Of the recorded Biblical conflicts, none resonates as clearly today as that between Judah’s King Hezekiah, and the Assyrian big mouth, Sennacherib.
Let me set this up, in case the details and relevance are fuzzy to you (see 2 Kings 18, and 19). By today’s standards, Sennacherib operated well ahead of his time in his mastery of trash talk, manipulation of the media, and the ability to stoke the anxieties and doubts of his enemies.
God’s people — Judah—led by King Hezekiah resisted in their own way — stopping up the wells and viaducts — sabotaging their own land, and spoiling the eventual prize, if it came to that. Hezekiah had even tried to negotiate, ill-advisedly, however. He tried to stave off Sennacherib by paying him off with gold stripped from the doors of God’s house! Not to be satisfied with that inch, however, Sennacherib wanted the whole mile.
“You can’t win,” Sennacherib had said. Actually, it was the Sennacherib’s man, Rabshakeh, the king’s trusted cupbearer who stood on proverbial Front Street, speaking loudly, in a deliberate attempt to errorize passerbys in their own vernacular.
“It’s no use. You have no cards,” said, Rabshakeh. “Your God is powerless against me. Why don’t you just look around? No one else’s gods could defeat me — no, I defeated them all! Besides, your God is probably mad at you anyway for tearing down his shrines.”
Sennacherib then followed up with a detailed letter, rehearsing every threat, and observable reality. It should not be lost on us that drunk in his own pride and power, he also tried to wax theologically, telling Hezekiah and his people, essentially, that they were on the wrong side and that their god had rejected them.
But it is what Hezekiah did next that is the blueprint for our struggle in the final conflict of this world. After resisting, which I truly endorse, and after trying to work it out, which I also advocate, Hezekiah drew the line.
First, Hezekiah instructed his people not to respond, or otherwise engage the cunning Rabshakeh verbally. To promote our collective resilience, let us re-evaluate our incessant need for verbal analysis. The Bible gives seemingly conflicting thoughts in these kinds of cases:
A. “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him,” Proverbs 26:4.
B. “Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit,” Proverbs 26:5.
What’s the difference? The nature of the fool, or the nature of the folly, I suppose. Either way, I’m learning that preserving one’s sanity, peace, and resolve means carefully choosing the time, place, and method of engagement.
“If you talk out your feelings,” Ellen White writes in her seminal devotional, “Steps to Christ,” “every doubt you express not only reacts upon yourself, but it is a seed that will germinate and bear fruit in the life of others, and it may be impossible to counteract the influence of your words. You yourself may be able to recover from the season of temptation and from the snare of Satan, but others who have been swayed by your influence may not be able to escape from the unbelief you have suggested. How important that we speak only those things that will give spiritual strength and life!”
Not only that, White reminds that “[n]ever for a moment should we allow Satan to think that his power to distress and annoy is greater than the power of Christ to uphold and strengthen,” This Day With God,” p. 177.
Second, prevail in prayer as Hezekiah did, by spreading out your case before the Lord.
“Lord, bow down Thine ear, and hear: open, Lord, Thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God. Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech Thee, save Thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art the Lord God, even Thou only” 2 Kings 19:15-19
Read the rest of the story. The next morning must have been uncharacteristically silent prompting Hezekiah and the citizens of the kingdom of Judah to wander outside and discover that the invading, enemy army — all 185,000 of its troops — lay dead outside the besieged city. And, Sennacherib succumbed in treachery at the hands of his own sons.
In these troublesome times, when you feel outmatched and outstripped, this is how you fight your battles.
This article is part of our 2025 July/August Issue
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