live?
Do we just go back to our old

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ways or what is our response?
It was a very, very interesting,

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powerful, helpful class.
And one last note is that in the

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very final 2 minutes of this
class, Rodger brings up

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something which I had never
heard of before, which blew my

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mind.
And I made me think, what what

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is he talking about?
What what is this?

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And when you hear it, you’ll
know exactly what it is.

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And I’ve actually saved a
reaction.

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I’ve got a little thing I want
to say about what Rodger talks

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about at the very end of his
class.

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I want to address it and share
what I found about it.

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OK, so that’s it.
Hopefully you enjoy this class

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from Roger Lewis called The
Writing and the Psalter.

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So in our last study, you’ll
remember that we found his a

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car.
We found his a car in his royal

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bedchamber.
He was in despair with his face

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towards the wall.
He was trying to accept the

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devastating message that had
been brought to him by Isaiah

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The prophet set thine house in
order for thou shalt not live.

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And that prospect, you remember,
of premature death left him

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regretting all the things that
he’d wished he’d done and

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lamenting the fact that he would
be unable to complete them.

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But his prayer at that vital
moment of destiny gave an

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amazing demonstration of his
total surrender to Yahweh in

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that spirit of resignation, in
accepting whatever the divine

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will might have had in store for
him.

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And that prayer which so pleased
his God was answered in dramatic

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fashion, as we saw as the
prophet running from the middle

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court, burst into his chamber
again to announce with

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breathless excitement that his
life was to be spared.

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And with the writing of the
shadow on the staircase,

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Hezekiah was given the ultimate
reassurance that he would indeed

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recover and go up yet again into
the House of God.

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Well, that brings us to our
study this morning then, as we

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take up the narrative of the
prophecy of Isaiah again, and

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this time to the theme of the
writing and the Psalter.

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Because do you notice in Isaiah
38 and verse 9, as we concluded

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our study yesterday in verse 8,
verse 9 will now say the writing

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of Hezekiah, king of Judah when
he had been sick and was

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recovered of his sickness.
Now, incidentally, in the

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writing that follows, it’s
written in lines of poetry.

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And I think that what that tells
us is that what he wrote, what

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he did write in this next
section of Isaiah 38, was in

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fact the Psalm.
This is Hezekiah’s Psalm to

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commemorate the stirring events
that had brought him back from

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certain death to promised life.
And I think that that tells us

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something else as well, is that
this was not intended to be kept

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as a private reflection of the
king.

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No, no, no.
He wanted this to be a public

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expression not only of his
things, but of what lessons

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might be learned from this
story.

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He wanted the nation to
understand the hand of

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Providence in this matter, which
was at work not just in the life

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of the king, but in the life of
the nation, as we shall see by

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and by in our studies.
And what’s interesting, brothers

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and sisters, is that this entire
section from verse 9 to verse 20

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in Isaiah chapter 38 is utterly
unique to Isaiah.

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This is not in the historical
records of Hezekiah.

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Neither in the Kings nor
Chronicles will we find this

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Psalm only in the book of
Isaiah.

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It’s something to do with what
he wrote about, and he was

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obviously anxious to record.
And one thing I think we can be

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certain confident of that Isaiah
was anxious that we know about

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was this.
You see, if we were to say

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what’s the theme of this
writing, one of the key ideas is

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that it’s about the matter of
sickness and recovery.

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Isaiah 38, verse 9 where we
start, says the writing of

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Hezekiah, king of Judah, when
he’d been sick and was recovered

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of his sickness.
And that word recover.

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Here is the Hebrew word higher
to live higher.

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It’s a basic word for life.
But again in verse 16 of this

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chapter it will say, O Yahweh,
by these things men live, so

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wilt thou recover me, kholam, to
bind together again and make me

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to live.
And again in chapter 38, verse

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21, Isaiah said, let them take a
lump of figs, lay it for a

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plaster on the boil, and he
shall recover to live.

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And in Isaiah 39, verse one,
when this writing is finished,

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it says Meridak Baladdin sent
letters and a present to

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Hezekiah, for he’d heard that
he’d been sick and was

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recovered.
Khosak to be strong.

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Now why?
That’s interesting.

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Or let me just show you some
other keywords here.

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Do you notice this?
He had been sick verse 9.

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He had been sick, chapter 39,
verse 1, and was recovered.

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Now this is the corresponding
passage in Second Kings 20,

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verse 12, corresponding to
chapter 39, verse one.

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The king of Babylon sent letters
in a present unto Hezekiah, for

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he had heard that Hezekiah had
been sick only Isaiah tells us,

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but he was recovered for some
reason.

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It was important that Isaiah
make a careful note about the,

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the, the, the matter of recovery
of the king and that’s going to

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become the framework on which
Hezekiah is going to be basis

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the the writing of the Psalm on
this occasion.

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Now you might remember that when
we looked at the speech of Reb

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Shaker in chapter 36 that it
broke into, do you remember 2

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sections could 2 quite distinct
sections to the speech and that

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each section had two distinct
parts.

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And that when we came to the
answer of God in Isaiah 37, that

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there were two sections to the
answer and each section had two

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parts.
Well, you’d never guess how the

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writing of Hezekiah breaks up,
would you?

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Surprise, surprise, but it’s
going to be the same.

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And clearly this may be a mark
of, of perhaps the way that

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Hezekiah wrote his story.
So I think what we’ve got here

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in verses 10 to 14 is the first
section of his writing, and it’s

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his despair at the prospect of
death.

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And as always, there’s crucial
little words that become the

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guide to our thinking.
Now here’s the start that tells

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us the theme.
It’s about his previous anguish.

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I said I had said I had thought
I had spoken about these things

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in the past.
This first section is about his

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previous anguish and his despair
at the prospect of death.

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And there are two sections, I
think, to that writing.

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Verses 11:50 is an elegy of
grief for life cut short and the

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daunting prospect of premature
death.

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That’s what these first verses
about opening verses are about.

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And then the second part of this
first section is about a

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lamentation, verses 13 and 14
for an untimely end and a cry

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for help from oppression.
So let’s start the writing,

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shall we see, shall we, brothers
and sisters?

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And, and see what it is that
Hezekiah would bid us to know.

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Isaiah 38, verse 10 says, I said
in the cutting off of my days, I

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shall go to the gates of the
grave.

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I’m deprived of the residue of
my years.

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And his first thought was one of
sorrow, that he was to be cut

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off in the midst of his days.
But really by days what he

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really meant was labours.
He’d be cut off in the midst of

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his work with the nation because
it was right now that the nation

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needed him to inspire them.
And I think that’s the thing

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that upset him the most.
His people needed him and he was

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going to be taken away.
He wasn’t concerned about

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prolonging life for the sake of
prolonging his life.

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It was for their sake as the
Assyrians cast its gloom upon

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the nation.
But now this man who had so

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desperately wanted to help his
nation, well, his own confidence

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was shattered because his
sickness had left him so

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bewildered and broken as he
struggled to understand the will

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of his God in the matter.
We just know how confused

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Hezekiah must have been at this
terrible turn of events.

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He says I’ve been taken to the
gates of Sheol as a graphic

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description of death, like a
prison house, and I think that

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he was terrified that he’d be
pushed inside.

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The doors would be locked,
bolted, and he’d never come back

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out.
Oh yes, Hezekiah was distressed

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at the thought of these things.
And so he goes on to say in

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verse 11, I said, I shall not
see Yahweh, even Yahweh in the

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land of the living.
I shall behold man no more with

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the inhabitants of the world.
So the first thing he thought

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about was I’m worried about the
people, worried about the

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nation.
And the second thing he thought

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00:13:15,480 –> 00:13:17,760
about, wasn’t it remarkable?
Verse 11.

218
00:13:17,880 –> 00:13:22,040
I shall not see Yahweh.
His second thought was that

219
00:13:22,040 –> 00:13:25,880
death would deprive him of his
relationship with his God.

220
00:13:28,800 –> 00:13:34,800
I won’t be able to come before
my God anymore, unable to help

221
00:13:34,800 –> 00:13:38,440
His people.
Verse 10, unable to worship as

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00:13:38,440 –> 00:13:40,240
God.
Verse 11, they were the two

223
00:13:40,240 –> 00:13:42,800
things that were the entire
focus of Hezekiah’s life.

224
00:13:45,080 –> 00:13:47,160
It begs the question what we
might focus on, doesn’t it,

225
00:13:47,160 –> 00:13:49,800
brothers and sisters?
But Hezekiah’s concern above all

226
00:13:49,800 –> 00:13:52,840
all else is that he would miss
his God in the land of the

227
00:13:52,840 –> 00:13:54,520
living.
That was an amazing spirit of

228
00:13:54,520 –> 00:13:56,240
the king.
He certainly wasn’t focused

229
00:13:56,440 –> 00:14:02,680
really on himself, was he?
So verse 12 says my age is

230
00:14:02,680 –> 00:14:05,880
departed and removed from me as
a shepherd’s tent.

