“After these deeds of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah” (2 Chron. 32: nkjv). The “deeds of faithfulness” were Hezekiah’s labors to cleanse and consecrate the temple, the priests, and the Levites, and to restore true worship in Judah. One would think that God would reward his service by giving him peace, but instead, the Lord allowed the Assyrians to return to Judah and threaten Jerusalem. Hezekiah was faithful to the Lord, but it seems as though the Lord wasn’t faithful to Hezekiah. After all, the king had done “that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God” (2 Chron. 31:20) and had done it “with all his heart” (v. 21). Why, then, didn’t the Lord protect Judah from another invasion?
“It is the standing puzzle of the Old Testament,” said Alexander Maclaren, “how good men come to be troubled, and how bad men come to be prosperous.” We have little trouble understanding why the Assyrians destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel; after all, the nation was worshipping idols and rebelling against the law of God. But Judah had returned to the Lord under Hezekiah’s leadership, and though the king had made some mistakes, his heart was sincere before God. But God had His divine purposes to fulfill in Hezekiah’s life and in the life of the nation. It was an easy thing for God to send an angel to destroy 185,000 Assyrian soldiers, but it was much more difficult to work with King Hezekiah and transform him into a man of faith. When we allow God to have His way, the trials of life work for us and not against us, and they bring great glory to the Lord. The king needed to learn that he was second in command (see Josh. 5:13–15) and that the Lord alone was sovereign.
The preparation (2 Chron. 32:1–8). Hezekiah knew that the Assyrians were coming, so he met with his leaders and took steps to strengthen Jerusalem. By working with his leaders he united them in sympathy and strategy, an important factor for leadership in war. The Assyrian records state that their army took fortysix fortified cities in Judah before settling in Lachish and planning the siege of Jerusalem. By blocking up the water supply outside the city, Hezekiah prevented the invaders from having ample supplies of fresh water. Hezekiah had already dug the tunnel between the Gihon spring and the city of Jerusalem (2 Kings 20:20) so that the people in the city would not die of thirst. Even today, this tunnel is a popular place for visitors to the Holy Land.
Hezekiah also had the wall of Jerusalem repaired and strengthened, and he put extra towers on it. He even constructed a second outside wall and then strengthened the “Millo,” the terraces that butted up against the walls (see 11:8; 1 Kings 11:27). He organized the army, appointed officers, gave them weapons, and then encouraged them by making a speech. His address reflected the words of Moses to Israel and to Joshua (Deut. 31:1–8) and God’s words to Joshua (Josh. 1:1–9; see also 2 Kings 6:16). Hezekiah was wise to use God’s Word to encourage his soldiers and remind them of the past victories of God’s people because they had trusted the Lord.
The confrontation (18:17–18; 36:1–3). Hezekiah’s near-fatal illness occurred in 702 BC and so did the visit of the Babylonian envoys. This means that it was the very next year—701 BC—that the Assyrians invaded the land. Hezekiah had fourteen more years to live and he certainly didn’t want to do it in captivity. However, the prophet Isaiah had already told him that God would deliver Judah and defend Jerusalem for the sake of King David (20:6), so Hezekiah had a great promise to believe. God’s people don’t live on explanations; they live on promises.
The Assyrian army chose Lachish for their central camp, thirty miles southwest of Jerusalem, and brought “a great host” against Jerusalem. Three of the Assyrian officers told Hezekiah to send out three of his officers to arrange for the terms of surrender. These are titles and not personal names: Tartan = supreme commander, Rabsaris = chief officer, and Rabshakeh = field commander. Representing Hezekiah were Eliakim, the palace administrator, Shebna, the secretary, and Joah, the recorder (see Isa. 22:15–25; 36:3).
They met at the very place where Isaiah had confronted Ahaz, Hezekiah’s father, and told him not to make a treaty with the Assyrians (Isa. 7; 2 Kings 16:5–9). Treaty or no treaty, Isaiah had predicted that the Assyrians would return, and his words had now come true.
The six officers didn’t have a quiet conversation but stood far enough apart that the field commander had to raise his voice. Of course, the Assyrians wanted the people on the wall to hear what was going on, because they wanted to frighten them. The officers refused to speak in Aramaic, the trade language of that day, but used the familiar Hebrew (18:26–27; 32:18; 36:11–12). It’s significant that the Assyrian leaders learned the Hebrew language so they could better wage war. God’s servants today need to follow this example so they can proclaim the message of peace.
The proclamation (18:19–36; 32:9–19; 36:4–21). It’s important to identify three “speeches” if we want to understand the dynamics of this event. First, the field commander spoke to Hezekiah and the Jews and blasphemed their God (18:17–36). Then Hezekiah went to the temple and spoke to God about what the field commander had said (19:1–19). Finally, God spoke to Hezekiah (through Isaiah the prophet) about the judgment the Assyrians would receive at His hand (19:20–34). God always has the last word.
