"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us." (2 Chron. 32:7)
It was the greatest crisis that Hezekiah and Isaiah ever faced. The very survival of Judah was in peril. Assyria, ever thirsty for more conquests, had just rolled into Judah, leveling forty-six walled cities and taking 200,150 captives. The Assyrian king demanded huge sums of money from Hezekiah, whom he mockingly described as "a bird in a cage." Hezekiah might as well have been in a cage, for siege armies completely surrounded his city.
Cowering behind his city's walls, Hezekiah once more turned to Isaiah for advice. Should he surrender? Negotiate? Outside, the Assyrians were directing a barrage of propaganda at Jerusalem's demoralized citizens. They scoffed at Judah's hopes for a miracle from God. No gods had helped any other nation withstand the Assyrian juggernaut.
Isaiah, however, refused to panic. Against all odds, he calmly advised prayer and reliance on the power of God. Have faith, he said. Don't surrender, and don't fear. Assyria will return home, wounded.
Jerusalem looked like a doomed city during the siege by Assyria. But two things happened to fulfill Isaiah's prophecy. First, a great plague struck the Assyrians (Isaiah 37), a plague also recorded by the historian Herodotus. Later, the murder of Assyria's leader brought internal chaos to that country and canceled out the Assyrian threat.
The miraculous deliverance saved Judah, but only temporarily. In his latter days, Hezekiah foolishly flaunted his country's wealth before envoys from Babylon, a rising power in the East. The citizens of Judah grew proud as well; they became convinced that Jerusalem, God's city, was indestructible - a belief that would be proven tragically false.
Life Question: Verses 7 and 31 show that God may sometimes seem close, and sometimes distant. What makes the difference?
