Stephen
Terry, Director
Defeat of the Assyrians
Commentary
for the February 13, 2021 Sabbath School Lesson
"Therefore this is
what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria:
'He will not enter
this city
or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come
before it with shield
or build a siege ramp against it.
By the way that he
came he will return;
he will not enter this city,'
declares the Lord.
'I will defend this
city and save it,
for my sake and for the sake of David my
servant!'"
Isaiah 37:33-35, NIV
Suppose you were the
president of your country in the Third World, and a First World army was coming
your way. They have swept every other country aside, conquering their people
and installing foreign rulers over the people. Those who surrendered were
treated more favorably than those who resisted. Like in episodes of "Star Trek:
The Next Generation" about their encounters with the Borg, resistance seems
futile, and assimilation into the invader's empire certain. Burning a path of
destruction toward you, they have now conquered or destroyed every other town
and village in your country, save only the capitol, where you rule. Now their
army approaches your city, demanding your surrender or promising your
annihilation. As proof of the validity of their threat, they offer up the
examples of all those they have previously conquered. When you consider the
advancing hordes as compared to the meager defenses you could offer, you
shudder. What would you do? There is no other nation you can call upon for help
because the invader has already dealt with them.
Would you surrender to a probable life of slavery, or even assassination by the
invader? Or would you figure death was certain in any event, so you may as well
go down fighting? Would you try to negotiate in the face of the demand for
unconditional surrender? What would a modern, enlightened leader do? Approximately
two and a half millennia ago, King Hezekiah of Jerusalem, faced with a similar
scenario promised by the king of Assyria, decided to seek help from God. In
answer to his prayers, the prophet Isaiah then told the king that God is
assuring the safety of Jerusalem and not to worry. In an event reminiscent of
the visit upon the Egyptians by the Angel od Death prior to the Exodus, we are
told that when the Assyrian army awoke in the morning, one hundred eighty-five
thousand of their number were dead. In the face of such devastation, they were
forced to withdraw. The Assyrian king was eventually assassinated in his own
capitol, and Jerusalem was left in peace until they became a geo-political
prize in the struggle between Egypt and Babylon. Having previously defeated
Nineveh, capitol of the Assyrian Empire and driven Egypt back into their own
country to stay, Babylon demanded obedience and tribute from Jerusalem. When
that eventually stopped, the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem also. This time
there was no god-fearing king on the throne to appeal to God to save the
country. Isaiah was long gone, murdered by the wicked King Manasseh, son of
Hezekiah. There was a prophet, Jeremiah, but his advice to surrender to the Babylonians
so they would be treated well was spurned. Like so many today, the leaders
requested to know God's will but rejected it if it did not agree with their own
desires. Jerusalem was destroyed and anyone of importance the Babylonians could
secure was carried into captivity. The captives remained in Babylon for seventy
years with only a small remnant eventually returning to Jerusalem after Babylon
itself was also defeated. The people who placed their faith in the leaders of
Jerusalem were betrayed and suffered for that misplaced faith.
Why did they trust
them so? Perhaps they saw their leaders' wealth and associated wealth with God's
blessing. This is a form of Prosperity Theology we are familiar with today.
However, the wealth seems to concentrate in the hands of the few instead of the
many. But that does not stop the wealthy from telling the poor, "Just keep trusting
us, and you will be wealthy, too." Then as the mansions of the wealthy get grander
and grander, the poor keep struggling away, looking for the day when they will
be the ones on top. But whether it is the prosperity preacher or the politician
saying it, wealth does not work that way and is actually a stumbling block to
salvation.[i] The desire to cling to it in
the face of apparent certain annihilation by the Babylonians was fatal.
Ironically, it may
have been an event in Babylon, sparked by the first set of captives taken as
hostages when Jerusalem previously agreed to be a subject state that sparked
the attitudes that led to Jerusalem's downfall. King Nebuchadnezzar had constructed
a giant, golden image on the Plain of Dura outside Babylon as representative of
his might and power. He summoned everyone of importance to attend the
dedication of the statue. Likely, King Jehoiakim of Jerusalem, or his envoys, would
have been present for the ceremony. But when three Jewish captives, Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego refused to bow down to the king's statue that probably would have
caught he attention of their fellow Jews in the party from Jerusalem. When the
three were cast into a furnace and survived with divine intervention, it became
a story that would have traveled quickly back home, along with the belief that resistance
was possible, and God was behind them. Unfortunately, while King Nebuchadnezzar
was humbled by the experience, the nobles of Jerusalem were not. Instead of
asking what kind of persons these three individuals were that God would favor
them in such a way, they assumed that God would intervene on their behalf
simply because they were Jews. They may have remembered when the Assyrians were
driven from the walls of Jerusalem during Hezekiah's reign, but did not model
the faithfulness of that king. Instead, they persisted in ignoring God's prophet,
Jeremiah, and plotted their rebellion against Babylon, naively counting on
intervention by God when they neither respected nor faithfully served him.
When Nebuchadnezzar and
his army came roaring into Palestine to secure the submission of Jerusalem,
even then, he was wanting to be somewhat tolerant, inviting the people to
surrender to spare their lives. Jeremiah encouraged the people to do so which
should have been an indicator that things were not like before under Hezekiah,
when Isaiah said to resist and trust God. But instead, he was branded a
traitor, placed in a dungeon, and left to die. God still had his few servants
in Jerusalem who saved the prophet from death. In yet another irony, King
Jehoiakim, who incited the rebellion did not live to see the results but died
three months before Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem. Instead, his
eighteen-year-old son Jehoiachin took the throne and oversaw the downfall of
his kingdom. While his reign was extremely short, the Bible assures us that he
chose a dishonorable path as well, perhaps more because of the influence of his
father's advisors who continued to have power and influence over the young king.
While the Bible paints a simple good versus evil narrative about these events,
things are not so easily categorized in modern times, especially
post-Holocaust. Most would agree about the evil nature of the Nazi reign over
the Third Reich of Germany, but it continues to be an enigma why God did not intervene
at once to save the lives of six million Jews and millions of others who died
globally because of this evil empire. Are there subtle nuances that escape our
understanding? And what of supposedly Christian nations like King Leopold's
Belgium and the atrocities committed in the Congo, or the United States and the
My Lai Massacre of Vietnam? Where was God on that day? Perhaps he was present in
the heart of Hugh Thompson, Jr, a helicopter pilot who placed his helicopter between
the American soldiers and the Vietnamese civilians to prevent further deaths.
But when a congressional investigation was convened later, he was vilified like
a modern Jeremiah for his life-saving actions in that remote village.
As a nation, at times
the claims of a Christian foundation for our democratic republic can ring a little
hollow if our actions around the world and even how we treat our fellow
Americans here at home are in any way indicative of our own hearts. But this is
not just true of America. The citizens of every country have an opportunity to
choose whom they will serve. Will it be a political leader or party? Will it be
their own selfish self-interest? Will it be a desire to accumulate riches no
matter the cost to others? Or will it be a humble desire to serve God with a
heart of compassion toward others and service to the common good, a service
that does not delight in the needless discomfiture of others. Our ability to
remain committed to that, even in the face of determined opposition makes all
the difference. In the words of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, "the God we
serve is able to deliver us...and he will deliver us. But even if he does not, we
want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the
image of gold you have set up." (Daniel 3:17-18) As Joshua said many centuries
before that, "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...But as for me
and my household, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15)