II Kings 22, Josiah and Temple Repairs

Manasseh has desecrated the temple and devoted it to other gods. His grandson, Josiah, will be different. For a brief period of time there is revival in Judah. The date is about 640 BC.

Josiah is quite young when his 24-year-old father, Amon, is assassinated. The officials who kill his father attempt to put another ruler in place but their coup is overturned by the people and they are killed (in the previous chapter.) 

2 Kings 22:1-2, An eight-year-old is king

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His mother's name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.

Josiah is installed as king at the age of eight. Unlike father and grandfather, he desires to follow YHWH.

Bozkath was probably a small town west of Jerusalem, in the Shephelah, the Judean foothills.

2 Kings 22:3-7, Temple to be repaired

In the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the secretary, Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the temple of the LORD. He said:"Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him get ready the money that has been brought into the temple of the LORD, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people. Have them entrust it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. And have these men pay the workers who repair the temple of the LORD-- the carpenters, the builders and the masons. Also have them purchase timber and dressed stone to repair the temple. But they need not account for the money entrusted to them, because they are acting faithfully."

Around 835 BC, King Joash (in 2 Kings 12) begins reign as a seven year old. In his reign Joash instituted temple repairs. Now, two centuries later, another king, also installed as a child, begins temple repairs.

A age twenty-six, Josiah orders that the temple be repaired. In a parallel passage (2 Chronicles 34) we learn that this reconstruction begins with an earlier campaign to rid the land of the idols and Asherah poles. Since his grandfather Manasseh has installed some of these idols in the temple, this would have involved some temple renovation.

2 Kings 22:8-10, Book of Law found

Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD." He gave it to Shaphan, who read it.

Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him: "Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the LORD and have entrusted it to the workers and supervisors at the temple."

Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.

 

During temple repairs, the Book of the Law (presumably the Torah of Moses, but possibly just the book of Deuteronomy) is found in the temple. It is brought out and read to the king. In previous years, possibly a century or more, that scroll had been lost, possibly even hidden for safety (suggests Hubbard.)

2 Kings 22:11-13, Torn robes

When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes.

He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king's attendant: "Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD's anger that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us."

Josiah is distressed by what he hears. Clearly the country has not been following the requirements of the Law. If the book of the Law here is a scroll of Deuteronomy, it includes the blessings and curses (Deuteronomy 28)  that follow from obedience/disobedience to the Law.

2 Kings 22:14, Find the prophetess

Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan and Asaiah went to speak to the prophetess Huldah, who was the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the Second District.

The priests are aware of a certain prophetess, Huldah, wife of the "keeper of the wardrobe". (Apparently Shallum maintained the ritual robes of the priest.) Huldah and her husband live in the Second District, a newer development west-northwest of the palace-temple district (says Hubbard.)

Contemporaries of Huldah are Jeremiah and Zephaniah. But the priests seek out Huldah.

2 Kings 22:15-20, Huldah speaks

She said to them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, `This is what the LORD says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people, according to everything written in the book the king of Judah has read. Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and provoked me to anger by all the idols their hands have made, my anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched.'

Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, `This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard: Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people, that they would become accursed and laid waste, and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the LORD. Therefore I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place.'" So they took her answer back to the king.

The news from Huldah is not good. A disaster is coming. But it will happen after Josiah's reign, since he, like Hezekiah before him, has humbled himself before YHWH. With Assyria lurking about, these postponements of disaster, caused by the devotion of Hezekiah and Josiah, are certainly important for the affected generations!

First published January 2, 2023, updated November 13, 2026

II Kings 21, Manasseh, A Plate to Wipe Clean

The date is about 695 BC. The northern kingdom is gone but the southern kingdom, Judah, survives. After the good king, Hezekiah, comes Manasseh, and the final decay begins.

2 Kings 21:1-5, Manasseh, a bad king

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother's name was Hephzibah. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. He built altars in the temple of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem I will put my Name." In both courts of the temple of the LORD, he built altars to all the starry hosts.
 

