1. Wrecking Israel and Judah in crises
We are reading the Books of Kings and today¡Çs lecturing part is 2 Kings chapter18. The passage deals with the reign of Hezekiah, the king of Judah. Last week we learned of dying Elisha who worried about future of the kingdom of Israel. However, despite his gloomy prophecy, the king Jehoash won victories over Aram, a neighbor country, and took back the territory occupied by Aramaeans. Besides, Israel rejoiced in its very flourish time again during the period of JeroboamII, son of Jehoash. Nonetheless, the writers of the Books ignored political achievements of Jeroboam, instead accused him for luck of faith. ; - Jeroboam son of Jehoash became king of Israel in Samaria during the fifteenth year Amaziah was king of Judah. (Amaziah was the son of Joash.) Jeroboam ruled forty-one years, and he did what the Lord said was wrong. Jeroboam son of Nebat had led Israel to sin, and Jeroboam son of Jehoash did not stop doing the same sins. (2 Kings 14:23-24)

The estimation of the Books is in accordance with faithfulness of king in God, not their competitiveness as secular rulers. Jeroboam was good in military strategies but his internal politics widen the gap between the rich and poor sharply. The moral of the people deteriorated too. After the death of Jeroboam, his son succeeded to the throne. But the new king was killed 6 months later. Since then, Israel underwent the period during which kings changed one after another in a very short time. In other words, the county itself gat rotten because of sin. (Those records remind me of the present political situation of Japan. In those 5 years we had 5 prime ministers. I¡Çm afraid that the fact suggests the deterioration of Japan similar to Israel of that time.)

Eventually, the North kingdom of Israel gat in a real panic because of Assyrian attacks. Assyria started the path to the imperialism led by Tiglat-pileser III (745–727 BC) *1. Whereas his predecessors had been satisfied with tributes from satellite-nations, Tiglat-pileser III gat ambition of ruling over them directly. Consequently, those countries in Palestine faced the menace of its invasion.

Due to that movement, internal balance of power in the North kingdom of Israel became more fragile than before. And, though political equilibrium of the South kingdom of Judah had been rather stable till then, it was also affected in the reign of the king Ahaz. (see 2 Kings16)

Israel and Syria signed an anti-Assyrian treaty and appealed to Judah for joining them. But Judah rejected the proposal. As a result, the two allied countries declared war against Judah. The battle damaged Judah severely so that Ahaz asked Assyria for enforcements. Assyria took advantage of the request to invade Syria and occupy Damascus, the capital of Syria. Then Assyrian army attacked Israel and hold the siege of Samaria. Thus Judah and the king Ahaz could avoided the defeat by the help of Assyrian army. But Judah had to pay a huge sum of money in exchange to Assyria. Furthermore, Ahaz was compelled by Assyrians to construct alters of their idols in Jerusalem.

In the ancient Orient, conquered countries were forced to observe conquerers¡Ç religious rites. So surrendering to Assyria signified accepting to worship Assyrian idols. ( The situation was the same as of the people of the Korean peninsula under Japanese occupation. They had to worship gods of Japanese Shinto.)

And Ahaz was severely criticized in The Book of Kings for his idolatry. ; - … he did not do what the Lord his God said was right…. Ahaz offered sacrifices and burned incense at the places where gods were worshiped, on the hills, and under every green tree.(see 2 Kings 16:2-4)

Assyrian army seized Samaria after the siege of 3 years and brought inhabitants of the city to Assyria as captives. The North kingdom of Israel perished in 721 BC. And the writers of the Books saw the judgement of God behind the incident. ; - The king of Assyria took the Israelites away to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes. This happened because they did not obey the Lord their God. They broke his agreement and did not obey all that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded. They would not listen to the commands or do them.(Kings 18:11-12)

Assyrian emperors were applying the rule that conquered peoples must move out from their country and new inhabitants replaced them. As a result, 10 tribes of Israel which had formed the nation scattered and vanished from the history. *2

*1 Tiglath-Pileser III http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiglath-Pileser_III
*2 Ten Lost Tribes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Lost_Tribes

2. Hezekiah, between hesitation and faith
Under those circumstances, Hizekia became the king of Judah in 715 BC. At the beginning of his reign, he kept submissive policy to Assyria. But the death of Sargon II triggered many uprisings all over the Empire. Due to those riots, Assyrian authority had to draw their army back to the homeland for the time being. Hizekiah grasped the opportunity to stop sending tribute to Assyria and tired to finish the compliant politics. In parallel, he abolished the Assyrian rites introduced by his father king Ahaz. The act was highly appreciated in the Book. ; - Hezekiah did what the Lord said was right, just as his ancestor David had done. He removed the places where gods were worshiped. He smashed the stone pillars and cut down the Asherah idols. Also the Israelites had been burning incense to Nehushtan, the bronze snake Moses had made. But Hezekiah broke it into pieces.(2 Kings 18:3-4)

In addition to that, Hizekiah tightened relationship with Babylonia and Egypt and took the leadership of allies. He also attacked Gaza, one of Philistine cities, which refused to join them. ; - Hezekiah defeated the Philistines all the way to Gaza and its borders, including the watchtowers and the strong, walled cities.(2 Kings 18:8)

Furthermore, he enforced the defense system of Jerusalem and made constructed an aqueduct underground from the Gihon spring to the pool of Siloam*2. Its whole length measures 533 meters, which should require highly advanced technology of the time. The acqueduct remains still today.

