OT: The Second Book of Kings, Chapter 23

2 Kings 23:1-37

23:1-2 Josiah arranges to convene with the elders of Judah and inform all of the word of God. The book of the Covenant has been discarded and the blessed covenant itself disparaged. The coming wrath of the Lord is pressing near and heavy to the people of Judah and Josiah decides that God must no longer be ignored. The word of God is read aloud to the elders.

23:3 Josiah's pure and purposeful faith provides a haven for the kingdom of Judah. God promised not to bring calamity during Josiah's reign because of his righteous heart and in that way, temporary refuge is provided. Josiah is heartfelt words and actions, he fully intends to restore the covenant of God: 

Then the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant.

The keywords, the key effort, in Josiah's proclamation are these: keep, heart and perform. Josiah promises God that he will keep Him and His commandments near; love Him and therefore righteousness, wholeheartedly; and perform the words he speaks, he will back up what he has said with actions and deeds.

23:4-14 Immediately, Josiah proves the truth of his intentions. The king of Judah has idolatry ripped from the temple of God and the kingdom of Judah: the high places are torn down, the idols are burned, the idolatrous priests are removed, ritual and perversion are targeted and abolished. 

23:15 "Broken into pieces," pulverized," "crushed to powder." The altars are structures of corruption are emphatically, finally brought to dust. Josiah is not just going through the motions, he is emotionally, faithfully invested in this restoration. Crevices and corners are cleared of corruption as false-god worship is expunged from the kingdom.

23:16-18 The prophecy of 1 Kings 13:1-2 is fulfilled here: Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you. God knows who His righteous children are before they are born and He knows of the impact they will have on the earth. Josiah has been known by God as one who would come and challenge corruption, are you?

23:19-20 Once, Judah and Israel were combined as the House of Israel. Though the tribes have since divided into two, Josiah brings his cleansing even into the land of Israel. The high places in Samara are torn down and their corrupt priests are executed.

23:21-24 Josiah restores the Passover, the celebration of Israel's liberation from Egypt, for the first time in so many generations: 

Such a Passover surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was held before the Lord in Jerusalem.

Josiah returns the spirit of gratitude this kingdom of peoples once enslaved, now free because of God's love and loyalty. The celebration causes the people to consider and acknowledge the God who has provided everything and has received no love in return. 

23:25 Josiah's life and soul is unique and blessed: Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him. There has never been any king like him! God wants us to understand the different in the impact Josiah made and the impact Josiah's corrupt father made. A heart wholly focused on righteousness restores humanity monumentally. Amon left behind a broken kingdom, a desolate and doomed people. Josiah created, restored, and provided hope!

Through a commitment to purposeful faith, Josiah reaches the heights of a soul's potential. And so can we.

23:26-27 Nevertheless, a kingdom of corruption remained. Josiah did his best to eliminate the structures and lead-perpetrators of idolatry and corruption but a body of wicked people remained. Like Israel, God promises to deliver Judah to the reality their corruption has created: a fractured and vulnerable kingdom. They have willingly sold themselves to sin and evil and now find themselves slaves of it. God only delivers discipline to the unrepentant; Josiah does his best but he cannot force people to turn their hearts to righteousness.

23:28-30 Egypt and Assyria align in a violent campaign against Judah and Josiah is killed. Josiah has valiantly completed his purpose and now earns a return to our Father in heaven. Judah makes Josiah's son, Jehoahaz the next king.

23:31 Jehoahaz, child of Josiah and Hamutal, becomes king at twenty three and reigns for three months in Jerusalem.

23:32-34 Jehoahaz is not like his father. He is an evil man. We can understand even more why God explained that calamity would fall upon Judah after Josiah's death and righteous reign. The pharaoh of Egypt imprisons Jehoahaz and imposes a tax on Judah - indeed Judah has been claimed by evil, evil which is has chosen to serve through assimilation to its corruption. Josiah's son Eliakim is made king of Judah and Jehoahaz is taken to Egypt where he dies. 

Eliakim changes his name to Jehoiakim. The name is ironic: Eliakim means ressurection of God and Jehoiakim means raised by God. Jehoiakim is an evil man but was raised by a righteous one and therefore has a godly name. 

23:35 Jehoiakim ensures that the tax owed to pharoah is paid for not by the kingdom exactly, but by the people of Judah. He does not have the people's interests at heart.

