September 8, 2025 • 22 mins
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Welcome to the Westside church’s special Monday Morning Coffee podcast with Mark Roberts. Mark is a disciple, a husband, father and grand dad, as well as a certified coffee geek, fan of CS Lewis’ writings and he loves his big red Jeep. He’s also the preacher for Westside church.
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Episode Transcript
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UNKNOWN (00:01):
you
SPEAKER_00 (00:05):
Hello, and welcome to the West Side Church's
special Monday Morning Coffeepodcast.
On this podcast, our preacher,Mark Roberts, will help you get
your week started right with alook back at yesterday's sermon
so that we can think through itfurther and better work the
applications into our dailylives.
(00:27):
Mark will then look forward intothis week's Bible reading so
that we can know what to expectand watch for.
And he may have some Extra bonusthoughts from time to time.
So grab a cup of coffee as westart the week together on
Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome to the Monday MorningCoffee Podcast for Monday,
September the 8th.
I'm Mark.
I'm working on a cup of coffee.
It's not necessarily thegreatest cup of coffee I've ever
had, but yes, I do have coffee.
Not every cup can be completelyamazing all the time.
Sometimes we have to have alittle less than best.
That makes us just appreciatewhen we have something that's
really special, I guess.
But I'm working on it.
(01:14):
I know you're trying to get theweek started.
I'm trying to get the weekstarted.
Lots going on here.
Lots to think about, especiallyin our daily Bible reading.
Open your Bible with me to 2Kings chapter 18.
That's where we're headed.
Let's get ready.
Let's get set.
Let's go.
It is Monday and our readingtoday is 2 Kings 18, 1-12.
(01:37):
And if you're thinking, wait aminute Mark, where's the notes
from the sermon yesterday?
There are no notes from thesermon yesterday because I was
not at Westside yesterday.
I'm in College Station, Texas.
I'm preaching in a meeting forthe Twin Cities Church of Christ
and enjoying being with thesebrethren.
I've been here before.
Lots of good folks here.
Lots of young people at A&M.
(01:57):
Lots of good young Christianstrying to serve the Lord.
It's a joy to be with them.
I'm enjoying being with themvery much And I probably will go
ahead and say this is myfavorite gospel meeting of the
year because, yep, it's my lastgospel meeting of the year.
And I know folks at Westside arethinking, hey, you sure have
been gone a lot recently and theschedule has sort of worked out
like that, but I'm coming homeand I'm going to stay home for a
(02:20):
long time.
So let's get busy in the Word ofGod.
It's 2 Kings chapter 18, and wefinally get to the place in
Kings where the And of coursehe's doing that because there
is, as we read last week, nomore northern kingdom.
God's wrath has broken forth onIsrael, all the assassinations
(02:43):
and chaos and idolatry.
All of that leads to the end ofIsrael.
God sent his prophets and theywould not listen and now they're
gone.
And so for the next 150 years, 2Kings will detail what is
happening in the south.
They are the only kingdom.
And the last time we werevisiting over there, things
weren't going a whole lot betterthan they were in the north.
(03:04):
If you remember, Ahaz is anabsolute mess.
He is certainly nothing to getexcited about at all.
In 2 Kings 16, he's all in withAssyria and doing wicked things
like replacing the altar in thetemple with an altar of Assyrian
design.
He isn't much to get excitedabout, but today we meet his son
who provides new hope for Judah.
(03:27):
His son is King Hezekiah.
Our reading for Monday is 2Kings 18 1 to 12.
And what Hezekiah does is whatno king so far seems to want to
do, and that is purify thereligion of the land.
It's not that he personally isdevoted to the Lord, though he
certainly is.
(03:47):
He enforces the worship of God,of Jehovah God, all through the
land.
And so he is said to be, verse3, like David.
That's the key, and that's whatwe've been pushing all this
year.
How can I be like David?
And Part of being like David isshowing spiritual leadership.
Verse 4, he removes the highplaces that the other kings had
(04:10):
tolerated, and in fact Ahaz hadactually worshipped at those
high places.
And there is the bronze serpent.
Oh my.
The bronze serpent is probably700 years old, but Hezekiah does
not hesitate to destroy it.
Can't be having that.
And this just all stands out,particularly because only
Hezekiah and David prosper inwar and be the Philistines, and
(04:35):
the writer here of Kings seemsto go out of his way to make
sure, verse 8, that we know thatHezekiah struck down
Philistines, and only Hezekiahand David are said to have the
Lord with him.
Note verse 7 compared to 1Samuel 18 and verse 12.
Hezekiah is reigning in thespirit of David.
(04:55):
He is a king after God's ownheart, and so he breaks free of
being subservient to a Probablybecause Isaiah told him to do
that.
Verse 7, I would expect hereceived the counsel of God.
And then we get a little reviewhere of the Assyrians showing up
and taking away the northernkingdom.
(05:19):
And that review is here toremind us that this is what went
wrong in the north.
