Hezekiah’s men report Rabshakeh’s message to him. Hezekiah panics and tears his clothes. However, the emissaries he sends to Isaiah return with comforting news-God is by Hezekiah’s side and Jerusalem will not fall. Sennacherib sends a letter to Hezekiah in which he describes the fate of the neighboring countries that rose against him. Isaiah is enraged by this missive, characterizing it as arrogant and blasphemous. Isaiah reassures the people of Judah that Sennacherib will be dragged back to his homeland like a beast is dragged from a nose hook-yet Jerusalem will prevail. That night, the Assyrian troops mysteriously die and Jerusalem is saved. Sennacherib returns to Assyria. Some years later, his son plots against him and he is killed. Hezekiah does not succumb to pressure, intimidation, or fear. He reaffirms his faith and upholds the most sublime goal–saving Jerusalem and the house of God.
“And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD” (2 Kings 19:1)
“Therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest” (2 Kings 19:28)
“And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses” (2 Kings 19:35)
Fearlessness is not needing to “find the courage”, because we already have it; certainty in the Creator’s love enables us to be fearless.
