Then King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed because of this and cried to heaven.

Background

The Empire of Assyria had been growing for some time, becoming the “superpower” of that age. Invading nearby countries, they brutally attacked cities, killing men, women, and children, looting the treasures, and taking away any surviving leaders to spread them out among their other conquered lands (to avoid any possibilities of uprisings).

As Assyria moved to expand the empire, they eventually arrived at the borders of Israel in the north and Judah in the south. While the north would eventually fall to Assyria and be lost forever, King Hezekiah began to prepare for a siege. He had his engineers stop up all the wells and springs outside the city, then had a tunnel built underneath the city walls so that the city would have water (you can visit this tunnel even today). This would make obtaining water difficult for the siege army. He had walls rebuilt, the army strengthened, and commanders appointed. In a speech to the people, he encouraged them to have faith because the God that is with them is greater than the massive army with the king of Assyria, Sennacherib.

But Sennacherib sent his own message to the people of Jerusalem, ridiculing Hezekiah and telling the people not to trust him because he would make them die of thirst. He also told them that the gods (and God) were not on Hezekiah’s side.

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