God’s Creative Battle Plans – Hezekiah and the Angel of Death

God’s Creative Battle Plans – Hezekiah and the Angel of Death.

Yahweh is a warrior! Yahweh is His Name! (Exodus 15:3).

Moses and Miriam in their famous Song at the Red Sea, were the first ones to describe the Lord as a warrior. And throughout Scripture, God was identified as a warrior ever since. The Hebrew word for warrior in this passage is “ish milhamah,” which means man of war, warrior, champion, hero, fighter, mighty man. God’s stature as a fighter was taken up by the prophets, like David, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Zephaniah.

The Fierce Warrior with a Vivid Imagination. Lord Yahweh, as we would expect, was not just any common fighter. He was a warrior with the divine imagination that created completely unpredictable battle plans for every conflict between an enemy of God and His Chosen People. In Scripture, the Warrior-King was the master of unconventional warfare, unexpected schemes that would leave people scratching their heads in surprise or shaking their heads in amazement. God’s strategies were so diverse that they might appear to be random, but of course they were divinely orchestrated. His battle strategies to victory were well outside the human imagination, in such a way that the faith of His fighters on the ground was tested.  It became obvious to His fighting men, though, that God was going about this battle in a completely different way than they would, and they were wise when they trusted in Him.

“And that night the Angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when the people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.” (2 Kings 19:35).

Assyrians on the March. At this point in Israel’s history, the country was divided into the northern kingdom of Israel, and the southern kingdom of Judah with Jerusalem as its capitol. The northern kingdom had developed an attitude and lifestyle of rebellion against God and what He wanted, they refused to listen to Yahweh and lived in ways contrary to what God had planned for His chosen people. “They violated the beloved Covenant – all the laws that Moses the Lord’s servant had commanded them to obey.” (2 Kings 18:12). So, as divine punishment, the Lord allowed their bitter enemy Assyria to sweep into Israel, overtake their cities, and exile the people to foreign lands in the Assyrian empire.

Attacking Jerusalem. The conquering king of Assyria decided his military was on a roll, so he began to do the same thing to the southern kingdom of Judah as he had just done to Israel in the north. In Jerusalem, king Hezekiah offered to pay the Assyrian king an outlandish amount of gold and silver to keep them from attacking Jerusalem. In order to make this payment to Assyria, Hezekiah had to take all the silver stored in the Temple treasury, and even stripped all the gold from the Temple doors and doorposts. The Assyrians evidently accepted that tribute payment, but then they laid siege to Jerusalem anyway.

Surrender! During the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem, the enemy had managed to block the only source of water for the whole city. After many threats from the Assyrian commander and calls for surrender, Hezekiah tore his clothes in despair, put on burlap, and went into the Temple to pray to Yahweh. All seemed hopeless because of the lack of water and the overwhelming numbers of the Assyrian military. The prophet Isaiah, though, encouraged Hezekiah by speaking to him the word of the Lord: “This is what the Lord says, ‘Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against Me from the Assyrian king. Listen! I myself will move against him…” (2 Kings 19:5-7).

The Open Letter and Desperate Prayer. After receiving a threatening letter from the Assyrian king scorning the God of Jerusalem and His inability to defend Jerusalem, Hezekiah again went into the Temple with the letter and spread it out before the Lord. Hezekiah then prayed a prayer that has stood the test of time, ”O Lord, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see!… Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from the Assyrian king’s power. Then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God!” (2 Kings 19:4-19).

Yahweh responded to Hezekiah’s earnest and desperate prayer by speaking another word through prophet Isaiah, in which the downfall of the Assyrians was  assured, due to the Assyrians’ arrogance and the king’s impudence in taunting the God of Israel. The Lord said He would treat the Assyrians the same way they treat their captives, putting a hook in all their noses and a bit in all their mouths. ”The passionate commitment of Lord-sabaoth, the Lord of the Angel Armies, will make this happen! For My own honor, says the Lord, and for the sake of My servant David, I will defend my city and protect it.” (2 Kings 19:31, 34).

Hezekiah Helping the Process of Victory. King Hezekiah cooperated with God’s plan for defeating the Assyrians by constructing an ingenious tunnel dug underground, secretly connecting a large stream to the city,  to create a new water supply for the city of Jerusalem. The water source ended in the famous pool of Siloam inside the city walls. But that’s not all he did to protect his city… At one point Hezekiah gathered the people together and encouraged them with these words, “Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles!” (2 Chronicles 32:7-8).

The Angel of the Lord. As always, the Lord made good on His promise of victory, and He put the Angel of Death to work on the Assyrians. That night the Angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the people woke up the next morning, all they could see were corpses everywhere.” (19:35). Many biblical scholars say this massacre was most likely a quick-hitting and deadly plague brought to the Assyrians by the Angel. At any rate, the Assyrian king admitted defeat and withdrew from Jerusalem and Judah altogether, returning to Ninevah, where he was soon assassinated by his two sons.

So here we find another of God’s creative battle plans, only this time as Commander of the angel armies He put them to work and secured the victory.