Look what's going right in thesouth.
It's a comparison and it's acontrast.
The two accounts begin withsimilar words.
so that we're seeing these twothings and holding them together
and saying, they did it wrong,he's doing it right.
(05:39):
Hezekiah, he's a man after God'sown heart.
Our reading for Monday, 2 Kings18, 1-12.
Welcome to Tuesday.
Welcome to Tuesday, and ourreading is 2 Kings 18, 13-37.
Hezekiah is doing really, reallywell, and then things go south.
And probably this relates towhat we read yesterday about the
(06:00):
Assyrians showing up and takingthe northern kingdom into
captivity.
While they're there, it would behard for the Assyrians not to
look south and say, hey, we'llget those guys too.
So that is exactly what happens.
They invade Judea.
And there is all sorts ofrecords of this, according to
Sennacherib and other kinds ofAssyrian records.
(06:20):
Sennacherib, the records that hehas talk about capturing 46
cities in Judah and many fortsand walled villages, on and on
and on.
I shut Hezekiah up like a birdin a cage.
What's interesting, of course,Spoiler alert, I'm giving away
the end of the story.
Sennacherib's records do not sayhe captured Jerusalem.
Hmm, I wonder why he didn'tinclude that.
(06:41):
But what we see in our readingtoday in verses 14, 15, and 16,
that Hezekiah's faith here seemsto waver some.
And I think we need to be okaywith that.
Not that it's okay to have yourfaith waver, but it's okay for
us to see biblical people beingreal.
And Hezekiah does a lot ofthings that are right.
2 Chronicles 29, 30, and 31detail a lot of that.
(07:02):
But that doesn't mean that hewas perfect, and the writer of
Kings here includes that hetries to buy off the Assyrians.
And then, of course, theAssyrians keep coming, beginning
in verse 17, and people are alittle confused about that.
Hey, he paid him off.
Well, it may mean thatSennacherib was intent on
killing Hezekiah and putting apuppet king in his place.
Some have said that there may betwo invasions here, one in 715
(07:23):
BC, one in 701 BC, so he wasbought off in 715, and then he
decided to return later.
He got a big payment of gold,and then when he needed some
money, he He said, hey, let's goback where we got that from.
But the Assyrians do show up andthe Rabshakeh, verse 19, that
seems to be a title.
It seems to be the chief officerhere.
He has this big speech that he'smaking.
(07:46):
And the operative word here isthe word trust.
If you'll underline in yourBible trust as you work down
through here, you'll see whatthis is all about.
And the writer of Kings isseriously recording this so that
the reader, you and me, willdecide who we trust in.
He's trying to undermineconfidence in Hezekiah, but even
(08:09):
more than that, he's trying toundermine confidence in God.
Who do you trust in?
And when things go south...
When things are terrible, who doyou trust in?
And this speech is a masterpieceof propaganda, particularly from
an idol worshiper's viewpoint ashe talks about the pantheon of
gods and that no gods can helpyou.
(08:31):
Egypt isn't going to help you.
No one can assist you.
And so verse 26, some of theservants of Hezekiah say, hey,
let's talk in Aramaic.
That's the language ofdiplomacy.
You don't need to speak in thelanguage of Judah.
You don't need to speak Hebrewhere.
We can speak the language ofAramaic.
We're civilized people.
But of course, what they reallywant is they want him to speak
Aramaic so that the people onthe wall, all the citizens who
(08:52):
are listening to him shout thisout, won't understand.
And he says, you need tounderstand this.
You are the man who will bedoomed, verse 27, to eat your
own dung and drink your ownurine.
He's talking about siege warfarethere.
That's what he's talking about.
And it gets even more seriouswhen he says in verse 31, I'm
going to take you away.
You make peace with me.
You surrender.
(09:12):
I will take you away to anotherland like the northern ten
tribes were taken and there youwill eat of your own vine and
sit under your own fig tree andeach of you will drink water out
of your own cistern.
Water out of your own cistern isused in Proverbs as a reference
to the marital bed and beingsatisfied with your own wife.
That may be a thinly veileddouble entendre that if we have
(09:36):
to dock this city down andassault the city and siege the
city, when we break in, we'regoing to kill everybody we can
find.
We're we're going to assault thewomen in this city.
Think about hearing that.
If you're a husband, if you're asoldier on the wall, if you
don't want your wife to beviolated, you'd better surrender
(09:57):
if you want to drink water outof your own cistern.
And notice how the failure ofIsrael in the north, verse 34,
have the gods of Seraphim,Hannah, and Iva, have they
delivered Samaria out of yourhand?
The failure of the ten tribes inthe north give him the proof
that the God of the Israelitesis just weak.
(10:19):
What a wretched speech this isand what a horrible crisis
Hezekiah is in.
Our reading for Tuesday, 2 Kings18, 13-37.
It is Wednesday.
It's hump day.
And today we read 2 Kings 19,1-13.
