With the fall
of Israel, the Syrian king saw his way open to a long-held ambition, Egypt.
Judah
was the natural corridor into the Sinai and then to Egypt.
However, Ethiopia resisted his campaign against Egypt so he exacted his frustration on Judah.
His pretext was that tribute money promised by Judah had been
withheld.
Sennacherib grew
relentless and closed in. He first came to Lachish, a city on a hillside that
was steeper from the north than the south. It was a tough conquest.
Hezekiah sent a
message to Lachish offering to restore the tribute, using gold from the treasury.
He even stripped handles from the doors in the temple.
Sennacherib was busy
with the siege of Lachish, so he sent his three emissaries to persuade Hezekiah
- but the king stood his theocratic ground and trusted God anyway.
He refused to see the
three and sent his own ministers.
The three Assyrians did all they could to
insult Hezekiah and the God of Israel, whilst provoking his people to sell out
Hezekiah, but they stood loyal to the king.
Meanwhile Sennacherib
concluded his campaign against Lachish by killing all the leaders of the city
and taking all the inhabitants captive. He then turned to Libnah.
While that was happening
Hezekiah, deeply saddened by the blasphemy that had railed against his
ministers, turned to Isaiah for counsel.
The wise prophet told
them all not to fear for a blast would blow across the army of Syria and compel
the king of Syria to return home, ultimately to his own demise.
It’s a bit of a back
and forth dialogue and not easy to follow, but the bottom line is that
Sennacherib sent his messengers back, urging Judah not to be deceived by God but
to consider how the nations all around them had looked to their gods in vain.
Hezekiah prayed and
God heard and Isaiah answered with a replying letter that said very clearly, “no
sir you will not touch Jerusalem, but you need to brush up on your history
concerning the works of our God through history. You are biting off more than
you can chew.”
The water conduits of
Hezekiah are still there today and can be walked by tourists. It took some great engineering to carve the 1750ft (540m) tunnels that redirected the upper spring of Gihon into the city. That denied Sennacherib access to their water but it ensured their self-reliance under siege.
Then, at the height of
the siege, the angel of God smote 185,000 Syrians overnight. They withdrew and went
home in shame, but shortly after returning to Niniveh, Sennacherib was assassinated.
So much for his bravado against Jehovah.
Hezekiah was lifted up in pride (2 Kings 20)
Sadly, even great men
fall. Hezekiah was puffed up by his victory over Sennacherib, but Isaiah came
and rebuked him and told him to put his house in order as he was about to die.
The king repented and
cried to God so Isaiah turned back and assured him that the end would not come
in his time, but rather that his reign and his life would be extended by 15
years.
They boiled figs and
put it on his sores and he healed.
Hezekiah asked for a
sign that his life would be extended and Isaiah said, “the sundial will go
forward by ten degrees”, but Hezekiah said, “no rather let it go back by ten
degrees”. It did, and so his
life was spared.
Then the king of
Babylon sent emissaries because he had heard of his
illness. Hezekiah took them on a tour and showed off all the treasures of
his house and of the house of God.
Isaiah rebuked
him for that and assured him that they would be back and that Judah would ultimately
succumb to Babylon.
Yet, he was a great
king and ruled righteously. He completed many building projects and set his
kingdom in order. Then he died, to be buried in all honor.
(c) Peter Missing @ bethelstone.com
