Hezekiah's
Prayer and You. 2 Kings 18:5-17
We all face challenges. Every
single day we face one challenge or another which come wrapped up in all kinds
of different guises—disappointments, adversity, and at other times prosperity and
blessing which brings with them their own set of challenges. Some of the
challenges that we face seem very significant; others don’t seem very
significant at all, but whatever the challenge or situation the solution is
always found in a foundational reality, and that is God. Ultimately it always
goes back to a spiritual problem and a spiritual solution, so that the focal
point is always ultimately an issue of trust. Are we going to trust in God and
His Word on the one hand, or are we going to trust in our own understanding,
our own experience, our own rationalizations, our trusting in something within
the created order?
As we come to 2 Kings
18:17-37 we see that even when the kingdom of Judah under the leadership of
king Hezekiah is faced with what appears to be an insurmountable problem—they
are surrounded by the armies of the Assyrians, cut off and under siege—it would
seem that the solution to this problem could be found in maybe some ally coming
to rescue them, maybe in military technology or strategy and tactic that
somehow surprises and overcomes the enemy. We often look for solutions in the
created realm when it becomes clear though in this text that even though those
aspects are important and do play roles, but ultimately the issue must be framed
in terms of God, His character, His plan. That is the foundational issue and
that is what we see as we continue our study here.
One of the key words that we
see in this whole passage is the word “trust.” It is found in 2 Kings 18:5,
speaking of king Hezekiah. This is the divine
evaluation report in Hezekiah: “He trusted in the LORD, the God of
Israel.” This word for trust in the
Hebrew is a word is not quite the same as others words that emphasize objective
trust, it has to do with more the subjective focus of trust in terms of
confidence, in terms of that which makes us feel secure and that someone is
completely taking care of us. The focus here is on that security. Where is
Hezekiah’s security? Te application that we are hitting again and again in this
passage has to do with: where is our security, where is your security in terms
of the challenges in life that we face in life. The decisions that we have to
face: is our security in the God of the Bible and His revelation, or is our
security located in our circumstances—our jobs, our relationships, in some
aspect of creation—or is our security focused on the Word of God? For Hezekiah,
in terms of a summary of His life—it doesn’t mean that he didn’t fail—overall
he was a man who trusted in the Lord God of Israel, “so that after him there
was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor {among those} who were
before him.” He is the model of the spiritual life and trust in God during the kingdom of Judah
from Rehoboam until its final collapse in 586 BC. 2 Kings 18:6
uses a parallel form and a word that gives us a visual image of what trust in
the Lord God of Israel is like: the word “held fast” [NKJV] or “clung”
[NASB]. “For he clung to the LORD; he did not
depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the LORD had
commanded Moses.” It is a very strong word. Clinging to the Lord and trusting
in Him is equivalent to obeying His commandments. In context here these
commandments relate to the Old Testament law, the Mosaic law,
but it has a broader application for us because Jesus reiterates the same truth
in terms of New Testament commandments: “If you love me you will keep my
commandments.” The word here is the Hebrew word dabaq, which is used also of the
relationship between the man and the women in Genesis chapter two, that they
shall leave mother and father and cling or cleave to one another. It has
different aspects but the core meaning of that word is to cling to something,
to stick to something, to hold on to something—almost in a desperate sense, you
are not going to let go.
What prepared the nation for
this challenge of the Assyrian crisis was their spiritual preparation. When
Hezekiah became king he was devoted to the Lord. His first act was to cleanse
the temple. There is a spiritual reformation that occurs among the leadership
from the top down, from Hezekiah to the priests and then to the people. In
application the people didn’t just use the words that they were going to devote
themselves to God but they went out and destroyed all of the high places, the
various temples and worship centers, idols and false gods that they had been
worshipping in the previous administrations. There was a recommitment to obey
the Mosaic covenant that God had entered into with them. This laid the
foundation some fourteen years prior to the invasion. The key word here is batach, which
means to trust in, to feel confident in God. It leads to where we don’t have a
care because God is going to be the one who completely takes care of us.
We have seen that the big threat
is the king of Assyria. The Assyrians had come down earlier under Shalmaneser—it actually was finished by Sargon II—and had
destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel, and we learn that the reason they lost the battle
wasn’t because of technology or manpower or poor military skills. 2 Kings 18:12 makes it very clear that the cause was disobedience
to God. This is exactly what God had predicted in the Mosaic covenant. That
verse tells us that the real problem that faced the northern kingdom that
caused their military defeat was a spiritual problem. If we are not right with
the Lord and we are not walking and living in terms of His Word and applying
His Word, and operating on the promises and principles of His Word, then the
end result of that life of independence and rebellion is going to be divine
discipline and punishment.