Let me get some coffee here aswe get underway in 2 Kings 19,
1-13.
As soon as King Hezekiah heardit, verse 1, he tore his clothes
(10:41):
and covered himself withsackcloth and went into the
house of the Lord.
This is a very difficult moment,as I said yesterday, for King
Hezekiah.
Both personally, bad thingswould happen to the king, to his
body.
The Assyrians are not nice.
I want to talk about that morein just a moment.
But what would happen to hissubjects, what would happen to
his kingdom is truly appalling.
(11:03):
And I want to give you someinformation here about Assyrian
cruelty.
In fact, in the youth lecturesthis year, Caleb Churchill spoke
on Jonah.
Jonah, of course, goes toNineveh, which is the capital of
Assyria.
And he talked a little bit aboutAssyrian cruelty.
And so I'll read you a littlebit of this.
And some of this is prettystern.
If you've got little earslistening, you may want to
decide if they're up for this ornot.
(11:25):
Ashurbanipal describes hisdealings with a certain city
that he had conquered, and hesays, 600 of their warriors I
put to the sword, 3,000 captivesI burned with fire.
I left not a single one amongthem alive to serve as a
hostage.
Their governor, Kolai, Icaptured alive, and their
corpses I piled into heaps.
Their men and maidens I burned.
Their governor I flayed, and hisskin was spread upon the wall.
(11:48):
These are not nice people, andwhen they subjugate a city, they
make an example out of that ofjust sheer cruelty and awful
violence that would cause many,many people to say, we need to
capitulate.
We need to give in.
Being deported, like whathappened to the northern ten
tribes, is far better thanstanding here and being flayed.
(12:08):
So, for example, Sargon, anotherking of the Assyrians, he
delighted in torturing defeatedsoldiers.
He dug huge That's a lot to takeon as you're reading it.
(12:45):
and having morning coffee, Irealize, but I think it's
significant and important for usto understand this is an awful,
awful nation that perpetratesviolence and atrocities and
enjoys doing so.
By the way, where did Romancrucifixion come from?
That's right.
They adapted it from theAssyrian practice of impalement.
(13:06):
These are not nice people.
And so in Isaiah chapter 19,Hezekiah falls on his face
before God praying in earnestbecause of the threat that is
before him.
And the theme here is hearing.
Hearing is the key idea inverses 1 to 20.
Just underline that again andagain.
(13:27):
And I think the key differencehere between Hezekiah and other
kings, especially Ahaz, is thatother kings don't listen to the
prophets.
Ahaz, for example, would notlisten to the prophets.
He throws in with Assyria andbecomes an Assyrian vassal, much
to his detriment.
The message never changes.
(13:48):
Trust in God.
Depend upon God.
Jehovah is salvation.
And Hezekiah is willing tolisten to that message.
This really is not so much astruggle between Hezekiah and
Sennacherib.
This really is about who is Godand who do you trust in?
Who will you listen to?
And so we get that idea ofhearing over and over again in
(14:11):
our reading.
And there's a and the terriblethings that he's threatening and
the things that are going on,will God listen?
Will God help Hezekiah?
And of course, early on, verses6 and 7, Isaiah reassures
Hezekiah, but the Assyriansreturn.
(14:32):
There's some noteschronologically, historically,
some of that's hard to work out,about maybe the Egyptians rolled
out of Egypt and offered atemporary threat and the
Assyrians had to go take care ofthat.
And it seems like they pulledout out, but then maybe that's
what we're getting here in 2Kings 19 verse 8.
They come back.
(14:52):
They come back.
How devastating must that havebeen to Hezekiah and to the
people?
We thought we were delivered.
We're not delivered, and thesame threats are issued again.
Our reading for Wednesday, 2Kings 19, 1 to 13.
It is Thursday.
It is Thursday, and I'm homefrom the meeting.
Oh, what a joy to be home.
(15:14):
Our reading today is 2 KingsKings chapter 19 verses 14 to
37.
Please notice Hezekiah's prayerand how it exalts God as the God
of all the kingdoms of theearth, verse 15 and verse 19.
That's particularly importantgiven what we know about
Assyrian kings delight inproclaiming themselves as being
(15:35):
the king over all of the earth.
For example, Shalmaneser recordson the Black Obelisk, that is so
easy to say, isn't it?
The Black Obelisk So theAssyrians think of themselves,
(16:02):
especially the king, as being incharge of everything, sovereign.
And Hezekiah says, God, you aresovereign.
And Isaiah responds, speakingfor God, beginning in verse 20,
I have heard, verse 20, Do yousee that reference again to
hearing?
And so there's a threefoldresponse here.
The boasting of Sennacherib isreplied to.
(16:23):
Don't mock Jerusalem, verse 22.
That's the same as mocking God.
God's just using you, verse 25.
You're a tool in God's hands.
I like the reference in verse26, tender grass on the
housetop.
Sometimes grass would sprout onthe housetops of people's homes
in this particular area of thecountry in this particular time.
