2 Kings 18 tells us of King Hezekiah of Judah. We are told he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, including tearing down the high places. We are told there was no king like him after him, or before him, which means in God’s eyes he was the greatest king in the history of Israel or Judah. During his reign Israel fell to the Assyrians. The Assyrians then attacked Judah. At first Hezekiah paid tribute to the Assyrians, but then he decided not to, and the Assyrian army came against Judah. As Jerusalem was under siege, the Assyrian leader told the people of Judah if they would surrender, they would be given their own vineyards and homes. He told them not to rely on Hezekiah, or on his reliance on the LORD, because no gods of any nation had ever been able to deliver their people from Assyria.
As chapter 19 begins, the prophet Isaiah assures Hezekiah that the LORD will deliver Judah from Assyria, and he does. At first it was through another army attacking the Assyrians, and as King Sennacherib leaves for another battle, he warns Hezekiah not to trust in the LORD, or to think that he will not return and defeat Judah. But again Hezekiah turns to the LORD, and once again Isaiah assures Hezekiah Sennacherib will be defeated. As it turns out, Sennacherib returned home and was executed by his own son, so the LORD’s words came true, and Judah was delivered once again.
In chapter 20, Hezekiah becomes ill to the point of death. Once again he calls out to the LORD, and this time the LORD delivers him from illness and promises to give him an additional fifteen years to live. As a sign of the LORD’s commitment to do this, He has the sun go back fifteen minutes in the sky. As Hezekiah’s reign continues, an envoy comes from Babylon. Hezekiah shows the envoy the Temple and everything in it. When Isaiah comes and asks Hezekiah what he showed the Babylonians, he answers that he showed them everything in the Temple. Isaiah tells Hezekiah that as a result a time will come in the future when the Babylonians will come and carry everything in the Temple off to Babylon, and his own sons will be eunuchs in the court of the Babylonian king. Hezekiah comforts himself with the reality this promise won’t come true in his lifetime. It seems a selfish attitude, but Hezekiah is still seen as one of the greatest kings in the history of Judah. At the end of the chapter Hezekiah dies and “rests” with his fathers. Manasseh, his son takes his place as king.
2 Kings 21 tells us Manasseh was as evil as his father, Hezekiah, had been good. While he ruled in Judah for fifty-five years, he undid all his father’s good. He restored the high places; he sacrificed his son on the altar; he rebuilt the Asherah poles. Because of this wickedness, which we’re told was worse than that of the native Amorites, the LORD promised that Judah and Jerusalem would be destroyed. It didn’t happen immediately, but Manasseh had set Judah on a collision course with collapse. This is always the case when we choose sin over salvation in our lives. When Manasseh died, his son Amon became king, but after only two years the people conspired against him and killed him. His son, Josiah, replaced him.
As we turn to Matthew 11, we read of John the Baptist sending his followers to Jesus to ask whether He was the Messiah, or if they ought to look for someone else. John was in prison, and he didn’t see Jesus fulfilling what he perceived the calling of the Messiah to be. Jesus’ response was a direct quote from the book of Isaiah. He told John he was healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, proclaiming good news to the poor, and then He said, “Blessed is the one who doesn’t fall away on account of me.” In other words, “John, I’m not what you expected, but I am most certainly the Messiah.” Jesus praised John and said he was one of the greatest men ever to be born, and was the Elijah who was to come. Then He said, but the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he. To be counted as a member of the Kingdom of God is a high privilege. Jesus noted that many of the towns of Israel had rejected Him, and they would be rejected. Then He told us that if we are weary and burdened down, we can come to Him, because His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Jesus is a Messiah no one expected. Far from the conquering King who would re-establish Israel as the power on the planet, He was a humble servant-king, who was on His way to die for the salvation of humanity. We can see what Jesus was doing, and that it won’t be until His second coming that we see the conquering King, but in His own time on earth, the people couldn’t see that reality. We are blessed we have the opportunity to do so!