231
00:14:06,200 –> 00:14:09,800
Now in those days, incidentally,
a shepherd’s tent was a very

232
00:14:09,800 –> 00:14:13,520
simple piece of fabric with a
pole to sleep under in the open

233
00:14:13,520 –> 00:14:16,880
field because it got pretty cold
at night time out with the

234
00:14:16,880 –> 00:14:19,160
flocks.
So there was a piece of cloth

235
00:14:19,160 –> 00:14:21,480
attached to a pole, and they
would jam the pole into the

236
00:14:21,480 –> 00:14:24,040
ground and snuggle under the
cloth and pull it around them.

237
00:14:24,400 –> 00:14:27,560
But the point of the symbol here
was that in the morning it would

238
00:14:27,560 –> 00:14:30,160
be rolled up and packed away as
the flock moved to fresh

239
00:14:30,160 –> 00:14:32,560
pasture.
So when he says my age is

240
00:14:32,560 –> 00:14:35,000
removed like a shepherd’s tent,
it was a symbol of just how

241
00:14:35,000 –> 00:14:38,320
temporary his life was.
Up for the night, down on the

242
00:14:38,320 –> 00:14:42,880
day, that’s how long my life is,
says Hezekiah.

243
00:14:44,480 –> 00:14:47,680
Like a shepherd’s tent.
In fact, he says I’ve cut off

244
00:14:47,680 –> 00:14:50,360
like a weave in my life.
And that word cut off actually

245
00:14:50,360 –> 00:14:52,760
means together, together and to
roll up.

246
00:14:52,760 –> 00:14:56,440
And so here’s a car.
I pictured himself sadly rolling

247
00:14:56,440 –> 00:15:00,000
up the cloth of his life, even
though it hadn’t been finished.

248
00:15:02,000 –> 00:15:05,640
In fact, it says at least in the
authorized version here, he will

249
00:15:05,640 –> 00:15:10,240
cut me off with pining sickness.
But you might notice the margin.

250
00:15:10,360 –> 00:15:14,040
The margin says he will cut me
off at the thrum.

251
00:15:16,000 –> 00:15:20,440
And that’s interesting because
the thrum was the fringe of the

252
00:15:20,440 –> 00:15:25,320
unwoven ends that were left on
the loom when the completed

253
00:15:25,440 –> 00:15:28,320
cloth was cut off by the
weaver’s shears.

254
00:15:28,760 –> 00:15:32,360
So at the end of the completion
of the weaving of a cloth, the

255
00:15:32,360 –> 00:15:34,880
shears would cut off and just
leave the thrum, leave the

256
00:15:35,080 –> 00:15:38,720
tangled threads at the end.
But you see, for his a car, it

257
00:15:38,720 –> 00:15:41,240
was as if the tapestry of his
life had been cut away before

258
00:15:41,240 –> 00:15:44,240
the cloth was finished, before
the pattern was completed.

259
00:15:44,600 –> 00:15:49,640
His life was about to finish,
The cloth was still not

260
00:15:49,640 –> 00:15:53,640
complete, but the weaving was
over, and the seers had come.

261
00:15:54,800 –> 00:15:57,640
In fact, he says, from day even
to night, wilt thou make an end

262
00:15:57,640 –> 00:16:00,160
of me?
Seen as if God had determined on

263
00:16:00,160 –> 00:16:03,920
His premature death and the end
was so, so close now, so real

264
00:16:03,920 –> 00:16:07,800
that He quailed at the thought.
He tried, of course he tried to

265
00:16:07,800 –> 00:16:10,640
compose himself.
He says that verse 13, I, I

266
00:16:10,640 –> 00:16:12,720
reckoned, he says until the
morning.

267
00:16:13,000 –> 00:16:15,240
That word reckoned shava to
level.

268
00:16:15,560 –> 00:16:19,400
Well, it’s been translated to
compose, to adjust, to quiet.

269
00:16:20,000 –> 00:16:24,960
It’s the word found in Psalm
131, verse 2, which says I have

270
00:16:24,960 –> 00:16:27,520
behaved myself.
And I think what we’re being

271
00:16:27,520 –> 00:16:32,600
told is that in the night time,
he tried to calm and soothe his

272
00:16:32,600 –> 00:16:38,360
emotions, hoping for relief to
come, but it was all to no avail

273
00:16:39,960 –> 00:16:42,080
because the next morning brought
no improvement at all.

274
00:16:42,080 –> 00:16:45,080
Instead, the agony of his
suffering grew worse because in

275
00:16:45,080 –> 00:16:47,640
the morning, what he found was
that as a lion, so will he break

276
00:16:47,640 –> 00:16:50,240
all my bones.
And the Hebrew reads in the past

277
00:16:50,240 –> 00:16:52,720
tensed, he did break all my
bones.

278
00:16:52,960 –> 00:16:57,240
So such was the physical and
mental anguish of his illness

279
00:16:57,240 –> 00:17:00,600
that he felt bruised and crushed
and shattered by it.

280
00:17:02,400 –> 00:17:06,440
From day even to night will
they’ll make an end of me.

281
00:17:06,720 –> 00:17:08,160
Isn’t that interesting, that
phrase?

282
00:17:08,160 –> 00:17:09,599
Because isn’t that what he’s
just said?

283
00:17:09,599 –> 00:17:12,640
At the end of verse 12, from day
even to night, that won’t make

284
00:17:12,640 –> 00:17:14,280
an end of me.
And now again, at the end of

285
00:17:14,280 –> 00:17:17,280
verse 13, from day even to
night, that won’t make an end of

286
00:17:17,280 –> 00:17:19,119
me.
You know, one of the things, one

287
00:17:19,119 –> 00:17:24,880
of the marks of people under
severe stress is that we repeat

288
00:17:24,880 –> 00:17:28,000
phrases over and over.
Our brains are numbed by the

289
00:17:28,000 –> 00:17:31,920
crisis and we lock onto a word
or a phrase or an expression and

290
00:17:31,920 –> 00:17:35,240
we just, we, we, it comes back
and back and back into our mind

291
00:17:35,240 –> 00:17:36,760
as if we can’t break free from
it.

292
00:17:36,960 –> 00:17:40,800
So he uses the same words.
He felt his life was going to be

293
00:17:40,800 –> 00:17:44,600
all over very soon.
Actually, there’s a sort of

294
00:17:44,600 –> 00:17:49,240
similar phrase in Job 4 verse 20
that says they are destroyed

295
00:17:49,240 –> 00:17:54,040
from morning to evening.
And I think that the import of

296
00:17:54,040 –> 00:17:56,880
that phrase in Job was that is
in the shortest space of

297
00:17:56,880 –> 00:18:00,800
possible time, in the space or
span of just a single day, from

298
00:18:00,800 –> 00:18:02,760
1:00 morning to it’s evening,
it’s all over.

299
00:18:03,760 –> 00:18:06,720
And that’s in his despair, how
Hezekiah felt his whole whole

300
00:18:06,720 –> 00:18:10,080
life would soon be finished.
And all that was left was the

301
00:18:10,080 –> 00:18:14,600
unbearable problem, the pain of
his condition and the

302
00:18:14,600 –> 00:18:16,400
unnouchable problem of its
meaning.

303
00:18:19,840 –> 00:18:21,960
Many of you will know about the
stages of grief.

304
00:18:24,480 –> 00:18:29,640
It moves from that moment of
denial to the moment of

305
00:18:30,200 –> 00:18:35,520
emotional angst that it has even
occurred, to the question of how

306
00:18:35,520 –> 00:18:40,120
it might finally be accepted,
and then the question of how you

307
00:18:40,120 –> 00:18:41,600
might actually move on from
that.

308
00:18:41,840 –> 00:18:43,600
Griefs like a set of stages,
isn’t it?

309
00:18:43,600 –> 00:18:46,560
That passes through a stage.
And the early stages are where

310
00:18:46,560 –> 00:18:49,440
we struggle to accept even the
reality of the thing itself as

311
00:18:49,440 –> 00:18:52,120
where his account was.
It’s where we all are, brothers

312
00:18:52,120 –> 00:18:54,440
and sisters.
In such a journey, in such a

313
00:18:54,440 –> 00:18:58,560
crisis, it’s totally
understandable that we pass

314
00:18:58,560 –> 00:19:01,720
through such stages.
In fact, what he says, verse 14,

315
00:19:01,840 –> 00:19:04,000
he says like a crane or a
swallow.

316
00:19:04,120 –> 00:19:06,520
So did I chatter?
I did mourn as a dove.

317
00:19:06,720 –> 00:19:09,320
Now, the interesting thing about
the swallow and the crane is

318
00:19:09,320 –> 00:19:12,560
that they’re both noted for
their strident cry.

319
00:19:13,720 –> 00:19:17,040
And the dove is known for her
plaintive sound.

320
00:19:17,240 –> 00:19:20,640
So you see these song, these
birds didn’t make joyous songs.

