My Name Is Hezekiah And This My Story.

my name is Hezekiah and this is my story my story is an excellent example of God's intervention and the life of his people my name means god strengthens this makes a lot of sense as I would face a lot of challenges in this life the Kingdom of Israel is broken the majority of members of The Tribe of Benjamin as well as members of the tribe of Judah established themselves as the kingdom of Judah sometimes known as the southern Kingdom of Israel with its capital at Jerusalem the other ten tribes retain the title of Israel and

it became the northern kingdom with headquarters at shechem in Samaria I am the son of ahaz King of Judah my father was an evil King God was very displeased with my father and allowed King Aram to defeat him in battle my dad practiced a lot of destructive practices such as idol worship and sacrilege against the Temple of the Lord completely from God and began to sacrifice to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him which is odd considering that my grandfather was a good King so it is unclear why my dad departed so completely from

the teachings of the Lord his disgusting activities included executing my siblings which was a colossal evil that the Kingdom of Israel had already been performing my own father executed his kids now I am King my own rule began when I was 25 years old in contrast to my father I behaved in a way that was Honorable in the eyes of the Lord mirroring everything that David my ancestor had done in the past I removed the high places of pagan worship wrote down the images memorial stones and cut down the ashiram Ashira is the name of

a pagan fertility goddess and the wooden cult object devoted to her Ashira is almost always referred to as a sacred pole erected in honor of the fertility goddess scripture also references carved images of Ashira as soon as Joshua died Ashira worship plagued Israel due to Israel's incomplete conquest of Canaan ashiro was characterized by a limbless tree trunk planted in the ground the trunk was typically carved into a symbolic representation of the goddess as a result of the connection with carved trees the places of Ashira worship were commonly called Groves considered the moon goddess Ashira was

often presented as a consort of Baal the sun god despite God's clear instructions ashiro worship was a perennial problem in Israel as Solomon slipped into idolatry one of the Pagan deities he brought into the kingdom was ashirah called the goddess of the sidonians this is what I cut down God despises idolatry completely it brings God's Wrath down on those involved tragically the condition of both the Levites and the temple was so bad the Levites were a tribe of Israelites who were descendants of Levi the priests of Israel were a select group of qualified men from

the levite tribe who were responsible for various aspects of Tabernacle or Temple worship according to the law all priests were required to be Levites but not all Levites were priests even these men had shut up the doors of the outer room put out the lamps and had not burnt incense or offered burnt offerings this happened in the days of my father I realized that it was necessary to reopen the temple for cleaning and to ensure it functions properly so I crushed to Pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made for until those days the Israelites

had burned incense to it and it was called nehushtan a bronze sculpture what a Pity that the object that God had used to deliver his people had become a source of worship I recognize that the calamities that had come to Judah came because of our disobedience I chose to honor God and not walk in the steps of my father King ahaz I called on the priests and Levites to focus on their calling as the Lord has chosen them getting back to a focus on their calling and their Central purpose to serve and honor God was

essential I trusted in and relied confidently on the Lord the god of Israel for I clung to the Lord I did not turn away from Faithfully following him but I kept his Commandments which the Lord had commanded Moses I restored his Temple and offered burnt sacrifices and offerings Judah also assembled to offer sacrifices to the Lord God I commanded the Levites to sing praise to the Lord with the words of David we worshiped god with the best words we could find the words of the great psalms of praise written by King David once we had

properly sacrificed and cleansed the temple and our own Hearts before the Lord the assembly was invited to come and bring their personal offerings one of the great purposes of the temple as a place for personal sacrifice and worship was now restored the people had a strong desire to honor God through sacrifices and when given the chance the priests were overwhelmed by the response from the assembly and because of all this the Lord was with me I was successful wherever I went I defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its borders from the isolated lookout

tower to the populist fortified City now in the fourth year of my reign shalmaniser king of Assyria went up against Samaria and besieged it at the end of three years he faced ten tribes of Israel and captured it when this happened I knew that the two tribes of Judah would be next this was part of a more extensive campaign in the region I learned an important lesson from the unfortunate events that befell the northern kingdom I personally witnessed the consequences that resulted from the people of God turning away from their God and his word and

