GOD TO THE RESCUE

1.  GOD’S PEOPLE THREATENED (2 Kings 18:17-25, 33-35) 

     A. A Mocking Message (2 Kings 18:17-25) 

     B. Listening in Silence (2 Kings 18:33-35) 

2.  HEZEKIAH TURNS TO GOD (2 Kings 19:1-4) 

     A. Desperate Situation (2 Kings 19:1-3) 

     B. Plea for Prayer (2 Kings 19:4) 

3.  ALMIGHTY GOD RESPONDS (2 Kings 19:5-7, 35-37) 

     A. Prophetic Word (2 Kings 19:5-7) 

     B. Supernatural Intervention (2 Kings 19:35-37) 

Central Truth: Because of God’s awesome power, the Christian does not need to fear the Enemy. 

Focus: Acknowledge and trust in God’s delivering power. 

Evangelism Emphasis: Jesus conquered sin and death to save all who believe in Him. 

Text: “The angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses” (2 Kings 19:35). 

INTRODUCTION 

Hezekiah was the fourteenth king of Judah, a descendant of King David, who ruled from about 726 to 697 BC. He was a godly king who did “that which was right in the sight of the Lord” (2 Kings 18:3). 

Hezekiah “trusted in the Lord” and “clave to the Lord” (vv. 5-6). For generations, the people of Judah had practiced idolatry. By the time Hezekiah assumed the throne, the Temple was closed and in ruins, and the land of Judah was littered with idols and altars of the false gods of the ancient Near East. Hezekiah was determined to follow the law of Moses and instituted a religious reformation. He restored and opened the Temple, reestablished the Levitical priesthood, ordered that all altars and idols throughout the land be destroyed, and called for the celebration of the Passover (2 Kings 18:4; 2 Chron. 29:1—30:27). Apparently, the Passover had not been celebrated by the united tribes since the days of King Solomon (Raymond Dillard, 2 Chronicles). 

Hezekiah changed the foreign policies of his predecessors. His father, King Ahaz, was threatened by an alliance between King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of Israel. In return for a pledge of military support from Assyria, Ahaz subjected Judah to the authority of the Assyrian king and paid annual tribute to him (2 Kings 16:7-8). In 732 BC, the Assyrians defeated the Syrians, and, in 722 BC, the kingdom of Israel fell before the Assyrian armies. When Hezekiah assumed power, “he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not” (18:7). King Sennacherib of Assyria responded by attacking Judah (v. 13). Hezekiah regretted his rebellion against the Assyrians and offered to pay any tribute they demanded in an effort to spare Jerusalem from destruction. The Assyrians demanded a tribute so great that it bankrupted the kingdom of Judah (vv. 14-16). Even so, the Assyrians plotted to conquer Judah and Jerusalem. 

1. GOD’S PEOPLE THREATENED 

A. A Mocking Message (2 Kings 18:17-25) 

17 And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller’s field. 

19 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? 

22 But if ye say unto me, We trust in the Lord our God: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem? 

25 Am I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it. 

King Sennacherib sent three high-ranking officials with a large army to Jerusalem so Hezekiah might be intimidated into surrender. The primary spokesperson for Sennacherib was Rabshakeh. Most likely, this was not a proper name, but a title equivalent to “chief cupbearer,” a close personal adviser of the king (The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary). The Rabshakeh was a skilled propagandist and negotiator with the goal of causing the people of Jerusalem to lose confidence in Hezekiah and even distrust God. The Rabshakeh challenged Hezekiah on four points. 

First, he mocked Judah’s military alliance with Egypt. Egypt could not be trusted to defend Jerusalem (v. 21). This was true. Even the prophet Isaiah rebuked Judah for its alliance with Egypt: “‘Woe to the rebellious children,’ declares the Lord, ‘who execute a plan, but not Mine, and make an alliance, but not of My Spirit’” (Isa. 30:1-3 NASB). Judah’s ill-conceived alliance with Egypt did not strengthen their security, but weakened it because their military alliances were sinful. The people of Judah were the people of God, and their security was totally dependent on God’s favor (Ps. 20:6-7). 

Second, he mocked Hezekiah’s religious reforms (2 Kings 18:22). The Rabshakeh’s understanding of God was informed by Assyrian polytheism. Altars stood throughout the ancient Near East in devotion to a variety of gods. It was such altars throughout Judah that Hezekiah had destroyed in order to restore the proper worship of God in the Temple. It is likely that Hezekiah’s reforms were not popular among some Judeans, and the Rabshakeh was trying to sow seeds of discontent among the people. 

