Last time we read about the exile of the land of Israel finishing with:
2 Kings 17:23(b) So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.
That last phrase is very telling. We know from the New Testament that the Jews in Jesus' day would have nothing to do with the people living in ‘Samaria’ (effectively the old ‘Israel’). Why?
Read the next verse 2 Kings 17:24
24 The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns.
From one point of view everyone had been deported. In reality it was the ‘middle and upper classes’ that were considered valuable, if potentially dangerous. These were removed and used to repopulate other areas. This left the working classes – but I wonder if they also left many women? They were considered as of little value, and leaving the women behind would further demoralise their captives. Then, when other peoples were introduced into the land it inevitably led to a lot of inbreeding.
At the time of Jesus, Samaritans as a people group were despised by the ‘pure’ Jews – they regarded Samaritans as unclean Gentiles. Today they are largely regarded as ‘Palestinians’. (But the history of modern Palestinians is actually incredibly complex – see for example Wikipedia).
Let’s read on:
Read 2 Kings 17:25
25 When they first lived there, they did not worship the Lord; so he sent lions among them and they killed some of the people. 26 It was reported to the king of Assyria: ‘The people you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the god of that country requires. He has sent lions among them, which are killing them off, because the people do not know what he requires.’
Lions were indigenous to the area, and with the deportation of many people, they had been allowed to multiply freely. Now with the influx of newcomers unused to the dangers, they naturally assumed that ‘the God of the land’ was to blame. Well, we may think, how superstitious – but perhaps we should look at Leviticus 26:21-22 ‘If you remain hostile towards me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve. 22 I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted. ’
God had not been exiled; this was his chosen land, and those who were left there were still his chosen people, even if it took foreigners to recognise it.
Read 2 Kings 17:27-28
27 Then the king of Assyria gave this order: ‘Make one of the priests you took captive from Samaria go back to live there and teach the people what the god of the land requires.’ 28 So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the Lord.
For some that would have been a welcome return to ‘the good old times’. But people are not that easily persuaded when it comes to personal belief.
Read 2 Kings 17:29-33
29 Nevertheless, each national group made its own gods in the several towns where they settled, and set them up in the shrines the people of Samaria had made at the high places. 30 The people from Babylon made Sukkoth Benoth, those from Kuthah made Nergal, and those from Hamath made Ashima; 31 the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire as sacrifices to Adrammelek and Anammelek, the gods of Sepharvaim. 32 They worshipped the Lord, but they also appointed all sorts of their own people to officiate for them as priests in the shrines at the high places. 33 They worshipped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.
‘They worshipped the Lord, but . . . .
Well that also followed the practice of many of the Israelites over the years too. How often have we read of God’s people making idols, or having ‘personal gods’. Yes we can be quick to judge, but how often have we also been distracted into a Jesus-plus form of worship?
No, we say, we would never do that. But at the same time perhaps we do ‘touch wood’ or avoid Friday 13th. And do we ever worry if we break a mirror, or walk under a ladder, or see a black cat - or do we ever avoid problems by crossing our fingers? Just silly superstitions we say. But superstitions are based on the belief that objects can have magical powers – and that too is demonic, and idolatry.
Read 2 Kings 17:34-41
34 To this day they persist in their former practices. They neither worship the Lord nor adhere to the decrees and regulations, the laws and commands that the Lord gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel. 35 When the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them: ‘Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them. 36 But the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt with mighty power and outstretched arm, is the one you must worship. To him you shall bow down and to him offer sacrifices.
37 You must always be careful to keep the decrees and regulations, the laws and commands he wrote for you. Do not worship other gods. 38 Do not forget the covenant I have made with you, and do not worship other gods. 39 Rather, worship the Lord your God; it is he who will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.’
40 They would not listen, however, but persisted in their former practices. 41 Even while these people were worshipping the Lord, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their ancestors did.
