21:19-25
Amon only reigned for two years, like his father he did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He too worshipped idols, forsaking the ways of the Lord. His officials conspired against him and assassinated him. His son, Josiah succeeded him, and was to prove to be a much better king.
21:7-9
The idiot even took an Asherah pole that he had made and placed it in the temple. The whole saga reminds me of Jesus' teaching in Matt 12:43-45 about the impure spirit, which went to find seven more, making the situation worse than it was before. The problem for Israel was that there was no change of heart. Manasseh led the nation astray, making them worse than the previous occupants of the land. The purpose of a leader is to lead the people in the ways of the Lord.
21:10-18
God spoke to the nation through the prophets, telling them that judgement was coming. They had seen what had happened to Samaria, but had learnt nothing., so they would suffer a similar fate. It was not just idolatry, but blood shed came with it. Manasseh evenTUlly died and was succeeded by his son Amon.
21:1-6
Having had a good king we now come to another in the line of evil kings. Manasseh reigned for 55 years, so a long reign does not necessarily indicate favour with God. Manasseh continued with idol worship, undoing much of the good work of Hezekiah. He rebuilt the high places. He even built altars to idols in the temple of God. His sin aroused the anger of the Lord.
20:12-21
Hezekiah then makes a big mistake. Envoys are sent from Babylon, and it is Hezekiah’s illness that led to them coming. Hezekiah showed them everything that he had. Why did he do this, we are not told, perhaps it was pride, or wanting to impress the Babylonians. Isaiah appears on the scene and warns Hezekiah that the Babylonians will carry everything off to Babylon, as well as some of his descendents.
Hezekiah seems pleased, believing that there will be peace in his time. There is nothing in Isaiah’s word as to when things will happen. Hezekiah’s reaction can be seen as selfish, but it is also understandable.
Hezekiah died and was succeeded by his son Manasseh.
20:1-6
We now read of two interesting incidents in Hezekiah’s life. First he becomes ill and is close to death. Initially Isaiah is rather pessimistic, saying that the Lord says he will not recover. We are often told that prayer is not about trying to change God’s mind. I have a lot of sympathy with that view, but what happens next shows there is more to it. Hezekiah does not like the word and pleads with the Lord, weeping bitterly. In response the Lord speaks again to Isaiah. He is to tell Hezekiah that he has changed his mind and will add fifteen years to Hezekiah's life. He will also deliver the city from Assyria. God was moved by Hezekiah’s prayer and his tears, also by His promise to David. A lot of things are done because of God’s covenant with David. In the same way, God does many things in our lives because of Jesus.
20:7-11
Isaiah gives practical advice “prepare a poultice of figs”, and Hezekiah recovers. Surprisingly Hezekiah wants a sign that he will actually be healed, and God gives him a sign. God is more accommodating than we often think.
19:1-7
Hezekiah is full of fear, but he does pray to the Lord, rather than running after idols, which was what other kings had done. More comments can be found here.Isaiah remains calm and foretells Jerusalem’s deliverance.
19:8-13
Isaiah’s words come true.However Sennacherib sees this as only a temporary setback, and tries to keep Hezekiah in a state of fear.
19:14-19
This time Hezekiah reacts differently, and takes sennacherib’s letter directly to the Lord, and prays with faith. More can be found here.
19:20-37
Isaiah still sends a message to Hezekiah, encouraging him. More can be found here, Sennacherib was duly assasinated. .
18:1-8
At last we get a good king of Judah, king Hezekiah. He reigned for twenty nine years, and the text makes clear that it is his obedience to the Lord that makes the difference. He takes after his father David. He even removed the high places, as well as cutting down the Asherah pole. The bronze snake that Moses had made had become a source of idol worship. We will make idols out of anything. Hezekiah was aware of the dangers of idol worship, note that later he would be criticised for this.
Hezekiah trusted the Lord, so he was successful, and he rebelled against Assyria, and defeated the Philistines.
18:9-37
Assyria, under Shalmaneser, laid siege to Samaria and captured it . Israel’s defeat is put down to their disobedience to the Lord.Then Assyria turned their attention to Judah, but failed. The difference in outcomes is put down to trusting the Lord by Hezekiah. Even so Hezekiah had sought to buy off Assyria with temple treasures. We then get a telling of the way the battle went with fear tactics used by Assyria, I have written about this in my notes on Isaiah.
