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March 5 - 2 Kings 19 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Wednesday, it's the 5th of
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  March and it's great to have your company as we continue,
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  boy, in this hard hitting, high stakes set of readings this week
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  as we are in our second. Last week of reading the stories
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  about the kings of Israel and Judah.
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  And yesterday ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, right?
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  You've got this overwhelming army on your doorstep
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  threatening to destroy you and saying don't believe in that
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  ridiculous promise of deliverance from God.
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  Believe in me, the emperor, the king of Assyria, and I will give
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  you a good life somewhere else. And you know, I've got to say, I
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  think I've been converted today. Previously, if you had asked me
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  what chapter in kings I thought showed the greatest attributes
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  of the the Kingdom of Israel, I would have said, oh, it's that
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  glorious chapter where Solomon is kind of at his heart of his
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  power and everyone just agrees that he is the greatest king who
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  has ever lived and that Israel is the greatest nation.
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  But I think actually this chapter today, this chapter of
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  the King, of God's people relying entirely in overwhelming
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  odds in God's provision, and then God's prophet speaking in
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  support of the king and his decision, and then seeing the
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  way that this plays out to the threat on their doorstep.
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  This is this is God working with his king and with his people in
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  the most glorious way. So let us enjoy this chapter as
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  we see how King Hezekiah responds to King Sennacherib on
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  his doorstep, shaking his first and making all sorts of threats
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  as we read together Second Kings chapter 19.
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  When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and
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  put on burlap and went into the temple of the Lord.
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  And he sent Aliakim, the palace administrator, Shebner, the
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  court secretary, and the leading priests, all dressed in burlap,
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  to the prophet Isaiah son of Amos.
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  They told him this is what King Hezekiah says.
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  Today is a day of trouble, insults and disgrace.
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  It is like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has
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  no strength to deliver the baby. But perhaps the Lord your God
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  has heard the Assyrian chief of staff sent by the king to defy
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  the living God and will punish him for his words.
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  I'll pray for those of us who were left after King Hezekiah's
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  officials delivered the King's message to Isaiah.
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  The prophet replied, Say to your master, this is what the Lord
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  says. Do not be disturbed by this
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  blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian King's
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  messages. Listen, I myself will move
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  against him, and the king will receive a message that he is
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  needed at home, so he will return to his land, where I will
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  have him killed with a sword. Meanwhile, the Assyrian chief of
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  staff left Jerusalem and went to consult the king of Syria, who
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  had left Lakish and was attacking Libna.
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  Soon afterward, King Sennacherib received word that King Tahaka
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  of Ethiopia was leading an army to fight against him.
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  Before leaving to meet the attack, he sent messengers back
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  to Hezekiah and Jerusalem with this message.
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  This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah.
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  Don't let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises
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  that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria.
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  You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done.
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  Wherever they have gone, they have completely destroyed
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  everyone who stood in their way. Why should you be any different?
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  Have the gods of other nations rescued them?
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  Such nations have Gozan, Haran, Rezef, and the people of Eden
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  who were in Telesa. My predecessors destroyed them
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  all. What happened to the king of
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  Hamath and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of
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  Ceravaim, Heina, and IVA? After Hezekiah received the
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  letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the
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  Lord's temple and spread it out before the Lord.
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  And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord.
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  O Lord God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty
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  cherubim. You alone are God of all the
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  kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens
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  and the earth. Bend down, O Lord, and listen.
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  Open your eyes, O Lord, and see. Listen to Sennacherib's words of
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  defiance against the living God. It is true, Lord, that the kings
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  of Assyria have destroyed all these nations, and they have
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  thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them.
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  But of course the Assyrians could destroy them.
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  They were not gods at all, only idols of wood and stone shaped
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  by human hands. Now, O Lord our God, rescue us
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  from his power. Then all the kingdoms of the
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  earth will know that you alone, O Lord our God.
