HEZEKIAH RESORTS TO THE LORD Having listened to the ridicules of Sennacherib, Hezekiah found in the Lord his only refuge. He tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. He dispatched messengers to the prophet Isaiah, asking for his prayers, and for the glorification of the name of the Lord. God intervened in the battle with His mighty arm. The angel of the Lord went out and put to death 185, 000 men in the Assyrian camp. Sennacherib, as well as his son Sherezer were killed, and Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king. 1. Hezekiah resorts to the Lord and His prophet 1-4. 2. Isaiah assures Hezekiah 5-7. 3. The king of Assyria ridicules the Lord 8-13. 4. Hezekiah’s prayer 14-20. 5. Isaiah, once more, assures Hezekiah 21-35. 6. The Lord strikes the Assyrian army 36. 7. Sennacherib and his son Sherezer were killed 37-38. 1. HEZEKIAH RESORTS TO THE LORD AND HIS PROPHET There is controversy around the evaluation of what Hezekiah did. Some see him as a pious man, who with his humiliation robbed the compassion of God, although later on, he fell in the sin of pride and perished. Others believe that what Hezekiah did, was not out of piety nor of faith, as after a while he gave up to Sennacherib the treasures of the temple (2 Kings 18: 14-16), and said to him, ‘I have done wrong.’ Moreover, in his talk with Isaiah, he repeated the phrase “the Lord your God” (Is. 37: 4), instead of “our God” or “my God.” To go back to the king, we see him, on hearing the words of Rabshakeh, “tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord” (Is. 37: 1), a sign of his grief and humility before the Lord. “He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet.” (Is. 37: 2) Everything have changed, after the civil and religious leaders were ridiculing Isaiah, as he walked naked and barefooted, warning them that Pharaoh and his men would not rescue them (Is. 21), now they are coming to him wearing sackcloth to proclaim in bitterness their need for his prayers and his counsel. They realized that “The day is a day of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth.” (Is. 37: 3) Who could help out, but the Lord through prayers! Pharaoh, with all his might, cannot help a pregnant woman to give birth when her time comes. Prayer is the only way. St. John Chrysostom says, [Nothing equals prayer! It makes the impossible possible, and the difficult easy. It is not possible for a man who prays, to fall easily into sin1.] Fr. Theopan the Recluse says, [A prayer is the summary of everything: Faith; life according to faith; salvation etc.2] He also says, [A prayer is the breath of the Spirit3.] [It is the measure of the spiritual life4.] [The whole Church breathes 1 De Anno Sermo 4; PG. 54:666. 2 Cf. Tomas' Spidlik: The Spirituality of the Christian East, 1986, P.307. Nacertanye christianskago nravoucenija (Christian Moral Teaching) Moscow 1895, p. 122. 3 Ibid. 406. 4 Cf. Spidlik: Theophane la Recluse, p. 240. through prayer5.] Rabshakeh insolently ridiculed the living God; therefore, there is need for the intervention of that God to proclaim His glory and might. For the salvation of the remnant, honest to Him, the Psalmist says, “O God, how long will the adversary reproach?” (Psalm 74: 10) 2. ISAIAH PUTS HEZEKIAH’S HEART AT EASE Isaiah ridiculed the king of Assyria and his men, counting his leaders as ‘servants’ of no understanding or ability; of whom, it is not fitting for Hezekiah to fear (Is. 37: 6). What Sennacherib did through his men would be done to him; as they tried to fill the ears of the people with words of blasphemy and threats of death, the ears of the king would get filled with a disturbing report (Is. 37: 7), and would fall by the sword in his own country. The words, “I will send a spirit upon him” (Is. 37: 7), mean that God would deliver him to the spirit of evil which he received by his own will, so that the evil he does would get back on him 3. THE KING OF ASSYRIA RIDICULES THE LORD Rabshakeh returned to Sennacherib, to find that he left Lachish to fight against Libnah, a city located between Lachish and Makkedah (Joshua 10: 39; 12: 15), within Judah’s share, allotted to the children of Aaron (Joshua 21: 13). It was probably in Tal Bornat, two miles northwest of Beth Gebrin, assumed now to be Tal El-Safi or El- Safia. As the king received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush and Egypt (Is. 37: 9) was marching out to fight against him, he sent to Hezekiah one more time, to threaten him, and to request that Jerusalem should be handed over to him, blaspheming God upon whom Hezekiah is depending. Some ask why Sennacherib repeated his threat. Probably because he was surrounded by opposing nations, and feared Tirhakah the strong king of Egypt and Cush, He wanted to take over Jerusalem with no bloodshed, to gain its support. Despite the blasphemy that his message carried against God, yet it was shorter and less aggressive than the first, probably because he liked to win Hezekiah on his side, by showing that he harbors no personal