An Atheist Explores the Bible Part 67: The Assyrians enter the scene, and the Israelites don’t quite know how to react (2 Kings 16-20)

2 Kings 16-20
The Assyrians enter the scene, and the Israelites don’t quite know how to react.

Welcome to another instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Bible version).

In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the King James Bible, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.

For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/2F8f9JT
For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP

And now:

2 Kings 16

“Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father.”

This chapter covers the events in the realm of King Ahaz, of Judah, who sacrifices to other gods. King Rezin of Syria invades his borders, and Ahaz turns to King Tiglathpileser (best name yet) for aid. King, er, Tig (I’m going with that) comes in and drives off Rezin but remarkably doesn’t then decide that he’s going to stay instead to “keep the peace”.

Ahaz finds an altar in Damascus and has it modified and used for his own burnt offerings. It’s not explicitly stated but it sounds a bit like the altar from Solomon’s temple. However, Ahaz despite falling away from proper Yahweh worship doesn’t seem to suffer too much for it, although adding the numbers up he dies aged 36, which is pretty young compared to the old patriarchs.

2 Kings 17

“In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.”

King Hoshea of Samaria, in Israel, pays tribute to Shalmaneser the King of Assyria, but skips some payment and Assyria invades him. Of course, because the Israelites have been worshipping strange gods (including what seems to be a return to the child sacrifice of Moloch) God forsakes them and allows them to be carried away into captivity in Mesopotamia. The Assyrians also move into the abandoned Samaritan cities, but they get attacked by lions.

There’s then a strange situation where the Assyrians bring priests, I think from the captured Israelites, into Samaria so that they can placate God and stop getting attacked by lions, but meanwhile the Israelites turn to Babylonian gods. I think. There’s some back and forth with this, and verses seem contradictory within a single line, e.g. V33 “They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.” I suppose, though, I’m reading “feared the Lord” to mean that they worship Him, but perhaps in this context it means they are afraid and therefore turn away; this reading makes more sense.

2 Kings 18

“Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.”

Meanwhile, in Judah, Hezekiah becomes king and he institutes a course of iconoclasm, tearing down the false idols and re-instating orthodox Yahweh worship. He even tears down the bronze serpent, Nehushtan, erected by Moses (remember that?).

The King of Assyria, now Shalmaneser, sends an envoy to Hezekiah to demand tribute. The Assyrian envoy, Rabshekah, meets with Hezekiah’s envoy, Eliakim (and some others on both sides, but these are the speaking parts). Although Hezekiah makes a tribute of the gold from Solomon’s temple, Rabshekah demands that the Israelites (and I think this is the first time they are referred to as Jews that I recall) submit to Assyria, and claims that attempts to appeal to God to save them will not work, as the gods of Samaria didn’t save those people. He’s saying this in the Jewish language, and Hezekiah’s embassy ask him to speak in Assyrian, that they understand but the people in the cheap seats don’t. Rabshekah refuses, presumably he’s trying to intimidate the common folk, although saying that they drink their own piss (yes, he says this) is probably not the best way to win them over.

With the implied threat hanging over them, the embassy takes the message to Hezekiah.

2 Kings 19

“And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.”

There’s a bit of back and forth with the Assyrian envoys near the start of this chapter, but the main part is that Hezekiah asks the prophet Isaiah for advice. Isaiah passes on a message from God that basically says that He will save a remnant of the Jewish people, and that Jerusalem will be saved for the sake of David. The armies of Sennacherib (the new king of Assyria) are struck down by an angel (probably a sickness of some kind), and return home.  Sennacherib is assassinated by two of his sons, a third, Esarhaddon, takes the crown.

Of interest in this chapter are the mentions of Ethiopia and Armenia, both bordering Assyrian territory, and also the first mention of Isaiah, who I’m vaguely aware of getting his own book, and also I think his prophecies are most heavily used to support the claim that Jesus is the Messiah, but I guess we’ll come to that later.

2 Kings 20

“In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.”

Hezekiah is sick (with a boil, as we later learn), and prays to God to help him, God tells Isaiah that He will add another fifteen years onto Hezekiah’s life, and Isaiah heals Hezekiah with some figs. To further prove the miracle he makes a sundial go backwards.

King Berodachbaladan of Babylon sends some gifts to Hezekiah, but the implication is that his envoys are also spies because they get a good look around the palace and Isaiah prophesies that all that they have seen will end up in the possession of the Babylonians, and that Hezekiah’s sons will become eunuchs in the Babylonian court. The chapter, once again, directs us elsewhere for further details, including an aqueduct system instigated by Hezekiah, before glossing over Hezekiah’s later life and passing on to his successor, Manasseh.