The Two-Hundred-Seventy-Second (Jerusalem Defended)

This week, we’re going to jump way back in time to an event that I think gives us some lessons we can apply today.  It’s the account of Jerusalem being defended by YHWH Himself during the reign of Hezekiah.  The interesting part is not just that YHWH defended the city, but also the precursor, leading up to that defense.

We’ll start with a summary of the account (2 Kings 18:13-19:37, 2 Chronicles 32:1-23).  It starts with the kingdom of Assyria, which had become a dominating kingdom at the time.  They recently took over the northern kingdom of Israel, and in an effort to prevent the same thing from happening to his kingdom, King Hezekiah sent word to the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, offering to pay whatever it takes to keep his kingdom of Judah from fully being taken over.  And this was after all the fortified cities of Judah, except Jerusalem, had already been taken over by Assyria.

The price asked for by Sennacherib was 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold.  As a reminder, a talent was about 75 pounds, so that’s a grand total of 22,500 pounds of silver and 2,250 pounds of gold.  Hezekiah complied, taking pretty much all the silver and gold they had and sending it over.  He even had the gold plating taken off the doors of the temple and the doorposts in order to meet the demand.

Whether it was because he was going to finish his plan to conquer either way, or it was because he thought Hezekiah had more riches to give, Sennacherib still sent his army to Jerusalem.  This is where things start to get interesting because of what Sennacherib’s representative did and said once he got to Jerusalem.  He attempted to persuade them to surrender instead of just commencing an attack on the city.  Not only that, it was what he said and how he said it that makes it noteworthy.

The Assyrian representative, named Rabshakeh, approached the city where Hezekiah’s people were standing on the wall.  Rabshakeh calls into question YHWH’s ability to save the people, as well as mentioning Hezekiah’s actions of getting rid of the false gods in Judah and bringing the people back to YHWH.  When asked to speak in a language the majority of Jerusalem didn’t understand, so Hezekiah’s representatives could keep Rabshakeh’s statements between them, Rabshakeh spoke even louder, clearly attempting to sow division in the city.

Once the message and letters from Rabshakeh were relayed to Hezekiah, he was understandably distraught.  He immediately goes to petition YHWH in the temple.  He ends up getting a response from YHWH through the prophet Isaiah promising that not only would there be a remnant of survivors, but that they would eventually flourish.  He also gets told that YHWH Himself will defend Jerusalem, for Himself and for David.

The next morning, 185,000 of the invading troops were found dead in their camp.  The remaining lot leaves without attempting to take the city, and Sennacherib returns home to Nineveh.  While worshiping his god in its temple, Sennacherib ends up being murdered by two of his sons, resulting in a third son reigning in his place.

Jerusalem was spared as YHWH promised, but why?  And why the attack on Judah in the first place?  I thought we had learned a few weeks ago that while Judah was just as guilty as the northern kingdom of Israel in terms of committing adultery against YHWH, YHWH remained in His marriage covenant with them for the sake of David and maintaining a line of kingship to Yeshua.

There’s a couple things going on here.  First, it’s true that Judah had committed the same adulterous acts that Israel had before their judgment was imposed and they were conquered and scattered among the nations.  There are consequences for that, so Assyria still came in to conquer the land.

However, there was also repentance involved for Judah under Hezekiah’s kingship.  In his first month as king, Hezekiah had idols and their places of worship destroyed and began restoring the temple.  This attack by Assyria happened in Hezekiah’s fourteenth year as king, so it had only been fourteen years since this cleansing of the kingdom occurred.  We’ll talk more about that later, but the point for now is that it hadn’t been that long.  Hezekiah even made note of this repentance and all the good the people had done in it when he was relayed the message from Rabshakeh.  Essentially, to paraphrase, he said, “all that work for it to come to this?!”

So, the other aspect of this is that there’s a bit of testing going on here.  YHWH wants to make sure our faithfulness and trust in Him is pure and unshakeable.  Rabshakeh even calls out Judah’s dependence on Egypt to fight their battles, so that was a typical tactic they used.  YHWH wanted to make sure their repentance was true and that they would rely on Him, instead of man, for their protection.  For being only fourteen years “sober,” I’d say Hezekiah and his people actually did pretty well.  Can we say we’d be the same?

