Ptr. BRIAN TRACY L. DOMINGUEZ, Elder

HOPE IN THE WORD – Main

September 12, 2010 – HWCMI Buhangin Anniversary Message

This Hebrew inscription (found by archaeologists in 1880) in the Siloam tunnel, also known as

Hezekiah’s tunnel (2 Kings 20:20), marked the progress of the tunnel as it was being built,

circa 700 BC.

In Reference to:

2 Chronicles 29,30,31,32

Isaiah 36: 1 – 37:38

2 Kings 18: 13 - 37

One of the last good kings (at 25 yrs. old) of Judah, bringing religious reforms to the straying nation.

God miraculously saved Hezekiah, both from the Assyrian threat and from sickness (adding 15 years more in his life).

God saved Hezekiah’s kingdom and life due to his earnest prayers.

Hezekiah enacted several religious reforms, destroying places of pagan worship across the kingdom of Judah.

Isaiah, was the Prophet of God during his reign.

In the first month of his reign, Hezekiah opened the temple doors and repaired them. He brought the Levites together and ordered them to sanctify themselves and the temple and to reinstate the religious ceremonies that had long been neglected.

Hezekiah brought sacrifices, ordered tithes and offerings upon the people, and the priestly temple service was restored (2 Chronicles 29).

Hezekiah then sent invitations throughout Judah and Israel for the Passover celebration in Jerusalem (held a month later than the prescribed time because the priests and people could not be ready earlier). The Passover was a feast commemorating the Hebrews’ deliverance from their slavery in Egypt. It was hoped that religious unification would be a prelude to political reunification of the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.

However, most of the northern tribes mocked the Judean messengers who brought the invitations, and only a few persons from the tribes of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun went to Jerusalem for the celebration (2 Chronicles 30).

After the Passover observance, the worshipers set about destroying the high places (places for worshiping idols) and unholy altars. They broke the pillars and cut down the Asherim (idols) throughout Judah and Benjamin, and also went into Ephraim and Manasseh (2 Chronicles 31:1). Hezekiah even smashed the bronze serpent that Moses had made (Numbers 21:6-9), for it had become an object of worship and was identified with a serpent deity, Nehushtan (2 Kings 18:4).

Because of his sweeping reforms, later generations said of Hezekiah, “There was never another king like him in the land of Judah, either before or after his time” (2 Kings 18:5).

2Ch 32:1 After these events, in which King Hezekiah served the LORD faithfully, Sennacherib, the emperor of Assyria, invaded Judah. He besieged the fortified cities and gave orders for his army to break their way through the walls.

Assyria was the symbol of terror and tyranny in the Near East for more than three centuries (300 years).

The Assyrians were ruthless warriors who conquered city after city, nation after nation.

They gobbled up territory like candy, finally ruling over all of Syria and Babylonia.

They even tried to overrun Egypt. However, for all their earthly power, they refused to recognize the heavenly power of God.

In fact, they conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and took God's people captive.

The movements of different peoples, such as the Greeks, Philistines, Arameans, and Israelites, marked three centuries of history from about 1200 to 900 BC.

King Hezekiah had every reason to fear the Assyrians’ threat to destroy Jerusalem, since they had already destroyed the city of Samaria and the town of Lachich (ruins pictured above).

2Ch 30:6 Messengers went out at the command of the king and his officials through all Judah and Israel with the following invitation: "People of Israel, you have survived the Assyrian conquest of the land. Now return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he will return to you.

2Ch 30:7 Do not be like your ancestors and your Israelite relatives who were unfaithful to the LORD their God. As you can see, he punished them severely.

2Ch 30:8 Do not be stubborn as they were, but obey the LORD. Come to the Temple in Jerusalem, which the LORD your God has made holy forever, and worship him so that he will no longer be angry with you.

2Ch 30:9 If you return to the LORD, then those who have taken your relatives away as prisoners will take pity on them and let them come back home. The LORD your God is kind and merciful, and if you return to him, he will accept you."

2Ch 30:10 The messengers went to every city in the territory of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far north as the tribe of Zebulun, but people laughed at them and made fun of them.

2Ch 32:2 When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib intended to attack Jerusalem also,

2Ch 32:3 he and his officials decided to cut off the supply of water outside the city in order to keep the Assyrians from having any water when they got near Jerusalem. The officials led a large number of people out and stopped up all the springs, so that no more water flowed out of them.

Knowing the necessity of an adequate water supply for a city under siege,

Hezekiah had a 1,777-foot (542-meter) tunnel cut through solid rock from the spring of Gihon to the Siloam Pool to bring water into the city and to prevent the Assyrians from poisoning or cutting off the spring water outside the city (2 Kings 20:20) and thus defeating the people inside.

The Siloam inscription, carved inside the tunnel itself, records the completion of that remarkable conduit and is one of the oldest preserved examples of the Hebrew language.

This conduit, also known as Hezekiah’s tunnel, was built

by Hezekiah at the time of the Assyrian invasion to

bring water into Jerusalem during a siege (2 Kings

20:20; 2 Chronicles 32:2-4).

“There is a river that brings joy to the city of God,

to the sacred house of the Most High.”

The pool of Siloam of New Testament days marked the

opening of Hezekiah’s tunnel, dug during the threat of the

Assyrian invasion about 700 B.C.

