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 kingdom. The Assyrians relocated her people and
repopulated the land with other conquered peoples. 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 her sister nation crumble. Then Assyria turned its gaze toward
Jerusalem, defeating Judah’s fortified cities 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 [4].
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 rodent-borne bubonic plague). Sennacherib withdrew but Judah remained a
subject nation.
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
regarding the purpose of their visit foreshadows dark days to come.
TODAY’S MEDITATION
Do lapses in judgment from
your past threaten to come back and haunt you? Take it to your Father.
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