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Sennacherib King of Assyria
This figure of the mighty Assyrian king
Sennacherib was discovered on the walls of his palace in Khorsabad, near
the ruins of ancient Nineveh. The ancient Assyrian ruins reveal much about
the wealth of this powerful monarch. Sennacherib reigned from 720 BC to
about 683 BC. The Bible reveals that during the reign of the Jewish king
Hezekiah, Sennacherib came to conquer Jerusalem and the Angel of the LORD
(The Lord Himself) slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When he returned to
Assyria his own sons murdered him.
Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah
did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced
cities of Judah, and took them.
2 Kings 18:13
"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. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and
shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. For I will defend this
city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. 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.
So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt
at Nineveh. 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."
2 Kings
19:32-37
| Heart Message
Sennacherib
Imagine living within the city of Jerusalem during the siege
of Sennacherib. (700BC) He has already conquered the northern
kingdom of Israel, (722BC) and many of the fortified cities of
southern Judea. Talk about a panic attack! Sennacherib's armies were
full of blood lust, and they loved to torture. Skinning people alive
was one of their specialties, nailing the human skin to walls as
warning to others who might rebel from his control.
Imagine
now that you are the King of Judah, and you must decide what to do
when the massive Assyrian army is outside your gates. The threats of
Sennacherib as read by his general were not
idol.
"Then the commander stood and called out in
Hebrew: "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! This
is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot
deliver you from my hand. Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust
in the LORD when he says, 'The LORD will surely deliver us; this
city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.' "Do
not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make
peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat
from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,
until I come and take you to a land like your own, a land of grain
and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees
and honey. Choose life and not death! "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?" (2Kings 18:28-35)
What would you
do? Could you make a stand? In the natural it would seem suicidal.
But to surrender meant deportation, slavery, and who knows what
horror. Resistance however, seems to mean certain
death.
Perhaps you have lived through "no win"
situations? Perhaps you face extreme difficulty now. Sometimes, for
whatever reason, we find ourselves at the end of ourselves, at the
end of our own resources, where few if any, can understand the
personal despair and fear of the choices that must be
made.
King Hezekiah chose to take the written threats of
Sennacherib's General and spread them out before the
Lord.
"Hezekiah received the letter from the
messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD
and spread it out before the LORD . And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD
: "O LORD , 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, O LORD , and hear; open your eyes, O LORD , and
see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living
God. "It is true, O 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 men's hands. Now, O LORD our God, deliver us
from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you
alone, O LORD , are God." (2Kings 19:14-17)
Perhaps this
is a good place to spread your collection notices, the threats of
others, your divorce papers, your pink slip. Perhaps you could write
down the situation and offer a prayer of desperation to the Lord.
God defeated the dreaded Sennacherib, and He will defeat your
enemies as well. Place the results in His hands with the rest of
your entire life. Be ready to change when God makes His will known.
And prepare for a glorious praise and worship when you realize that
the Lord God has delivered you in a truly unimaginable way. Have
faith dear one and pour out your heart to the Lord.
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