321
00:19:20,880 –> 00:19:25,480
They all had the cry of anguish
and the call of morning.

322
00:19:25,640 –> 00:19:28,000
And he said, that’s the birds
I’m thinking of at this time.

323
00:19:28,000 –> 00:19:30,960
That’s how I feel.
He says the morning cry of these

324
00:19:30,960 –> 00:19:34,400
birds, they were the sounds that
captured the misery and the

325
00:19:34,400 –> 00:19:39,280
tears which Hezekiah felt at
this time that he says, verse 14

326
00:19:39,560 –> 00:19:42,840
mine eyes fail with looking
upward.

327
00:19:43,000 –> 00:19:47,000
He besought God and prayed so
much in this trial that he was

328
00:19:47,000 –> 00:19:52,360
exhausted from looking up into
heaven as he pleaded, but it

329
00:19:52,360 –> 00:19:58,240
still seemed that no answer came
and so he says, oh Yahweh, I am

330
00:19:58,280 –> 00:20:00,800
oppressed.
Now, even in the English we know

331
00:20:00,800 –> 00:20:02,720
that the word oppressed carries
that idea of.

332
00:20:03,160 –> 00:20:07,840
Pressing down, forcing down,
crushing weight, keeping someone

333
00:20:07,840 –> 00:20:10,640
in subjection and hardship to
press against.

334
00:20:10,800 –> 00:20:12,760
And that’s what the Hebrew word
means here.

335
00:20:12,960 –> 00:20:15,840
Here’s a car felt as if he was
under the pressure of a

336
00:20:15,920 –> 00:20:20,480
merciless creditor who was
demanding the repayment of a

337
00:20:20,480 –> 00:20:22,280
debt who could not, He couldn’t
pay.

338
00:20:22,280 –> 00:20:25,520
And so he cries.
Oh Yahweh, I am oppressed.

339
00:20:25,560 –> 00:20:29,920
Undertake for me.
And that word undertake means to

340
00:20:29,920 –> 00:20:34,040
give pledge or to become a
guarantor, he says, I can’t pay

341
00:20:34,040 –> 00:20:37,360
it.
Oh, God, please become my

342
00:20:37,360 –> 00:20:39,160
guarantor.
Because the guarantor, of

343
00:20:39,160 –> 00:20:42,920
course, was one who was prepared
on behalf of someone else to pay

344
00:20:42,920 –> 00:20:45,400
the bond that would release the
defendant.

345
00:20:45,560 –> 00:20:47,920
Oh, Yahweh, become my security,
he says.

346
00:20:48,080 –> 00:20:52,240
So death was the creditor asking
for immediate payment, and his

347
00:20:52,240 –> 00:20:54,800
akaya was the debtor who could
not pay.

348
00:20:56,240 –> 00:21:00,280
Oh, Yahweh, wilt thou act for me
and be my security?

349
00:21:00,440 –> 00:21:04,400
He’s at his lowest moment at
this point in the writing of

350
00:21:04,400 –> 00:21:08,200
Hezekiah verse 14.
He’s at the bottom.

351
00:21:10,800 –> 00:21:15,560
But when all seemed lost and
Isaiah had come and gone with

352
00:21:15,560 –> 00:21:19,560
the message that his illness
would kill him, the amazing

353
00:21:19,560 –> 00:21:21,920
return of the prophet and the
miracle of his reprieve had

354
00:21:21,920 –> 00:21:23,800
come.
And so now we’ve got the second

355
00:21:23,800 –> 00:21:26,800
part of the writing because,
well, it follows hard on the

356
00:21:26,800 –> 00:21:29,960
heels, you see.
So if the first section of the

357
00:21:29,960 –> 00:21:34,760
writing was about his despair at
the prospect of death, then the

358
00:21:34,760 –> 00:21:39,440
second-half of the writing is
about as delight at the promise

359
00:21:39,440 –> 00:21:42,680
of life.
Verses 15 to 20.

360
00:21:44,760 –> 00:21:47,200
And there’s another little
keyword, you see, that marks out

361
00:21:47,200 –> 00:21:50,560
the beginning and the change.
What shall I say?

362
00:21:52,800 –> 00:21:56,320
Previously I had said it’s about
his previous anguish.

363
00:21:56,400 –> 00:22:01,240
Now what shall I say is about
his future gladness?

364
00:22:02,160 –> 00:22:04,600
This is the moment when the
Psalm changes, where the writing

365
00:22:04,600 –> 00:22:06,560
alters because the reprieve has
come.

366
00:22:09,360 –> 00:22:11,840
So he says, verse 15, What shall
I say?

367
00:22:13,080 –> 00:22:15,520
You see, this is the confession
of a man who’d been brought low

368
00:22:15,520 –> 00:22:19,360
and then rendered almost
speechless by the surprise of

369
00:22:19,360 –> 00:22:22,640
his restoration.
It was his unexpected

370
00:22:22,640 –> 00:22:24,960
deliverance which left him
struggling to find words.

371
00:22:25,040 –> 00:22:27,200
I don’t know what to say.
He says, What shall I say?

372
00:22:27,400 –> 00:22:31,560
What can I say to the answer
that had come by the mouth of of

373
00:22:31,560 –> 00:22:34,120
the prophet Isaiah?
In fact, he says at the end of

374
00:22:34,120 –> 00:22:36,840
that verse, he hath both.
That’s God, of course.

375
00:22:37,120 –> 00:22:42,680
He hath both spoken unto me and
himself hath done it.

376
00:22:43,360 –> 00:22:46,800
See, God had promised his
deliverance, verse 5, but now he

377
00:22:46,800 –> 00:22:50,560
brought it to pass.
He’d felt the healing.

378
00:22:50,880 –> 00:22:53,680
And so from this point, the
writing of Hezekiah would move

379
00:22:53,880 –> 00:22:57,880
from the depression that gripped
him to the gladness of

380
00:22:57,880 –> 00:23:03,000
deliverance.
And so he says in verse 15, What

381
00:23:03,000 –> 00:23:05,560
shall I say?
He hath both spoken unto me and

382
00:23:05,560 –> 00:23:09,080
himself have done it.
I shall go softly all my years

383
00:23:09,320 –> 00:23:12,640
in the bitterness of my soul.
See, this was a time for a new

384
00:23:12,640 –> 00:23:14,760
commitment before his God,
starting right now.

385
00:23:16,560 –> 00:23:19,720
So here’s one of the lessons
that comes out of the story,

386
00:23:19,720 –> 00:23:30,560
brothers and sisters.
We can’t choose our trials, but

387
00:23:30,560 –> 00:23:36,760
we can choose whether we will
allow them to mark us for good

388
00:23:36,760 –> 00:23:44,040
or for evil before our God.
You see, with some, the effect

389
00:23:44,040 –> 00:23:47,720
of trial is to move them further
away from God as they brood on

390
00:23:47,720 –> 00:23:49,680
the injustice of their own
position.

391
00:23:52,240 –> 00:23:55,600
And with others, the same trial
can have the effect of drawing

392
00:23:55,600 –> 00:24:00,080
them closer to God as they
humble themselves to learn and

393
00:24:00,080 –> 00:24:01,920
to change.
And Hezekiah chose.

394
00:24:02,040 –> 00:24:06,680
He chose to have this experience
shape him for the better with

395
00:24:06,680 –> 00:24:11,040
regard to his future service.
Now, incidentally, most

396
00:24:11,040 –> 00:24:14,960
translations read that section
at the end of verse 15 as

397
00:24:14,960 –> 00:24:18,640
follows.
I shall go softly all my years

398
00:24:19,280 –> 00:24:23,280
because of the bitterness of my
soul.

399
00:24:23,840 –> 00:24:26,280
He wasn’t going to stay in his
bitterness.

400
00:24:26,560 –> 00:24:31,160
He was going to walk differently
because of his bitterness and

401
00:24:31,160 –> 00:24:33,800
how he would permit it to affect
him.

402
00:24:33,960 –> 00:24:35,880
In fact, you see that word go
softly there.

403
00:24:36,240 –> 00:24:39,560
That word is only found in one
other place in Scripture.

404
00:24:39,880 –> 00:24:44,880
It’s the word used in Psalm 42,
verse 4 when it says this.

405
00:24:46,400 –> 00:24:50,320
I had gone with the multitude I
went with them to the House of

406
00:24:50,320 –> 00:24:53,520
God with the voice of joy and
praise with a multitude that

407
00:24:53,520 –> 00:24:57,680
kept holy day and in that verse
in the Psalm, the words I went

408
00:24:57,680 –> 00:25:00,520
with them to the House of God.
I went with them.

409
00:25:00,680 –> 00:25:04,040
Is that same word translated
goes softly here.

