Introduction
Last week we read about Hoshea who was the last king in the northern kingdom of Israel. And he was the last king, because the Assyrians took him captive and they invaded the land and they took the people away into exile. And our narrator explained that this all happened because the Israelites sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them out of Egypt in the days of Moses and had given them the land. But instead of worshipping the Lord and walking in his ways, they turned to false gods and idols and they went astray. This went on for years and years. And so, for years and years, God was patient with them. But eventually he did what he said he would do and he sent them into exile.
And we read how the Assyrian repopulated the land with people from other nations. And though the Assyrian king sent them a priest to teach them about the Lord and how to worship him, they too trusted in their idols instead of trusting in the Lord.
And so, from last week’s passage we learned that sin matters to God. We may be tempted to think that sin doesn’t matter. But the reason God sent his people into exile was because they kept sinning against him. So, sin matters to God and it leads to judgment. And that’s why we must all trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, because trusting in him is the only way to receive forgiveness from God for all that we have done wrong. What we deserve from God for disobedience is to be exiled to hell. But whoever trusts in Christ for forgiveness receives peace with God and the free gift of eternal life.
And we also thought about idols last week. We may not bow down to idols made of wood or stone or silver or gold today, but we still make idols for ourselves, because an idol is anything which is more important to us than God is. It’s something we can’t bear to be without and it’s something we rely on for happiness and security and significance. But instead of trusting in idols, we should put God first in our lives, because he’s the one, true and living God, who fills our lives with good things and who sent his only Begotten Son into the world to deliver us from our sin and misery and to give us everlasting peace and joy and happiness in his presence for ever. He’s the only one we should worship and trust.
Today we’re turning to chapter 18 and the reign of Hezekiah in the southern kingdom of Judah. And we’ll stay with Hezekiah for several chapters.
Verses 1 to 8
By now we’re familiar with our narrator’s standard practice and how he begins his account of each king by telling us when they began to reign and for how long. So, it was while Hoshea was king in Israel that Hezekiah became king in Judah, replacing his father Ahaz, who was a wicked king. Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became king and he reigned for 29 years.
Then we have the narrator’s brief assessment of the king. And unlike his father who did evil in the eyes of the Lord, Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. In fact, the narrator compares him favourably with David who was the gold standard for righteousness in those days. Whereas other kings had tolerated the high places, Hezekiah removed them, because the one true place for worship was the temple in Jerusalem. He also smashed the sacred stones and the Asherah poles. These may have been introduced by his father Ahaz, because we know that Ahaz was an idol worshipper and he taught the people to do the same. But Hezekiah got rid of them.
Our narrator also tells us that Hezekiah broke into pieces the bronze snake which Moses had made. This refers to an event which we read about Numbers 21. The people were dying in the wilderness because of poisonous snakes. And so, they cried to the Lord to save him and the Lord commanded Moses to make a bronze snake and he promised that whoever looks at it will not perish, but will live. That’s what happened in the days of Moses. But now it seems that the bronze snake had become a snare and the people were treating it as a god. And so, Hezekiah destroyed it. And you can read in 2 Chronicles 29 about the other good things Hezekiah did to cleanse the temple from his father’s corrupting influence.
And our narrator tells us in verse 5 that Hezekiah trusted in the Lord and there was no-one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after him. We’re told that he held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him. So, his father had turned away from the Lord, but Hezekiah trusted the Lord and clung on to him by faith and did not turn from him or go astray. And he therefore kept the Lord’s commands. This is what you want the king to do: you want the king to be godly and faithful, to walk humbly before the Lord and to set a good and godly example for the people. And according to verse 7, the Lord was with him and therefore he succeeded in whatever he undertook. That is to say, the Lord blessed him and granted him success.