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  Then Isaiah, son of Amos, sent this message to Hezekiah.
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  This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says.
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  I have heard your prayer about King Sennacherib of Assyria, and
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  the Lord has spoken this word against him.
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  The virgin daughter of Zion despises you and laughs at you.
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  The daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head in derision.
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  As you flee. Whom have you been defying and
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  ridiculing? Against whom did you raise your
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  voice? At whom did you look with such
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  haughty eyes? It was the Holy One of Israel.
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  By your messengers you have defied the Lord, you have said.
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  With my Chariots I have conquered the highest mountains,
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  Yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon.
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  I've cut down its tallest Cedars and its finest Cypress trees.
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  I have reached its farthest corners and explored its deepest
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  forests. I've dug wells in many foreign
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  lands and refreshed myself with their water.
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  With the sole of my foot I stopped up all the rivers of
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  Egypt. But have you not heard?
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  I decided this long ago. Long ago I planned it, and now I
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  am making it happen. I plan for you to crush
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  fortified cities into heaps of rubble.
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  That is why their people have so little power and are so
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  frightened and confused. They are as weak as grass, as
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  easily trampled as tender green shoots.
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  They are like grass sprouting on a housetop, scorched before it
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  can grow, lush and tall. But I know you well, where you
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  stay and when you come and go. I know the way you have raged
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  against me, and because of your raging against me and your
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  arrogance, which I've heard for myself, I will put my hook in
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  your nose and my bit in your mouth.
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  I will make you return by the same Rd on which you came.
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  Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Here is the proof that what I
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  say is true. This year you will eat only what
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  grows up by itself and next to you.
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  You will eat what springs up from that.
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  In the third year you will plant crops and harvest them.
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  You will tend vineyards and eat their fruit.
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  And you who are left in Judah, who have escaped the ravages of
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  the siege, will put roots down in your own soil and will grow
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  up and flourish. For a remnant of my people will
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  spread out from Jerusalem, a group of survivors from Mount
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  Zion. The passionate commitment of the
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  Lord of Heaven's armies will make this happen.
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  And this is what the Lord says about the King of Assyria.
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  His armies will not enter Jerusalem.
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  They will not even shoot an arrow at it.
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  They will not March outside its gates with their Shields, nor
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  build banks of earth against its walls.
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  The King will return to his own country by the same Rd on which
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  he came. He will not enter this city,
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  says the Lord. For my own honour and for the
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  sake of my servant David, I will defend this city and protect it.
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  That night the Angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp
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  and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers.
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  When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they
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  found corpses everywhere. Then King Sennacherib of Assyria
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  broke camp and returned to his own land.
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  He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there.
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  One day, while he was worshipping in the temple of his
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  God Nisrock, his sons Adramalek and Sharaza killed him with
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  their swords. They then escaped to the land of
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  Ararat and another son, Essa Harden, became the next king of
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  Syria. Lord, thank you for this
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  chapter. Thank you for the faithfulness
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  of Hezekiah and how he comes before you with his needs and
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  prayer. Our Lord, you know we live in a
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  world where action is celebrated.
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  We're doing things and getting results ourselves is the way we
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  go about it. But Lord, you call us to a
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  different way to bring our problems, to bring our joys, and
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  to bring our challenges before you, to share them with you in
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  prayer. For thank you that you always
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  have your ear open to hear our prayers and that you invite us
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  that you will us, that you want us to come to you with
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  everything big and small, glorious, terrible and mundane.
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  So Lord, today as we go about the busyness of our worlds and
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  our lives, I pray that you would bring us to our knees again and
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  again in prayer to you, that we would include you in every part
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  of our day, prompt us, draw us back to you so that through
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  these prayers we can be reminded that you are indeed a part of
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  every moment of our life, our wonderful, engaged, loving God.
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  So we worship you and we praise you, and we thank you for being
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  a part of every moment of our day, and we pray all of this in
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  Jesus name, Amen.