But a time of his hard trial has come. New emperor of Assyria Sennacherib, defeating all riots and restoring stability of the Empire, resumed the conquest, at first Phoenician cities then into the direction of the South. After ravaging those countries one after another, he triumphed over Egypt. And his next target was Judah. Sennacherib attacked all the walled cities of Judah and captured them. Then he put Jerusalem under siege. The incident occurred in 701BC, the 14th year of Hizekiah. ; - During Hezekiah’s fourteenth year as king, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the strong, walled cities of Judah and captured them. Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent a message to the king of Assyria at Lachish. He said, “I have done wrong. Leave me alone, and I will pay anything you ask.” So the king of Assyria made Hezekiah pay about twenty-two thousand pounds of silver and two thousand pounds of gold.(2 Kings 18:13-14)

The cost to save the country was immense and painful. ; - Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was in the Temple of the Lord and in the palace treasuries.(2 Kings 18:15)

Nonetheless, that didn¡Çt give ultimate solution to the problem. Because Assyria attacked Palestine again a few years later. Their powerful military forces hold the siege of Jerusalem and compelled the Jewish people strongly to surrender. ; - The king of Assyria sent out his supreme commander, his chief officer, and his field commander. They went with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. When they came near the waterway from the upper pool on the road where people do their laundry, they stopped.(2 Kings 18:17)

At that time, Hizekiah understood clearly. Assyria wanted Judah as a territory of the Empire, instead of being a subsidiary country. Assyrian generals who surrounded the walls mocked loudly the people inside the City. ; - ; ¡ÈYou say you have battle plans and power for war, but your words mean nothing. Whom are you trusting for help so that you turn against me? (2 Kings 18:20)

The Book reported the points of their argument. The first one is ; - Egypt is like a splintered walking stick. …(see 2 Kings 18:21) The second is ; - Jewish God isn¡Çt trust worthy because Hezekiah destroyed His altars and places of worship.(see 2 Kings 18:22) 18¡§22¡ËThe third is ¡ÈMilitary power of Judah is ridiculously poor.¡É Sennacherib by himself teased it this way; - I will give you two thousand horses if you can find enough men to ride them.(see 2 Kings 18:23) And the last and most serious one is ; - ¡È Not one of all the gods of these countries has saved his people from me. Neither can the Lord save Jerusalem from my power.¡É(2 Kings 18:35)

*1 Sargon II http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sargon_II
*2 the pool of Siloam http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siloam

3.What we learn from the history
Todays¡Ç invocation verse is Isaiah 30:15. ; - This is what the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, says: “If you come back to me and trust me, you will be saved. If you will be calm and trust me, you will be strong.” But you don’t want to do that.

When Jerusalem was under siege, an Assyrian commander said loudly to the people inside the City, ¡ÈWhat can you trust in now? Your words mean nothing. Not one of all the gods of these countries has saved his people from me. Neither can the Lord save Jerusalem from my power.¡É(see 2 Kings18:19-20, 2 Kings 18:35)
He meant that the Lord of the Jewish people was powerless whereas Assyrian Empire was almighty.¡É

As a matter of fact, a small country like Judah couldn¡Çt have military forces as powerful as that of Assyria. Hezekiah, the king of Judah reported that provocation to Isaiah and ask him for intercessory prayers. And today¡Çs invocation verse was Isaiah¡Çs response to that king.

Learning from Isaiah¡Çs words, Hezekiah rejected the demand of Assyria. Thanks to his brave decision, Judah could avoid the collapse. God allowed the country to survive for 130 years more. The Bible teaches that God postponed the last judgement because of firm faith of Hezekiah. The event has a great historical importance. Because, if Judah surrendered to Assyria, Judah too should have disappeared from the history, like Israel. And if that were the case, Jesus couldn¡Çt have had Jewish identity, nor St. Peter, nor St. Paul. Even this church shouldn¡Çt have existed. But in reality, Judah survived. The fact reveals the Providence of God. God always governs human history through His acts.

We are reading Kings in Bible study classes too. Though the contents were written in a very ancient era, they are very instructive for us to deal with our own problems. Because the hard trial given to Hezekiah is ours too. And we wonder if we can keep our faith firm facing a big danger. The faith of Hezekiah was once undermined. He had felt uncertain at that time about protection of God. We too hesitate sometimes to trust ourselves entirely to God. The majority of non-Christians think their life depends on money or social state. But Christians must believe that God provides us with everything we need. Nonetheless, we cannot be always so confident about that and easily worry about material conditions of life. Hezekiah tried once to resolve the problem with a huge tribute to Assyria. But when he understood that the money couldn¡Çt give the real solution, he made his mind to trust the future of country to God alone.

We knew that a life depending on money or social status would perish sooner or later. Therefore we direct our soul to God. Non-Christians may consider such a lifestyle to be ridiculous. Because the faith won¡Çt prevent sickness or natural disasters. Our children too can fail in education system. So others may say that our faith is worthless. But we know that even misfortunes must be gifts of God. That knowledge gives us a new vision of life. We learned that painful experiences would turn into blessings. Through Jesus Christ, all of us met God who governs the whole universe. Thus we recognize that, ¡ÈEven the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.¡É (1 Corinthians 1:25) So much so, we live by trusting in God.