Dr. Ron Charles

15th January 2012 

God’s Word is so powerful, that we can draw strength from a verse in the Bible, based only on the words we read. But when we understand the historical background and significance of the verse, it truly amazes us. For example, Isaiah 54:16-17, are familiar verses to many of us. Perhaps we have even been strengthened by these verses when we were going through a particular trying time in the past. But we will never understand the depth of those words, until we understand the circumstances in which it was written. Read on as Dr. Ron Charles gives us an introduction to the historical circumstances that led Isaiah to pen these particular verses.

The Jewish kingdom, for the most part, was ruled as two separate kingdoms, but it was united under Saul, David and Solomon.  Solomon was the last king who ruled over both kingdoms. The kingdom split after Solomon’s reign. The northern kingdom was called Israel and the southern kingdom was called Judah. The kings that followed ruled over Israel and Judah separately, and did not govern the people properly. Rather than lead the people to God, they led them away from God and into idolatry and worship of other gods. This brought God’s wrath on the kingdom of Israel and Judah in the form of captivity and plunder at the hand of other kingdoms. 

King Hezekiah was the most righteous of all kings who ruled over Judah. Hezekiah obeyed God’s Word, who spoke through His trusted prophet, Isaiah. Hezekiah turned the people back to the God of their forefathers. It was during his reign that both kingdoms faced the fiercest attack at the hands of the Assyrians. While the kingdom of Israel suffered a humiliating defeat, Judah was spared because of God’s favour on Hezekiah.

The Assyrians have earned the reputation of being one of the most ruthless kingdoms that ever lived on the earth. Their modus operandi was the same, irrespective of which kingdom they invaded. They selected 2000 members of a particular group (for e.g. male and female) and killed the rest. The Assyrians invented particularly barbaric methods of torturing people by impaling them on stakes and leaving them to die, which could take anywhere between a couple of hours to a couple of weeks! The Assyrians left forests of stakes and dead bodies, decaying in each town, city, kingdom that they invaded. 

The Assyrians had just defeated Samaria, Israel and Egypt and were slowly advancing towards Judah. This was during Hezekiah’s reign. The Assyrian’s were angry with Hezekiah as he had stopped paying tribute to them. In their eyes, this act deserved a slow, painful punishment and they were ready to make Hezekiah pay. They choose to capture the neighboring kingdoms and then slowly advance towards Jerusalem, where Hezekiah was, thereby surrounding him and the city, which would lead, they thought to definite victory. 

And they came. Hezekiah’s heart may have been anxious whenever he heard the report of another town falling into the hands of his enemy. This meant that his people had died, but also that the Assyrians were getting closer to his palace. And then one day, he woke up to find that they were right outside his city walls. And the battle began. Though the Assyrians fought with every weapon they had, that had earned them the victory in all their previous battles, God was fighting on Hezekiah’s side. The Assyrians used their war eagles and their war horses, but nothing came of it. The city was not besieged. Historians report how Jerusalem had plenty of water but lacked a steady supply of food, as the battle camps of the Assyrian army encircled the city. Some historians report that Hezekiah asked the people within the city to cut off their ear or a little bit of their finger in order to make food that they all could eat. Inspite of all that the Assyrian’s did, Jerusalem stood her ground. 

And then one day, Hezekiah woke up to find that the Assyrian’s had created a new weapon – the catapult and other war machinery, to wage war against Jerusalem. This was the first ever recorded use of war machinery. And Hezekiah was terrified. And that’s when Isaiah came, with a word from the God who created all things, as described in Isaiah 54:16 – 17. And Hezekiah and the city of Jerusalem, withstood the onslaught of the Assyrians, who eventually accepted defeat and returned to their kingdom, never to bother Hezekiah again. As Hezekiah waited on God for deliverance, God reminded Hezekiah that He created everything, including the destroyer who wrecks havoc. But the assurance that Hezekiah had was that no weapon formed against him shall prosper.

And God is telling us the same today.

Sometimes when we withstand every onslaught of the enemy, he will go back to the drawing board to device a new weapon intended for our destruction, a new thing that he will use against us for our destruction. He hates us. But praise God that we have His assurance that ‘no weapon formed against us shall prosper’. Irrespective of what the devil throws our way, we will emerge unscathed and victorious, because our God is for us.