In Second Kings, chapter twenty-one, verse nine, during his long reign of fifty-five years, Manasseh plunged Judah into its darkest era of idolatry. This wicked king had nothing but contempt for the God of his father, Hezekiah. He led God’s people into greater evil than the pagan nations that Joshua had destroyed. Why did God …
In Second Kings, chapter twenty, verse seventeen, the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prediction of Judah’s exile unto Babylon was about one hundred and fifteen years later, when Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon, destroyed Jerusalem, stripped the land and temple of all their riches and took the people of Judah away as captives to his nation, as in …
In Second Kings, chapter nineteen, verse nineteen, Hezekiah’s prayer for the glory of God and the vindication of His ways and purposes in history manifests the highest desire of all who love the Lord. Moses, in Exodus thirty-two, verse twelve, Numbers fourteen, verses thirteen through sixteen, and Deuteronomy nine, verses twenty-six to twenty-nine, and David …
In Second Kings, chapter nineteen, verse fifteen, Hezekiah took the defiant letter that demanded Jerusalem’s surrender, spread it out before the Lord, and prayed earnestly to Him. Hezekiah received the letter and went up into the house of the Lord. After reading it, he hastened into the temple, spread it in the childlike confidence of …
In Second Kings, chapter nineteen, verse one, Hezekiah had great confidence in God as in chapter eighteen, verse five. Faced with the threat of the Assyrians in the same chapter from verses seventeen through thirty-seven and horrified at the mockery of the Lord in verses thirty to thirty-five, he turned to God. Hezekiah petitioned Isaiah …
In Second Kings, chapter eighteen, verse thirty, for an unspecified reason, King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded Judah with a large army and besieged Jerusalem. The Assyrian generals sought to intimidate Hezekiah and all of Jerusalem by defiantly belittling the Lord and mocking the people’s trust in Him. The blasphemy against God resulted in an angelic …
In Second Kings, chapter eighteen, verse thirteen, the Assyrian king Sennacherib responded to Judah’s rebellion by capturing many of its important cities. His records indicate that he took forty-six walled cities and took two hundred thousand one hundred and forty-six people captive, probably to Babylon to replace the two hundred and eight thousand people he …
In Second Kings, chapter eighteen, verse seven, at this time in Judah’s history, the southern kingdom was required to pay an annual tribute. Hezekiah identified with the international conspiracy against Assyria and refused to pay any more money. The result of this attempt at independence is from chapter eighteen, verse thirteen through chapter nineteen, verse …
In Second Kings, chapter eighteen, verse five, after the fall of Samaria and the northern kingdom, the history of Judah continues for the southern kingdom. The beginning of the reign of Hezekiah: He is one of the best kings Judah ever had because of his trust in and reliance upon God. Hezekiah trusted deeply in …
In Second Kings, chapter seventeen, verse twenty-four, the King of Assyria imported foreign captives to inhabit the cities of Samaria. The city is the entire northern kingdom to destroy any remaining nationalism. Intermarriage between Israelites not taken to Assyria and foreigners brought to the land of Israel produced the people called the “Samaritans.” The result …
