Hezekiah
The king of Judah who destroyed the high places, trusted in YHWH unlike any king before or after him, saw the Assyrian army retreat from Jerusalem when the Angel of the LORD struck 185,000 soldiers in the night.
The Trusting King
Scripture: 2 Kings 18-20; Isaiah 36-39
The Biblical Record
Sennacherib's field commander stood at the walls of Jerusalem and delivered the most psychologically sophisticated speech of intimidation in the biblical narrative: do not let Hezekiah deceive you when he says YHWH will deliver you. Has any of the gods of the nations delivered their land from the king of Assyria? Hezekiah received the letter, spread it before the LORD in the Temple, and prayed. Isaiah came with the word: thus says the LORD — by the way that he came, by the same he shall return. That night the Angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the Assyrian camp.
Hezekiah in the Sanctum
Hezekiah is the figure of the leader who takes the impossible problem to YHWH rather than to a human coalition. His spreading the letter before the LORD is one of the most instructive prayer scenes in Scripture. The Sanctum uses it as a picture of what it means to cast the burden entirely on YHWH.
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