Hezekiah’s Prayer
Study Scripture: 2 Kings 19: 14 – 20, 29 – 31
Background Scripture: 2 Kings 19: 14 – 20, 29 – 31
Lesson 3 September 14, 2024
Key Verse
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 19:19
INTRODUCTION
How do you decide when you are faced with difficult choices which might even result in life or death?
Do you first feel boiling resentment of your situation and try to put the blame it on someone else or on circumstances beyond your control?
Or do you blame God or blame your parents for this crisis you face?
Do you try your human way to wiggle out of the difficulty such as paying some money which might be a bribe to someone to help you escape?
Or if you are not ashamed to let others hear about the dirty laundry, do you call your friends or Pastor or Deacon in a meeting and get their advice?
Who can you trust in this situation of crisis?
We are looking at a time of darkness and what can happen to a person of God in that time. Should he or she do what is right in the sight of God, following the example of the godly people who have gone before?
Or do try and do what you think is your best and when that fails you try God?
When you are in great difficulty are a couple of well- placed taunts or insults from those you face going to get under your skin?
Do you lament because the situation you face is not totally of your own making and so you can rightfully blame parents or adults around you?
Do you then forget you should have learned and developed Christian maturity and so learned how to deal with crises which led to an impossible situation?
Our Lesson Study deals with one such situation which showed the need for a dramatic rescue of the people of God from a terrible and massive army that was camped on the doorstep of Jerusalem after devastating most of the outlying villages and towns in Judah.
A choice had to be made and there was only one choice that would bring success and deliverance.
Our Lesson context is on a nation that is full of sin.
Sounds like us when we examine our lives, doesn’t it?
A king named Ahaz ruling before his son Hezekiah had refused to trust God (chapters 7-12) when he was faced with the problem of a possible invasion by an Assyrian army. This nation was the ascendant power at the time and they had a list of nations they had to conquer and this list included the powerful Egypt.
They were very cruel and their tactics of skinning captured people alive and impaling them through stakes driven through their mouths made them a terror. History records mass suicides as they approached strong nations.
Three kings of Assyria before Hezekiah’s current enemy king Sennacherib had been very successful in battle.
Tiglath-Pileser had conquered Damascus or the kingdom of Aram. (732 B.C.)
Shalmaneser in 724 B.C. then attacked and conquered Samaria in 722 B.C. the kingdom of Israel. Sargon11 had conquered all the other nations around.
In 720 B.C. and 712 B.C. Assyria put down rebellions in Philistia and in 710 B.C. and 701 B.C. put down rebellions in Babylon.
Note Assyria had to do a lot of fighting to maintain their Empire.
They had attacked and conquered the northern Kingdom of Israel and when they then turned their attention to other nations, king Ahaz of Judah refused to accept God’s offer of protection given through the prophet Isaiah and instead bribed Assyrians to leave Judah alone.
20 years after the fall of Samaria (the northern Kingdom) Hezekiah tried the same bribery way of pacificating the Assyrians but when a new king Sennacherib came to power, he considered Judah as rebellious when the king rebelled given their alliances with nations against Assyria. Assyria started attacking and capturing the fortified cities of Judah.
Hezekiah (18:14) agreed to pay 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold as tribute, and to do that he agreed to a payoff. This king then stripped the gold off the doors of the Temple and took all the silver found there and in the treasuries.
His first step was clearly wrong.
It appears there was nothing of value left in the Temple.
Hezekiah thought he was in the clear but the payoff did not work. The Assyrians decided to attack and go up to Jerusalem and finish the job in overwhelming Judah as they had done with the northern Kingdom, the other ten tribes.
Now let us remember that in Scripture Hezekiah was called a good king. He had before trusted in the Lord. He had been co-regent with the wicked Ahaz and had reigned probably in 716/715 B.C. as sole ruler, reigning for a total of 29 years. Scripture gave him high compliments more than that given to any other king. 18:3-6 stated:
“He did what was right in the sight of the LORD ….according to all that his father David had done.
He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan.
He trusted in the LORD God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him.
For he held to the LORD; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the LORD had commanded Moses”.
Note the Scriptures used the Covenant keeping name for God, namely, LORD or Yahweh when stating that Hezekiah trusted in God.
