The One Year Bible for Men - Flipbook - Page 3
2 KINGS 18:13–19:37
In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s
reign,* King Sennacherib of Assyria came to
attack the fortified towns of Judah and con
quered them. 14 King Hezekiah sent this mes
sage to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have
done wrong. I will pay whatever tribute money
you demand if you will only withdraw.” The
king of Assyria then demanded a settlement
of more than eleven tons of silver and one ton
of gold.* 15 To gather this amount, King Heze
kiah used all the silver stored in the Temple of
the Lord and in the palace treasury. 16 Hezekiah
even stripped the gold from the doors of the
Lord’s Temple and from the doorposts he had
overlaid with gold, and he gave it all to the As
syrian king.
17 Nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent his
commander in chief, his field commander,
and his chief of staff* from Lachish with a
huge army to confront King Hezek
iah in Jeru
salem. The Assyrians took up a position beside
the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper
pool, near the road leading to the field where
cloth is washed.* 18 They summoned King Hez
ekiah, but the king sent these officials to meet
with them: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace
administrator; Shebna the court secretary;
and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian.
19 Then the Assyrian king’s chief of staff told
them to give this message to Hezekiah:
07_Jul_OY_Men.indd 581
J U LY 1
AS OF TODAY,we are halfway through the year. It is a good time to eval
uate the first half. We can consider whether we were men of action or men
of unkept promises and empty words that proved meaningless. If we find
ourselves lacking, this is a great day for a 180-degree turn toward being the
kind of men we can and want to be. July 1 is one of those special dates that
can be a crossroads for us. One road that takes us through the second half of
the year can be littered with guilt and shame from things that have come to
define us and rob us of intimacy with God and others while leaving us empty
and disconnected. What looked so good and seemed so right took a turn for
some of us, and the turn requires two very different choices. We can choose
to continue in things that people are telling us are destroying everything we
care about, or we can quit those things and choose a different road, toward
restoring whatever we might have lost over the past years and months. If
you have hit a new low in any area, use the pain to motivate you to make the
changes you need to. Happy Half Year!
“This is what the great king of Assyria says:
What are you trusting in that makes you
so confident? 20 Do you think that mere
words can substitute for military skill and
strength? Who are you counting on, that
you have rebelled against me? 21 On Egypt?
If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed
that splinters beneath your weight and
pierces your hand. Pharaoh, the king of
Egypt, is completely unreliable!
22 “But perhaps you will say to me, ‘We
are trusting in the Lord our God!’ But isn’t
he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah?
Didn’t Hezekiah tear down his shrines and
altars and make everyone in Judah and
Jerusalem worship only at the altar here
in Jerusalem?
23 “I’ll tell you what! Strike a bargain with
my master, the king of Assyria. I will give
you 2,000 horses if you can find that many
men to ride on them! 24 With your tiny
army, how can you think of challenging
even the weakest contingent of my
master’s troops, even with the help of
Egypt’s chariots and charioteers? 25 What’s
more, do you think we have invaded your
land without the Lord’s direction? The
Lord himself told us, ‘Attack this land and
destroy it!’”
26 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and
Joah said to the Assyrian chief of staff, “Please
5/19/2022 3:46:48 PM
