2 Chronicles 32:8, commentary and pictures

Spoken when the armies of Assyria were invading Judah and Jerusalem seemed beyond saving from utter destruction, after Judah had done all that human effort could do to prepare for a siege, Hezekiah rallied his men to resist with unfailing courage and to trust in Jehovah to deliver. It means there are more with God's people than with the king of Assyria and his multitude, because with him is only human strength and an arm of flesh, while with them is the Lord God to help them and to fight their battles. His confidence rested not on the strength of defenses but on God's promise and prophecy that Assyria, though used for a time to punish nations, would not prevail forever but would be defeated, and his words strengthened faith so the people rested upon his assurance and had nothing to fear. In general it teaches that human strength is only an arm of flesh and is not a sure support, while the Lord God is with His people to help and defend them by His Holy Spirit, so those who love Him keep His promises in mind and do not lean on the flesh. Receiving that unlimited help in times of danger, trial, and perplexity requires increased and decided trust that empties the heart of all self-sufficiency and self-confidence, exalts the Lord alone, and places helpless lives in the care of the Lord Jesus rather than making human beings the chief support.

Hezekiah Faces Assyrian Invasion

The words were spoken when the armies of Assyria were invading Judah and Jerusalem seemed beyond saving from utter destruction and close to falling. After Judah had done all that human effort could do to prepare Jerusalem for a siege, Hezekiah rallied the men of Judah to resist their heathen oppressors with unfailing courage and to trust in the power of Jehovah to deliver. He declared that God would help His people and fight their battles.

The meaning is that there are more with God's people than with the king of Assyria and his multitude, because with Assyria is only human strength and an arm of flesh, while with Judah is the Lord God to help them and to fight their battles. Hezekiah's confidence rested on God's promise and prophecy against Assyria, that though Assyria was used for a time to punish nations it would not prevail forever but would ultimately be defeated. Judah's confidence therefore rested on God's promised deliverance and not on the strength of its defenses.

Hezekiah rested his soul on God, confident that the prophecy against Assyria would be fulfilled. His words strengthened the people's faith, so that they rested upon his assurance and found confidence to trust in Jehovah. That trust left them with nothing to fear despite Assyria's victories and threats against Jerusalem and the power of its armies.

Trusting God Over Human Strength

Human strength is only an arm of flesh and is no sure support, while the Lord God is with His people to help them, defend them, and fight their battles by His Holy Spirit, so those who love God trust Him, keep His promises in mind, and do not lean on the arm of flesh. In times of danger, trial, and perplexity, trust in the living God brings confidence that He is near, will guide what steps to take, will reveal His power and glory, and will give wisdom and light, so helpless lives should be placed in the care of the Lord Jesus rather than making human beings the chief support. Depending on human help lets unbelief enter and weakens faith, so difficulties are to be brought to God, His guidance sought, and His dependability trusted to give light to the heart.

Receiving God's unlimited help to fight battles requires increased faith and decided trust, emptying the heart of all self-sufficiency and self-confidence, exalting the Lord alone, looking with distrust on one's own work, and educating the mind to contemplate heavenly things. Making the arm of flesh a continual dependence for success in the church is forbidden, whether by depending largely on man or on supposed capabilities, education, knowledge, and natural or acquired smartness, for that eclipses the Lord God who is All-power. He can help and will help, and longs to manifest Himself to every neglected, cast-down soul who feels weak in moral power.

That neglected soul must rely with unwavering confidence on the Word of God. The individual Christian grows in grace just in proportion as he depends not on his own smartness but on the teachings and leadings of the Holy Spirit and trains his mind by contemplation and earnest prayer to the heavenly Father for guidance and instruction in righteousness. A church has genuine piety and genuine faith in the manifestations and efficiency of the Holy Spirit, and every member is vigorous and fruitful, in that same proportion as each honors the Father as a personal God who made man in His own image and likeness. To trust in an arm of flesh is for a church to lean upon some favorite minister, which is unsafe because even men of renown and rulers in Israel became rebellious murmurers who turned against God's providential leadings and fiercely tore down what they had once zealously built up, while God's arm alone can uphold all who lean upon it.

Forsaking God to trust in human help brings His displeasure and brings reproach and judgments upon His cause. His people must therefore put away contention and differences, stop appealing to outside parties to decide questions for them, be converted, humble their hearts before Him, crucify self, take hold of the Lord, fast and pray with broken and contrite heart, learn the science of faith, and seek Him while He may be found, so He will be able to help them. God's people should not trust human agencies to prevail but should watch, pray, and depend on the Lord to work by His Holy Spirit against opposing movements. God's appointed medical missionaries and gospel workers must stay wide-awake, be on guard, protest, counterwork, and pray earnestly for God to counteract such movements.

To trust in the arm of flesh is to bind oneself by contract to human agencies, to engage in commerce in God's institutions after the manner of the world, to make the laws of the land a defense, and to cherish lax principles and follow worldly methods. Those who opposed taking the publishing work from Battle Creek illustrate this by trusting their own human devising and the arm of the law, so their strength is not in the Lord God of Israel and their work is not carried on in harmony with His will, while those enlightened by the Spirit have the Lord with them when they move forward in obedience to His will relying wholly upon Him. When God's workers sleep instead of doing this duty, the enemy establishes himself in their midst, the church is enfeebled and its usefulness impaired, and those who trust in the arm of flesh are left in the hands of the enemy to be spoiled either through success or through failure.

Solomon's alliances brought wealth but led to ruin and illustrate joining strength to the arm of flesh contrary to God's command to remain separate from other nations and from the world and its influences, so safety lies in obeying God's word and God's people must not seek money for God's work through partnerships with unbelievers. Ahaz's appeal to Assyria illustrates the same danger of trusting the arm of flesh, for the aid brought temporary relief but stirred Assyria's greed and left Judah threatened by the power it had called on. Turning from God to mediums or other human agents for healing is also trusting the arm of flesh rather than the true source of help, so people should trust the living God, correct the errors that have harmed their health, ask for His blessing, and call on Him in trouble, for God waits to be gracious. Human strength cannot save while God is mighty to help and save, as seen in trusting God to spare Thomas Meade from grave illness despite appearances that his case was hopeless.