We delve into how Hezekiah demonstrated unwavering faith, even when threatened by the formidable Assyrian army. Alan J. Huth also shares personal insights from his Bible reading journey, emphasizing how continuous engagement with the Scripture influences daily life. Join us in understanding the power of faith in adversity and the relevance of biblical teachings in contemporary times. The episode concludes with a heartfelt call to support the Ezra Project’s mission of reconnecting people with God’s Word.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. Allen J. Huth shares a Bible passage with comments from over 35 years of his personal Bible reading journals and applies the Word of God to our daily lives.
SPEAKER 02 :
Today we are in 2 Kings chapter 18. We need a good king. We have one here in chapter 18, Hezekiah, king of Judah. Let’s listen in to our guest reader, Senator Kevin Grantham, former president of the Colorado State Senate, as he reads 2 Kings 18.
SPEAKER 03 :
2 Kings 18 In the third year of Hosea, son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. He was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah, and he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made. For until those days, the people of Israel had made offerings to it. It was called Nehushtan. He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. And the Lord was with him wherever he went. He prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city. In 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. And at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken. The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in Helah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed. In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, I have done wrong. Withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me, I will bear. And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabshuris, and the Rabshakeh, with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the washer’s field. And when they called for the king, There came out to them Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder. And the Rabshakeh said to them, Say to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, On what do you rest this trust of yours? Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust that you have rebelled against me? Behold, you are trusting now in Egypt that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. But if you say to me, We trust in the Lord our God, is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem? Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria, I will give you two thousand horses if you are able on your part to set riders on them. How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it. Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall. But the Rabshakeh said to them, Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine? Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. Thus says the king, Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand. Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and the city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, Make your peace with me, and come out to me. Then each of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one you will drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live and not die.” And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, The Lord will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Syria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Eva? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand? that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand. But the people were silent, and answered him not a word. For the king’s command was, Do not answer him. Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
SPEAKER 02 :
In 1989, I read 2 Kings in two days. The first day I read chapters 1 through 16, and the second day I read chapters 17 through 25. That’s a pretty strong pace, a pace I do not usually do. But on that day I wrote, the up and down relationship of God’s people to God is sad. Some good kings, mostly evil kings, until the Lord tires of disobedience and allows the nation to fall into its continuous sin. Help me to be stable in you, O Lord. In 1997, I found myself in Durango, Colorado, ready to attend a Gideon State Convention. But here’s my journal entry on this day. Jason, who is our oldest son, and Texas Tech was on TV last night. Wow, that was cool. We’re in Durango watching our son play baseball on TV. They beat OSU. That was a Sunday. The next day was Monday. I wrote Texas Tech was in the Big 12 Tournament Championship last night on TV again. Lost to OU 1917. Started to read. But Diane and the twins are here and got interrupted. Had a little dry spell here. So it’s cool to watch your son play baseball on TV. But you can see that I missed a couple of days of daily Bible reading. Even at a state convention of the Gideons in Durango, Colorado. So the next day I made up by reading 2 Kings chapters 18 through 20. And I wrote, Hezekiah reigns in Judah. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord. He reigned in obedience for 29 years. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. He wouldn’t give in to Sennacherib. He depended on the Lord for deliverance. God added 15 years to his life. In 2011, I also read 2 Kings 18 and 19 on the same day, but I’m going to save that journal entry for the recording tomorrow. 2 Kings chapter 18 begins the story of Hezekiah, king of Judah. Verse 3 says… he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Verse 5 says, He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him, for he held fast to the Lord. Verse 7 gives us the result of his commitment to the Lord. Verse 7 says, And the Lord was with him, wherever he went out, he prospered. Seems pretty simple, doesn’t it? After all these kings and first and second kings, those who followed the Lord, God blessed. Those who did evil in the sight of the Lord were cursed. It’s the same choice we have today. We can trust the Lord. We can hold fast to the Lord. And as we do, the Lord will be with us and we will prosper. How hard could that be for the kings of Israel back then? And how hard can it be for us today? The question is, do you believe it? Do you believe it enough to live it? The chapter ends with the king of Assyria threatening the tribe of Judah and the city of Jerusalem and mocking God Almighty. But the story of Hezekiah doesn’t end in chapter 18. We’ll pick up the story in chapters 19 and 20 in tomorrow’s recording. Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for Hezekiah. We thank you that we can learn from him to trust in you, to hold fast to you, and that wherever we go, you will be with us and you will prosper us as we do. We thank you that you raised up a guy like Hezekiah for such a time as this, in the nation of Judah, in the nation of Israel. We pray for Hezekiahs in our day, someone who will trust in you, someone who will hold fast to you, someone who will not depart from you, but will keep your commandments, someone you can use to deliver us today. Lord, raise up a Hezekiah. Raise up several Hezekiahs. Be with them and prosper them, and we will give you the thanks and praise. In Jesus’ name, amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. We make very few financial appeals after our daily programs, yet from time to time it is necessary to do so. Today is one of those days, so please don’t shut me off. The Ezra Project started in 2002 with one mission, to connect God’s people to God’s Word. Back then, and still today, I believe the number one need in the Christian church is to come back to God’s Word. I’m not a preacher. I don’t have a pulpit to encourage Christians to engage in their Bibles or a church to support this radio program. But with your help, we can continue to proclaim God’s Word to you and thousands of others. Ours is a unique approach. We don’t preach the Word or even teach the Word. We share the powerful impact of God’s Word in a normal life over 50 years of daily Bible reading. I started reading my Bible at 15 years old and have virtually read my Bible every day since. In AddBible, I share my personal Bible reading journal starting in 1983 and continuing to this day. I share from my heart how the Bible has intersected my life and how it can intersect yours. We need less preaching about the Bible and more personal engagement in the Bible. We need to know the Bible is still applicable to a 21st century life. That’s our mission at the Ezra Project. If you agree that the greatest need among Christians is to get back into the Bible and apply it to our daily lives, I invite you to visit our website, ezraproject.net, and donate today. You can do it online or by mail. Our mailing address is there on our website. We have so much more to share on this program. Your partnership will allow us to do so. Thanks for considering a financial donation today. I know you’re going to like it and want to share it with others.
