2 Kings 19:8-13 – Put our trust solely in God

Rabshakeh returned and caught up with Sennacherib who went to fight at Libnah. For he had heard rumors of the advance of Tirhakah, the king of Cush. So he concluded that the latter’s advance could terminate his dominance in Palestine. Wanting to make one last-ditch effort to secure the total surrender of Hezekiah, Sennacherib then sent a letter through messengers to intensify his challenge. A written document was always taken more seriously than merely oral communication. He could have felt that his letter would make the king of Judah take his challenge more seriously. Besides threatening Hezekiah, he also cast further aspersion on God, whom Hezekiah had turned to rely on. While his envoy, Rabshakeh’s attack was on Hezekiah personally, his letter was a clear attack on Hezekiah’s God.

Sennacherib’s made the gravest mistake. How dare he challenged the Sovereign God of Israel. His intimidating letter to Hezekiah was a veiled threat to the king of Judah. He said, “Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” Behold, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be saved? Did the gods of the nations which my fathers destroyed to save them: Gozan, Haran, Rezeph,  and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’”

 In suggesting that king Hezekiah should not rely on his God, Sennacherib was firstly seeking to undermine the king’s trust in God. He insinuated that his trust would turn out to be an illusion. In saying that, he had shown how little he knew about Hezekiah’s  God. Down through the years, those who have trusted in the God whom Hezekiah trusted, had never been let down. One thing to learn from this incident is this: seriously evaluate every statement that would undermine our trust in God. Don’t ever be deterred by those foolish insinuations to doubt God.

Sennacherib then tried to make himself and his predecessor out to be more capable than they truly were. He had foolishly placed Hezekiah’s great God on par with all the gods of a list of pagan nations. He felt that if none of those gods of those nations could stop his predecessors from taking their lands, how different could Hezekiah’s God be? What a foolish delusional deduction! He failed to realize that the God of Hezekiah was the only true Supreme and Sovereign LORD of the universe.  

Like Hezekiah, we have a great God, so do not let anyone undermine our trust in Him. Let’s have this truth indelibly etched in our hearts and let it settle in our minds forever: that there is none like our God, worthy of our worship and total trust! He will never fail us!