UNROLL
First light outside Jerusalem's wall: a plain stone-lined water channel runs along a rocky slope to a small, still rock-cut pool, a dirt road beside it crossing an empty field of washing stones; above on the ridge, the city's thick plain wall and gate; a calm, pale dawn sky.

The Book of

2 Kings 18

Samaria has fallen. An Assyrian army stands at Jerusalem’s wall, and one king has to answer one question: whom does he trust?

37 verses≈ 9 min5 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1–8ElishaThe prophet's double portion
  2. 9–12JehuThe house of Ahab falls
  3. 13–17Last kings of IsraelSamaria falls
  4. 18–20HezekiahTrust in the LORDChapter 18
  5. 21–23JosiahThe Book found
  6. 24–25ExileJerusalem falls

Hezekiah Destroys Idolatry in Judah

Judah

Hezekiah of Judah · 29 years

  1. Hoshea’s 3rd year

    Hezekiah son of Ahaz becomes king

    In the third year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah over Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz became king of Judah.

  2. Twenty-five; 29 years in Jerusalem

    He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years.

  3. His mother Abi

    His mother’s name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.

  4. did right

    Right, as David had done

    And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Morning in a stone-paved court in Jerusalem: two workmen with heavy stone hammers topple and break an old, soot-darkened bronze snake on a worn wooden pole, a small clay incense stand overturned beside it, while young King Hezekiah stands close by, one hand raised in command.

He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze snake called Nehushtan that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had burned incense to it.

Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. No king of Judah was like him, either before him or after him.

2 Kings 18:5

He remained faithful to the LORD and did not turn from following Him; he kept the commandments that the LORD had given Moses.

And the LORD was with Hezekiah, and he prospered wherever he went.

He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to serve him. He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its borders, from watchtower to fortified city.

In the fourth year of Hezekiah’s reign, which was the seventh year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah over Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and besieged it. And at the end of three years, the Assyrians captured it. So Samaria was captured in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel.

The king of Assyria exiled the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes. This happened because they did not listen to the voice of the LORD their God, but violated His covenant—all that Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded—and would neither listen nor obey.

Reflect

Even a good thing

The bronze snake was a gift from God through Moses. Centuries later “the Israelites had burned incense to it,” and Hezekiah broke it. Is there something good in your life, even something religious, that has quietly taken the place only God should have? Write it down, and ask the LORD what to do with it.

Sennacherib Invades Judah

Mediterranean SeaTo EgyptJerusalemLachishLibnah (site uncertain)Gaza

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

Sennacherib’s campaign

Sennacherib took Judah’s fortified cities and made his camp at Lachish, about thirty miles southwest of Jerusalem. From there he sent his commanders with a great army up to Jerusalem. Later he was fighting at Libnah, a few miles away (its site is uncertain), as an army from Egypt and Cush came up the coast road past Gaza.

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

Noon outside Jerusalem: beside a plain stone water channel running to a small rock-cut pool, three Assyrian commanders stand at the head of a great army drawn up along the road; above on the ridge, Jerusalem's thick plain wall; a calm, hazy sky.

Nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh, along with a great army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They advanced up to Jerusalem and stationed themselves by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field.

0:15

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Then they called for the king. And Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebnah the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to them.

The Rabshakeh

The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah that this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is the basis of this confidence of yours? You claim to have a strategy and strength for war, but these are empty words. In whom are you now trusting, that you have rebelled against me?

The Rabshakeh

Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem: ‘You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?

The Rabshakeh

Now, therefore, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them! For how can you repel a single officer among the least of my master’s servants when you depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?

The Rabshakeh

So now, was it apart from the LORD that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The LORD Himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”

Eliakim

Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, along with Shebnah and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Do not speak with us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

The Rabshakeh

But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

In whom are you now trusting, that you have rebelled against me?

2 Kings 18:20

Question

Quick question

The Assyrian commanders came up from Lachish with a great army and called for the king.

Where did the Assyrian commanders take their stand at Jerusalem?

Looking down from the top of Jerusalem's plain stone wall: men of the city sit in a long, silent row along it, cloaks drawn round them; far below by the stone water channel, the Rabshakeh stands out ahead of the Assyrian ranks with one arm raised, calling up, three officials of Judah apart near him.

Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria!

This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you; he cannot deliver you from my hand. Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’

Late afternoon in a small Judean hill village: beside a flat-roofed stone house, an old grapevine on a low trellis and a broad fig tree shade a courtyard; the round stone mouth of a cistern with a clay jar and rope beside it; an empty stool under the fig tree; terraces beyond in golden light.

Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey—so that you may live and not die. But do not listen to Hezekiah, for he misleads you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’

Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”

But the people remained silent and did not answer a word, for Hezekiah had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

2 Kings 18:36

A dim palace hall in Jerusalem by clay lamplight: three officials stand before King Hezekiah, each man's robe torn open at the neck, heads bowed, one speaking; the king, seated on a plain wooden chair, leans forward listening, his hand at his beard.

Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they relayed to him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Pray

When other voices mock

The Rabshakeh counted the LORD as one more god of one more land: “How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?” Thank God that He is not like the gods of the nations but the living God. Ask Him for trust when every other help turns out to be a splintered reed, for the wisdom to keep silent when silence is right, and for the habit of bringing every fear and every mocking word straight to Him, as Hezekiah’s officials brought these to their king.

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2 Kings 18

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A verse to carry with you

Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. No king of Judah was like him, either before him or after him.

2 Kings 18:5

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