He was brave and did what previous kings had never been brave enough to do, namely, destroying the bronze serpent that we are told in Numbers 21:1-9 that Moses had made to stop the plague of fiery serpents on the nation. When the people looked at that bronze serpent they were saved from the plague. But the people had preserved this bronze serpent for 800 years and worshipped it as Nehushtan. This was incredible!
No king before Hezekiah had the nerve to stop that idolatrous practice, but Hezekiah did what was right.
Now we know why God sent Michael the archangel to stop Satan from taking the body of Moses, for if God did not do that, the people of Israel would have worshipped Moses’ body as long as the nation existed.
Note good things can become idols. Over the years, professing Christians have tried to find the pieces of the Cross and the burial clothes of Jesus and worshipped these alleged but fraudulent materials, using them as relics which they think would bring the grace of God to them. Spurgeon stated:
“Although it was an interesting memorial, it must be utterly destroyed, because it presented a temptation to idolatry.
Here if ever in this world was a relic of antiquity, of undoubted authenticity, a relic which had seen its hundreds of years, about which there was no question as to its being indisputably the very serpent which Moses made; and it was moreover a relic which had formerly possessed miraculous power—for in the wilderness the looking at it had saved the dying. Yet it must be broken in pieces, because Israel burned incense to it”.
The name Nehushtan simply means “piece of brass”, but it turned Israel to idolatry.
One writer tells us the modern church had also made idols. He lists them:
1.Making leaders idols
2.Making education an idol.
3.Making human eloquence an idol.
4.Making customs and habits of ministry an idol.
5. Making forms of worship an idol.
I am sure you can think of things you have made into an idol. You can worship all kinds of “things” and give them priority attention over making an aim to only worshipping the one true God, I AM WHO I AM, which some call Yahweh!
Note that the problem Hezekiah faced came from the sin of king Ahaz in not trusting God. The sins of the people went along with him.
In Isaiah 8:6-8 the prophet Isaiah had warned of the consequences of not trusting God and he told Ahaz and all the people of Israel:
“Because these people rejected the slowly flowing water of Shiloah
and rejoiced with Rezin and the son of Remaliah,
the lord will certainly bring against them
the mighty rushing water of the Euphrates River
the king of Assyria and all his glory,
It will overflow its channels and spill over all its banks,
It will pour into Judah, flood over it, and sweep through,
Reaching up to the neck;
And its flooded banks will fill your entire land, Immanuel!”
But Hezekiah was a very good king, one of the best, but he wobbled in his faith and tried to pay off the Assyrians as his father Ahaz had tried to do.
Do we often follow our parents lead and break the commandments of God, treating God casually and putting what we think is our own interest first?
Think about that. Be careful!
But though his faith cracked, his faith was remarkable. He had tried to defy the conquering powerful Assyrians.
But his initial move also failed.
He could have blamed his father for his troubles and the troubles of the nation. But he did not.
So, he now had to humble himself and go back to the faithful prophet Isaiah
Note one writer assures us this event is true in history. He states:
“Sennacherib recorded his military ventures into Judah on three “prisms” that still exist. These priceless artifacts describe how he invaded Judah, conquered all of the cities around Jerusalem, and trapped King Hezekiah in his capital.
Do you know what Sennacherib histories don’t include? Anything about a crushing defeat outside Jerusalem, or anything about capturing Jerusalem.
All of Assyria’s kings were known to grossly exaggerate their accomplishments, and Sennacherib was one of the worst. He was the son of a great leader, and he desperately needed to prove how “great” he was (the fact that he was assassinated by his sons show how tenuous his rule was). Like any king, he would exaggerate his victories and ignore his defeats….
But I think we can safely say that if Sennacherib had conquered Jerusalem and captured King Hezekiah, he would have trumpeted that in his records.
For example, those records mention receiving a large tribute of silver and gold from Hezekiah- something mentioned in 2 Kings 18:13-26, but then they invaded Judah anyway (either because the tribute wasn’t large enough, or Hezekiah had done something else to offend Sennacherib). That sort of anger demands a clear victory, which Sennacherib doesn’t report.
But if Sennacherib had experienced a catastrophic, divine defeat, then it only makes sense that he ends his report with a vague and unsatisfying mention of surrounding Jerusalem”.
