Context: King Hezekiah and the Assyrians (2 Kings 18:1-6, 19:10)
- Hezekiah became the king of Judah, when he was 25 years old
- He began to reign in the third year of Hosea’s reign over Israel
- Hezekiah reigned for 29 years
- Hezekiah’s mother was the daughter of Zechariah
- Zechariah means God remembers
- Abi means “My Father”
- Zechariah means God remembers
- Hezekiah did all that was right, just like his father David
- Removed high places, broke the pillars, cut down asherah
- He also broke down the bronze serpent of Moses
- Removed high places, broke the pillars, cut down asherah
- King Hezekiah trusted in God – like no one before and no one after him!
- Even the Assyrians knew that Hezekiah trusted in God!
- He didn’t depart from following God and his commandments
Who sent the message to King Hezekiah? What was the message? (2 Kings 19:10-14,16,25)
- Message was from Sennacherib – king of Assyria
- To not be deceived by the God of Israel, whom king Hezekiah trusted
- Sennacharib thought, he knew better then the God of Israel
- That he could go against the God of Israel
- He thought the God of Israel was just like other gods
- That he could go against the God of Israel
- Sennacharib thought, he knew better then the God of Israel
- Sennacharib was filled with pride because of his father’s many (9?) victories
- Against many gods of nations and kings of nations
- Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, children of Eden in Telassar, Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Henna, Ivvah
- Against many gods of nations and kings of nations
- Sennacharib didn’t realize that it was God who allowed all of this to happen
- God knows Sennacharib’s every move and his raging against God
How did King Hezekiah respond to the message? (2 Kings 19:14-19)
- King Hezekiah went to God’s house and spread the letter before God
- Started praying to the one and only true God
- Of not just Israel but of all the kingdoms of the earth
- The God who created the heaven and the earth
- Of not just Israel but of all the kingdoms of the earth
- Sennacharib was defying the living God – not just king king Hezekiah
- Sennacharib was right – he did destroy many and threw their gods in fire
- But – he could do that only because God of Israel allowed him
- And the gods of other nations were no gods!!
- But – he could do that only because God of Israel allowed him
- Sennacharib was right – he did destroy many and threw their gods in fire
- Yahweh however, is the one only living, prayer answering, saving God
- King Hezekiah begs God to save them
How did God respond to king Hezekiah? (2 Kings 19:25-27,32-37 Isaiah 10:12-13)
- Sennacharib won’t be able to do anything!
- Why? For God’s own sake – and for God’s servant David’s sake
- 185,000 people died overnight in Sennacharib’s camp
- So he departed to Nineveh and was killed while worshiping his god.
Conclusion / Application
- King Hezekiah trusted God even though all the nations around him were destroyed
- He knew that there was only one true living God who hears and answers
- Who do we turn to in the middle of impossible situations?
Main Passage 2 Kings 19:10-19,32-37 – World English Bible (WEB)
2 Kings 19:10-19 10 ‘Tell Hezekiah king of Judah this: “Don’t let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. Will you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?”’” 14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to Yahweh’s house, and spread it before Yahweh. 15 Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh, and said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 Incline your ear, Yahweh, and hear. Open your eyes, Yahweh, and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to defy the living God. 17 Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, 18 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them. 19 Now therefore, Yahweh our God, save us, I beg you, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Yahweh, are God alone.”
2 Kings 19:32-37 32 “Therefore Yahweh says concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there. He will not come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. 33 He will return the same way that he came, and he will not come to this city,’ says Yahweh. 34 ‘For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.’” 35 That night, Yahweh’s angel went out, and struck one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and lived at Nineveh. 37 As he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.
Notes / Cross References
2 Kings 18:1-6 Now in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, according to all that David his father had done. 4 He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because in those days the children of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan. 5 He trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel; so that after him was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among them that were before him. 6 For he joined with Yahweh. He didn’t depart from following him, but kept his commandments, which Yahweh commanded Moses.
Numbers 21:7-9 7 The people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh, that he take away the serpents from us.” Moses prayed for the people. 8 Yahweh said to Moses, “Make a venomous snake, and set it on a pole. It shall happen that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” 9 Moses made a serpent of bronze, and set it on the pole. If a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the serpent of bronze, he lived.
Isaiah 10:12-13 12 Therefore it will happen that when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his arrogant looks. 13 For he has said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding. I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers.
2 Kings 19:25-27 25 Haven’t you heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps. 26 Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like grain blasted before it has grown up. 27 But I know your sitting down, your going out, you’re coming in, and your raging against me.
