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2 Kings 18
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| 18:1
Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of
Israel, that Hezekiah the
son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. |
 (18:1-2)
"Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign."
Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, began to reign
when he was 25 years old. His father was 36 years old when Hezekiah took over (16:2). So Ahaz was only eleven years old when he fathered
Hezekiah!
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| 18:2
Twenty and five years
old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years
in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.
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| 18:3
And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all
that David his father did. |
 (18:3-4) While Hezekiah was busy doing things that were "right in the sight of the Lord,"
he broke the brazen serpent that God told Moses to make in Numbers 21:8.
Is it OK to make graven images?
Is magic OK?
(18:3) "He did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all
that David his father did.."
(18:4) "He ... brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made."
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| 18:4
He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves,
and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those
days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it
Nehushtan.
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| 18:5
He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him
among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.
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| 18:6
For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept
his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses. |
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| 18:7
And the LORD was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth:
and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not. |
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| 18:8
He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from
the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. |
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| 18:9
And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the
seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of
Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it. |
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| 18:10
And at the end of three years they took it: even in the sixth year of
Hezekiah, that is in the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was
taken. |
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| 18:11
And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them
in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes: |
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| 18:12
Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed
his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and
would not hear them, nor do them. |
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| 18:13
Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of
Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them. |
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| 18:14
And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying,
I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear.
And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred
talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. |
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| 18:15
And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the
LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house. |
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| 18:16
At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of
the LORD, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid,
and gave it to the king of Assyria. |
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| 18:17
And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from
Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went
up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by
the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's
field. |
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| 18:18
And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the
son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and
Joah the son of Asaph the recorder. |
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| 18:19
And Rabshakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the
great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou
trustest? |
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| 18:20
Thou sayest, (but they are but vain words,) I have counsel and strength
for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? |
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| 18:21
Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon
Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so
is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him. |
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| 18:22
But if ye say unto me, We trust in the LORD our God: is not that he, whose
high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to
Judah and Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem? |
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| 18:23
Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my lord the king of Assyria,
and I will deliver thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to
set riders upon them. |
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| 18:24
How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my
master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? |
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| 18:25
Am I now come up without the LORD against this place to destroy it? The
LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it. |
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| 18:26
Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, unto
Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language; for
we understand it: and talk not with us in the Jews' language in the ears of
the people that are on the wall. |
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| 18:27
But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to
thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they
may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you? |
(18:27)
"That they may eat their own dung and drink their own piss with you"
Is the word of God pure?
What the Bible says about food and drink
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| 18:28
Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language,
and spake, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria: |
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| 18:29
Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be
able to deliver you out of his hand: |
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| 18:30
Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will
surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the
king of Assyria. |
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| 18:31
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an
agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every
man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one
the waters of his cistern: |
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| 18:32
Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of
corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and of
honey, that ye may live, and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he
persuadeth you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. |
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| 18:33
Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the
hand of the king of Assyria? |
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| 18:34
Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of
Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand? |
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| 18:35
Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered
their country out of mine hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out
of mine hand? |
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| 18:36
But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the
king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not. |
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| 18:37
Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and
Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with
their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
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(18:37)
"Shebna ... and Joah ... with their clothes rent."
People either tear their clothes or fall on their face when they get upset in the Bible.
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