23:36-37 Jehoiakim becomes king at twenty five and reigns eleven years in Jerusalem.

OT: The Second Book of Kings, Chapter 22

2 Kings 22:1-20

22:1-2 Josiah is eight years old as he becomes king of Judah. Born to Jedidah and Amon, Josiah chooses to live as a righteous child of God. Josiah has a naturally good and genuine heart even though he is the product of a corrupt king. Josiah is described as being a straightforward person, much like his ancestor King David. Josiah has not been raised around the word of God and yet he has a kind and righteous soul.

22:3-7 Josiah turns eighteen, the age of adulthood and he begins to make the decisions which will determine what kind of man he is. It becomes Josiah's motivation to restore the House of the Lord and to provide for the faithful laborers of the work. This presents an opportunity for each of us to ask ourselves: What am I doing for the House of the Lord? Do I restore, uphold or destroy?

The House of the Lord is more than a physical establishment. Through our faith we uphold the pillars and foundation of a lifestyle of righteousness, justice and compassion. Many kings reign in scripture and in our world today; their impact on the people they are responsible for through their position is their impact on the House of the Lord. Though we and they, may not always be conscious of our responsibility, we each make either an addition or a subtraction. 

As Jesus says in Matthew 12:30, if we are not with Him, we are against Him. Neutrality is not an option: not when people's lives are at stake. Josiah makes the decision to add to the House of the Lord, the replace what corruption has stolen from it and to restore the places evil has corroded. The House of the Lord is a symbol, then and now, for that status of our relationship - individual and collective - with God. What are our efforts in life maintaining? Status quo? Neutrality. A selfish lifestyle? Subtraction. The House of the Lord? Addition.

Josiah adequately supports the faithful restorers and so will God. God will ensure that you are provided for. He will ensure that you have the means, material and might to accomplish your addition, your purpose and impact in life. Can you be trusted as these people were? A righteous heart is given free reign by God. If God can trust you, you will be entrusted quite a lot; He will not need to monitor your choices because He will know that your heart is good. 

22:8-10 Hilkiah the high priest finds the Book of the Law in the House of the Lord. Judah has so thoroughly neglected God that this book which was intended as a beacon has to be discovered. It had to be drawn up, excavated as if it were a fossil. 

It is all the more exciting, impressive and blessed that Josiah would restore this temple: his good heart initiated the actions that would restore the word of God. This is what it means to know and be known by God. Josiah is righteous because it is just and God will always connect with such natural goodness. 

The books of Kings give us perspective we cannot see from our own lives. Through the transitions of kings on the throne, we are able to see generations pass and alter. We are able to see the difference between righteous leadership and corrupt leadership: peace and prosperity and corruption and desolation, respectively. We are able to see that selfish, corrupt motivations yield despair and calamity while selfless, righteous motivations yield joy and prosperity.

To allow the word of God, the Bible, to become an artifact in our lives is to ourselves become irrelevant. Without its wisdom and direction, the world is populated by only very few truly righteous souls. And corrupt souls are irrelevant because they are expiring and destruction leaves no legacy.

22:11-12 Josiah is read the Book of the Law and is stunned into despair. As he considers the state of the kingdom in comparison to the state it should be in according to this book, he realizes just how wayward Judah has gone. God is clear and concise about His plans to deal with and discipline corruption. Josiah is cognizant enough to know that God's warnings have now become Judah's reality.

22:13 On behalf of himself and the people of Judah, king Josiah sends Hilkiah to consult a prophet of God. Josiah astutely realizes that their situation will imminently be dealt with and he wishes to be further informed. It becomes imperative that God is finally brought into the situation. 

Recognize our gift! We are able to consult God on personal and public matters in an intimate way. The messiah delivered the temple of God within us. Because of his kingdom's corrupt and his father's neglect to lead his son to God, Josiah must consult a person who has maintained their relationship with God.

22:14-17 Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah meet with Huldah the prophetess. Huldah delivers God's message for Josiah: 

“Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Tell the man who sent you to Me, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants—all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read— because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath shall be aroused against this place and shall not be quenched.’”’

God explains that Josiah has discerned correctly: Judah's discipline is near and fierce but most importantly, deserved and necessary.

