18:1 In the third year of the reign of Israel’s King Hoshea son of Elah, Ahaz’s son Hezekiah became king over Judah.
The rest of the Book of 2 Kings recorded the history of the southern kings of Judah. Israel had gone into the Assyrian Captivity. Pagans had moved into Israel, intermarried with the Jews, and adopted syncretism.
18:2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.
Hezekiah had the worst father in Judah history, but his mother, grandfather, and Isaiah had great influence upon him. The mothers were responsible for the education of their children. Isaiah and Micah were prophets to Judah at this time.
18:3 He did what the Lord approved, just as his ancestor David had done.
The Holy Spirit listed King Hezekiah of Judah as a good king. It was only by grace that such a God-fearing king as Hezekiah could be the son of such a wicked king as Ahaz.
18:4 He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole. He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan.
Nehushtan was the name of the snake, a word that sounded like the Hebrew for “bronze,” “snake,” and “unclean thing.” Judah followed in the footsteps of Israel and continued to worship idols. King Hezekiah was a good king who eliminated many of the pagan religions which were infiltrating Judah. He was the only king of Judah to eliminate the high places. Israel was even worshiping the bronze serpent which Moses had established during the wilderness. One reason there are no artifacts, painting, statues, or original copies of the Scriptures from the days of Jesus is because man is superstitious and he would worship them.
18:5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; in this regard there was none like him among the kings of Judah either before or after.
King Hezekiah was the only king of Judah who trusted in Jehovah in every situation. He exhibited this trust while Judah was going through a national calamity with Assyria.
18:6 He was loyal to the Lord and did not abandon him. He obeyed the commandments which the Lord had given to Moses.
King Hezekiah kept the Mosaic Law. It was this obedience to God which would save his nation from the Assyrian Captivity.
18:7 The Lord was with him; he succeeded in all his endeavors. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to submit to him.
Hezekiah’s father submitted to Assyria, but King Hezekiah did not. He trusted in Jehovah to deliver him.
18:8 He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from the watchtower to the city fortress.
The Philistines were a tribute nation to the Assyrians. King Hezekiah defeated the Philistines, meaning that Assyria would now have to come against Judah.
18:9 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah’s reign (it was the seventh year of the reign of Israel’s King Hoshea, son of Elah), King Shalmaneser of Assyria marched up against Samaria and besieged it.
This was a flashback review of the last chapter. Assyria conquered Samaria, the capital city of Israel. It is interesting to not the the contrast at this time. Under Hezekiah, Judah was being led back to God. Under Hoshea, Israel was being taken into captivity.
18:10 After three years he captured it (in the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign); in the ninth year of King Hoshea’s reign over Israel Samaria was captured.
Samaria possessed an internal water supply and a large storage of food, so they were able to hold off Assyrian for three years.
18:11 The king of Assyria deported the people of Israel to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes.
Assyrian records indicate that Shalmaneser was murdered. His brother Sargon then became the king who finally took Israel into captivity. There is an inscription in Sargon’s palace which states the actual number of Israelites that he carried into Assyria.
18:12 This happened because they did not obey the Lord their God and broke his agreement with them. They did not pay attention to and obey all that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded.
The reason for the Assyrian Captivity was because Israel refused to keep the Mosaic Covenant. They worshiped other gods, which brought upon the curses of the Mosaic Covenant.
18:13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
Assyrian secular history confirms that King Hezekiah began his sole rule in 715 B.C. Sennacherib succeeded Sargon II as king of Assyria in 705 B.C. Judah refused to pay tribute to Assyria. Judah took the land of the Philistines, which was a tribute nation to Assyria. Therefore, Assyria marched against Judah. King Sennacherib captured 46 fortified cities of Judah, plus their surrounding villages.
18:14 King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria, who was at Lachish, “I have violated our treaty. If you leave, I will do whatever you demand.” So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
Lachish was a fortified city outside of Jerusalem. King Hezekiah promised to pay tribute to King Sennacherib of Assyria.
18:15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace.
Hezekiah emptied his temple treasury to pay off Sennacherib. The Assyrian records left by Sennacherib confirm this payment of tribute to the Assyrian monarch by King Hezekiah.
18:16 At that time King Hezekiah of Judah stripped the metal overlays from the doors of the Lord’s temple and from the posts which he had plated and gave them to the king of Assyria.
Hezekiah even had to strip the gold from the overlay of the temple doors to pay off Assyria.
