Last week I failed to post anything about Elisha. That was mostly because I did a good post about Elisha four years ago and didn't really have any fresh insights.
This week, though, I had quite an epiphany about the importance of Hezekiah and the siege of Jerusalem found in 2 Kings 18 and 19.
Background
Hezekiah was one of the kings of Judah that tried to follow Jehovah. He took down the places of idol worship and followed the current prophet, Isaiah (2 Kings 18:3-6). During his reign, a terrible force, the Assyrians lead by Sennacherib, swept through the Levant destroying every town they came to, and leading their inhabitants into captivity. This is one part of Biblical history that is well attested by archaeology because the Assyrians left inscriptions of their deeds throughout their conquered territories.
The Assyrians are the civilization that carried the northern 10 tribes into captivity in 721 BCE. One of their methods of conquer was to try to neutralize the culture of the conquered peoples. They would split them up and send them into different areas to work as vassals. They would even split up couples, sending the man to be a soldier, and settling the wife and children far away. They did this so that they wouldn't rally, gather support among their own people, and try to overthrow their oppressors. It is this policy of cultural destruction that caused the 10 northern tribes of Israel to become "lost". They are called "lost" not so much because their physical location became unknown, but because they lost their identity as Israelites and were absorbed into other cultures.
At the time of the Northern captivity, Hezekiah had been a joint ruler with his father in Judea for six years. He was a firsthand witness to what Assyria planned to do if they ever captured Jerusalem. He was sole ruler of Judah for 20 years when Sennacherib laid siege of Jerusalem. The people of Jerusalem were able to withstand the siege longer than other cities in the region because Hezekiah had built an underground aqueduct that brought fresh water into the city, but eventually the food ran out. They couldn't survive the siege much long when Sennacherib sent Rab-shakeh to demoralize Jerusalem with taunts. Like any good propagandist, Rab-shakeh warned Judah that they had no hope of withstanding an attack, but if they would surrender, they would live. Logic seemed to be on the side of the Assyrians. It did seem that Judea were grossly outnumbered and had no chance in their weakened state to survive a direct attack.
Of course, Hezekiah did the brave and faithful thing. Instead of giving in, he went to the temple and called for the prophet Isaiah to council him. Isaiah went to the Lord and the Lord told Hezekiah not be be afraid. (2 Kings 19:6-7) The Lord would take care of Assyria. Hezekiah headed the prophet and Jerusalem was saved when the Angel of the Lord went into the hosts of Assyria and destroyed them.
Impact
The importance of this moment is what struck me this week. If Jerusalem had fallen to the Assyrians, what would have happened? As far as scholars know, the Hebrew Bible, the Tanach, didn't exist yet. Scholars believe it was compiled during or shortly after the Babylonian Captivity. If Jerusalem had fallen to the Assyrians at this time, and if they had scattered them among other peoples so that they lost their cultural identity like the Northern tribes, there would have been no Bible. Judaism with its monotheism would have been lost. If there was no Judaism, would there have been Christianity? Christianity grew from Judaism as did Islam. Think of the impact of these two major religions on the western world. What would Europe be like if there was no Christianity to turn it from its polytheism? What would the middle east and northern Africa be like without the stabilizing moral framework of Islam? What would America look like if it had been founded by polytheists instead of Christians? Even though many in the Western culture are no longer practicing any religion, Western culture was founded on Judeo-Christian principles.
And it all hung on the decision of one man on one day in one city. Hezekiah's decision to consult the prophet and believe what he said, despite the fact that it seemed impossible, impacted the future of the whole world. It is astounding to contemplate how much rested on that one decision.
Because Hezekiah chose faith, the Lord destroyed the Assyrian army, and Judah persisted for another 100 years. This was enough time for Babylon to rise to power and overthrow Assyria. Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and took the Jews into captivity in about 587 BCE, but Babylon treated its captives differently. It brought them to Babylon as a group and put Jewish leaders into positions of respect in the kingdom. The Jewish religious leaders, fearing the the people might lose their religious identity, compiled and wrote what was to become the Old Testament. They were in captivity for about 70 years, and then Cyrus the Great allowed all who wanted, to return to Jerusalem and even gave them money to rebuild the temple. Admittedly, the number who returned were only a small percent of the people who were led away, but it was enough that they were able to reestablish a national identity and restart traditional systems of worship.
