Hezekiah cried out to the Lord to deliver the nation of Judah from the army of Assyria. In yesterday's study we found the Lord speaking a word of judgment against King Sennacherib of Assyria. Today He reassures Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah says to Hezekiah: "This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: 'This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.'" (2 Kings 19:29-31)
The Assyrian invasion has interrupted much of the normal business of agriculture. The Assyrian army destroyed a lot of the crops that had already sprung up. Also the people in some of the areas of the land have not been able to safely go out and sow their fields with new crops. But the Lord is going to make enough "volunteer" plants come up this year to feed everyone. He will make enough come up the next year as well. After that, the people will be able to resume their regular schedule of planting and harvesting.
The thing Hezekiah fears will not come to pass. King Sennacherib has made many boasts about how he is going to destroy Jerusalem but it will not happen. This enemy king is basing his confidence on all the fact that he's already defeated other nations and has already captured some cities of Judah. But the Lord won't allow the capitol of Judah to fall. "Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: 'He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it. By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city, declares the Lord. I will defend this city and save it, for My sake and for the sake of David My servant.'" (2 Kings 19:32-34)
Jerusalem will not fall to the king of Assyria. Jerusalem will fall in about a hundred years to the king of another nation: Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. The Lord's reference to a "remnant" in verses 30 and 31 should have given Hezekiah pause. Why will there be a "remnant" at some point in the future and not an entire nation? Why does the Lord speak of "a band of survivors" out of Mount Zion? These words should be a clue to Hezekiah that although the current threat of Assyria will be averted, another threat looms large in the future. Hezekiah's own son and heir to the throne will be instrumental in bringing this future threat upon the people of Judah, for Hezekiah's successor will be one of the most wicked and idolatrous kings the nation ever had.
But for now the capitol city of Judah is safe. A godly king is on the throne of Judah and many religious reforms have been accomplished by him. A large number of the people have devoted themselves to the Lord. The Lord has heard the prayers of King Hezekiah, of Isaiah and the other prophets, and of the people of the nation. Not only has He heard their prayers, but He has kept His promise to David. The Lord made an oath to David that He would preserve his royal family line forever. This means the Lord will not allow King Hezekiah and his sons to be captured and put to death by the Assyrians. There are many historical accounts available for study that provide, in dreadful detail, the deadly and torturous methods by which the Assyrians dealt with the high officials of the cities they conquered. The Lord protects the royal line of Judah from destruction, not just because the current king honors His name, but because He will not break His promise to David.
"That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning---there were all the dead bodies!" (2 Kings 19:35) The author of 2 Chronicles describes the miraculous event with these words: "King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in prayer to heaven about this. And the Lord sent an angel, who annihilated all the fighting men and the commanders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian king." (2 Chronicles 32:20-21a)
We don't know what method the angel of the Lord used when striking these men dead. He may have brought a viral or bacterial plague upon them or he may simply have snuffed out the breath of each of these men in an instant. Whatever method he used, it has the desired effect. "So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there." (2 Kings 19:36) The Chronicler says, "So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace." (2 Chronicles 32:21b) The king who boasted he was going to decimate the army of Judah has instead had his own army decimated. He is unable to continue waging war at this time and is obliged to retreat to his palace at Nineveh to regroup.
The final portion of our text today takes place several years later. Earlier in 2 Kings 19 the Lord told King Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah that He would cause Sennacherib to return to his own country where "I will have him cut down with the sword". (2 Kings 19:7) Just as the Lord promised, Sennacherib is indeed cut down with the sword. Two of his sons will conspire against him and will assassinate him while he is in the temple of one of his pagan gods. "One day, while worshipping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king." (2 Kings 19:37)
The king who threatened to crush the nation of Judah under his feet is no more, and he doesn't even die in glory on the field of battle but is taken out of this life by members of his own household, which is a point that the Chronicler takes care to express: "And when he went into the temple of his god, some of his sons, his own flesh and blood, cut him down with the sword." (2 Chronicles 32:21c) The man who blasphemed the name of the Lord was hated by his own children. This man was so focused on cutting down the Lord's people that he failed to catch wind of a threat against his own life and was cut down himself by two people he never suspected were a threat to him. Sennacherib was put to disgrace by the supernatural defeat of his army and then he died in disgrace by being assassinated by his own children. Sennacherib lacked the power to make his threatening words come true but the Lord displayed His power by making His words come true that the Assyrian king would not so much as shoot an arrow into Jerusalem.
The people rejoice in the Lord's deliverance and show their gratitude to Hezekiah for his faithfulness and prayers to God. "So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all others. He took care of them on every side. Many brought offerings to Jerusalem for the Lord and valuable gifts for Hezekiah king of Judah. From then on he was highly regarded by all the nations." (2 Chronicles 32:22-23)
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