Day 131: OT Fourth Kings C17-20; Assyria takes Israel; Juda’s Prayers are Answered!

Israel split into two countries—Israel including Samaria in the North and Juda including Jerusalem in the South. The Juda and Israel kingships always referenced each other to one another, it was sort of a dance back and forth to time-stamp the changes in leadership with the wildcard always being Assyria:

In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Juda, Osee the son of Ela reigned in Samaria over Israel nine years.

In the third year of Osee the son of Ela, king of Israel, reigned Ezechias the son of Achaz, king of Juda.

And he (Osee) did evil before the Lord: but not as the kings of Israel that had been before him.

Against him came up Salmanasar king of the Assyrians, and Osee became his servant, and paid him tribute… And in the ninth year of Osee, the king of the Assyrians took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria…

Why did God let this happen?

For it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God… and they worshipped strange gods… and the children of the Lord offended the Lord their God… provoking the Lord… and they followed vanities, and acted vainly… and they served Baal… and they gave themselves to divinations, and soothsayings: and they delivered themselves up to do evil before the Lord, to provoke him… and the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from his sight, and there remained only the tribe of Juda… and Israel was carried away out of their land to Assyria, unto this day.

People were brought in to backfill the population of the cities of Samaria:

And the king of the Assyrians brought people from Babylon, Cutha, Avah, Emath, and from Sepharvaim: and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel… and when they began to dwell there, they feared not the Lord: and the Lord sent lions among them, which killed them… so one of the priests who had been carries away captive from Samaria, came and dwelt in Bethel (in Samaria), and taught them how they should worship the Lord… And when they worshipped the Lord, they served also their own gods according to the custom of the nations out of which they were brought to Samaria. Unto this day they follow the old manner (the way of the nations): they fear not the Lord…

So the children of Israel were being held captive in Assyria. King Ezechias was doing well in Juda but then Sennacherib (a new) king of the Assyrians invaded Juda. Ezechias cowardly paid his ransom even to the extent of removing golf plates from the doors of the temple and giving it to Sennacherib:

He (Ezechias) trusted in the Lord the God of Israel: so that after him there was none like him among the kings of Juda, nor any of them that were before him… he behaved himself wisely. And he rebelled against the king of the Assyrians, and served him not. He smote the Philistines as far as Gaza…

In the fourteenth year of king Ezechias, Sennacherib king of the Assyrians came up against the fenced cities of Juda: and took them.

Ezechias to Sennacherib: I have offended, depart from me: and all that thou shalt put upon me, I will bear… And Ezechias gave all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the king’s treasures. At that time Ezechias broke the doors of the temple of the Lord, and the plates of gold which he had fastened on them, and gave them to the king of the Assyrians.

Then Sennacherib king of the Assyrians sent Rabsaces to talk to the people of Jerusalem to rebel against king Ezechias of Juda and come over to the side of the Assyrians:

And the king of the Assyrians sent Tharthan and Rabsaris, and Rabsaces… to king Ezechias with a strong army to Jerusalem… and Rabsaces said to them:

…On whom dost thou trust, that thou darest to rebel (against Assyria)? Dost thou trust in Egypt?… But if you say to me: We trust in the Lord our God: Is it not he, whose high places and altars Ezechias hath taken away?… Now therefore come over to my master the king of the Assyrians… Is it without the will of the Lord that I am to come up to this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me: Go up to this land and destroy it… Let not Ezechias deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of my hand… Do not hearken to Ezechias… and you shall live, and not die…

But the people (of Juda) held their peace… and Eliacim, the scribe, and the recorder, came to Ezechias, with their garments rent, and told him the words of Rabsaces.

What will king Ezechias do? Gather an army and attack? Or call for a prophet of the Lord and then pray for deliverance?

And when the king Ezechias heard these words, he rent his garments, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. And he sent Eliacim to Isaias the prophet… and they said to him: Thus said Ezechias: This day is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: the children are come to the birth, and the woman in travail hath not strength. It may be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rabsaces… and do thou offer prayer for the remnants that are found.

Isaias: Thus saith the Lord: Be not afraid for the words which thou hast heard, with which the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me. Behold I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a message, and shall return to his own country, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own country.

Ezechias prays for deliverance:

Ezechias went up to the house of the Lord, saying: O Lord God of Israel, who sitteth upon the cherubims, thou alone art the God of all the Kings of the earth: thou madest heaven and earth, incline thy ear, and hear: open, O Lord, thy eyes, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to upbraid unto us the living God. Of a truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have destroyed nations, and all the lands of them all… Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know, that thou art the Lord the only God.

