It is now the beginning of having Isaiah throughout 2 Kings. It is definitely more interesting to read about how awesome God’s prophets were and their stories to go along with it. Since Elisha’s death, it has been a lot more about the chronological wars, and kings and not as much about the prophecies of God, which are of course more interesting. Isaiah is just great to read about, especially his book. Stick with me through these 3 chapters…please? 🙂 A common theme, and it might be because I am so focused on it at the moment for my summer program with my campus ministry is PRAYER! We are doing a character study on Daniel, but Hezekiah shows so much boldness in prayer like Daniel did as well and I am glad to know that I am realizing how important the prayer is to all people no matter what time it is!
So the end of the last chapter had the messenger from Assyria talking bad about Hezekiah and the members of Judah were silent and did not follow him. Naturally, Hezekiah became nervous for his kingdom. He went to ISAIAH and asked him to pray with him for Judah. Isaiah passed on a message from God, “‘Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with chichi the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land,” 2 Kings 19:6-7. I mean you know, I know, Hezekiah knows, and Isaiah knows that this prophecy will of course come true. So the messenger returns to Assyria because he heard of the king fighting with Libnah, and feels false hope. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, sends yet another messenger to how that he has not forgotten about Judah I am guessing, and the messenger says the same things as before; Hezekiah is an evil ruler and leading under a false god and Assyria never loses…yada yada yada. Pretty much a bunch of crap! Hezekiah then does what so many people have a hard time doing, including myself, he got on his hands and knees and just prayed to God! He prayed and praised God and just asked for protection. One of the coolest parts of his prayer was, “‘Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear, open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God,'” 2 Kings 19: 16. I mean God is always listening and seeing us in prayer and it is just awesome to think over it! Millions of people can be praying at once and he is listening and seeing all of us at once! So following Hezekiah’s prayer, Isaiah prophesies Sennacherib’s downfall which as all his prophecies from God do, comes true. What is cool is that before the prophecy he tells Hezekiah that God has heard his prayer about Sennacherib! THIS IS PROOF THAT GOD WAS LISTENING AND SEEING. So so awesome! Isaiah’s prophecy was that Assyria would not win and that God would protect Judah out of zeal. Zeal is a very big word. You don’t just throw out “zeal” whenever you want. That next morning, God struck down 185,000 Assyrian soldiers and Sennacherib returned to Assyria where he was killed by his own sons.
Around the time that all of this was happening, Hezekiah fell ill (pretty much waiting for death). Isaiah came to him and told him that God’s message was that Hezekiah needed to have his house settled for he would pass away soon. What was Hezekiah’s response? Prayer of course! He prayed to God that God would bless him and keep him alive longer, and he reminded God that he was a servant to God and had Judah living in His hands again. He prayed this prayer right after Isaiah left, and literally before Isaiah was able to leave the palace walls (I am thinking he had just gotten down a few hallways), God told Isaiah to give Hezekiah a new message. The new message is that Hezekiah was a true loving servant and for that reason, Hezekiah would live for 15 more years. Prayer works, and people that don’t think it works, must not understand God and the Spirit. So towards the end of his life, Hezekiah befriends the Babylonians and gives them a grand tour of the palace and the kingdom. Isaiah shows up after..which could be good news or bad news. For this instance it was not good news like it recently had been. God says that he wished that Hezekiah had not shown the Babylonians the kingdom because eventually Babylon will conquer Judah and take all the treasures and bring ruins to Judah. Hezekiah’s own sons would end up being eunuchs in Babylon. So not happy news at all for the people of Judah.
Alright so Hezekiah passes 15 years after his illness, and soon after he befriends the Babylonians. Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh, rules Judah for 55 years. He was opposite of Hezekiah! He was evil, and rebuilt the pillars and high places which Hezekiah had FINALLY taken down. He sacrificed his own sons, and worshipped so many idols that if you looked up idolater in the dictionary you would see a pic of Manasseh. Manasseh was able to “provoke” God to anger…which that takes a lot of effort which I have mentioned before! God is patient and kind, but Manasseh was able to make him so angry. God had many prophets tell of how God will tear down Judah because of Manasseh and his idolatry that he has brought back to Judah. On top of all of this Manasseh killed many innocent people throughout all of Jerusalem. Manasseh finally died after his long reign and his son Amon reigned in Judah. Amon only ruled for years, and was evil like his father. He was eventually conspired against. The conspirators, after they killed Amon, were actually killed by the people of Judah because they did not approve. They then put Josiah, his son, into power rather than having a conspirator rule.
Pic at the bottom is suppose to be an image of Hezekiah praying to God! Of course it can really be anyone praying to God and expressing themselves completely to God! Thank you http://www.bibleline.org for the picture!
nys time 