18:17 The king of Assyria sent his commanding general, the chief eunuch, and the chief adviser from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, along with a large army. They went up and arrived at Jerusalem. They went and stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth.
Assyria was not satisfied with the tribute. They sent a large army to Jerusalem.
The conduit of the upper pool was the same location where Ahaz had received Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming virgin birth of the Messiah, who would be named Immanuel. Immanuel means “God with us.” Jesus was God on earth as a man.
The fuller’s field was where cloth was cleaned and bleached. It was within hearing range of Jerusalem.
18:18 They summoned the king, so Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to meet them.
Three Jewish administrators came out to meet the Assyrian general. Eliakim was the palace administrator. Shebna was the royal secretary. Joah was the royal recorder.
18:19 The chief adviser said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: “What is your source of confidence?
The Assyrian chief adviser called the Assyrian king “the great King,” but he gave no title to Hezekiah. This was an insult, because King Hezekiah was the Lord’s anointed king from the line of Judah.
18:20 Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. In whom are you trusting that you would dare to rebel against me?
Judah’s strategy and military strength was just empty talk to the Assyrians. Judah can trust no one to save them from Assyrian’s large army.
18:21 Now look, you must be trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed staff. If a man leans for support on it, it punctures his hand and wounds him. That is what Pharaoh king of Egypt does to all who trust in him.
Egypt was a broken reed with no more military power. Egypt cannot help Israel.
18:22 Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar in Jerusalem.’
The Assyrian messenger did not understand Old Testament theology. He thought that King Hezekiah’s removal of the high places was weakening the support of Jehovah. The Assyrian messenger did not understand that Hezekiah was cleansing Judah of idols by divine command of Jehovah.
18:23 Now make a deal with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, provided you can find enough riders for them.
The Assyrian ambassador insulted Judah. The ambassador told Judah that they did not even have enough soldiers to mount 2,000 horses.
18:24 Certainly you will not refuse one of my master’s minor officials and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen.
Egypt would not be able to help Judah.
18:25 Furthermore it was by the command of the Lord that I marched up against this place to destroy it. The Lord told me, ‘March up against this land and destroy it.’ ” ’ ”
The Assyrian Commander was lying. He told the people of Judah that Jehovah commanded Assyria to conquer Jerusalem.
18:26 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”
The Jewish council did not want the Assyrians to destroy the morale of the people. Aramaic was the commercial and diplomatic language of the day. Only educated people could understand it.
18:27 But the chief adviser said to them, “My master did not send me to speak these words only to your master and to you. His message is also for the men who sit on the wall, for they will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you.”
The Assyrian ambassador was attempting to brainwash the people of Jerusalem by using extreme propaganda.
18:28 The chief adviser then stood there and called out loudly in the Judahite dialect, “Listen to the message of the great king, the king of Assyria.
The Assyrian ambassador spoke even louder, so everyone could hear.
18:29 This is what the king says: ‘Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you, for he is not able to rescue you from my hand!
Notice that the Assyrian ambassador did not call King Hezekiah by his title.
18:30 Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the Lord when he says, “The Lord will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”
The Assyrian commander made a big mistake. He insulted Jehovah. Jehovah could save Jerusalem, if He decided to do so.
18:31 Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,
Again, the title of “king” was not used. The ambassador promised to relocate the Jews to a place where they could relax, drink wine, eat figs, and dig deep wells. This promise was very similar to that which was offered to the Jews during the Holocaust. The Jews in Germany were told that they would be located to Paradise cities, but they were actually being relocated into concentration camps.
18:32 until I come and take you to a land just like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Then you will live and not die. Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, “The Lord will rescue us.”
The Assyrian ambassador was using extreme propaganda, attempting to start an internal rebellion inside of the Jewish ranks.
18:33 Have any of the gods of the nations actually rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria?
The Assyrian ambassador made his biggest mistake. He compared Jehovah as inferior to other demonic gods. The Jews knew very well that “the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens” (Psalm 96:5).
18:34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Indeed, did any gods rescue Samaria from my power?
Assyria believed that their Assyrian gods had defeated all of the other gods of the nations that they were able to subjugate.
18:35 Who among all the gods of the lands has rescued their lands from my power? So how can the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?’ ”
The Assyrian ambassador insulted the one true Creator God of the universe.
18:36 The people were silent and did not respond, for the king had ordered, “Don’t respond to him.”
On this day of silence, Assyria blasphemed God.
18:37 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him what the chief adviser had said.
The Jewish officials knew that they were in trouble, so they tore their clothes in mourning. However, the Master Chess Player had the Assyrians right where He wanted them.