Isaias the Prophet (God) to Ezechias: I have heard the prayer thou hast made to me concerning Sennacherib king of the Assyrians… (relating the Lord thy God’s perspective on Sennacherib):  Against the holy one of Israel… they became like the grass of the field… which withered before it came to maturity… Thou hast been mad against me, and thy pride hath come up to my ears… and I will turn thee back by the way, by which thou camest…

Isaias the Prophet (God) to Ezechias: Eat this year what thou shalt find: and in the second year, such things as spring of themselves: but in the third year sow and reap: plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. And whatsoever shall be left of the house of Juda, shall take root downward, and bear fruit upward… And I will protect this city (Jerusalem), and will save it for my own sake, and for David my servant’s sake.

And it came to pass that night, that an angel of the Lord came, and slew in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And when he (Sennacherib) arose early in the morning, he saw all the bodies of the dead.

And Sennacherib king of the Assyrians departing went away… Adramelech and Sarasar his sons slew him with the sword, and they fled into the land of the Armenians, and Asarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

Make a note to self: prayer does indeed work!

In those days Ezechias was sick unto death…

Isaias the Prophet (God) to Ezechias: Give charge concerning thy house, for thou shalt die, and not live. And he (Ezechias) turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying: I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is pleasing before thee. And Ezechias wept with much weeping.

And before Isaias was gone out of the middle of the court, the word of the Lord came to him, saying: Go back, and tell Ezechias the captain of the people…

Isaias the Prophet (God) to Ezechias: I have heard thy prayer, and I have seen thy tears: and behold I have healed thee… And I will add to thy days fifteen years…

And when Isaias laid a lump of figs upon his boil, he was healed.

Isaias to Ezechias: Wilt thou that the shadow go forward ten lines, or that it go back so many degrees? … (Ezechias) let it return back ten degrees… And Isaias the prophet called upon the Lord, and he brought the shadow ten degrees backwards by the lines, by which it had already gone down in the dial of Achaz.

Highlight that note to self that prayer really does work! Not only that but some life-and-death situations are answered immediately as prayer added fifteen years to the life of Ezechias.

But then came the bad news about Babylon…

Isaias the Prophet (God) to Ezechias: Behold the days shall come, that thou all that is in thy house, and that thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day. Shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left. And of thy sons also that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, they shall take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

Ezechias to Isaias (God): The word of the Lord, which thou hast spoken, is good: let peace and truth be in my days.

And Ezechias slept with his fathers, and Manasses his son reigned in his stead.

Amazing is the trust that Ezechias has in the Lord our God!

 

While sin let to Assyria carrying Israel away the prayers of Ezechias were answered and Juda remained a sovereign country at least for the time being.

Day 131: Reading The Bible with a TROML Perspective; Assyria takes Israel; Juda’s Prayers are Answered!

Read and inspired by the Old Testament, The Fourth Book of Kings Chapters 17-20

Bible Notes:

This Book continues the history of the two hostile kingdoms, Israel and Juda, up to their captivity. The Assyrians in 722 B.C. led Israel away; the Babylonians in 586 B.C. led Juda into captivity.

4 Kings Chapter 17: Osee’s wicked reign in Israel; Salmanasar imprisons Osee; Israelites taken into captivity; Reason for the destruction of Israel; Prophets sent by God; The anger of God; Assyrians colonize Samaria; Mixture of religions in Samaria.

In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Jude, Osee the son of Ela reigned in Samaria over Israel nine years.

And he (Osee) did evil before the Lord: but not as the kings of Israel that had been before him.

Against him came up Salmanasar king of the Assyrians, and Osee became his servant, and paid him tribute… And in the ninth year of Osee, the king of the Assyrians took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria…

For it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God… and they worshipped strange gods… and the children of the Lord offended the Lord their God… provoking the Lord… and they followed vanities, and acted vainly… and they served Baal… and they gave themselves to divinations, and soothsayings: and they delivered themselves up to do evil before the Lord, to provoke him… and the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from his sight, and there remained only the tribe of Juda… and Israel was carried away out of their land to Assyria, unto this day.

And the king of the Assyrians brought people from Babylon, Cutha, Avah, Emath, and from Sepharvaim: and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel… and when they began to dwell there, they feared not the Lord: and the Lord sent lions among them, which killed them… so one of the priests who had been carries away captive from Samaria, came and dwelt in Bethel (in Samaria), and taught them how they should worship the Lord… And when they worshipped the Lord, they served also their own gods according to the custom of the nations out of which they were brought to Samaria. Unto this day they follow the old manner (the way of the nations): they fear not the Lord…

4 Kings Chapter 18: Ezechias; good reign in Juda; Israel is carried into captivity; Ezechias pays tribute to Sennacherib; Rabsaces solicits the leaders to revolt; Rabsaces asks all the people to revolt; The people ignore Rabsaces.

In the third year of Osee the son of Ela, king of Israel, reigned Ezechias the son of Achaz, king of Juda… and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem… and he did that which was good before the Lord, according to all that David his father had done… and broke the brazen serpent, which Moses had made…

He (Ezechias) trusted in the Lord the God of Israel: so that after him there was none like him among the kings of Juda, nor any of them that were before him… he behaved himself wisely. And he rebelled against the king of the Assyrians, and served him not. He smote the Philistines as far as Gaza…

In the fourteenth year of king Ezechias, Sennacherib king of the Assyrians came up against the fenced cities of Juda: and took them.