The writer of 2 Kings is desperate that the people understand the root of their failings, and that God will not be mocked. Twice he has repeated ‘To this day’ to emphasise that there was an endemic problem with God’s people. (It is guessed that this book was actually compiled around 170 years after Israel’s exile to Assyria, and maybe during the Babylonian exile of Judah).
We will hear no more of the land of Israel. So now we must turn our attention to the remaining half of the land – Judah.
Read 2 Kings 18:1
1 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.
(Some say that Hezekiah was co-regent with both Ahaz and Manasseh - hence the discrepancy with dates.)
Read 2 Kings 18:2-8
2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. 4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)
5 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. 6 He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. 7 And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. 8 From watch-tower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory.
Ahaz, as we saw in our last study, had been a disastrous king and it would need a strong leader to correct all the bad practices he had encouraged. Step forward Hezekiah – ‘There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. ’ (What about David you ask? He was king of the whole land, not just Judah!)
He even destroyed the bronze snake that Moses had made, which too had become an idol. Best of all he ‘trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel’. But perhaps his confidence got the better of him: he now rebelled against Assyria. We’ve seen where it got Hoshea, and just to remind us 2 Kings needs to spell it out again:
Read 2 Kings 18:9-12
9 In King Hezekiah’s fourth year, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. 10 At the end of three years the Assyrians took it. So Samaria was captured in Hezekiah’s sixth year, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel. 11 The king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the River Habor and in towns of the Medes. 12 This happened because they had not obeyed the Lord their God, but had violated his covenant – all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. They neither listened to the commands nor carried them out.
Hezekiah trusted the Lord – but how far would his trust go? As we read the next section we need to ask ourselves: exactly how strong is our faith?
Maybe King Sargon II of Assyria had enough on his hands to not worry about Judah, but after he had died, the new king Sennacherib was made of sterner stuff.
Obviously one of his first acts was to check the accounts – where was the money due from Judah? Perhaps the king there needed a reminder.
Read 2 Kings 18:13-16
13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 14 So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: ‘I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.’ The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace.
16 At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the Lord, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
His payment had defused the situation for the time being, but Hezekiah still rebelled against becoming Assyria’s vassal. Arguing theologically, if he was to serve the King of Kings, he couldn’t also serve Sennacherib. Not surprisingly, Sennacherib disagreed.
Hezekiah wasn't stupid so he also made as many sensible precautions as he could:
Read 2 Chronicles 32:1-8
1 After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, thinking to conquer them for himself. 2 When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to wage war against Jerusalem, 3 he consulted with his officials and military staff about blocking off the water from the springs outside the city, and they helped him.
4 They gathered a large group of people who blocked all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land. ‘Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?’ they said. 5 Then he worked hard repairing all the broken sections of the wall and building towers on it. He built another wall outside that one and reinforced the terraces of the City of David. He also made large numbers of weapons and shields.
(This will be a long passage – perhaps reading it could be shared)
Read 2 Kings 18:17-37
17 The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field. 18 They called for the king; and Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.
19 The field commander said to them, ‘Tell Hezekiah:
‘“This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: on what are you basing this confidence of yours? 20 You say you have the counsel and the might for war – but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? 21 Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. 22 But if you say to me, ‘We are depending on the Lord our God’– isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?
23 ‘“Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses – if you can put riders on them! 24 How can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 25 Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord? The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.”’
26 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, ‘Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.’
27 But the commander replied, ‘Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall – who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?’
28 Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, ‘Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! 29 This is what the king says: do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. 30 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”
31 ‘Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig-tree and drink water from your own cistern, 32 until I come and take you to a land like your own – a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life and not death!
‘Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, “The Lord will deliver us.” 33 Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? 35 Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’
36 But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, ‘Do not answer him.’
37 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said.
King Hezekiah was faced with a truly daunting choice. Yes it was true, he now had no gold or silver left, and Assyria could easily destroy them. Yes it was true that no other nation’s gods had ever withstood the might of Assyria, but – could he now really trust the Lord for deliverance?
