Hezekiah's Prayer
Hezekiah’s prayer in Isaiah 37:14-20 is a powerful moment in history. The backstory is the King of Assyria was threatening to destroy Jerusalem. He was a king to be feared- Assyria had already wiped out other nations and people, Scripture uses the terms ‘laid waste’. It’s not hard to envision what that means. The Assyrians already visited Jerusalem, threw out some threats, and to add insult to injury, they did it speaking Hebrew, so all the people around could hear and understand the threat. It was a dire situation. Then, Hezekiah received a letter from the Assyrians outlining what they planned to do and how they would do it. It wasn’t enough that they came in person to taunt and threaten, but then they put it in writing. Hezekiah knew things looked bleak. Every other nation that faced Assyria was now a part of Assyria, their people dead or enslaved, their resources commandeered, their land absorbed ...