Hezekiah was distraught and tore his clothes. We have seen that Hezekiah did many good things, but also displayed weakness. Earlier he had tried to buy off Assyria, here he reacts with fear. However, he also does the right thing in going to the temple. We too can be a mixture of faith and fear. Ideally we would always have perfect faith, would always act with goodness, but we don't. So when we know that we are not reacting properly we should go to the throne of grace to "receive help in our time of need" (Heb 4:16).
He then sends his secretary to tell Isaiah what has happened. Hezekiah also recognises that it is the Lord's name that is being mocked by Assyria. Isaiah acts in faith and sends Hezekiah a word that Assyria will hear a report and so be diverted from the attack.
Assyria did indeed receive a report of an attack and so withdrew. Sennacherib warned Hezekiah that this was only a temporary reprieve, reminding him of all the nations that had fallen to Assyria. The threat was that Israel would be next. We will see how Hezekiah reacts to this in the next post.
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