IN GOD WE TRUST (2 KINGS 18-20)
Spiderman, arguably the most popular superhero of all time, especially with the Hollywood blockbusters produced, is the story of an unpopular teenager turned an unlikely superhero. I have the original first color copy of Spiderman reprinted by Barnes and Noble. In it Peter Parker never wanted anything but to be normal. He was a bookworm to the cost of his rejection by girls and guys alike. He lived with his doting uncle and aunt, who were the only ones kind to him.
With all the superhuman strength he had after accidentally being bitten by a radioactive spider from a lab experiment, Parker found a way to earn money at a gym, where $100 was offered to the person who could last three minutes in the ring with Crusher Hogan. The masked man won and was invited to perform tricks as Spiderman in front of TV. Fame and success went to his head.
On the way home after a live TV shot, Parker saw a thief getting away from a police, who scolded the man in spider uniform for not helping, but Spiderman replied, “Sorry, pal! That’s your job! I’m thru being pushed around by anyone. From now on I just look out for number one – that means …me!” One evening Parker learned that his grandfather was shot dead by a burglar trapped in a warehouse. Spidey apprehended him and knocked him out but knew the error of his ways and dedicated his life to crime fighting after nabbing the thug. Tragically, the shooter was the same thief he refused to stop! Parker cried, “My fault, my fault! If only I had stopped him when I could have! But I didn’t and now Uncle Ben is dead.” The last frame in the first issue states: “With great power there must also come great responsibility!”
Hezekiah had to step up in a big way at a very important juncture of Jewish history. The northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians in the fourth year of his reign in the south, when the king of Assyria marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. This third attack that fell Israel (2 Ki 15:29, 16:9) materialized because Assyria discovered that Israel was asking Egypt for help and had stopped paying tribute (2 Ki 17:4). The siege lasted three long years before the Assyrians finally took it and captured Samaria in Hezekiah’s sixth year, in 722 B.C. (2 Kings 18:9-10). Not only did the Assyrians deport her citizens, they married the locals to create the despised Samaritan race. Now the Assyrians were right at Hezekiah’s door and in his face.
How does one survive a crisis of epic proportions? What do you do when all help and hope is gone?
Behind Every Success Story is a Breakthrough
18:1 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. 4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.) 5 Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. 6 He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses. 7 And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. 8 From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory. (2 Kings 18:1-8)
Anne Mulcahy, the CEO of Xerox, shares about the best advice she ever got: “One piece of advice I got has become a mantra at Xerox. It came from a very funny source. It was four years ago, and I was doing a customer breakfast in Dallas. We had invited a set of business leaders there. One was a plainspoken, self-made, streetwise guy. He came up to me and gave me this advice, and I have wound up using it constantly. ‘When everything gets really complicated and you feel overwhelmed,’ he told me, ‘think about it this way: You got to do three things. First, get the cow out of the ditch. Second, find out how the cow got into the ditch. Third, make sue you do whatever it takes so the cow doesn’t go into the ditch again.’” (“The Best Piece of Advice I Ever Got,” Fortune 3/21/05)
What made Hezekiah’s reform so noteworthy was the breakthrough he made. He was the son of one of Judah’s most wicked kings, King Ahaz, who was so wicked he sacrificed one of his sons in the fire, following the detestable ways of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites (2 Kings 16:3-4, 2 Chron 28:3-4). Ahaz was the first southern king to offer sacrifices and burned incense at the high places. If that was not enough he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the hilltops and under every spreading tree (2 Kings 16:4). Up to this point, Hezekiah’s father was the only southern king who had done the impossible: to provoke the Lord to anger (2 Chron 28:25), so far the monopoly of northern kings like Jeroboam (1 Kings 16:2), Baasah and his son (1 Kings 16: 7, 13), Omri (1 Kings 16:26), Ahab and his son (1 Kings 22:53) and the northern kingdom (2 Kings 17:11, 17). Ahaz also was the one who got Judah into hot soup in the first place when he asked Assyria for help (2 Kings 16:7) when Syria and Israel attacked the northern kingdom. The account in 2 Chronicles was blunter. Ahaz was the only king with the unwanted “most unfaithful” label (2 Chron 28:19).
