2 Kings 18-19 "Hezekiah and the Renewal of the House of David" Last time, we looked at the reign of Ahaz of Judah, and watched as he built an altar to the gods of Assyria in the temple of Yahweh. And we saw the end of the northern kingdom of Israel, as the lion of Assyria destroyed forever the kingdom of the ten tribes. The sin of Jeroboam ended in judgment against the nation. But Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. Ahaz had renounced his Davidic sonship, acknowledging Tiglath-pileser as his father, but Hezekiah is a true son of David. Chronicles will tell us that Hezekiah even reunites the remnant of Israel to the house of Judah (2 Chron 30:6), but Kings does not mention that part. But notice the pattern: after the death of the house of Ahab, the house of David renewed the covenant under Joash; and now after the death of the northern kingdom, the house of David renews the covenant under Hezekiah. God is faithful to his promises to David. And even when he brings judgment against his people, his purpose is to restore his people under the son of David forever. Our passage begins with an introduction in verses 1-12, and then tells the story of the Assyrian invasion during the 14th year of Hezekiah probably around the year 701. Introduction: Hezekiah and the End of the House of Israel (18:1-12) Verses 1-8 declare that Hezekiah is the best king since David. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. And as we have seen throughout Kings, doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD has to do with worship: He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. In other words, he not only worshiped Yahweh in the temple himself, but he also insisted that all Judah do the same. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). Back in Numbers 21, we hear the story of this bronze serpent. The people of Israel had grumbled and rebelled against Moses, and fiery serpents had come against them. But Moses made a bronze serpent and held it up on a pole, and everyone who looked to the serpent would be healed from his snake-bite and live. Only now do we discover what became of that bronze serpent. It had become an object of worship for Israel. The Hebrew word for serpent is nechash. The Hebrew word for bronze is nechosheth So a bronze serpent is nechash hannechoshet which became over time simply, nechushtan. But Hezekiah was zealous for the LORD his God. And he becomes the son of God who crushes the head of the serpent at least figuratively. What is more, He trusted in the LORD the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the LORD. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses. Hezekiah is as good as it gets between David and Jesus. And therefore we should not be surprised to hear in verse 7 a phrase that we have not heard since 1 Samuel 18 And the LORD was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered. There are only a handful of individuals of whom it was said that Yahweh was with them. The LORD was with Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Samuel, Saul (for a time), repeatedly in 1 Samuel 16-20 we are told that the LORD was with David, and again in 2 Samuel 5 and 7. And while the LORD was with Israel in the days of Solomon, Kings says that the LORD was with David and Hezekiah. (Chronicles will also say that the LORD was with Solomon, Asa and Jehoshaphat, but Kings follows the narrative of Samuel more closely, and so it stands out that no one in Kings has merited this designation yet!) But why is Yahweh with Hezekiah? Because Hezekiah trusts in the LORD even when the Assyrians give him every reason not to. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city. Hezekiah is truly the new David. He even defeats the Philistines like David did! And what is more remarkable is that Hezekiah does this in the context of Israel's exile. Verses 9-12 remind us that the exile of Israel occurred in the fourth year of Hezekiah. It would have been easy for a king to say, Yahweh didn't protect Samaria, so why should I trust him to protect Jerusalem?! But Hezekiah understood that the reason for the fall of Samaria was that they failed to trust the LORD, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed. Hezekiah is a king who listens to the voice of the LORD and obeys. 1. The Invasion of Sennacherib (18:13-16) The story of the invasion starts with the triumph of Sennacherib over the fortified cities of Judah. The actual description of the battle takes all of one verse to tell (v13). The rest of the story consists of a verbal repartee: the word of the Rabshakeh (verses 17-37) the word of King Hezekiah (19:1-4) and the word of the LORD (19:5-7) The pattern is then repeated in 19:8-34 the word of the Rabshakeh (19:8-13) the word of King Hezekiah (19:14-19) and the word of the LORD (19:20-34). In the first sequence the word of the Rabshakeh is the dominant word (taking up 21 verses), but in the second sequence the word of the LORD is dominant (15 verses). The word of the LORD overpowers the word of the nations. And then the story ends with another battle sequence and again the actual description of the battle takes all of one verse to tell (19:35)-- but this is one in which the angel of the LORD fights for Jerusalem. Verse 13 passes us by so quickly that we may not realize what it says. Sennacherib's armies have taken all the fortified cities of Judah. Every city has fallen. The entire land is in the hands of the Assyrians except Jerusalem. One last beacon of light still shines in the midst of the darkness but the darkness surges around it like the ocean waves. Hezekiah responds by offering tribute, acknowledging that he should not have rebelled against the king of Assyria. And so the king of Assyria required 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. Hezekiah plunders the house of the LORD to pay this. This is not a good beginning for a king like David! But then the verbal repartee begins. Whose word will prevail? 