worshiping other gods observing something like this provided the southern Kingdom of Judah with a grim lesson the wicked destruction that was brought about by the Assyrians demonstrated the terrible fate that may befall the people of God if they disobeyed God the people of the northern kingdom were not any less descendants of Abraham than were the people of the Southern Kingdom because of this the people of Judah were able to see quite plainly that they would also be subject to judgment if they stopped listening to and obeying the commands of God Assyria was a mighty nation

with its capital being Nineveh the Assyrians were well known for their sheer wickedness they have covered and conquered other countries with great cruelty the tale of their hideous practice traveled they impaled their enemies and ruled by Terror so when sanakarib King of Assyria and successor to shul meniser went up against all the Fortified cities of Judah except Jerusalem and captured them I sent word to the king of Assyria at lakish saying I have done wrong withdraw from me whatever you impose on me I will bear approximately five years after the fall of Samaria the king

of Assyria brought his Force against Judah we had successfully resisted him before but it was a little different this time Assyria captured all of the Fortified cities of Judah and needed to take only Jerusalem to completely conquer Judah we were the very last stand I was afraid I feared what would happen when they came to capture the city what will happen to the people will they be able to survive this when sennakarib received my message he imposed on me a tribute tax of 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold I gave him all

the silver that was found in the house Temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the King's house at that time I cut away the gold framework from the doors of the Temple of the Lord and from the doorposts which I had overlaid and gave it to him we hoped that our policy of appeasement would make Judah safe but it only led to the impoverishment of the kingdom and the temple as a result the king of Assyria became even more bold against Judah however to be safe I have decided to trust in my defensive

alliance with Egypt they will be of help to us as a prophet Isaiah did everything he could to discourage me and the leaders of Judah from putting their trust in Egypt Isaiah said those who trusted in cush and boasted in Egypt will be dismayed and put to shame on that day the people who live on this Coast will say see what has happened to those we relied on those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria how then can we escape the Lord wanted Judah to trust him instead of Egypt sennakaribs

placed Jerusalem in a Siege we were trapped like a caged bird a Siege is when an enemy surrounds a town Castle or other building so no one can escape and no food can get in it was essential for the people inside the castle to be prepared they needed supplies of food and water to live on getting fresh food was difficult so they needed to find ways to preserve food by drying salting and storing it for a safe water supply castles needed their own well hunger was used as a weapon if a castle had good defenses

attackers often decided to wait and try to starve the defender's outs it was not uncommon for those inside the castle to resort to eating their horses or even their dogs and cats as supplies ran low the starving Defenders were sometimes forced out of the castle abandoning it to the procedures hunger was a key factor but attacking armies also forced problems maintaining an army large enough to lay Siege to a major castle and keeping them fed and armed was a hugely expensive challenge Royal armies often gave Farmers no choice but to sell their goods to the

Army at low prices then sennakarib dispatched His Highest officials The Tartan the RAB saris and the ramshika along with a large army from lakeish to me in Jerusalem the ramshika was a title it describes the field commander of the Assyrian army who represented the Assyrian King sennakarib they ascended the mountain and arrived in Jerusalem after ascending the mountain and arriving in Jerusalem they stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool it appeared as though the rabshika had the situation completely under control he was able to walk right into the city of Jerusalem and stand at

the vital water supply which was Jerusalem's Lifeline when it was under siege as he stood there three officials from my government came to meet him eliakim who was in charge of my household shebna a scribe and joa the son of asaph the secretary went out to meet them my fears have come true the tribute tax did not work or appease him to leave Judah alone now he is going to bring destruction upon us when this happened we had to prepare for a Siege I commanded that the water from the Springs outside the city should be

stopped in connection with the tunnel to keep the water supply secure within the city we also built up all the walls that were broken and raised them up to the towers then the rabshika said to them say to Hezekiah thus says the great king the king of Assyria what is the reason for this confidence that you have you say but they are only empty words I have counsel and strength for the war now on whom do you rely that you have rebelled against me now pay attention you are relying on Egypt on that staff of