Manasseh becomes king at a young twelve years and will reign for fifty-five years. A careful computation of dates and years suggests that ten of these years were a coregency with his father, Hezekiah (says Hubbard.)

Manasseh returns to the old ways of idolatry, following Asherah and Molech, and building altars to the stars. But the idolatry of Manasseh goes further -- he puts altars within the temple of YHWH!

Both Babylonian and Assyrian religion included astrology, the study of the stars, assuming that the movement of the planets allowed one to divine the plans of the gods. (Babylonian astrology divided the sky into 360 segments, based on the apparent daily motion of the stars; it is from the Babylonians that we get our 360 degrees for a circle.) Manasseh's worship of "all the starry hosts" was probably influenced by Babylon and Assyria.

2 Kings 21:6-9, Manasseh and people do not listen

He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger.

He took the carved Asherah pole he had made and put it in the temple, of which the LORD had said to David and to his son Solomon, "In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever. I will not again make the feet of the Israelites wander from the land I gave their forefathers, if only they will be careful to do everything I commanded them and will keep the whole Law that my servant Moses gave them."

But the people did not listen. Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.

The evil of Manasseh is described and emphasized. He sacrifices a son and even puts an Asherah pole inside the very temple which Solomon had devoted to YHWH. (We are reminded of the words of YHWH from I Kings 9:3-10 in the dedication of the temple.) The Jewish reader, having read of the idolatry of earlier kings, must still be shocked by the Manasseh's affront to God. Surely YHWH will respond....

2 Kings 21:10-15, "I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish"

The LORD said through his servants the prophets: "Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols. Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 

I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 

I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. 

I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 

I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will be looted and plundered by all their foes, because they have done evil in my eyes and have provoked me to anger from the day their forefathers came out of Egypt until this day."

Manasseh's guilt and the people's sin is too much. Even Judah will be plundered, just as Samaria was.  What happens will make people's ears "tingle". Jerusalem will be measured with a plumb line like one measures a wall. (The metaphor here: A plumb line is a string with a weight attached. One drops it from the top of a wall to see if the wall is straight. If it is not straight, the wall needs to be torn down and rebuilt.) A metaphorical plumb line will reveal that Jerusalem is not straight and needs to be torn down.

In a sceond metaphor, Jerusalem will be wiped clean as one washes out a plate and turns it over to dry. Manasseh's evil will lead to the total destruction of the remaining southern kingdom.

2 Kings 21:16, Innocent blood shed

Moreover, Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end--besides the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, so that they did evil in the eyes of the LORD.

Manasseh is accused of shedding innocent blood, lots of innocent blood.

2 Kings 21:17-18, Manasseh rests

As for the other events of Manasseh's reign, and all he did, including the sin he committed, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzza. And Amon his son succeeded him as king.

We finish, as always, with a statement that more details are in the "annals of the kings of Judah" and that Manasseh "rested with his fathers." Hubbard suggests that the garden of Uzza was devoted to an astral deity, probably Venus.

2 Kings 21:21-23, Amon

Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years. His mother's name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz; she was from Jotbah. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done. He walked in all the ways of his father; he worshiped the idols his father had worshiped, and bowed down to them. He forsook the LORD, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the LORD.
 

Amon's officials conspired against him and assassinated the king in his palace.

Manasseh's son, Amon, only lives to be twenty-four, assassinated by his own staff. At this time, the major world powers bordering Judah were Assyria (to the north and east) and Egypt (to the southwest.) Hubbard suggests that the reigns of Manasseh and Amon leaned towards Assyria and that there were people within the government who wanted to negotiate with Egypt instead. Those officials intended to install a pro-Egyptian king.

2 Kings 21:24-26, Josiah

Then the people of the land killed all who had plotted against King Amon, and they made Josiah his son king in his place.

As for the other events of Amon's reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? He was buried in his grave in the garden of Uzza. And Josiah his son succeeded him as king.

Amon, like his father, is buried in the garden of Uzza.

After the assassination of Amon, the people revolt and kill the assassins. The dynasty is restored by the coronation of Amon's son, Josiah.  (Since Amon died at 24, his son must be very young.) The reign of Josiah is described in the next chapter.

