Context No. 2971 of 4322 · 2 Kings

2 Kings 18:9-16: in context

9In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. 10At the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. 11The king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 12because they didn’t obey the LORD their God’s voice, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear it or do it. 13Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 14Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have offended you. Withdraw from me. That which you put on me, I will bear.” The king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the LORD’s house and in the treasures of the king’s house. 16At that time, Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the LORD’s temple, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

The northern kingdom of Israel falls. After a three-year siege, Samaria is taken by Assyria and its people carried into exile, and the text states plainly why: because they would not obey the LORD their God or keep his covenant. Then Sennacherib turns on Judah's fortified cities, and Hezekiah, at first, tries to buy him off, stripping the very gold from the temple doors to pay tribute.

Two responses to Assyria sit side by side. Israel fell because of long, persistent covenant-breaking, a sobering reminder that their exile was the ripened fruit of disobedience. And Hezekiah, a genuinely good king, first meets the threat not with faith but with appeasement, even robbing God's house to pay the ransom, which will not save him. Even faithful people, under real pressure, are tempted to solve a threat by their own frantic bargaining rather than by turning to God, and it does not work. Hezekiah will later turn to prayer, and then God delivers.

Under threat, am I tempted to buy my way out by my own devices, even at spiritual cost, rather than turning first to God?

Sources

2 Kings 18:12: "Because they didn't obey the LORD their God's voice, but transgressed his covenant."
2 Kings 18:15: "Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the LORD's house."
Isaiah 30:15: "You will be saved in returning and rest. Your strength will be in quietness and in confidence."