2 Kings - Chapters 18-19

In this transcription, Julie Calio discusses chapters 18 and 19 of 2 Kings. She focuses on the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah and his faith in the Lord. She explains how Hezekiah removed idols and practiced true worship. She mentions the story of the bronze snake and its significance in relation to Jesus' crucifixion. She also discusses the Assyrian invasion and Hezekiah's plea to the Lord for deliverance. Hi ladies, and welcome to the AmazingBible.book club. I'm Julie Calio, your host, and thanks so much for taking time out of your busy, busy schedules to tune in with me today. If by chance you want to contact me, you can do that at vab.bc.pc at gmail.com. Today we are covering chapters 18 and 19 of 2 Kings, when Assyria attempts to conquer Judah. This story is also covered in Isaiah chapters 36 and 37, but I briefly covered that in yesterday's lesson, and today we will look at it in more detail, which 2 Kings gives us. Chapter 18 begins with the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah, who was 25 years old when he became king, and his reign lasted 29 years. Verse 3 is an amazing statement. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. Not even David's own son, King Solomon, was described like this. Instead, Solomon was described as doing evil in the eyes of the Lord. He did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done. What made King Hezekiah so great? His faith in the Lord, which produced action. He removed the high places. He smashed sacred stones and cut down Asherah poles, which was worship of other gods. Verse 4b says 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 Nehashtan. This story is found in Numbers chapter 21 verses 4-9. While the Israelites were on their journey to the promised land, they grumbled against God and against Moses, and the Lord sent venomous snakes among the people. Moses interceded for the people, and the Lord told him to make a snake and put it on a pole, and anyone who was bitten by a snake, if they would look to the snake, they would live. Interestingly, Jesus, when speaking to Nicodemus, said in John chapter 3 verses 14 and 15, Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. Since we have the New Testament, we know that Jesus was lifted up on the cross, or on a wood pole, to pay the price for our sins, and when we look to him, we also live. Then Jesus said some of my favorite verses in all of the Bible, in John 3, 16 and 17, For God so loved the world, that means you, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. The life that Jesus gives is eternal life. Well, this bronze snake on a pole had now become an idol to the people, instead of a tool to remember what God had done. They even gave it a name. According to Roy L. Honeycutt Jr. in his commentary, the name Nehushtan suggests the word serpent, but is more directly related to bronze. This similarity is doubtless a deliberate play on words. That the figure was a violation of the second commandment is both obvious and adequate grounds for purging it from cultic life. 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. Other things his faith produced were, he held fast, he kept the commands of the Lord which Moses gave, and he rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to serve him. As Paul R. Howe said, a pro-Assyrian foreign policy has always been the political equivalent of a pact with the devil. The Lord blessed Hezekiah's reign by defeating the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, but here comes Assyria. Assyria is the dominant world power, and it was King Shalmaneser who took Samaria, the capital of the northern ten tribes of Israel, and all their land, exiled the Jews, and placed people from other nations to come and live in the land, 2 Kings chapter 17. The writer of 2 Kings made it clear in chapter 17, and then here in chapter 18 verse 12. This happened because they had not obeyed the Lord their God, but had violated his covenant. All that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. They neither listened to the commands nor carried them out. Verse 13 tells us that first Sennacherib attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them, and now Jerusalem is left. King Hezekiah knew he was coming, so he sent a message while Sennacherib was in Lachish, a city of Judah. His letter said, I have done wrong, withdraw from me and I will pay whatever you demand. The amount was 300 talents of gold and 300 talents of silver. Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was in the temple and the royal palace, and then he had to strip off the gold which he had covered the temple doors and doorposts to give that to the king. One thing that is unclear was if that was enough to cover that amount that was demanded. What we do know is that it did not keep them from coming. Starting with chapter 18 verse 17, the king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander with a large army from Lachish to Jerusalem. They called for the king, but instead he too sent out three men, Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shibnah the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder. One thing Paul R. Howe said in his commentary, Judah's king acts as if he demands to be treated as an equal in the negotiations. Then the field commander starts his spiel. He tells them to go and tell Hezekiah, this is what the great king, the king of Assyria says. On what are you basing this confidence of yours? You say you have strategy and military strength, but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending that you rebel against me? Verses 19 and 20. He then goes on and says that Egypt is not strong enough to help, but then he says that their God is not strong enough either. He even goes on to say that he has spoken to their God and that the Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it. The three representatives from King Hezekiah asked the Assyrian commander to speak in Aramaic instead of Hebrew so that the people on the wall would not understand. But then the commander continued in Hebrew and spoke to the people on the wall. He told them to not trust Hezekiah because he can't save them and neither can their