A parallel passage to this chapter is 2 Chronicles 33.

First published January 1, 2023, updated November 12, 2026

II Kings 20, Healing and Hubris

Hezekiah has survived the threats from Assyria. We now have two stories from Hezekiah's reign.

2 Kings 20:1-3, At the point of death

In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, "This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover."

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, "Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Isaiah has bad news for Hezekiah. Hezekiah turns his face to the wall and prays, weeping as he does so. His prayer is reminiscent of some psalms of David -- a desperate cry (eg Psalm 6), with a reminder of his past devotion (eg Psalm 26.)

2 Kings 20:4-6, YHWH answers 

Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: "Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, `This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the LORD. I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.'"

 

YHWH answers Hezekiah's prayer and says he will add fifteen years to his life. The answer comes to Isaiah in a specific location, "before he had left the middle court" of the palace. YHWH will not only give Hezekiah fifteen more years of life but will defend Jerusalem, for two reasons: for the glorification of YHWH Himself, and also for the kingdom of David.

2 Kings 20:7, A poultice of figs

Then Isaiah said, "Prepare a poultice of figs." They did so and applied it to the boil, and he recovered.

A physical remedy is prepared; a paste of crush figs is applied to a "boil". The illness is unclear; Hubbard says the physical remedy may have drawn out an infection.

2 Kings 20:8-11, Back ten steps

Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, "What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me and that I will go up to the temple of the LORD on the third day from now?"

Isaiah answered, "This is the LORD's sign to you that the LORD will do what he has promised: Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?"

"It is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps," said Hezekiah. "Rather, have it go back ten steps."
 

Then the prophet Isaiah called upon the LORD, and the LORD made the shadow go back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.
 

In a miracle reminiscent of the sun standing still in Joshua 10, the shadow of the sun, possibly on a stairwell, will go back ten''steps', in the opposite direction that the shadow typically moves. (The Hebrew word, here translated "steps", is ma'aloth (מַעֲלָה), translated "degrees" by the KJV. It is a feminine noun carrying the idea of "going up" and is the word translated "ascents" in the psalms of ascents, Psalms 120-134. Here the steps are probably part of a sundial.)

The healing of Hezekiah is mentioned briefly in 2 Chronicles 34:24-26. It is described in greater depth in Isaiah 38, which includes a psalm of thanksgiving by Hezekiah.

2 Kings 20:12-13, Envoys from Babylon

At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah's illness.
 

Hezekiah received the messengers and showed them all that was in his storehouses--the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine oil--his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

Hezekiah brings envoys from Bablylon into the treasury. This is a mistake, built on optimism and naivete. 

2 Kings 20:14-19, "What did they see?"

Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, "What did those men say, and where did they come from?" 

"From a distant land," Hezekiah replied. "They came from Babylon."
 

The prophet asked, "What did they see in your palace?" 

"They saw everything in my palace," Hezekiah said. "There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them."

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD: The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, that will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."

"The word of the LORD you have spoken is good,"  Hezekiah replied. For he thought, "Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?"

Isaiah interrogates Hezekiah over his action with the foreigners. He chastises Hezekiah for this foolish display of wealth and says that a time will come when Babylon remembers this and comes back to take it.  Hezekiah seems somewhat unperturbed by this for he has been promised that this will not occur in his lifetime. (Not a good viewpoint for a king!)

2 Kings 20: 21-22, Hezekiah rests

As for the other events of Hezekiah's reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?

Hezekiah rested with his fathers. And Manasseh his son succeeded him as king.

The long reign of Hezekiah is over.  The visit by the envoys of Babylon is also described in Isaiah 39.

Mentioned only briefly is a water tunnel Hezekiah made to bring water into the city, apparently in prepartion for the seige of Sennacherib. That engineering project, sometimes called the the Siloam Tunnel is described a little more in 2 Chronicles 32: 30. One can visit the Siloam tunnel today.

Some Random Thoughts

In this chapter, Hezekiah's "sin" is an interesting one, for it is not an obvious moral defect, but is simple foolishness and very likely a bit of pride. Hezekiah shows off his wealth to visiting ambassadors, men who will surely take a report back to Babylon. A later king will remember this when he brings his army to Jerusalem.

The sin of pride is a subtle one, not nearly as obvious as sexual immorality. But pride by a king brings longterm consequences, not to just to the king, but to everyone he rules.

First published December 30, 2023, updated November 11, 2026

II Kings 19, Defeat of Assyria

The date is approximately 701 BC. The nation of Israel disappeared into Assyria some twenty year prior and now the Assyrians have surrounded Jerusalem and demanded that King Hezekiah surrender. 

2 Kings 19:1-4, Despair and prayer

When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the LORD. He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.

They told him, "This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. It may be that the LORD your God will hear all the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the LORD your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives."

In distress, Hezekiah tears his clothes, puts on sackcloth and goes into the temple. He sends for the prophet Isaiah. His communication to Isaiah includes a desperate plea. Judah is at a desperate point, like a woman giving birth who has no more strength and may die on the birthing stool, with her unborn child. 

Hezekiah identifies YHWH as Isaiah's God. He repeats to Isaiah that the Assyrian field commander has ridiculed the "living God".

2 Kings 19:5-7, Isaiah speaks

When King Hezekiah's officials came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, "Tell your master, `This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard--those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen! I am going to put such a spirit in him that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.'"

Isaiah goes to Hezekiah and says, "You will be victorious because the king of Assyria has taunted YHWH and will soon be defeated." It is not good to taunt YHWH!

2 Kings 19:8-13, Withdrawal

When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.

Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the Cushite king [of Egypt], was marching out to fight against him. So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word:"Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, `Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.' Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my forefathers deliver them: the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena or Ivvah?"

 

The field commander who taunts Jerusalem and YHWH has now to withdraw as the king of Assyria is fighting Libnah. (Lachish is 35-40 miles southwest of Jerusalem; Libnah is a few miles closer to Jerusalem in the same direction.) When the king of Assyria is drawn away to meet the king of Egypt, he still manages to send Hezekiah a final taunt, repeating the earlier claim of victories over all gods.

2 Kings 19:14-19, Prayer of Hezekiah

Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: "O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.

"It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by men's hands. Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God."

Hezekiah takes the message from the king of Assyria, reads it and then takes it into the temple and spreads it out before the ark and cherubim. He offers a despondent, pleading prayer for escape from Assyria. He identifies YHWH as the Creator, the One in charge of all kingdoms.

2 Kings 19:20-22, Isaiah to Sennacherib

Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 

I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. 

This is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: 

"`The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you. 

The Daughter of Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee. 

Who is it you have insulted and blasphemed? 

Against whom have you raised your voice 

and lifted your eyes in pride? 

Against the Holy One of Israel! 

Isaiah's response is a message to Assyria. Assyria may have defeated the other gods and kingdoms, but this is the land of the one true God. Jerusalem, the daughter of Zion, laughs at the taunts of the macho king of Assyria. She tosses her head in contempt. The virgin city will not be possessed by the impotent king. The mockery is clear.

2 Kings 19:23-24, Isaiah to Sennacherib

By your messengers you have heaped insults on the Lord. And you have said, 

"With my many chariots I have ascended the heights of the mountains,

the utmost heights of Lebanon. 

I have cut down its tallest cedars, 

the choicest of its pines.

 I have reached its remotest parts, 

the finest of its forests. 

I have dug wells in foreign lands 

and drunk the water there. 

With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt."

Isaiah repeats Assyria's boasts. The king of Assyria claims to has conquered the highest mountains, the remotest parts of the forests, to have dug wells in foreign lands and dried up the streams of Egypt. But these are empty boasts before the One who really did divide the waters of Egypt at the Red Sea.

2 Kings 19:25-26, Have you not heard?

"`Have you not heard? 

Long ago I ordained it. 

In days of old I planned it; 

now I have brought it to pass, 

that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone. 

Their people, drained of power, 

are dismayed and put to shame. 