22:18-20 The aforementioned message from God is intended for the evil within Judah. God has a message for Josiah himself, who has lived righteously and sought God earnestly:

But as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, in this manner you shall speak to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Concerning the words which you have heard—because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,” says the Lord. “Surely, therefore, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring on this place.”’” So they brought back word to the king.

The righteous, Josiah specifically in this instance, are spared. The righteous are spared the hot discipline for the evil because they do not need it; they have found their way to righteousness, if not perfection, without committing corruption. None of us are perfect. All of us, even Josiah, can benefit from tweaks and alignments made by God - minor and major. But when God pours His wrath out on evil, it does not scorch the imperfect. 

OT: The Second Book of Kings, Chapter 21

2 Kings 21:1-26

21:1-2 Hezekiah's son inherits the thrown at the age of twelve and he is a horrible person. In the books of I and II Kings, men who have inherited (or stolen) the throne are frequently described as not doing what is right in the sight of the Lord. If that is not bad enough, Manasseh is described as doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord.

21:3-6 Manasseh lives and reigns directly opposite of righteous; he restores corruption to the kingdom. Manasseh rebuilds the high places Hezekiah had removed, reestablishing places for idol worship to take deeper root than ever before. Manasseh participates in human sacrifice, worships false gods and adopts the corrupt culture of the evil nations around him.

21:7-9 The House of the Lord was dreamed of by David and built by Solomon. It became a representation of God's steadfast presence with the tribes of Israel. It was intended as a symbol of an everlasting covenant, a promise from God that He would protect the land and ensure it always belonged to those faithful of him. But countless kings and now Manasseh have perverted the use of the House of the Lord. Manasseh has dedicated it to corruption, an outright dismissal of God's covenant:

“In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever; and I will not make the feet of Israel wander anymore from the land which I gave their fathers—only if they are careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them.” 

But they paid no attention, and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.

This should cause us to ask ourselves: What am I giving my attention to? In Proverbs 2:1-11, the value of paying attention to God's wisdom is expressed to us:

My son, if you receive my words,
And treasure my commands within you,
So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding;
Yes, if you cry out for discernment,
And lift up your voice for understanding,
If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
And find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;
He guards the paths of justice,
And preserves the way of His saints.
Then you will understand righteousness and justice,
Equity and every good path.

When wisdom enters your heart,
And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
Discretion will preserve you;
Understanding will keep you,
To deliver you from the way of evil,
From the man who speaks perverse things,
From those who leave the paths of uprightness
To walk in the ways of darkness;
Who rejoice in doing evil, 

The tribes of Judah and Israel have not paid attention to God's counsel and therefore they are now fully entrenched in dark paths. 

21:10-15 It becomes time for God to discipline, an essential element in God's compassionate and magnanimous rescue plan. God will allow Judah to live the life it has created for itself: tumult and destruction. God promises the cleansing with be thorough and precise. The tribes of Israel and Judah have chosen to live outside of God's sphere of peace and protection. They have withdrawn from God and will now experience the reality and vulnerability of that choice.

21:16 We can understand why God is so anger: Manasseh has attacked and killed a multitude of innocents. It is a gross and wasteful misuse of his power and position. 

21:17-18 Manasseh dies; his temporary sojourn on earth is over and he has nothing to show for his time here except destruction. Our God is a natural creator and He has given us the capacity to create as well - to create joy, friendships, opportunities, light. We waste our time on earth when we choose to oppose creation and serve destruction. 

21:19-21 Amon becomes king at tweny two and reigns two years. He is the son of a Manasseh and Meshullemeth. He is another evil king and false-god worshiper. 

21:20-24 Amon is conspired against and ousted, killed in his own house. Amon's killers are executed by the people of Judah who then place Amon's son, Josiah, as king.

21:25-26 Amon is buried in the garden of Uzza. Even though God is upset with Judah, he ensures that David's line remains in the kingship.

OT: The Second Book of Kings, Chapter 20

2 Kings 20:1-21

20:1 The prophet Isaiah informs Hezekiah of his imminent death. Hezekiah is unwell; Isaiah is sent by God to have Hezekiah prepare his household for his departure. 

20:2-3 As Isaiah leaves, Hezekiah turns over to the wall and prays to God. He asks God to remember the aspects of his life he lived righteously and loyally to God. Hezekiah weeps, pouring his heart out to God as he has this intimate, personal conversation with God about his life. 