But since it can't put realroots down, it's shallow, it
(16:44):
would soon die.
And the Assyrians love to puthooks in people's noses and
their mouth.
And what you've done to others,I talked about Assyrian cruelty,
what you've done to others, thatwill be done to you.
So the response begins, all thatboasting and nonsense, verses 21
to 28, that's replied to.
Then there is a sign given toHezekiah, verses 29 to 31.
(17:05):
And I'll just quote from ascholar, while three actual
calendar years are intended,this is probably only about 14
to 15 months covered, the viewsuggests that the prediction was
made in the fall so this year inwhich accidental growth was
being eaten that would draw to aclose but the deliverance would
not come in time for fallplanting to be done meaning that
only what comes up from theroots of previous plants would
(17:27):
be available during the nextyear but by the following fall
the third calendar year when itwas beginning normal life would
resume for the Assyrians wouldbe gone and then of course the
third part of that response isfinal resolution that is the
destruction of the Assyrian armyplease understand Underline in
your Bible verse 34.
I will defend the city and saveit for my own sake and for the
(17:50):
sake of my servant David.
Hezekiah has shown himself to bea man after God's own heart.
He has shown himself to be likeDavid.
And God stands in and defendsthat city because he is like
David and because God madepromises to David in 2 Samuel 7.
Our reading for Thursday, 2Kings 17 verses 24 to 41.
(18:16):
It's Friday.
It is Friday minute to the endof the week, didn't you?
Another week, another week inBible reading where we've drawn
closer to the Lord and soughtHis heart.
And we do that especially out ofthe Psalms on Friday.
Today our reading is Psalm 39.
Now this is not the easiestPsalm to classify.
It is a Psalm of David.
The heading gives it to David.
Remember the headings are notinspired, but they're very old
(18:38):
and they're helpful.
It sounds like David and it fitsin the book of David, Psalms 1
to 41, have the Psalms David.
So I'm very content saying thisis from David, but I'm not very
content saying it's a lament.
A lament psalm is a cry forhelp, a call for God to deliver.
But this sounds like a wisdompsalm in places.
(18:59):
So maybe I'll go lament, maybeI'll go wisdom psalm, having a
hard time deciding about allthat.
What's even more difficult isdeciding where this fits in
David's life.
What exactly is the troublehere?
Who are these enemies and whatare they doing that's bothering
David so much?
This is really about David'svery bad day.
I'm thinking about that book,Alexander's Very Horrible,
(19:21):
Terrible, No Good, Bad Day.
And that's kind of Psalm 39, butI can't tell you for sure who's
ruining David's day and whythings are so terrible.
I can tell you this, what Daviddoes when life is bad, when his
day has been ruined, is he praysabout it.
And the Psalm really breaks downinto about three pieces.
It's not the easiest to outline,but there are three pieces here.
(19:41):
I'm really unhappy, verses oneto three.
And then God will help me seehow unimportant I am and all
these troubles really are,verses 4, 5, and 6.
And then the second prayer hereis forgive my sins, verses 7 to
13.
So notice in the beginning ofthe Psalm, verse 1, David
decides it'd be better not tosay anything than to make it
worse by blaspheming, bycarrying on in the wrong kinds
(20:05):
of ways.
I like that a lot becausethere's so much emphasis today
on letting it out.
You've got to vent.
You've got to express yourself.
No.
No, you don't.
Sometimes the best thing to dois keep your mouth shut.
Just Just hold it in.
That's better than sinning withyour mouth.
And that's a note that's neededin our world today.
Don't make the problem worse byspeaking out, especially in
(20:27):
front of the wicked, or bysaying things about God that you
shouldn't say.
And then in verse 4, since Davidcan't get things figured out, he
can't put the pieces of thepuzzle together, what he does is
he turns to God and God begins,as he thinks about the Lord, to
help him see and put some thingsin perspective.
And look at verse 6.
Doesn't that sound likeEcclesiastes Life is uncertain.
(20:48):
Man can't control his own deathor even what will happen to his
affairs after he dies.
Lots of, is it really that big adeal?
Get some perspective here,David.
And then since he gets someperspective, what he wants now
is for God to forgive him of hissins.
Beginning about verse 7, sincelife is short, since there's a
lot of things we can't control,since there are a lot of things
(21:09):
that really don't matter thatmuch, what does matter?
Our relationship with God.
And I love the idea of being asojourner, verse 12.
That's a key concept biblically,the understanding that I'm not a
citizen here, that I don't livehere.
I'm going to God.
I'm journeying to be with God.
That's important for people whowant to serve the Lord and seek
(21:29):
after God's own heart.
Our reading for Friday, Psalm39.
I want you to come too.
I'll see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (22:09):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ
podcast, Monday Morning Coffeewith Mark.
For more information aboutWestside, you can connect with
us through our website,justchristians.com, and our
Facebook page.
Our music is from upbeat.io.