They are like plants in the field, 

like tender green shoots, 

like grass sprouting on the roof, 

scorched before it grows up.

YHWH warns Assyria that everything they have done has been part of His plan. They tore down fortified cities, drained people of power. But...

2 Kings 19:27-28, Your insolence has reached my ears

"`But I know where you stay 

and when you come and go 

and how you rage against me. 

Because you rage against me 

and your insolence has reached my ears, 

I will put my hook in your nose 

and my bit in your mouth, 

and I will make you return by the way you came.' 

YHWH's message to Assyria, given through Isaiah, is that He has planned long ago the coming destruction of Assyriah. The Assyrian insolence will be met. Indeed, Assyria will receive the treatment it gives to its captives, a hook through the nose, a bit in the mouth (like a horse) so that every turn they make is the turn YHWH directs.

2 Kings 19:29-31, Three years to sow and reap

"This will be the sign for you, O Hezekiah: 

"This year you will eat what grows by itself, 

and the second year what springs from that. 

But in the third year sow and reap,

 plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 

Once more a remnant of the house of Judah 

will take root below and bear fruit above. 

For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, 

and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. 

The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

While the Assyrians are being defeated, the people of Judah will be able to plant vineyards and reap from them.  A band of people will survive the threats of Assyria.

2 Kings 19:32-34, YHWH will defend Jerusalem

"Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: 

"He will not enter this city 

or shoot an arrow here. 

He will not come before it with shield 

or build a siege ramp against it. 

By the way that he came he will return; 

he will not enter this city, declares the LORD. 

I will defend this city and save it, 

for my sake and for the sake of David my servant."

Assyria will not be allowed to return and conquer Jerusalem.

2 Kings 19:35-37, Angel of YHWH devastates the army of Assyria

That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning--there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.

Sennacherib will not enter the city of Jerusalem. Thousands of Assyrian soldiers are killed and Assyria withdraws. Later Sennacherib is assassinated by two of his sons and a third son, Esarhaddon, becomes king of Assyria. So much for the taunts of Sennacherib!

There are parallel passages, with additional information on this seige and the downfall of Sennacherib, in 2 Chronicles 32:1-23  and Isaiah 36-37. A Biblical Archaeology Society article has more on the assassination of Sennacherib here.

We now have considerable archaeological material from the seventh century BC, much of it from Assyrian and Babylonian sources. The Taylor Prism (also called Sennacherib's Annals) is a clay hexagonal block that boasts of Sennacherib's exploits, including his siege of Jerusalem.

First published December 29, 2023, updated November 10, 2026

II Kings 18, Judah Under Siege

Israel is no more. It has been absorbed by Assytia. However, the southern kingdom survives. But Assyria continues to grow in power and will shortly turn its eye on Judah.

2 Kings 18:1-8, Hezekiah, a good king

In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.

He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)
 

Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses. And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory.

Hezekiah takes the throne in Judah and desires to return to the worship of YHWH, as described by Moses. One of the things the Israelites had been worshiping was a bronze replica of a serpent, presumably the replica Moses held up in the desert in Numbers 21:8-9. 

The idol is given a name, Nehushtan. The NIV footnotes claim that Nehushtan (נְחֻשְׁתָּן) sounds like the Hebrew for "bronze and snake and unclean thing". The phrase translated "bronze snake" has alliteration: nachash nechosheth (נָחָשׁ נְחשֶׁת).

2 Kings 18:9-12, Capture of Israel by Shalmaneser

In King Hezekiah's fourth year, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. At the end of three years the Assyrians took it. So Samaria was captured in Hezekiah's sixth year, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel. The king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in towns of the Medes.

This happened because they had not obeyed the LORD their God, but had violated his covenant--all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded. They neither listened to the commands nor carried them out.

Incidences of the previous chapter on Israel are summarized. Shalmaneser may turn on Judah next.

Hubbard argues that the dates of Hezekiah's reign do not line up with computations based on the Assyrian attack (next verse) which occurred in 701 BC and the date of Hoshea's reign. It is likely (says Hubbard) that we have scribal errors in the writing down of the numbers. Or that the method of recording dates has changed. (This issue also occurs in verse 1 of the previous chapter.)