Third, he mocked Judah’s military capabilities (vv. 23-24). The Rabshakeh knew Judah’s army was no match for the mighty Assyrian army. As an insult, he offered to give two thousand horses to the Judean army. He knew the Judean soldiers were not trained horsemen and were unfamiliar in cavalry tactics. In fact, throughout history the horse and chariot were no match when God fought for His people (Ex. 15:1-3; Jer. 51:21). 

Fourth, he claimed to be acting on the authority of God (2 Kings 18:25). In the ancient world, it was believed the success of the nation reflected the power of its gods. Assyrian power meant the Assyrian gods were supreme. But the Rabshakeh used the name of “the Lord,” the God of the Judeans. He was claiming God was with him and acting against Jerusalem. He was aware of their religious traditions. The Judeans sinned when they formed a military alliance with Egypt. Therefore, the Assyrian army was the judgment of God. 

Each of the Rabshakeh’s four points contained enough truth to cause concern among the leaders of Judah. The Rabshakeh had been speaking in Hebrew (v. 26). He intended for “the people that are on the wall”—Jerusalem’s defenders—to hear his words, hoping the people of Jerusalem would force Hezekiah to surrender. A siege would likely last for an extended time, and many of the inhabitants of Jerusalem would suffer starvation (v. 27). Hezekiah’s three officials requested all negotiations be conducted in the Syrian language, which was unknown to many Judeans, in an effort not to alarm the cities’ defenders of their plight.

• What misunderstanding did the Rabshakeh have concerning the Lord God (v. 22), and why? What misconceptions does our secular culture have about God, and why?  

B. Listening in Silence (2 Kings 18:33-35) 

33 Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 

35 Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand? 

The Rabshakeh continued his threats against Jerusalem with a litany of nations whose gods failed to deliver them from the mighty Assyrian army. If those gods were powerless before the armies of Sennacherib, then Judah’s God would likewise prove to be impotent. Furthermore, just a generation before, the Assyrian army had destroyed Samaria, the capital of Israel (v. 34); exiled the ten northern tribes; and filled the cities of Israel with other peoples. God had not saved Israel (17:18, 23). 

As the Judeans listened to the threats of the Rabshakeh and remembered the fate of Israel, they may have also remembered how God delivered their ancestors from the Egyptians (Deut. 4:34-35). God proved Himself in the past. Would God prove Himself now? Hezekiah trusted God and encouraged his people: 

Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him: With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah (2 Chronicles 32:7–8). 

The silence of the people demonstrated their solidarity with Hezekiah and their trust in God. There was no commotion among the people that might signify distress. Throughout the Biblical narrative, when God’s people were threatened by a mighty army, they were sometimes encouraged to be silent. When the armies of Pharaoh were charging the Israelites camped at the shores of the Red Sea, Moses proclaimed, “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. . . . The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace” (Ex. 14:13-14). When the Ammonites came against Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat, the prophet Jahaziel declared, “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you” (2 Chron. 20:17). The psalmist encouraged, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth” (46:10). 

Before the Battle 

Don’t wait until you are in the thick of the battle to claim the promises of God. . . . Exercise your strength before the battle begins, and you will think, I’ve already dealt with this.—Charles Stanley 

2. HEZEKIAH TURNS TO GOD 

A. Desperate Situation (2 Kings 19:1-3) 

1 And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. 3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. 

Hezekiah knew the Assyrian army was a mortal threat to the survival of Judah. The Assyrians had destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of his father. He also knew the Judean military was no match for the Assyrians. If Judah was to be saved, then God must intervene. Hezekiah “rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord” (v. 1). To rend one’s garments was a “a common way of expressing repentance, remorse, or despair” (T. R. Hobbs, 2 Kings; cf. 1 Kings 21:27; Est. 4:1). Sackcloth was a garment of goat’s hair worn as a sign of mourning for the dead, a natural disaster, or repentance. When Hezekiah went into the Temple, he did so in humiliation. The Assyrians had humiliated him; now he approached God in humility. Perhaps he reflected on God’s promise to King Solomon: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14). 

Hezekiah sent his royal officials to Isaiah the prophet. Isaiah had warned Judah against forming a military alliance with Egypt (Isa. 30:1-7; 31:1-9), and had spoken a harsh prophecy against the Assyrians (10:5-19). Hezekiah’s father, King Ahaz, had ignored Isaiah’s warnings. But Hezekiah was committed to the laws of Moses and had led a religious reformation among the people. He placed his trust in God, and now he and the people needed a word from the Lord. 

