Some of the Assyrian commanders are outside the gates of Jerusalem, threatening a long and dreadful siege if the people do not surrender their city to them. The Assyrian field commander shouted so loudly in Hebrew that the people sitting along the top of the wall could hear and understand him: he told them King Hezekiah was lying to them, he told them no help was coming from Egypt and that the army of Judah could not match the Assyrian forces in battle. To top it all off, he claimed that the Lord Himself had abandoned them.
No one talked back to this man, for they had been instructed by Hezekiah not to say a word. We discussed the good wisdom of this in our last study session. Hezekiah has been waiting in the palace to hear the outcome of the meeting. Although the three Assyrian officials came to the city gates and called for him to come out to meet with them, it was not safe for him to do so. There could have been an ambush set for him, with Assyrian archers stationed nearby to shoot at him. Another reason he didn't come out may be that he couldn't be absolutely certain that a large number of his own people might not give in to fear and revolt against him, turning him in to the Assyrians and surrendering the city, which appears to be what the Assyrian field commander was suggesting they do. Another reason Hezekiah didn't go out to speak with the men personally is, in my opinion, that it would have been unseemly for a king to answer the summons of three subordinates to the king of Assyria. If King Sennacherib himself had come to Jerusalem and requested a meeting with Hezekiah, perhaps this would have been arranged, but instead Sennacherib sent three of his officials so Hezekiah sent three of his own officials out to speak with them.
Hezekiah's officials return to him with the message. "Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said." (2 Kings 18:37) He reacts with an expression of grief but does not lose hope. He knows that no situation is hopeless if the Lord is in it.
"When king Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They told him, 'This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that He will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.'" (2 Kings 19:1-4)
We already know that King Hezekiah is a man who loves and serves the Lord. In his message to the prophet Isaiah he refers to the Lord as "the Lord your God" but not because he's rejecting the Lord in any way by not saying "the Lord my God" or "the Lord our God". I also don't think that, by asking the prophet to pray on his behalf, he thinks the Lord hasn't heard his own prayers. I think perhaps Hezekiah is overwhelmed by this situation to the point that he is exhausted. He has probably spent many sleepless nights in prayer. He has probably gone about his daily duties as a king, as a husband, and as a father while constantly having the threat of Assyria on his mind and while praying to the Lord off and on all day in the back of his mind. Have you ever reached the point of not knowing what to pray anymore? Have you ever felt like you've said all you can think of to say and you've done all you can think of to do? I've been there! In fact, that's where I am right now with a situation in my personal life. I'm exhausted with this situation. The Lord knows my heart. He's heard everything I've said to Him. The only thing there is to do now is sit back and wait to see whether He will turn this thing around. It's beyond my power to change other people and to turn around things they've already set in motion. Only He can do that, and I feel like Hezekiah is in the same spiritual boat I'm in right now. It's beyond his power to turn his circumstances around. But He knows a God who can!
Isaiah the prophet also knows the God who can. He has received an answer from God and he relays this answer to the king. "When king Hezekiah's officials came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, 'Tell your master, 'This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard---those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.'" (2 Kings 19:5-7) King Sennacherib, who thinks no one can stop him---not even the Lord whose name he has slandered---will not be king for very much longer. Sennacherib's boasts against the nation of Judah will soon come to nothing. This man who thinks he is so powerful that no one can stand against him does not even have control over the goings on of his household. In a few days from now we will find him being struck down and killed by two of his own sons.
I don't know what the circumstances in your life may be like right now. Maybe you feel exhausted with them. Hezekiah can relate to that. I can relate to that too. We've done everything we know to do and we've said everything we know to say. It's not within our power to change other people or to undo something that has been done. But we know a God who can do those things. It's to Him we look for help. Perhaps deliverance is just around the corner for us, just as it was for Hezekiah.
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