Now, let’s get into Rabshakeh’s tactics.  As already mentioned, he questions who the people are putting their trust in.  While he calls out YHWH, essentially the people are putting their trust in Hezekiah at this point.  Hezekiah had told them not only not to respond to anything Rabshakeh said, but he was also the one that had them get rid of all the other gods they had been worshiping.  You have to remember that in those days, essentially every pagan nation had multiple gods they worshiped.  It was almost as if the more they had the better they thought they’d be taken care of.      

At this point in Rabshakeh’s monologue, he pointed out Assyria’s success against all the other nations they conquered, talking about how none of their gods were able to save them.  I’m sure as the Judeans heard this they wondered whether they’d be safer with those gods and the idols they got rid of.  At least they’d have more than one, right?  Rabshakeh pointed out how Hezekiah had them destroy all those things, essentially trying to turn the people against their king.  

The other thing we shouldn’t skip over is how Rabshakeh suggests the Judeans are somehow rebelling against the Assyrian king.  Hezekiah sent Sennacherib everything he asked for, but the first thing Rabshakeh says is that they are being rebellious by trying to prevent their kingdom from being invaded.  There may be multiple reasons why he takes this tact, but it’s certainly interesting to note.

Further on in his monologue is where Rabshakeh starts to get into more psychological tactics.  He tries to use their trust in YHWH against them by claiming he’s actually been sent by YHWH to take the land and destroy it.  It’s possible that the people heard this and considered whether it was true or not.  I mean, he was successful to the point of taking all the fortified cities up until Jerusalem, and he couldn’t have done that if YHWH hadn’t let him, right?  

What’s more, the language Rabshakeh used sounds a lot like what the people were familiar with as hearing from their prophets.  Later on, he makes statements like them being able to eat from their own vines and sit under their own fig trees, language you can find from multiple prophets of Israel (Micah 4:4, Zechariah 3:10).  The people also just saw the other tribes of their nation get conquered and dispersed by this same kingdom.  Perhaps they heard this and thought YHWH’s plan for them might be the same?

It was at this point Hezekiah’s representatives attempted to keep the conversation between them and Rabshakeh.  They knew Aramaic, and the commoners of Jerusalem did not, so they asked Rabshakeh to transition to that language.  Rabshakeh likely saw this as them thinking he would be successful in his rhetoric at turning the hearts of the people, so he doubled down and stated that his message was for all the people of Jerusalem.

Let’s now turn to Hezekiah and his reaction to Rabshakeh’s message and the events at hand.  We already mentioned his frustration that all the people had repented and would end up being conquered and likely killed or sold into slavery.  Does he send messengers secretly to other nations to request aid?  No, he goes to the temple and asks YHWH for His help.

His request follows a specific pattern as well.  He starts out by praising and exalting YHWH.  He recounts Him creating heaven and earth, stating He is the only God of all the kingdoms of the earth.  Then, he asks for YHWH to listen to the words of the Assyrian king, made through Rabshakeh, and how he mocked YHWH.    

The next thing he does is state how Assyria destroyed the gods of the other nations they conquered.  Based on this, Hezekiah requests that YHWH save him and his people.  He then says that through this salvation YHWH will be known by all the nations as the only true God.

I think this pattern is a good one to keep in mind for when we have situations where we need YHWH to save us.  We start by recognizing YHWH’s sovereignty and the works that He’s done by creating everything and also protecting His people.  Then, we lay out the situation, even though we know full well He already knows what it is.  After that, we talk about what our concerns are with the situation.  Essentially, what do we think we need saving from?  Finally, we make the request: save us.

Then comes YHWH’s response.  He starts by talking about Assyria.  He confirms Hezekiah’s description of the situation, that Assyria mocks YHWH and His people.  He also confirms Hezekiah’s recognition of His sovereignty and power, but states it in a way as though He is talking to the king of Assyria himself.  The next thing YHWH does is point out the ridiculous notion that Assyria was able to do any of what they did, taking over the fortified cities of Judah, by their own power and might.  YHWH not only planned it all, but also knows every aspect of what Assyria does and will control them to send them back home without taking Jerusalem.

