Law of Moses — 2 Kings 19

This is one of pinnacles of the Covenant, a major event that marks the extent of what God will do for those who rely on Him. In the previous chapter we get a review of the Fall of Samaria in 722 BC. In 701 BC, the Assyrians come back for Judah. At this point, Judah’s allies failed to send troops. Hezekiah tried to buy the Assyrians off, but it didn’t work too well. It was too burdensome. Hezekiah may have tried to cultivate alliances with Egypt and Ethiopia (the latter ruled Egypt at this time), but during this time it was the Philistines who had appealed to Egypt for protection against Assyria.

In about 688 BC, Assyria came back and began to take down all the fortified cities of Judah. In the latter stages of this campaign, during the siege of Lachish, a Judean citadel toward the southwest of Jerusalem on the main route toward Egypt, the Assyrian commander Sennacherib sent an envoy with troops to stand outside the main gate of Jerusalem and call out in the local Hebrew language to frighten the people. This act of psychological warfare was carried out by men named by their titles: the senior Commanding General (Tartan), the Chief of Palace Eunuchs (Rabsaris), and the Chief Cupbearer (Rabshakeh).

Part of the game was that these three sought direct contact with Hezekiah. This was actually something of an insult, since Hezekiah technically outranked them. So he sent an equivalent trio out to face them over the wall: Eliakim the Chamberlain, Shebna the Royal Scribe, and some senior priests. In essence, these three Assyrians warned that the Judean troops should surrender now before it’s too late. When the actual siege of Jerusalem begins, it will be too late. They mocked the idea of trusting Jehovah.

Hezekiah led the people’s response by tearing his clothes, a sign of distress over the blasphemy of the Assyrian officials. No one had responded to the Assyrian officials from the wall, because it was up to Jehovah to reply to this insult. Then Hezekiah donned the garb of mourning and went for extended prayer in the Temple. Meanwhile, he dispatched the officials who had participated in the parley to Isaiah to seek a word from the Lord. Having been so ardent for the Covenant, Hezekiah had good standing before Jehovah, so the Lord responded via a message from Isaiah that Sennacherib would not survive much longer. Events back in the imperial capital would distract him and he would be assassinated there.

Meanwhile, the Assyrians had troops stationed outside the city. Not enough to attack, but enough to force the city to keep the gates closed in a passive siege. The Rabshakeh was left in charge of this force when an Assyrian messenger came with orders to bring these troops down to Libnah. After Sennacherib took Lachish, Egypt had marched. Pharaoh Taharqa, prior to ascending to the throne, was commander of the Egyptian forces as they marched toward the Assyrian army. While we don’t exactly know the site of this important city, it’s likely farther down toward the southern border of Judah, still along the main highway toward Egypt. It was likely the last citadel Sennacherib would face before turning back to Jerusalem. It was his march toward Libnah that triggered Egypt’s move, though it appears the two armies never actually clashed.

Again, Sennacherib sent a written letter to Hezekiah, warning him not to put much confidence in the Egyptian army. Take note that Sennacherib rightly attributes this problem to Jehovah, and he doubles down on the blasphemy, saying that He is a deceiver. He lists a bunch of cities and nations he managed to conquer in recent campaigns, likely referring to actions taken by other branches of the Assyrian army during his time in Judah. It would be quite unusual to bring the whole imperial army down to Judah when there was so much to do elsewhere, and the Assyrian army at this point was staggeringly large. This was merely their expeditionary force.

Again, Hezekiah takes the matter before the Lord. He spreads this letter in the Presence of the Lord at the Temple. His confession is a model of humility, glorifying Jehovah as the one and only true God. There was no doubt what Assyria could do, but only if God allowed it.

Isaiah’s message to Hezekiah this time focuses on the real issue: Sennacherib’s blasphemy before God’s own people. The message references the crossing of the Reed Sea during the Exodus, as if Sennacherib hadn’t bothered to study history. The Assyrians were just a tool in God’s hand, and there was nothing he did that God didn’t see or constrain for His own purposes. So God mocks the Assyrian habit of putting a ring in the nose of every conquered king, to be dragged along with a hook. Sennacherib would be dragged by the nose back home in defeat.

The second part of the message is to Hezekiah. The presence of Assyrian troops prevented planting crops that year. Just like in a sabbatical year, the Lord would cause volunteer crops to grow two years in succession. And this symbolized that the Judean population (“the remnant”) would recover from the war losses. Finally, Sennacherib’s troops would never get a chance to actually besiege Jerusalem.

There’s a bit of confusion here for a lot of people. The troops were no longer outside the City of Jerusalem. The Assyrian troops had left Jerusalem already, and rejoined the forces near the city of Libnah. It was the siege camp outside this city where the Assyrian troops suffered a plague overnight that wiped out a significant part of the force. With such high losses, Sennacherib could not face the Egyptians. He withdrew from the land and returned to Nineveh. In a palace intrigue, two of his younger sons assassinated him in the Temple of Nisrok, and the heir Esarhaddon took the throne of Assyria.

The mightiest army in history up that point suffered such losses during the night that it was forced to withdraw. While Judah did suffer losses of both people and the infrastructure of several major fortified cities, they recovered because it was a matter of God’s glory.