UNROLL
First light from the Kidron valley: the slope of the City of David with its thick, plain wall, a new stretch of pale fresh-cut stone joined to the old gray courses and a plain square tower on it; below, a spring's rock-cut mouth heaped over with stones, the stream bed dry; a calm, pale sky.

The Book of

2 Chronicles 32

After all his faithfulness, the Assyrian army still came. Hezekiah told his people: with him is only an arm of flesh.

33 verses≈ 8 min4 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1SolomonWisdom asked at Gibeon
  2. 2–5The templeBuilt on Mount Moriah
  3. 6–7DedicationIf My people humble themselves
  4. 8–9Solomon's gloryThe queen of Sheba
  5. 10–16DivisionRehoboam to Asa
  6. 17–20JehoshaphatThe battle is God's
  7. 21–24Dark yearsJehoram to Joash
  8. 25–28Proud kingsAmaziah to Ahaz
  9. 29–32HezekiahDoors opened, Passover keptChapter 32
  10. 33–35Manasseh to JosiahMercy and the Book found
  11. 36Exile and returnMay he go up

Sennacherib Invades Judah

After all these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, intending to conquer them for himself.

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Hezekiah appointed military commanders over the people and gathered the people in the square of the city gate. Then he encouraged them, saying,

“Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged before the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater One with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.”

2 Chronicles 32:7–8

Morning in the paved square inside a plain city gate: the king stands on a stone step with his commanders beside him, one hand open as he speaks, and the people of the city crowd the square, men and women, their faces lifting.

So the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

Reflect

An arm of flesh

Hezekiah stopped the springs, built the wall and made shields. Then he told his people where their hope really lay: “With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.” What are you preparing for right now? Write down where your confidence really rests.

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

Later, as Sennacherib king of Assyria and all his forces besieged Lachish, he sent his servants to Jerusalem with a message for King Hezekiah of Judah and all the people of Judah who were in Jerusalem:

“This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: What is the basis of your confidence, that you remain in Jerusalem under siege? Is not Hezekiah misleading you to give you over to death by famine and thirst when he says, ‘The LORD our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria?’ Did not Hezekiah himself remove His high places and His altars and say to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before one altar, and on it you shall burn sacrifices’?

Dusk across a wide plain: a conquered town on its mound with broken walls and a burned gate, and before it a great bonfire heaped with broken wooden figures and toppled stone statues, a few Assyrian soldiers standing far off beside it.

Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Have the gods of these nations ever been able to deliver their land from my hand? Who among all the gods of these nations that my fathers devoted to destruction has been able to deliver his people from my hand? How then can your God deliver you from my hand?

So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive you, and do not let him mislead you like this. Do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my hand!”

And the servants of Sennacherib spoke further against the LORD God and against His servant Hezekiah. He also wrote letters mocking the LORD, the God of Israel, and saying against Him: “Just as the gods of the nations did not deliver their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver His people from my hand.”

Then the Assyrians called out loudly in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them in order to capture the city. They spoke against the God of Jerusalem as they had spoken against the gods of the peoples of the earth—the work of human hands.

Question

Quick question

Before the Assyrian messengers ever reached Jerusalem, Hezekiah had already told his people what the king of Assyria had with him.

What did Hezekiah say was with the king of Assyria?

Jerusalem Delivered from the Assyrians

Gray dawn in the empty temple court: the king, his robe torn under dark sackcloth, and the gray-bearded prophet stand side by side before the porch of the long plain stone house, hands lifted and faces turned up, crying out under low cloud.

In response, King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out to heaven in prayer,

and the LORD sent an angel who annihilated every mighty man of valor and every leader and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria.

Late afternoon from a high hill in Judah: far below, a long Assyrian column with glinting helmets and tall shields winds away north along a dusty road through the hills, golden dust in the low sun, a pale empty sky above.

So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons struck him down with the sword.

So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the hands of King Sennacherib of Assyria and all others, and He gave them rest on every side.

0:27

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Many brought offerings to Jerusalem for the LORD and valuable gifts for Hezekiah king of Judah, and from then on he was exalted in the eyes of all nations.

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

Night in a plain plastered bedroom of the palace, lit by one clay oil lamp in a wall niche: Hezekiah lies on a low wooden bed turned toward the wall, his face hidden in the crook of his arm, weeping; a folded blue robe on a bench; a servant waits in the dark doorway.

In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. So he prayed to the LORD, who spoke to him and gave him a sign.

0:06

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

But because his heart was proud, Hezekiah did not repay the favor shown to him. Therefore wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

Then Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart—he and the people of Jerusalem—so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah.

2 Chronicles 32:26

Hezekiah had very great riches and honor, and he made treasuries for his silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and all kinds of valuable articles. He also made storehouses for the harvest of grain and new wine and oil, stalls for all kinds of livestock, and pens for the flocks. He made cities for himself, and he acquired herds of sheep and cattle in abundance, for God gave him very great wealth.

It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Spring of Gihon and channeled it down to the west side of the City of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all that he did.

Morning at a gate of the palace in Jerusalem: Babylonian envoys with curled beards and spiral-wrapped fringed robes present a carved, inlaid wooden gift box and two folded, sealed letters to a bowing palace steward of Judah; their laden donkeys stand behind them.

And so when ambassadors of the rulers of Babylon were sent to him to inquire about the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone to test him, that He might know all that was in Hezekiah’s heart.

Pray

Humble in danger and in success

Thank the LORD that He fights for His people and is greater than every power that mocks Him. Hezekiah prayed in danger, then grew proud in success, then humbled himself. Ask God to keep your heart humble when life goes well as well as when it goes hard, and for grace to humble yourself quickly when pride rises.

Hezekiah’s Death

Judah

Hezekiah’s end

  1. His deeds, in the vision of Isaiah

    As for the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his deeds of loving devotion, they are indeed written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

  2. Buried in the upper tombs

    And Hezekiah rested with his fathers and was buried in the upper tombs of David’s descendants.

  3. All Judah honored him

    All Judah and the people of Jerusalem paid him honor at his death.

  4. His son Manasseh reigns

    And his son Manasseh reigned in his place.

You’ve experienced

2 Chronicles 32

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A verse to carry with you

Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged before the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater One with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.

2 Chronicles 32:7–8

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