Episode 107: 2 Kings 18:1-37 Light Dawns and is Smothered by Darkness

Living Water Community Church

We followed the opening story of Hezekiah and his reign as the king of Judah. He is one of the most God honoring kings of the kings of Judah. He is one of the only kings to remove the high places where people worshipped. He destroyed the idols people worshipped including the bronze serpent Moses had made, since people had come to worship it as well. The record of Hezekiah’s reign includes the statement that there were none like him either before or after him in the way he trusted God. He not only trusted God but was recognized for seeking to be obedient to the commandments of God. The Lord was with Hezekiah and blessed him. We see Hezekiah breaking the reliance on Assyria his father had established. He also has success in going against the Philistines. This is all seen as a result of God being with him. In his fourth year as king of Judah the king of Assyria came against Samaria and besieged it for 3 years. After 3 years Samaria fell and the nation of Israel was conquered and carried off as captives. 7 years after Israel was conquered the king of Assyria moved his attention to Judah who had stopped paying tribute to him toward the start of Hezekiah’s reign which is now in its 14th year. Sennacherib began to conquer the cities of Judah. After most of his fortified cities were conquered Hezekiah sent word to the king of Assyria that he had done wrong and would pay whatever Sennacherib imposed on him. The king demanded 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. Hezekiah gave him all the silver from his treasury and from the house of the Lord and he stripped the gold from the doors of the temple. All of this was to satisfy the king of Assyria. But he was not satisfied and he sent his military leaders to Jerusalem to demand they surrender of face what they believed was an unstoppable conquest by Assyria. We ended last time with Hezekiah’s leaders coming to him with the dismal message of impending disaster. We considered why the writer of kings would spend so much time painting such a dismal picture? To people in exile facing a dire situation this passage would have been an encouragement. Because in the background to this story God is there. No matter how bleak things may become God is there.