animosity against him; but the battle was rather, between the god of Sennacherib, the conqueror of all the gods of other nations, and the God of Hezekiah. Our spiritual battle is actually between God and the devil, in which we are not, and cannot be a part. If we hide in God, we gain victory in and by Him, whatever the blasphemy of the enemy. When the prophet David heard the mighty Goliath reproaching his people, he said: “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? (1 Samuel 17: 26) “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel.” (1 Samuel 17: 45) 4. HEZEKIAH’S PRAYER When Hezekiah read the message of Sennacherib, he went up to the temple of the Lord, spread it out before the Lord, and prayed to Him (Is. 37: 14, 15). As Sennacherib pretended to harbor no animosity toward Hezekiah, and assumed that the battle is one between gods, Hezekiah went up to his God to place the matter before Him in His holy sanctuary. Perhaps one of Hezekiah’s strongest points was that he was a man of prayer. In five occasions we see him gaining power through 5 Ibid 241. praying. In his prayer we notice: a. Opening his heart with humility. He did not justify himself in anything, but hid himself completely, putting the matter in God’s hands. b. He calls God “the Lord of hosts,” being the capable leader of the battle, and of hosts capable of conquest and victory. St. Jerome tells us about an Egyptian monk by the name of Abba Aban, [A worker in the fields beside the river asked him to rid them of a Behemoth - a kind of Egyptian crocodile - that was causing great harm to them. All the monk did was addressing it in a gentle voice: “I plead to you in the name of Jesus Christ to depart from here.” The beast complied, as though chased by an angel, and completely departed from that region6.] Through our Lord Jesus Christ we enjoy sure victory. Origen was asked, ‘If the devil was actually destroyed together with his hosts, how come that we believe that he still have authority against the servants of God?’ He responded saying, that the fierce influence of the devil is only effective on the wicked, but he has no more authority over those who are in Christ7. c. He calls God “enthroned between the Cherubim,” as he is in no need of a worldly throne, His is a heavenly one. Thus in His work He seeks nothing for His own sake, but what is for the edification of His people and His believers. d. He calls God, as “Alone is God over all the kingdoms of the earth,” and not the God of Israel, having in His hands all nations of the world, controlling them by His holy will. e. Indeed, Sennacherib had conquered all the neighboring nations, thrown their gods into fire and destroyed them; but what could he do with the Almighty Creator? f. He presented a wonderful end for his prayer: “Now, O Lord our God, save us from his hands, that all kingdom of earth may know that you are the Lord, You alone.” (Is. 37: 20) It is as though, the conquest you grant us, is a testimony to the world, of the truth of our belief in you, and of the fact that You alone, and none else is God. 5. ISAIAH, ONCE MORE, ASSURES HEZEKIAH Hezekiah prayed to God, and the response came promptly through the prophet Isaiah along the following lines: a. If Sennacherib has blasphemed against God and ridiculed Him, God addressed Sennacherib, saying, “The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you, laughed you to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head behind your back.” (Is. 37: 22) As though He is saying to him: If you have come against Me as a wild beast, I know how to check you and mock you through the virgin daughter of Zion, daughter of Jerusalem. You are coming to Me with your mighty army, and I will destroy you by a virgin maiden who will mock you. You are boasting your many chariots, that you have ascended the heights of the mountains of Lebanon, cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its pines, and went into depths of Carmel. But you do not apprehend how mighty I am. I have dug wells with my hands, and with the soles of My feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt; I have the keys of nature in My 6 The histories of the Monks who lived in the Desert of Egypt. . للمؤلف: قاموس آباء الكنیسة وقدیسیها، العهد الجدید 1986 1 ، ص 40 7 In Librum Jesu Neve, hom. 8:4. hand. Have you heard what I did to Pharaoh in the days of the prophet Moses? (Is. 37: 24-26) Recall what I did to the nations, when I granted the Promised Land to My people! Learn from history through actual events! God proclaims to Sennacherib that He is the Almighty who is aware of all mysteries. He is in no need of messages of blasphemy from him: “I know your dwelling place, your going out and your coming in, and your rage against Me. Because your rage against Me and your tumult have come up to My ears, therefore I will put My hook in your nose and My bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way which you came.” (Is. 37: 28, 29) In other words, God ridiculed him along several lines: He can mock him through