Hezekiah, Part 1 : Enemy Tactics

Looking forward to be back with you in Kings, 2nd Kings. If you want to find chapter 18 today, things are happening fast in 2nd Kings. 2nd Kings chapter 18 we have a once united kingdom that's now been split for a couple hundred years, right? And with the northern side

falling hard into complete apostasy, we know that God's patience has run out with them and that kingdom has now fallen. Samaria, the city, the capital of the northern kingdom was the final holdout and now that city as of 722 BC has fallen as well.

There is no more northern kingdom. Of course southern Judah isn't really doing much better spiritually and so in the wake of what's just happened in Samaria we really should expect the end of the southern kingdom too

but today we see a new king come to the throne and we quickly find out that he's going to do things a little bit differently, actually a lot bit differently and so follow along with me as I read for us beginning in verse 1. 2nd Kings 18 verse 1 I'm going to read the first

eight, seven verses, eight verses and I'm going to take a break and we're going to talk a bit and then I'll come back and finish the chapter for us.

Hear the word of the Lord. In the third year of Hosea, son of Elah, king of Israel Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.

He was 25 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abbe, the daughter of Zechariah and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that David his father had done.

He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah and he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it it was called the Nehushtan he trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel

so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him nor among those who were before him for he held fast to the Lord he did not depart from following him but kept the commandments that the Lord had commanded Moses and the Lord was with him wherever he went out

he prospered he rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him he struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory from Watchtower to Fortified City let me ask you if you would just bow with me for a moment and let's pray let's ask the Lord for his help

Heavenly Father we come to your word and as Josh prayed a moment ago we trust that we will see the promises of redemption even in dark times in your people's past we know you are working and so today open our eyes Lord let us see what you want us to see and be glorified in our presence

we pray this in the name of Jesus Amen what a remarkable thing to read in verse 3 don't look past it too quickly we hear that Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord how refreshing is that and if that doesn't sound good enough we hear that he did

according to all that David his father had done what our narrator is telling us is that this king Hezekiah resembles David more than any other king it's been said one scholar puts it this way Hezekiah is the most David-like king since David

and while our narrator gives us a single verse that's all we get to summarize his great reforms across the land we get a lot more than that over in 2 Chronicles if you were to turn over there you would see there are three full chapters to all of Hezekiah's reforms finally

finally we have a king who removes the high places how many other kings before him did not that was always the caveat wasn't it this king removes the high places there are these idolatrous symbols used in these fertility cults all over the land and he gets rid of them

but actually if you look at the word Asherah here you might not notice but in the original Hebrew it's in the singular and what that suggests to a lot of scholars is they think that what he's doing is he is removing a very specific Asherah out of the temple the one that his father Ahaz had left standing there

and finally our narrator adds in verse 4 that he smashed into pieces this bronze serpent bronze serpent that Moses had made that takes us all the way back to the book of Numbers chapter 21 a time when the Lord punished His people and as He always does

Numbers 21 · chapter mention

provided a means of relief by giving them this symbol of healing but what had happened in the hundreds of years since then they had kept a hold of that symbol and done what spiritual people often do with relics which is elevate them to this point of them becoming an idol and they were worshipping it

I mean even the way that the narrator says this word he says it was called the Nehushtan and that's actually a mashup of two Hebrew words for bronze and snake he shows us how disgusted he is with this but thanks to Hezekiah that too is gone

that too is now scrap metal but more than just root out all the bad he does some very good things too there are positive reforms verse 5 tells us that he trusted in the Lord the God of Israel so that there was no one like Him among all the kings of Judah

either before Him or after Him that is pretty high praise and what exactly did he do positively well again if we were to look at Chronicles we would see that in chapter 29 of that book he makes a very public statement in front of all the people of the land that he is recommitting to a covenant with the Lord

and he immediately got busy reversing the things that his wicked father had done for starters there was the temple what Ahaz done well he had shut the doors of the temple but here's what 2nd Chronicles chapter 29 verse 3 says in the first year of his reign in the very first month

he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and he repaired them he went on to cleanse the newly reopened temple and get rid of that wicked hideous Damascan altar replica that his father had made he rededicated the space he restored worship there

he reconsecrated the priesthood he even capped it all off by reinstituting the Passover and the seven day feast of unleavened bread famously praying like this over in 2nd Chronicles 30 verse 18 he prayed that the Lord would pardon everyone who sets their heart

to seek God what this was was a national scale revival and more than just the king Hezekiah involved many of the people in fact if we read those chapters 2nd Chronicles 29 30 and 31 you find numerous places where the people themselves

are mentioned as going up to the high places and destroying them and getting rid of the idolatry up there there's a great summary in 2nd Chronicles chapter 31 verse 20 thus Hezekiah did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God and every work that he undertook

in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments seeking his God he did with all his heart and he prospered and how do kings in Israel prosper?

