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Royalty and Ruin
“Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! Thus says
the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able
to deliver you; nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying,
“The Lord will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the
hand of the king of Assyria.” ... Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you,
saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any one of the gods of the
nations delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ...
Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who among all the
gods of these lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that
the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’”
Isaiah 36:13-20
.
Judah’s Leaders Pray With Contrition
The Jewish representatives returned to Hezekiah “with their
clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.”
Verse 22
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The king “tore his clothes, covered him-self with sackcloth, and
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went into the house of the Lord.”
2 Kings 19:1
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Hezekiah dispatched a messenger to Isaiah: “This day is a day
of trouble, and rebuke, and blasphemy. ... It may be the Lord your
God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the
king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke
the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up
your prayer for the remnant that is left.”
Verses 3, 4
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“Now because of this King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, the
son of Amoz, prayed and cried out to heaven.”
2 Chronicles 32:20
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God answered His servants. Isaiah was given the message for
Hezekiah: “Thus says the Lord: ‘Do not be afraid of the words which
you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have
blasphemed Me. Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall
hear a rumor and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him
to fall by the sword in his own land.’”
2 Kings 19:6, 7
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The Taunts of the Enemy
The Assyrian representatives communicated at once with their
king who was with his army guarding the approach from Egypt.
Sennacherib wrote “letters to revile the Lord God of Israel, and
to speak against Him, saying, ‘As the gods of the nations of other