The Prayer of ... Hezekiah

Hezekiah Prays in the Temple

"David and Goliath." That phrase calls to mind all manner of thoughts: facing down one's giants, trusting in the Lord for victory, or even Jesus' battle with Satan fought on Good Friday. It might even remind some of us of the Claymation television show, "Davey and Goliath," which featured a young boy and his dog and taught biblical truths to youngsters in the 1960's and 70's.

How about the phrase "Hezekiah and Sennacherib"? Any thoughts? (If not, you can read about them in 2 Kings 18 & 19.)

An Historic Showdown
Hezekiah and Sennacherib had one of the greatest showdowns in biblical history, even though the two of them never met on the battlefield.

But they did battle.

Sennacherib was the king of the Assyrian Empire, which made a habit of swallowing up other nations. They had done that to the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. Now, twenty years later, Sennacherib wants to do the same to the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

He sends emissaries to Jerusalem to dispirit its inhabitants by causing them to doubt their God's power to protect them. They call out, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! This is what the king says: “Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’

"Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”

In response to this challenge, what does Hezekiah do? He doesn't rally the troops. He doesn't plan an attack. He doesn't seek an alliance against Assyria.

Instead, he goes to the temple and prays.

And this is his prayer: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.

“It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.”

A Lesson in Prayer
Hezekiah's prayer is based on the Lord's name being kept holy, in accordance with the Second Commandment, "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God." Sennacherib has insulted the Lord's name and honor by equating Him with the false gods of other nations, gods made of wood and stone. By delivering Jerusalem from Sennacherib, the Lord will prove to those other nations and kingdoms that He alone is the true God.

Hezekiah doesn't make the prayer about him or his kingdom. He makes it about the Lord and His glory.

I think we can take a lesson from that when we pray for the Lord to help us in times of trouble, distress, or need. Rather than asking for what we think will be best, what if we were to simply pray that the Lord be glorified in how He answers our prayer? That His name would be made great. That people would know that He alone is God.

Certainly pray for healing, pray for safety, pray for a job, pray for your ministry efforts. But pray that those blessings would bring glory to the Lord. And when the Lord gives those blessings, unabashedly and boldly give Him the credit. Make His name great!

Oh, by the way, the Lord did answer Hezekiah's prayer. He sent an angel to kill 185,000 Assyrian soldiers who were camped outside the gates of Jerusalem. As a result, Sennacherib broke camp, withdrew to his capital city, Nineveh, and was later killed by his own sons.

To God Alone the Glory!

Scattering Seeds of Grace

In 722 BC, the Assyrian Empire conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel after a three year siege of its capital city, Samaria.

The Assyrian practice was to deport the people of a conquered territory to other corners of their empire and repopulate that evacuated territory with foreigners.

So the Old Testament tribes that had inhabited the Northern Kingdom were relocated, lost their identity and are now lost to history.

The foreigners who were relocated to the Holy Land brought their pagan worship practices with them. They built their altars and offered their sacrifices to their foreign gods.

This displeased the God of Israel as His Holy Land was being violated by idolatry. So he punished these relocated foreigners.

They cried out to the Assyrian king for help. In response, a priest of the God of Israel was drafted to return to Israel and teach these foreigners how to worship God properly.

I don't suspect that this priest relished his assignment. True, he was able to return to his homeland. But now it was occupied by foreigners who were not at all like him.

Nevertheless, he did his job. No doubt he not only taught them the way to worship the God of Israel, but also why they ought to worship Him.

He would teach the story of creation and God's love for His first children, even after they rebelled against Him.

He would teach about God's judgment of a wicked world but His mercy for a man named Noah.

He would teach them about the covenant that God established with Abraham, the promise of land that God swore to give to Abraham's descendants.

He would teach that God rescued His people from slavery in Egypt through the leadership of Moses and how He brought them into the Holy Land under the leadership of Joshua.

This priest's teaching yielded mixed results. Although the foreigners began to worship the true God, they continued their pagan worship practices as well. Nice try, nameless priest. (2 Kings 17)

Fast forward 750 years to the ministry of Jesus. The descendants of those ancient foreigners became known as Samaritans. By Jesus' time they had long forsaken their idolatrous ways. They worshiped God according to the teachings of Moses and were eager for the coming of the Messiah.

Jesus spent time in conversation with one of these Samaritans, a woman, who came to realize that Jesus was more than a prophet. He was, in fact, the Messiah she was waiting for. She became her town's first evangelist and invited her neighbors to see this Jesus. (John 4)

When Jesus healed a group of lepers, only one came back to Him, praising God and offering his thanks to Jesus. That one was a Samaritan. (Luke 17)

Is it too far a stretch to think that the seeds of grace sown by a nameless priest, added to and watered by others over the generations, took root and bore fruit 750 years later? I don't think that's a stretch at all.

As Greg Finke writes in his book Joining Jesus on His Mission, "Jesus speaks of little seeds through which God grows mighty works. Our job is not the mighty works; our job is the little seeds."

A nameless priest planted little seeds 700 years before Jesus was born. God grew the mighty works.

What seeds can you plant today?

Why Jesus Wants Us To Love Our Enemies

I have always loved the story of Naaman (2 Kings 5).

It's the story of the commander of the Syrian army who is afflicted with leprosy. He has a servant girl in his household who had been taken captive during a Syrian raid on the nation of Israel. She advises that Naaman consult the prophet Elisha in Israel to be cured of his leprosy.

Naaman pursues that course and travels to Israel. When Elisha, through a messenger, prescribes a series of seven baths in the Jordan River, Naaman is enraged and ready to head home. He had expected a personal audience with the esteemed prophet and some serious hocus-pocus. Bathing in the waters of the Jordan was beneath him.

However, the servants with him urge Naaman to follow the prophet's instructions. He does so and is cured of his leprosy.

I love this story because it's a pointer to the power of the waters of Holy Baptism -- water wedded to the Word of God works a miracle.

I love this story because it celebrates the nameless heroes of the faith -- the servant girl and the other servant who urged Naaman to consult and listen to Elisha.

I also love this story because it puts flesh and blood on the teaching of Jesus that we are to love our enemies.

This servant girl had no reason whatsoever to want to help Naaman. He and his soldiers had kidnaped her from her home and family. She was a slave in his household, living in a foreign land. Naaman was her enemy and the enemy of her people.

Nevertheless, she wants good for Naaman. She helps him to be cured of a terrible affliction. She shows love for her enemy.

As a result of his cure, Naaman becomes a believer in the God of Israel. He even takes soil from Israel back to Syria so he can erect an altar to the true God on holy ground.

One could ask, if Naaman became a believer in the Lord, would he also become sympathetic toward His people? Would his newfound faith influence how he advised the Syrian king when it came to Israel?

If so, the big picture of this story is that loving one's enemies, which is such an unnatural thing to do, can lead to those enemies becoming believers in the Lord and allies of His people.

Truly a story to be loved.