2 Kings 18:13-16, Ransom

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: "I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me." The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace. At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the LORD, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Seven years after capturing Israel, Assyria attacks Judah. This time the king of Assyria is listed as Sennacherib. In between Shalmaneser and Sennacherib is Sargon, who historians say reigned 17 years.  (So there seems to be discrepancy in the timeline here?)

To appease Sennacherib, Hezekiah empties the temple treasury and gives all to the Assyrian king.

2 Kings 18:17-21, Challenge from Assyria

The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman's Field. They called for the king; and Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.

The field commander said to them, "Tell Hezekiah: `This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? You say you have strategy and military strength--but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? Look now, you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a man's hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him.'
 

The Assyrians don't seem to be mollified by the ransom paid by Hezekiah. They may believe that there are more riches to be found in Jerusalem!

As has happened elsewhere, when an enemy king surrounds a city, he makes various demands, challenges and taunts. The Assyrians want Hezekiah to know he should not rely on Egypt. Egypt is described no more powerful than a splintered reed, which might cut one's hand if one leans on it, but is essentially useless. The field commander's taunt about Egypt is to make it clear that relying on Egypt will merely get one's hand full of slivers.

2 Kings 18:22-25, YHWH also taunted

And if you say to me, "We are depending on the LORD our God"--isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, "You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem"?

"`Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses--if you can put riders on them! How can you repulse one officer of the least of my master's officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the LORD? The LORD himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.'"

The taunts continue. The Assyrian commander is aware of Hezekiah's removal of the altars in the high places, moving all worship back to Jerusalem. If Hezekiah is relying on that god, Sennacherib says, that is also foolish! That god, YHWH, will not protect Jerusalem! (Spoiler alert: taunting Egypt is one thing. Taunting YHWH, who led Israel out of Egypt, is quite another!)

2 Kings 18:26-27, Request for Aramaic

Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don't speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall."

But the commander replied, "Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the men sitting on the wall--who, like you, will have to eat their own filth and drink their own urine?"
 

The taunts of the Assyrian commander are part of a ploy to weaken the people of Jerusalem and get them to give in without a fight. The commanders of Judah want the conversation to be in Aramaic, the language of diplomacy, not Hebrew, the language of the people. The Judean leaders are indeed concerned about low morale among the populace.

2 Kings 18:28-35, Taunts in Hebrew

Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew: "Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, `The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.'

"Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, until I come and take you to a land like your own, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life and not death! 

"Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, `The LORD will deliver us.' Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?"

The Assyrian commander continues to taunt Hezekiah in Hebrew. He offers two choices -- surrender and receive peace (and eventual exile to a prosperous land) or fight and die. In the taunt the Assyrian says, "No one has been able to defeat us." (This is the taunt of every empire builder after a string of victories, whether Napolean or Hitler or the Assyrian king. But a string of victories does not go on forever.) In these ancient taunts, the gods of defeated tribes are named.

Hubbard argues the promises of the Assyrian commander echo that of YHWH to Israel in Deuteronomy 8:7-9.

2 Kings 18:36-37, Silence

But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, "Do not answer him." Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said.

Hezekiah has ordered silence from the people and the Judean commanders report to him all that the Assyrians had said. The king of Assyria, in his taunts, has set up a battle between Assyria and YHWH. The resolution of that fight occurs in the next chapter.

First published December 28, 2023, updated November 9, 2026

The Elephantine Fortress and Its Documents

Outside the Old Testament there are a few ancient documents that give us insight into the divided kingdom and the conflicts between Israel/Judah with Assyria/Babylon. The Elephantine papyri were discovered in an island in the Nile River in the 19th Century and include material from Jewish refugees of the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions.

Around the middle of the seventh century BC, probably during the reign of King Manasseh of Judah, after the downfall of the northern kingdom, Jewish refugees settled near Aswan in Upper Egypt. For more than two centuries there was a Jewish community there on Elephantine Island in the Nile. Soldiers were stationed there during the Archaemenid (First Persian) Empire in the fifth century BC and in 419 BC, Jewish soldiers apparently received instructions on celebrating Passover there. 