That's upbeat with two Ps,U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creators
(22:33):
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Please share our podcast withothers, and we look forward to
seeing you again, with a cup ofcoffee, of course, on next
Monday.
you
SPEAKER_00 (00:05):
Hello, and welcome to the West Side Church's
special Monday Morning Coffeepodcast.
On this podcast, our preacher,Mark Roberts, will help you get
your week started right with alook back at yesterday's sermon
so that we can think through itfurther and better work the
applications into our dailylives.
(00:27):
Mark will then look forward intothis week's Bible reading so
that we can know what to expectand watch for.
And he may have some Extra bonusthoughts from time to time.
So grab a cup of coffee as westart the week together on
Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome to the Monday MorningCoffee Podcast for Monday,
September the 8th.
I'm Mark.
I'm working on a cup of coffee.
It's not necessarily thegreatest cup of coffee I've ever
had, but yes, I do have coffee.
Not every cup can be completelyamazing all the time.
Sometimes we have to have alittle less than best.
That makes us just appreciatewhen we have something that's
really special, I guess.
But I'm working on it.
(01:14):
I know you're trying to get theweek started.
I'm trying to get the weekstarted.
Lots going on here.
Lots to think about, especiallyin our daily Bible reading.
Open your Bible with me to 2Kings chapter 18.
That's where we're headed.
Let's get ready.
Let's get set.
Let's go.
It is Monday and our readingtoday is 2 Kings 18, 1-12.
(01:37):
And if you're thinking, wait aminute Mark, where's the notes
from the sermon yesterday?
There are no notes from thesermon yesterday because I was
not at Westside yesterday.
I'm in College Station, Texas.
I'm preaching in a meeting forthe Twin Cities Church of Christ
and enjoying being with thesebrethren.
I've been here before.
Lots of good folks here.
Lots of young people at A&M.
(01:57):
Lots of good young Christianstrying to serve the Lord.
It's a joy to be with them.
I'm enjoying being with themvery much And I probably will go
ahead and say this is myfavorite gospel meeting of the
year because, yep, it's my lastgospel meeting of the year.
And I know folks at Westside arethinking, hey, you sure have
been gone a lot recently and theschedule has sort of worked out
like that, but I'm coming homeand I'm going to stay home for a
(02:20):
long time.
So let's get busy in the Word ofGod.
It's 2 Kings chapter 18, and wefinally get to the place in
Kings where the And of coursehe's doing that because there
is, as we read last week, nomore northern kingdom.
God's wrath has broken forth onIsrael, all the assassinations
(02:43):
and chaos and idolatry.
All of that leads to the end ofIsrael.
God sent his prophets and theywould not listen and now they're
gone.
And so for the next 150 years, 2Kings will detail what is
happening in the south.
They are the only kingdom.
And the last time we werevisiting over there, things
weren't going a whole lot betterthan they were in the north.
(03:04):
If you remember, Ahaz is anabsolute mess.
He is certainly nothing to getexcited about at all.
In 2 Kings 16, he's all in withAssyria and doing wicked things
like replacing the altar in thetemple with an altar of Assyrian
design.
He isn't much to get excitedabout, but today we meet his son
who provides new hope for Judah.
(03:27):
His son is King Hezekiah.
Our reading for Monday is 2Kings 18 1 to 12.
And what Hezekiah does is whatno king so far seems to want to
do, and that is purify thereligion of the land.
It's not that he personally isdevoted to the Lord, though he
certainly is.
(03:47):
He enforces the worship of God,of Jehovah God, all through the
land.
And so he is said to be, verse3, like David.
That's the key, and that's whatwe've been pushing all this
year.
How can I be like David?
And Part of being like David isshowing spiritual leadership.
Verse 4, he removes the highplaces that the other kings had
(04:10):
tolerated, and in fact Ahaz hadactually worshipped at those
high places.
And there is the bronze serpent.
Oh my.
The bronze serpent is probably700 years old, but Hezekiah does
not hesitate to destroy it.
Can't be having that.
And this just all stands out,particularly because only
Hezekiah and David prosper inwar and be the Philistines, and
(04:35):
the writer here of Kings seemsto go out of his way to make
sure, verse 8, that we know thatHezekiah struck down
Philistines, and only Hezekiahand David are said to have the
Lord with him.
Note verse 7 compared to 1Samuel 18 and verse 12.
Hezekiah is reigning in thespirit of David.
(04:55):
He is a king after God's ownheart, and so he breaks free of
being subservient to a Probablybecause Isaiah told him to do
that.
Verse 7, I would expect hereceived the counsel of God.
And then we get a little reviewhere of the Assyrians showing up
and taking away the northernkingdom.
(05:19):
And that review is here toremind us that this is what went
wrong in the north.
Look what's going right in thesouth.
It's a comparison and it's acontrast.
The two accounts begin withsimilar words.
so that we're seeing these twothings and holding them together
and saying, they did it wrong,he's doing it right.