well a couple of ways often it's financial but it's also often militarily and he experienced that military prosperity just like his forefather David in fact if we were to flip back to 1st Samuel 18 we would hear things said about David like this that he had success in all of his undertakings

for the Lord was with him and what do we read about Hezekiah? he too prospered wherever he went out for the Lord was with him verses 7 and 8 conclude by telling us that he was so successful militarily that he throws off

the yoke of vassal status from Assyria and even resubjugated the Philistines things are looking great as we come to verse 9 this kingdom is restored it's got a faithful king who does right the most David-like king that they've ever had since David

surely God's blessing is being felt now let's pick up our reading in verse 9 in the fourth year of king Hezekiah which was the seventh year of Hosea son of Elah king of Israel Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it

and at the end of three years he took it in the sixth year of Hezekiah which was the ninth year of Hosea king of Israel Samaria was taken the king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in Halah and on the harbor the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes because they did not

obey the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his covenant even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded they neither listened nor obeyed in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah

and took them and Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lechish saying I have done wrong withdraw from me whatever you impose on me I will bear and the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold

and Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house at that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the doorpost that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria

and the king of Assyria sent the Tartan the Rabsaris and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lechish to king Hezekiah at Jerusalem and they went up and came to Jerusalem when they arrived they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool

which is on the highway to the washer's field and when they called for the king there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah who was over the household and Shebna the secretary and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder and the Rabshakeh said to them say to Hezekiah

thus says the great king the king of Assyria on what do you rest this trust of yours do you think that mere words are strategy for power and war in whom do you now trust that you have rebelled against me behold you are now

trusting in Egypt that broken reed of a staff which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him but if you say to me we trust in the Lord our God is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah is removed saying to Judah and Jerusalem

you shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem come now make a wager with my master the king of Assyria I will give you 2,000 horses if you're able to on your part set riders on them how then can you repulse a single captain from among the least of my master's servants

when you trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen moreover is it without the Lord that I have come up against this place to destroy it the Lord said to me go up against this land and destroy it then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah and Shebna and Joah

said to the Rabshakeh please speak to your servants in Aramaic for we understand it do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall but the Rabshakeh said to them has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you

and not to the men sitting on the wall who are doomed to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine then the Rabshakeh stood up and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah hear the word of the great king the king of Assyria thus says the king do not let Hezekiah deceive you

for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying the Lord will surely deliver us and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria do not listen to Hezekiah for thus says the king of Assyria make your peace with me and come out

to me then each of you will eat of his own vine and each one of his own fig tree and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern until I come and take you away to a land like your own land a land of grain and wine a land of bread and vineyards a land of olive trees and honey

that you may live and not die and do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying the Lord will deliver us has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered this land out of the hand of the king of Assyria where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad where are the gods

of Sepharvim Hina and Iva have they delivered Samaria out of my hand who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand but the people were silent and answered him

not a word for the king's command was do not answer him then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah who was over the household and Shebna the secretary and Joab the son of Asaph the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Ravshakeh

wow so a little reminder from our narrator first if you back all the way up to verse 9 that first paragraph is simply reminding us what happened with Samaria the northern kingdom how the mighty Assyrians swept in and took that kingdom easy

and now we learn in verse 13 of how there's a new king of Assyria this one's named Sennacherib and he comes sweeping down now for Judah fun fact about these Assyrians is that we still have a lot of their written records they like to keep all these annals and they like

to brag in them of all the things that they did and this guy Sennacherib is like the biggest bragger of them all and yet his annals are actually pretty accurate in recounting all his exploits and so it's not necessarily from the Bible but from the annals that we read where we learn of how he took this route

on the map that you'll see swooping down from the north how he first raided the land of the Phoenicians and took out their cities and then next up went southward all the way down to where the Philistines are and then what he does is he turns inland from Philistia and he turns

eastward because he wants to go into Judah which he does and he wants to get to a certain city to deal with a certain rebel king named Hezekiah he and his massive army march into Judah's territory and it's quick work they proceed to take