The message Hezekiah sent to Isaiah may be one of the bleakest in the Bible; describing Judah’s situation as “a day of trouble [“distress,” NASB], rebuke, and blasphemy [“rejection,” NASB]” (2 Kings 19:3; cf. Isa. 22:5; 37:3). The blasphemy came from the taunts of the Rabshakeh, who challenged the God of Judah. It was a day of rebuke because Judah had sinned by forming a military alliance with Egypt and had a history of idolatry. It was a day of distress because Jerusalem, the city of God, was surrounded by her enemies. Was there to be a future for Judah? Would future generations of children be born in the homes of Judah? It appears not, because “the mother has no strength to deliver the baby” (2 Kings 19:3 NLT). In a world before modern medicine, when a mother in labor did not have the strength to deliver, both mother and child died. This day could be as dark for Judah as the Passover night was for the families of Egypt many generations before (Ex. 12:29-30). 

The God of Judah is not like the false gods of Assyria; however, the Lord is “the living God” who heard the mockery and reproach of the Rabshakeh (2 Kings 19:16). The Rabshakeh had foolishly taken the Lord’s name in vain, and “the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Ex. 20:7; also see Ps. 74:18). Hezekiah was hopeful that God would intervene for the sake of God’s own glory (2 Kings 19:19; Ps. 106:8; Ezek. 20:9). 

God, Not Food 

Fasting reminds us we are sustained by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). Food does not sustain us; God sustains us.—Richard J. Foster 

B. Plea for Prayer (2 Kings 19:4) 

4 It may be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left. 

Hezekiah asked Isaiah to “offer a prayer for the remnant [of His people] that is left [in Judah]” (v. 4 Amp.). The role of the prophet as intercessor dates back to Abraham, who “drew near” to God and interceded in behalf of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:23-33). Moses “besought the Lord” in behalf of the children of Israel when God was about to destroy them for worshiping the golden calf (Ex. 32:9-14). Samuel prayed for the Israelites as they sought deliverance from the Philistines (1 Sam. 7:1-9). When God declared that Judah was destined to death, the sword, and famine because of continued apostasy, Jeremiah interceded for the salvation of the nation (Jer. 15:1ff). The prophets of God speak God’s word to the people, but they also speak to God in behalf of the people, even when the people are undeserving. Often, prophets speak words of judgment, and pray words of mercy. Hezekiah was hopeful that Isaiah would speak words of judgment concerning the Assyrians, and words of mercy in behalf of “the remnant.” 

As we saw at the beginning of this lesson, the Assyrians destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BC and sent its ten tribes into exile. They have become known as the ten lost tribes. With the destruction of Israel, only Judah remained of the children of Abraham, of God’s covenant with David. Judah was the remnant. If God intended to be faithful to the covenants He made with Abraham and David, then He must save Judah. As the remnant, Judah was the promise. Isaiah declared, “And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward” (Isa. 37:31; 2 Kings 19:30). In this day of trouble, the promise of God was that the remnant of Judah would one day be secure and flourish. 

• Describe the “reproach” that had taken place and the “rebuke” (NASB) Hezekiah pled for.  

3. ALMIGHTY GOD RESPONDS 

A. Prophetic Word (2 Kings 19:5-7) 

5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. 

In Psalm 50:15, God promised, “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” The question for Hezekiah was, “Would God deliver Judah today?” Yes! 

When God is silent, there is uncertainty and despair (28:1; 35:17-23). When God speaks, things happen because “the word of God is living and active” (Heb. 4:12 NASB). The word of God energizes faith (Rom. 10:17). God’s words are dependable and will never fail (Isa. 40:8; 55:11). The prophetic word speaks into a hopeless situation and transforms it into a new reality (Rom. 4:17). Abraham and Sarah were childless and beyond their childbearing years. But God declared their descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky (Gen. 15:1-5). When Moses first entered the courts of Pharaoh and prophetically cried out, “Let my people go” (Ex. 5:1), the children of Israel had been enslaved for generations. But God said, “I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt” and “[you will] be . . . an holy nation” (3:17; 19:6). Now, when the Assyrian army encircles Jerusalem and all seems lost, God speaks a word to transform the situation. 