Chapter 18 records how Sennacherib’s commander gives an ultimatum to Hezekiah as they laid siege and cut off the water supply. In chapter 18 Hezekiah was told it was time to surrender. He was taunted as to whom he was or relying on to save him.
He had rebelled against Assyria and he should not think he could trust in Egypt for help. If Hezekiah leaned on them it would be like getting a splinter in his hand. He should not trust in his God because he had successfully removed all the altars and high places in his nation.
The Lord had told him to come up against Jerusalem (18:25) Judah was doomed. Hezekiah would eat his own dung and drink his own urine if he did not surrender (18:27).
The Assyrians then directly addressed the people of Israel telling them not to trust Hezekiah (18:30-31, and if they listened they would be taken to a new land and have good food and drink, instead of dying in Judah.
Then finally in verse 33-35 the Assyrians challenged the God of Israel directly:
“Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim and Hena and Ivah? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”.
What should Hezekiah now do? The insult and the blasphemy was tremendous and powerful.
He probably had no money to increase the payoff. He knew Egypt could not help him.
Chapter 19 tells us that when Hezekiah hear all of these taunts he humbled himself, tore his clothes, and went into the Temple covered with sackcloth, the clothes of mourning.
Then he sent messengers to Isaiah, asking him for his help to go to God for the nation, telling him that
“This is a day of trouble, and rebuke, and blasphemy, for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth”.
Hezekiah was now put to the test, and he decided that despite the taunting of the Assyrians that his God was useless and could not help him, he would go to his God. He went to the prophet Isaiah for help.
The prophet Isaiah responded to the messengers from Hezekiah, promising that God would deliver the nation and its king.
At this stage believers should think about the ways those outside of God taunt and decry believers in order to get them to question their faith and have doubts about God.
The people of the world will approach believers questioning why a loving God would allow a child to suffer and die from cancer.
Or they might point out the many immoral things that leaders of the church indulge in.
Or they might refer to their scientific knowledge and say how powerful and complete this knowledge is, and say that proves God and the idea of ‘God’ is an archaic idea.
Or they might bring up the many different interpretation of the Bible teachings and say none can be trusted.
Or they might even say that the idea of religion, especially Christianity, has led to many wars, violence, thefts of peoples lands and property, and the spilling of much blood.
In contrast, note Hezekiah’s response.
He had failed in faith before, but now when life looked hopeless he turned to God in prayer.
That is what God want us to learn from this Study.
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do not think you can handle even the problems that look so simple. Do not waste time and let seemingly small things develop to reach the crisis stage.
In the Book of Provers we are warned, “The little foxes spoil the vine”.
Hezekiah needed to turn to God in this time of darkness.
God wants you to remember who He is, His infinite majesty, power, capabilities, knowledge, and His love and mercy.
He wants you to remember the power of prayer.
He wants you to be aware of the consequences of your sins, and your disobedience to His commandments.
THE TEXT
Verse 14.
This was an extremely serious situation. Satan, the enemy of our souls wanted to destroy Judah so that he could thwart the coming of the Messiah. Satan knew that the Messiah would come and destroy him and all his power.
So his demon led people who did what Satan always does. They try to intimidate.
Believers must know that they must resist the Devil and he will flee from you.
This reminds us of the very simple example of one child bullying another child. The most distinguishing fact is that for the child who is being bullied, his Father is the Lord God Almighty and He will not stand for it.
Bullying can take shape in many ways. This is a bad practice which has flooded not only in our Schools, but in our workplace and also in our community.
We see it starts with a letter of intimidation. In today’s world with the technology at our disposal it could be with a phone call, emails, by Text messages, using the various posts on different platforms and on television. In all these ways, the point is the same, someone is trying to intimidate and coerce another individual or nation into submitting to their will by threating some type of violence.
Though some things may change, some things still stay the same. But God does not change. He remains the same. His majesty, power and justice remain the same.
This is the person who judges and protects Israel, and this is the person who Hezekiah has run to, to offer up a prayer for help.
It is always important for Christians to understand how to deal with different types of adversity that occurs in their lives. Here, Hezekiah goes to God in prayer and also brings to God very openly and clearly the cause of his distress. He also comes with a hope, that the Almighty God will protect His people.
