The Berean Pursuit
In the third year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah over Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz became king of Judah. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze snake called Nehushtan that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had burned incense to it.
Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. No king of Judah was like him, either before him or after him. He remained faithful to the LORD and did not turn from following Him; he kept the commandments that the LORD had given Moses.
And the LORD was with Hezekiah, and he prospered wherever he went. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to serve him. He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its borders, from watchtower to fortified city.
In the fourth year of Hezekiah's reign, which was the seventh year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah over Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and besieged it. And at the end of three years, the Assyrians captured it.
So Samaria was captured in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel. The king of Assyria exiled the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes. This happened because they did not listen to the voice of the LORD their God, but violated His covenant-all that Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded-and would neither listen nor obey.
In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah. So Hezekiah king of Judah sent word to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, "I have done wrong; withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand from me."
And the king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace.
At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold with which he had plated the doors and doorposts of the temple of the LORD, and he gave it to the king of Assyria.
Nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh, along with a great army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They advanced up to Jerusalem and stationed themselves by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer's Field. Then they called for the king; and Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebnah the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to them.
The Rabshakeh said to them, "Tell Hezekiah that this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is the basis of this confidence of yours? You claim to have a strategy and strength for war, but these are empty words. In whom are you now trusting, that you have rebelled against me?
Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. But if you say to me, 'We trust in the LORD our God,' is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem: 'You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem'?
Now, therefore, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses-if you can put riders on them! For how can you repel a single officer among the least of my master's servants when you depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? So now, was it apart from the LORD that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The LORD Himself said to me, 'Go up against this land and destroy it.'"
Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, along with Shebnah and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Do not speak with us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall."
But the Rabshakeh replied, "Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?"
Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you; he cannot deliver you from my hand. Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, 'The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.'
Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and his own fig tree, and drink water from his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own-a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey-so that you may live and not die. But do not listen to Hezekiah, for he misleads you when he says, 'The LORD will deliver us.'
Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?"
But the people remained silent and did not answer a word, for Hezekiah had commanded, "Do not answer him."
Then Hilkiah's son Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph's son Joah the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they relayed to him the words of the Rabshakeh.
On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD. And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz to tell him, "This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them. Perhaps the LORD your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives."
So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, who replied, "Tell your master that this is what the LORD says: 'Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.'"
When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.
Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: "Look, he has set out to fight against you."
So Sennacherib again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, "Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah:
'Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries, devoting them to destruction. Will you then be spared? Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers rescue those nations-the gods of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar? Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?'"
So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD:
"O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.
Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste these nations and their lands. They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone-the work of human hands.
And now, O LORD our God, please save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God."
Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. This is the word that the LORD has spoken against him:
'The Virgin Daughter of Zion
despises you and mocks you;
the Daughter of Jerusalem
shakes her head behind you.
Whom have you taunted and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
Through your servants you have taunted the Lord,
and you have said:
"With my many chariots
I have ascended
to the heights of the mountains,
to the remote peaks of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
the finest of its cypresses.
I have reached its farthest outposts,
the densest of its forests.
I have dug wells
and drunk foreign waters.
With the soles of my feet
I have dried up all the streams of Egypt."
Have you not heard?
Long ago I ordained it;
in days of old I planned it.
Now I have brought it to pass,
that you should crush fortified cities
into piles of rubble.
Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power,
are dismayed and ashamed.
They are like plants in the field,
tender green shoots,
grass on the rooftops,
scorched before it is grown.
But I know your sitting down,
your going out and coming in,
and your raging against Me.
Because your rage and arrogance against Me
have reached My ears,
I will put My hook in your nose
and My bit in your mouth;
I will send you back
the way you came.'
And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah:
This year you will eat
what grows on its own,
and in the second year
what springs from the same.
But in the third year you will sow and reap;
you will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah
will again take root below
and bear fruit above.
For a remnant will go forth from Jerusalem,
and survivors from Mount Zion.
The zeal of the LORD of Hosts
will accomplish this.
So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria:
'He will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow into it.
He will not come before it with a shield
or build up a siege ramp against it.
He will go back the way he came,
and he will not enter this city,'
declares the LORD.
'I will defend this city
and save it
for My own sake
and for the sake of My servant David.'"
And that very night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.
After all these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, intending to conquer them for himself.
When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come to make war against Jerusalem, he consulted with his leaders and commanders about stopping up the waters of the springs outside the city, and they helped him carry it out. Many people assembled and stopped up all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land. "Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?" they said.
