We turn now to the great story of Hezekiah’s dealing with the Assyrian king and army that had invaded Judah. Today’s post will mostly deal with some historical background with a point of application.
Under Ahaz, Hezekiah’s father, Jerusalem had
been attacked by the armies of Syria and Israel and a part of the protective
wall broken down. Ahaz paid tribute to
the king of Assyria (Tiglath-Pilesser) so that he might come help him and
defeat these kings. The way the Bible
speaks of it, the Assyrians were happy to deal with the lesser kingdoms of
Israel and Syria and also happy to take Ahaz’s money. Regardless of what Ahaz might have thought,
the Assyrians were not particularly interested in a peaceable relationship with
Israel. They were more interested in
building an empire.
Through Hezekiah’s first fourteen years of
rule in Judah the historical evidence indicates Judah prospered materially. It was at this time that Hezekiah built the
famous tunnel system to bring the water of the Gihon Spring into the city,
rather than continuing to let it flow out of the city into the Kidron Valley
and on to the Eastern (Dead) Sea. The purpose
of the tunnel was defensive, so that a besieging army would not have the
blessing of abundant water. (We’ll
include a few photos at the end of this post, including of the “Siloam Inscription”
that marks the meeting point of the two crews that were digging from opposite
ends of the tunnel. It is rightly
considered a great engineering accomplishment.)
During this time Hezekiah himself refrained
from any open rebellion against Assyria.
Also, during this time there were two other powers on the rise: Egypt
and Babylon. In the 4th year
of Hezekiah Isaiah prophesied against Egypt and Cush as Ashdod (Philistia) was
being attacked by Assyria (Isa. 20:1-6).
Hezekiah apparently listened to the word of the LORD not to ally
himself with Egypt. In this time Assyria
completed the defeat of the Northern Kingdom (begun by King Shalmaneser,
finished by King Sargon II). It is
interesting to note that Israel did, in fact, rely on Egypt (2 Ki. 17:4), but
to no avail.
After taking the NK the Assyrians soon moved
south, invading Judah and taking the walled cities of Judah. They came in north of Jerusalem, moving around towards
the Mediterranean coast, and then taking the cities south and west of
Jerusalem. Lachish was the last of these
walled cities and from there King Sennacherib made demands on Hezekiah and the
capital city. Hezekiah attempted to
assuage the Assyrians by paying tribute, but to no avail.
Apparently, Sennacherib stayed with the army at
Lachish. So he sent one of his
commanders to try to convince Hezekiah into giving up without a fight. And that is what this story is about. Hezekiah made did all he could to prepare for
the Assyrian army, as today’s passage indicates. But he was going to need to depend on the LORD. Neither his best preparations or the help of
man (the Egyptians perhaps) were going to carry the day.
That is one of the areas of practical
application in this story. In the NT we
are reminded of the unreasonableness of being yoked together with unbelievers,
by which we mean trusting unbelievers to help us live our lives in some
way. If we have become followers of
Christ then our trust is in Him. He’s
the One who said, “I am come that they might have life and that they might have
it more abundantly” (John 10:10b). To
put our trust in those who have no life in Christ is to guarantee less of a
return on our faith. Hezekiah came to
trust God alone, and what a return that brought. If this story is new to you, I guarantee that, like me, you will thoroughly enjoy and be encouraged by it!
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| Stairs from Gihon Spring to Hezekiah's Tunnel |
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