20:4 Before Isaiah is able to get far at all, God stops the prophet. God redirects Isaiah to return to Hezekiah with an immediate answer to the weeping man's heartfelt prayer. The message from God is: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. God has a deep, unending well of compassion; when one of His children pray to Him, he hears, sees and answers. 

20:5 Through Isaiah, God tells Hezekiah to go up to the house of the Lord. He promises to add fifteen years to Hezekiah's life. In his prayer Hezekiah reviewed his life and expressed that he tried to seek first the kingdom of God in his life, and therefore God adds more to the promise: God promises to rescue the king and the city from the Assyrians and to defend them. 

In Matthew 6:33 we are told that if we seek God first, all the things we need will be naturally, automatically added to our lives. This is an extraordinary comfort to us because God knows what we need, Romans 8:26. God has decided that humans need love, joy and compassion and we can trust Him to provide them.

20:6 God has compassion on Hezekiah; God also remembers David. David who was described as a man after God's own heart, Acts 13:22. David was imperfect but God continues to remember the fierce and loyal faith and love David had for God. David's love for God drew him back up out of an abyss and God continues that pattern of restoring His children.

20:7 Isaiah instructs Hezekiah to boil figs and the ministrations help to heal Hezekiah. Perhaps Hezekiah is also spiritually sick. We know that in a moment of weak faith, he allowed fear to submit him to his enemy rather than trust in God. Figs are symbolic throughout the Bible; in the Jeremiah 24, we learn about the Parable of the Fig Tree, through which God teaches us about bearing good fruit and being weary of those who produce bad fruit. If Hezekiah, in his prayer, has expressed to God an intention to return to the good fruit bearing trees, his life and spirituality would indeed be revived. 

Hezekiah, like many people throughout generations, have allowed fear and stress and anxiety to leach years and health away from our lives. God provides the rest, the hope and the path we need to remain healthy and peaceful in mind and body. 

20:8-9 Hezekiah asks for a sign. Before the arrival of the messiah, the people of the Old Testament did not have what we now have: the Spirit of God Himself dwelling within us. Signs were more common and more acceptable because their connection with God was less immediate, less direct. God is therefore compassionate and generous in providing Hezekiah the sign he needs to continue on. 

20:8-9 God uses a sun dial to demonstrate his sign. It is impossible that a sun dial would work backward, but God enables one to do so to show Hezekiah that He can and will add time. This is specific to Hezekiah because he also had an impossible request: life added to his own. 

20:10-11 And so Isaiah cries out to God for the ability and strength to provide the sign and the sun dial is drawn backward. 

20:12-13 Hezekiah is visited by the Babylonians. The Babylonians are flattering Hezekiah in an attempt to align Judah's kingdom with their own. This is unacceptable. Hezekiah should humbly align himself with God only; instead, he entertains the Babylonians whose society is corrupt and worships false idols. Hezekiah tours his visitors all around the kingdom, symbolically leaving spaces wide open for them to infiltrate and corrupt.

20:14-15 Isaiah the prophet is aware of the visit and rhetorically inquires after the Babylonians presence to Hezekiah. Hezekiah responds that he has shown the Babylonians his entire house. Hezekiah has opened his whole self up to their flattery and has again began ingesting bad fruit. 

20:16-18 Isaiah prophesies to Hezekiah that because of his allegiance with a corrupt nation, Hezekiah's family will be carried away to Babylon. Every precious the Babylonians have been shown by Hezekiah will become their own. Hezekiah practically invited them to take it all. When we allow corruption into our lives, it grabs and takes everything in sight. Flattery and vanity lures Hezekiah toward his enemies and while he is distracted, they steal from him.

20:20 Hezekiah is not concerned about the warning; as long as it happens after him, he is relieved. Hezekiah wastes the extra time provided to him by God. When we make a request to God, we should fulfill an authentic intention to use the blessing for a good, purposeful reason. Hezekiah squanders his gift from God.

Our lives are a blessed opportunity to serve God in reverence and gratitude, to return and spread the blessing He freely gives us.

20:20-21 Hezekiah dies and his son, Manasseh becomes king.

OT: The Second Book of Kings, Chapter 19

2 Kings 19:1-37

19:1-4 In the previous chapter, the Assyrians delivered a bold and debilitating speech to the kingdom of Judah. The Assyrian commander arrogantly presented foreboding immediate future for those who would not submit to Assyria. King Hezekiah is informed of the message and panics. Hezekiah may be weak in faith, but he is not a faithless man. His response is to absorb the threat but also pray that God had listened to the speech and would be behooved to step in.