410
00:25:04,960 –> 00:25:10,400
So the word refers to the sacred
March of those who walked in

411
00:25:10,400 –> 00:25:14,560
procession to the temple.
Now, Hezekiah focused all his

412
00:25:14,560 –> 00:25:18,840
life on the House of God and the
worship of Yahweh there, and so

413
00:25:18,840 –> 00:25:24,080
he vows to use the experience of
this crisis to frame his

414
00:25:24,080 –> 00:25:28,080
thinking so that he would always
behave with the reverence and

415
00:25:28,080 –> 00:25:31,240
the humility of one who was
ascending to the House of God.

416
00:25:31,600 –> 00:25:33,520
He’s making a commitment,
brothers and sisters, that he

417
00:25:33,520 –> 00:25:37,400
would use the blessing of these
next 15 years just as wisely as

418
00:25:37,400 –> 00:25:40,880
he could and always with the
truth uppermost in his mind.

419
00:25:41,080 –> 00:25:43,840
That was the spirit that he had.
It’s a wonderful spirit to have,

420
00:25:44,600 –> 00:25:47,240
in other words, translated into
ourselves.

421
00:25:50,080 –> 00:25:52,960
It’s like we’re going to walk as
if we were just coming into the

422
00:25:53,520 –> 00:25:59,840
meeting every hour of our lives.
We’re just about to enter the

423
00:25:59,840 –> 00:26:03,080
meeting hall now.
What a good spirit that would be

424
00:26:03,120 –> 00:26:06,000
to walk each day as if that’s
where we were going.

425
00:26:06,400 –> 00:26:10,360
So in the second section,
firstly, then a pain of praise

426
00:26:10,360 –> 00:26:15,320
in these verses for the thanks
that he had for the extension of

427
00:26:15,320 –> 00:26:19,840
his life and a decision to walk
in reverence for restoration.

428
00:26:21,000 –> 00:26:24,640
And then in verses 18 to 20,
he’s going to have, he’s going

429
00:26:24,640 –> 00:26:28,520
to make a vow of commitment to
teach the truth and give a

430
00:26:28,520 –> 00:26:32,480
promise that he would renew his
praises of his God.

431
00:26:33,280 –> 00:26:35,160
So here’s the spirit then of the
king.

432
00:26:35,880 –> 00:26:38,800
He was going to use this
opportunity in just the very

433
00:26:38,800 –> 00:26:42,960
best way he could, this
extension of life that had been

434
00:26:43,200 –> 00:26:46,320
granted unto him.
So you see what he says in verse

435
00:26:46,320 –> 00:26:50,160
16.
He says, O Yahweh, by these

436
00:26:50,160 –> 00:26:53,480
things men live.
Now what do you think that

437
00:26:53,480 –> 00:26:55,960
means?
By what things?

438
00:26:57,560 –> 00:27:02,440
Well, I think the context links
to verse 15 and the words of

439
00:27:02,440 –> 00:27:07,160
promised restoration that God
had uttered by these things, the

440
00:27:07,160 –> 00:27:10,400
word that God had spoken.
Do you remember Deuteronomy 8

441
00:27:10,400 –> 00:27:13,480
verse three?
Man doth not live by bread

442
00:27:13,480 –> 00:27:19,520
alone, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of

443
00:27:19,520 –> 00:27:25,360
Yahweh doth man live.
We live by the Word of God.

444
00:27:26,240 –> 00:27:29,040
You see, we all live by virtue
of the edicts of Yahweh that

445
00:27:29,040 –> 00:27:32,200
determines the governance of the
world and the declarations of

446
00:27:32,200 –> 00:27:34,520
God that outline the workings of
His Providence.

447
00:27:34,560 –> 00:27:37,280
In these things all men live.
But I think Hezekiah had

448
00:27:37,280 –> 00:27:39,640
something more unique and
personal in mind.

449
00:27:39,840 –> 00:27:43,080
He felt a connection with the
thought that we live under the

450
00:27:43,080 –> 00:27:46,920
sovereign hand of He whose word
alone can destroy or create.

451
00:27:47,160 –> 00:27:50,920
But in his life it meant this.
As he goes on to say in all

452
00:27:50,920 –> 00:27:55,040
these things he says is the life
of my spirit.

453
00:27:55,640 –> 00:27:58,760
So Rotherham says and all
together in them is the life of

454
00:27:59,000 –> 00:28:02,720
my spirit because you see he had
special reason to confess this

455
00:28:02,720 –> 00:28:05,280
truth.
God had spoken a word to him,

456
00:28:06,600 –> 00:28:12,160
verse 15, that promised his
recovery from illness that had

457
00:28:12,160 –> 00:28:14,840
threatened him by the word of
God, men live.

458
00:28:14,840 –> 00:28:17,520
But I especially so says
Hezekiah.

459
00:28:17,760 –> 00:28:20,840
And I wonder whether those 15
years that were granted to the

460
00:28:20,840 –> 00:28:27,720
king were counted by Hezekiah as
been especially and uniquely now

461
00:28:28,240 –> 00:28:32,080
the life of his spirit.
You see, he hadn’t he hadn’t

462
00:28:32,080 –> 00:28:36,520
just been restored to health.
He’d been given a fresh start to

463
00:28:36,520 –> 00:28:40,200
repeat his reign.
He wanted to use that winding

464
00:28:40,200 –> 00:28:43,760
back of the clock of his life
just as spiritually as he

465
00:28:43,760 –> 00:28:49,160
possibly could.
And so he says in verse 16, So

466
00:28:49,160 –> 00:28:52,400
wilt thou recover me and make me
to live.

467
00:28:52,640 –> 00:28:56,600
Actually, most translations
render the phrase in the past

468
00:28:56,600 –> 00:29:00,440
tense.
For thou hast recovered me and

469
00:29:00,640 –> 00:29:04,040
made me to live.
And I think that past tense as

470
00:29:04,040 –> 00:29:06,480
of something already
accomplished is highly

471
00:29:06,480 –> 00:29:08,760
appropriate here.
Because remember what we’ve

472
00:29:08,760 –> 00:29:12,000
already been told in verse 9 at
the start of this writing.

473
00:29:12,120 –> 00:29:17,160
This was the writing of Hezekiah
when he had been sick and was

474
00:29:17,240 –> 00:29:20,680
recovered of his sickness.
And so the past tense here, I

475
00:29:20,680 –> 00:29:25,720
think in verse 16, similarly is
appropriate to what Hezekiah has

476
00:29:25,720 –> 00:29:30,840
in mind.
Behold, he says verse 17 for

477
00:29:30,840 –> 00:29:33,600
peace.
I had great bitterness.

478
00:29:35,280 –> 00:29:39,720
Do you know this is one of those
occasions where the Hebrew

479
00:29:39,720 –> 00:29:43,800
actually conveys the very
opposite idea to the English?

480
00:29:45,560 –> 00:29:51,360
Because the sense of the Hebrew
is, behold, it was for my peace

481
00:29:52,480 –> 00:29:55,560
that I had such bitterness, such
bitterness.

482
00:29:55,640 –> 00:29:57,880
Because the word bitterness is
repeated, it’s doubled in the

483
00:29:57,880 –> 00:30:01,480
Hebrew text.
It was for my peace that I have

484
00:30:01,480 –> 00:30:03,960
had such bitterness, such
bitterness.

485
00:30:04,200 –> 00:30:09,360
So Hezekiah’s response after his
recovery was to see the whole

486
00:30:09,360 –> 00:30:13,680
episode as a provision from
Yahweh for his spiritual

487
00:30:13,760 –> 00:30:17,040
development.
This bitterness, he says, has

488
00:30:17,040 –> 00:30:19,920
been ultimately for my good and
for my peace and the word peace.

489
00:30:19,920 –> 00:30:22,960
Shalom, of course, means not
just peace, but also safety and

490
00:30:22,960 –> 00:30:25,240
welfare.
It’s for my good that God’s done

491
00:30:25,240 –> 00:30:27,320
this in my life.
You see, that’s the response of

492
00:30:27,320 –> 00:30:30,480
a godly mind.
It’s the Spirit that produces

493
00:30:30,480 –> 00:30:32,640
growth in our lives.
But and sisters, when we

494
00:30:32,640 –> 00:30:35,920
recognize that that bitterness
that has come upon us, Yahweh’s

495
00:30:35,920 –> 00:30:39,600
used it for good in our lives to
develop our character before

496
00:30:39,600 –> 00:30:43,920
him, and Yahweh had intended the
whole experience for his good

497
00:30:44,040 –> 00:30:47,880
and for Hezekiah’s benefit.
But it’s Hezekiah’s wonderful

498
00:30:47,880 –> 00:30:52,240
attitude in accepting that
thought that’s so excitational

499
00:30:52,240 –> 00:30:56,320
to us as we go through the
crises of our own life that he

500
00:30:56,320 –> 00:31:00,120
says in the middle of verse 17,
Thou hast in love to my soul,

501
00:31:00,120 –> 00:31:01,920
delivered it from the pit of
corruption.

502
00:31:02,200 –> 00:31:04,320
Do you notice the words
delivered it and not in the

503
00:31:04,320 –> 00:31:08,760
Hebrew?
And the margin is better.