2 Kings 18 describes Hezekiah’s accomplishments in relation to the idols, but the 2 Chronicles 29 account details what he did for the temple. In the first month of his reign (2 Chron 29:3-7) – barely ascending to the throne, he reopened the doors of the temple of the LORD and repaired them, charging the priests and the Levites to consecrate themselves and the temple of the Lord by removing all defilement from the sanctuary (2 Chron 28:23, 25, 29:19). His father went from worse to worst, from “most unfaithful to the Lord” (2 Chron 28:19) to “more unfaithful to the Lord” (2 Chron 28:12), not only sacrificing to the gods of the Assyrians but provoking God to anger by building high places “in every town in Judah” (2 Chron 28:25). Hezekiah also commanded the priests to initiate temple sacrifices once again (2 Chron 29:21-24) and reestablished music in worship, a form of worship that literally died with David and Solomon’s death (1 Chron 13:8, 15:16). He generously invited the northerners to celebrate the Passover (2 Chronicles 30:1) and the Feast of the Unleavened Bread in Jerusalem and encouraged the people to offer their tithes so that priests and Levites could devote themselves to the Law of the LORD (2 Chron 31:5-6, 12). Like Jehoshaphat before him (2 Chron 22:9), he sought his God wholeheartedly and prospered (2 Chron 31:21). The unity (2 Chron 30:12) in the nation was not seen since the days of David (1 Chron 12:38).
Hezekiah was one of the godliest kings that ever ruled the southern Judah. The accolades he received were more than just impressive; they were hard to follow. Good kings like Jehoshaphat and Uzziah were celebrated for modeling themselves after their good father – Jehoshaphat after Asa (1 Kings 22:43) and Uzziah after Amaziah (2 Kings 15:1-3), but Hezekiah could match the gold standard set by Israel’s most famous and greatest king in history – King David (v 3). Researching Hezekiah’s life, I noticed that all godly kings such as Asa (1 Kings 15:14), Jehoshaphat (1 Kings 22:43), Joash (2 Kings 12:2-3), Amaziah (2 Kings 14:1-4), Uzziah (2 Kings 15:1-4) and even the outstanding Jotham (2 Kings 15:32-35) have an asterix or footnote to their name: They did not and could not remove the high places. It must be the hardest and the most thankless of all tasks, but Hezekiah tackled it successfully (v 4). If that was not impressive enough, he was the first king to break idolatrous images even though commoners had done it before (2 Kings 10:26-27) and the first king to cut the blasphemous Asherah poles in the nation down to size even though Asa had cut done his grandmother’s pole at home (2 Chron 15:16-17).
Behind Every Success Story is a Brokenness
19 The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: “‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? 20 You say you have strategy and military strength-but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? 21 Look now, you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a man’s hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. 22 And if you say to me, “We are depending on the LORD our God”-isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem”? from the hand of the king of Assyria? (2 Kings 18:19-22)
An experience paratrooper was asked how many jumps he had to his credit. “Twenty-five,” was his reply. After much thought, he admitted sheepishly: “Really only one.”
When he was asked why a man of his experience claim to have only one jump, especially reducing his jumps from twenty-five to one, he replied, “That’s easy. The other twenty-four times I had to be pushed.” (Daily Bread 3/19/1993)
The sorest test for Hezekiah was to trust in the Lord unwaveringly when enemies loomed, when things were rough and when the future was bleak. His father had become more unfaithful to the Lord in time of trouble (2 Chron 28:22). The Assyrians brought psychological fear and warfare with them by broadcasting and boasting non-stop to hearing residents about their winning track record, the north’s recent exile and Judah’s sure defeat. Seven years earlier (2 Ki 18: 9, 13), Assyria deposed Israel’s king, sacked the city and exiled the Israelites. Now the Assyrians were emboldened to finish off the job by attacking and invading the southern Judah. Hezekiah was shaking in his boots, scared off his wits and sweating for his life, throne and even kingdom. The mighty Assyrian army was right at his door. All the fortified cities were already captured (2 Ki 18:13). Hezekiah was sorry that he had rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him (v 7). He even offered three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold (v 14) and said to Assyria “I have sinned” (v 14), and not just “I have done wrong” in Hebrew, for the first time stripping even the temple pillars (v 16) of gold coating, but it was too little, too late. There was no way back and nowhere to turn but the Lord.