“Thus saith the Lord” (2 Kings 19:6) means Hezekiah and all the people of Judah have hope, for God has broken His silence. God will not be silent in Judah’s day of trouble. The living God who has heard the mockery of the Assyrians, the laments of Hezekiah, and the prayer of Isaiah will now speak. Speaking through Isaiah, God’s first words are “Be not afraid.” These words echo throughout the Old Testament. When Joshua was taking command of the armies of Israel to enter the Promised Land, God declared, “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest” (Josh. 1:9). If the people of God will fear only God, then they need not fear their enemies (Ps. 3:1-8; Matt. 10:28). Hezekiah had encouraged the people to trust God (2 Chron. 32:7); now his trust in God was vindicated. 

The armies of Judah will not have to fight and defend Jerusalem because God is a warrior (Ex. 15:3; Zech. 14:13). God does not fight with swords and chariots, but by the Holy Spirit (Ex. 15:7-8; Zech. 4:6). God will “send a blast” upon the king of Assyria (2 Kings 19:7). The “blast” is a spirit, under the control of God, that causes confusion (1 Kings 22:22; 2 Kings 7:6). In this case, the spirit will cause King Sennacherib to “hear a rumor” that will cause him to “return to his own land,” where he would eventually be killed. 

Our Ground and Hope 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor and theologian who lived in Germany during the Nazi era. When Hitler came to power, Bonhoeffer was among those who resisted the Nazi regime. Just before Hitler came to power, Bonhoeffer preached a sermon titled “Overcoming Fear.” He declared: 

Fear is . . . the archenemy itself. It crouches in people’s hearts. It hollows out their insides, until their resistance and strength are spent and they suddenly break down. Fear secretly gnaws and eats away at all the ties that bind a person to God and to others, and when in a time of need that person reaches for those ties and clings to them, they break and the individual sinks back into himself or herself, helpless and despairing, while hell rejoices. 

Over the next decade, Bonhoeffer, and many of his colleagues would be tempted to give in to fear. Even so, he insisted, “This world must fall, God stands above all, His thoughts unswayed, His Word unstayed, His will forever our ground and hope” (politicaltheology.com). 

B. Supernatural Intervention (2 Kings 19:35-37) 

35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. 37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead. 

In response to Hezekiah’s prayer, the prophet Isaiah declared, “Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city . . . . For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake” (2 Kings 19:32, 34). That very night “the angel of the Lord went out” in the midst of the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 soldiers (v. 35). This event is corroborated in extra-Biblical historical documents. The Greek historian Herodotus attests to a disaster, possibly bubonic plague, that forced the withdrawal of the Assyrian armies (Donald Wiseman, 1 and 2 Kings). 

As with the plagues of Egypt, God sometimes uses natural processes to fulfill His will. However, the defeat of Assyria is reminiscent of the destroyer who passed through the land of Egypt and killed all the firstborn (Ex. 12:23, 29-30). The Assyrians had mocked and blasphemed God, and God responded in a personal way for the sake of His holy name. Just as the Egyptians woke in the middle of the night to discover the corpses of their firstborn children, the remaining Assyrians woke in the morning to discover an army of corpses. 

 God would not allow Sennacherib to escape judgment. After returning home, Sennacherib was assassinated by his sons “as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god” (2 Kings 19:37). He had mocked the God of Judah, claiming that God did not have the power to deliver Jerusalem from his armies. As it turned out, it was his god who could not protect him. 

THE DAY OF THE LORD 

Psalm 2 begins, “Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord” (vv. 1-2 NASB). The rulers of this world see themselves as god-like, lifted up in their power and arrogance, and prey upon the weak. The psalmist David said, “The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow to cast down the afflicted and the needy, to slay those who are upright in conduct” (37:14 NASB). Tragically, too often it appears God is silent and the oppressed are without hope. 

However, God mocks human arrogance. “He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury” (2:4-5 NASB). The Old Testament is filled with the names of the mighty—Pharaoh, Goliath, Saul, Sennacherib, Belshazzar, and others—who experienced God’s judgment. Human history can add many more names—Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler—all notorious for their power and achievements. 

However, only One has conquered death and hell. Only One has been raised from the dead and ascended to the right hand of God. The coming Day of the Lord will bring God’s vengeance upon the wicked, and salvation for God’s people. On that day, “every tongue [will] confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:11). 

Daily Devotions 

M. The Walls of Jericho Collapse (Joshua 6:15-20) 

T. Goliath Falls (1 Samuel 17:48-54) 

W. Mouths of the Lions Shut (Daniel 6:16-23) 

T. Funeral Procession Interrupted (Luke 7:11-17) 

F. Jail Break! (Acts 12:1-11) 

S. A Slain Lamb Conquers (Revelation 5:8-14) 

Adopted from the Evangelical Sunday School Lesson Commentary 2021-2022.