Ezechias to Sennacherib: I have offended, depart from me: and all that thou shalt put upon me, I will bear… And Ezechias gave all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the king’s treasures. At that time Ezechias broke the doors of the temple of the Lord, and the plates of gold which he had fastened on them, and gave them to the king of the Assyrians.

And the king of the Assyrians sent Tharthan and Rabsaris, and Rabsaces… to king Ezechias with a strong army to Jerusalem… and Rabsaces said to them:

…On whom dost thou trust, that thou darest to rebel (against Assyria)? Dost thou trust in Egypt?… But of you say to me: We trust in the Lord our God: Is it not he, whose high places and altars Ezechias hath taken away?… Now therefore come over to my master the king of the Assyrians… Is it without the will of the Lord that I am to come up to this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me: Go up to this land and destroy it… Let not Ezechias deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of my hand… Do not hearken to Ezechias… and you shall live, and not die…

But the people (of Juda) held their peace… and Eliacim, the scribe, and the recorder, came to Ezechias, with their garments rent, and told him the words of Rabsaces.

4 Kings Chapter 19: Ezechias asks Isaias to pray; Isaias prophesies death for Sennacherib; Rabsaces threatens Ezechias; Ezechias prays for deliverance; God’s promise to protect Jerusalem; An angel destroys the Assyrians; Sennacherib is slain by his sons.

And when the king Ezechias heard these words, he rent his garments, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. And he sent Eliacim to Isaias the prophet… and they said to him: Thus said Ezechias: This day is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: the children are come to the birth, and the woman in travail hath not strength. It may be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rabsaces… and do thou offer prayer for the remnants that are found.

Isaias: Thus saith the Lord: Be not afraid for the words which thou hast heard, with which the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me. Behold I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a message, and shall return to his own country, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own country.

Ezechias prays for deliverance:

Ezekias went up to the house of the Lord, saying: O Lord God of Israel, who sitteth upon the cherubims, thou alone art the God of all the Kings of the earth: thou madest heaven and earth, incline thy ear, and hear: open, O Lord, thy eyes, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to upbraid unto us the living God. Of a truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have destroyed nations, and all the lands of them all… Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know, that thou art the Lord the only God.

Isaias the Prophet (God) to Ezechias: I have heard the prayer thou hast made to me concerning Sennacherib king of the Assyrians… (relating the Lord thy God’s perspective on Sennacherib):  Against the holy one of Israel… they became like the grass of the field… which withered before it came to maturity… Thou hast been mad against me, and thy pride hath come up to my ears… and I will turn thee back by the way, by which thou camest…

Isaias the Prophet (God) to Ezechias: Eat this year what thou shalt find: and in the second year, such things as spring of themselves: but in the third year sow and reap: plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. And whatsoever shall be left of the house of Juda, shall take root downward, and bear fruit upward… And I will protect this city (Jerusalem), and will save it for my own sake, and for David my servant’s sake.

And it came to pass that night, that an angel of the Lord came, and slew in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And when he (Sennacherib) arose early in the morning, he saw all the bodies of the dead.

And Sennacherib king of the Assyrians departing went away… Adramelech and Sarasar his sons slew him with the sword, and they fled into the land of the Armenians, and Asarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

4 Kings Chapter 20: Isaias tells Ezechias he will die; God adds fifteen years to Ezechias’ life: The sun goes backward; Berodach Baladan sends gifts to Ezechias; Isaias predicts the Babylonian captivity; Manasses succeeds Ezechias.

In those days Ezechias was sick unto death…

Isaias the Prophet (God) to Ezechias: Give charge concerning thy house, for thou shalt die, and not live. And he (Ezechias) turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying: I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is pleasing before thee. And Ezechias wept with much weeping.

And before Isaias was gone out of the middle of the court, the word of the Lord came to him, saying: Go back, and tell Ezechias the captain of the people…

Isaias the Prophet (God) to Ezechias: I have heard thy prayer, and I have seen thy tears: and behold I have healed thee… And I will add to thy days fifteen years…

And when Isaias laid a lump of figs upon his boil, he was healed.

Isaias to Ezechias: Wilt thou that the shadow go forward ten lines, or that it go back so many degrees? … (Ezechias) let it return back ten degrees… And Isaias the prophet called upon the Lord, and he brought the shadow ten degrees backwards by the lines, by which it had already gone down in the dial of Achaz.

Isaias the Prophet (God) to Ezechias: Behold the days shall come, that thou all that is in thy house, and that thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day. Shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left. And of they sons also that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, they shall take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

Ezechias to Isaias (God): The word of the Lord, which thou hast spoken, is good: let peace and truth be in my days.

And Ezechias slept with his fathers, and Manasses his son reigned in his stead.

 

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