No fear of God

Isaiah 36

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.  Maybe a little background on Hezekiah will give us some insight on what is taking place in Judah.  His dad was King Ahaz and when he died Hezekiah began to reign at the age of 25. 

He inherited a mess for the king as well as the people of Israel and Judah had turned away from God and wanted the little gods of the nation around them.  God sent prophets and they would not listen, but like their fathers they did not believe the LORD their God.   They were much like many in the world today, especially the United States of America, who despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers.

In 2 Kings 18:2-8, we have this account: “He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. And the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it, and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.”

King Hezekiah has returned the kingdom of Judea to looking to the God of their fathers, and the king of Assyria sends Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army.  Rabshakeh is arrogant and has no fear of Judea’s King Hezekiah or the God who he trusts in.   You will need to read chapter 36 and 37 to see what happens to King Hezekiah and Rabshakeh.

From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice