Thursday
Evening Bible Study
March
21, 2013
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk
– Meat – Manna Preach for a decision Is the church loved?
After the death
of King Solomon, the
kingdom of Israel split into two nations.
The northern
kingdom would be known as “Israel”.
The southern
kingdom was known as “Judah”.
We’ve now entered
that part of history where the northern kingdom has been wiped out and
scattered through the Assyrian empire.
18:1-16 Hezekiah’s
Reforms
:1 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of
Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.
:2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned
twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter
of Zechariah.
:2 he reigned twenty-nine years
Hezekiah was a co-regent with his
father Ahaz for 15 years, and with his son Manasseh for 11 years.
:3 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father
David had done.
Hezekiah was a good, good king. One
of the few.
:3 he did what was right
There are only three other kings of
Judah that have this claim made about them:
Asa (1Ki 15:11), Jehoshaphat (2Chr.
17:3), Josiah (2Ki 22:2)
:4 He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down
the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made;
for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it
Nehushtan.
:4 removed the high
places
You get a much
fuller list of the things he did in 2Chronicles 29-30
He cleaned,
repaired, and refurbished the Temple.
He reinstituted
the ritual sacrifices.
He brought the
Priests and Levites back to work.
He gathered the
people together to celebrate a Passover.
It hadn’t been celebrated as fully as this since the time of Solomon
(2Chr. 30:26).
In addition to
the restoration of the proper worship of Yahweh, Hezekiah destroyed all
idolatry and even destroyed the “high places”, some of which may have been for
the worship of Yahweh, but of which God had wanted destroyed. God only wanted to be worshipped at the Temple in Jerusalem (Deut. 12).
:4 pillars … wooden
image …
These would be
the idols related to Baal and Asherah
:4 the bronze
serpent
In Numbers 21
we have a story where the people had been complaining about their food and
water and God responded by sending “fiery serpents” to bite the people. People began to die. When the people cried to Moses for help, God told Moses to make
a brass serpent, put it up on a pole, and if the people would look to the brass
serpent after being bitten, they would not die.
(Nu 21:5–9 NKJV) —5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why
have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is
no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” 6 So the Lord
sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the
people of Israel died. 7 Therefore
the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against
the Lord and against you; pray to
the Lord that He take away the
serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 Then the Lord
said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall
be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so
it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent,
he lived.
Originally, this was meant to be a lesson of faith. Jesus said,
(Jn 3:14–15 NKJV) —14
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal
life.
This
was to be an illustration of how He would be lifted up on a cross, and
people would need to look up and believe in Him in order to be saved:
Yet as time wore
on, the brass serpent became another “good luck charm” that the people began to worship.
Hezekiah had a true relationship with the Lord and he could tell that the
people were way off in worshipping this “thing of brass”. So he destroyed it.
Nehushtan
– “a thing of brass”
Lesson
Brass Rabbit’s Foot
God will sometimes use “things” in our lives.
Sometimes it’s a “thing of brass”.
Sometimes it’s a person.
But if we’re not careful, we can allow that thing or that person to be our
“lucky rabbit’s foot”.
Don’t get confused and think that the “thing of brass” is anything special.
God is special. He is
the one we look to.
I think that sometimes God will work in our lives to remove the things we
get sentimental about in order to get us back on track and focus on Him.
:5 He trusted
in the Lord God of Israel, so
that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were
before him.
:6 For he held fast to the Lord;
he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses.
:6 he did not depart from
following Him
One of the greatest things about Hezekiah is that he not only started well,
but he finished well as well.
He started his reign trusting the
Lord, and he ended his reign trusting the Lord.
He didn’t fall away.
:7 The Lord was with him; he
prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did
not serve him.
:7 rebelled against
the king of Assyria
Hezekiah’s father, Ahaz, had made a treaty with the Assyrians. Hezekiah rebels.
History tells
us he made an alliance was with the Phoenicians in the north (Tyre), the Philistines,
and Egypt.
When Sennacherib replaced his father Sargon II, Hezekiah decided to
rebel and join an alliance with neighboring nations.
He did not pay any more taxes to the Assyrians.
:8 He subdued
the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified
city.
:8 subdued the Philistines
Play Philistine
map clip
The Philistines were the same ancient enemies that David fought with.
The five main Philistine cities were down on the coastal plan west of
Jerusalem. Gaza is the furthest south of
the Philistine cities.
:9 Now it came
to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year
of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of
Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.
:10 And at the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of
Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was
taken.
:11 Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and
put them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of
the Medes,
:12 because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant and all
that Moses the servant of the Lord
had commanded; and they would neither hear nor do them.
:11 carried Israel
away captive to Assyria
Hezekiah was
ruling in the southern kingdom when the northern kingdom is swept away by the
Assyrians. The year is 722BC
Play Assyrian
Captivity map clip
These are places in modern Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Azerbaijan.
:13 And in the
fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up
against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
:13 Sennacherib
king of Assyria came up
The following
section is repeated in Isaiah 36-37.
Sennacherib’s
own history records that he conquered 46 strong cities belonging to Hezekiah as
well as many villages.
Lesson
Tough times come to good people
Be careful of thinking that because God was with Hezekiah and he was
“prospering”, that he would not have any difficult times.
Difficult times come to all of us.
The real test of whether or not your relationship with the Lord is worth
anything is how you do in the tough times.
It’s in the tough times that our faith is stretched, refined, and matured.
(Jas 1:2–4 NKJV) —2 My
brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the
testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect
work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
:14 Then Hezekiah
king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done
wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay.” And the king
of Assyria assessed Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and
thirty talents of gold.
:14 Lachish
Play Lachish
map clip
The siege of Lachish is found in the inscriptions in the king’s palace at
Nineveh.
He then set up Lachish
as a sort of temporary field headquarters.
:15 So Hezekiah
gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the
king’s house.
:16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the
temple of the Lord, and from
the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king
of Assyria.
:14 silver and …gold
At this point, Hezekiah doesn’t think he can take on Sennacherib, so he
pays him off.
11 tons of silver
and 1 ton of gold
In the inscriptions in Nineveh, Sennacherib claims that the tribute
also included precious stones, inlaid couches and chairs, elephant hides, and
even Hezekiah’s own daughters, women of the palace, and musicians.
None of this is
going to be enough to satisfy Sennacherib, he wants total surrender from
Hezekiah. He wants to deport Hezekiah’s
people.
18:17-37 The Assyrian Threat
:17 Then the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and
the Rabshakeh from Lachish, with a great army against Jerusalem, to King
Hezekiah. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they
went and stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool, which was on the
highway to the Fuller’s Field.
:17 Tartan …
Rabsaris … Rabshakeh
It is thought
that these are men’s titles, rather than their names. Rabshakeh is the one in charge.
Tartan – field marshal, general, or commander
Rabsaris – chief eunuch
Rabshakeh – chief cupbearer, chief of the officers; This
was the main guy in charge.
:17 the Fuller’s
Field
A busy place, just outside
the walls of the city, where the people went to wash their clothes (like the
neighborhood Laundromat)
:18 And when they
had called to the king, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the
household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out
to them.
The Assyrians want to talk to Hezekiah, but he sends a delegation to
negotiate for him.
Hezekiah isn’t going to appear to
be a lowly, powerless king, who only gets to talk to the servants of the great
Assyrian king. Instead he matches Sennacherib person for person by sending out
three of his own officials.
:19 Then the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus
says the great king, the king of Assyria: “What confidence is this in
which you trust?
:20 You speak of having plans and power for war; but they are
mere words. And in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?
:21 Now look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on
which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is
Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
:21 in the staff of
this broken reed, Egypt
The Egyptians are the only member of the alliance still undefeated beside
Hezekiah.
The Assyrians promise that Egypt isn’t going to help, but it too will fall
and only hurt them.
Rabshakeh is correct.
At this time, Egypt was not a
strong nation, and would be an undependable ally.
If you are trusting only in people, you will be hurt.
If you are expecting your friends
to always come through for you, you will be disappointed.
If you are expecting people whom
you admire to always be there for you or to come up with the help you need, you
will be disappointed.
But he’s distorting the truth.
The truth is that though Egypt is an ally, Hezekiah is not trusting in
Egypt to deliver them. He’s trusting the
Lord.
Lesson
Distortion
The enemy will distort the truth.
We get the feeling that the only things that Satan speaks are lies. He
is the “father of lies”.
But much of what Satan uses is the truth, and that’s what’s so
difficult in our warfare.
But what he does is to hide a pint of poison in that lake of truth
you’ve just swallowed. And the poison is strong enough to kill you.
Example:
The enemy will try to discourage you with condemnation:
“You
dirty, rotten sinner. Now God can never
use you again.”
The truth: You are a dirty, rotten sinner.
The lie: God can’t
use you.
The truth is, God forgives sinners. The truth is, the only people God uses are
sinners.
Just because there is some truth in what someone says doesn’t make it
right.
:22 But if you
say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord
our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has
taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this
altar in Jerusalem’?” ’
:22 whose altars
Hezekiah has taken away
Rabshakeh is saying that Yahweh must be pretty upset because Hezekiah has
torn down all the extra altars in the high places. And that means that Yahweh isn’t going to
help the people.
It is true that Hezekiah has torn down the high places. But this is exactly what God had wanted
Hezekiah to do (Deut. 12).
God isn’t upset
with Hezekiah, God is pleased with Hezekiah.
Hezekiah is the first king to come along since the building of the
temple to actually do the very thing that God had wanted, to remove all the
extra stuff and keep the worship pure and directed by God.
Yet for those people who weren’t grounded in God’s Word, and didn’t
realize that instead of being disobedient, Hezekiah was actually pleasing God,
this could sound like a good argument.
It’s kind of funny that Rabshakeh’s argument is meant to scare
Hezekiah, when it’s actually a reminder that he’s been doing the right thing.
:23 Now therefore,
I urge you, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you
two thousand horses—if you are able on your part to put riders on them!
:24 How then will you repel one captain of the least of my master’s
servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
:23 I will give you two thousand horses
He’s saying that Hezekiah’s army is so weak that even if the Assyrians were
to help arm Hezekiah by giving them 2,000 horses, they still wouldn’t be any
kind of a threat to the Assyrians.
:25 Have I now come up without the Lord
against this place to destroy it? The Lord
said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’ ”
:25 The Lord said to me
The worst of all – he is claiming that God (Yahweh) has sent them to
destroy Jerusalem.
Actually, this is not totally impossible.
God had used the Assyrians to bring judgment on Samaria.
But Samaria was in rebellion against God, Jerusalem was
following God.
Lesson
Discernment
Sometimes people claim to speak for God, but they are not telling the
truth.
People can give good “impressions” of God.
Just because a
person says, “God told me …” doesn’t mean it’s true – they could be trying to
do an “impression” of God.
Yes, I do believe that God can speak today to us, personally, even through
people.
But we are to
“test the spirits” to see if they be from God (1John 4:1)
(1 Co 14:29 NKJV) Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.
If a person wants to claim that God has spoken to them,
then they MUST also allow others to “judge” the prophecy, to tell whether or
not they agree with it.
Sometimes people use the “God told me” phrase just to get you to stop
questioning what they’re doing or saying.
Sometimes they want you to go along with their program, like Rabshakeh.
The best tool we have to help us test is the Word of God, the Bible. It is the One Source where we know God has spoken.
God will not contradict Himself with what He’s already revealed in
Scripture.
(2 Ti 3:16–17 NKJV) —16 All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God
may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
:26 Then Eliakim
the son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please
speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not
speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”
:27 But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to your
master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall,
who will eat and drink their own waste with you?”
:27 the men who sit
on the wall
Hezekiah’s men ask that the negotiations be done in Aramaic, so the people
on the wall wouldn’t follow what was being said.
But the Rabshakeh wants to discourage the people and force them to surrender.