2 Kin 18:13, 14 NASB
“Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came
up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. Then
Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, ‘I have done wrong. Withdraw from me;
whatever you impose on me I will bear.’ So the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of
gold.” It is from Lachish that Sennacherib has his headquarters as he
challenges Hezekiah. Hezekiah (v.14) has slipped into sin. Instead of trusting
in God, as in v. 5, he is now going to trust in human efforts to solve his
problem. He is not going to believe that God can overcome the might of the
Assyrian empire and so he is going to try to buy off the king of Assyria and is going to go back to trying to pay a tribute. Earlier he had
revolted against the Assyrians and had refused to pay a tribute. What we see is
that Hezekiah had forgotten what he had demonstrated earlier in terms of trust.
We know that this happened historically; it is attested in historical
records.
In verse 14 we see how
Hezekiah has failed to trust in God and is going to try and buy off Sennacherib
with three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. This is quite
a reduced amount relative to other amounts in Scripture, but it reflects a
tremendous amount for the Judean economy at this time. What it really
represents in terms of paying out that tribute is that Hezekiah has failed to
trust in God as his defense. David says in Psalm 144:2 NASB “My lovingkindness and my fortress, My
stronghold and my deliverer, My shield and He in whom I take refuge, Who
subdues my people under me.” This is a reference to the promise that God is our
high tower; He is our fortification; He is our shield, the one who protects us.
This was the mark of David and the mark of Hezekiah early on in his reign, and
God had blessed him; but now he is going to trust in money. He is trusting in
the wrong thing to secure his deliverance. Hezekiah goes in and robs God; he
steals from Him. This is a strong reminder and visual statement that when we
don’t trust in God to deal with the problems of our life, then in essence we
are stealing glory from God; we are stealing from Him as we seek to find
solutions to our problems in something else.
He second thing that shows up in the response to the
statements of the Rabshakeh is that not only was he
depending upon gold to buy off Sennacherib but he was also depending upon Egypt for cavalry and chariots to come to his aid, verse
21. The Egyptians were defeated by Sennacherib and, as Sennacherib said, were
nothing more than a broken reed. You can’t depend on man. He who trusts in flesh
is doomed to be disappointed. The third part of his sin, which is mentioned
later on, is his pride. He is arrogant. He is not trusting God, he is trusting
in himself; and this is the underlying basis for all sin, the sin of arrogance.
2 Kings 18:15 NASB
“Hezekiah gave {him} all the silver which was found in the house of the LORD, and in the
treasuries of the king’s house. [16] At that time Hezekiah cut off {the gold
from} the doors of the temple of the LORD, and {from} the doorposts which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.” So that which belongs to God now belongs to Sennacherib. This is
going to put Jerusalem and Judah, and specifically Hezekiah, under divine discipline.
This is where we get into
a chronological problem in understanding the next couple of chapters because in
20:1 we read, “In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill….” This happens at
the same time as the siege. The siege took place over a number of months and
apparently during the time of the siege, after Hezekiah has disobeyed God and
tried to buy off Sennacherib, and has been trusting in the Egyptians,
God brought him down in illness that threatened his life. He was under the sin
unto death. So the events in the first part of chapter 20 actually take place
during the siege by the Assyrians. Their headquarters were located in Lachish. “… And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Set your
house in order, for you shall die and not live.’”
Then we see the issue
develop as the propaganda team sent out by Sennacherib begins to meet with the
leaders in Jerusalem. 2 Kings 18:17 NASB
“Then the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rab-saris
and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a large army to Jerusalem. So they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they went up, they came and stood by the
conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the fuller’s field.” Of
these three individuals mentioned here the first two are the primary leaders of
the Assyrian army. The Tartan was the supreme commander, the general in charge
of the army, and he was one of two persons in the Assyrian army with this title
who often led campaigns on behalf of the emperor. Cf. Isaiah 20:1. The Rab-saris is a term that refers to the filed commander and
he would be the one in command of the operation of the siege and assault of Jerusalem, and then the Rabshakeh was
the chief cup bearer. Typically the
chief cup bearer would not go into battle. This is not somebody who simply comes
along as a food tester or a glorified butler, but he has a much enlarged role
in terms of dealing with the military. In this particular situation it was
probably somebody from Jewish or northern kingdom background who knew and
understood Hebrew and understood all of the customs, and he is the one who is
going to shape the argument, the propaganda, against the Judeans and against Jerusalem. This is really the spiritual meat of this particular
passage.
2 Kings 18:18 NASB
“When they called to the king, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the scribe and Joah the
son of Asaph the recorder, came out to them.” This
would be members of the kings cabinet, the closest
advisors to the king. Then the Rabshakeh begins to
address them. [19] “Then Rabshakeh said
to them, ‘Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, ‘What is this confidence that you have?’” The word “confidence” is
the noun form of batach,
and the word translated “trust” is the verb batach. In four verses there are five
uses of the word batach,
which tells us that the focal point of this whole passage is on trust. The
message to Hezekiah: What are you really trusting in? So
when the messengers of Sennacherib come they focus the attention spiritually.
