2 Kings 18:9 - Meaning and Application

The kingdom of Assyria had now become a major power, though we do not hear much about it until the last reign. This is how things change for nations and families. Some that once seemed weak become dangerous, while others that once looked strong are brought low.

Here we see Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, succeed against Israel. He besieged Samaria (2 Kings 18:9), took it (2 Kings 18:10), and carried the people away into captivity (2 Kings 18:11). The reason for this judgment is given in 2 Kings 18:12, they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God. This was already told more fully in the previous chapter, but it is repeated here for several reasons.

First, it stirred Hezekiah and his people to cleanse out idolatry with greater zeal, because they saw where it led Israel. When a neighbor’s house is on fire, and your own house is at risk, it is time to throw out what is cursed. Second, Hezekiah deeply mourned this fall, though he did not have the power to stop it. The ten tribes had rebelled from the house of David and often troubled it, even in his father’s day, yet Hezekiah, as a descendant of Israel, could not be glad at their misery. Third, Israel’s fall made Judah much more exposed to attack from the king of Assyria.

It is said here that the ten tribes would not listen to God’s commands, nor do them (2 Kings 18:12). Many are willing to hear God spoken of, but will go no further (Ezekiel 33:31). These people had already decided not to do what was right, so they did not care to hear about it.

Next comes the attack of Sennacherib, the later king of Assyria, against Judah. He was encouraged by his predecessor’s success against Israel, and wanted to match those victories and extend them further. This invasion was a great trouble for Judah, and God used it to test Hezekiah’s faith and to correct the people. They are called a hypocritical nation (Isaiah 10:6) because they did not truly join Hezekiah’s reform. They were not willing to give up their idols, but still clung to them in their hearts, and perhaps even kept them in their homes, though the high places had been removed.

This trouble was especially heavy for Hezekiah in two ways. First, he lost much of his country. The king of Assyria captured all, or most, of the fortified cities of Judah, the border towns and garrisons, and after that the rest was easier to take (2 Kings 18:13). The prophet Isaiah describes the panic and ruin this invasion caused (Isaiah 10:28-31).

Second, Hezekiah paid dearly for peace. He saw Jerusalem itself in danger, as Samaria had been, and was willing to buy safety by sending a humble message: he admitted fault in refusing the usual tribute and offered to make things right as demanded (2 Kings 18:14). This raises hard questions. Where was Hezekiah’s courage? Where was his trust in God? Why did he not ask Isaiah’s counsel before sending such a lowly message?

He also had to pay a huge amount of money, 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold, more than 200,000 pounds in modern terms. It was not an annual tax, but a ransom paid at once. To gather it, he had to empty the public treasures (2 Kings 18:15) and even remove the gold from the doors of the temple and from the pillars (2 Kings 18:16).

Though the temple had set apart that gold for holy use, the need was urgent. He seems to have thought he could make use of it in the same way David did with the showbread, for the good of preserving the whole nation. His father Ahaz had stripped the temple in contempt (2 Chronicles 28:24). Hezekiah had already made good, with interest, what his father had taken. Now, with proper respect, he only asked leave to borrow it again in an emergency, for a greater good, and meant to restore it fully as soon as he was able.