Articles
"Like A Bird In A Cage"
Hezekiah is arguably the most well-known king of Judah during the Divided Kingdom era. Much of that fame is due to his many reforms and restoration of divinely certified worship (2Chron. 29-31). Because of his many reforms, Hezekiah is given an idealized representation in 2 Kings 18:5. There it is said of Hezekiah: “He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.”
Several events from Hezekiah’s life also stand out. At one point he became mortally ill after a lengthy onslaught by the Assyrians (2 Kings 20; Isaiah 38). Isaiah brought the bad news and told Hezekiah to set his affairs in order. But Hezekiah humbled himself before God in prayer and the LORD extended his life fifteen more years. Hezekiah’s psalm of thanksgiving for the LORD’s intervention is found in Isaiah 38:9-20.
Looking beyond his reforms and humility in illness, one other event is prominent. During Hezekiah’s fourteenth year as king, Sennacherib and his dominant Assyrian army invaded Judah and sacked 46 strong cities (Isaiah 36-37). Sennacherib’s troops pressed in upon Jerusalem until all hope had been lost. Sennacherib’s commander Rabshekah taunted and defied the people making light of God’s judgment upon Judah. In the Assyrian Taylor Prism, Sennacherib relates that Hezekiah was trapped like a prisoner in his palace “like a bird in a cage” (J. B. Pritchard, ANET).
Despite the absence of hope, Hezekiah presented Rabshekah’s defiance before the LORD. He asked for mercy, for pardon, and for deliverance (Is. 37:1-5, 14-20). In doing this, Hezekiah recognizes God’s superior reign over Sennacherib’s kingdom as well as his own. He recognizes that God rules over all the kingdoms of the Earth and that the gods of all the fallen nations were mere idols unworthy of the fire that kindled them in their destruction. God elects to deliver the nation in the midst of hopelessness because of that identity as the true King.
We can learn from Hezekiah to become more dependent upon our King in the midst of fiery trials. As individual members of His royal priesthood, we live within His providential care. When all hope seems lost, look to Him for help and He will be able to deliver.