crushed Reed if a man leans on it it will only go into his hand and Pierce it so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust and rely on him the rapshika wanted me to lose confidence in my Egyptian Alliance but it makes sense to make a defensive alliance with Egypt Egypt seems to be the only nation strong enough to protect Judah against the mighty Assyrians Egypt had made its one attempt to redeem its promises and its Army had been beaten at El to Kay Arabica had himself seen this anticipated the response of the

leaders of Judah we would say rabshika you say that we can't trust in Egypt All rights we won't but we can trust in the Lord our God then rapshika said but if you tell me we trust in and rely on the Lord our God is it not he whose high places and Alters Hezekiah has removed and has said to Judah and Jerusalem you shall worship only before this altar in Jerusalem the rapchika was aware of the fact that I had carried out extensive reforms in Judah one of which was the destruction of the high places

in spite of this the Rapture was of the opinion that God was truly angered by my reforms as a result he believed that I should not expect assistance from the Lord God of Israel the raptica would say look at all of the places where people used to Worship the Lord God of Israel there used to be a lot of them since Hezekiah came into Power there is now only one place more is always better so the Lord God of Israel must be pretty sore at Hezekiah the enemy of our souls has a skillful way of

discouraging our obedience he commanded vastly more powerful armies he was in a position to just March straight into Jerusalem without this little speech but the rabshika would prefer it if Judah would simply give up out of fear discouragement or despair the RAB chica said now then make a bargain with my Lord the king of Assyria and I will give you two thousand horses if on your part you can put Riders on them how then can you drive back even one official of the least of my master servants when you rely on Egypt for chariots and

Horsemen now have I come up against this place to destroy it without the Lord's approval God told me to destroy you I'm just doing his will and there is nothing you can do to stop it so you may as well surrender at this point the ravchica made fun of our relatively small army he told them even if we helped you with two thousand horses it wouldn't do you any good his basic message is we could beat you with one hand tied behind our backs you can just imagine how difficult it was for my government to

hear this my people were also sitting on the walls listening to the rapshika my men were thinking it's awful enough that we have to listen to this but given that he's speaking in Hebrew everyone will hear him and soon the people will become so disheartened that they will rise up against us and make us surrender then eliakim the son of hilkaya and shebna and joa said to the rapshika please speak to your servants in the Aramaic language because we understand it and do not speak with us in the Hebrew language in the hearing of the

people who are on the wall but the rabshika said to them has my master sent me only to your master and to you to say these things has he not sent me to The Men Who sit on the wall who are doomed by The Siege to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine along with you it didn't matter to the Rapture if the common people of Jerusalem were able to hear him or not that was one of his goals the more fear discouragement and despair he could spread the better he liked it to

tell the rapshika don't do that was the equivalent of telling a mischievous child not to do something he couldn't contain his excitement about addressing the people of Jerusalem then the Arabica stood and shouted out with a loud voice in Hebrew hear the word of the great king the king of Assyria that says the king do not let Hezekiah deceive you for he will not be able to rescue you from my hand nor let Hezekiah make you trust in and rely on the Lord saying the Lord will certainly rescue us and this city of Jerusalem will

not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria do not listen to Hezekiah for thus says the king of Assyria surrender to me and come out to meet me and every man may eat from his own Vine and fig tree and every man May drink the Waters of his own well until I come and take you away to a land like your own land a land of grain and new wine a land of bread and Vineyards a land of olive trees and honey so that you may live and not die do not listen

to Hezekiah when he misleads and incites you saying the Lord will rescue us as any one of the Gods of the Nations ever rescued his land from the hand of the king of Assyria the Rapture speech was intended to glorify the enemy facing God's people he wanted to sow seeds of Doubt among the people of God regarding their leaders the speech of the rapchika was designed to instill a sense of dread and doubt in the hearts of God's people he wanted to convince his audience that it would be advantageous to surrender the rapshika referred to

the policies of forced resettlement practiced by the Assyrians after they had defeated a nation they would relocate its citizens to other lands in order to keep the people's morale crushed and their power weak the rapshika's words were crafted to give the impression that this Dreadful fate had some redeeming qualities where are the gods of hamath and ourpod in Aram where are the gods of cephyr vaim Hina and Iva in the Valley of the Euphrates have they rescued Samaria Israel's capital from my hand who among all the gods of the lands have rescued their lands from