Back in chapter 17, when we were reading about Hezekiah’s father, we learned that Judah at that time was paying tribute to Assyria. Assyria was a great and mighty empire in those days and Judah had to pay a tribute to them so that Assyria would leave them alone. But according to verse 7, Hezekiah rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. We’re meant to take this as another sign of his faith and of his commitment to the Lord. Since they were God’s people — since God was their true king and since God had promised to look after them — then they weren’t prepared to serve a pagan king. And if the king of Assyria threatened them, they would look to the Lord to protect them.
And then in verse 8 our narrator tells us that Hezekiah defeated the Philistines. And that rings a bell, doesn’t it? That rings a bell, because isn’t that what David did? David defeated the Philistines who were living in the Promised Land. And godly king Hezekiah was able to do the same.
So, our narrator’s assessment of Hezekiah’s reign is all positive, isn’t it? He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He cleansed the land from the corrupting influence of his father. And God was with him to help him. It was all good.
And, of course, whenever we read about a good and godly king like Hezekiah, or like David before him, our thoughts should turn to Christ our King, because the kings of Judah, and especially the good kings of Judah, foreshadow Christ our King. Truly we can say about him that he trusted in God his Father. We know that, because the gospels tell us again and again how he would turn to his Father in prayer to seek his help. And there was no-one like Christ our King, because of his single-minded commitment to doing his Father’s will. He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him all the days of his life here on earth, even when obedience to his Father led to the cross. And he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses and never broke any of them or fell short of doing them. And just as Hezekiah and David conquered the Philistines, so the Lord Jesus conquered demons. Whenever they saw the Lord Jesus, they were afraid of him, because they knew he was a mighty warrior and he had come to destroy them. And not only did he come to destroy demons, but he came to overthrow the devil and to conquer death on behalf of his people. So, whenever we read of a good and godly king, our thoughts should go to Christ our King.
Verses 9 to 19
Let’s move on now to verses 9 to 12 where our narrator summarises for us the whole of chapter 17 and how the king of Assyria laid siege to Samaria in the northern kingdom of Israel and took it. And he then deported the people to Assyria. And this all happened because the people disobeyed the Lord.
And by reminding us of what Assyria did to Israel, our narrator is showing us the danger that Judah was now in when we read in verse 13 that the next king of Assyria attacked the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. Not so long ago, one king of Assyria defeated Israel and deported the people. Was the same thing going to happen to Judah?
It seems that Hezekiah panicked. It seems his faith wobbled. Instead of trusting in the Lord to deliver him, he sent a message to the Assyrian king saying that he, Hezekiah, had done wrong. He means that he did wrong when he rebelled against the king of Assyria and stopped paying tribute to him. Now he’s got his hands up and he’s confessing that he was in the wrong. And he wants to put things right. He asks the king of Assyria to withdraw from Judah and in return he’ll pay Assyria whatever he wants. Name your price.
And the king of Assyria named his price: 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. The next verse makes clear that this was a massive amount, because Hezekiah had to give away all the silver that was found in the temple and in the royal treasury. And verse 16 tells us that he stripped the gold from the doors and doorposts of the temple in order to pay the king of Assyria.
It perhaps surprises us that Hezekiah’s faith wobbled like this when the narrator’s assessment of him was so glowing. But we need to bear in mind that the narrator’s assessment was an assessment of his whole reign, which lasted 29 years. So, in general or for the most part, he was a good and godly king who trusted the Lord. But on this one occasion, his fear got the better of him, and instead of trusting the Lord to rescue him, he gave in to the Assyrian king and paid up.
Verses 17 to 25
But despite receiving a massive tribute from Hezekiah, the king of Assyria kept coming. According to verse 17 he sent his supreme commander, his chief officer, and his field commander and a large army to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They stopped up the water supply and laid siege to the city. And they called for King Hezekiah. And Hezekiah sent them the three men named in verse 18 to talk to the Assyrian field commander.