(05:39):
Hezekiah, he's a man after God'sown heart.
Our reading for Monday, 2 Kings18, 1-12.
Welcome to Tuesday.
Welcome to Tuesday, and ourreading is 2 Kings 18, 13-37.
Hezekiah is doing really, reallywell, and then things go south.
And probably this relates towhat we read yesterday about the
(06:00):
Assyrians showing up and takingthe northern kingdom into
captivity.
While they're there, it would behard for the Assyrians not to
look south and say, hey, we'llget those guys too.
So that is exactly what happens.
They invade Judea.
And there is all sorts ofrecords of this, according to
Sennacherib and other kinds ofAssyrian records.
(06:20):
Sennacherib, the records that hehas talk about capturing 46
cities in Judah and many fortsand walled villages, on and on
and on.
I shut Hezekiah up like a birdin a cage.
What's interesting, of course,Spoiler alert, I'm giving away
the end of the story.
Sennacherib's records do not sayhe captured Jerusalem.
Hmm, I wonder why he didn'tinclude that.
(06:41):
But what we see in our readingtoday in verses 14, 15, and 16,
that Hezekiah's faith here seemsto waver some.
And I think we need to be okaywith that.
Not that it's okay to have yourfaith waver, but it's okay for
us to see biblical people beingreal.
And Hezekiah does a lot ofthings that are right.
2 Chronicles 29, 30, and 31detail a lot of that.
(07:02):
But that doesn't mean that hewas perfect, and the writer of
Kings here includes that hetries to buy off the Assyrians.
And then, of course, theAssyrians keep coming, beginning
in verse 17, and people are alittle confused about that.
Hey, he paid him off.
Well, it may mean thatSennacherib was intent on
killing Hezekiah and putting apuppet king in his place.
Some have said that there may betwo invasions here, one in 715
(07:23):
BC, one in 701 BC, so he wasbought off in 715, and then he
decided to return later.
He got a big payment of gold,and then when he needed some
money, he He said, hey, let's goback where we got that from.
But the Assyrians do show up andthe Rabshakeh, verse 19, that
seems to be a title.
It seems to be the chief officerhere.
He has this big speech that he'smaking.
(07:46):
And the operative word here isthe word trust.
If you'll underline in yourBible trust as you work down
through here, you'll see whatthis is all about.
And the writer of Kings isseriously recording this so that
the reader, you and me, willdecide who we trust in.
He's trying to undermineconfidence in Hezekiah, but even
(08:09):
more than that, he's trying toundermine confidence in God.
Who do you trust in?
And when things go south...
When things are terrible, who doyou trust in?
And this speech is a masterpieceof propaganda, particularly from
an idol worshiper's viewpoint ashe talks about the pantheon of
gods and that no gods can helpyou.
(08:31):
Egypt isn't going to help you.
No one can assist you.
And so verse 26, some of theservants of Hezekiah say, hey,
let's talk in Aramaic.
That's the language ofdiplomacy.
You don't need to speak in thelanguage of Judah.
You don't need to speak Hebrewhere.
We can speak the language ofAramaic.
We're civilized people.
But of course, what they reallywant is they want him to speak
Aramaic so that the people onthe wall, all the citizens who
(08:52):
are listening to him shout thisout, won't understand.
And he says, you need tounderstand this.
You are the man who will bedoomed, verse 27, to eat your
own dung and drink your ownurine.
He's talking about siege warfarethere.
That's what he's talking about.
And it gets even more seriouswhen he says in verse 31, I'm
going to take you away.
You make peace with me.
You surrender.
(09:12):
I will take you away to anotherland like the northern ten
tribes were taken and there youwill eat of your own vine and
sit under your own fig tree andeach of you will drink water out
of your own cistern.
Water out of your own cistern isused in Proverbs as a reference
to the marital bed and beingsatisfied with your own wife.
That may be a thinly veileddouble entendre that if we have
(09:36):
to dock this city down andassault the city and siege the
city, when we break in, we'regoing to kill everybody we can
find.
We're we're going to assault thewomen in this city.
Think about hearing that.
If you're a husband, if you're asoldier on the wall, if you
don't want your wife to beviolated, you'd better surrender
(09:57):
if you want to drink water outof your own cistern.
And notice how the failure ofIsrael in the north, verse 34,
have the gods of Seraphim,Hannah, and Iva, have they
delivered Samaria out of yourhand?
The failure of the ten tribes inthe north give him the proof
that the God of the Israelitesis just weak.
(10:19):
What a wretched speech this isand what a horrible crisis
Hezekiah is in.
Our reading for Tuesday, 2 Kings18, 13-37.
It is Wednesday.
It's hump day.
And today we read 2 Kings 19,1-13.
Let me get some coffee here aswe get underway in 2 Kings 19,
1-13.
As soon as King Hezekiah heardit, verse 1, he tore his clothes
(10:41):
and covered himself withsackcloth and went into the
house of the Lord.