19:5-7 Servants of Hezekiah bring their prayer to the prophet Isaiah. After convening with God, Isaiah has a message from Him to Hezekiah: 

Thus says the Lord: “Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land."

God has magnanimously ensured that Judah will not be devoured by the Assyrians in the precise and impossibly way that only He can. God plans to draw the enemy out of the territory of Judah and then to eliminate him. God is both concise and thorough. 

19:8-13 God provides promise. But His promises can only be received and relied upon by faith. The commander is removed from their immediate presence but his threats are not. Rabshakeh reiterates that the Assyrians have been successful against gods of many regions and have left those nations wailing in defeat. 

This moment requires serious, steadfast faith. The Assyrians have indeed acquired many lands and have prevailed against the false gods of the people around them. The Assyrians have even prevailed against Judah's counterpart, Israel, but because of their corruption not because of any deficiency of God. Can you be convinced that your God has limits? The enemy will present deceptively compelling evidence to ensure that you can.

19:14 Hezekiah receives the awful letter from Rabshakeh and with it, he makes an interesting move. The king of Judah brings the letter to the house of the Lord and smooths the paper out before God. In effect, Hezekiah says to God: I have been presented with this letter by my enemy. I now present this letter-become-burden to you, for it is too heavy for me.

19:15 Hezekiah delivers a heartfelt plea and prayer to God: 

“O Lord God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 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 reproach the living God. Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord God, You alone.”

In this prayer, Hezekiah explains that he understands that the other nations have only fallen because of their reliance on false gods. Hezekiah acknowledges the true God's un-matchable, un-measurable strength.

19:20 God responds to Hezekiah's prayer, as He always does when we pour our hearts out to Him: Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard. Hezekiah brought his burden to God and God picks it up and claims it! Incredible. All we need to do is ask and trust Him to answer. 

And God loves nothing more than to love us. He loves to swoop into our lives on a rescue mission with indignation and might. But more than that, He loves to not have to swoop in. He loves to be invited to dwell in our lives permanently, to never even witness our defenses broken because He was trusted to remain maintaining them all along.

19:21 God has responded to Hezekiah and now He has a rebuttal, a message for the evil enemy of Judah. The people of Judah remained silent while being tormented but God does not. He begins:

‘The virgin, the daughter of Zion,
Has despised you, laughed you to scorn;
The daughter of Jerusalem
Has shaken her head behind your back!

God finds it laughable that the Assyrians would assume any power against Jerusalem, the city which represents Him. Talk about a comeback! The Assyrians tried to humiliate Judah and their God and now God tears them to shreds.

19:22 God continues:

‘Whom have you reproached and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice,
And lifted up your eyes on high?
Against the Holy One of Israel.

Do you know whom you have provoked? The Assyrians have taunted a giant, the creator of the universe. Though they boast of their might, they have never faced any entity with even a fraction of God's power. Oh, the ferocity with which God defends His children!

19:23-25 God reminds the Assyrian's of their threats against Israel and Judah:

By your messengers you have reproached the Lord,
And said: “By the multitude of my chariots
I have come up to the height of the mountains,
To the limits of Lebanon;
I will cut down its tall cedars
And its choice cypress trees;
I will enter the extremity of its borders,
To its fruitful forest. 

I have dug and drunk strange water,
And with the soles of my feet I have dried up
All the brooks of defense.”

The Assyrians have expressed an intention to cut Judah down, to dry up its defenses. God reminds them that He is the one who has created the very ground they plan to tread on to do so. You must not have been informed, God speaks, I orchestrate the events of this entire universe.

‘Did you not hear long ago
How I made it,
From ancient times that I formed it?
Now I have brought it to pass,
That you should be
For crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins.

19:26 God explains that all events occurring have been allowed to occur by Him, have been foreseen by Him.

Therefore their inhabitants had little power;
They were dismayed and confounded;
They were as the grass of the field
And the green herb,
As the grass on the housetops
And grain blighted before it is grown.

19:27 God informs the enemies of righteousness that He knows their every move, their every hiding and resting place. He knows their hearts, too. He knows the anger they harbor, the corrupt intentions.

‘But I know your dwelling place,
Your going out and your coming in,
And your rage against Me.

