Isaiah . . . asked, "Where did they come from?" "From a distant land," Hezekiah replied . . . "Babylon." (2 Kings 20:14)In 722 BC Israel had ceased to exist as a nation. The Assyrians relocated her people and populated the land with other conquered nations. Where earlier empires had been satisfied with receiving tribute, the Assyrian king knew that deporting an enemy effectively ended any possibility it would ever cause him trouble again.
From the south, Judah watched as its sister nation imploded. Then Assyria turned its gaze toward Jerusalem, defeating Judah's fortified cities (and deporting their inhabitants) and marching on the capital. Only after receiving a huge bribe (including gold and selected daughters of Hezekiah as royal concubines) did the Assyrian king Sennacherib withdraw his troops. [1]
Rebellion on the other end of the Assyrian Empire convinced Hezekiah to strike a blow for independence. When things turned bad, help from Egypt proved worthless, but Hezekiah was determined to die rather than surrender. The only thing that saved Jerusalem was the mysterious deaths of thousands of Assyrian soldiers (possibly due to rat-borne bubonic plague). Sennacherib withdrew but Judah remained a subject nation. [2]
In later years Hezekiah received a get-well gift from the king of another empire on the rise. Hezekiah proudly showed his guests the nation's remaining wealth. The prophet Isaiah's question concerning the purpose of their visit foreshadows dark days to come.
Have you ever said, "This is going to come back to haunt me"?
[1] John Bright, A History of Israel (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1959, 1981), 286.
[2] Ibid., 288.
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