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Dr. Manny Arango
Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the Journey family. Welcome to day 177. We are continuing our trek through the book of second kings. Today we're going to cover two main characters. Hezekiah. Good old King Hezekiah. No, not Hezekiah Walker. Hezekiah from the Bible. Okay, King Hezekiah and his son Manasseh. We are in second kings, chapter 18 to 21. 18 to 21. 18 to 21 dot my notes say 18 to 20, but it's really 18 to 21. I want it to include chapter 21. Cause that's a chapter about Manasseh, Hezekiah's son. And honestly, I think their stories go well together. Because although it's gonna seem like Hezekiah has done a great job bringing reform, he's gonna be a great king. I mean, he's gonna tear down the high places, he is going to eliminate BAAL worship, he's going to advocate for the proper worship of Yahweh, he's going to going to do all these awesome things, but as soon as he dies, his son is going to get all of it, like alive and kicking again. And then we're going to see with his grandson Josiah, there's going to be another revival. But instead of destroying the high places, he's going to desecrate the high places, which means they can't ever be used again. And probably when we get into Josiah's life, we'll talk about the difference. Okay, so Hezekiah is great if it's just he could have done better. And we're gonna see with Josiah what better looks like. Because when you stop short, it means you set the next generation up to actually fail. Okay, so Hezekiah, great king. But we're gonna actually look at some of these shortcomings that lead to his son kind of being the person that he was. Cause Manasseh is an evil, evil, evil king. So chapter 18, this is the beginning of the reign of Hezekiah. This is one of the most righteous and reform or kings in Judah's history. Remember, this is now the first time in the book of 2 Kings where there is no northern tribes or nation of Israel. So from now on, we're just focusing on Judah. From Chapters from Chapter 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. The remainder of the book is all about Judah. Just remember, you know, I always have these dates in my mind. 722 B.C. so when the northern tribe of Israel goes into exile, 586 BC is when Judah is going to go into Israel. So that gap in time, that is chapters 18 to 25, we got destruction of high places, objects of idolatry. Okay? His reign is also marked by significant political turmoil as he rebels against the Assyrian Empire. Now, everyone on the outside would say, rebelling against the Assyrian Empire, not good. God would say, great, trust in me. Do not put your trust in foreign powers. So he rebels against the Assyrians, which probably means just not paying tribute. Okay, hey, that payment of silver and gold supposed to hit, and you just keep telling them it's gonna hit, but you ain't never sent it. Okay? You just not gonna send the tribute. This is tax evasion. Which then means that the Assyrian army is about to come. And the Assyrian army is going to attempt to siege Jerusalem under King Sennacherib. Hezekiah's faithfulness stands in contrast to many previous kings, but he faces immense external pressure as Assyria's dominance grows. So imagine you got the. The. The most powerful army in the known world is just right outside the walls, and they're attempting to siege Jerusalem. Everyone is saying, hey, you just gotta surrender. You just gotta surrender. One of the really, really interesting things when we get into chapter 19 is that sennacherib is going to use an official, or maybe like a messenger. And I love his name. It's Rapshake. The Raptaka. Okay. The Rapture. Okay. It's like Mufasa. You just gotta say it again. It's like mufasa. Say it again. Okay. The Raptaka. Okay, so the Rapture is going to start making taunts. You may not see this, obviously. That's why I'm giving you context. Instead of speaking in, like, an Assyrian language or an Assyrian dialect, the Rapture is actually going to speak in Hebrew. Hezekiah doesn't want the Rapture speaking in Hebrew because he wants to make decisions for the people that's best for the people. But the Rapture wants to make a public announcement in Hebrew so that the people know, hey, if y' all just open up these gates, then y' all could eat. Okay? Y' all hungry? And y' all are. Y' all are being sieged because your. Your king's not opening up the gates. This is a really, really, really cool verse. This is chapter 19. Chapter 19, verse 14. This is what the rapture is saying. He said, do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, the Lord will deliver us. Has the God of any nation ever delivered his hand from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath in Arpad? Where are the gods of Sephar, Vayin, Henna, and Ivah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? This is. Now, what about your cousins, bruh, up in Samaria? 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? So. And then this is the promise. Verse 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 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. You hear that? Until I come and take you to a land like your own. So he's making exile seem like it's not that bad. I'm going to take you. We going on a vacation. This is a vacation. You know, I'm going to take you to it. I'm going to take you to a land that's just like this one. What's the big deal? You know, I'm taking you from your house. I'm going to give you another house somewhere else, but I'm going to give you another house like 300 miles away with people I don't know who speak a language I don't speak, bruh. Why are you trying to sell this to me like it's a good idea? But you. He's making the point to not speak. He's not speaking in a diplomatic language. He's speaking in Hebrew because he wants the. He's actually appealing to the people. Verse 29. This is what the king says. Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, the Lord, this is Yahweh. Yahweh will surely deliver us. This city will not be given to the hand of the king of Assyria. Okay, so what is Hezekiah's response? You got Hezekiah. You got Assyria knocking on the door. And what in the World is your response. Well, when King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went into the temple of the Lord. He goes to the house of God. He goes to church. He's stressed. He doesn't go to Egypt. He doesn't go to Babylon. He. He goes to the temple of the Lord. And who does he send for? He sends for the prophet Isaiah. So now this is the prophet who authors the book of Isaiah. He tells Isaiah the whole situation and hears the word of the Lord through Isaiah. Verse 6 of chapter 19. Isaiah said to them, tell your master. Which means, tell King Hezekiah. This is what the Lord says. Do not be afraid of what you have heard. Those words in which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen, when he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country. And there I will have him cut down with the sword. Okay? This is Yahweh saying, I will make him return to his own country. When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting. Verse 10. Say to Hezekiah, king of Judah, do not let the God you depend on deceive you. When he says Jerusalem will not be given to the hands of the king of Assyria. Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all these countries. So this is now a letter. And Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. This is verse 14. Then he went back to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. This is yours, Lord. I can't deal with this. I don't have the power to stop this. And he spread out a letter before the Lord and. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim. You alone are God over the kings of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, Lord, and see. Listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God. This sounds a lot like David, right? You come against me with sword, spear and javelin, Goliath, but I come against you. What in the name of the Lord of hosts? I don't come against you with a sword or a spear or javelin. I come against you in the name of the Lord. If you it, it's for God's honor. Yeah, the battle's not against me. You've offended the Lord. It is true, Lord. Ah, this could get into a timeless truth. It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations in their lands. It's true. Hey Lord, the. The threat is real because faith is not fantasy. In order for it to be faith, you actually have to face the facts. So what's true? It is true that the Assyrian kings have been successful to other people in other places. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them. Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand so that all the kings of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God. And then what happens? Isaiah is going to prophesy again. So this is a long prophecy that we're going to get that's not found in the book of Isaiah, but it's right here. And, and in the book of second Kings. Well, you can also see this in Isaiah, chapter 37, and you can see it in 2 Chronicles, chapter 32. I don't mean it's not found there. I just mean that one of Isaiah's prophecies is also here in 2 Kings. I love this night. I love this line. This is chapter 19, verse 35. That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death 185,000 soldiers in the Assyrian camp. Problem dealt with. Hezekiah trusts in God. There is a real threat. The most powerful army in the known world is knocking on the door and Hezekiah refuses to budge. I could imagine that he felt very scared, very real fear. And he prays, he spreads out the letter before the Lord. He. He seeks the prophet. And then what happens that night? Yahweh just goes ahead and kills 185,000 soldiers. And then what happens? When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies. So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh. Nineveh is the capital of the Syrian empire, not to be confused with Syria. This is Assyria, not Syria. Okay. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his God Nisroch, his sons Adramelech and Shahrazir killed him with the sword. And they escaped to the land of Ararat and Asar Haddon Assarhaddon his son. These Assyrian names are very difficult. I'm used to reading Hebrew names in the Bible. Anyway, succeeded him as king. All right, now we're going to get one last story with Hezekiah and then we're going to get into Manasseh. What happens in chapter 20 with Hezekiah is going to get sick. Now, a lot of scholars actually think that what happens in chapter 20, that these events are prior, okay? So that now we're going back in time. So it's not sequential, but that the reason the author put this here is so that Hezekiah's reign would kind of end on a bad note. Okay? The author wants to communicate decline, okay? Things are getting worse and worse and worse and worse and worse. And then the Babylonians are gonna come and get us, get us out of here, okay? So Hezekiah is gonna get sick, but instead of just. And who's gonna go tell him? Isaiah's gonna tell him that the sickness is gonna end in death. He doesn't take it. He's like, no, like, can you pray? Can you get another word from the Lord? Okay? Turns to the Lord and he gets an addition. That's a famous story. And then essentially, so the. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. So the Babylonian empire is on the rise now, okay? The Babylonian empire's on the rise, and the Assyrian empire is actually on the decline. And it doesn't take a lot to. To break up an empire. It's. All the people that you've conquered are really mad. So, I mean, it. It's possible to. To overthrow an empire. And the Babylonian empire is on the rise. And. And so now this is the first time that, like, the Babylonians are really gonna start to get on the scene. Hezekiah thinks that if I could partner with the Babylonian empire, who's on the rise, The Babylonians could help me overthrow the Assyrians. Okay? The Babylonians could help me to defeat the Assyrians. Now why he thought this, I don't know. I mean, God's already come through miraculously. This is why a lot of scholars believe, man, Maybe these stories aren't in the right sequential order. And by right we just mean in a timeline order. They are, right based on the author's actual real agenda. And so Hezekiah is gonna show these Babylonian envoys all to the palace. Verse 13 of chapter 20 is gonna say, Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in his storehouses. Okay? Why would you show the Babylonians all the stuff in your storehouses? Because what you're saying is. Hey, guys, you're trying to defeat the Assyrians. You need money? I got money. Okay? I got money. Show me the money. Okay, I got money. I got money. That's what I got. Okay, so here's Woo. All right? He showed them silver, gold, spices, fine olive oil, his