Hezekiah took the letter, and went to the Lord for help. He took it to the house of the LORD (to the outer court, not the holy place). He spread the letter before the LORD.
By doing this in this particular manner, Hezekiah boldly and effectively fulfilled the later command of 1 Peter 5:7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
I would add that this was a quick response from Hezekiah, but that might have been due to the lessons learned in the past in dealing with this aggressor.
The spreading out of the letter before God was an embodiment of the wish, which sprang from a child-like and believing trust, that the Lord would notice and punish that defiance of the living God which it contained. What Hezekiah meant by this action he expressed in the following prayer. [ Keil & Delitzsch]
Verse 15.
Wisely and justly in the prayer to the Lord God, and in opposition to the delusions of the Assyrians and how they viewed Jehovah, Hezekiah refers to God as the God of Israel, but also the only God of all the kingdoms of the earth, magnifying the point that this God and only He, is the Creator of heaven and earth.
Hezekiah asks God to look at the letter.
He does not limit God in the same way how the Assyrians have limited the other gods of the lands who they have conquered. Hezekiah’s God is a covenant keeping God.
It is this knowledge that encourages Hezekiah to move in such a fashion and prayer to God. With that he also highlights a little about who or where God dwells, to say that no other god dwell in such a place like the God of Israel. Only this God who is enthroned above the cherubim, is capable of helping those with the faith, in the time of their distress and who are entreating His assistance. Only this God, with power unimaginable can possibly help a people, His people.
Verse 16.
Hezekiah very well knew that God know, hears and sees everything still did not stop him from doing what all children of God should do, that is bring the full petition with all details to God.
This is to make sure that we, the children of God understand the situation and understand our relationship to God in all matters, especially one of the urgent form. God did in fact for the point of record, see and hear the blasphemies of Rabshakeh.
This poetic way of asking God for help is like reminding God of His covenant promises. It spurs Him to act, as His word will not return to Him void, and will stop the Assyrians who look to limit Israel. Hezekiah, also makes it a point that the letter is really a reproach, a slander to the Living, Almighty God, the God of hosts. This is in part why Hezekiah wishes God to act on this with a sense of urgency.
Verses 17 & 18.
Sennacherib triumphed over the gods of the heathens in that region. But as that king mentioned, it was gods made by the hands of men, and so had no power to save. The mistake of that king was thinking that the God of Israel was the same as those gods. Sennacherib destroyed the false gods the way all false gods should go, by way of fire, especially those that were created of wood, stone and metal. These gods were not able to help themselves or their worshipers.
By doing this, Sennacherib was really serving the will of the God of Israel. This God of Israel who is known to be a just yet jealous God had determined to extirpate all the gods of the heathen. But Sennacherib’s error is that he thought the God of Israel was a creation of man like the other gods he destroyed. He had to learn that the God of Israel was the God who made all things (Ps. 115:3,4).
Verse 19.
Hezekiah continues in his prayer to God to now use this opportunity to glory Himself in the defeat of Sennacherib. The defeat of this defiant king and the deliverance of Jerusalem out of his boastful hands would let the nations around the land know once again that there is a God in Israel like no other. He is the True God, the Living God, and none is like Him.
Hezekiah knew that if God delayed in saving Israel, then other nations would look on that as a weakness, and say that Israel’s God is like the other gods of the land that were conquered.
Hezekiah pleaded with the Lord God Almighty to distinguish Himself from the gods of the land which are all pretenders, by once again by proving Himself to be the self-existent sovereign God.
Verse 20.
This verse tells us that God is always listening to our prayers. It also for the particular situation highlights that God has heard Hezekiah’s prayer, which is confirmed by Isaiah to Hezekiah, and that He will indeed act against Sennacherib and the Assyrians.
God acts to fulfill His will, His honour, His glory. Would He have acted without the prayer of Hezekiah?
The questions once again is not whether He would have acted, but how His children are to respond to Him.
How many blessings have we left on the table because we have not prayed, but yet God acted?
How many victories could we have used to strengthen our faith if we had prayed about the matter, even though God had acted to bring us through the situation?
Would the souls saved for Jesus’ glory be diminished because of our lack of prayer?!
No, but could the road to their salvation be less froth with peril? Perhaps. When you ask your parents for every little or big things, why not do the same with the Almighty God?
