2 Kings Chapter 19
1. OUTLINE OF CONTENTS
a. After Hezekiah heard from Eliakim who was over his household and Shebna the scribe and Joab the son of Asaph the recorder, the words which Rabshakeh the Assyrian spoke, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD.
Then he sent Eliakim, Shebna and the elders of the priests to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. They told prophet Isaiah what the king of Assyria had said through Rabshakeh to reproach the living God. They sought the LORD to hear and rebuke those words. They asked Isaiah to lift up his prayer for the remnant that was left (vs. 1-4).
b. Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: *Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumour and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.*’” (vs. 5-7)
c. Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard he had departed Lachish. And the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “Look he has come to make war with you.” Again, the king sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah the king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you saying, *Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria*. Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharaim, Hena and Ivah?” (vs. 8-13)
d. After Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, he went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. He prayed and said, “O LORD God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands-wood and stone. Therefore, they destroyed them. Now, therefore, O LORD our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD God, You alone.” (vs. 14-19)
e. Then Isaiah told Hezekiah what the LORD said, “Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard. This is what the LORD has spoken concerning him.” Sennacherib had reproached and blasphemed the LORD who is the Holy One of Israel for he claimed that he will enter the extremity of the borders of Lebanon to its fruitful forest and cut down its choice cypress trees and tall cedars. He had dug and drunk strange water and with the soles of his feet had dried up all the brooks of defence.”
The LORD asked in reply, “Did you not hear long ago how I made it, from ancient times that I formed it? I have brought it to pass, that you should be for crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins. Therefore their inhabitants had little power; they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field and the green herb, as the grass on the housetops and grain blighted before it is grown. But I know your dwelling place, your going out and 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.” (vs. 20-28)
f. The LORD said, “And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” (vs. 30-31)
g. Isaiah said, “Thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor build a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return; and he shall not come into the city. For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.” (vs. 32-34)
h. It came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the LORD went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when thepeople arose early in the morning, there were the corpses. So, Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. It came to pass, as he was worshipping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword (vs. 35-37).
2. COMMENTARY
a. When Hezekiah heard the words of Sennacherib king of Assyria spoken through Rabshakeh, which Eliakim and Shebna and Joab with their clothes torn brought to him, he also tore his clothes. Tearing of clothes was often a sign of grief or of sorrowful repentance. The humility of Hezekiah was evidenced in this action, one already performed by his trusted servants. Hezekiah went into the house of the LORD to seek guidance from the living God.
b. The ministry of prophet Isaiah begun in the year king Uzziah died 740BC (Isa. 6:1) and though several decades had passed, he was being sought by the godly Hezekiah.
c. Hezekiah spoke through Eliakim, Shebna and the elders of the priests to Isaiah, “This day 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. It may be that the LORD your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore, lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.” (vs3-4) Hezekiah recognised that the intervening strength of the LORD was needed if Jerusalem were to be delivered.
d. Isaiah’s prophecy was one of comfort. Not only Sennacherib fail to conquer but would face a violent death upon his return home. Both these two things came true. Sennacherib was assassinated 20 years later (BC 681) (vs.6-7).
e. Rabshakeh had been doing everything in his power to persuade Jerusalem to surrender without being attacked. But when he returned, he found Sennacherib was already being distracted with another war and had moved his army away. Still Rabshakeh did not give up (vs. 8-9).
f. Hezekiah prayed for he knew that there is a greater King than the king of Assyria (vs. 18-19). Hezekiah’s trust in the LORD was manifested in his habit of prayer (20:2). His prayer was answered favorably by the LORD (vs. 20-34).
g. Sennacherib on seeing the corpses of those 185,000 killed by the angel, departed, and went away, returned to Assyria and remained at Nineveh. He did not come against the city of Jerusalem according to the promise of the LORD (vs. 32-34).
3. TEACHINGS
a. Weep with those who weep (Rom. 12:15). Hezekiah tore his clothes as Eliakim and Shebna and Joab his servants did, when they came to him with the words of the king of Assyria spoken by Rabshakeh (18:37-19:1).
b. In returning to God and rest one shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be his strength (Isa. 30:15). Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD. He came to prophet Isaiah and sought wisdom to know what he must do. He prayed to the LORD trusting in His might. In times of trouble and adversity, we ought to return to the Lord Jesus Christ and quieten our hearts to pray to Him seeking wisdom and guidance (Acts 4:23-33).
c. The promise of the LORD that Sennacherib would not enter the city of Jerusalem as prophesied by Isaiah came true. For the LORD revealed it to Isaiah the prophet. He speaks to His prophet in a dream and makes Himself known to him in a vision. With His servant Moses, He spoke mouth to mouth (Num. 12:6-7). He fulfills all that the prophet speaks and does not allow any of his word to fall empty to the ground (I Sam. 3:19). Heed therefore the words of faith that the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ speak in His name but reject those men who prophesy a false vision, divination, a worthless thing and the deceit of their heart (Jer. 14:14; II Thess. 2:9-12).
d. Jesus Christ is the only true God who alone can deliver us from all our troubles; in Him only there is eternal life. The gods of the world are false, merely idols which are the craftmanship of men, who deceive and can save neither themselves nor any person. Serve the true God Jesus and flee from idols (I John 5:20-21).
e. The words of God are with divine power and His promises are always fulfilled. Trust in the Lord and do not rely on our own insight (Prov. 3:5, 30:5).