Day 30

Rabshakeh discovered his king pulled out of Lachish and moved the battle to Libnah. The Assyrian king heard king Tirhakah of Cush was coming to war against him so he sent a message to Hezekiah. Sennacherib told Hezekiah to stop believing the lie that their god would deliver them; they were no exception. Hezekiah took the letter to the Temple of god for god to see and he prayer fervently. Isaiah sent a threatening message of God's word to Sennacherib. that night, God's angel killed 185,000 Assyrians. when the people of Jerusalem awoke the next morning, they found the Assyrian camp full of corpses. However, the king escaped quickly during the attack and went home to Ninevah. When he was worshiping Nisroch, the Assyrian god of agriculture, in the temple one day, his own sons Adrammelech and Sharezer murdered him. Esarhaddon, another son of Sennacherib's, became king.

Time passed and Hezekiah fell ill and was told by Isaiah to arrange his affairs for he was going to die soon. Isaiah went out to the courtyard, but halfway there, God stopped him and said, "Go back and tell Hezekiah, prince of my people, God's word Hezekiah! From the God of your ancestor David: I've listened to your prayers and I've observed your tears. I'm going to heal you. In 3 days you will walk on your own legs into the Temple of God. I've just added 15 yrs to your life; I'm saving you from the king of Assyria, and I'm covering this city with my shield-for my sake and my servant David's sake." A plaster of figs was prepared and applied to Hezekiah's boil. Eww. Hezekiah asked Isaiah if the healing was from God or if there was a confirming sign. He told him he wanted the suns shadow to go back 10 degrees on the sundial. Isaiah prayed and God made it happen.

Merodach-Baladan, who was the Babylonian kings son, learned Hezekiah was ill, so he sent a get well card and a gift to him. This pleased Hezekiah so he gave the messengers a tour of his palace. Isaiah confronted him about this and spoke God's word to him, "...the day is coming when everything you own and everything your ancestors have passed down to you, right down to the last cup and saucer, will be cleaned out of here-plundered and packed off to Babylon. god's word! Worse yet, your sons, the progeny of sons you've begotten, will end up as eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." Men were castrated so if they slept w/ the king's wife, the blood line wouldn't be messed up. Eunuchs were also managers of the woman's quarters of the palace. Hezekiah believed god's word to be true, but though this wouldn't happen in his lifetime and he wouldn't enjoy life and security until his dying day. He was right. In the 15 yrs God added to his life, these tragic events didn't take place. His son, Manasseh, was heir to the throne of Judah. He was only 12, but was an evil king. Hello! He was a teenage boy! They should be locked away at the age haha. Manasseh brought back all the sex and religion shrines, altars, phallic images for Baael and Asherah. I wonder how much of this was actually his idea or his advisers suggestions. Manasseh did as king Ahaz of Israel did. He worshiped cosmic powers and took orders from the constellations. The Temple of God became a house for pagan altars. King Manasseh burned his own son in a sacrificial offering and practiced black magic and fortune telling. He even went as far as to hold seances to consult underworld spirits and killed innocent people all over Jerusalem. Manasseh was despicable in the eyes of God and He grew very angry! Prophets were spoken to by god that b/c Manasseh sinned outrageously, God was sending catastrophic events to Jerusalem and Judah. God said He'd wipe out Jerusalem and rid them of their inheritance and He'd turn them over to their enemies. Manasseh was buried at the Garden of Uzza. His son, Amnon, was 22 yrs old when he was heir to the thron of Juday and ruled 2 yrs in Jerusalem. Amnon also lived an evil life, following in his father's footsteps. His own servants killed him in the palace and the people of Judah had them assassinated.

Amnon's 8 yr old son, Josiah, became king. Thankfully he lived the way God asked. When he was 26, he sent Shaphan, the royal secretary, to the Temple of God. He was to tell the high priest, Hiliah, to count the $ brought to the Temple and turn it over to the foreman who were managing the work on the Temple. The foreman were to pay the laborers; all carpenters, construction workers, and masons. They were given authorization to purchase lumber and dressed stone to repair the Temple of God. Hiliah told Shaphan he'd found the Book of god's Revelation in the Temple and gave it to him to read. Shaphan reported to king Josiah and gave the book to him. Josiah ripped his robe and summoned Hilkiah, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asiah and ordered them to pray to God for him and the people of Juday. They were also supposed to pray for guidance on what to do w/ the book. The men went to Huldah, a prophetess, whose husband was in charge of the palace wardrobe. They were to tell the king god's word that doom and judgement would be brought down on them because they deserted God. Because Josiah responded the way he did, God would take care of him and his death would be quiet. He wouldn't be around long enough to witness the dismay.

King Josiah read the contents of the book to the Jerusalem elders, priests, prophets, and many other people. He made a covenant w/ the people and they confirmed it. Hilkiah and his associate were to cleanse the temple of God of all the garbage Manasseh brought back and burn them in the kidron fields. They were to dispose of the ashes in Bethel. The pagan priests were fired and all the false god paraphernalia was disposed of. Josiah also demolished the iron furnace griddle known as Topheth for sacrificing children to the god Molech. The bones in the hillside tombs were removed and cremated on the torn down altars, which fulfilled God's testament spoken by the Holy Man in Jeroboam's day. The Holy Man's bones were left untouched as well as the a prophet from Samaria. The king went through all the towns in Samaria, ridding them of sex and religion shrines and killing any and all priests who performed pagan offerings and sacrifices. The corpses were cremated on their own altars.

Josiah returned to Jerusalem and commanded the passover be celebrated as the book stated. Paroah Neco of Egypt joined forces w/ Assyria at the Euphrates River. Neco killed Josiah at the Plain of Megiddo. Twenty three year old, Jehoahaz, was heir to the throne but only ruled 3 mths. He reverted back to evil ways and was captured and put in chains by Neco in Hamath. Pharoah Neco made Judah pay almost 4 tons of silver and 75 tons of gold as a tribute. Eliakim was chosen by Neco to reign over Judah and his name was changed to Jehoiakim meaning he whom Jehovah has set up. Meanwhile, Jehoahaz died in Egypt. Jehoiakim was 25 yrs old at the time and ruled for 11 years in Jerusalem. He was an evil king. Not only was he a pawn of Neco, but also to the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzer. After 3 yrs, he revolted and a succession of groups came against him.