The battle in the text was about “Who do you trust?” (v 20) Hezekiah was known as one who trusted the Lord; the word “trust” appears for the first time in verse 5. The supreme commander of Assyria mocked the palace administrator, the secretary, and the recorder that were sent went out to meet the army, questioning in rapid fire Judah’s dependence and confidence (2 Kings 18:19, 20, 21, 21, 22, 24, 30). His basic charge was that no country (v 21), king (v 29) or God (v 30) could help the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom had depended on Egypt to their detriment (2 Kings 17:4). The south was as good as gone, the battle was lost and they had no hope.
Hezekiah, however, was known for his trust in the Lord. All the 9 Hebrew references to “dependence/trust” in this incident in 2 Kings 18 and 19 and, indeed, all of Kings refer to nobody but Hezekiah and his trust in God (2 Kings 18:5, 19, 20, 21, 21, 22, 24, 30, 19:10). Hezekiah’s trust was no hearsay or mere words. His trust was demonstrated by his holding fast to Him or clinging on to Him (2 Ki 18:6). The verb “hold fast” is the same verb for the union of man and woman in marriage: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and ‘be united’ to his wife, and they will become one flesh” (Gen 2:24). That was the very thing God required of all Israelites in the new land as Moses (Deut 10:20, 11:22, 30:20) and Joshua (Josh 23:8, 22:4) had continually pleaded.
Hezekiah had a reputation for not only holding fast or clinging on to God, he also did not “cease to follow Him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses” (2 Kings 18:6). This word “cease” is always used negatively on the northern kingdom, charging the northern kings (2 Kings 10:31, 13:2, 11, 14:24, 15:9, 18) with “not departing/ceasing” from idols but used positively for the south, attesting that David (1 Kings 15:4) and Hezekiah did “not depart/cease” from God. Shocking, too, was the fact that Hezekiah was the first king recorded as a praying king (19:15, 20, 20:2).
Hezekiah tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the LORD (2 Kings 19:1). This is the only record of a king covering himself with sackcloth, and the Lord promised him more than he bargained for. What was the Lord’s responsibility? Three verbs stand out. Hezekiah prayed, “Now, O LORD our God, deliver (save) us from his (Sennacherib king of Assyria, v 19) hand.” However, God replied through the prophet Isaiah in 2 Kings 19:34, adding the verb “defend”: “I will DEFEND this city and SAVE it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.” Defend means to surround and to protect. It is the first time the word is used in the Bible. Better than “defending” and “saving” was the promise to “DELIVER” the nation, the third verb appearing, in the next chapter (2 Kings 20:6). The Lord will promise Hezekiah after this episode that the Assyrians would never ever be a bother or nuisance to him ever again.
Hezekiah believed that the Lord would rebuke (2 Kings 19:4) Assyria, but God took Assyria’s threat more personally than Hezekiah, using the word “blaspheme” (2 Kings 19:6, 22) instead throughout the whole episode, used only three other times in the Bible (Num 15:30, Ps 44:16, Ezek 20:27), but four times with Hezekiah, twice in Isaiah’s account of the same event (Isa 37:6, 23). God had the last laugh against Assyria. The word “mock” (19:21) occurs for the first time in the Bible, in 2 Kings 19:21 “This is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: ‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you.’” The Lord more than rebuked Assyria; He flattened them even. The verb “turn” or “lay waste” in KJV (2 Kings 19:25) occurs for the first time in the Bible.
