2 Chronicles 32:2-12

2 When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come to wage war against Jerusalem,
3 he, his officers, and his military staff made plans to stop the water from flowing out of the springs outside the city. They helped him do it.
4 A large crowd gathered as they stopped all the springs and the brook that flowed through the land. They said, "Why should the kings of Assyria find plenty of water?"
5 Hezekiah worked hard. He rebuilt all the broken sections of the wall, made the towers taller, built another wall outside [the city wall], strengthened the Millo in the City of David, and made plenty of weapons and shields.
6 He appointed military commanders over the troops and gathered the commanders in the square by the city gate. He spoke these words of encouragement:
7 "Be strong and courageous. Don't be frightened or terrified by the king of Assyria or the crowd with him. Someone greater is on our side.
8 The king of Assyria has human power on his side, but the LORD our God is on our side to help us and fight our battles." So the people were encouraged by what King Hezekiah of Judah said.
9 After this, while King Sennacherib of Assyria and all his royal forces were attacking Lachish, he sent his officers to King Hezekiah of Judah and to all of the people in Judah who were in Jerusalem to say:
10 "This is what King Sennacherib of Assyria says: Why are you so confident as you live in Jerusalem while it is blockaded?
11 Isn't Hezekiah misleading you and abandoning you to die from hunger and thirst when he says, 'The LORD our God will rescue us from the king of Assyria?'
12 Isn't this the same Hezekiah who got rid of the LORD's places of worship and altars and told Judah and Jerusalem, 'Worship and sacrifice at one altar?'

2 Chronicles 32:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 32

This chapter relates Sennacherib's invasion of the land of Judah, the preparations Hezekiah made to resist him, and the encouragement he gave his people to trust in the Lord, 2Ch 32:1-8 the messages and letters Sennacherib sent to Hezekiah and his subjects, full of arrogance and blasphemy, to solicit them to deliver up Jerusalem to him, 2Ch 32:9-19 the destruction of his army by an angel, and the deliverance of the Jews at the prayers of Hezekiah and Isaiah, 2Ch 32:20-23 the sin Hezekiah fell into after this, and his recovery from a fit of illness; but, upon his humiliation for it, wrath was averted, 2Ch 32:24-26 and the chapter is concluded with an account of his honours, riches, and exploits, and of his death and burial, 2Ch 32:27-33.

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