Then Hezekiah worked resolutely to rebuild all the broken sections of the wall and to raise up towers on it. He also built an outer wall and reinforced the supporting terraces of the City of David, and he produced an abundance of weapons and shields.
Hezekiah appointed military commanders over the people and gathered the people in the square of the city gate. Then he encouraged them, saying, "Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged before the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater One with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles."
So the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
Later, as Sennacherib king of Assyria and all his forces besieged Lachish, he sent his servants to Jerusalem with a message for King Hezekiah of Judah and all the people of Judah who were in Jerusalem: "This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: What is the basis of your confidence, that you remain in Jerusalem under siege? Is not Hezekiah misleading you to give you over to death by famine and thirst when he says, 'The LORD our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria?' Did not Hezekiah himself remove His high places and His altars and say to Judah and Jerusalem, 'You must worship before one altar, and on it you shall burn sacrifices'?
Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Have the gods of these nations ever been able to deliver their land from my hand? Who among all the gods of these nations that my fathers devoted to destruction has been able to deliver his people from my hand? How then can your God deliver you from my hand?
So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive you, and do not let him mislead you like this. Do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my hand!"
And the servants of Sennacherib spoke further against the LORD God and against His servant Hezekiah. He also wrote letters mocking the LORD, the God of Israel, and saying against Him: "Just as the gods of the nations did not deliver their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver His people from my hand."
Then the Assyrians called out loudly in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them in order to capture the city. They spoke against the God of Jerusalem as they had spoken against the gods of the peoples of the earth-the work of human hands.
In response, King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out to heaven in prayer, and the LORD sent an angel who annihilated every mighty man of valor and every leader and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons struck him down with the sword.
So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the hands of King Sennacherib of Assyria and all the others, and He gave them rest on every side. Many brought offerings to Jerusalem for the LORD and valuable gifts for Hezekiah king of Judah, and from then on he was exalted in the eyes of all nations.
In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. So he prayed to the LORD, who spoke to him and gave him a sign. But because his heart was proud, Hezekiah did not repay the favor shown to him. Therefore wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
Then Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart-he and the people of Jerusalem-so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah.
Hezekiah had very great riches and honor, and he made treasuries for his silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and all kinds of valuable articles. He also made storehouses for the harvest of grain and new wine and oil, stalls for all kinds of livestock, and pens for the flocks. He made cities for himself, and he acquired herds of sheep and cattle in abundance, for God gave him very great wealth.
It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Spring of Gihon and channeled it down to the west side of the City of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all that he did. And so when ambassadors of the rulers of Babylon were sent to him to inquire about the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone to test him, that He might know all that was in Hezekiah's heart.
As for the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his deeds of loving devotion, they are indeed written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. And Hezekiah rested with his fathers and was buried in the upper tombs of David's descendants. All Judah and the people of Jerusalem paid him honor at his death. And his son Manasseh reigned in his place.
For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Psalm. A song.
May God be gracious to us and bless us,
and cause His face to shine upon us,
Selah
that Your ways may be known on earth,
Your salvation among all nations.
Let the peoples praise You, O God;
let all the peoples praise You.
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for You judge the peoples justly
and lead the nations of the earth.
Selah
Let the peoples praise You, O God;
let all the peoples praise You.
The earth has yielded its harvest;
God, our God, blesses us.
God blesses us,
that all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you yourselves not my workmanship in the Lord? Even if I am not an apostle to others, surely I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
This is my defense to those who scrutinize me: Have we no right to food and to drink? Have we no right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas? Or are Barnabas and I the only apostles who must work for a living?
Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Who tends a flock and does not drink of its milk?
Do I say this from a human perspective? Doesn't the Law say the same thing? For it is written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." Is it about oxen that God is concerned? Isn't He actually speaking on our behalf? Indeed, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they should also expect to share in the harvest.
If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much for us to reap a material harvest from you? If others have this right to your support, shouldn't we have it all the more? But we did not exercise this right. Instead, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.
Do you not know that those who work in the temple eat of its food, and those who serve at the altar partake of its offerings? In the same way, the Lord has prescribed that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this to suggest that something be done for me. Indeed, I would rather die than let anyone nullify my boast.
Yet when I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am obligated to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! If my preaching is voluntary, I have a reward. But if it is not voluntary, I am still entrusted with a responsibility. What then is my reward? That in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not use up my rights in preaching it.
Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), to win those under the law. To those without the law I became like one without the law (though I am not outside the law of God but am under the law of Christ), to win those without the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.
I do all this for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize. Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable. Therefore I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight like I am beating the air. No, I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.