Isaiah’s Message of Deliverance (2 Kings 19:1-7)
“On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD. He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them. Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.”
So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, who replied, “Tell your master that this is what the LORD says: ‘Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”
Sennacherib’s Blasphemous Letter (2 Kings 19:8-13)
When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah. Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: “He has set out to fight against you.” On hearing this, Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah with the order: “Tell Hezekiah king of Judah, ‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries, devoting them to destruction. Will you then be spared? Did the gods of the nations my fathers destroyed rescue them—the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar? Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”
Hezekiah’s Prayer (2 Kings 19:14-19)
So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: “O LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God. Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all these countries and their lands. They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands. And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God. ”
Sennacherib’s Fall Prophesied (2 Kings 19:20-34)
Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: ‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind you. Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel! Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypress trees. I have reached its farthest heights, the densest of its forests. I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”
Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it; in days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should crush fortified cities into piles of rubble. Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.
But I know your sitting down, your going out and your coming in, and your raging against Me. Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’ And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from the same. But in the third year you will sow and reap; you will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root below and bear fruit above. For a remnant will go forth from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.
So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow into it. He will not come before it with a shield or build up a siege ramp against it. He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city, declares the LORD. I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”
Jerusalem Delivered from the Assyrians (2 Kings 19:35-37; 2 Chronicles 32:20-23)
Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned home to Nineveh and stayed there. One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.”
This passage is long, but it’s such a great story that there is no way of chopping it into little bits without spoiling the ending. The Assyrians are at the gates of Jerusalem, threatening to destroy it, screaming threats to terrorize the citizens. All the other fortified cities of Judah have already been taken, and there is no possibility of assistance from elsewhere. Things are desperate. With nowhere else to go, Hezekiah enters the temple and prostrates himself before the Lord, begging for divine intervention. “Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God. Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all these countries and their lands. They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands. And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God. ”
Hezekiah realizes that this battle is not merely a physical one, but a spiritual one, and that the spiritual component is far more important. When Hezekiah sends a message to the prophet Isaiah, God gives Isaiah a very strong rebuke to Sennacherib, informing Sennacherib that God created him to destroy the countries he has already destroyed but that God is now going to turn him around, evicting him from Judah. When God promises to put a hook in Sennacherib’s nose, it is because this is what Sennacherib has been doing to all the kings he has conquered. Finally, God assures Hezekiah, “‘He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow into it. He will not come before it with a shield or build up a siege ramp against it. He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city, declares the LORD. I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”
The story ends in a very satisfying fashion. Overnight 185,000 soldiers die, possibly from a cholera outbreak. Sennacherib hears rumors that other kings are coming to attack him. Sennacherib returns to Nineveh and stays there, but two of his own sons assassinate him while he is worshiping in the temple of the demon he follows. (It’s likely that weapons might have been forbidden in the temple, rendering Sennacherib defenseless against such an attack.)
APPLICATION: Who doesn’t like to see the helpless delivered miraculously and a tyrant get his comeuppance? What a stirring prophecy Isaiah gives in this story! The part we don’t know is the dialogue between Isaiah and God when God gave Isaiah this prophecy. “Lord, you want me to say WHAT??? Lord, You do know that these are the Assyrians, don’t you? Look at that army? How are you going to handle 185,000 seasoned soldiers?” One of the scariest parts of being a prophet is trying to make certain that you have everything word perfect. This prophecy is undoubtedly one of the boldest that Isaiah was ever given, because many of his prophecies were reserved for a later time when he would no longer be alive. But this prophecy was to be fulfilled immediately. If Isaiah got it wrong, he was going to fail spectacularly.
One final thing to note is God’s promise to deliver Jerusalem. “I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’” David has now been dead for several hundred years; yet, God’s love for David is so great that He mentions David as one of the reasons for defending Jerusalem. This is because God promised David that He would do so, and God is a promise – keeping God. Hezekiah doesn’t refer to God’s promises to David in his prayer; God is the One who remembers.
Perhaps today you are facing difficult challenges. Troubles have overtaken you, problems created by others are now falling all over you like building blocks from a giant child’s block set. You feel trapped with no recourse. You can readily identify with Hezekiah. Take hope! Take courage! The same God who delivered Hezekiah and Jerusalem from one of the greatest armies on earth still answers prayers and still delivers. Your Creator is powerful and there is no problem too difficult for Him. Go to God as Hezekiah did, spreading out your problems and trusting that He will hear and answer. As Isaiah said earlier, “So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.” That Cornerstone is Jesus Christ; anyone who trusts in Him will never be shaken. Let’s pray!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, many of us are struggling with problems that seem insurmountable. These problems have besieged us just as the Assyrians did the city of Jerusalem. But You are a God who sees and hears and knows everything. Lord, save us for Your Name’s sake. Let all who read these words run to You as their ultimate Shelter. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
Burunche's Blog 
Leave a comment