Sennacherib must have been pleased by how his troops took the town because he wrapped one of his palace rooms with 12 stone slabs—each about eight feet high and seven feet wide—which told the story of his victory over Lachish. The story begins with Assyria’s arrival and shows a large body of troops moving like a dense wave over the terrain. It reveals how they stormed the citadel with siege ramps and battering rams and how the inhabitants defended themselves with stones and firebrands. But it was all for naught; the city fell. Those not killed in battle or impaled were forcibly deported to Assyria, which required them to march past Sennacherib as the first step of their journey. This massive stone relief was likely placed in a waiting room for those desiring audience with the king. It served as a silent reminder of what would happen to anyone who rebelled.
Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem had heard how each fortified city fell. They knew the strength and ability of this king. When they saw this dense army flow toward them and heard the confident words from the commanders, they were tempted to believe only one conclusion: they were next and there really was no hope. Though the threat was not just physical, it was psychological as well.
Speaking in Hebrew so everyone in earshot could understand, these brazen victors announced that Hezekiah’s worship reforms had angered the Jewish God and that the LORD Himself is the one who personally told them to march against Judah and destroy it!
Can you feel even a little of the fear and confusion they felt?
Imagine you are in the city. You witnessed Hezekiah’s religious reforms and secretly wondered if this king had gone too far. You knew the northern ten tribes of Israel were gone and that the same army that conquered them now stood outside your gates. You see the massive army and know you are terribly outnumbered. (Based on the field commander’s comments in 18:23, it is possible that Jerusalem had fewer than 2,000 fighting men to stand against a force of 185,000.) You hear the commander’s claims that the LORD sent him and you also hear Hezekiah and Isaiah express trust in the LORD. Who is right? Where is God in the midst of all this? Whose storyline will you believe? In whom will you now trust?
"In whom do you now trust (18:20; 19:10)?" - this is the important question that is put before God’s people at every point in time.
Even though Hezekiah was doing everything “right”, he found himself surrounded by trouble and tempted to believe the lie that God was not with them. The same can happen to us. Even when we live faithfully before the Lord, marauding enemies in many forms may still arrive. They can come as a physical illness, financial struggle, employment issue, relational strife or something else. When these enemies flow into our lives, they seek to undermine our faith in God’s love for us by having us look more at the trouble than at the Lord.
I don’t know about you but, when the pressure is on, I receive counsel from a number of different voices. My inner voice is often the first to turn negative as I question what I’ve done and what God may be doing. My culture never fails to add its two-cents worth, often reinforcing the negative I already carry. Then there are the voices of well-meaning friends or podcasts that seek to help me through the struggle. No matter its source, each voice helps me interpret my circumstances so I can make sense of them and find a way through them.
When the army is outside my gate, the challenge is not in finding voices to speak to me; those are easy to find. The challenge is to hear the only voice that matters. How is it for you? When enemies threaten, what voices inside you or around you tempt you to interpret your circumstances in a way that is contrary to God’s love and promises for you?
When the army is outside your gates and your faith is tested, where do you turn? To whom do you go? Whose voice do you seek? Hezekiah expressed repentance, asked for prayer, sought counsel from a trusted, godly source and spread his concerns out before the Lord in prayer (19:2, 14-19). How is his response instructive for us today?
In whom do you now trust?
Growing in faith with you,
Rob Eyman
