Immerse: Chronicles Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 106
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CHRONICLES
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| 32:12-26
of Assyria.’ Surely Hezekiah is misleading you, sentencing you to
death by famine and thirst! Don’t you realize that Hezekiah is the
very person who destroyed all the Lord’s shrines and altars? He
commanded Judah and Jerusalem to worship only at the altar at the
Temple and to offer sacrifices on it alone.
“Surely you must realize what I and the other kings of Assyria before
me have done to all the people of the earth! Were any of the gods of
those nations able to rescue their people from my power? Which of
their gods was able to rescue its people from the destructive power
of my predecessors? What makes you think your God can rescue you
from me? Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you! Don’t let him fool you like
this! I say it again—no god of any nation or kingdom has ever yet been
able to rescue his people from me or my ancestors. How much less
will your God rescue you from my power!”
And Sennacherib’s officers further mocked the Lord God and his servant Hezekiah, heaping insult upon insult. The king also sent letters scorning the Lord, the God of Israel. He wrote, “Just as the gods of all the other
nations failed to rescue their people from my power, so the God of Heze
kiah will also fail.” The Assyrian officials who brought the letters shouted
this in Hebrew to the people gathered on the walls of the city, trying to
terrify them so it would be easier to capture the city. These officers talked
about the God of Jerusalem as though he were one of the pagan gods,
made by human hands.
Then King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in
prayer to God in heaven. And the Lord sent an angel who destroyed the
Assyrian army with all its commanders and officers. So Sennacherib was
forced to return home in disgrace to his own land. And when he entered
the temple of his god, some of his own sons killed him there with a sword.
That is how the Lord rescued Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem
from King Sennacherib of Assyria and from all the others who threatened
them. So there was peace throughout the land. From then on King Hez
ekiah became highly respected among all the surrounding nations, and
many gifts for the Lord arrived at Jerusalem, with valuable presents for
King Hezekiah, too.
About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill. He prayed to the Lord, who
healed him and gave him a miraculous sign. But Hezekiah did not respond
appropriately to the kindness shown him, and he became proud. So the
Lord’s anger came against him and against Judah and Jerusalem. Then
Hezekiah humbled himself and repented of his pride, as did the people
of Jerusalem. So the Lord’s anger did not fall on them during Hezekiah’s
lifetime.
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