Hezekiah, King of Judah, was under a serious threat from
Rabshakeh and the Assyrians. Wisely, he
didn't look for help from Egypt, nor from any other human source, he went to
God for deliverance. And, as he made his
way to the temple, he sent for a prophet of God: Isaiah. Hezekiah accurately figured that God would
not sit idly by after Rabshakeh and his royal master had spoken so
blasphemously against Him.
Now, through Isaiah, Hezekiah found out that Rabshakeh was
going to leave him alone temporarily, and that afterward the Assyrians would be
defeated (II Kings 19:7). The first part of that prophecy was verified when the
Assyrian leader (ultimately Sennacherib) sent a threatening letter to Hezekiah
trying to intimidate him into surrendering, while at the same time, they (the
Assyrians) packed up to leave. Hezekiah did what we should all do with all our
problems... he took it to the Lord in prayer (II Kings 19:15 -19).
Hezekiah literally took the letter and opened it up in the
temple. He laid it out in there for God to see (II Kings 19:14). And, God
responded vigorously and favorably on Hezekiah's behalf. One of God's angelic
soldiers came down and killed 185,000 Assyrians who were camped outside of
Jerusalem. Naturally, without an army, Sennacherib wasn't much of a threat. So,
he fled home to Nineveh, capitol of Assyria, where he was murdered by 2 of his
own sons while he was worshipping his powerless god, Nisroch.
No comments:
Post a Comment