After prophet Isaiah’s visit and prophecy, the next day the angel of the LORD put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. Sennacherib king of Assyria returned to Nineveh and was assassinated by his own sons (2 Kings 19:35-37).
Behind Every Success Story is a Boundary
12 At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah’s illness. 13 Hezekiah received the messengers and showed them all that was in his storehouses-the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine oil-his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them. 14 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?” “From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came from Babylon.” 15 The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?” “They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.” 16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD: 17 The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. 18 And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, that will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 19 “The word of the LORD you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?” (2 Kings 20:12-19)
A bird-catcher once caught a bird. But it was an extraordinary creature that understood all the seventy languages of mankind. She therefore pleaded with her captor in his own tongue: “Set me free; and I will impart to you three useful teachings.”
“Tell them to me first. Then I will release you,” said the bird-catcher.
“First give me your solemn oath that you will keep your word,” answered the bird.
“I swear to set you free,” replied the man.
The bird then spoke: “Pay heed then! The first teaching is: ‘Never regret what has already happened.’ The second teaching is: ‘Don’t believe the incredible.’ The third teaching is: ‘Never try to achieve the unattainable.’”
Having taught the man her wisdom the bird pleaded: “Set me free now, as you promised.”
And the bird-catcher agreed and set her free.
At that, the bird spread her wings and flew to the top of a high tree nearby and from there she mocked at the man below: “Fool that you are! You let me out of your grasp not knowing that I carry in my body a priceless pearl through whose magic I have become wise.”
When the bird-catcher heard this he regretted the folly that had led him to release the bird. To retrieve his loss he began to climb the tree upon which the bird was perched. But hardly had he reached half-way when he lost his hold and fell to the ground. There he lay with broken bones, moaning with pain.
The bird looked down upon him and laughed: “You stupid fool!’” he chided him. “But a few moments have passed since I imparted to you my wisdom and already you have forgotten it! I told you never to regret anything that has happened, and almost immediately you regretted giving me my freedom. I taught you not to believe the incredible and, nevertheless, you accepted as truth my fairytale that I carry in my body a wonder-working pearl. Know that I am nothing but a common bird who has to forage for her nourishment: from hour to hour! Lastly, I cautioned you against trying to achieve the unattainable and nonetheless, you undertook to capture a bird on the wing with your bare hands.”
Hezekiah was transparent but gullible, naïve and simplistic – he had no boundaries with his enemies. Being good was strength but being gullible was weakness. Being nice was good but being naïve was foolishness. Being simple was preferred, but being simplistic was unwise. The healthier king trusted in the wrong people. He opened his storehouse of silver, gold, spices, fine oil, armory and treasures to the son of the king of Babylon, thinking that these visitors from a land so far away was no threat to them (20:13). He held nothing back. Little did he know that the immediate threat was Babylon, not Assyria.
The foolish Hezekiah was trusting to a fault. The Hebrew word “all” is repeated thrice in 2 Kings 20:13 and once two verses later. Hezekiah received the messengers and showed them all that was in his storehouses - the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine oil - his armory and everything/all found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them. Another “all” occurs two verses later when he gleefully and glibly answered Isaiah the prophet: “They saw everything in my palace. There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them” (2 Kings 20:15). To which Isaiah responded with another “all”: “The time will surely come when everything/all in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD”
(2 Kings 20:17)
The worst thing about Hezekiah’s weakness was that he thought short-term, not long-term. He thought about himself, not his children. His thinking was “as long as it is not in my lifetime” (20:19), not in my backyard. It won’t pain me if I do not see it, he thought. God was testing Hezekiah all along, according to 2 Chronicles 32:31, and he failed the pride and vanity test miserably, betraying God’s trust of throne, treasures (v 15) and temple to him.
Conclusion: Jesus said, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matt 10:16). Are you guilty of being nice or being naïve? Being generous or being gullible? Being pleasant or being proud? Is your dependence on God iron-clad and time-tested?
Victor Yap
Other sermons in the series and other sermon series:
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