Bible Lesson: Miracles Of The Old
Testament: Sennacherib's Army Meet Destruction.
Occasion: The Lord Answers
Hezekiah's Prayer Do Defend Jerusalem.
Location: Jerusalem.
Bible Text:
(II Kings 18:19-37-II Kings 19:1-37
NLT)
The Story:
II Kings 18:19-37 NLT
(Sennacherib, and his army, threatens Jerusalem.)
19 Then the Assyrian king’s chief
of staff told them to give this message to Hezekiah:
“This is what the great king of
Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?
20 Do you think that mere words can
substitute for military skill and strength? Who are you counting on,
that you have rebelled against me?
21 On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt,
it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces
your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is completely unreliable!
22 “But perhaps you will say to
me, ‘We are trusting in The Lord our God!’ But isn’t He the one
who was insulted by Hezekiah? Didn’t Hezekiah tear down His shrines
and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem worship only at
the altar here in Jerusalem?
23 “I’ll tell you what! Strike a
bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000
horses if you can find that many men to ride on them!
24 With your tiny army, how can you
think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master’s
troops, even with the help of Egypt’s chariots and charioteers?
25 What’s more, do you think we
have invaded your land without The Lord’s direction? The Lord
Himself told us, ‘Attack this land and destroy it!’”
26 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah,
Shebna, and Joah said to the Assyrian chief of staff, “Please speak
to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don’t speak in Hebrew,
for the people on the wall will hear.”
27 But Sennacherib’s chief of
staff replied, “Do you think my master sent this message only to
you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we
put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will
be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink
their own urine.”
28 Then the chief of staff stood and
shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, “Listen to this
message from the great king of Assyria!
29 This is what the king says: Don’t
let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you from my
power.
30 Don’t let him fool you into
trusting in The Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely rescue us.
This city will never fall into the hands of the Assyrian king!’
31 “Don’t listen to Hezekiah!
These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with
me—open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue
eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your
own well.
32 Then I will arrange to take you
to another land like this one—a land of grain and new wine, bread
and vineyards, olive groves and honey. Choose life instead of death!
“Don’t listen to Hezekiah when
he tries to mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us!’
33 Have the gods of any other
nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria?
34 What happened to the gods of
Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and
Ivvah? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power?
35
What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my
power? So what makes you think that The Lord can rescue Jerusalem
from me?”
36 But the people were silent and
did not utter a word because Hezekiah had commanded them, “Do not
answer him.”
37 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the
palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of
Asaph, the royal historian, went back to Hezekiah. They tore their
clothes in despair, and they went in to see the king and told him
what the Assyrian chief of staff had said.
The
enemy made his boast,”What god of any nation has ever
been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think
that The Lord can rescue Jerusalem from me?”
What could the outnumbered people of God do?
What would King Hezekiah do?
II Kings 19:1-4
NLT
1 When King
Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and put on burlap
and went into
the Temple of
The Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the
court secretary, and the leading priests, all dressed in burlap, to
the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.
3 They told
him, “This is what King Hezekiah says: Today is a day of trouble,
insults, and disgrace. It is like when a child is ready to be born,
but the mother has no strength to deliver the baby.
4 But perhaps
The Lord your God has heard the Assyrian chief of staff, sent by the
king to defy The Living God, and will punish him for his words. Oh,
pray for those of us who are left!”
When the enemy threatens us, time to seek The God Of The Universe.
And remember His words of assurance.
II Chronicles
16:9 KJV
For the eyes of
The Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew Himself
strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him..."
Psalm 34:7 KJV
The Angel Of
The Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth
them.
Psalm 91:4 NLT
He will cover
you with His feathers. He will shelter you with His wings. His
faithful promises are your armor and protection.
Psalm 108:13 KJV
Through God we
shall do valiantly: for He it is that shall tread down our enemies.
Psalm 125:1,2 KJV (Not only true for Israel, but all God's people!)
1 They that trust in The Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot
be removed, but abideth for ever.
2 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so The Lord is round
about His people from henceforth even for ever.
Isaiah 59:19 KJV
So shall they
fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the
rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the
Spirit Of The Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
I Corinthians
10:13 MSG
No test or
temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others
have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let
you down; He’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; He’ll
always be there to help you come through it.
Isaiah's reply to King Hezekiah.
II Kings 19:5-7
NLT
5 After King Hezekiah’s officials delivered the king’s message to
Isaiah,
6 the prophet replied, “Say to your master, ‘This is what The
Lord says: Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against Me
from the Assyrian king’s messengers.
7 Listen! I Myself will move against him, and the king will receive a
message that he is needed at home. So he will return to his land,
where I will have him killed with a sword.’”
Interesting here is our Lord's reply, that an attack against His
people, He considers against Himself!
An angry Assyrian army Chief returns to King Sennacherib:
II Kings 19:8-19 NLT
8 Meanwhile, the Assyrian chief of staff left Jerusalem and went to
consult the king of Assyria, who had left Lachish and was attacking
Libnah.
