II. Trust: The Basis of Servanthood 7 – 39
A. No Trust, But… 7 – 12
B. Lessons in Trust 13 – 35
Don’t Trust the Nations 13 – 23
Yahweh, Sovereign of the Nations 24 – 27
Woe to Those Who will not Wait 28 – 33
Conclusion: Desert or Garden 34 – 35
C. Trust, But… 36 – 39
2. Conclusion: Desert or Garden 34 – 35
a. Function?
i. Not part of 28 – 33, nor of 36 – 39.
ii. Reference to Edom like that to Babylon in 13: representative.
iii. Opening of 35 ties it directly to 34.
iv. Utilizing contrast the two chapters provide a conclusion to chapters 13 – 33.
b. Trust the nations and the result will be a desert: Yahweh is implacably opposed to “the world” (Edom).
c. But when we have put the world in place of Yahweh and are in the desert, Yahweh will turn our desert into a garden for those who will walk in Yahweh’s ways (35:8).
d. Similarities between chapter 34 and 40-55 are very suggestive.
4. Trust, But… 36 – 39
a. These chapters are not a “historical appendix”! They are inclusio (see 7:3b and 36:2b).
i. Ahaz failed the test; now Hezekiah must take it again with intensity raised to a markedly higher degree.
ii. It is all about trust, as the Rabshakeh’s speech makes abundantly clear.
b. Historical setting
c. Hezekiah’s remarkable prayer in 37:16:20
d. Yahweh’s majestic response in 37:22-29
e. So the great question, “Trust Yahweh or the Nations?” has been definitively answered.
f. But what follows?
i. Ahaz’ failure to trust was followed by the promise of the Messiah.
ii. What follows Hezekiah’s great expression of trust?
a) Hezekiah’s mortality 38
b) Hezekiah’s failure 39
iii. Hezekiah is not the Messiah!
a) We must look elsewhere for him.
b) Hezekiah represents his people: what will result in a life of trust and not just a one time event?