a virgin daughter that despises him. He can agitate the forces of nature against him. He can control his movements and lead him to where he does not want to go! In other words, God humiliates the devil through His Church, His virgin daughter, uses nature to destroy all possibilities and plans of the devil. In the biography of St. Milania we are told how the devil, having realized that all his plots and plans against her have failed, confessed his defeat, surrendered, and realized that he was unable of subduing her. Origen believes that it is more fitting for us to put the blame upon ourselves when we err, and should not consider the devil responsible, as do the simple common people8. We were granted, through Christ Jesus, the power to destroy the enemy if we chose to. b. God gave to Hezekiah the following glorified sign, in order to spare him the terror, caused by the Sennacherib’s invasion (Is. 37: 30-32). If the enemy has confiscated all crops, and even left no seeds to sow, which would definitely lead to famine, that year and the one to follow, plants would grow with no need of sowing seeds. “You shall eat this year such as grows of itself, and the second year what springs from the same. Also in the third year sow and reap. Plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them” (Is. 37: 30) It is as though, when His people are helpless and with no possibilities God works wonders for them, until the time comes and they retain their normal conditions, He would again work in them, through the natural laws of nature. That sign was a symbol for the remnants of Judah, whose deliverance was a gift of God, despite the oppression and fierceness of the enemy, saying, “And the remnant who escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.” (Is. 37: 31) It is as though, after being utterly uprooted by the enemy, God will replant them and give them fruit, as He did with their crops in the first and second years of Sennacherib’s invasion, “The zeal of the Almighty will accomplish this,” (Is. 37: 32) namely, that this delivery is not to be realized for the sake of human worthiness, but because of God’s love and zeal for His people, being the heavenly Groom, jealous for His bride, to be holy for Him: “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I am zealous for Jerusalem, And for Zion with great zeal.” (Zechariah 1: 14) “The Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God.” (Exodus 34: 14) Through that sign God proclaims the following blessings for His people: 1. Delivery from judgment. No famine will come to them, but they will enjoy plenty of fruits (Is. 37: 30). 2. “Out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant; and those who escape from Mount Zion...” (Is. 37: 32); a reference to the renewal of human nature, and God’s care for 8 De Principiis 3:21. His Church. 3. “…will bear fruit upward” (Is. 37: 31); namely, they will bear an exalted heavenly nature. 4. Preaching will spread from Jerusalem (Is. 37: 32). 5. The source of this work of salvation is the fire of God’s love and zeal (Is. 37: 32). c. God confirmed that Sennacherib “shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor build a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return.” (Is. 37: 33-35) Thus, God - in His love for His children - uses every possible way to take away their worries, confirming to them His protection, His care, and His love for them. d. God’s protection of His people is not for the sake of their righteousness, but His zeal for His glory, and His covenants with His beloved children like David. It is not for the sake of Judah or in response to the impressive prayers of Hezekiah, that God intervened, but as He said: “I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for My servant David’s sake.” (Is. 37: 35) David died, yet his life is still continuous through his raised prayers, for the sake of which God defends Jerusalem. ٦. STRIKING THE ASSYRIAN ARMY “The angel of the Lord went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses - all dead.” (Is. 37: 36) Most probably “the Angel of the Lord” refers to the Word of God before incarnation. That was realized on the same eve following the conversation of the prophet Isaiah with Hezekiah (2 Kings 19: 35). Sennacherib was defeated this time, although he had overcome and humiliated Hezekiah before. In a document discovered in the ruins of Nineveh9 there were words said by Sennacherib, that he attacked Hezekiah, took over 46 castles and small cities, captivated a multitude of men and women, confiscated a great herds of cattle; shut Hezekiah in Jerusalem like a bird in a cage; built walls around his cities, and put enormous taxes on him etc. 7. SENNACHERIB AND HIS SON SHEREZER WERE KILLED Sennacherib and his son Sherezer were killed, while worshipping in the temple of their god Nisroch, whom they believed to be the source of their conquests over all the nations and their gods, and to be capable of protecting them. 9 Bultema, p. 344/5.
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