9 Soon afterward King Sennacherib received word that King Tirhakah of
Ethiopia was leading an army to fight against him. Before leaving to
meet the attack, he sent messengers back to Hezekiah in Jerusalem
with this message:
10 “This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don’t let your
God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will
not be captured by the king of Assyria.
11 You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done
wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who
stood in their way! Why should you be any different?
12 Have the gods of other nations rescued them—such nations as
Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar?
My predecessors destroyed them all!
13 What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? What
happened to the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”
Godly King Hezekiah, goes to the temple to pray, what an example to
leaders, everywhere!
II Kings
19:14-19 NLT
14 After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read
it, he went up to The Lord’s Temple and spread it out before The
Lord.
15 And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before The Lord: “O Lord, God
of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone
are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the
heavens and the earth.
16 Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see!
Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against The
living God.
17 “It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all
these nations.
18 And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and
burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They
were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human
hands.
19 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the
kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God.”
The Prophet Of
God, Isaiah, Responds, The Epilogue:
II Kings
19:20-37 NLT (Isaiah foretells Judah’s Deliverance and Assyria's
defeat.)
20 Then Isaiah
son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what The
Lord, The God Of Israel, says: I have heard your
prayer about King Sennacherib of Assyria.
21 And The Lord
has spoken this word against him:
“The virgin
daughter of Zion despises you and laughs at you.
The daughter of
Jerusalem shakes her head in derision as you flee.
22 “Whom
have you been defying and ridiculing? Against whom did you raise your
voice?
At whom did
you look with such haughty eyes? It was The Holy One Of
Israel!
23 By your
messengers you have defied The Lord. You
have said, ‘With my many chariots I have conquered the highest
mountains— yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its
tallest cedars and its finest cypress trees.
I have reached
its farthest corners and explored its deepest forests.
24 I have dug
wells in many foreign lands and refreshed myself with their water.
With the sole of my foot I stopped up all the rivers of Egypt!’
25 “But
have you not heard? I decided this long ago. Long ago I planned it,
and now I am making it happen. I planned for you to crush fortified
cities into heaps of rubble.
26 That is why
their people have so little power and are so frightened and confused.
They are as weak as grass, as easily trampled as tender green shoots.
They are like grass sprouting on a housetop, scorched before it can
grow lush and tall.
27 “But I
know you well— where you stay and when you come and go. I know the
way you have raged against Me.
28 And
because of your raging against me and your arrogance, which I
have heard for Myself, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in
your mouth. I will make you return by the same road on which you
came.”
29 Then Isaiah
said to Hezekiah, “Here is the proof that what I say is true:
“This year
you will eat only what grows up by itself, and next year you will eat
what springs up from that. But in the third year you will plant crops
and harvest them; you will tend vineyards and eat their fruit.
30 And you who
are left in Judah, who have escaped the ravages of the siege, will
put roots down in your own soil and will grow up and flourish.
31 For a
remnant of My people will spread out from Jerusalem, a group of
survivors from Mount Zion. The passionate commitment of The Lord
Of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!
32 “And this
is what The Lord says about the king of Assyria:
“His armies
will not enter Jerusalem. They will not even shoot an
arrow at it.
They will
not march outside its gates with their shields nor build banks of
earth against its walls.
33 The king
will return to his own country by the same road on which he came. He
will not enter this city, says The Lord.
34 For My
own honor and for the sake of My servant David, I will defend this
city and protect it.”
35 That night
The Angel Of The Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed
185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians woke up the
next morning, they found corpses everywhere.
36 Then King
Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He
went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there.
37 One day
while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons
Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords. They then
escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Esarhaddon, became
the next king of Assyria.
The reward of those who come against The Lord, and His people.
When the enemy comes against you remember Godly King Hezekiah, and
his going to The Lord in prayer!
Leave It There
If the world from you withhold of its silver and its gold,
And you have to get along with meager fare,
Just remember, in His Word, how He feeds the little bird;
Take your burden to The Lord and leave it there.
Refrain
Leave it there,
leave it there,
Take your burden
to The Lord and leave it there.
If you trust and
never doubt, He will surely bring you out.
Take your burden
to The Lord and leave it there.
If your body suffers pain and your health you can't regain,
And your soul is almost sinking in despair,
Jesus knows the pain you feel, He can save and He can heal;
Take your burden to The Lord and leave it there.
Refrain
When your enemies assail and your heart begins to fail,
Don't forget that God in Heaven answers prayer;
He will make a way for you and will lead you safely through.
Take your burden to The Lord and leave it there.
Refrain
When your youthful days are gone and old age is stealing on,
And your body bends beneath the weight of care;
He will never leave you then, He'll go with you to the end.
Take your burden to The Lord and leave it there.
Refrain
Charles A. Tindley, 1916
Public Domain
Psalms 55:22 KJV
Cast thy burden upon The Lord, and He shall sustain thee: He shall
never suffer the righteous to be moved.
Matthew 11:28-30
KJV
28 Come unto
Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take My yoke
upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye
shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For My yoke
is easy, and My burden is light.
I Peter 5:7 KJV
Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.
