2 Kings 19

The name Hezekiah means “the Lord strengthens,”

and during his reign of twenty-nine years (715–687), King Hezekiah needed God’s strength to accomplish all that he did. Like Asa (1 Kings 15:11), Jehoshaphat (22:43), and Josiah (2 Kings 22:2), his model was King David, which means that, while Hezekiah wasn’t perfect, he did seek to obey the Lord and please Him. He was one of the few kings who actually removed the high places and put an end to idol worship in the hills. He restored temple worship and encouraged the people from both Judah and Israel to come to the temple in Jerusalem and worship the Lord. The Lord had commanded that there be one central place of worship, and that was at Jerusalem (Deut. 12).

The sequence of events in Hezekiah’s life as recorded in Scripture is not strictly chronological. Most students agree that the events recorded in Isaiah 38 and 39—his illness and his welcome of the Babylonian ambassadors—actually antedated the Assyrian invasion (Isa. 36—37). We will take this approach as we study Hezekiah’s life and ministry and seek to integrate the material in Kings, Chronicles, and Isaiah.

We have seen King Hezekiah as an effective reformer who cleansed and consecrated the temple and restored the priestly ministry. But Hezekiah the negotiator capitulated to Assyria and paid tribute in order to avoid war. Then God sent a severe illness to Hezekiah to humble him and he cried out to God for mercy. Following that victory, Hezekiah stumbled again by welcoming the Babylonian envoys and showing them what they had no right to see. This was not a praiseworthy hour in Hezekiah’s life.

When the outlook is bleak, try the uplook. That’s what King Hezekiah did when he received the blasphemous letter from the king of Assyria. Often in my own ministry I have had to spread letters before the Lord and trust Him to work matters out, and He always has.

Hezekiah looked beyond his own throne and the throne of the “great king” Sennacherib and focused his attention on the throne of God “who was enthroned between the cherubim” (19:15; 37: niv; see Ps. 80:1; 99:1). Since he was not a high priest, Hezekiah couldn’t enter the Holy of Holies where the mercy seat sat upon the ark of the covenant, but he could “enter” by faith even as believers can today (Heb. 10:19–25). At each end of the mercy seat was a cherub, and the mercy seat was the throne of God on earth (Ex. 25:10–22). Not only is the Lord the King of Israel and the King of all nations, but He is the creator of the heavens and the earth. Hezekiah was lost in worship as he realized the greatness of the Lord, the only true God. This is a good example to follow when we pray about life’s problems. When we focus on the Lord and see how great He is, it helps to put our problems in perspective.

The king had one great burden on his heart: that the God of Israel be glorified before the nations of the earth. Sennacherib had blasphemed the Lord and Hezekiah asked God to act on behalf of Judah so that His name would be honored. “Hallowed be thy name” is the first request in the Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6:9). Being a faithful Jew, the king knew that the gods of the defeated nations weren’t gods at all (Isa. 2:20; 40:19–20; 41:7; 44:9–20). He asked the Lord to save the people of Judah, not for their sake but for the glory of His great name.

Some people rush into the Lord’s presence whenever they face a problem, but the Lord never hears their voices at any other time. This wasn’t true of King Hezekiah. He was a man who at all times sought the blessing of the Lord on His people. He sought to know the Word of God and the will of God, and this gave him power in prayer. Blessed is that nation whose leaders know how to pray!

The Lord told Isaiah to get His message to the king, and the prophet obeyed. The answer to Hezekiah’s prayer was threefold: (1) God would deliver Jerusalem, (2) God would defeat the Assyrian army and they would depart, and (3) God would care for the people and they would not starve. But God also had a message of rebuke to Sennacherib because of his pride and blasphemy. Hezekiah’s faith was rewarded and his prayer was answered.

Rebuke (19:20–28; 37:22–29). God had used Assyria to chasten the northern kingdom of Israel, and the Lord had given Sennacherib victory over other nations, but the Assyrian king had never given God the glory. In fact, his field commander had reproached the name of the Lord (19:4, 16, 22, 24; 37:4, 17, 23, 24) and blasphemed the God of Israel. But “the virgin, the daughter of Zion”—the city of Jerusalem—would toss her head in disdain and laugh at the defeat of Assyria. The Lord used the image of a virgin because the Assyrians would not be able to take the city and violate it the way pagan soldiers did to women taken captive. But the Lord would treat the Assyrians like cattle and put hooks in their noses and lead them.