Archaeologists have uncovered numerous papyri and pieces of pottery from that site. Since these documents date back to at least the fifth century BC, they give significant insight into the culture of the day, including the religious practices of the Jewish community there.

There was, for a time, a small Jewish temple at Elephantine and Jews there corresponded with priests in Jerusalem. In the various correspondence found at Elephantine are a number of names that appear in the Old Testament. Jehohanan (Johanan) is described in the correspondence as a high priest in Jerusalem; that name appears in Nehemiah 12:22-23. A certain Sanballat is described as governor of Samaria; it is likely that Sanballat is the same governor of Samaria who so strongly opposed the work of Nehemiah. (See, for example Nehemiah 2:10.) Jehohanan was apparently a fairly common Jewish name so scholars debate whether the Levite Jehohanan in Nehemiah is the same individual addressed as high priest in an Elephantine document. But Sanballat is an unusual name and many scholars agree that the Sanballat of the Elephantine correspondence is the Sanballat of Nehemiah.

Also appearing in the Elephantine correspondence regarding Jehohana is an individual named Anani, a name that also shows up in 1 Chronicles 3:24. The name Abednego (given to a companion of Daniel's in Babylon, Daniel 1: 67), meaning "Servant of (the god) Nego," also appears. This name was probably a relatively common name in that culture. Scholars do not believe this is Daniel's friend.

One piece of correspondence regarding Jewish worship at Elephantine was a request sent to a certain Begoas, governor of Judah. The request involved rebuilding a Jewish temple previously constructed at Elephantine. Jewish worship at Elephantine apparently did not fit the orthodox worship required by the Mosaic Covenant. The worship rituals were apparently quite different and the very existence of a Jewish temple at Elephantine was contrary to the Mosaic emphasis on a single common worship place for Israel. There are different explanations as to why this difference might have occurred; some have suggested that the books of Moses were not written until after this time. But an alternative explanation for the rituals at Elephantine could be explained by the apostasy of King Manasseh. Even in the temple in Jerusalem, during the intense idolatry of Manasseh's reign, YHWH was not worshiped. It would not be surprising that refugees, fleeing the advancing Assyrian armies, would not have worshiped YHWH either. Indeed Jeremiah 44 has a message to refugees in Egypt who have ignored the covenant.

Sources

Here are a number of online links related to the documents at Elephantine.

• An online article, Elephantine Papyrus: Proving the book of Nehemiah
• An online article, Two Temples in Egypt, from the Seforim blog. 
• The Jewish Temple at Elephantine, by John Merlin Powis Smith, an article in .pdf
• A Wikipedia page on Jehohanan.
• A Gospel Coalition page on the arrangement of Ezra and Nehemiah in the light of external sources.

First published December 24, 2023; updated October 18, 2026

II Kings 17, The End of Israel

Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria sits on the doorstep of Israel and Judah, already having conquered parts of Israel.

2 Kings 17:1-4, Traitor

In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him.

Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up to attack Hoshea, who had been Shalmaneser's vassal and had paid him tribute. But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was a traitor, for he had sent envoys to So king of Egypt, and he no longer paid tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore Shalmaneser seized him and put him in prison.

Shalmaneser discovers that Hoshea of Israel has been looking to Egypt for an alliance and so Hoshea is attacked, captured and imprisoned.

Hubbard says that there are issues with the dates of Hoshea's reign, issues that are not easily resolved and may be due to scribal error such as writing '12' in place of another number. This issue persists into chapter 18.

2 Kings 17:5-6, Invasion by Assyria

The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes. 

Finally, after three years, Israel is overwhelmed. The Assyrian practice was to resettle captive people, mixing them into various regions, breaking up any alliances they might attempt to make. The Israelites are deported to a number of towns (in the upper Tigris-Euphrates valley, says Hubbard); later other conquered peoples will be moved into Samaria to replace the Israelites.