504
00:31:09,560 –> 00:31:11,920
The margin says, and I think
rightly so.

505
00:31:12,320 –> 00:31:17,440
Thou hast loved my soul from the
pit.

506
00:31:18,760 –> 00:31:21,000
So this turns love into a verb,
doesn’t it?

507
00:31:21,000 –> 00:31:24,120
Very much.
It’s a very tender expression

508
00:31:24,120 –> 00:31:26,440
when you think about it.
It’s as if God, having seen his

509
00:31:26,440 –> 00:31:29,320
servant slipping into the pit of
death, had reached out to

510
00:31:29,320 –> 00:31:33,240
embrace him, had bound his cords
of love around him, and hauled

511
00:31:33,240 –> 00:31:35,120
him back from the edge to
safety.

512
00:31:36,080 –> 00:31:37,880
He’s loved me out of the pit, he
says.

513
00:31:38,600 –> 00:31:40,880
And you know, brothers and
sisters, before our Lord comes,

514
00:31:40,880 –> 00:31:43,880
and if our Lord tarry, there
might be many of us who finally

515
00:31:43,880 –> 00:31:45,680
are in the pit before the Lord
has come.

516
00:31:45,840 –> 00:31:48,680
But it is our hope and our
prayer that God will love us out

517
00:31:48,680 –> 00:31:51,000
of the pit again at the coming
of our Lord.

518
00:31:51,920 –> 00:31:54,800
And he did that for Hezekiah on
this occasion as a dramatic

519
00:31:54,800 –> 00:31:59,120
illustration of what we all hope
in terms of the reality of death

520
00:31:59,320 –> 00:32:02,840
being removed by the blessing of
eternal life in times to come.

521
00:32:03,360 –> 00:32:06,400
And because God had hauled him
back to safety, back from the

522
00:32:06,440 –> 00:32:11,080
edge, loved him out of the pit,
because God had done that, he

523
00:32:11,080 –> 00:32:16,240
felt his akaya felt at the end
of verse 17 that he had cast all

524
00:32:16,240 –> 00:32:19,840
his sins behind his back.
He reasoned that his recovery

525
00:32:19,840 –> 00:32:22,760
must also signify his
forgiveness.

526
00:32:24,200 –> 00:32:30,240
And for God to cast all his sins
behind his back, meant to cast

527
00:32:30,240 –> 00:32:37,600
them to a place where they can
neither be seen or remembered.

528
00:32:41,600 –> 00:32:43,760
God can do what we can’t,
brothers and sisters.

529
00:32:47,040 –> 00:32:54,320
We forgive and try to forgive.
We find it very hard to forget.

530
00:32:57,200 –> 00:33:00,400
God can forgive so completely
that it’s as if our sins have

531
00:33:00,400 –> 00:33:04,120
been cast behind his back and he
truly remembers them no more.

532
00:33:07,080 –> 00:33:09,480
It’s an astounding blessing, the
forgiveness of God.

533
00:33:11,400 –> 00:33:12,920
And that’s how Hezekiah felt
right now.

534
00:33:15,040 –> 00:33:18,600
So he says verse 18 For the
grave cannot praise thee, death

535
00:33:18,600 –> 00:33:21,240
cannot celebrate thee.
They that go down to the pit

536
00:33:21,240 –> 00:33:23,840
cannot hope for thy truth.
You know, it’s interesting.

537
00:33:24,000 –> 00:33:26,520
We shan’t turn them up because
we haven’t got time.

538
00:33:26,800 –> 00:33:34,040
But if you make a note of Psalm
6 verse 5, Psalm 88 verses

539
00:33:34,040 –> 00:33:44,600
11:50, Psalm 115 verses 17 and
18, Ecclesiastes 9 verses 5 and

540
00:33:44,600 –> 00:33:49,440
10, the similarities between
those expressions in those other

541
00:33:49,440 –> 00:33:54,040
places in Hezekiah’s words are
so marked and so strong that I

542
00:33:54,040 –> 00:33:57,160
wonder whether in fact, through
the Spirit, he’s quoting from

543
00:33:57,160 –> 00:34:00,640
them in his writing.
It’s a spirit inspired utterance

544
00:34:00,640 –> 00:34:05,160
of Hezekiah drawing on other
testimonies about mortality, the

545
00:34:05,160 –> 00:34:09,679
fundamental doctrine of the
truth that teaches that death is

546
00:34:09,679 –> 00:34:12,320
the cessation of existence.
Because that’s what Hezekiah

547
00:34:12,320 –> 00:34:15,239
believed, as he says in this
verse, that in the state of

548
00:34:15,239 –> 00:34:19,199
death man cannot think, cannot
praise, cannot hope in God.

549
00:34:19,400 –> 00:34:24,320
And yet again, verse 11, as
verse 11 had said, Hezekiah was

550
00:34:24,320 –> 00:34:28,520
the most distressed at the
thought that he would lose the

551
00:34:28,520 –> 00:34:30,199
privilege of communing with his
God.

552
00:34:30,639 –> 00:34:34,480
And that’s the thing he rejoices
at the most with the promise of

553
00:34:34,480 –> 00:34:37,960
this renewed life.
It meant for him the chance to

554
00:34:37,960 –> 00:34:44,159
come again before his God in
praise, the blessing of

555
00:34:44,159 –> 00:34:47,840
fellowship with God.
Well, that rank is one of the

556
00:34:47,840 –> 00:34:50,280
things we would fear losing.
It was for Hezekiah.

557
00:34:50,280 –> 00:34:54,000
You see, this was the man whose
relationship with his God was so

558
00:34:54,199 –> 00:34:58,400
very deep and very strong that
he felt that most of all.

559
00:34:58,400 –> 00:35:01,480
And so he says with tears of
thankfulness, verse 19, the

560
00:35:01,480 –> 00:35:05,280
living, the living, He shall
praise thee as I do this day.

561
00:35:06,160 –> 00:35:10,360
The father to the children shall
make known thy truth.

562
00:35:12,000 –> 00:35:15,840
Now it’s been observed, and
rightly so, that in these 15

563
00:35:15,840 –> 00:35:20,120
years that were added to him,
Hezekiah did marry and he did

564
00:35:20,120 –> 00:35:23,720
have a child through whom the
Davidic line might be continued.

565
00:35:24,280 –> 00:35:28,160
But you notice it’s not child
singular here, the father to the

566
00:35:28,160 –> 00:35:31,840
child, it’s the father to the
children.

567
00:35:33,600 –> 00:35:37,800
And Hezekiah had more children
plural than simply the son of

568
00:35:37,800 –> 00:35:41,680
his own bells.
He was the spiritual father of

569
00:35:41,680 –> 00:35:43,520
the nation.
And I think that this was his

570
00:35:43,520 –> 00:35:47,840
vow in this verse, verse 19.
This was his vow to continue

571
00:35:47,840 –> 00:35:50,720
working with the nation.
In fact, he’d already said these

572
00:35:50,720 –> 00:35:54,680
words in Isaiah 37, verse 3.
The children are come to the

573
00:35:54,680 –> 00:35:58,040
birth, he says, and there’s not
strength to bring them forth.

574
00:35:58,200 –> 00:36:01,880
And now he says, the father to
the children shall make know thy

575
00:36:01,880 –> 00:36:04,920
truth, because now that he had
his strength back again, he had

576
00:36:04,920 –> 00:36:08,960
with it the determination to use
his time in teaching the truth

577
00:36:08,960 –> 00:36:12,440
to those children, the nation he
was working with, to spiritually

578
00:36:12,440 –> 00:36:14,720
reform them.
And that’s his pledge right now,

579
00:36:14,880 –> 00:36:18,680
at this moment of recovery, the
father to the children shall

580
00:36:18,680 –> 00:36:21,360
make know thy truth.
We’re going to examine shortly,

581
00:36:21,360 –> 00:36:25,040
brothers and sisters, just how
completely Hezekiah fulfilled

582
00:36:25,040 –> 00:36:32,400
that commitment that he made.
So he says verse 20, Yahweh was

583
00:36:32,400 –> 00:36:36,640
ready to save me, therefore we
will sing my songs to the

584
00:36:36,640 –> 00:36:39,840
stringed instruments all the
days of our life in the House of

585
00:36:39,840 –> 00:36:42,600
Yahweh.
Now did you read that carefully?

586
00:36:43,120 –> 00:36:51,160
Yahweh was ready to save me,
therefore we will sing my songs

587
00:36:51,200 –> 00:36:55,400
all the days of our life.
Now who’s the we in the air?

588
00:36:56,160 –> 00:36:58,840
Well, I think the answer is the
nation that he was teaching, not

589
00:36:58,840 –> 00:37:00,960
just a child of his own.
He wasn’t just going to sing his

590
00:37:00,960 –> 00:37:03,280
songs in the temple with his own
family.