SPRING OF GIHON - Site in Jerusalem where Solomon was anointed as king (1 Kings 1:33, 38, 45). One of the two sources of running water in Jerusalem: The Ain Umm el Daraj’ (also known as the spring of the Mother of Steps, in the OT as Gihon, and to Christians as the Virgin’s Fountain), which lies at the eastern ridge; the source of the Pool of Siloam.

John 4:14 “...but those who drink

the water that I will give them will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give them will become in them a spring which will provide them with life-giving water and give them eternal life.“ Tradition holds that it was at this well that

Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman about true worship.

John 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

John 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

2 Chron. 32:5. Then Hezekiah further strengthened his defenses by repairing the wall wherever it was broken down and by adding to the fortifications and constructing a second wall outside the first. He also reinforced the Millo* in the City of David and manufactured large numbers of weapons and shields.

2 Chron. 32:6a. He appointed military officers over the people and asked them to assemble before him in the square at the city gate.

2 Chronicles 32: 6b, 7, 8, NLTThen Hezekiah encouraged them with this

address:7 “Be strong and courageous! Don’t be afraid

of the king of Assyria or his mighty army, for there is a power far greater on our side!

8 He may have a great army, but they are just men. We have the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles for us!”

These words greatly encouraged the people.

Psa 46:1 God is our shelter and strength, always ready to help in

times of trouble. Psa 46:2 So we will not be afraid,

even if the earth is shaken and mountains fall into the ocean depths;

2 Chronicles 32: 9 - 19

Psa 46:3 even if the seas roar and rage, and the hills are shaken by the violence.

Psa 46:4 There is a river that brings joy to the city of God, to the

sacred house of the Most High.

21 But the people were silent and did not answer because (King) Hezekiah had told them not to

speak.

1 When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the Temple of the Lord to pray.

2 And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, all dressed in sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.

3 They told him, “This is what King Hezekiah says: This is a day of trouble, insult, and disgrace. It is like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver it.

4 But perhaps the Lord your God has heard the Assyrian representative defying the living God and will punish him for his words. Oh, pray for those of us who are left!”

Then King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed

to God and cried out to him for help.

Isa 37:26 "Have you never heard that I planned all this long ago? And now I have carried it out. I gave you the power to turn fortified cities into piles of rubble.

Isa 37:27 The people who lived there were powerless; they were frightened and stunned. They were like grass in a field or weeds growing on a roof when the hot east wind blasts them.

Isa 37:28 "But I know everything about you, what you do and where you go. I know how you rage against me.

Isa 37:29 I have received the report of that rage and that pride of yours, and now I will put a hook through your nose and a bit in your mouth and will take you back by the same road you came."

Psa 46:3 even if the seas roar and rage, and the hills are shaken by the violence.

Psa 46:4 There is a river that brings joy to the city of God, to the

sacred house of the Most High.

Isa 37:33 "And this is what the LORD has said about the Assyrian emperor: 'He will not enter this city or shoot a single arrow against it. No soldiers with shields will come near the city, and no siege mounds will be built around it.

Isa 37:34 He will go back by the same road he came, without entering this city. I, the LORD, have spoken.

Isa 37:35 I will defend this city and protect it, for the sake of my own honor and because of the promise I made to my servant David.' "

Isa 37:36 An angel of the LORD went to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 soldiers. At dawn the next day there they lay, all dead!

Isa 37:37 Then the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib withdrew and returned to Nineveh.

An angel of the LORD went to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 soldiers.

At dawn the next day there they lay, all dead!

God is in that city, and it will never be destroyed; at early dawn he will come to its

aid.

Psa 46:6 Nations are terrified, kingdoms are shaken; God thunders, and the earth dissolves.

Psa 46:7 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Psa 46:8 Come and see what the LORD has done. See what amazing things he has done on earth.

Psa 46:9 He stops wars all over the world; he breaks bows, destroys spears, and sets shields on fire.

Psa 46:10 "Stop fighting," he says, "and know that I am God, supreme among the nations, supreme over the world."

Isaiah 37:37 Then the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib

withdrew and returned to Nineveh.

Isaiah 37:38

One day when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, two of his sons, Adrammelech and

Sharezer, killed him with their swords and then escaped to the land of Ararat. Another of his sons, Esarhaddon,

succeeded him as emperor.

Psalm 46:11 The LORD Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge.

2Chronicles 32:22. In this way the LORD rescued King Hezekiah and the people of

Jerusalem from the power of Sennacherib, the emperor of Assyria, and also from their

other enemies. He let the people live in peace with all the

neighboring countries. 2Chronicles 32:23. Many people came to

Jerusalem, bringing offerings to the LORD and gifts to Hezekiah, so that from then on

all the nations held Hezekiah in honor.

2Ch 32:27 King Hezekiah became very wealthy, and everyone held him in honor. He had storerooms built for his gold, silver, precious stones, spices, shields, and other valuable objects.

2Ch 32:28 In addition, he had storehouses built for his grain, wine, and olive oil; barns for his cattle; and pens for his sheep.

2Ch 32:29 Besides all this, God gave him sheep and cattle and so much other wealth that he built many cities.

2Ch 32:30 It was King Hezekiah who blocked the outlet for Gihon Spring and channeled the water to flow through a tunnel to a point inside the walls of Jerusalem. Hezekiah succeeded in everything he did...

Ang Diyos ang lakas natin at kanlungan,

At handang saklolo kung may kaguluhan…