Hezekiah’s prayer
Though we have the story of Jerusalem’s salvation from the largest and the most feared army at that time….in Isaiah, 2 Kings and in 2 Chronicles….yet only in 2 Kings and Isaiah, is Hezekiah’s prayer recorded.
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against the defenced cities of Judah, at the border…and took them.
This king was a fierce and terrible king. He was bloody and viscous….killing was his stock and trade….for he loved power and conquest….and he was successful!
He had conquered and pillaged many nations…
…..and now he sent one of his trusted servants to Jerusalem to mock Hezekiah’s trust in the Lord….and to see if he could get them to surrender to Sennacherib.
Isaiah 36:13-20 (condensed) “Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice….Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.
…Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you.
Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord,….
Hearken not unto Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me….Until I come and take you away…
Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The Lord will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
Where are the gods of the Hamath and Arphad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?”
Wow! This was said in front of all who had come to the wall surrounding Jerusalem to listen. Everyman heard in his own language what was said….every man knew that the king of Assyria was horrible….violent, often destroying and torturing for sport by his soldiers…men, women and children.
Yet, they waited….on the Lord.
When the report of what was said was given to Hezekiah….
Isaiah 37:1 “And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.”
He sent to Isaiah and Isaiah assured him that the king would not come into Jerusalem….and in fact Sennacherib, king of Assyria, went to fight another king for a while.
But then a message was brought from the king of Assyria…a personal message to king Hezekiah….saying the same thing:
Don’t think that the Lord will deliver you…..for no gods have delivered any of the nations that I have conquered…..we have destroyed them “utterly”.
So Hezekiah read the letter….and…
….”and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.” (Isaiah 37:14)
Let us look at what this godly king prayed….for he and his people were in serious trouble.
Isaiah 37:16 “O Lord of host, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: Thou hast made heaven and earth.”
I love this! Here Hezekiah takes stock of his God.
“O Lord of host”….Lord over every army. Over the armies of men, of hornets, of beasts, of hailstones and storm!
“God of Israel”…Hezekiah is calling upon his God….the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. The God who brought this people here, and gave them this land….the God of Israel.
“That dwellest between the cherubims.” Over the Ark of the Covenant, two cherubims stood facing inward where the mercy seat and the blood of the Atonement was! There was the Presence of God.
“Thou art God, Thou alone, Thou hast made heaven and earth” There may be many gods of men….but the Lord was the only true God.
Hezekiah acknowledges God….and then asks that He look on the words that this Assyrian king wrote against Him and His people…..
….which was a reproach to “the living God”.
(“reproach” here means to strip off…to expose. The king of Assyria thought that he would expose God as nothing…unable to deliver Jerusalem…
…..of course, he was wrong! For God is a living God…mighty and able!)
Then Hezekiah tells the Lord the way things were.
The king of Assyria was indeed a mighty foe….Assyria was the greatest nation at that time. He had destroyed many nations…
(And this is the way we should pray. We should lay out before the Lord exactly our predicament. We should not shy away from telling the Lord what we are afraid of.)
….but then Hezekiah tells the Lord that he knows…
….the gods of these nations were no gods. They were no help for these people…they were but idols which could not speak or deliver.
But:
Isaiah 37:20 “Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand,….”
(Perhaps we would stop here….but Hezekiah was a godly king….and he prayed for more than mere deliverance.)
……”that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art the Lord, even Thou only.”
And here is to pray for the glory of God.
Save us….not because we are something….
…but save us that Your Name might be glorified….and that all the nations round about may know that You alone are God.
And should not we pray for the glory of God in all our prayers…especially when we need help and deliverance? “Save us….for Thy Name’s sake.”
Well,….God did save Jerusalem at this time. The king of Assyria never came into Jerusalem.
The Lord spoke to Hezekiah by Isaiah, concerning Sennacherib, king of Assyria:
Isaiah 37:22-23, 28-29 “This is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him (the king of Assyria): The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? And against Whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel.
But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against Me.
Because thy rage against Me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put My hook in thy nose, and My bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.”
The Lord’s “hook” and “His bridle” was sent.
Isaiah 37:36 “The angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.”
The king of Assyria never came into Jerusalem….he went home…and was killed there, by his own two sons.
Now I mentioned that Hezekiah was a godly king….he had:
2 Chronicles 31:20-21 “And thus did Hezekiah….. and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God.
And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.”
Sennacherib’s words attacked both God….as being just like any other god. And Hezekiah, because he trusted in the Lord….and showed it.
We, as Christians, have many troubles. Some which come because we are in the world, as everyone else….for problems come to all.
But some enemies come, because we are the Lord’s….because we trust in Him…because we believe that He is God, Who ruleth over all.
Let us spread our troubles out before Him….tell Him all that is on our hearts, and listen for His Word to us.
He will deliver us from fear,…if not from all trouble. He will deliver us from our enemies…in His time….His Way.
And when He does, let us praise Him….and magnify His Name before others.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 