armory and Everything found amongst his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them. So Hezekiah is trying to say, look, guys, I got some beef with the Assyrians. Y' all got beef with the Assyrians? Wars are expensive. Y' all trying to fight a war with the, with the Assyrians, bruh. I'm, I, I, I, I ain't trying to fight, but I got gold, I got silver, and wars cost money. I will, I will help y' all out. Oh, this is not good. This is bad. Okay? Isaiah the prophet went to Hezekiah. What did those men say and where did they come from? I love this. Hezekiah said, from a distant land. Like, they came from someplace real far away. And then, of course, he has to say, they came from Babylon. And then the prophet said, what do they see in your palace when a prophet starts asking questions, bro, just tell the truth. They know. They already know. They can see everything. You know what I'm saying? Just, Just. You can't lie. It's a prophet. Okay? So then they saw everything in my palace. Hezekiah said, there is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them. Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord. The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all the stuff you just showed them that all your predecessors have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon. Since you want to show Babylon your wealth and your riches, Babylon's going to have your wealth and your riches, okay? Nothing will be left, says the Lord. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, will be born of you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs. Eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Eunuchs. A eunuch is someone who's been castrated, okay? Because you can't have men who could potentially rape your queen in the palace. Okay? So if you're a man and you're gonna be working in the palace, then that means you have to be castrated. You have to be made a eunuch, or you have to be born a eunuch. And also, what happens when men are castrated? Their testosterone levels plummet. And when your testosterone levels are down, that means you're not as aggressive, which means you're not gonna try to overthrow the king, and you can't rape the queen. Now, who are these eunuchs? Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. There's a lot of historical and scholarly evidence that would suggest that Shadrach Meshach, Abednego and Daniel, they are eunuchs. They are working in the king's palace. And we know that that for the Babylonians, the only way foreigners were allowed to be in the palace is if they were eunuchs. And here's the sad thing. Here's what Hezekiah says. The word of the Lord you have spoken is good. No, it ain't. What are you talking about, bro? Hezekiah replied, for he thought, will there be peace and security in my lifetime? And this is the exact problem, because as soon as he dies now, Manasseh becomes king. And Manasseh is gonna be one of the most evil, most detestable kings. He undoes everything that his father actually accomplished. It says that he followed. This is chapter 21. He sacrificed his own son in the fire. Chapter 21, verse 6. He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, consulted mediums and spiritists. Okay, he is absolutely evil. And now God is gonna say through the prophets in the same way. Verse 13. I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and give them into the hand of their enemies. This is it, okay? Judah is going to go into exile, and there's no stopping it. There's no undoing it, nothing. Manasseh is the straw that breaks the camel's back. And God now decides that his people are going to have to go into exile. And then in chapter 22, which we'll look at tomorrow, we're gonna get a great king, a righteous king, but it's too far gone. God is not gonna relent. And even though Josiah is gonna bring incredible repentance into the land, God cannot relent. He cannot go back on his word. Family, the wait is over. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos, is out now and available everywhere. Books are sold. Literally. Today I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes and Noble or you can go to a Books A Million or Amazon or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy. If you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective, if you understand that the beauty of scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient Perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is going to be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode I gave you. Tons of nerdy nuggets, tons of context clues, and our timeless truth. Today's really, really simple. Doesn't matter how you start, matters how you finish. Hezekiah started great. He's a phenomenal king, trusting in the Lord. But then he wanted to form a political alliance with the Babylonians so that he could be a part of defeating the Assyrians. And the poetic justice of Isaiah saying, all the treasures that you just showed them will be carried off to Babylon. But it won't be today. It'll be years down the road. And, I don't know, the same can be true of us when it comes to, like, recycling. Like, oh, global warming gonna be a problem for us. But, yeah, but the world that you create is the world that your children inherit. And the big difference that we're gonna see with Hezekiah vs Josiah is that Josiah is going to create reform that is going to be almost impossible to reverse. And that is actually what you want to do. You want to set your children up to win. Because what good is it if you have peace in your own time? But the peace doesn't outlast you. All right, today we covered Hezekiah and Manasseh. Manasseh is an evil king. And now we know that the destruction of Jerusalem is. And the exile of the people of Judah are. It's a foregone conclusion and it's irreversible. The verdict has come down and there's no way to go back on it. Tomorrow is day 178, and we'll get into the last chunk of Kings. And, man, good job. If you're on a streak, I'm proud of you. If you're not on a streak, let's start one. Let's keep our trek going through two kings. I'm so proud of you guys. I love you so much. I'll see you tomorrow right here for day 178 as we continue our walk through Second Kings. Love y' all. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show at thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebibledepartment. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com. we'll see you back here tomorrow.