all the fortified cities of Judah there are like 46 of them and the last one that they take is the second strongest city in the land after Jerusalem it's the city of Lachish and so he's laid Lachish under siege Sennacherib has and we know that what he's doing is very strategic

we know that it's going to give him great confidence because what this means once he takes Lachish which it seems like it's about done is that he will have effectively cut off the route to Egypt he will have cut off any hopes for help coming from Egypt there will be no Egyptian version of Gandalf coming over

the horizon no help is coming and Hezekiah knows it he realizes that Sennacherib is pretty upset with him and he realizes that he has his sights set on the capital of Jerusalem and so here in verse 14 is where well

our king of Judah has a little moment and it's not a positive moment it's a lapse it's it's a moment of failure and weakness look at what he does he sends this very submissive letter to Sennacherib in verse 14 which basically says

I blew it verse 14 I've done wrong literally what he says is I have sinned withdraw from me please and whatever you impose on me in terms of tribute I will bear this is not his finest hour especially when you go

so far as to raid all of your treasuries which Hezekiah does he raids all of his personal treasury he also raids all of the temple's treasury in fact he goes so far as to order that all the gold that he himself and his reforms had just ordered to be freshly overlaid the doors of the temple

he says hey artisans you did great work I love it now what I want you to do is strip it back off because we got to go by our lives we wonder if Hezekiah is having a bit of a crisis wouldn't be the first person in scripture to have a bit of a crisis of faith

maybe he is I mean you know he could be thinking this doesn't make any sense I've been faithful I removed all those sinful things from the landlord didn't you see that I led this nation of Judah in full scale revival we could turn over to the

prophets to a prophet like Isaiah over there we would see how he took the advice of the prophet he was basically being coached by Isaiah in all of these reforms and he's trusted in the Lord again like no one before him and this is what I get I get an invasion

have you ever been there maybe not a literal military invasion but have you had an invasion of something difficult in your life I'm talking about maybe an adverse event a trial of some kind there you were

walking your spiritual walk there you are keeping up on your Bible reading right you're like it's March and I haven't fallen off yet there you are with the faithful prayer life going to church faithfully like all of you are right now and then something really scary pops up something really

trying and difficult maybe in a relationship maybe in a work situation maybe a health scare a financial hit you were not planning on and it's like God I've been really faithful I've been a faithful giver I've been faithful

and this is happening I wonder if this is how Hezekiah might have felt because his first move here is not great really he kind of caves he falters because what he's doing is he's seeking to return to vassal status under this foreign dominator

well sometimes the mercy of the Lord is to let a trial continue let that sink in for a minute let a trial continue and sometimes even intensify because that's exactly what happens to

Hezekiah right here no sooner does he strip all the gold off the temple doors and get all the silver together and pay a massive sum of money to the king Sennacherib and who shows up in verse 17 who's outside the gates of Jerusalem it's Sennacherib's

big three the big three his top three guys this one called the tartan which is a field commander if you have an NIV that's actually how it's translated this other guy called the rab serus who is like his chief body guard and finally this man called the rab shakay

who is his chief steward and this guy is going to do all the talking the rab shakay and every word this rab shakay speaks please understand he speaks for the great king so that really his words and sennacherib's words are one and the same

we quickly find out what they want we learn that sennacherib is not in the least bit appeased no he's taken the tribute but he's basically saying no deal because this bully is a bully who not only threatens to beat you up if you don't

give him your lunch money he happily takes your lunch money and proceeds to beat you up anyway so here come our big three our Assyrian delegation massive army at their backs they cleverly take a very key position outside the city our narrator tells us that they are

standing by the conduit of the upper pool and that place is significant

first it's a strategic position in terms of visuals and acoustics and that's going to play out pretty importantly from this raised elevation understand that they are in eyesight and ear shot of a good part of the city certainly of all the men on the wall

all the people on the wall will clearly see them and all the people on the wall will clearly hear them and this will prove critical once this rabshakeh begins with his tactics of intimidation as for the second reason why this place is significant well it's because this

happened to be the very spot where many many years ago something significant happened with Hezekiah's dad Ahaz what happened Ahaz came out to this very spot to meet a certain prophet a prophet named Isaiah 30 years before

while Hezekiah was still a kid Ahaz was facing an invasion from another army an allied army and the prophet Isaiah met him out here and basically called him out at this place called the conduit of the upper pool the book of Isaiah names it exactly and this is what

in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 4 this is what the prophet told Hezekiah's father Ahaz be careful !