19:28 God is aware of the events of our lives - not only because He is omniscient but because He hears the cries of His children. Hezekiah presented the letter to God for God to read for Himself.

Because your rage against Me and your tumult
Have come up to My ears,
Therefore I will put My hook in your nose
And My bridle in your lips,
And I will turn you back

By the way which you came.

God promises that He will thwart their attempts. He will capture them with a symbolic hook; they have no power, no freedom from His justice and control. He can stop their words, their actions. He can turn them around - when they intend to march forward, He will cause them to go backward. 

19:29-31 God prophesies that the Assyrians will not be able to starve and stomp Judah. They enemy might expect that because Judah has not been able to plant for a future harvest, they will die at least of starvation, if not from an effort against the Assyrians. God ensures that they shall be provided for, by Him, and it will be a sign to the world of His presence and provision. 

Planting and harvesting are strong metaphors throughout the Bible. God promises that if we sow good seeds, we will reap good fruits. If we live with faith and compassion, our lives will yield blessings. Hezekiah came to God in faith and humility and in doing so, he sowed a future of hope for the kingdom of Judah. 

‘This shall be a sign to you:

You shall eat this year such as grows of itself,

And in the second year what springs from the same;

Also in the third year sow and reap,

Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. 

And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah

Shall again take root downward,

And bear fruit upward. 

For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant,

And those who escape from Mount Zion.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.'

19:32-33 God's specific message concerning the king of Assyria:

‘He shall not come into this city,
Nor shoot an arrow there,
Nor come before it with shield,
Nor build a siege mound against it. 

By the way that he came,
By the same shall he return;
And he shall not come into this city,’
Says the Lord.

In a grand finale, God tells the enemy king that he: will not enter the city, will not shoot even a single arrow toward the city, will not have a shield against the city, plan or carry out any siege against the city. He will leave the the way he came and will not return.

19:34  Lastly, and though He does not have to, God explains His reasoning. God rushes in with strength and defense because of a faithful covenant King of David kept alive. For one faithful child, God will forgive and rescue a nation. Judah (and Israel) have a long way to go to restore their relationship with God. They broke it, neglected it, disrespected their covenant with God. But God remains faithful. 

‘For I will defend this city, to save it

For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’”

God explains that for His own sake, as well, He will defend. Because by defending us, God is defending His heart. He has chosen to love us and therefore He chooses to act on our behalf, whether we deserve it or not. Jesus, the messiah, has come through the line of David. God remains with this city because this city will host and protect that family to ensure that the messiah comes and saves the whole world.

God does not try to buy the trust and respect of Judah or Israel. He saves the city for selfless reasons. He saves the city for the sake of compassion and righteousness. If we chose to have the same motivations in life, we uphold our covenant with God. 

19:35 God sends a host of angels to decimate the Assyrian army. It is fruitless and ridiculous for evil to assemble against righteousness. 

19:36-37 Sennacherib, king of Assyria, is killed in a symbolic way: he dies while worshiping his false god. Indeed this man does not retain his live on earth because he did not follow the true and righteous God. 

OT: The Second Book of Kings, Chapter 18

2 Kings 18:1-37

18:1-3 Hezekiah becomes king at twenty-five and remains so for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. Hezekiah is a faithful king to God and Judah, he does what is right in the sight of the Lord. This one comment describes Hezekiah's character: a compassionate heart for God's children and a loyal heart to God's philosophy and law.

18:4 Hezekiah has the high places removed and breaks the pillars devoted to false gods and idols. He even breaks Moses' bronze serpent, Numbers 21:4-9, because the people have named it worshiped it as a god named Nehushtan.

18:5-6 Most importantly, Hezekiah trusts in the Lord. In the line of Judah's kings, Hezekiah is highlighted as the most faithful. Hezekiah's trust in God opened wide the tunnel of faith through which blessings and protection from God arrive. "He held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but he kept His commandments..." This king of Judah clings to God, Joshua 23:8. In order to cling to God, we place Him in every place and position of authority in our lives: friend and counselor, leader and provider, protector and defender, King Most High.

18:7-8 Because Hezekiah chooses to walk with God, God is with him wherever he goes. From such close proximity, the protection and blessing of God is instant, direct, fierce. Hezekiah is made able to subdue the king of Assyria rather than serve him. Concurrently, Judah is able to withstand and subdue the Philistines as well from an alert watchtower and fortified city. 