What is not possible with God? Do we think that there are things not possible with God? Then, why not pray!
The prophet Isaiah received a divine revelation with regard to the hearing of this prayer. We can see through the reading of verses 21 to 28 that God intends to deal with Sennacherib in a way that His retribution for his mockery of the living God would bring him low.
We also would see the confirmation of assurance through the indication of a sign by which Hezekiah was to recognize the deliverance of Jerusalem, because the Lord was sheltering it.
Be careful to understand that the Sennacherib’s of this world are not to be feared. They are to be treated not with trembling, but with wisdom underlaid with scorn.
The people of the world come to you with the intent of ravishing you, and destroying you as they intended to do with Judah.
Note that when you are attacked for the sake of the Gospel, the world and the demons are blaspheming and raising their voice against the Holy One of Israel.
We must carefully advice the nations that it makes no sense to go against the authority of the Living God. So, note what verse 22 states clearly, for this message to the world is most important:
“Whom have you reproached and blasphemed?
Against whom have you Rised your voice,
And lifted up your eyes on high?
Against the Holy One of Israel.
By your messengers you have reproached the Lord”.
Now we should know God’s reminder to the nation of unbelievers that He knows everything about them, He knows them, their rage and their foolish idea that they have any power and can confront the true God who created them.
“But I know your dwelling place,
Your going out and your coming in,
And your rage against Me.
Because your rage against Me and your tumult
Have come up to My ears,
Therefore I will put My hook in your nose
And My bridle in your lips
And I will turn you back
By the way which you came”.
Verse 29.
Part of God’s response of salvation mentions the real issues associated with wars.
“The invasion prevented sowing in 702 b.c., but when the threat lifted in 701 they would find sufficient growth to preserve life; in 701 the withdrawing Assyrians still inhibited agriculture, yet in 700 there would still be enough through ‘chance growth’. Thus the Lord would confirm retrospectively that it was his hand that dispersed the threat.” (Motyer, commentary on Isaiah)
All this proves that He had been with His people all along. This was for them to realize that and know that it had never been God who has broken the covenant with His people, but His people who has fallen short.
But God is still a good God to His people as He will save them, guide them, and one day they will be the people that He has forged to glorify His Holy name.
Verse 30.
As much as the Assyrians would like to crush Jerusalem and Judah, they would not be able to as God would preserve His remnant. This is a covenant promise.
It is clear that war leaves countries in waste. Families will be broken up and scattered, and confusion will be in the land. But God is quick to remind the people about His remnant, and that they shall indeed increase and grow rich where He has planted them. Those planted will firmly take root in the land and will be able to provide for themselves, and from that would be able to assist others.
Verse 31. God’s will shall always be done. The remnant is important to God, and the believers in God should appreciate what that means to Him.
“The doctrine of the remnant (vv. 4, 30) left by God’s grace through times of trial was demonstrated by Isaiah, whose son was named Shear-Jashub, ‘remnant will return’ (Isaiah 7:3; 37:30-32). Israelites fled to Judah so that in one sense Judah also included the remnant of Israel to carry on God’s name and work.” (Wiseman)
CONCLUSION
God wants honesty in prayer. Do not waste time trying to manipulate Him. He knows your heart and mind, your going out and your coming in.
God knows everything. So, just take things and issues to the Lord in prayer.
Remember that the Assyrians were tough and they made a very good picture of the situation to Hezekiah and Judah. They had defeated everyone else and destroyed all other gods of the nations.
When in need do not turn to pills, or to liquor, or any habit which comforts you. They will only make your situation worse.
Unfortunately reaching out to friends might be a failure for they might nor be in a position to help you, and they will only add to your despair.
Hezekiah’s prayer when he was in crisis, is a great model for us.
Remember there is only one thing separating you from the 185,000 Assyrian soldiers that had been destroyed by the angel of God. Other people who are against God have been destroyed and there are those that will in future be destroyed.
The difference for you is that the Covenant keeping God Yahweh is real.
Whatever He says is true.
If you are a true believer, you have the Holy Spirit.
So, you do not have to run around crying, shouting and screaming at the Assyrians, your enemies.
You do not even have to call a meeting of your advisories and those that lead you.
Do like Hezekiah.
Take it straight to the LORD.