Isaiah 7:4

let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands God's word to Ahaz was that he needed to stand firm we read this verse before Isaiah 7 verse 9 if you are not firm in faith Isaiah says you will not be firm at all

Isaiah 7:9

we wonder did Hezekiah remember this moment from his childhood had he as a boy been up on the city wall watching and listening hearing the prophet Isaiah scold and basically warn his dad and what did his dad

old king Ahaz what did he end up doing did he listen to Isaiah and stand firm no he did not he caved he caved and made an alliance with ironically enough the king of Assyria the one before Sennacherib

and these are now the same enemies who are out there threatening your city the reality is that Hezekiah is here and whether he's having memories or flashbacks we don't know but we know that as soon as these three have taken their spot Hezekiah sends out his own delegation of his own big

three in verse 18 and so we have the six of them now face to face and this is where the talking starts and it's going to be one man who does all the talking and it's pretty much going to fill the rest of our chapter but here's what I'd like to do rather than dissect this

rabshake speech word for word sentence by sentence I think maybe a more helpful way to

according to his tactics because that's what's happening here the enemy commander this rabshake is employing several sinister tactics I'm going to give you five of them here's the first one first tactic that he employs is this the enemy intimidates

he intimidates starts out with a big show of force right massive army ready to lay siege to the city and then our delegation takes this high ground over the city before their big mouth rabshake opens his mouth and what's the

first thing that he says take a look in verse 19 look at how he opens up say to Hezekiah in other words tell Hezekiah thus says the great king the king of Assyria is that any way to address another king notice how he doesn't even

dignify he doesn't ever dignify Hezekiah as a king Hezekiah is just yo Hezekiah and the king of Assyria is not just the king of Assyria he's the great king then he goes on verse 20 he says do you think that mere words are strategy

and power for war all you've been doing Hezekiah is just chatter just talk your weak little letter your conciliatory letter you think that's going to cut it with us you think that's going to stop us from what we're about to do to you but I would call

this a tactic of intimidation because Hezekiah has actually done a lot more than just use mere words in fact if we went over to 2nd chronicles chapter 32 we would see all of the extensive preparations that he had been making in advance of the arrival of the Assyrian army that chapter

talks about how he actually expanded the city walls they say that probably many new people had moved into Jerusalem with the fall of the northern kingdom and so now what he's doing is expanding new city walls he built up towers we're told over there that he made new weapons that he organized the army with officers

he even took this step get this in the event of a likely siege he took steps to secure a water supply for the city and get this he did it on the inside of the city by ordering the construction of the famous Hezekiah tunnel Hezekiah's tunnel you can

actually still go see it today it was a 1750 foot long tunnel that he had carved out of the bedrock and it connected to the Gihon spring to the east underground and what that meant is that no matter what if an invading army did if you were under siege !

the city always had a fresh water supply it was an ingenious move but our Rabshakeh wants to make it sound like all he's done is send a message with tribute mere words are your only strategy but that's just another attempted intimidation

and the taunting continues in verse 23 he says let's make a wager let's make a wager how about I offer you say 2,000 horses if you can set riders on them another effort to intimidate this is basically the bully saying you know I'll fight you with

one arm tied behind my back I'll fight you on my knees and he says this because he knows Hezekiah is short on horsemen and he doesn't have horses he knows that that's exactly what he was hoping to get from Egypt horses and now with that cut off

there is no hope no one's coming so he says in verse 24 how are you going to be able to repulse a single captain of even our weakest soldiers and notice what happens in verse 26 when Hezekiah's delegation asked the Rabshakeh to start speaking in

Aramaic the language of diplomacy that everyone in this region knew stop using the local Hebrew language that the people can understand what's the response Rabshakeh only speaks louder more intimidation yeah

these words from my master they're not just for you Hezekiah I want everybody sitting on those walls to hear what I'm saying all you people are going to be eating your own waste drinking your own urine because that's what people living in cities under siege

had to resort to doing often times by verse 28 he's calling out in a loud voice in the language of Judah the chronicler in 2nd chronicles chapter 32 18 says that they shouted it with a loud voice in the language of Judah in an attempt to frighten and

terrify them it's intimidation evil characters in scripture especially those that come against the people of God we know that they're motivated by a force beyond this world a force that we call Satan