591
00:37:03,400 –> 00:37:06,720
He wanted to guide the nation
and he wanted them to understand

592
00:37:06,720 –> 00:37:09,160
the meaning of this deliverance.
We’re all in this together, he

593
00:37:09,160 –> 00:37:11,120
says.
In fact, he wrote this Psalm so

594
00:37:11,120 –> 00:37:13,640
that the nation might learn.
And he wanted to bring the whole

595
00:37:13,640 –> 00:37:17,160
nation on a journey of discovery
as to how God had providentially

596
00:37:17,160 –> 00:37:21,920
worked in his life, but also in
theirs at this moment and at

597
00:37:21,920 –> 00:37:26,880
this time of crisis.
And so now the writing is ended

598
00:37:26,880 –> 00:37:31,760
and his Psalm was complete.
There’s two other details about

599
00:37:31,760 –> 00:37:35,040
the lump of figs and the sign
going up to the house, verses 21

600
00:37:35,040 –> 00:37:39,720
and 22, that actually in the in
the King’s record are added much

601
00:37:39,760 –> 00:37:42,840
earlier in the story.
And so they should come between

602
00:37:42,840 –> 00:37:45,960
Isaiah 38 verse 6 and Isaiah 38
verse 7.

603
00:37:46,360 –> 00:37:48,680
But because it concerned the
matter of recovery, I think

604
00:37:48,680 –> 00:37:53,000
Isaiah, at least for one reason,
put it at the end of the Psalm,

605
00:37:53,400 –> 00:37:56,000
because it was consistent with
his theme of pointing out the

606
00:37:56,000 –> 00:38:01,320
recovery of the king.
So now his Psalm has ended.

607
00:38:03,160 –> 00:38:05,160
And that vow that he made.
Verse 20.

608
00:38:05,160 –> 00:38:09,240
We will sing my songs all the
days of our life in the House of

609
00:38:09,240 –> 00:38:10,800
Yahweh.
They were not empty words.

610
00:38:10,840 –> 00:38:12,480
He was going to make good on
them.

611
00:38:12,720 –> 00:38:16,200
In fact, we have good reason to
believe that Hezekiah threw

612
00:38:16,200 –> 00:38:20,360
himself into the work of the
truth with even more vigor than

613
00:38:20,360 –> 00:38:24,160
he’d shown before his illness.
He redoubled his efforts, and

614
00:38:24,160 –> 00:38:27,600
especially in the work of
preserving the truth for the

615
00:38:27,600 –> 00:38:32,920
generation that he was guiding.
And that there to sing those

616
00:38:32,920 –> 00:38:37,520
songs was significant because
Hezekiah was going to edit and

617
00:38:37,520 –> 00:38:41,280
produce a whole section of the
Book of Psalms in commemoration

618
00:38:41,280 –> 00:38:46,680
of this one episode in his life,
and to fulfil the vow of verse

619
00:38:46,680 –> 00:38:50,920
20.
And that section of Psalms which

620
00:38:50,920 –> 00:38:55,840
he wrote in honour of that
pledge is of course this section

621
00:38:56,840 –> 00:39:01,760
known as the Song of the
Degrees.

622
00:39:05,040 –> 00:39:06,720
Now do you notice the definite
article?

623
00:39:08,800 –> 00:39:15,840
So the Song of the Degrees is
Psalms 120 to 134, and every one

624
00:39:15,840 –> 00:39:22,760
of those Psalms bears the same
title, a song of the degrees and

625
00:39:22,760 –> 00:39:24,920
that word degrees.
Therefore, and the use of the

626
00:39:24,920 –> 00:39:28,600
definite article indicates that
the word degrees had some

627
00:39:28,600 –> 00:39:32,360
concrete and specific meaning
that was associated with this

628
00:39:32,360 –> 00:39:37,840
particular set of psalms.
Now the only incident in

629
00:39:37,840 –> 00:39:43,200
Scripture that bears any
relation to that word is the

630
00:39:43,200 –> 00:39:47,840
degrees or the steps or the
stairs, which figured in the

631
00:39:47,840 –> 00:39:50,520
miraculous sign given to
Hezekiah.

632
00:39:52,840 –> 00:39:56,680
So we’re not surprised to find
that the word degrees in every

633
00:39:56,680 –> 00:40:04,960
one of those psalms is MA Allah,
the same word translated degrees

634
00:40:05,120 –> 00:40:11,520
in Isaiah 38 verse 8.
And what’s interesting about

635
00:40:11,520 –> 00:40:21,840
those psalms is there are.
Why 15 of them 15 psalms,

636
00:40:24,120 –> 00:40:29,080
answering to 15 years of
additional life that was granted

637
00:40:29,080 –> 00:40:32,680
to the king.
So when he put them together, he

638
00:40:34,360 –> 00:40:39,680
composed 15, set, 15 psalms
together, not all his own, but

639
00:40:39,680 –> 00:40:44,000
the collection came to 15.
And there’s a symmetry to the

640
00:40:44,000 –> 00:40:49,240
collection because the very
middle Psalm out of those 15 was

641
00:40:49,240 –> 00:40:52,640
actually written by Solomon,
Psalm 127.

642
00:40:53,040 –> 00:40:57,680
But on either side are two sets
of seven, and in each of those

643
00:40:57,680 –> 00:41:04,120
sets of seven psalms, 120 to 126
and 128 to 134, each of those

644
00:41:04,120 –> 00:41:07,000
have got two psalms written by
David and the rest probably by

645
00:41:07,200 –> 00:41:14,480
Hezekiah.
And that 15 psalms are also

646
00:41:14,480 –> 00:41:19,080
divided or divisible into five
sets of three, which follows a

647
00:41:19,080 –> 00:41:21,960
theme of distress and trust and
blessing.

648
00:41:22,160 –> 00:41:24,360
And we suggest that these are
the songs referred to in

649
00:41:24,360 –> 00:41:29,440
Isaiah’s, sorry, Hezekiah’s Vow
in Isaiah 38 and verse 20.

650
00:41:29,520 –> 00:41:31,280
Now let me show you the
structure of those psalms just

651
00:41:31,280 –> 00:41:33,640
so you see what I mean,
particularly in that last

652
00:41:33,640 –> 00:41:36,800
section so that it’s made plain.
So five sets.

653
00:41:36,920 –> 00:41:42,400
The first set, the second set,
the third set to get the idea,

654
00:41:42,840 –> 00:41:48,400
the 4th set, the 5th set, 15
psalms, 5 sets of three.

655
00:41:50,040 –> 00:41:54,520
But in each case, the first
Psalm in each set is on the

656
00:41:54,520 –> 00:42:01,000
theme of distress, and the
second Psalm in each set is on

657
00:42:01,000 –> 00:42:06,840
the theme of trust, and the
third Psalm in each set is on

658
00:42:06,840 –> 00:42:11,280
the theme of blessing.
You see, these psalms are the

659
00:42:11,280 –> 00:42:15,120
story of Hezekiah’s crisis, the
threat of the Assyrian invasion,

660
00:42:16,600 –> 00:42:18,800
and the prospect of personal
death.

661
00:42:20,720 –> 00:42:26,360
They’re about as distress, about
as trust in God, and about the

662
00:42:26,360 –> 00:42:30,480
blessing of deliverance.
And Hezekiah said, we’re going

663
00:42:30,480 –> 00:42:33,760
to sing these things so that the
nation never forgets what we’ve

664
00:42:33,760 –> 00:42:37,760
been through together and that
we can worship before our God

665
00:42:37,760 –> 00:42:39,760
acceptably.
So remember I said the middle

666
00:42:39,760 –> 00:42:42,520
ones written by Solomon?
So there it is.

667
00:42:43,360 –> 00:42:46,640
But David wrote one in the first
set and one in the second set,

668
00:42:46,640 –> 00:42:49,560
and one in the fourth set and
one in the 5th set.

669
00:42:53,120 –> 00:42:56,200
And we believe that the balance
of those psalms were written by

670
00:42:57,160 –> 00:43:01,240
Hezekiah.
So Hezekiah began the series in

671
00:43:01,240 –> 00:43:05,760
Psalm 120, and he’ll end the
series in 134.

672
00:43:05,960 –> 00:43:17,200
And if he wrote 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 +
2 sets in five, he wrote, why 10

673
00:43:17,200 –> 00:43:25,440
psalms answering to the 10° by
which the shadow ascended the

674
00:43:25,440 –> 00:43:30,320
stairs.
He made good on his pledge.

675
00:43:30,320 –> 00:43:34,000
Brothers and sisters, he made
good on his pledge.

676
00:43:35,880 –> 00:43:38,040
And I think there’s a lesson.
You see, In fact, this is the

677
00:43:38,040 –> 00:43:53,430
lesson from our study today.
It’s wanting to reconnect, which

678
00:43:53,430 –> 00:43:57,670
is one of those deeply
technological moments which we

679
00:43:57,670 –> 00:44:01,590
have to submit to, because until
we do, my screen’s frozen just

680
00:44:01,590 –> 00:44:03,790
at the deliciously important
moment.