The issue isn’t on technology, ultimately the challenge is: Are you really
going to trust in God to solve the problem? None of the other gods have helped;
why are you trusting in your God? [20] “You say (but
{they are} only empty words), ‘{I have} counsel and strength for the war.’ Now
on whom do you rely [batach], that you have rebelled against me? [21] Now behold, you
rely [batach]
on the staff of this crushed reed, {even} on Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand
and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him.”
Then he raises another
argument. 2 Kings 18:22
“But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose
altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?” Hezekiah took down all the altars to God and who
is going to deliver you?
There are two sections in
this chapter in terms of the discussion and the propaganda challenge to the
Judeans. The first is the private section at the beginning which goes down
until they begin to speak to all of the people, v. 26. This address is just to
the cabinet members who have come out for Hezekiah, and then it shifts to a
public section where the people are going to be addressed. In the private
section there are three basic questions raised. First, what is the basis for
your confidence? The second, are you going to trust in Egypt? The third, are you going to trust in God? So in vv.
19-22 the Rabshakeh lays out his case, and his case
is no different than the case of Satan in Genesis chapter three. This is the
primary challenge for every one of us: Did God really say
this? Did He really mean that? Satan came along and began to question God’s
Word.
Then he raises a military
argument. 2 Kings 18:23 NASB “Now therefore, come, make a bargain
with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are
able on your part to set riders on them. [24] How then can you repulse one
official of the least of my master’s servants, and rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?” In other words, you
can’t have confidence in your own ability. In verse 25 he wraps up his
argument: “Have I now come up without the LORD’S approval against this place to destroy it? The LORD said to me,
‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’” He co-opts the religious argument
and says, we are doing God’s work; we are going to
destroy you; God wants us to destroy you, you can’t trust in Him at all. He
uses all of these arguments to try to challenge the issue of what are they
trusting in?
In vv. 29-31ff he builds
the argument even more when he addresses all of the people. 2 Kings 18:29 NASB
“Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able
to deliver you from my hand; [30] nor let Hezekiah make you trust [batach] in the LORD, saying, ‘The
LORD
will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the
king of Assyria. [31] Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of
Assyria, “Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his vine
and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern.” Now
the king of Assyria starts making promises: If you just make peace with
us then everybody can come out, everybody will be given land, etc. It sounds
like the modern promises of socialistic utopian governments, that if you just
give up all of your freedom then we will take care of you, we will give
everybody enough land and money, social security, universal healthcare and everything
else. That is the challenge: is your security in God, in the Scripture, or is
it in man, in government programs and in the various human institutions.
Then he continues to make
this same claim: Where were these others gods? So the question comes down to
this: how do we know we can trust God? How do we know we can trust His Word?
There are three things that are important in answering the question: how do we
really know we can really believe the Bible and that we can really trust God? The
first way we know that God has actually spoken and that we can trust Him is
because the voice of God comes with an inherent authority—a self-authenticating
voice. There are two tests that God gives in the Old Testament for validating
His revelation. The first is given in Deuteronomy 13:1-5 NASB “If a
prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a
wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he
spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and
let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that
prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God
with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall follow the LORD your God
and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve
Him, and cling to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams
shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the LORD your God
who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce
you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge
the evil from among you.” The message is different than the miracle. The
miracle is designed to simply authenticate the messenger, but if you have the wrong
message then it is a false miracle worker. So the first test is a test of
consistency with the rest of Scripture. God doesn’t contradict Himself. There
is only one consistent message in Scripture and if the message isn’t the same
then it doesn’t matter what confirmation, what miracle this prophet has; the
message needs to be rejected. The false prophet was to be put to death. This is
very serious because God recognizes that a culture that loses integrity and
truth will implode and destroy itself—which is where we are in our culture.
In Deuteronomy 18:18ff we
have the second test, the test of the prophet that actually comes to pass all
of the time, the test of prophetic fulfillment. Deuteronomy 18:18 ‘I will raise
up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in
his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him” – a reference to
the ultimate prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ. [19] “It shall come about that
whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak
in My name, I Myself will require {it} of him. [20] But the
prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name
which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of
other gods, that prophet shall die. [21] You may say in your heart, ‘How will
we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’ [22] When a prophet
speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that
is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously;
you shall not be afraid of him.”
What we see in these two
tests is the foundation for validating the Word of God. We do not prove the
Word of God from reason or experience but God recognizes that in order to validate
that it is from Him we do go to reason and experience in order to see that the
Word of God is the Word of God.
Illustrations