1 And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.
He was upset.
2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.
Hezekiah loved the Lord and knew where to turn for help; God's messenger.
3 And they said unto him, “Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
4 “It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.”
“Please pray for us!”
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said unto them, “Thus shall ye say unto your master, ‘Thus saith the Lord, “Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
“Don’t worry. I, God, have it all under control.”
7 “’”Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”’”
“You won’t even have to fight. I’ll take care of it.”
8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
The King of Assyria, Sennacherib, was attacked by the king of Egypt (or Ethiopia, sometimes these were the same country, sometimes not.) and sent for his general, Rabshakeh, to come help him.
9 And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He is come forth to make war with thee.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10 “Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, ‘Let not thy God, in whom thou trust, deceive thee, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”’
“Don’t believe you are safe, Hezekiah.”
11 “Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?”
“You and your God are no match for me anymore than any other king or god has been.”
12 “Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar?
13 “Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?”
“I will be back.”
14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.
Again, Hezekiah knew where to go for help.
15 And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying,
16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwells between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.
He acknowledges who he is speaking to and praises Him.
17 “Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open thine eyes, O Lord, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God.
“Sennacherib is talking smack.”
18 “Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,
“And what he says is true.”
19 “And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
20 “Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only.
“Show who You really are, God.”
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, ‘Whereas thou hast prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:’
We moderns often don’t think we can pray this kind of prayer, one that calls curses down on others. It is, however entirely appropriate at times. I often pray for the destruction of Planned Parenthood and other evil organizations, as well as the failure of evil people and their plans.
22 “This is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him; ‘The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
“Sennacherib, the little girls here are making fun of you.”
23 “’Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? And against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel.’”
“It’s not like you are taking on just statues this time. You’ve come across the real thing in the Lord God.”
24 “’By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, “By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel.
25 I have dug, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.
“You are saying ‘Look at all I have done, how powerful I am.’”
26 “’Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou should be to lay waste defensed cities into ruinous heaps.
“But you know better. You heard all the prophecies from the last 100 years or so about how you were going to be my tool of punishment.”
27 “’Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
“Of course you won.”
28 “’But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against Me.
“I know where you live.”
29 “Because thy rage against Me, and thy tumult, is come up into Mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou came.’”
Documents were recently discovered that show that the king of Babylon in fact led the king of Assyria away with a hook in his nose when he conquered him. This is not figurative as once thought, but absolutely literal.
30 “And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as grows of itself; and the second year that which springs of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.
“Here’s how you will know, Hezekiah, that it’s Me that’s talking; your people won’t have to plant for two years in order to have plenty of food, and when they do plant again it will be a real good crop.”
31 “And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:”
Sennacherib has already conquered a good portion of Judah. Those who are left, though, will be rich.
32 “For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.
33 “Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it.
“Sennacherib won’t even get here to your doorstep.”
34 “By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city,” saith the Lord.
“He will just go home.”
35 “For I will defend this city to save it for Mine Own sake, and for My servant David's sake.”
36 Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
God started the defense of Jerusalem by simply killing 185,000 of the enemy soldiers outside the city.
All ancient records we have of this time period in this region record a comet being very close to earth. There are records of this causing a great many side affects, one of which was poisonous gas clouds randomly floating around killing large numbers of people. These ancient records would simply be the secular confirmation of the mechanism God used to punish Assyria and protect Jerusalem.
37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
Sennacherib had to go home to regroup.
38 And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
God put it in the mind of Sennacherib’s own sons to kill him. The Jews didn’t even have to lift a finger in their own defense.