See Monday, Aug. 31, 2026 for the explanation of this 2-week limited series in 2 Kings.
2 Kings 18 Chapter Summary
Assyria Threatens Hezekiah
Breakdown:
1-4 Hezekiah begins to reign, and does what is right, removing the worship places and bronze serpent
5-7 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, held to the commandments, and the Lord was with him
8 Hezekiah subdued the Philistines because the Lord was with him
9-12 Assyria came against Samaria and took them away captive 13-16 Assyrians took all the fortified cities of Judah; Hezekiah gave the Assyrians what they wanted to make them turn back
17-18 The representatives from Assyrians surround Jerusalem to talk
19-25 “Don’t trust in strength for war, in Egypt, or in the Lord God”
26-28 “Please speak in Aramaic, not Hebrew” but Rabshakeh ignores it
29-35 “Make peace with us and we’ll give you good places in our land; don’t trust in your God”
36-37 They did not answer Rabshakeh but reported to Hezekiah
Comparisons/Contrasts:
- Hezekiah does what is right, removing the worship of other gods, vv. 1-4. Jesus the true King does what’s right (Acts 10:38), turning people from vain worship that they may worship Him (Acts 14:12-18).
- Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, keeping His commandments, vv. 5-7. Jesus always did those things that pleased the Father (John 5:19, 30; 8:29).
- Hezekiah subdued the Philistines, v. 8. Jesus broke the power of sin (Rom. 6:6); death and hell (1 Cor. 15:54-57; and Satan (1 John 3:8).
- Assyria came against Samaria and took them captive, vv. 9-12. Sin and Satan have taken people captive; but king Jesus sets us free.
- The enemy tries to talk us out of trusting in God to save us, vv. 33-35. Satan blinds us with his lies to turn us from Christ.
Meaning:
Hezekiah, one of the eight good kings of Judah, destroyed the bronze serpent God once commanded Moses to create to save the people who were bitten by snakes in the wilderness journey to the promised land. If they believed the word of the Lord and looked at the snake on the pole, they would be saved from dying by the snakebite (Numbers 21:4-9). God never intended for the people to worship the bronze thing as though it had saving powers or could bestow divine favor. So Hezekiah burned it, knowing it had become an idol that was turning them from the worship of the true God.
Are there things or ideas that the Lord once used to deliver us from a mess we got ourselves into, but we’ve hung onto that rabbit’s foot, so to speak, to preserve us again? It’s good to re-evaluate ourselves to see that our focus is on blessings from the Lord and not from some other thing. We don’t want to take the grace of God in vain by trusting in something else we have. Some practices we have kept may no longer be needed because we have outgrown them in faith, in love, in the Spirit. Let’s drop the external things that have outlived their usefulness and trust the Lord for provision from Him. For some of us, this step will result in an enlarged faith.
Each king in these two books of Kings is introduced with a phrase indicating approval or not. They either did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, or did what was right. The sole criterion was how well they followed the laws of Moses in establishing a godly community. Had each king followed the laws, the surrounding nations would have seen how great their God was and would want to join the community and follow God. (God created a pathway for this very thing–Exod. 12:48; Lev. 19:33-34; Num. 15:29; Deut. 10:19).
The kings that did evil persisted in idolatry and false worship practices. The kings that did right abolished the practices and physically destroyed the idols and the platforms used for false and degrading worship of man-made gods.
How is the Lord Jesus going to evaluate our lives when we stand before Him? Would obedience to His word matter then? Should it matter now? The Word will let us know what practices we keep should be eliminated because they do not honor Him, and those we should keep because it could draw people to see God as He really is. It’s good to evaluate our lives to see if we are drawing others to Christ in word and/or action.
Application:
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