not just an impersonal force but a being and I in some ways wish they would have translated rabshake to field commander which is what it is but in other ways I kind of like that name because it sounds sinister doesn't it rabshake and I want you to kind of hang on that for a minute

because there is something very satanic in this character this rabshake and the man he speaks for Sennacherib something very satanic and I want you right now just to think about the ways that our great enemy uses this tactic have you ever felt intimidated

by things in your world that are dark and wrong you know they're wrong but you feel like people are saying you better get on board with this or else you better get in line with this way of thinking or you're going to be in hot water you better do things our way

or you're out of here or this relationship is over I want to remind you today guys that sometimes our enemies tactic is intimidation but that's not the only tactic we see here there's another one number two tactic number two is this the enemy twists

the enemy twists verse 21 the rabshake look what he does he goes on to name Egypt he says behold you are now trusting in Egypt that broken reed of a staff which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it I

want you to understand what the rabshake what these Assyrians are doing the fact is that the Lord through his prophet had warned ! Judah not to do this not to trust in Egypt Isaiah chapter 30 verses 2 and 3 offers a scathing rebuke to Judah for trying to do just this to make an alliance with

Isaiah 30:2

Egypt and the Lord warned them that if they try to get protection from Egypt it's only going to turn to your shame and humiliation we wonder were the Assyrians somehow aware of this prophecy you say well Jason they didn't have Bibles they weren't

opening up to the book of Isaiah to see this no they didn't but history actually tells us that the Assyrians had a very robust very shrewd intelligence network in the region they did not just blow in with a massive army they were there incognito months sometimes years beforehand

they had spies everywhere and so it's really quite likely that they did know not only about Hezekiah's attempts to go get help with Egypt to make an alliance they may have also been familiar with the prophets who were not in secret making very public statements of

warning that they shouldn't do this and look what they're doing look what this rabshakeh is doing he's twisting this he's using this against them but that's nothing compared to the distortion and the twisting we see in the very next verse check out verse 22 but if you say to me we

trust in the Lord our God we trust in Yahweh

altars Hezekiah has removed you're kidding right this enemy is literally trying to twist things and make it sound like Hezekiah did a bad thing by removing the high places and altars he's trying to twist and remember he's saying everything he says in earshot of the people

trying to confuse them stands to reason that as they were doing this revival in the ! and tearing down the high

worshipped at these places for a long time and we know for many years they worshipped Yahweh at them and it could very well be that some of the people were like what are we doing why are we tearing these places down we'll worship only Yahweh up here aren't we supposed to keep worshipping Yahweh up here but the enemy is

using this ! he's twisting !

And finally the

Lord said to me go up against this land and destroy it really Sennacherib the Lord we're supposed to believe that the Lord spoke to you and told you to do this like you and the Lord have a close personal relationship

you know it's it's one thing to be aware through your intelligence network and doing your research with the spies that the Lord had warned through his prophet that he would use the rod of Assyria to discipline his people again the prophets are doing their ministry very publicly so it stands to reason that the Assyrian

spies had heard that part of the prophetic warning too that I'm going to use the Lord says the rod of Assyria to discipline you but it is quite another thing to claim that what you're doing is your way of serving the Lord because you're not just because the Lord uses you doesn't mean you're not still the

people's enemy and besides if you really listen to the context of those prophecies Sennacherib you would hear the part where Assyria is condemned for their arrogance against the Lord what this is is just distortion twisting as one scholar

describes it a master class of deception and psychological warfare and I want you to understand that is another enemy tactic do we not remember that Jesus himself on earth had a temptation and what did Satan do he twisted and distorted

scripture another enemy tactic to twist here's the third one number three the enemy tempts tempts is toward the end of our rabbi little speech just as he's doing the loudest shouting he can do for all the people on the wall to hear that

we see this tactic come out did you catch this the part where he says wouldn't you all be better off if you just gave in verse 31 do not listen to hezekiah for here's what the king of Assyria says make peace with me and come out to me make peace and come out open your gates

to me if you do then each one of you will eat of his own vine and his own fig tree and you'll get to drink water of your own cistern verse 32 until I come and take you away to a wonderful beautiful land a land like your own another promised

land equivalent a land of grain and wine of bread and vineyards a land of olive trees and honey that you may live and not die maybe you realize this maybe you don't but this language that he uses I mean this is the part where I think Satan is in this man's words because it very

closely mimics Moses words back in Deuteronomy when he spoke of the Lord's promise of blessing in Deuteronomy chapter 30 this is exactly the same way that the Lord through Moses laid out options to the people don't die don't receive the curses live and have

