2 Kings 17, 18:9-37 | 2 Chronicles 32:1-19 | Isaiah 36

In the 6 th year of Hezekiah’s reign in Judah the Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom of Israel, and took most of the people away as captives to be resettled in foreign lands. This occurred a little more than 700 years before Jesus was born, and a little more than 100 years before the Babylonians took Judah into captivity.

About 8 years later the Assyrians come back to the land to attack Judah and Jerusalem, and the king of Assyria’s general stood outside the walls of the city profaning Hezekiah and the Lord. The Rabshakeh even spoke to the people in Hebrew, and tried to convince them to forsake Hezekiah and the Lord, since he had already proven victorious in every nation he had previously attacked.