This is a very difficult moment,as I said yesterday, for King
Hezekiah.
Both personally, bad thingswould happen to the king, to his
body.
The Assyrians are not nice.
I want to talk about that morein just a moment.
But what would happen to hissubjects, what would happen to
his kingdom is truly appalling.
(11:03):
And I want to give you someinformation here about Assyrian
cruelty.
In fact, in the youth lecturesthis year, Caleb Churchill spoke
on Jonah.
Jonah, of course, goes toNineveh, which is the capital of
Assyria.
And he talked a little bit aboutAssyrian cruelty.
And so I'll read you a littlebit of this.
And some of this is prettystern.
If you've got little earslistening, you may want to
decide if they're up for this ornot.
(11:25):
Ashurbanipal describes hisdealings with a certain city
that he had conquered, and hesays, 600 of their warriors I
put to the sword, 3,000 captivesI burned with fire.
I left not a single one amongthem alive to serve as a
hostage.
Their governor, Kolai, Icaptured alive, and their
corpses I piled into heaps.
Their men and maidens I burned.
Their governor I flayed, and hisskin was spread upon the wall.
(11:48):
These are not nice people, andwhen they subjugate a city, they
make an example out of that ofjust sheer cruelty and awful
violence that would cause many,many people to say, we need to
capitulate.
We need to give in.
Being deported, like whathappened to the northern ten
tribes, is far better thanstanding here and being flayed.
(12:08):
So, for example, Sargon, anotherking of the Assyrians, he
delighted in torturing defeatedsoldiers.
He dug huge That's a lot to takeon as you're reading it.
(12:45):
and having morning coffee, Irealize, but I think it's
significant and important for usto understand this is an awful,
awful nation that perpetratesviolence and atrocities and
enjoys doing so.
By the way, where did Romancrucifixion come from?
That's right.
They adapted it from theAssyrian practice of impalement.
(13:06):
These are not nice people.
And so in Isaiah chapter 19,Hezekiah falls on his face
before God praying in earnestbecause of the threat that is
before him.
And the theme here is hearing.
Hearing is the key idea inverses 1 to 20.
Just underline that again andagain.
(13:27):
And I think the key differencehere between Hezekiah and other
kings, especially Ahaz, is thatother kings don't listen to the
prophets.
Ahaz, for example, would notlisten to the prophets.
He throws in with Assyria andbecomes an Assyrian vassal, much
to his detriment.
The message never changes.
(13:48):
Trust in God.
Depend upon God.
Jehovah is salvation.
And Hezekiah is willing tolisten to that message.
This really is not so much astruggle between Hezekiah and
Sennacherib.
This really is about who is Godand who do you trust in?
Who will you listen to?
And so we get that idea ofhearing over and over again in
(14:11):
our reading.
And there's a and the terriblethings that he's threatening and
the things that are going on,will God listen?
Will God help Hezekiah?
And of course, early on, verses6 and 7, Isaiah reassures
Hezekiah, but the Assyriansreturn.
(14:32):
There's some noteschronologically, historically,
some of that's hard to work out,about maybe the Egyptians rolled
out of Egypt and offered atemporary threat and the
Assyrians had to go take care ofthat.
And it seems like they pulledout out, but then maybe that's
what we're getting here in 2Kings 19 verse 8.
They come back.
(14:52):
They come back.
How devastating must that havebeen to Hezekiah and to the
people?
We thought we were delivered.
We're not delivered, and thesame threats are issued again.
Our reading for Wednesday, 2Kings 19, 1 to 13.
It is Thursday.
It is Thursday, and I'm homefrom the meeting.
Oh, what a joy to be home.
(15:14):
Our reading today is 2 KingsKings chapter 19 verses 14 to
37.
Please notice Hezekiah's prayerand how it exalts God as the God
of all the kingdoms of theearth, verse 15 and verse 19.
That's particularly importantgiven what we know about
Assyrian kings delight inproclaiming themselves as being
(15:35):
the king over all of the earth.
For example, Shalmaneser recordson the Black Obelisk, that is so
easy to say, isn't it?
The Black Obelisk So theAssyrians think of themselves,
(16:02):
especially the king, as being incharge of everything, sovereign.
And Hezekiah says, God, you aresovereign.
And Isaiah responds, speakingfor God, beginning in verse 20,
I have heard, verse 20, Do yousee that reference again to
hearing?
And so there's a threefoldresponse here.
The boasting of Sennacherib isreplied to.
(16:23):
Don't mock Jerusalem, verse 22.
That's the same as mocking God.
God's just using you, verse 25.
You're a tool in God's hands.
I like the reference in verse26, tender grass on the
housetop.
Sometimes grass would sprout onthe housetops of people's homes
in this particular area of thecountry in this particular time.
But since it can't put realroots down, it's shallow, it
(16:44):
would soon die.
And the Assyrians love to puthooks in people's noses and
their mouth.