Deuteronomy 30 · chapter mention

blessing what he's trying to do is he's trying to paint a rosy picture of exile just like the serpent who might have offered a new and better experience than faithfulness in the garden just like again Satan himself who tempted and offered Jesus

all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor our enemy tempts and he often tempts us by what he promises but I want you to remember they are false promises they are false promises they are counterfeits to the

good things the real blessings that God wants for you in your life tactic number four number four is this the enemy divides the enemy divides real quickly verse 22 he starts there he says hey wasn't it your guy

Hezekiah who removed all the Lord's altars such a bad leader and then he really lays it on thick in verse 29 verse 30 verse 31 he says do not listen to Hezekiah do not let Hezekiah deceive you thinking he'll deliver you verse 30 do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord

verse 31 do not listen to Hezekiah verse 32 again and do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying the Lord will deliver us which is it the Rabshake says what's it going to be for you Israelites you people

of Judah you going to listen to Hezekiah and drink your own urine or you want to go to the Assyrian version of the promised land you want to follow Hezekiah and have to eat your own waste or you want to open the gates to us and have figs from your own tree

the enemy divides the enemy seeks to split our loyalties and whether it's on a literal battlefield like this one right here or in the figurative battlefields of our lives and our homes and our churches

he still seeks to divide doesn't he he wants to divide us from one another as the people of God as a family as a church family he wants to divide us from the presence of the Lord he wants to divide us sever us from our trust in God

he wants to divide us from the people who lead us and urge us to keep trusting in the Lord he wants to divide you from any spiritual authority in your life you can do it on your own you don't need that you don't need those parents you don't need that pastor

you realize the enemy doesn't want you here in church this morning are you aware of that when you woke up and did whatever you do to get ready in the morning you realize the enemy maybe for some of you there was a deliberation like do I really want to go he wants to discourage !

you from coming to be a part of the people of God because he wants you divided and apart from your church he wants to rip you asunder from his word it's another favorite tactic of our enemy is that he divides and finally last one we can't finish without

this one and trust me it's a doozy tactic number five is that the enemy challenges challenges sure besieging this city and taking the high ground to use your loud voice outside to intimidate the locals is one

thing this rabshake but the challenge he proceeds to lay down by the end he starts out by saying hey you know I got a couple thousand extra horses if you can put some riders on them we'll actually maybe have some fun that's a challenge but nothing like what he does in the

last half of his speech our rabshake totally oversteps and severely outplays his hand because now he's bringing the Lord into it now he's bringing the Lord into his challenges more than just Judah's

army more than just Hezekiah and his credibility or his reliability what's he now taking aim at the Lord himself Hezekiah is telling you to trust in the Lord he's telling you the Lord will surely deliver your city nah don't listen to him

he's telling you the Lord can deliver you out of our hand well guess what verse 33 has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered this land out of the hand of the king of !

Syria because last time I checked the rabbi chuckles to himself we're like undefeated we've come against your northern Israelite neighbors Samaria and they fell fast they lost and you know what this raiding season

we've attacked like 46 of your towns and well last time I checked our record stands at 46 and no any other nation with whatever god whatever national deity they think they have it don't matter we win

we take we always win and take and so our rabbi foolishly goes on to list some of the names of these so called gods in verse 34 verse 35 who among all the gods of the land have delivered that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem

out of my hand it's interesting this enemy has gone from challenging the Lord's willingness to save Judah to now challenging his ability and this one goes too far this last tactic

is the limit because when you speak of Yahweh God of Israel as just another God when you make it sound like he's just another one that's going to bite the dust a God who like all the rest is no match for our world class war machine

you gravely overstep because as the people here all keep silent that's what we see at the end right no one answers a word which is a signal to us that the people have Hezekiah's back they won't be

divided that tactic won't work and as our delegation obeys the king King Hezekiah's command and they themselves refuse to answer this Rabshakeh or the other two with him they keep silent too we see what happens by the end is that the three of them Hezekiah's big three Eliakim

chief of staff Shebna the secretary Joah the recorder they now walk back into the city and come to Hezekiah and they've got their clothes torn and appropriately sewn because that's the appropriate response when you hear blasphemy of the Lord in

ancient Israel and next week we're going to see what the Lord does about it