2 Kings 18:24
How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
The verse stands in the history of the remaining kingdom of Judah after the ten tribes had been swept away. It stands in the closing record of Kings that follows the utter breaking up of the northern kingdom of Samaria in the seventeenth chapter and hastens to the Babylonian captivity of Judah. It belongs to the eight chapters covering Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah. Five of those chapters are given to the two good kings Hezekiah and Josiah, devoted men of God notwithstanding their mistakes.
It is part of the account of the Assyrian king Sennacherib's campaign against Judah, his invasion of Palestine and siege of Jerusalem. That invasion is also described by the Assyrian cylinder. The verse records the Assyrian challenge to Judah's confidence in Egypt: Hezekiah could not turn back even one captain of the least of Assyria's servants, so putting trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen could not save them. It expresses contempt for Judah's military strength and seeks to undermine trust in Hezekiah and in Jehovah and in the Lord. The surrounding events show that deliverance came not through human military strength but through God's direct intervention, demonstrating His power over the nations and exposing the folly of trusting in human power.
The account does not support identifying the tophet of Isaiah 30:33 with the destruction of the Assyrian army, for there is no evidence that the army perished in the valley of Hinnom, and the Assyrian king returned to his own land and died there. The verse belongs to the trouble of Hezekiah that shows God is a friend to His people when they are in trouble. As Hezekiah spread the threatening letter before the Lord and prayed, so God's people may spread their troubles before God and tell Him about them. Learning lessons of faith and self-denial and how to trust God now prepares children to meet the coming time of trouble and be delivered, while the wicked will hold a great prayer meeting then and will not be delivered.