The field commander was a subtle man who knew how to weave words together and get his message across. Of course, he wasn’t too concerned about speaking the truth, for he knew that most people (including the Jews in Jerusalem) live on “seems” instead of “is” and think with their emotions instead of their minds. The basic theme of his address was faith (18:19–20; 32:10; 36:4–5), and he asked the people, “What are you really trusting? Can anybody deliver you?” Note the repetition of the words “deliver” and “my hand,” and note also how he tried to belittle Hezekiah by calling Sennacherib “the great king” (18:19, 28; Isa. 36:4, 13). What the Rabshekah didn’t realize was that Jehovah is the Great King and that He heard every word the field commander was saying. “For the Lord Most High is awesome; He is a great King over all the earth” (Ps. 47: nkjv). Jerusalem was “the city of the great King” (Ps. 48:2), and the Lord Himself has said, “I am a great King” (Mal. 1: nkjv).
The field commander began to name what Judah was trusting, all the while pointing out that each of them would fail. He began with Egypt (18:21, 24; Isa. 36:6, 9), and no doubt there were officials in Judah who thought Pharaoh could help them. There had always been a strong Egyptian party in Judah after the kingdom divided, and the prophet Isaiah had warned the leaders not to go to Egypt for help (Isa. 30:1–7; 31:1–3). But Egypt was nothing but a “splintered reed” that would pierce your hand if you leaned on it.
In 18: and 30 (32:12; Isa. 36:7, 10), the commander tried to convince them that they couldn’t trust the Lord their God to deliver them. How could they trust Jehovah when Hezekiah had removed the altars of the Lord from the city? Was the Lord pleased with what the king did? The commander knew that there were people in Jerusalem who were unhappy because they could no longer worship at different altars and in the high places but had to go to the temple. But the commander was so bold as to affirm that he and the Assyrian army had come to Jerusalem in obedience to the commandment of the Lord (18:25; 36:10; see 2 Chron. 35:21). After all, the Lord had used Assyria to chasten and destroy the kingdom of Israel, so why wouldn’t He use Assyria to conquer Judah?
If the people of Judah were trusting in their military resources, said the commander, they were really in trouble, for they didn’t have sufficient horses or enough cavalry men to put on them. If the king would “make a bargain” (enter into a treaty) with Sennacherib, the Assyrians would stop the siege and the people’s lives would be spared.
In reply to the interruption by Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah (18:26), the field commander gave a special message to the people on the wall. If they didn’t surrender, the day would come when they would be so hungry and thirsty that they would eat and drink their own excrement (18:27; 36:12). The report in 2 Chronicles 32: states that the field commander began his speech by warning the people of inevitable death by famine and thirst if they refused to surrender.
But the year before, the prophet Isaiah had told Hezekiah that God would defend Jerusalem and destroy the Assyrians (20:6; Isa. 38:4–6), and it was this promise that the king gave to the people (18:29–30). Once again, we marvel at how much the commander knew about the affairs of Hezekiah. The commander was doing everything he could to tear down the people’s confidence in their king. The Rabshakeh painted a glowing picture of what would happen if Judah surrendered. They would live at peace in their own land until they would be deported to Assyria, a land very much like Judah (18:31–32; 36:16–17). Whenever the enemy makes an offer, there is always that fatal “until” attached to it.
The commander’s final argument was purely pragmatic and very illogical: none of the gods of the nations already conquered could defeat Sennacherib, so Jehovah would fail as well (18:33–35; 36:18–20). But Jehovah isn’t like the dead powerless idols of the nations: He is the true and living God! In obedience to the king’s command, the people on the wall said nothing to the field commander, and that’s the best way to respond to ignorant people who blaspheme the Lord and know nothing of His truth and greatness.
The humiliation (18:37—19:13; 36:22—37:13). The three officials left the fuller’s field and returned to the city to tell Hezekiah what the field commander had said. In humility before the Lord and in acknowledgement of their own helplessness, the three men tore their garments and looked to the Lord for His help. They told their king what the field commander had said, and the report must have broken Hezekiah’s heart. How could anybody be so arrogant and so blaspheme the name of the Lord? The Rabshakeh had reproached the living God by daring to associate Him with the dead idols of the nations. Hezekiah also tore his clothes and humbled himself before the Lord.
The king knew that he needed a word from the Lord, so he sent his officers to Isaiah the prophet and asked him to pray and seek God’s help. (This is the first mention of Isaiah in 2 Kings.) The king’s metaphor about birth is a picture of extreme danger. The child has come to the time of birth, but the mother hasn’t strength enough to deliver it, so both mother and child are in danger of losing their lives. The king also knew that only a remnant of God’s people from Israel and Judah were faithful to Him (19:4, 30), but for their sake and the sake of David, the Lord would be willing to work.
Isaiah told Hezekiah not to be afraid (Ps. 46:1–3) because the Lord had heard the blasphemy of the Rabshakeh and would deal with Sennacherib. The Assyrian king would hear a report, and the Lord would give him such a fearful spirit that he would return home. The report was that Tirhakah, king of Egypt, was coming to Judah, which meant Sennacherib would have to wage war on two fronts (19:9; 37:9). He didn’t want to do that, so he temporarily abandoned the siege and went back to Lachish to prepare for war. However the field commander sent one last message to Hezekiah, this time a letter (19:8–13; 37:8–13) and simply repeated what he had already said.