CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
2 Kings 19
Chapter 19 of 25
Chapter Overview
What happens in 2 Kings 19
Hezekiah turns to God and to the prophet Isaiah in his crisis. When Sennacherib sends a threatening letter, Hezekiah spreads it before the Lord in prayer. God responds with a dramatic deliverance: an angel destroys 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night.
Scripture
2 Kings 19
Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah's Help
Study note
When Hezekiah heard the Assyrian commander's speech, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the temple to pray. He sent his officials to the prophet Isaiah, asking for prayer. Isaiah's response was encouraging: God had heard the Assyrian's blasphemy and would deal with him. Sennacherib would hear a rumor and return to his own land, where he would be killed.
1 When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his own clothes, wrapped himself in rough cloth, and went to pray in the Lord's temple. And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.
2 He sent Eliakim the palace manager, Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They were all wearing rough cloth. And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
3 They delivered this message from Hezekiah: "This is a day of crisis, punishment, and shame. We are like a woman in labor who has no strength to deliver her baby." And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
4 "Maybe the Lord your God heard what the Assyrian commander said. His king sent him to mock the living God. Perhaps the Lord will punish him for those words. Please pray for the surviving remnant of our people." It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.
5 Hezekiah's officials went straight to Isaiah. So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 Isaiah told them, "Tell your master this is what the Lord says: 'Don't be afraid of the words you heard. Those were just insults from the Assyrian king's servants.'" And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
7 "'I am going to cause him to hear a report that sends him racing back to his own land. And there, I will see to it that he is struck down by the sword.'" Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
Sennacherib's Threatening Letter
Study note
The Assyrian commander returned to find Sennacherib fighting at Libnah. When Sennacherib heard that the king of Ethiopia was marching against him, he sent a threatening letter to Hezekiah. The letter mocked God and listed all the nations Assyria had destroyed, asking what made Hezekiah think Jerusalem would be any different.
8 The Assyrian commander left and discovered his king had moved on from Lachish to fight at Libnah. So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
9 Sennacherib then received word that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was marching against him. Before leaving, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with this warning: And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying,
10 "Say this to King Hezekiah of Judah. Do not let your God fool you. He may say Jerusalem will not fall to Assyria. Do not trust that." Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
11 "You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done to every nation they attacked. They utterly destroyed them. Do you honestly think you will be the exception?" Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?
12 "Did the gods of other nations rescue them? What about Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden in Tel-assar? My ancestors destroyed all of them." Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar?
13 "And what became of the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?" Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?
Hezekiah's Prayer
Study note
Hezekiah received the letter, went to the temple, and spread it out before the Lord. He prayed one of the most powerful prayers in the Bible, acknowledging that the Assyrians had indeed destroyed many nations and their gods. But those were merely man-made idols. Hezekiah asked God to save Jerusalem so that all kingdoms on earth would know that the Lord alone is God.
14 Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read every word. Then he carried it to the Lord's temple and unrolled it before the Lord. And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
15 Hezekiah prayed, "O Lord, God of Israel, enthroned above the angels -- you alone are God over every kingdom on earth. You created the heavens and the earth." And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.
16 "Lord, please lean in and listen. Open your eyes and see. Hear the insults Sennacherib has hurled against the living God." LORD, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God.
17 "It is true, Lord, that Assyria's kings have laid waste to many nations and their lands." Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,
18 "They tossed those nations' gods into the fire. But those were not real gods -- wood and stone shaped by human hands. Of course the Assyrians could destroy them." And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
19 "But now, Lord our God, rescue us from Sennacherib's grip. Then every kingdom on earth will know that you, Lord, are the only true God." Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only.
God's Answer Through Isaiah
Study note
God answered Hezekiah through Isaiah with a poetic message addressed to Sennacherib. God declared that Jerusalem, the 'virgin daughter of Zion,' despised the Assyrian king. Sennacherib had blasphemed the Holy One of Israel. God reminded him that Assyria's victories were only possible because God had planned them long ago. God knew Sennacherib's every move and would put a hook in his nose and send him back the way he came. God promised to defend Jerusalem for his own sake and for the sake of his servant David.
20 Isaiah son of Amoz sent this answer to Hezekiah. "Israel's God says: I have heard your prayer about King Sennacherib of Assyria." Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.
21 "Here is what the Lord says about him. The people of Jerusalem look down on you. They shake their heads as you run away." This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
22 "Who exactly have you been insulting and mocking? Against whom did you raise your arrogant voice and your proud eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel!" Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.
23 "Through your messengers, you bragged against the Lord. You said, 'With my countless chariots I have scaled the highest mountains and the most remote peaks of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars and finest cypress trees. I reached its deepest forests.'" By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.
24 "'I dug wells in foreign lands and drank their water. I dried up Egypt's rivers just by walking through them.'" I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.
25 "Did you not realize I planned all of this long ago? I set it in motion in ancient times. Now I have carried it out, using you to turn fortified cities into piles of rubble." Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.
26 "The people in those cities were helpless -- frightened, confused, and weak. They withered like grass in a field, like young green sprouts, like grass on a rooftop scorched before it can grow." Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
27 "I know your every move -- where you camp, when you march out, when you come back, and how you rage against me." But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
28 "Because you raged at me and your pride reached my ears, I will put a hook through your nose and a bit in your mouth. I will drag you back the way you came." Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
29 "And Hezekiah, here is your proof: this year you will eat whatever grows on its own. Next year, the same. But by the third year, you will plant and harvest crops and plant vineyards and eat their fruit." And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof.
30 "The people of Judah who survive will take root like plants and bear fruit again." And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
31 "A remnant will come out of Jerusalem, survivors from Mount Zion. The Lord of Heaven's Armies is deeply committed to making this happen." For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.
32 "So the Lord says this about the king of Assyria: He will not set foot in this city. He will not shoot a single arrow at it. No soldier with a shield will come near it. No siege ramp will be built against it." Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.
33 "He will go home the same way he came. He will not get into this city, says the Lord." By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.
34 "I will protect this city and rescue it -- for my own honor and because of my promise to my servant David." For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
The Angel Destroys the Assyrian Army
Study note
That very night, the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the survivors woke in the morning, they found themselves surrounded by dead bodies. Sennacherib broke camp and returned to Nineveh. Later, while worshipping in the temple of his god Nisroch, two of his own sons murdered him with swords and fled. His son Esarhaddon became king. Secular records confirm that Sennacherib was indeed assassinated by his sons.
35 That very night, the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving troops woke up at dawn, dead bodies were everywhere. And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
36 King Sennacherib packed up right away and went back to his capital city of Nineveh. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
37 While he was worshiping in his god Nisroch's temple one day, two of his own sons -- Adrammelech and Sharezer -- assassinated him with their swords. They escaped to the land of Ararat, and his son Esarhaddon took the throne. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
Key Themes
Themes in 2 Kings 19
Spreading our problems before God in prayerGod defends His own name and reputationThe sovereign power of God over every empire and armyFaith that turns to God rather than military alliances
Apply This Today
Living 2 Kings 19
Hezekiah took the threatening letter and physically spread it before God in the temple. This powerful image teaches us to bring our biggest fears and most impossible situations directly to God. When the enemy's voice seems overwhelming, the best response is not to argue back but to lay it all before the Lord and let Him answer.
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