(2 Ch 32:18 NLT) The Assyrian officials who brought the letters shouted this in
Hebrew to the people gathered on the walls of the city, trying to terrify them so it
would be easier to capture the city.
Lesson
Fear
The enemy’s greatest weapon is fear.
His greatest tactic to keep us from doing the right thing is to make us
afraid.
That’s why the Scripture says:
(1 Pe 5:8 NKJV) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about
like a roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour.
A lion roars and terrorizes its prey into freezing.
Sometimes when we go through difficult times, it’s our fears that cause the
most damage, not the actual event itself.
God has two words to answer our fears.
1. Trust
God’s answer to fear is trust.
The Scripture says:
(Is 12:2 NKJV) Behold,
God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; ‘For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my
salvation.’ ”
God wants you to learn to put your life in His hands. You are safe in His hands. No matter what happens.
2. Love
God’s other answer to fear is love.
(1 Jn 4:18 NKJV) There is
no fear in love; but perfect
love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has
not been made perfect in love.
We have nothing to be afraid of because God loves us. If you are afraid, run to Jesus. Let Him love you.
:27 who will eat
and drink their own waste
When a city is
under siege, the first priority for the inhabitants is to have water.
What Rabshakeh may be unaware of is that Hezekiah has already solved the
water issue.
Back when Sennacherib had taken the
other fortified cities of Judah, he realized he needed to get prepared in case
Sennacherib came against Jerusalem.
(2 Ch 32:2–4 NKJV) —2 And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that
his purpose was to make war against Jerusalem, 3 he consulted with his leaders and commanders to stop the
water from the springs which were outside the city; and they helped him.
4 Thus many people gathered together who
stopped all the springs and the brook that ran through the land, saying, “Why
should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?”
Hezekiah had covered up all the springs of water, and also oversaw one of
the most amazing engineering feats of ancient times. His workers dug a tunnel 1700 feet long, dug
through solid rock, dug by two teams digging from opposite ends. They brought fresh water inside Jerusalem’s
walls. They would not go without water.
Play Hezekiah’s
Tunnel video clip
:28 Then the
Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in Hebrew, and spoke,
saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria!
:29 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not
be able to deliver you from his hand;
:30 nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord
will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king
of Assyria.” ’
:31 Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make peace
with me by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own
vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters
of his own cistern;
:32 until I come
and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a
land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive groves and honey, that you may
live and not die. But do not listen to Hezekiah, lest he persuade you, saying,
“The Lord will deliver us.”
:31 Make peace
with me
If the people would just surrender, then the Assyrians will go away, and life
will go on like normal.
Lesson
Giving in doesn’t make it easier
The enemy has long been in the business of promising rewards if we just
surrender to him:
(Mt 4:8–10 NKJV) —8 Again, the
devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the
kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I
will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with
you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you
shall serve.’ ”
It’s kind of like when Satan whispers in your ear, “Just give in to this
temptation, and everything will go back to being normal again...”
Yes, the pressure may be off for a while, at least until he shows up to
tempt you again.
:32 take you away
This is what
the Assyrians did to conquered people.
They moved them far away to break their nationalistic pride and spirit and
mixed them in with other conquered peoples.
The northern kingdom had already been hauled off far, far away.
:33 Has any of
the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of
Assyria?
:34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the
gods of Sepharvaim and Hena and Ivah? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from
my hand?
:34 Hamath and Arpad …
These are the nations and cities that the Assyrians have already wiped out. Everyone knows that they are unstoppable.
Sennacharib wants them to surrender
without him having to fire a single shot (or a single arrow).
:35 Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from
my hand, that the Lord should
deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ”
:36 But the people held their peace and answered him not a word; for the
king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.”
:37 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household,
Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah
with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
:37 came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn
Hezekiah can tell that the news isn’t good.
:36 Do not answer
him
Lesson
Mouth shut
Be careful about playing the enemy’s game.
Sometimes it’s best to just keep your mouth shut.
(Pr 26:4 NKJV) Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Lest you also be like
him.