And in verses 19 to 25 we have the field commander’s first speech. And in verses 26 to verse 35 we have his second speech. And although the NIV obscures it a little, the word ‘trust’ appears several times throughout the first speech. So, take a look at verse 19 where the commander asks: ‘On what are you basing this confidence of yours?’ That is, ‘On what are you basing this trust of yours?’ Then there’s verse 20: ‘On whom are you depending…?’ That is, ‘In whom do you trust…?’ So, who or what are you relying on to save you from the king of Assyria? Since the king of Assyria is a great king, since he’s great and mighty and powerful, then you need to trust in someone for help. So, who are you trusting in?
And in verse 21 he says that if Hezekiah is depending or trusting in Egypt, then he should know that Egypt can’t help him. Egypt is a splintered reed, he says, so that, if you lean on Egypt, if you trust in Egypt, Egypt will snap in two and pierce your hand. So, trusting in Egypt will do you no good. And if you read Isaiah 31, you’ll see that people did look to Egypt for help in those days.
And then, in verse 22, the commander refers to the Lord. He says: ‘And if you say to me, We are depending on the Lord our God….’ That is, ‘If you say to me, We are trusting in the Lord our God….’ So, some were trusting in Egypt and others were trusting in the Lord. But the commander of the Assyrian army tells them not to trust in the Lord. This foolish commander believes that the Lord is angry with Hezekiah for removing the high places and altars. But he’s being foolish, isn’t he? He doesn’t realise that removing the high places and pagan altars was the right thing for Hezekiah to do. The Lord is not angry with Hezekiah, but he’s pleased with him for his obedience.
And then the commander begins to mock the people of Jerusalem. In verse 23 he says that they’ll give the people of Jerusalem 2,000 horses to try and even things up for them. He’s saying that Hezekiah’s army is so weak that he’ll give them some of their horses to even the odds. But even if we do that, he says, can you get together enough men to ride them? He thinks Hezekiah’s army is puny. In fact, he says to Hezekiah that one of your officers, or one of your best men, isn’t strong enough to beat one of our weakest men. He’s mocking them.
And right at the end of his first speech, he says that the Lord has told them to march against Jerusalem and to destroy it. In other words, he claims to be doing God’s will.
Verses 26 to 35
He’s trying to intimidate them, isn’t he? He’s trying to frighten them so that they will give in and give up and hand themselves over to Assyria. And Hezekiah’s three men ask the commander to stop saying these things in Hebrew, because they don’t want their men on the wall to hear him and to become discouraged by his words. So, speak to us in Aramaic, which the people won’t understand.
But the commander wants the men on the wall to hear and to understand. He wants to frighten them. And in his second speech he addresses them directly.
And look how he begins this second speech. Herefers to the king of Assyria as ‘the great king’. And he refers to King Hezekiah by his first name and he doesn’t use his title. Do you see that in verse 28? It’s a sign of disrespect. The king of Assyria is great, but the king of Judah is nothing.
And in verse 29 he says to the men on the wall that they mustn’t let Hezekiah deceive them, because Hezekiah can’t save them no matter what he might say. And in verse 30 he says to the men on the wall that they mustn’t listen to Hezekiah when he says that the Lord will save them. So, Hezekiah has perhaps been going around the wall, telling them to trust in the Lord and don’t be afraid. Trust in the Lord and don’t be afraid. He has perhaps said to them that God has helped us in the past and we can count on him to help us now. But the commander is saying to the men on the wall that they mustn’t listen to Hezekiah.
Instead they should listen to the king of Assyria. And take a look at his enticing words in verse 31. Come out to me and you eat from your own vine and fig tree and you’ll drink from your own cistern. Right now, you’re hungry and thirsty, but I can give you what you need. And if you come out to me, then I’ll take you to a land like your own and you’ll have grain and wine and bread and vineyards and olive trees and honey. It will be heaven on earth. Come out to me! Choose life and not death. Come to me and I’ll give you life. Stay where you are and you’ll surely die.
So, he’s tempting them with the thought of a better life. And once again he tells them not to listen to Hezekiah when he says that the Lord will deliver them. The Lord will not deliver you. He’s saying: Has any god ever delivered any nation from the hand of the king of Assyria? Name your god and the king of Assyria has triumphed over it. And which of the gods has saved its people? And therefore your God, the Lord, will not be able to deliver you from the hand of the Assyrians.
