Scroll to the bottom for thoughts/discussion questions!
One-sentence summary: The king of Assyria comes to attack Jerusalem and blasphemes against the Lord; King Hezekiah asks the prophet Isaiah to pray for Israel, and he also prays to the Lord and is heard; the Angel of the Lord kills 185,000 Assyrians in one night, and the king of Assyria is killed.
King Hezekiah tears his clothes after hearing the message from the king of Assyria who blasphemed against the Lord and vows to defeat Jerusalem. Hezekiah covers himself in sackcloth and goes into the house of the Lord. He sends some leaders covered with sackcloth to Isaiah, and they ask him to plead for "the remnant that is left." Isaiah tells them to tell the king not to fear the Assyrian king's servants' words through which the king blasphemed the Lord. He says the Lord will send a spirit upon him and that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land and fall by the sword there. And it happens just as the Lord says. (The same story is also told in Chronicles in a previous blog.) Hezekiah prays to the Lord and asks Him for help, so that the nations will know that He alone is God. Then, Isaiah sends again to Hezekiah with an answer from the Lord. The Lord says that because Hezekiah has prayed to Him, He has been heard. The Lord says, "The virgin, the daughter of Zion, has laughed you to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head behind your back.... against Whom have you raised your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel." They have said it was their chariots which accomplished their victory over the nations, and now they think they will defeat Jerusalem. However, the Lord says He formed the earth and that He "knows [their] dwelling place... [and their] rage against [Him.]" It has reached His ears, and now, He says He will put His "hook in their nose and bridle in their lips," and He will turn the king back the way he came. The Lord says that the remnant that escapes from the house of Judah will "take root downward and bear fruit upward, for out of Jerusalem will go a remnant and those who escape from Mt. Zion. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this." The Lord says the king of Assyria will surely not come into Assyria but will return the way he came, because He Himself will defend and save the city, for His own sake and for His servant David's sake. Then, one night, the Angel of the Lord kills in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000 men, and in the morning, the people see them all dead. Then, the king of Assyria returns by the way he came and settles in Ninevah. As he is worshiping in the temple of his god, his two sons kill him and flee, and another one reigns in his place.
Thoughts/discussion questions:
"A mighty fortress is our God." Wow! All we need in life is God on our side. The Lord is a man of war. He fights our battles. Let Him fight yours!