God. He offered them to surrender and then they would have food, wine, and water. He told the people to choose life and not death, verse 32b. He then gives a list of places that they have attacked and conquered and that those gods were not able to protect them. The sad part in this section is that he mentions Samaria, who was supposed to have the same God of Judah, but they would not listen to their true God, even though the Lord sent prophets over and over to them. They would not listen. His last statement said, How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand? Then 36 says, But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, Do not answer him. Hezekiah's representatives came to him with torn clothes, a sign of mourning, and he told them what the commander said. Chapter 19 continues the story, And the king also tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, a sign of mourning. He went to the temple of the Lord, and then he sent his men to inquire of Isaiah the prophet. They told him the story, and how the commander had ridiculed the living God, and the Lord spoke through Isaiah, chapter 9, verses 6-7. Tell your master, this is what the Lord says, Do not be afraid of what you have heard, those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen, I am going to put such a spirit in him that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword. Well word came to the commander that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, a city of Judah, and had gone to Libna, another city of Judah, north of Lachish. So the commander left Judah. Well king Sennacherib of Assyria was not finished with Judah, so after he heard that the king of Egypt was going to fight against him, he sent a second time messengers to king Hezekiah. His note said, verse 10, Do not let the God you depend on deceive you when he says, Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria. Then he too went into many cities which gods could not defend them against Assyria. This time king Hezekiah received the letter, read it, went to the temple of the Lord, and spread it out before the Lord. Oh ladies, the Lord wants us to do that. But issues are weighing you down. Sometimes I've written down my problems and then burnt them at my stove as a burnt offering to the Lord. Maybe you need to lay down your checkbook or your bills. Maybe some family issues. The best place to lay them down is at the feet of Jesus. Hezekiah prayed to the Lord and said in verses 14 through 19, Oh Lord God of Israel, now keep in mind that he lives in Judah and Israel, the northern ten tribes were wiped out and in exile. They actually are called the lost ten tribes of Israel. Yet Hezekiah knows that even if the nation was divided, it was still the Lord's. He remembered their history and God's promises. His prayer continued, Enthroned between the cherubim, in the holy of holies, in the ark of the covenant, the Lord was said to have dwelt there between the cherubim. But it also is a picture of the Lord on his heavenly throne. Then he said, You alone are God over all kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. He acknowledged God's sovereignty over the earth as well as the rise and fall of each kingdom. Give ear, oh Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, oh Lord, and see. Listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God. He's asking the Lord to pay attention to his need and he is reminding the Lord that this king insulted the Lord. He continues by saying, Yes, Assyria had demolished these other lands and their gods, but those gods were just wood and stone made by the hands of people. Then verse 19, Now, oh Lord, our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, oh Lord, are God. Isaiah then sent a message to King Hezekiah. The Lord, the God of Israel, heard his prayer, and this is how the Lord responded. In a poetic format which says that Jerusalem will be saved and Assyria will flee. The Lord addressed Assyria and reminded them that the Lord is over their doings and because of their insolence against the Lord, there will be a day they will have a hook in their nose and a bit in their mouth like they have treated people as animals, and they will return home the way they came. For Hezekiah, the Lord gave a sign that this year they will be able to eat from the food that naturally grows, same with the second year, but after that they will be able to plant vineyards and eat from their own crops again. There is hope of a remnant from Judah. Verse 31b says, The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. The last word was that Assyria will not enter the city, nor shoot an arrow, or build a siege ramp, or come with shield. They will not enter. That night an angel of the Lord came and put to death 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. The next morning, when they saw all the dead people, they broke camp and withdrew back to Nineveh. Yes, the same place the Lord sent Jonah to preach about a hundred years earlier. The story ends that while Sennacherib was worshipping in his temple before his god Nishrach, two of his sons came and killed him by the sword, ran away, and his other sons succeeded him as king. From Paul House's commentary, he quoted a commentary by Hubbard which said that the Assyrian king had passed over his two oldest sons to be the next king and chose his youngest son as king and that is why his son killed him. This story also shows that Sennacherib's god could not even protect him from his own sons in his own temple. The question in this section is can we trust the Lord? This passage also shows us that the answer is yes, yes we can. The apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans in chapter 15 verse 4, for everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through the endurance taught in the scriptures and encouragement they provide we might have hope. Ladies if you have heard his voice today, may we have ears to hear and eyes to see what the Lord is doing and may we be encouraged that the Lord provided for King Hezekiah and the people of Judah and the Lord can provide for us. Ladies, we can have hope no matter what the world brings our way. Until next time and thanks so very much for listening.