May 10, 2021: Day 65 – II Chronicles 32

Hezekiah is faced with probably his most severe challenge as King.  He is confronted with the armies of Assyria and they close up Jerusalem in order to wait out the siege.  As they are holed up in Jerusalem the King of Assyria, Sennacherib, basically begins to trash talk Hezekiah and the people of Judah.  He tells them that they have invaded so many other lands and put aside so many of the other gods of the other lands that what makes them think that their god is going to do anything.  He also criticizes Hezekiah for tearing down all of the high places for the other gods because that then left them exposed completely.  He was hoping to put fear in the heart of the general population so that they would rebel against Hezekiah.  Yeah, not so much.

As a result of Hezekiah’s faithfulness and his words of encouragement which you find in vs.7, the people stand firm.  After a while Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, yes, the same Isaiah we read about in the Bible, you know the son of Amoz, prayed that God would drive out the Assyrians.  As time passes all of the top warriors of the Assyrians were cut off and when the king gets home his kids kill him.  Kind of a random end to it all, but I guess the moral of the story is don’t mess with God and certainly don’t trash talk God.  God tends to win out.  Elijah and the prophets of Baal is another example of where God normally wins the trash talking.

 I have to say something about Hezekiah’s tunnel which is mentioned here in this chapter.  It is one of the most exciting and exhilarating experiences you can be on when you go to Israel.  You are literally walking under the city of Jerusalem in shin deep water and it feels a bit like the walls are caving in you as you walk in the darkness.  You can imagine what it would have been like to go build that tunnel.  You can still see the chisel marks on the ceiling.  Amazing what they were able to accomplish.