2 Kings 19
Hezekiah distraught
As soon as King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on modest clothes, and went into the Existing One’s house. He had Eliakim (who oversaw the household), and Shebna (the secretary), and the senior priests dress in modest clothes and sent them to the prophet Isaiah (Amoz’s son). They told him,
“King Hezekiah said that today is a day of distress, reprimand, and disgrace. Children have been developed to point of birth, but there isn’t enough strength to bring them forth. Maybe the Existing One your God heard Rabshakeh, who Assyria’s king sent to mock the living God, and will reprimand what he heard; so lift up a prayer for the remnant that is left.”
When King Hezekiah’s servants came to Isaiah, Isaiah told them,
“Tell your superior that the Existing One says:
‘Don’t be scared by the words Assyria used to criticize me. I will put a spirit in him, so that he’ll hear a rumor and go back to his own land, and I will make him die by the sword in his own country.’”
Assyria continues to mock Judah
The Rabshakeh went back and found Assyria’s king fighting against Libnah, for he heard that the king had left Lachish. The king heard that Cush’s King Tirhakah had set out to fight him. So he sent messengers back to Hezekiah saying,
“Tell Judah’s King Hezekiah not to believe your trusted God when he promises you that Jerusalem won’t be handed over to Assyria. You heard what Assyria’s kings did to the other countries, devoting them to destruction. And you think you’ll be saved? Have the other gods saved their countries that my fathers destroyed, like Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and Eden’s people who were in Telassar? Where is Hamath’s king now? Or Arpad’s king, the city of Sepharvaim’s king, Hena’s king, or Ivvah’s king?’”
Hezekiah prays for God’s protection
When Hezekiah read that letter, he went to the Existing One’s house and laid it in front of the Existing One. Hezekiah prayed to the Existing One, saying,
“Oh Existing One, the God of Israel, enthroned higher than the cherubim, you’re the only God throughout all the kingdoms on earth. You are the one who made heaven and earth. Hear me, Existing One; open your eyes and look at me; look at the letter Sennacherib wrote to mock the living God. Oh Existing One, Assyria’s kings have destroyed the other nations and thrown their gods into the fire, even though they weren’t real gods—just the craftsmanship of men made from wood and stone. That’s why they were destroyed. So now, oh Existing One our God, save us—please—from this so that all the kingdoms on earth will know that you, oh Existing One, are the only God.”
Isaiah says God promises protection on behalf of David
Then Isaiah (Amoz’s son) messaged Hezekiah, telling him that Israel’s God the Existing One said that he heard your prayer about Assyria’s King Sennacherib. The Existing One says this about Assyria’s king:
Daughter of Jerusalem, Zion’s virgin daughter despises you and scorns you. She shakes her head at you. Who are you mocking and criticizing? Who are you raising your voice against and looking up towards? Against the Holy One of Israel! You used your messengers to mock the Lord, saying,
‘I used my chariots to scale the highest mountains and the deepest valleys of Lebanon; I chopped down it tallest cedar trees and its best cypress trees; I reached it’s farthest civilization, it’s most fruitful forest; I dug wells and drank exotic waters, and used my foot to stomp out all of Egypt’s streams.’
Don’t you realize that I determined all of that long ago? The plans I made in the old days are what I’m bringing about now: I planned that you would turn fortified cities into heaps of ruins while their weary inhabitants were staggered and distressed, like grass and plants that have died even before they’ve grown. I know when you sit, when you come and go, and when you rage against me. You raged against me, and I saw your complacency, so now I’ll put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and then I’ll turn you right back around to where you came from.
And this will be your sign: this year eat whatever is already growing, and next year whatever grows from that. Then in the third year, plant and harvest as much as you want. And Judah’s surviving remnant will take root and bear fruit. A remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and a band of survivors from out of Mount Zion. The Existing One’s passion will do this.
The Existing One says that Assyria’s King won’t set foot in this city nor shoot an arrow in it, nor even bring a shield to it to attack it. He will go back by the same way he came, and he won’t set foot in this city, declares the Existing One. I will defend this city and save it, for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David.”
God’s Angel defeats Assyria
That night the Existing One’s angel went out and killed 185,000 in the Assyrian’s camp. When the people woke up in the morning, sure enough, that’s how many dead bodies there were. Then Assyria’s King Sennacherib left and went home to Nineveh. As he was worshiping in the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword and fled to Ararat. His son Esarhaddon took the throne in his place.