my hand that the Lord would rescue Jerusalem from my hand but the people kept silent and did not answer him because I had commanded do not answer him often it's useless if not dangerous to try and match wits with this evil logic it is often wiser to remain quiet and have faith in God rather than attempt to argue I understand that safeguarding Israel was not solely reliant on fortifications such as walls Towers Shields and Water Supplies it also hinged on The Valor bravery and resolve of our soldiers then eliakim shebna the Scribe and Joe of

the secretary came to me with her clothes torn in grief and despair and told me what the rabshika had said when I heard it I tore my clothes covered myself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord the tearing of clothes and the wearing of sackcloth a rough burlap type material were traditional ways to show extreme grief usually for the death of a loved one I took the news about rabshika seriously because I knew how committed Jerusalem's foe was to completely conquer Jerusalem Jerusalem's situation was desperate and I knew it there was good

reason to be humble before the Lord city after city has fallen to sennakarib and long lines of deportees are already snaking their bitter way into exile I sought the Lord God's face and asked for help for on our own we are helpless in this situation I sent eliakim who was in charge of my household and shebner the Scribe and the Elders of the priests covered with sackcloth to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amos I told them to pass this message to Isaiah this is a day of distress and anxiety of punishment and humiliation for

children have come to the time of their birth and there is no strength to rescue them it may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the rabshika whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to taunt and defy the Living God and will rebuke The Words which the Lord your God has heard so offer a prayer for the remnant of his people that is left in Judah I told my messengers to say these things to Isaiah so that they might convey the whole and utter disaster that had befallen the

nation the only thing that gave us hope was that God would take offense to rabshika's insults and punish him for them this speech is Blasphemous unlike anything else so my servants came to Isaiah Isaiah said to them say this to your master thus says the Lord do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard with which the Servants of the king of Assyria have reviled blaspheme me behold I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land and I will make him fall

By The Sword in his own land Isaiah was aware that he spoke as a prophet of the Lord Isaiah speaking for the Lord was about to make a bold prediction his prophecy would be entirely provable it would either happen or it would not happen Isaiah would be known as a true Prophet or a false prophet shortly this let me know that the words of the raptica are only words I did not need to be afraid of him I was comforted by these words now the Lord spoke through the prophet Isaiah saying he had indeed heard

those words it was evident that God took this offense personally the Lord calls rabshika and the other officers of the army the servant boys of the king of Assyria so the rapshika returned and saw the king of Assyria engaged in battle with libna a fortified City in Judah while Arabica was away the Assyrians discovered that Egyptian troops led by an Ethiopian Monarch were advancing from the south this would be the Egyptian intervention a Syria feared and that many and Judah trusted as the prophet Isaiah foretold it would amount to naught despite this the Assyrians sent

a letter to me to discourage me from a distance even in this a Sirius sent a message to me saying Hezekiah king of Judah do not let your God on whom you rely deceive You by saying Jerusalem shall not be handed over to the king of Assyria listen you have heard what the Assyrian Kings have done to all the lands destroying them completely so will you be spared did the gods of the Nations whom my forefathers destroyed rescue them gozin and Harin of Mesopotamia and resf and the people of Eden who were in tallasser where

is the king of hamath the king of arpod of Northern Syria the king of the city of sephoraem and of Hina and Iva sanakarib defies God he speaks blasphemy with his mouth and arrogantly assumes his own leadership I received the letter from the hand of The Messengers and read it then I went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord I prayed before the Lord and said oh Lord the god of Israel who is enthroned above the cherubim of the Ark in the temple you are the god you alone

of all the kingdoms of the earth you have made the heavens and the earth oh Lord bend down your ear and hear Lord open your eyes and see hear the taunting words of sanaka rib which he has sent to taunt and defy the Living God it is true Lord that the Assyrians have devastated the Nations and their lands and have thrown their gods Into the Fire for they were not real Gods but only the work of men's hands wood and stone so they could destroy them and now O Lord Our God please save us from

his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know without any doubt that you alone oh Lord our God then Isaiah the son of Amos sent word to me saying thus says the Lord the god of Israel I have heard your prayer to me regarding sennakarib king of Assyria this is the word that the Lord has spoken against him the Virgin Daughter of Zion has despised you and mocked you the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head behind you whom have you taunted and blasphemed against whom have you raised your voice and heartily