And what you've done to others,I talked about Assyrian cruelty,
what you've done to others, thatwill be done to you.
So the response begins, all thatboasting and nonsense, verses 21
to 28, that's replied to.
Then there is a sign given toHezekiah, verses 29 to 31.
(17:05):
And I'll just quote from ascholar, while three actual
calendar years are intended,this is probably only about 14
to 15 months covered, the viewsuggests that the prediction was
made in the fall so this year inwhich accidental growth was
being eaten that would draw to aclose but the deliverance would
not come in time for fallplanting to be done meaning that
only what comes up from theroots of previous plants would
(17:27):
be available during the nextyear but by the following fall
the third calendar year when itwas beginning normal life would
resume for the Assyrians wouldbe gone and then of course the
third part of that response isfinal resolution that is the
destruction of the Assyrian armyplease understand Underline in
your Bible verse 34.
I will defend the city and saveit for my own sake and for the
(17:50):
sake of my servant David.
Hezekiah has shown himself to bea man after God's own heart.
He has shown himself to be likeDavid.
And God stands in and defendsthat city because he is like
David and because God madepromises to David in 2 Samuel 7.
Our reading for Thursday, 2Kings 17 verses 24 to 41.
(18:16):
It's Friday.
It is Friday minute to the endof the week, didn't you?
Another week, another week inBible reading where we've drawn
closer to the Lord and soughtHis heart.
And we do that especially out ofthe Psalms on Friday.
Today our reading is Psalm 39.
Now this is not the easiestPsalm to classify.
It is a Psalm of David.
The heading gives it to David.
Remember the headings are notinspired, but they're very old
(18:38):
and they're helpful.
It sounds like David and it fitsin the book of David, Psalms 1
to 41, have the Psalms David.
So I'm very content saying thisis from David, but I'm not very
content saying it's a lament.
A lament psalm is a cry forhelp, a call for God to deliver.
But this sounds like a wisdompsalm in places.
(18:59):
So maybe I'll go lament, maybeI'll go wisdom psalm, having a
hard time deciding about allthat.
What's even more difficult isdeciding where this fits in
David's life.
What exactly is the troublehere?
Who are these enemies and whatare they doing that's bothering
David so much?
This is really about David'svery bad day.
I'm thinking about that book,Alexander's Very Horrible,
(19:21):
Terrible, No Good, Bad Day.
And that's kind of Psalm 39, butI can't tell you for sure who's
ruining David's day and whythings are so terrible.
I can tell you this, what Daviddoes when life is bad, when his
day has been ruined, is he praysabout it.
And the Psalm really breaks downinto about three pieces.
It's not the easiest to outline,but there are three pieces here.
(19:41):
I'm really unhappy, verses oneto three.
And then God will help me seehow unimportant I am and all
these troubles really are,verses 4, 5, and 6.
And then the second prayer hereis forgive my sins, verses 7 to
13.
So notice in the beginning ofthe Psalm, verse 1, David
decides it'd be better not tosay anything than to make it
worse by blaspheming, bycarrying on in the wrong kinds
(20:05):
of ways.
I like that a lot becausethere's so much emphasis today
on letting it out.
You've got to vent.
You've got to express yourself.
No.
No, you don't.
Sometimes the best thing to dois keep your mouth shut.
Just Just hold it in.
That's better than sinning withyour mouth.
And that's a note that's neededin our world today.
Don't make the problem worse byspeaking out, especially in
(20:27):
front of the wicked, or bysaying things about God that you
shouldn't say.
And then in verse 4, since Davidcan't get things figured out, he
can't put the pieces of thepuzzle together, what he does is
he turns to God and God begins,as he thinks about the Lord, to
help him see and put some thingsin perspective.
And look at verse 6.
Doesn't that sound likeEcclesiastes Life is uncertain.
(20:48):
Man can't control his own deathor even what will happen to his
affairs after he dies.
Lots of, is it really that big adeal?
Get some perspective here,David.
And then since he gets someperspective, what he wants now
is for God to forgive him of hissins.
Beginning about verse 7, sincelife is short, since there's a
lot of things we can't control,since there are a lot of things
(21:09):
that really don't matter thatmuch, what does matter?
Our relationship with God.
And I love the idea of being asojourner, verse 12.
That's a key concept biblically,the understanding that I'm not a
citizen here, that I don't livehere.
I'm going to God.
I'm journeying to be with God.
That's important for people whowant to serve the Lord and seek
(21:29):
after God's own heart.
Our reading for Friday, Psalm39.
I want you to come too.
I'll see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (22:09):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ
podcast, Monday Morning Coffeewith Mark.
For more information aboutWestside, you can connect with
us through our website,justchristians.com, and our
Facebook page.
Our music is from upbeat.io.
That's upbeat with two Ps,U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creators
(22:33):
can get free music.
Please share our podcast withothers, and we look forward to
seeing you again, with a cup ofcoffee, of course, on next
Monday.
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