One Year Bible, Friday July 1st
Assyria Invades Judah
This was approximately five years after the fall of Samaria. Now the king of Assyria brought his force against Judah, who had successfully resisted him before (2 Kings 18:7). He captured all of the fortified cities of Judah and needed to only take Jerusalem itself to completely conquer Judah. Guzik
Hezekiah hoped that this policy of appeasement would make Judah safe. He was wrong, and his policy only impoverished Judah and the temple and made the king of Assyria more bold than ever against Judah. Guzik
Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem
The Rabshakeh’s speech was intended to destroy their trust in God. His message was simple, and brilliant in its Satanic logic: “The gods of other nations have not been able to protect them against us. Your God is just like one of them, and can’t protect you either.”
For anyone who had the spiritual understanding to see it, Judah could have started planning the victory party right then. It is one thing to speak against Judah, its people and leaders. It was another thing altogether to mock the LORD God of Israel this way, and count Him as “just another god.”
Typical of the work of the enemy of our souls, the Rabshakeh was going well until he simply overstepped his bounds. There was no way God would let him off the hook for this one. He had offended the LORD God in a way he would soon regret. Guzik
Hezekiah Seeks the Lord’s Help
Hezekiah’s initial reaction was good. He saw the situation for what it really was. Often, when we are in some kind of trial or difficulty, we handle it poorly because we never see the situation accurately. Jerusalem’s situation was desperate and Hezekiah knew it.
There was good reason for Hezekiah to be so humble before the LORD. “City after city has fallen to Sennacherib and long lines of deportees are already snaking their bitter way into exile – and it is all Hezekiah’s fault! He followed the lunatic policy of rebellion and was bewitched by Egyptian promises. He might as well have sold his people himself. But even when a matter is our own fault we can still pray about it. And the Lord can always be trusted to pity his people.” (Motyer, commentary on Isaiah)
Hezekiah did exactly what any child of God should do with such a letter. He took it to the house of the LORD (to the outer courts, not the holy place), and he spread it out before the LORD. In this, Hezekiah boldly and effectively fulfilled the later command of 1 Peter 5:7: casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
The glorious answer which fills the rest of the chapter came because Hezekiah prayed. What if he had not prayed? Then we are to think that no answer would have come, and Jerusalem would have been conquered. Hezekiah’s prayer really mattered.
Isaiah Predicts Judah’s Deliverance
Here, the LORD described the great pride the Assyrians had in their own conquests. But they forgot that the LORD was really in charge (Now I have brought it to pass, that you should be for crushing fortified cites into heaps of ruins. Therefore the inhabitants had little power). Even if the Assyrians didn’t know it, they owed their success to the LORD. Guzik
“God then confronted Sennacherib with that which he had apparently not considered: Sennacherib’s successes were foreordained by God… Sennacherib should not boast as though what he had done was either self-generated or self-accomplished.” (Patterson and Austel)
Here, the LORD described the great pride the Assyrians had in their own conquests. But they forgot that the LORD was really in charge (Now I have brought it to pass, that you should be for crushing fortified cites into heaps of ruins. Therefore the inhabitants had little power). Even if the Assyrians didn’t know it, they owed their success to the LORD.
“God then confronted Sennacherib with that which he had apparently not considered: Sennacherib’s successes were foreordained by God… Sennacherib should not boast as though what he had done was either self-generated or self-accomplished.” (Patterson and Austel)
The angel of the LORD went out: Simply and powerfully, God destroyed this mighty army in one night; 185,000 died at the hand of the angel of the LORD. Against all odds, and against every expectation except the expectation of faith, the Assyrian army was turned back without having even shot an arrow into Jerusalem. The unstoppable was stopped, the undefeated was defeated. Guzik
God also does it “For My servant David’s sake.” King David had died almost 300 years before this, but God still honored His promise to David (2 Samuel 7:10-17). God defended Jerusalem, not for the city’s sake at all – Jerusalem deserved judgment! But He did it for His own sake and for the sake of David. In the same way, God the Father defends and blesses us, not for our own sake – we often deserve His judgment – but He often does it for His own sake, and for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Despite the heartfelt pleas of the Christians of Tyre, Paul and his group did not turn away from going to Jerusalem. He was persuaded it was God’s will, so they continued.
Paul’s insistence on going to Jerusalem despite the dangers predicted by the Holy Spirit was not a result of rebellion, but an obedient response to the command of the Holy Spirit in his heart. He was bound in the spirit to go to Jerusalem (Acts 19:21 and 20:22). Guzik
i. The warnings from the Holy Spirit were intended to prepare Paul, not to stop him.
ii. “To choose to suffer means that there is something wrong; to choose God’s will even if it means suffering is a very different thing. No healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he chooses God’s will, as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not.” (Chambers, cited in Hughes)
Paul and his companions finally were on the way to Jerusalem. Paul’s deep love for his Jewish brothers and sisters made every trip to Jerusalem important (Romans 9:1-3). Guzik
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