681
00:44:05,230 –> 00:44:07,910
It adds to the tension.
It builds interest.

682
00:44:08,830 –> 00:44:10,590
Wait, help is on the way.
What?

683
00:44:11,270 –> 00:44:13,630
Are we reconnecting?
I don’t know.

684
00:44:29,910 –> 00:44:30,870
All right, should we give it a
go?

685
00:44:31,310 –> 00:44:32,590
Look at that.
Just like I bought 1.

686
00:44:33,750 –> 00:44:39,070
Thank you for your intervention.
So our lesson for today.

687
00:44:41,550 –> 00:44:45,870
You know, brothers and sisters,
it’s very easy to be thankful

688
00:44:45,870 –> 00:44:50,350
for deliverance, but our
thankfulness may not last for

689
00:44:50,350 –> 00:44:53,960
long enough.
And I think that we need to show

690
00:44:54,200 –> 00:44:58,040
our thankfulness by the faithful
service that we offer to God as

691
00:44:58,040 –> 00:45:00,920
a result of our deliverance that
we might remember what God has

692
00:45:00,920 –> 00:45:03,240
done for us.
Now just look at the consistent

693
00:45:03,240 –> 00:45:06,000
theme of these passages.
And there’s a little keyword

694
00:45:06,000 –> 00:45:09,120
again that binds them together.
This was the prayer of Hannah at

695
00:45:09,120 –> 00:45:10,600
the time of the giving of her
son.

696
00:45:11,280 –> 00:45:13,240
For this child.
I prayed Yahweh’s given my

697
00:45:13,240 –> 00:45:16,000
petition, therefore I’ve lent
him.

698
00:45:17,560 –> 00:45:20,440
This is the words of David.
David said that thou has lifted

699
00:45:20,440 –> 00:45:23,240
me up, therefore I will give
thanks.

700
00:45:23,720 –> 00:45:25,760
This is the words of Hezekiah
and the Psalm.

701
00:45:25,760 –> 00:45:29,440
Yahweh was ready to save me.
Therefore, and so the apostle

702
00:45:29,440 –> 00:45:33,280
Paul in the 2nd Corinthians 12
verses 9 and 10, he said unto

703
00:45:33,280 –> 00:45:34,920
me, My grace is sufficient for
thee.

704
00:45:34,960 –> 00:45:38,200
Therefore now let me throw a
little more colour on the screen

705
00:45:38,200 –> 00:45:41,000
and you’ll see the point.
Yahweh has given my petition,

706
00:45:41,000 –> 00:45:44,160
says Hannah.
Therefore in response I’ve lent

707
00:45:44,160 –> 00:45:46,080
him.
She gave an act of dedication in

708
00:45:46,080 –> 00:45:48,200
return.
David had been lifted up and

709
00:45:48,200 –> 00:45:51,600
therefore he would give thanks.
Yahweh was ready to save his a

710
00:45:51,600 –> 00:45:54,600
car and he pledged therefore
that they would sing his songs.

711
00:45:55,440 –> 00:45:58,160
Paul was given the promise of a
grace sufficient for his needs,

712
00:45:58,280 –> 00:46:00,960
and therefore he said, I will
take pleasure in infirmities.

713
00:46:01,160 –> 00:46:03,480
So here’s the thing.
You see, it’s so easy to be

714
00:46:03,480 –> 00:46:07,240
thankful for the deliverance of
God, but as time passes while we

715
00:46:07,240 –> 00:46:10,160
forget about it, and yet the
circumstances of our life and

716
00:46:10,160 –> 00:46:14,080
the experiences of our crisis
are not intended to leave us the

717
00:46:14,080 –> 00:46:16,720
same.
They’re intended to change us.

718
00:46:17,000 –> 00:46:21,240
And if our thankfulness is truly
in response to God’s good hand,

719
00:46:21,480 –> 00:46:26,560
then it needs to be seen in a
reciprocal pledge of future

720
00:46:26,560 –> 00:46:29,120
dedication.
That shouldn’t be transient.

721
00:46:29,120 –> 00:46:31,760
It shouldn’t be temporary.
It should be a permanent

722
00:46:31,760 –> 00:46:34,160
commitment to our future life
before him.

723
00:46:34,160 –> 00:46:37,160
And that’s what here’s Akai did.
So he had a much stronger

724
00:46:37,160 –> 00:46:39,920
resolve.
He was so thankful for this

725
00:46:39,920 –> 00:46:43,200
extension of his life that he
pledged to use every bit of it

726
00:46:43,240 –> 00:46:48,400
in the service of the truth.
Now just read again his words in

727
00:46:48,400 –> 00:46:52,040
Isaiah 38 verses 19 and 20 while
we’re here.

728
00:46:52,520 –> 00:46:55,800
And then let me show you how
that story concludes.

729
00:46:57,400 –> 00:47:01,840
The grave cannot celebrate thee.
Death cannot.

730
00:47:02,160 –> 00:47:04,240
Sorry that the grave cannot
praise thee.

731
00:47:04,240 –> 00:47:08,000
Death cannot celebrate thee.
They that go down into the pit

732
00:47:08,000 –> 00:47:11,640
cannot hope for thy truth.
The living the living.

733
00:47:11,640 –> 00:47:13,520
He shall praise thee as I do
this day.

734
00:47:13,520 –> 00:47:16,920
The father to the children shall
make known thy truth.

735
00:47:17,720 –> 00:47:21,400
Yahweh was ready to save me.
Therefore we will sing my songs

736
00:47:21,400 –> 00:47:24,480
to the stringed instruments all
the days of our life in the

737
00:47:24,480 –> 00:47:28,880
House of Yahweh.
And Hezekiah’s pledge of

738
00:47:29,040 –> 00:47:33,160
faithful service in thankfulness
for the hand of God upon him, I

739
00:47:33,160 –> 00:47:37,160
think, was fulfilled perhaps
more wonderfully than we might

740
00:47:37,160 –> 00:47:42,880
know, because we’ve already seen
what he had to do with regard to

741
00:47:42,880 –> 00:47:47,280
the songs of degrees.
He became involved in the

742
00:47:47,280 –> 00:47:51,080
creation of those songs, which
incidentally, becomes the basis

743
00:47:51,080 –> 00:47:55,080
for book five of the Psalms.
In fact, I think Hezekiah’s hand

744
00:47:55,080 –> 00:47:57,080
may well have been in the
shaping of that entire

745
00:47:57,240 –> 00:48:01,480
collection of Psalms, the 5th
book in the main.

746
00:48:02,760 –> 00:48:05,120
But there’s another part of the
Psalms that I think Hezekiah was

747
00:48:05,120 –> 00:48:07,600
involved in, because we all know
about the Psalms of David and

748
00:48:07,600 –> 00:48:10,200
the Psalms of the House of Asaph
and the Psalms of the sons of

749
00:48:10,200 –> 00:48:12,680
Korra.
We know about the main psalms.

750
00:48:13,040 –> 00:48:17,120
But did you realize that about
50 of the 150 Psalms we have

751
00:48:17,120 –> 00:48:22,080
have got no author?
They’re described as orphan

752
00:48:22,080 –> 00:48:25,400
Psalms.
Someone who put the Book of

753
00:48:25,400 –> 00:48:28,440
Psalms together was very anxious
that David be given as Jew and

754
00:48:28,440 –> 00:48:32,440
Asaph and others, but weren’t
worried about their name coming

755
00:48:32,440 –> 00:48:35,080
forward and the 50 new ones that
were added.

756
00:48:35,240 –> 00:48:38,640
And I think that many of those
fifty were possibly written by

757
00:48:38,640 –> 00:48:42,920
Hezekiah, including Psalm 102,
which I think we can be pretty

758
00:48:42,920 –> 00:48:46,320
certain about.
I think his hand lies upon the

759
00:48:46,320 –> 00:48:49,360
book of Psalms in a much more
significant way than we might

760
00:48:49,360 –> 00:48:52,600
have imagined, because many of
those Psalms are about the very

761
00:48:52,600 –> 00:48:55,440
threats, the very crisis that
Hezekiah himself had

762
00:48:55,440 –> 00:48:57,480
experienced.
Oh yes, he contributed to the

763
00:48:57,480 –> 00:49:00,160
Psalms all right.
But he did more than that

764
00:49:00,320 –> 00:49:03,640
because you might remember these
words in the book of Proverbs,

765
00:49:03,640 –> 00:49:09,000
chapter 25, verse one, it says
these are also Proverbs of

766
00:49:09,000 –> 00:49:13,280
Solomon, which the men of
Hezekiah, king of Judah copied

767
00:49:13,280 –> 00:49:16,920
out.
So what we’re told in the book

768
00:49:16,920 –> 00:49:22,240
of Proverbs is there was a whole
additional set of proverbs that

769
00:49:22,240 –> 00:49:26,080
were added to the Canon of
Scripture under the express

770
00:49:26,080 –> 00:49:32,840
instruction deja vu and
authority of the king.