I find this part of YHWH’s response interesting because just like some other prophecies against non-Israelite nations, I wonder if it ever reached Assyria or even just Sennacherib.  Why would YHWH form His words in such a way as they’re directed to these nations when none of them even recognize Him as God?  We do see an instance elsewhere when Jonah was sent to a pagan city, Nineveh, to prophesy against them and they actually listened, so perhaps all the other prophecies reached their subject nation as well.  I just always think of that when I read those types of prophecies, curious of if that ever happened.

YHWH then goes on to give a promise about the people of Judah themselves.  These statements are interesting as well because He starts by talking about eating the food of the land.  He states that eating from what grows on the land for two years will be a sign, and then they should sow and reap from the land.  Then, the remnant of Judah would grow and flourish, a promise that YHWH would prosper them once again.

The last thing YHWH states is the specific prophecy against Sennacherib himself.  YHWH will defend the city, and the king will return the way he came without firing a shot.  This was fulfilled by almost 200,000 Assyrian troops being slain by the messenger of YHWH, which resulted in their retreat and Sennacherib’s return to Nineveh only to be killed by his own sons.  While his death wasn’t specifically prophesied, this may have been YHWH’s judgment for mocking Him.  

The conclusion of the events was that Hezekiah was visited by many and given gifts of many precious things, for him and for YHWH.  It’s almost as if YHWH was restoring what Hezekiah had given to Sennacherib in an effort to prevent being attacked.  Either that, or YHWH was further rewarding His people for maintaining their faith and trust in Him through the testing provided by Sennacherib and his troops.

While all these events happened millennia ago, they still provide us lessons we can apply to our lives today.  For example, we can see that true repentance, followed by unwavering faithfulness and trust in YHWH, gives us the opportunity for Him to defend us against worldly threats.  If we turn back to him, and away from our sins, we are able to call on Him for help.  We may be tested as we go through whatever we need help from, but by remaining true to Him instead of putting our trust in man He will be faithful to save.

Another lesson is the format we can use to ask YHWH for that help.  While I don’t believe this is the end all be all way to ask for help, as in, I don’t think He won’t help if we don’t ask this specific way, it helps to know how requests have been successfully made by those recorded in scripture.  We should always consider how prayers are made in scripture to see if we can apply their patterns to our own prayer life.

The last big lesson I think we can glean from these events is that the testing we go through might sound a lot like what we read in YHWH’s word.  In other words, the phrasing or terminology used might sound like it’s from YHWH, but we have to look at the context of what’s being said and who is saying it in order to determine whether or not it is truly from Him.  Rabshakeh used words that sounded almost identical to prophetic statements made by prophets of YHWH, but almost in the same breath he was talking about YHWH lacking the power to protect Jerusalem from Assyria’s impending attack.  He said YHWH sent him, but then told the people not to let Hezekiah make them trust in YHWH.  Clearly, the full message given by Rabshakeh was hardly one that could be attributed to YHWH.

As you go through this week, see if you can find another historical event recorded in scripture that gives lessons we can apply to our lives today.  While we’ve seen that the overall picture provided across all of scripture gives us important context that apply to our identity in Yeshua, specific events recorded in scripture also give us details useful for our daily walk with Yeshua.  Shabbat shalom and YHWH bless you!

-Rob and Sara Gene

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The Gospel

We are born sinful as a result of Adam and Eve's sin (Genesis 2:17, 3:6, 1 John 1:8)

The consequence of sin, which is unavoidable through our own works, is death (Romans 6:23)

Yeshua, the Son of YHWH, lived sinless and was put to death (Hebrews 4:15)

His death, therefore, cleanses us of sin that would have required our death

(2 Corinthians 5:21)

He rose on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4)

Because of His resurrection, we are confident in our future resurrection and eternal life

(1 Corinthians 15:17-18, John 3:16)