65. HEZEKIAH € THE CHALLENGE FROM ASSYRIA
"/ will defend this city, to save it, for Mine own sake, and for My servant David's sake."
Aim
To show how Hezekiah trusted in God to deliver Jerusalem from the Assyrians.
In the fourth year of Hezekiah's reign the cruel enemy of Israel, the Assyrians, marched down from the north and within three years they had overthrown the kingdom of Israel. That was the end of the northern kingdom. In the south, the men of Judah were filled with fear but Hezekiah was able to keep the Assyrians away for a while by promising to pay tribute. Yet Hezekiah knew that this could not last forever. He must prepare himself and his people for an Assyrian invasion.
2 Chronicles 32; 2 Kings 18:13-16; 19
HEZEKIAH PAYS TRIBUTE: 2 Kings 18:13-16
In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, made up his mind to come south against the kingdom of Judah and overthrow it. He captured the cities of Judah one by one and Hezekiah knew that Jerusalem was in very great danger. He sent a letter to the king of Assyria who had his headquarters near a city called Lachish, to the south-west of Jerusalem. In this letter he asked Sennacherib to turn back from Jerusalem and he would pay him whatever he asked. The tribute that Sennacherib demanded was three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. It was a lot of money. The only thing that Hezekiah could do was to take all the silver out of the Temple of Yahweh and from his own treasures. Then he stripped the gold off the doors and pillars of the Temple! What a sad day for Jerusalem, but it gave Hezekiah a little time to strengthen the city and prepare for war.
HEZEKIAH PREPARES FOR WAR: 2 Chronicles 32:1-8
During this time Hezekiah had the walls of Jerusalem repaired. They had to pull down some of the houses inside the city so that the stones could be used to strengthen the walls and build high towers (Isaiah 22:10). When a city is besieged and the enemy camps right around on every side no-one can go out or come in. So it is necessary for the city to have plenty of water. Just outside Jerusalem on the east was a spring of water called Gihon. The king met with his princes and mighty men to discuss a plan which he had for bringing this water inside the city walls. A great many men were set to work digging a tunnel from the spring right through the rock to a pool inside the city. Then they blocked up the spring outside so that the Assyrians could not find it. "Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water? " they said (v 4). Others were set to work making weapons and shields. So Hezekiah did his best to prepare the city and his people for the coming of the mighty Assyrian army.
King Hezekiah knew, however, that unless they put their trust in Yahweh all these preparations would be useless. When he had appointed captains over his soldiers, he called them together to encourage them. "Be strong and courageous, "he said, "be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him". He knew that no matter how many thousands came to fight against them, they were only men after all. "With him ", he said, "is an arm of flesh; but with us is Yahweh our God to help us, and to fight our battles" (vv 7-8). The king sounded so confident that his captains believed him and took heart.
THE ASSYRIANS COME TO JERUSALEM: 2 Chronicles 32:9-20
While the army of Assyria lay siege against Lachish, Sennacherib sent three of his chief officers up to Jerusalem with a great army They came to weaken the already frightened people. Standing by the very place where Hezekiah had blocked off the spring of water, their leader, Rabshakeh, began to shout boastfully against the king and the city. "Thus saith Sennacherib, king of Assyria, Whereon do ye trust? " he said (v 10). Perhaps they trusted in Egypt; if so, Egypt was like a reed; Egypt could not help them. Perhaps they trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel; but none of the gods of the other nations had been able to help them against the great king of Assyria. "Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of mine hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of mine hand?" (v 14). So Rabshakeh blasphemed Yahweh, God of Israel, but in this he was quite wrong. The gods of all the other nations were nothing. They were only idols; they had no power to help. The God of Israel, however, was a living God. He heard these blasphemous words and was prepared to use His might against the king of Assyria.
While the Assyrians were boasting in this way, the people inside Jerusalem crowded around the walls to watch what was happening. Then Rabshakeh cried out in the Jews' language so that all the people who were listening would know what he meant. He "spake against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, which were the work of the hands of man" (v 19).
HEZEKIAH PRAYS FOR HELP: 2 Kings 19:1-7
When this report came to the ears of king Hezekiah, he rent his clothes and went into the Temple to pray. He sent a message to Isaiah the prophet, asking him to pray also for his people. Isaiah sent him back words of great encouragement: "Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard" (v 6). God was gong to turn Sennacherib back: "he... shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land" (v 7).
A LETTER FROM RABSHAKEH: 2 Kings 19:14-19
After this Rabshakeh returned to join Sennacherib and the rest of the Assyrian army. However, just in case the people of Jerusalem should heave a sigh of relief, he wrote a threatening letter to the king, mocking the God of Israel. This time Hezekiah took the letter with him when he went into the Temple to pray and spread it out before Yahweh. "O Yahweh our God, I beseech thee, " he prayed, "save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou, O Yahweh, art God alone" (v 19).
THE PRIDE OF ASSYRIA IS DESTROYED: 2 Kings 19:32-37
God heard his prayer and sent word to him through the prophet Isaiah concerning the king of Assyria.
"He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there...By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith Yahweh. For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake " (vv 32-34).
How faithful God is to those who love Him. He had chosen this city to put His name there. Israel had often disgraced His name by their wickedness, but here was a king of Judah who loved and honoured His name and hated to hear God's enemies blaspheme it. So that very night the angel of God went out into the sleeping camp of the Assyrians and killed one hundred and eighty five thousand of them. In the morning they lay dead in their beds. God had done what Hezekiah and his army did not have the strength to do. In one blow He had brought down the pride of this mighty nation.
Sennacherib himself did not die then. He returned to his own land as Isaiah had prophesied (2 Kings 19:7) and was later murdered by two of his sons, as he bowed down to worship his heathen god.
The news of Yahweh's victory over Assyria quickly spread and surrounding nations sent gifts of thankfulness because of this great mira cle (2 Chronicles 32:23).
LESSON FOR US
This lesson shows Hezekiah as an outstanding example of faith. Hezekiah believed that Yahweh was a living God and that He could do all things. He prayed to God for help, because he knew that God would hear the prayer of a faithful and humble man. He acted in faith by prepar ing himself to face the enemy and encouraging the people to put their trust in God. He also loved Zion (Jerusalem) and Psalm 125, which Hezekiah probably wrote, teaches us to trust in Yahweh and to love Jeru salem, His chosen city.
"They that trust in Yahweh shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. As the mountains are round about Jeru salem, so Yahweh is round about His people from henceforth even for ever"
QUESTIONS
Short Answers
- Who sent their army against Jerusalem?
- What did Hezekiah pay to the king of Assyria for him to go away?
- How did Hezekiah make sure they had enough water in the city?
- Who was fighting on Hezekiah s side?
- Why could the gods of the nations not help them against the king of Assyria?
- What did Rabshakeh think of Yahweh?
- What did Hezekiah do when he read the letter from the Assyrians?
- For whose sake did God save Jerusalem?
- Who killed the Assyrians?
- How did Sennacherib die?
Detailed Answers
11. Tell how Hezekiah prepared Jerusalem and his people for war.
- Tell how Rabshakeh came and put fear into the hearts of the people of Jerusalem.
- (a) What did God say He would do when Sennacherib came against Jerusalem?
(b) How were the Assyrians destroyed?