Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 19-21.

I have always wanted to write about God’s answer to Sennacherib through Isaiah, but could not figure out how to comment on the poetry Isaiah spoke in.  Today I am going to try to make my thoughts on it coherent.  In composing his message, Sennacherib thought he was belittling Hezekiah and Jerusalem, but he went beyond that.  Sennacherib told Hezekiah that God was deceiving him when He told Hezekiah that would not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.  Sennacherib told Hezekiah that the gods of other nations had failed to deliver those other nations, so therefore God would be unable to deliver Jerusalem.  God answered through Isaiah by telling Sennacherib that he did not know Who he was ridiculing and blaspheming.  That Sennacherib thought he had succeeded by his own power.  Sennacherib had reached great heights of power and thought that nothing and no one could stop him from reaching any goal to which he aspired.  God answered that by informing Sennacherib that He had planned Sennacherib’s rise to power long ago, and now He had brought it to pass.  Everything Sennacherib had accomplished was merely carrying out God’s plans.  Further God knew where Sennacherib was, and when he went out and when he went back in, and how he raged insolently against God.  This is the negative counterpart to Psalm 121. There God promised that He would watch over those who put their trust in Him.  Here what God tells Sennacherib is a warning to those who defy Him.  He says that He will put a hook in his nose and lead him back the way he had come.  For those of you who, like me, have never worked with large livestock that are manipulated by rings in their noses, I have another image that may help understand this.  I am sure you have seen videos of women, usually a mother or a wife, who grabs someone by their nose and pulls them around in a direction they did not want to go.  Imagine that, only more painful.  At some point, those who defy God will experience God putting a hook in their nose and dragging them somewhere they do not want to go.  While those of us who put our trust in Him will experience the protection described in Psalm 121.  And in both cases, it does not matter where we have gone, nor when, we will not be outside of God’s power.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Kings 19-21.

I usually write about Sennacherib and Hezekiah when I read this passage, but today I want to write about Hezekiah’s son and heir, Manasseh.   The writer tells us that he did detestable things and gives us a summary of those things.  He erected altars to Baal.  He constructed and Asherah pole and placed it in the temple of God.  Further, he built altars to the “starry host” in the temple of God. He worshiped at all of these shrines and even sacrificed his own son in the fire.  Manasseh did all of these things, but even worse, he led the people astray, so that they did more evil than the people whom God had driven out of the land ahead of them.  The writer finally tells us that Manasseh filled Jerusalem with the blood of the innocent.  I have always read that as Manasseh had many innocent people killed for his own pleasure.  While that may be true, I have come to wonder if perhaps it mean that Manasseh allowed crime to run rampant.  Manasseh’s son, Amon, followed in his father’s footsteps.  He committed the same sins that Manasseh had, until things became so bad that some of his officials assassinated him and put his son, Josiah on the throne.  Despite having seen Hezekiah, who held fast to the Lord his entire life, the people of Judah chose to follow Manasseh into doing evil.  They could have chosen to refuse to worship at the altars he built and to join him in sacrificing their children, but they chose otherwise.  They chose to follow their king, rather than their God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Kings 19-21.

When Hezekiah received Sennacherib’s letter, he read it then took it to the Temple and laid it before God.  When he did so he made a statement of faith.  Sennacherib had stated that Hezekiah should not rely on God to save Jerusalem because the gods of other nations had failed to save them.  Hezekiah stated that of course the Assyrians were able to throw those gods into the fire because those gods were not actually gods at all.  He then went on to beg God to show the nations that He alone was God by saving Jerusalem.

Which brings me to Isaiah’s prophecy in response to Sennacherib’s letter.  Isaiah reminds us that it was not Hezekiah whom Sennacherib was ridiculing in his message.  Rather it was God.  In the same way, when people today make fun of us, or criticize us, for following God’s commands, let us remember who they are actually deriding.  Sennacherib thought that his successes proved that he was greater than any god.  God responded by telling him that all of his success was just part of the plans which God had laid out long ago.  Sennacherib claimed that he would besiege Jerusalem and make it fall before his armies.  God told him that He would send him back the way that he came and that his armies would never stand before Jerusalem.  Sennacherib’s claim proved false, but God’s proclamation came true.  Let us not fear those with power because whatever power they have comes from God.  Let us fear God, and serve Him.  Then He will protect us from those who seek to direct their power against us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 19-21.

In yesterday’s passage we were told that King Hezekiah did what was pleasing in God’s sight, just as David had done.  I believe that Hezekiah is the only king of Judah about whom the writer says that.  In today’s passage we see the reason he wrote that about Hezekiah.  When Hezekiah faced trouble he turned to the Lord.  When the King of Assyria threatened Jerusalem, Hezekiah turned to God.  When his health was bad, Hezekiah turned to God.

The response which God gave to Hezekiah through Isaiah regarding the King of Assyria contains much for us to consider.  The King of Assyria was proud of his successes, and with good reason, but he credited himself with those successes and gave no credit to a higher power.  For all that he had done, the King of Assyria only had that success because it accorded with God’s plan for him to do so.  It was God’s plan that allowed the King of Assyria to rise to such heights.  The King of Assyria was convinced that no power could stop him from doing that which he chose to do.  He probably died believing that to be true.  Yet, when he chose to attack Jerusalem, something happened so that the attack never took place.  How often do we see God’s hand at work in things that do not happen?