Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand:
The verse stands in 2 Kings 17-18, to be read with Psalm 143, within the history of Judah as the remaining kingdom after the ten tribes were swept away and completely subverted in B.C. 721-722, continuing the sad story of transgression, war, strife, defeat, captivity, conspiracy, and defeat under the kings of Israel and Judah. It belongs to the account of Sennacherib's invasion of Palestine and siege of Jerusalem, an event also recorded on an Assyrian cylinder whose account confirms the biblical history.
The verse records Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, speaking to Jerusalem to discredit Hezekiah and persuade and frighten the people into surrender by claiming that Hezekiah could not rescue them from Assyria's power. The claim that their God could not deliver them was blasphemous presumption, mistaking God's withdrawal of protection from the northern kingdom for weakness. His words also wrongly treated the God of Jerusalem as powerless like the handmade gods of other nations.
The verse belongs to the record of Hezekiah's reign, and Hezekiah was a good king and devoted man of God notwithstanding his mistakes, but his mistake exalted man, aroused the cupidity of Babylon, and brought captivity upon his own seed. The Assyrian threat and insult did not prevail; Hezekiah with Isaiah prayed, with Hezekiah spreading the threatening letter before the Lord and praying the prayer in 2 Kings 19:15-19, and God delivered Jerusalem. The story shows that God is a friend to his people when they are in trouble and delivers those who trust him, and the miraculous deliverance showed that God, not human strength, saved Jerusalem.
All who are in trouble may spread their troubles before God in the same way, and the story teaches children to learn faith and self-denial and how to trust God now so they will not be overwhelmed in the coming time of trouble. The chapter in which the verse stands does not support identifying the prepared Tophet of Isaiah 30:33 with the destruction of the Assyrian army, since the account indicates the army was not near Jerusalem when the angel struck it but was with the king of Assyria at Libnah.
The verse stands in 2 Kings 17-18, to be read with Psalm 143, within the history of Judah as the remaining kingdom after the ten tribes were swept away and completely subverted in B.C. 721-722, continuing the sad story of transgression, war, strife, defeat, captivity, conspiracy, and defeat under the kings of Israel and Judah. It belongs to the account of Sennacherib's invasion of Palestine and siege of Jerusalem, an event also recorded on an Assyrian cylinder whose account confirms the biblical history.
The verse records Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, speaking to Jerusalem to discredit Hezekiah and persuade and frighten the people into surrender by claiming that Hezekiah could not rescue them from Assyria's power. The claim that their God could not deliver them was blasphemous presumption, mistaking God's withdrawal of protection from the northern kingdom for weakness. His words also wrongly treated the God of Jerusalem as powerless like the handmade gods of other nations.
The verse belongs to the record of Hezekiah's reign, and Hezekiah was a good king and devoted man of God notwithstanding his mistakes, but his mistake exalted man, aroused the cupidity of Babylon, and brought captivity upon his own seed. The Assyrian threat and insult did not prevail; Hezekiah with Isaiah prayed, with Hezekiah spreading the threatening letter before the Lord and praying the prayer in 2 Kings 19:15-19, and God delivered Jerusalem. The story shows that God is a friend to his people when they are in trouble and delivers those who trust him, and the miraculous deliverance showed that God, not human strength, saved Jerusalem.
All who are in trouble may spread their troubles before God in the same way, and the story teaches children to learn faith and self-denial and how to trust God now so they will not be overwhelmed in the coming time of trouble. The chapter in which the verse stands does not support identifying the prepared Tophet of Isaiah 30:33 with the destruction of the Assyrian army, since the account indicates the army was not near Jerusalem when the angel struck it but was with the king of Assyria at Libnah.