771
00:49:34,720 –> 00:49:36,960
And if if Hezekiah hadn’t done
that, we wouldn’t have that

772
00:49:36,960 –> 00:49:39,200
particular collection of
Solomonic psalms at all.

773
00:49:39,320 –> 00:49:40,920
But he made sure that they were
put in.

774
00:49:41,320 –> 00:49:43,000
He had a hand in the book of
Proverbs.

775
00:49:43,880 –> 00:49:46,520
And there’s one more thing that
tells us just how passionate

776
00:49:46,520 –> 00:49:48,400
Hezekiah was in fulfilling his
vow.

777
00:49:48,920 –> 00:49:51,400
The father of the children shall
make know thy truth.

778
00:49:54,120 –> 00:49:55,520
This is going to be interesting,
isn’t it?

779
00:49:56,440 –> 00:49:59,080
So like two things coming to a
climax together.

780
00:50:00,640 –> 00:50:03,160
We hope the train tracks will
allow us to pass each other

781
00:50:03,160 –> 00:50:05,920
safely.
But here’s the last thought in

782
00:50:05,920 –> 00:50:08,360
that brief moment of pleasurable
silence.

783
00:50:09,480 –> 00:50:13,080
You know, in the Old Testament
Canon, at the end of the Hebrew

784
00:50:13,080 –> 00:50:17,600
manuscripts, every book until
Hezekiah’s death ends with a

785
00:50:17,600 –> 00:50:26,040
three letter seal.
The letters heth sign cough and

786
00:50:26,040 –> 00:50:29,720
the pointing of the letters
means this is bound.

787
00:50:31,560 –> 00:50:35,360
And the meaning of that little
of that little cryptic sign is

788
00:50:35,360 –> 00:50:38,960
that this book is now
authenticated as the genuine

789
00:50:38,960 –> 00:50:44,800
copy.
And what we’ve been told is that

790
00:50:44,800 –> 00:50:48,680
the king was involved with the
editorship and approval of every

791
00:50:48,680 –> 00:50:53,720
book of the Bible until the day
he died, because Kath Zine cough

792
00:50:53,760 –> 00:51:00,560
is HZK, and HZK from Kuzak is
the short form for the name

793
00:51:00,560 –> 00:51:04,760
Hezekiah.
And every book of the Old

794
00:51:04,760 –> 00:51:08,480
Testament until that man died
bears that seal at the bottom of

795
00:51:08,480 –> 00:51:10,720
the book to authenticate its
validity.

796
00:51:10,800 –> 00:51:13,360
The father to the children shall
make known thy truth.

797
00:51:13,560 –> 00:51:17,840
He kept that there.
He absolutely kept that there.

798
00:51:18,360 –> 00:51:20,640
He did more than we might
realize, brothers and sisters,

799
00:51:20,640 –> 00:51:23,200
in the guardianship of the truth
that we might know.

800
00:51:23,440 –> 00:51:27,960
The Spirit of God and His mark
sits upon the Old Testament

801
00:51:27,960 –> 00:51:32,160
record in that strange but
interesting way.

802
00:51:34,480 –> 00:51:37,880
Let’s show that same spirit of
thankfulness in our own lives,

803
00:51:37,880 –> 00:51:42,840
brothers and sisters, when we
too have experienced the hand of

804
00:51:42,840 –> 00:51:47,400
our God upon us for good, as it
says in one of our hymns.

805
00:51:48,240 –> 00:51:54,040
Oh, render thanks to God above
the fountain of eternal love,

806
00:51:54,120 –> 00:51:59,320
Whose mercy firm through ages
past has stood and shall forever

807
00:51:59,320 –> 00:52:03,120
last.
Who can as mighty deeds express

808
00:52:03,640 –> 00:52:08,800
not only vast, but numberless?
What mortal eloquence can raise

809
00:52:08,800 –> 00:52:15,160
a tribute equal to His praise?
Happier they, and only they, Who

810
00:52:15,160 –> 00:52:22,320
from Thy precepts never stray,
Who know the right, nor only so,

811
00:52:24,520 –> 00:52:28,560
but seek to practice what they
know.

812
00:52:31,520 –> 00:52:36,240
OK, I know what you’re thinking.
Great class, valuable lesson,

813
00:52:36,520 –> 00:52:39,240
real lesson, interesting
contents.

814
00:52:39,240 –> 00:52:41,600
The analysis of the songs of the
degrees.

815
00:52:41,600 –> 00:52:46,080
I mean, phenomenal stuff, but
what was going on with that?

816
00:52:46,080 –> 00:52:50,280
The seal of Hezekiah with the
three letter seal KET saying

817
00:52:50,280 –> 00:52:52,480
cough at the end of Old
Testament books.

818
00:52:52,960 –> 00:52:56,200
That absolutely sparked my
curiosity and I couldn’t think

819
00:52:56,200 –> 00:52:58,760
about anything else for a while
after that.

820
00:52:59,200 –> 00:53:02,840
So what I found, I initially I
just sat in my chair for 10

821
00:53:02,840 –> 00:53:05,600
minutes there for this class,
just looking up Bible study

822
00:53:05,600 –> 00:53:09,560
tools, looking through literal
translations and trying to find

823
00:53:09,560 –> 00:53:12,480
the original Hebrew and
discussion on the manuscripts.

824
00:53:12,800 –> 00:53:14,440
And I found a couple things
since.

825
00:53:14,720 –> 00:53:19,160
And it seems that this three
letter seal, which is very real,

826
00:53:19,520 –> 00:53:24,600
was not meant to be an addition
to the text or that that the

827
00:53:24,600 –> 00:53:28,280
three letter seal would be
inside or a part of the divinely

828
00:53:28,280 –> 00:53:31,920
inspired biblical record, as if
this was actually going to also

829
00:53:31,920 –> 00:53:35,840
be a part of Scripture.
These were seals sort of on top

830
00:53:35,840 –> 00:53:39,880
of that, a seal of the
manuscripts that contained the

831
00:53:39,880 –> 00:53:43,040
biblical narrative.
There is some scholarship on

832
00:53:43,040 –> 00:53:45,120
this that I found.
There were two helpful books.

833
00:53:45,880 –> 00:53:51,680
One is called The Bible
Companion by EW Bollinger and

834
00:53:51,680 –> 00:53:55,880
the other was called Restoring
the Original Bible by Ernest L

835
00:53:55,880 –> 00:53:58,000
Martin.
Those were just helpful

836
00:53:58,000 –> 00:54:00,880
resources to show that there has
been some research on this and

837
00:54:00,880 –> 00:54:05,400
they confirm this tradition that
Hezekiah’s seal was just that, a

838
00:54:05,400 –> 00:54:09,440
seal to preserve the Canon of
Old Testament books, not

839
00:54:09,440 –> 00:54:13,760
actually an actual part of
inside the text of the books.

840
00:54:14,160 –> 00:54:17,680
Just one brief quote from
Martin’s book.

841
00:54:18,120 –> 00:54:23,120
It says the seal HZK constituted
the confirmation and binding of

842
00:54:23,120 –> 00:54:26,920
the canonical text under the
authority of King Hezekiah.

843
00:54:27,360 –> 00:54:31,080
This action of itself
contributed to the canonization

844
00:54:31,080 –> 00:54:32,720
of the sacred Old Testament
Scripture.

845
00:54:32,720 –> 00:54:36,640
So this was done for
canonization, not an actual

846
00:54:36,640 –> 00:54:39,200
addition to the text of the
Bible.

847
00:54:39,400 –> 00:54:42,200
So that was very helpful, the
helpful clarity for me.

848
00:54:42,200 –> 00:54:45,120
Hopefully it is for you.
What’s also interesting is that

849
00:54:45,480 –> 00:54:49,680
the author goes on to say that
future or later editors of the

850
00:54:49,680 –> 00:54:54,280
Old Testament Canon also use
seals, and so it became this

851
00:54:54,280 –> 00:54:57,720
term called the seal of
canonization, which began with

852
00:54:57,720 –> 00:55:00,840
Hezekiah and was continued on,
it’s believed, all the way

853
00:55:00,840 –> 00:55:03,280
through Ezra.
So interesting stuff, helpful

854
00:55:03,280 –> 00:55:04,960
stuff.
Hopefully you’ll have this

855
00:55:04,960 –> 00:55:08,160
class, and hopefully this little
clarification has put your mind

856
00:55:08,160 –> 00:55:11,720
at ease or has maybe even
inspired more curiosity about

857
00:55:11,720 –> 00:55:29,200
this topic of Hezekiah’s seal.
Thank you for listening to the

858
00:55:29,200 –> 00:55:30,760
Good Christadelphian Talks
podcast.

859
00:55:31,600 –> 00:55:34,040
We hope this talk helped you in
your walk and brightened your

860
00:55:34,040 –> 00:55:36,400
day.
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