2. The Word of the Rabshakeh (18:17-37) Sennacherib sends three of his leading officials to Jerusalem with his demands. The Rabshakeh (the cupbearer his most trusted official) is the mouthpiece of the King of Assyria: Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? He starts with Egypt. Egypt is a broken reed that will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Egypt will not save you! But maybe you think that Yahweh will save you! The Rabshakeh appears to be well informed as to the internal policies of Hezekiah as he points out that Hezekiah has removed the altars of Yahweh. What does he mean? Remember that Hezekiah has removed the high places. For the people of Judah, the high places were the places where they worshiped Yahweh. Now they had to go all the way to Jerusalem to worship. It would be as though Mitch Daniels said that no one was allowed to worship in South Bend anymore. We would all have to go to Indianapolis to worship at his church. There would have been strong resentment against Hezekiah throughout the land, because even seemingly devout Yahweh-worshipers would have been worshiping at their local high place for generations. The Rabshakeh is playing off of this resentment. You and I know that Yahweh was pleased with Hezekiah for this, but for the citizens of Judah, besieged in Jerusalem, they would likely have been tempted to heed the words of the Rabshakeh. Further, the Rabshakeh declares that Yaweh himself has sent him: Yahweh said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it. (18:25) At this point we discover that the Rabshakeh has been speaking in Hebrew, rather than Aramaic the language of diplomacy. He is not interested in bandying words with the servants of Hezekiah-- he wants to persuade the people of Jerusalem the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine. a rather graphic way of describing what will be their fate if they do not listen to him! The Rabshakeh then calls out to the people: Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! Thus says the king: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand. Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: And here the Rabshakeh again demonstrates his knowledge of Israel's history and law and he claims that the king of Assyria will do only Yahweh can do: Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live and not die. In the days of Solomon we heard that every man of Israel lived in safety, every man under his vine and under his fig tree. (4:25) Now the Rabshakeh declares that the glory of the days of Solomon will return, if only they will trust in the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria will give them a new land. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, The LORD will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Assyria had conquered all the nations in the region. He points out that Yahweh did not deliver Samaria so why would he deliver you! Yahweh cannot deliver you! You know, it is a really, really, really bad idea to say that Yahweh cannot deliver his people. 3. The Word of the King (19:1-4) As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD. Peter Leithart points out that this is the first time in the whole book of Kings "that we see a king using the temple the way it's supposed to be used as a house of prayer (19:1, 14)." And he sent a message to Isaiah the prophet: has Yahweh heard this? Please, Isaiah, lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left. Such is the prayer of the faithful king, who trusts in the LORD. 4. The Word of the LORD (19:5-7) And Isaiah responds with the word of the LORD. Thus says the LORD. The Rabshakeh is the prophet of the king of Assyria. But Isaiah is the prophet of Yahweh, and the LORD comforts Hezekiah, saying, Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land. God says that Hezekiah has heard the words of the king of Assyria. But the king of Assyria will hear something that will eventually lead to his own death. So we have heard the word of the Rabshakeh, the word of Hezekiah (in prayer), and the word of the LORD. But rather than go straight to the resolution of the story, we are given one more round. And this time the word of the Rabshakeh fades and falls into the background, while the prayer of Hezekiah and the word of the LORD through Isaiah gain in prominence, in strength, and in glory. 2'. The Word of the Rabshakeh (19:8-13) The second word of the Rabshakeh is simply an echo of the first. The words of man do not improve with age. The second verse is the same as the first. The context given in verses 8-9 makes it clear that Jerusalem received a brief reprieve while the armies of Assyria battled Tirhakah king of Cush, but the Rabshakeh makes it clear that Assyria will be back, and Jerusalem will be subdued like the nations around them. Indeed, the Rabshakeh again displays his knowledge of Hebrew, saying that Assyria will wage herem warfare against Jerusalem "devoting them to destruction"-- which is the word used in Joshua to refer to what Israel was supposed to do to the seven nations of the Canaanites. No longer will the king of Assyria give them a new land. His patience has run out. Now he will come and destroy Jerusalem and all its people. 3' The Word of the King (19:14-19) And when Hezekiah read the letter, his response once again is to go to the temple, and pray. O LORD the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O LORD our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone. (19:15-19) Finally, a king of Judah who remembers what the temple is for! We haven't heard a prayer like that since Solomon built the thing! There is nothing of the magical or manipulative here. Hezekiah does not try to bargain with God. He doesn't even appeal to his own faithfulness as king. His own father, Ahaz, had trusted the gods of Assyria. But Hezekiah trusts in the God of his fathers. 