When Hezekiah Heard It

One of the greatest stories of deliverance in the Old Testament is recounted in three different books. 2 Kings 18-19, Isaiah 36-36, and 2 Chronicles 32 all tell of how Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, threatened to destroy Jerusalem. Hezekiah was the king of Judah when the Assyrians came to take the city. Rabshakeh came to the city walls to taunt them and make the Israelites fear the Assyrians. “Then Rab-shakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and spake, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria: Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand: Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria” (2 Kings 18:28-30). He spoke in Hebrew to make sure all the people of Jerusalem understood and were frightened. The Assyrians had taken captive the northern tribes and had conquered many other cities. They were brutal and far more powerful than the Jews. As the scripture help says, “The Assyrians had a reputation for viciously desolating the lands and torturing the people they conquered. They also often deported large portions of a conquered population to other parts of their empire to weaken them.” Surely many of the Jews were terrified at the thought of this army attacking them. Their feelings were perhaps summed up with these words, “Whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape?” (Isaiah 20:6)

It is very instructive then what Hezekiah did when this threat was upon them. He turned to the Lord in at least three ways. We read that after Rabshakeh delivered his first message, “And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord” (2 Kings 19:1). He went to the temple for strength and help. When Rabshakeh returned a second time with the same threat in a letter, Hezekiah again turned himself to the temple: “And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.” His first place of refuge and strength was the temple. He also turned to the Lord in fervent prayer: “And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, Lord, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God…. Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only” (2 Kings 19:14-19). He pled with the Lord for protection. The account in 2 Chronicles simply says this: “And for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven” (2 Chronicles 32:20). Hezekiah and Isaiah cried to heaven for the Lord’s saving hand. And that highlights the third way that Hezekiah turned to the Lord for help: he went to the prophet. The account in the book of Isaiah reads that with the threat imminent, “The servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me” (Isaiah 37:5-6). Hezekiah was comforted by the words of the prophet of the Lord and trusted in those. His example shows us that in times of trouble we should turn to the temple, to fervent prayer, and to the words of the living prophet. Isaiah’s prophecy proved correct, for as the Assyrian army approached, “The angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh” (2 Kings 19:35-36). It was a miracle every bit as great as the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. The Lord protected His people who put their trust in Him, and He will surely do the same for us in our challenges as we turn to the Lord in faith.