“Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them.”
Here in chapter 36 the king of Assyria, Sennacherib, comes to capture Jerusalem and its king, Hezekiah. From a physical standpoint, it looks hopeless for the Israelites. Therefore, the Assyrian king decides to send emissaries to Hezekiah to call for his surrender.
During this process, they mocked the king by asking some questions which are intended to embarrass him; “On what are you basing this confidence of yours?” (v.4), and “On whom are you depending?” (v.5). Words the emissary would later regret. Additionally, Sennacherib tried to bribe the nation of Israel into simply bending their knee in submission by promising great prosperity in return for such submission (v.8). And finally they mocked the prophet Isaiah’s belief in God (vv.14-16), wanting to convince the Israelites they had no chance for success.
These tactics are very familiar and common tools used by Satan against believers daily. Hezekiah handled these crafty attacks correctly, giving us a great lesson on how we should respond to similar attacks in our own lives. First, we keep silent (v.20). Never enter into an argument with a skeptic, especially one who is baiting you. Second, go directly to God in prayer, seek His guidance, call upon His wisdom, and allow His Spirit to guide your actions through His Word or a Word from a godly advisor.
We would all be wise to follow Hezekiah’s example of going to God first and refusing to get caught up in any of Satan’s old tricks. It will save us a lot of wasted energy, and replace emotion with wisdom.
The Truth: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)
Here in chapter 36 the king of Assyria, Sennacherib, comes to capture Jerusalem and its king, Hezekiah. From a physical standpoint, it looks hopeless for the Israelites. Therefore, the Assyrian king decides to send emissaries to Hezekiah to call for his surrender.
During this process, they mocked the king by asking some questions which are intended to embarrass him; “On what are you basing this confidence of yours?” (v.4), and “On whom are you depending?” (v.5). Words the emissary would later regret. Additionally, Sennacherib tried to bribe the nation of Israel into simply bending their knee in submission by promising great prosperity in return for such submission (v.8). And finally they mocked the prophet Isaiah’s belief in God (vv.14-16), wanting to convince the Israelites they had no chance for success.
These tactics are very familiar and common tools used by Satan against believers daily. Hezekiah handled these crafty attacks correctly, giving us a great lesson on how we should respond to similar attacks in our own lives. First, we keep silent (v.20). Never enter into an argument with a skeptic, especially one who is baiting you. Second, go directly to God in prayer, seek His guidance, call upon His wisdom, and allow His Spirit to guide your actions through His Word or a Word from a godly advisor.
We would all be wise to follow Hezekiah’s example of going to God first and refusing to get caught up in any of Satan’s old tricks. It will save us a lot of wasted energy, and replace emotion with wisdom.
The Truth: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)