2 Kings 17:7-8, Explanation

All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods and followed the practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced.

 

The destruction of Israel, says the writer, came about because long ago they had turned away from YHWH, Who had brought them out of Egypt many centuries before. Hubbard argues that verses 7 to 23 here are the climax of the scroll of Kings and form the primary message of this book, written for Jews in the later exile or afterwards.

2 Kings 17:9-13, From watchtower to fortified city

The Israelites secretly did things against the LORD their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns. They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the LORD had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that provoked the LORD to anger. They worshiped idols, though the LORD had said, "You shall not do this."

 

The LORD warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: "Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your fathers to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets."
 

From "watchtower to fortified city", the Israelites eagerly put up idols to all sorts of gods, despite the past warnings. With a stubborn regularity, they violated the Second Commandment.

2 Kings 17:14-17, Becoming worthless

But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the LORD their God. They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the LORD had ordered them, "Do not do as they do," and they did the things the LORD had forbidden them to do.

They forsook all the commands of the LORD their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sorcery and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger.
 

Worshiping worthless idols leads one to worthlessness. The Israelites absorbed every aspect of the culture around them.

2 Kings 17:18-23, Thrust from the presence of God

So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left, and even Judah did not keep the commands of the LORD their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced. 

Therefore the LORD rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until he thrust them from his presence.

When he tore Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam enticed Israel away from following the LORD and caused them to commit a great sin. The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them until the LORD removed them from his presence, as he had warned through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.

The past of Israel is summarized here. The exile to Assyria is explained by the centuries of idolatry of Israel.

If verses 7-23 form the main message of Kings, verse 20, the middle paragraph above, is the climax of that passage.

2 Kings 17:24-28, Assyrian deportations

The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns.  When they first lived there, they did not worship the LORD; so he sent lions among them and they killed some of the people.

It was reported to the king of Assyria: "The people you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the god of that country requires. He has sent lions among them, which are killing them off, because the people do not know what he requires."

 

Then the king of Assyria gave this order: "Have one of the priests you took captive from Samaria go back to live there and teach the people what the god of the land requires." So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the LORD.
 

As standard operating procedures, the Assyrians bring other people into Samaria while the Israelites are moved elsewhere. Yet when lions attack the new residents, the leaders see this as punishment from the local gods and so they seek a few Israelites to teach them about the Israelite gods.

2 Kings 17:29-31, Other groups, other gods

Nevertheless, each national group made its own gods in the several towns where they settled, and set them up in the shrines the people of Samaria had made at the high places. The men from Babylon made Succoth Benoth, the men from Cuthah made Nergal, and the men from Hamath made Ashima; the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire as sacrifices to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

New people bring with them new gods. The author of our book lists the various foreign gods brought into Samaria.

2 Kings 17:32-33, Worshiping YHWH and other gods

They worshiped the LORD, but they also appointed all sorts of their own people to officiate for them as priests in the shrines at the high places. They worshiped the LORD, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought. To this day they persist in their former practices. They neither worship the LORD nor adhere to the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commands that the LORD gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel.

In the mixture of people groups we see an adaptation of pantheons, with YHWH thrown into the mix. Some people worship YHWH, but only as a local god, far different, far weaker, than the YHWH of Moses! The author of 1 & 2 Kings says that this idolatry persists to "today".

2 Kings 17:35-41, Persistent idolatry

When the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them: "Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them. But the LORD, who brought you up out of Egypt with mighty power and outstretched arm, is the one you must worship. To him you shall bow down and to him offer sacrifices.

You must always be careful to keep the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commands he wrote for you. Do not worship other gods. Do not forget the covenant I have made with you, and do not worship other gods. Rather, worship the LORD your God; it is he who will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies."

They would not listen, however, but persisted in their former practices. Even while these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did.

Despite the warning of Moses and prophets (briefly repeated here), despite the examples from the Exodus, the descendants of Jacob persisted in idolatry, an idolatry which continues (says the writer.)

First published December 27, 2023, updated November 7, 2026