lifted up your eyes against the Holy One of Israel through your Messengers you have taunted and defied the Lord and have said boastfully with my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains to the remotest parts of Lebanon I cut down its tall cedar trees and its choicest cypress trees I entered its most distant lodging its densest Forest I dug Wells and drank Foreign Waters and with the soul of my feet I dried up all the rivers of the lower Nile of Egypt have you not heard asks the god of Israel long

ago I did it from ancient times I planned it now I have brought it to pass that you king of Assyria should be my instrument to turn fortified cities into ruinous Heats therefore their inhabitants were powerless they were shattered in spirit and put to shame they were like plants of the field the green herb as grass on the housetops is scorched before it is grown up but I the Lord know you're sitting down o sanakarib You're Going outs you're coming in and you're raging against me because of your raging against me and because your arrogance

and complacency have come up to my ears I will put my hook in your nose and my Bridle in your lips and I will turn you back to Assyria by the way that you came then this shall be the sign of these things to you Hezekiah this year you will eat what grows of itself in the second year what Springs up voluntarily and in the third year so and reap plant Vineyards and eat their fruit the survivors Who Remain of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward for a Remnant

will go forth from Jerusalem and a band of survivors from Mount Zion the Zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria he will not come to this city Jerusalem nor shoot an arrow there nor will he come before it with a shield nor throw up a Siege ramp against it by the way that he came by the same way he will return and he will not come into this city declares the Lord for I will protect this city to save it for my own sake

and for my servant David's sake then it happened that night that the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185 000 men in the camp of the Assyrians when the survivors woke up early in the morning behold all 185 000 of them were dead this formidable army was wiped out in a single night by God's simple and great intervention Against All Odds and against every expectation except the expectation of Faith the Assyrian army was turned back without having even shot an arrow into Jerusalem the Unstoppable was halted and The Undefeated was defeated God

was able to do this task with ease to put it another way the Lord had a much more difficult time getting the hearts and minds of his people in the right place once they were there it was simple for God to delegate this task to one of his angels this transpired just in the way that God foretold it would the Assyrian King left still full of Pride the Lord God has defended Jerusalem against sanakarib and his army it only took one strike from the Lord's Angel to rid Judah of its foe 185 000 Assyrian soldiers

were slain in an instant the Lord is good the Assyrian King like Goliath the Philistine who mocked the Lord had been defeated sanakarib king of Assyria left and returned home and lived at Nineveh after this Retreat from Judah sannakarib commissioned a record the record talks of his achievement in Judah despite the fact he did not conquer it it shows how full of Pride sonakarib's heart still was even if he could not claim he conquered Jerusalem and as it came about as he was worshiping in the house of his God his sons a dramalek and sharizer

killed him with a sword and esar Haddon his son became king in his place God destroyed this Mighty Army and one night with a simple and Powerful strike 185 000 died at the hand of the Angel of the Lord Against All Odds and against every expectation except the expectation of Faith the Assyrian army was turned back without having even shot an arrow into Jerusalem the Unstoppable was stopped and The Undefeated was defeated this sounds like a great Victory however there was a war that I had to face that I have yet to share myself it

was not a man that sought my life but the Lord himself in those days I was sick and near death and Isaiah the prophet the son of Amos went to me and said to me thus says the Lord set your house in order for you shall die and not live not all people are given the time to set your house in order would I come out of this with my life I turned toward the wall and prayed to the Lord saying remember now O Lord I pray how I have walked before you in truth and

with a loyal heart and have done what was good in your sight and I wept bitterly I directed his prayer in privacy to God and not to any man even though God wanted my life it is only him that I can go to for deliverance after that Isaiah went away and then returned he spoke to me saying this is what the Lord the god of David your father says I have heard your prayer I have seen your tears surely I will heal you on the third day you shall go up to the house of the

Lord and I will add to your days 15 years then Isaiah said take a lump of figs so they took it and laid it on the boil and I recovered God has blessed me with two gifts first he bestowed on me the gift of an extended life second he bestowed upon me the gift of knowing I only had 15 years left my name is Hezekiah and this is my story