18:9-12 While Judah prospers because of faithfulness to righteousness, Israel crumbles because of their corruption. Judah subdues Assyria but Israel submits to it. The kingdom of Israel neglected God and rejected His counsel and it left them unable to fend off their enemies. 

18:13 But Hezekiah fails a test of faith. Several years later, Assyria redoubles its efforts to claim Judah and Hezekiah's faith in God decreases. Under pressure, fear convinces Hezekiah that God has limits (though He does not) and Hezekiah sells himself to Assyria. From the perspective of fear, everything is painted impossible, desolate, final. God's children must have faith in His eventual, inevitable ability to heal, restore and protect. Sometimes people do not see a door of escape and perhaps there isn't one but for His children, God will make one. What did not exist before is brought into existence by the one who goes impossible lengths to protect and love us. 

18:17-21 Assyria mocks Hezekiah's attempted alliance with Egypt. 

18:22-25 The rabshakeh, commander of Assyria, assumes that Hezekiah's removal of the high places was an act against God. He therefore feels even more emboldened against Judah. It is Assyria's hope that Judah will give up, in weakness, to defeat without even engaging in a war.

18:26-27 The leaders of Judah's government ask the Assyrians to speak in a language their people will not understand. For the Assyrians are mocking, humiliating and discouraging the kingdom. But the Assyrian commander wishes to address and intimidate all of Judah, not just the leaders of its government. 

18:28-30 In fact, the request causes the commander to directly address the people. He tells the people of Judah not to put their faith in Hezekiah, convincing them of his inability to rescue and defend their kingdom from this impending onslaught. 

He even tells the people not to trust in Hezekiah's promise that the Lord will deliver them. The kingdom of Judah is in a precarious position; until now, they have not trusted in God and now their enemy tries to reinforce that decision - their only hope and saving grace is presented to them like a false and useless thing.

18:31-35 In Matthew 4, Jesus is tempted in the wilderness by Satan. Satan promises Jesus many things in an attempt to force Jesus to submit to his deceptive will. Here, the commander makes similar grand promises to the people of Judah if they will choose to follow their enemy. Evil will always twist the facts to provide false evidence to convince you. The commander points out the Assyria has been able to capture other lands and dominate over their gods. He tells Judah that Israel was captured because of Assyria's might against God. But this is not true. Israel was weakened and vulnerable because they walked out of God's defenses, not because God lost or walked away from His duty to protect. Ultimately, the Assyrian's intention is to render Judah hopeless. 

If the people of Judah decide to believe the commanders twisted words, they too will walk out of God's protection. Assyria will increase in pride and arrogance, falsely believing that it has outlasted God. 

18:36 The people are commanded not to answer the Assyrian and so they remain silent. And really, nothing needs to be said. We do not have to engage in argument with our enemies; it is our faith which speaks and acts for us.

18:37 Eliakim, servant of the government of Judah, returns to Hezekiah distraught. Had he been a faithful man, the mocking speech of the commander would not have had any bite or weight. Because the evil and mighty can boast, but their power is insignificant when matched against God.  

OT: The Second Book of Kings, Chapter 17

2 Kings 17:1-41

17:1-4 Hoshea reigns in Israel for nine years. He is an evil king, he does not request or heed the counsel of God. Hoshea and the kingdom of Israel are in a difficult position of their own making. They are too weak to stand and defend themselves on their own, so Hoshea pays the king of Assyria to protect them; essentially he sells the kingdom to an enemy. The king of Assyria discovers that Hoshea is plotting against him, has not been paying, and therefore has him captured and put into prison. 

Hoshea has already made his life like a prison: he is slave to the constant fear of losing the kingdom. He has no contentment, no rest or security because he has been living neither wisely nor righteously. By ignoring the counsel of God and living in direct opposition of his philosophy, Hoshea is forced to eat the fruits of his own labor. 

Proverbs 1:5-7A wise man will hear and increase learning,
And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel,
To understand a proverb and an enigma,
The words of the wise and their riddles.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
But fools despise wisdom and instruction. 

Proverbs 1:25-25Because I have called and you refused,
I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,
Because you disdained all my counsel,
And would have none of my rebuke, 

Proverbs 28-33Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the Lord,
They would have none of my counsel
And despised my every rebuke.
Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way,
And be filled to the full with their own fancies.
For the turning away of the simple will slay them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them;
But whoever listens to me will dwell safely,
And will be secure, without fear of evil.

