Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 19
The king of Assyria had sent a message to Hezekiah, proudly to claim Jerusalem for himself. So, God also sent a message to Hezekiah by means of the prophet (holy man) Isaiah.
In God’s message, God describes Jerusalem as a virgin, a young woman who has not yet had sex. The king of Assyria had tried to take her for himself, by force. However, God, whom she truly loves, defended her from that enemy. So, as the king of Assyria runs away, the young woman laughs at him. In the same way, the people in Jerusalem would laugh at how the king of Assyria had failed to take control over Jerusalem.
The king of Assyria had become much too proud about the success of his army. He had convinced himself that, with his many chariots (military vehicles that horses pulled), he could defeat any other nation in war. He looked at the great mountains in Lebanon with their huge trees. He was sure that he could cut down the tallest of those trees. That seems to be a work picture for how he had already defeated many great kings.
He had taken away the water from foreign countries. That may be a word-picture for how he forced people to leave their own countries. Soon, he intended to march to Egypt to do the same things there. He was already speaking proudly about what he would achieve.
However, first he had to defeat Judah and Jerusalem – and to do that, he had proudly spoken against Israel’s God. Israel’s God is the only true God, the maker of heaven and earth. God heard those terrible insults and now God was acting against this proud and wicked king.
Next part: How Assyria achieved, and lost, its greatness (2 Kings 19:25-28)
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