We read of the fall of the Northern Kingdom ISRAEL last week.
• When the North falls, King Hezekiah was reigning in the South. We are going to read in the next 3 chapters. Let’s read 2 Kings 18:1-8.
King Hezekiah is one of the two good kings in the history of Judah (S).
• The other is King Josiah, who comes on later, in 2 Kings 22-23.
• The author sums up his reign this way: 18:5-6 5Hezekiah 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. 6He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow Him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses.
Right from the start, Hezekiah sought the Lord and re-instated the worship of God.
• 2 Chron 29:3-5 3In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the LORD and repaired them. 4He brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side 5and said: “Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the LORD, the God of your fathers. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary…”
• Chapters 29-31 tells of the wonderful things Hezekiah did in consecrating the Levites and priest and re-establishing the service of the Temple of God. He brought the nation back to the proper worship of God.
These were the initial years of his reign. 2 Chron 32:1 tells us: 1After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, thinking to conquer them for himself.
• Hezekiah subsequently encountered very difficult and trying times, which the author highlighted here too in 2 Kings 18.
Read 2 Kings 18:9-12. We have a rehash of the fall of Israel. It was the invasion of Assyria into the region.
• When Samaria fell, Hezekiah was only in his sixth year. Judah became Assyria next target. It was a very harsh environment that Hezekiah found himself in.
Did Hezekiah succumb to the pressure? Yes. Read 2 Kings 18:13-16.
• By his fourteen year, Assyria (under the new King Sennacherib) has conquered all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
• And with only Jerusalem left, Hezekiah succumbed to the pressure and decided to BUY his peace. Assyria was paid.
• He drained the temple and royal treasuries, even stripping gold from overlaid temple doors (cf. 18:15-16)
But did that end the threat? No. King Sennacherib returned and laid siege.
Read 2 Kings 18:17-37.
The field commander (Rabshakeh, Assyrian title) came to taunt Judah, with words of mockery and intimidation.
• Can Egypt or Pharaoh really help you? How to seek God when all the altars in the high places were torn down? Can you even find 2000 fighters to ride on the horses I offer you?
• His last line was audacious. Actually, “the Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.” (18:25).
He was right that Hezekiah did attempt to seek Egypt for help. Egypt was likely the only nation then strong enough to counter Assyria.
• We know this was true because Isaiah spoke about it. We read in the book of Isaiah that the prophet has been warning Judah against trusting Egypt (cf. Isa 31).
• We just read of this same encounter in Isaiah 36 a few weeks back.
Hezekiah’s men asked the commander not to speak in Hebrew, in a language that the people could understand, lest they become very discouraged.
• The field commander went on to speak directly to the people, driving a wedge between them and their king.
• Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you (v.29); don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to trust God (v.30); don’t listen to Hezekiah (v.31); don’t listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you (v.32).
The only sensible option they have, as he suggested, was to surrender.
• Then they would not need to eat your own filth and drink your own urine (under a prolonged siege). They can eat from their own vine and fig tree, and drink water from their own cistern. So choose life and not death!
• And history is on his side. Look at the statistics. He names half a dozen of defeats. No god has been able to defend their lands against Assyria.
After all these discouraging words, the conclusion is clear - the situation is hopeless.
• Humanly speaking, Hezekiah stands no chance. All the arguments that the field commander presented made sense. Human sense, that is.
• God was not factored in. He was left out of the picture. Conveniently ignored, and God is the One that really matters.
We’ve been listening to this man rattling away outside the city walls. We’ve to hear another voice, the words of God from “within the walls” (most likely).
• Isaiah has been speaking the words of God, regarding this same situation.
• And the Lord says, Jerusalem will be delivered and Assyria will retreat.
• It’s man’s voice versus God’s voice. It’s man’s assessment of the situation, versus God’s proclamation of what is to come. And God’s Word is final.
Hard to believe but true. How can this happen?
• We’ll have to leave that until next week when we look at chapter 19.
Ultimately the crisis did not break Hezekiah, even though it did swayed him into bribing Assyria’s King and attempting to seek an alliance with Egypt.
• Ultimately Hezekiah learnt that God can be trusted and His Word is true.
• The trial drove him nearer to God and he saw God’s astounding deliverance.
And this crisis came right after all the good that he has done for the Lord.
• 2 Chron 32:1 tells us very bluntly, “After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah.”
• This line comes after chapters 29-31 of Hezekiah’s wonderful acts of restoring the worship of God in the Temple of God, in a way that no previous King has ever done.
• And the Lord ‘rewarded’ him with an invasion from Assyria.
• Who says the faithful never suffer. Who says the godly will never have afflictions.
The author testified correctly at the beginning (18:5) that “Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel” BUT not apart from the trying times he was put through.
• He tells even of the King’s mistake and failure under pressure.
• He tells all as they are, because that’s precisely how Hezekiah learnt to trust God, not APART from the trials but THROUGH them.
FAITH IS NOT IMMUNITY FROM TROUBLES.
Our faith in God is not an immunity that shields us from all adversities.
• C S Lewis: “Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties.”
• God’s promises of blessing and help still hold true. His will can be accomplished even through mishaps.
We listen to what God says and trust Him.
• Don’t let the difficulties shift our focus from God and onto our circumstances.
If faith in God immunes us from all troubles, then that’s not faith but magic.
• We are not trusting God, we are trusting in an outcome.
• We are not trusting God’s will, we are seeking our will.
Many are disappointed with God because they have this wrong view of what faith in God means.
• A man prays earnestly but his wife still dies of cancer, and he never prays again.
• A woman serving faithfully in church is abandoned by her husband, and she abandons the church.
And here we have a King who honours God, obeys God, reforms the nation’s worship of God, and yet an enemy invades his land and threatens his life.
• Something looks so wrong here but God is in the midst of it all.
• We have to listen to what He says and trust Him.
If you are in a difficult crisis today, this is what you need to do. Hear what God has to say and trust Him. Pray and seek God.
• That’s what Hezekiah did and that’s what we will look at next Sunday.