The Lord quoted back to the Rabshakeh and to Sennacherib the very words they had used in boasting about their victories. Chariots are made primarily for the flat lands, but they boasted that their chariots had ascended the high mountains of Lebanon. The dry lands and deserts didn’t stop them, nor did the rivers. Other kings used barges to cross rivers, but they dried up the Nile and walked across on dry land. (Is this a reference to Israel at the Jordan, Joshua 4—5? There is no evidence that Assyria ever conquered Egypt.) They cut down cities and people the way a farmer mows the grass, and nothing stood in their way.

But it was the Lord who planned these conquests and enabled Assyria to succeed (37:26–27). The nation was His weapon to judge Israel and the other nations and to chasten Judah (Isa. 10:5–19). How foolish for the ax to boast against the woodsman, and how foolish for Sennacherib to take credit for what the Lord had done! Instead of honoring the Lord, Sennacherib raged against the Lord (19:27; 37:28–29) and exalted himself against the God of heaven. Whatever reasons or excuses world leaders may give for what they do, the basic cause is rebellion against God and His law (Ps. 2:1–6; Acts 4:23–31). But the Lord would treat the Assyrians like cattle, put hooks in their noses, and lead them away! The Assyrians were known for doing this to their prisoners of war, but now they would be the victims.

Provision (19:29; 37:30). The Assyrians had taken possession of Judah, pillaged the land and taken the fortified cities, and now they were besieging Jerusalem. How long could the food hold out? And even if Jerusalem did survive, how long would it take to restore the land, plant the crops, and get a harvest? The field commander warned that the people of Jerusalem would die of famine and thirst if they didn’t submit to Assyria (2 Chron. 32:11). But the Lord of the harvest was in control. September and October were the months devoted to sowing, and March and April were devoted to reaping the harvest. The orchards and vineyards produced their harvest from July to September. No doubt the Assyrians came in the harvest season and confiscated the food. With the Assyrians in the land and Jerusalem under siege, the people couldn’t work their farms, but God promised that when the Assyrians left, food would grow of itself until the men could work the fields, orchards, and vineyards. God would not permit His people to starve.

Some students have seen a relationship between this prophecy and Psalm 126, one of the “Songs of the ascents [degrees].” (See chapter 10, endnote 3.) The psalm speaks of a dramatic and sudden deliverance for Jerusalem, which certainly wasn’t the case at the end of the Babylonian captivity. Could this have been Jerusalem’s deliverance from the Assyrian army, when God killed 185,000 soldiers? If so, the prayer in Psalm 126: would certainly be applicable. As the men went out in the fields to sow, they would be weeping for joy that the land was delivered, but they might also weep because the seed they were sowing could have been made into bread for their children. Seed was scarce, yet God cared for His people.

Deliverance (19:28, 30–37; 32:21–22; 37:31–38). God promised that He would deliver His “remnant” from their enemies and they would “take root” and become fruitful again. Not only would Sennacherib never enter the city, but he wouldn’t even shoot an arrow at it, attack it, or build a siege mound next to it! In one night, God’s angel killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers and that put an end to the siege of Jerusalem. The Rabshakeh had boasted that one of the Assyrian junior officers was stronger than 2,000 Jewish charioteers (36:8–9), but when the Lord wanted to wipe out 185,000 enemy soldiers, all He had to do was send one of His angels!

It was a humiliating defeat for the Assyrians, but the event brought great glory to the Lord and honor to Hezekiah (2 Chron. 32:23; see Ps. 126:2–3). Sennacherib left the scene and went home, and there one of his sons killed him. His gods were unable to give him victory in Judah and they couldn’t protect him from his own family in his own homeland. Why did God deliver His people? For the glory of His own name, of course, and for the sake of David whom He loved (19:34). Why does He bless His people today? For the sake of His own glory and because of His love for His own Son who died for us.

Death (2 Kings 20:20–21; 2 Chron. 32:27–33). “And Hezekiah prospered in all that he did,” states 2 Chronicles 32: (nasb). Because of the blessing of the Lord, he had immense wealth, huge flocks and herds, and large storage buildings for grain and wine. “He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel” (2 Kings 18: nasb). “And the Lord was with him; wherever he went he prospered” (2 Kings 18: nasb). He was a model of the “blessed man” in Psalm 1, the person who obeys the Word, meditates on it, and depends upon the power of God.

Hezekiah was not only in favor with God, but he was also beloved by his people. He was buried with the kings in Jerusalem, “and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death” (2 Chron. 32:33). Like all of us, Hezekiah had his lapses of faith and his failures, but was undoubtedly one of the greatest kings in Jewish history.