Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 19-21.

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When Hezekiah heard what the servant of Sennacherib said about God, he sent to Isaiah the prophet requesting that Isaiah pray to God God for the people of Jerusalem.  Isaiah sent word back that God would cause Sennacherib to return to his own land, where he would fall by the sword.  Sennacherib turned from his war against the kingdom of Judah because he heard that the king of Cush was marching against him, but before he marched away he sent a message to Hezekiah doubling down on his blasphemy against God.  Sennacherib mocked God and claimed that his successes showed that God had no power to stop him.  God responds by saying that He determined, before Sennacherib was born, that Sennacherib would do all of those things about which Sennacherib boasted.  And now, because Sennacherib had boasted and raged against God, God was going to guide and direct Sennacherib in the same way that a farmer guides and directs a horse or an oxen back the way in which he had come.  This is a warning to those who rage against God today, who think their personal accomplishments mean that God cannot stand against their will.  In the same way that God knew Sennacherib’s sitting down, and his comings and goings, He knows ours.  We have a choice, we can rage against God, or we can surrender to His will.  We will face the consequences of our choice, whichever we make.

I debated about what else I would write, if anything at all.  I decided that I wanted to contrast Manasseh, Hezekiah’s son, with Ahaz, Hezekiah’s father.  Here the writer describes the sins of which Manasseh was guilty as the same as the ones which his grandfather had committed.  Yet, the writer told us that Ahaz did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, but here he tells us that Manasseh did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.  Notice that for all of his sin, the Lord was still Ahaz’ God, but He was not Manasseh’s god.    Ahaz had done evil in the ways that he worshiped God, but he still sought to honor and worship God.  Manasseh not only practiced the evil forms of worship which Ahaz had performed, he also chose to defile God’s holy temple by dedicating it to the worship of other gods.  After Ahaz, Hezekiah turned the people of Judah back towards God and the destruction of Judah was not inevitable.  After Manasseh, the destruction of Judah was inevitable.  It could be delayed by a revival, as we will see in tomorrow’s passage, but it could no longer be avoided.  In the same way, there comes a point where our society’s rejection of God will lead to God’s inevitable judgement.  Still, even if we have already passed that point, revival can delay that judgement.  If people of this generation turn away from idolatry and debauchery, instead turning to God, God’s judgement on our society will be put off for as long as society remains dedicated to Him.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.