CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
2 Kings 18:1 to 2 Kings 20:21
Three Chapter s of Kings are devoted to the reign of good King
Hezekiah. After a somewhat lengthy introduction to the reign of this
king (2 Kings 18:1-12), the author discusses a political crisis (2
Kings 18:13 to 2 K... [ Continue Reading ]
I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE REIGN OF HEZEKIAH 18:1-12
TRANSLATION
(1) And it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah
king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to
reign. (2) He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned twenty-nine ye... [ Continue Reading ]
II. A POLITICAL CRISIS: THE ASSYRIAN INVASION OF 701 B.C. 18:13-19:37
In 701 B.C. the Assyrian king Sennacherib was able to turn his
attention to the rebellious vassal in Jerusalem. It is not easy to
correlate all the details of this section with Sennacherib's own
account of the campaign. Some schol... [ Continue Reading ]
B. SENNACHERIB'S INITIAL SURRENDER DEMANDS 18:17-19:7
The Assyrian king was not satisfied with the tribute paid by Hezekiah.
He wanted nothing less than the total surrender of Jerusalem. While he
himself was engaged in military operations in the lowland region of
Palestine, he sent an embassy to Je... [ Continue Reading ]