4'. The Word of the LORD (19:20-34) And since Hezekiah has trusted in the LORD, Yahweh responds through Isaiah the prophet: This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning Sennacherib: The Rabshakeh had mocked Jerusalem and Jerusalem's God. So now the virgin daughter of Zion (unmolested and pure) will mock the Assyrians. By your messengers you have mocked the Lord. Sennacherib has challenged the God of heaven, the Holy One of Israel, and God will answer. Sennacherib has claimed that he can divide the waters of Egypt but of course, that was what God did when he divided the Red Sea. Psalm 29 says that the voice of the LORD fells the cedars of Lebanon but Sennacherib claims that he has done this. Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? God is the one who planned from days of old that Sennacherib would have this great success. But I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me... I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came. Sennacherib is like an ass a donkey to be led with bit or hook. And in verses 29-31 Yahweh gives his people a sign: this year eat what grows of itself (after all, they have been shut up in Jerusalem for months) and in the second year what springs of the same. Then in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards and eat their fruit. And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD will do this. Yes, the devastation of the Assyrian invasion is real. There is only a remnant left in Judah. But that remnant will flourish. And why will God do this? I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David. (19:34) It is not because Judah has been faithful. It is not even because Hezekiah is such a good king. It is for his own sake and for the sake of David, to whom God had sworn that he would never lack an heir to sit on his throne. And so in the third year God would raise up his people. (And yes, you should see an echo of the third day resurrection of Jesus there!) 1'. The Invasion of the Angel of the LORD (19:35-37) And that night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. Sennacherib's own account of this episode is that he won a glorious victory over Hezekiah, that Hezekiah paid tribute, and so Sennacherib came home. (But whereas Sennacherib brags about defeating other cities, he never claims to have defeated Jerusalem). There is also an interesting story in the Egyptian annals that their god (and of course, they would attribute it to their god!) sent mice which ate all the arrows and the leather handles of the shields, leaving the Assyrian army helpless. But whatever means God may have used, Yahweh sent his angel of death into the camp of the Assyrians. Just as God had done to Egypt, when Pharaoh claimed authority over the people of God, so also he did to the Assyrians when Sennacherib defied him. Isaiah had said that Sennacherib would "hear" something that would send him back to Ninevah. Well, Sennacherib was not at Jerusalem. He was at his command post in Lachish (and later Libnah). So he would not have seen the death of his army he would have heard. And so when Sennacherib heard of the destruction of his great army, he left and returned to Ninevah. Verse 37 reports the death of Sennacherib. The death of Sennacherib was in the year 681. The author of Kings reports it here, because it concludes the story. Not only did God overthrow the army of Sennacherib, but he overthrew Sennacherib himself. Conclusion James tells us that the fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Hezekiah's prayer resulted in the deliverance of Jerusalem, the death of 185,000 enemies of Israel, and sends Sennacherib back to Ninevah (Indeed, the Assyrians will never again mount a serious threat against Jerusalem.) That sounds like a pretty effective prayer! What can we learn from Hezekiah's prayer? First, Hezekiah begins by getting the relationship right. God is God. I am not. You are enthroned above the cherubim. You are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. Hezekiah is not full of himself. He is truly humble before the LORD. But there is no false humility here. Hezekiah is also very bold in his prayer. He says, look God, Sennacherib is mocking you. But you are the true God! And what are you going to do to vindicate your name? Often our prayers lack such boldness. We are timid and tentative. And the reason is because too often we are praying selfishly. Our prayers reveal that we are the center of our own universe. Hezekiah's prayer is bold, because Hezekiah knows that he is praying for the coming of the kingdom of God. And Hezekiah is only praying in the outer court of the temple. We come to God in the heavenly Holy of Holies. We are seated in the heavenly places in Christ. As Peter Leithart puts it: He prayed toward a temple of stone, but we pray to a living temple, a temple destroyed and rebuilt in three days. Is all that true or not? Do we pray like it's true, or not? When we come before the Lord, we are coming as kings and priests, as righteous in the Righteous One Jesus. We don't come before the Lord as worms, cowering before a heavy-handed, quick-tempered tyrant. To pray like worms is an insult to the grace and kindness of our infinitely merciful God; to pray like a worm is an implicit denial of God's word, which declares that we are raised with Christ. You say, But I am a worm in myself. Forget about "in yourself." You are not in yourself. You are in Christ the Son. We pray as sons, confident that our Father knows what we need and will give us what we ask. Believe it, and pray accordingly.