In the midst of the proverb is God's offer to pour blessing and wisdom into us if we are willing to allow Him to lead - and discipline - us.

Proverb 1:23Turn at my rebuke;
Surely I will pour out my spirit on you;
I will make my words known to you.

If we are willing to listen, God is willing to help us to learn. 

17:5-6 The king of Assyria has capture Israel's king; there is no longer a barrier between him an conquering this entire kingdom. For three years, Assyria forces Samaria into submission until they control the city. The Israelites are pulled from their land to be taken as property of Assyria. 

17:7-12 The people of Israel did not have the protection of God because they forfeited it. Though this capture can be considered punishment or discipline, ultimately, the people of Israel chose their fate. They put their trust in false idols and those inanimate things were unable to rescue or even care for them. God offers blessings of peace and mercy and joy but so often in the world, people want fame and wealth and power. The children of Israel turned to false gods to pray for things God had declared invaluable. It is amazing how much - yet how little - has changed in our world today.

17:13-14 But God does not let go of this people. He made a promise, a covenant with Abraham to guide this people in an everlasting effort to love and save all of humanity. God chose this people because they were weak and small, Deuteronomy 7:7; He anticipated their brokenness. He exerts magnanimity and extreme patience in sending prophets and righteous people to plead with and counsel Israel and Judah: "Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets."

But the prophet's advice falls on deaf ears. This is a precise example of what God means when it was stated in Jeremiah 5:21 Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear. 

17:15 The people rejected God. In a vehement refusal to change their hearts and receive the discipline to do so, the prophets are ignored. God generously provides a path and a wisdom for each of us, each day, but if we stubbornly refuse to listen, God cannot rescue us from the quagmire. 

The people of Israel and Judah allowed the way of the world to infiltrate their lives and suffocate their faith. God calls us to be different than our world which values what He has declared cheap. We must not assimilate to corruption when perfection has offered us an inheritance. The Bible preaches a message that is opposed from what we learn from the world: integrity is born of humility, wealth of charity and honor of compassion. 

17:16-18 They sold themselves to do evil. In Genesis 4:7 God speaks to Cain: "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it." God declares plan and simple that evil desires to have us. It actively pursues and tempts us into submission. When we reject God, we walk right into our slave-master's hands. 

God is described here to be very angry. This is a heartbroken and frustrated anger. Why will they not allow God to help them? He loves us so much; it pains Him to allow us to walk away but he refuses to treat us like slaves. Unlike evil, He will not force Himself into our lives if He is unwanted. 

17:19-23 With a heavy heart, God relinquishes Israel and Judah to their captors - a corrupt king of their own, and the corrupt king of another nation, Assyria. Life did not have to be as it was. They could have been free and prosperous but they were unfaithful to the One who could consistently provide those things. 

17:24 Assyria takes possession of Samaria and plants its own people in the cities. 

17:24-28 The Assyrians have a difficult time settling the land. They figure that their difficulty stems from dwelling in a land whose Master they do not know. The king of Syria sends for a priest of Israel to teach these new inhabitants of Samaria the way of God. But they king does not request the priest's services because he wants to change or to be better; he merely wants to conquer this land without resistance. 

17:29-33 Unsurprisingly, once taught, the Assyrians disregard the priest's lessons. Though the Assyrians are aware of the presence and power of the Israelites' God, they continue to serve their own idols. This is the worst sin there is: to know about God but to reject him anyway. Because only true evil would ever reject righteousness. Matthew 12:31 And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

17:34-39 In Genesis, God proffered a beautiful covenant with the children of Jacob: the twelve tribes which would become Israel and Judah: 

“You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them; but the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall offer sacrifice. And the statutes, the ordinances, the law, and the commandment which He wrote for you, you shall be careful to observe forever; you shall not fear other gods. And the covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods. But the Lord your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.”

God's instruction is simple: follow me and live righteously and I will remain with you and protect you forever. Yet humanity, then and now, still wrestles with such an easy choice! Such a gracious offer.

17:40-41 The people of Israel and Judah remain on a trajectory of faithlessness and corruption. Their example should cause us to ask ourselves: why am I allowing sin to court and claim me when I already belong to the Lord?