Brenda Speaks

2 Kings 19 (King James Version)

1 And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.

RENT HIS CLOTHES- The ancient practice of tearing clothes is a tangible expression of grief and anger in the face of death. Kriah is a Hebrew word meaning "tearing."... Job, too, in grieving for his children, stood up and rent his clothes (Job 1:20). The child, parent, spouse, and sibling of the deceased perform the act of Kriah.

Sackcloth came to mean a garment, too, made from such cloth, which was worn as a token of mourning by the Israelites. It was also a sign of submission (1 Kings 20:31-32), or of grief and self-humiliation (2 Kings 19:1), and was occasionally worn by the Prophets. It is often associated with ashes.

2 And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

The words give every detail of who participated in justifying this is God's testimony of truth. God wants us to know he means business. Each person who was sent to Isaiah the prophet is listed.

3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

Isaiah 37:3 (CEBA) They said to him, "Hezekiah says this: Today is a day of distress, punishment, and humiliation. It's as if children are ready to be born, but there's no strength to see it through.

4 It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.

Perhaps the LORD your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant that is left.'"

5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.

6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.

Isaiah spoke what God said without delay or doubt. When you know what God said you can speak His word. Isaiah spent time with the word. When we study the word/work of God, the Holy Spirit will cause you to recall what you studied when you need a word from God.

7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

Because Isaiah knew God's word, God gave specific details so that it would be clear that God will do it without a doubt. If we meditate on the word of God, we have the same access from God in time of need. It takes daily practice to know God.

8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.

The king of Israel wars against people regularly. They are working on destroying Judah, and destroying others at the same time.

9 And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying,

At the time of Sennacherib's second attack on Hezekiah (about B.C. 699) he was, as appears in the text, not yet King of Egypt, but only of Ethiopia. Still, he regarded Egypt as practically under his suzerainty, and when it was threatened by Sennacherib's approach, he marched to the rescue. Behold, he is come out to fight against thee. He may have regarded himself as bound in honor to come to the relief of Hezekiah, or he may have been simply bent on defending his own territory. He sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying, 

Wars and rumors of wars with Asyrians.

10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?

12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar?

The boasting continues. All God wants now is let me handle it. When we are forced be in unmerited situations needlessly, the battle is God's. Pray to be silent. The battle is too big. Let God fight.

13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?

14 And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.

Take it to God. This is what God wants. A relationship with God is all we need. Don't second guess the problem, anaylze the problem, just submit it to God.

15 And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.

Honor God in who he is. Lord help me to remember how to approach you.

16 LORD, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God.

Tell God the truth.

17 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,

Tell him what you know.

18 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.

Give God details.

19 Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only.

A child will ask God for help. You are not a handmade God.  Help us and let the world know you are God working in and for us.

20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.

God speaks through Isaiah. I pray. God uses people to answer or confirm what I prayed.

21 This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

Tell the king of Assyrian, the little girl laughs at you. She can't stand you. She laughs louder and shakes her little head. God gets on the level he can comprehend. Even a little girl knows you are laughable.

22 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.

God said, you are talking to me, little one?

23 By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.

You bragg?

24 I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.

25 Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.

26 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.

Are you done yet?

27 But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

God speaks. I know everything about you and everything about you. I meant to repeat that statement for dramatic reasons.

28 Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

oooh God is ready ready ready!!

29 And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof.

1.  you don't have to plant anything, you will eat what grows on its own.
2. Second-year same diet.
3. You will sow and reap. It will take 2 years of the lesson you will learn and the 3rd year, you will grow your own food. You will not eat of food others have sweated over. Do you hear me?
4. 
   

30 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.

Anyone who survives from Judah will sow and reap what they will have sown. Life will be good.

31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.

God says I will save somebody from the House of David.

32 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.

king Assyria won't hurt you at all.

33 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.

He will leave the same way he came. Will he live. The big boaster. God said you will not and you will not.

34 For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

I made a promise to David. I keep promises.

35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

That same night God backed up his word. 185, 000 men died that night.

36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.

bye!!!!

37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his God, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

God was dramatic. You boast, God speaks your language. He described what you will not do. And you did not do!!!!!!!

I want to get to know the power of God again and again!!