Verses 36 and 37
He asked them: ‘Who are you trusting in?’ And he said to them: Don’t trust in Egypt. And don’t trust in your God. Egypt cannot help you. And the gods of the other nations didn’t help them. So, there’s no one you can trust. Give in. Give up. Come to me and I’ll give you what you need. Only surrender to me.
But, according to verse 36, the people remained silent. They said nothing in reply, because the king commanded them not to answer him. And I think the king commanded them not to answer him, because there was no use arguing with him. All they had to do was wait. All they had to do was wait, because, despite what the commander said, the Lord was going to deliver them. We’ll see that in the next chapter.
Application 1
I’ve already said that when we read of a good and godly king like Hezekiah and like David before him, our thoughts should turn to Christ our King. He always trusted in God his Father. He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him all the days of his life here on earth. He kept the commands the Lord had given Moses and never broke any of them or fell short of doing them.
And just like Hezekiah, the Lord was surrounded by enemies. Think of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who hated him and who plotted together to kill him. And they had him arrested. And even though he had done nothing wrong and had always kept the commands of God, they accused him of blasphemy and said he deserved to die. And then they persuaded Pilate to pass the death sentence on him so that he was taken away and beaten and whipped and crucified on the cross.
And while he was on the cross, do you remember what the people did? They mocked him as they mocked Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem. ‘He trusts in God’, they said. ‘He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants.’ ‘He saved others’, they said. ‘He saved others … but he can’t save himself.’
And so, they mocked Christ our King for trusting in God; and they mocked him for not being able to save himself. Just as the Assyrian commander mocked Hezekiah and the men of Jerusalem, so the people mocked the Lord Jesus when he was on the cross.
And, of course, it seemed to Christ’s enemies that they were too strong for him and that they had defeated him, because the Lord died on the cross and was buried. But three days later, God the Father vindicated his Son by raising him from the dead. And so, it became clear to all that God was on his side and he was right to trust in God, because God rescued him from death and God exalted him to the highest place, far above his enemies and every power and ruler. And he now rules over all things in heaven and on earth and he’s extending his kingdom throughout the world.
Application 2
And sometimes people come to us and they mock us for what we believe. They regard us as fools for trusting in God and for trusting in Christ our King and they tempt us to give up the faith and to join them in their unbelief. They tell us that we’re wasting our time when we trust in the Lord, because the Lord can’t help us. But we’re not wasting our time, are we? We’re not wasting our time and we’re not fools for trusting in God, because just as God rescued his Son from death, so he will rescue us from death and give us everlasting life and peace and joy in the life to come. And he promises never to leave us or to forsake us in this life and to watch over us always. And when we face trials and troubles in this life, he promises to be with us in the midst of them and to help us to endure them. And so, we’re not fools for trusting in our God no matter what an unbelieving world says to us.
And just as the commander invited the people of Jerusalem to come out to him, so an unbelieving world says to us: ‘Leave the Lord behind and come out to us and we will give you everything your heart desires.’ An unbelieving world says to us: ‘What is there you want? We will give it to you. Choose life in this world and we will give it to you.’ That’s what an unbelieving world says to us. But what does the Lord say to us? He says: ‘What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?’ An unbelieving world can offer us many things if only we will turn away from the Lord. And there are many things in the world for us to enjoy. But what good is it if we have everything we want in this life, but we lose our soul and in the life to come we miss out on eternal life in the presence of God and instead suffer eternal punishment away from the presence of God. What good is that?
And so, instead of listening to an unbelieving world, and instead of listening to our own inner doubts and fears, we should continue to trust in God our Father and in Jesus Christ our King who promises eternal life to all who believe in his name; and who promises never to leave us or to forsake us and to be our refuge and strength and our help in times of trouble.
Sermons and Stuff 