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(The views expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
2 Chronicles 32:1–8, “After these things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself. And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him. So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water? Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David, and made darts and shields in abundance. And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city, and spake comfortably to them, saying, Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him: With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.”
The Assyrians were a fierce and warlike people who were intent on developing a large empire of their own. They came down to both Israel and Judah and wanted to conquer those nations. They knew that there was wealth in Judah and set out to defeat the nation and take the wealth for themselves. After Hezekiah began his revival he decided that it was time to make sure that Judah was secure. The Assyrians believed in terror and set out to establish a terror campaign before they went to war. Hezekiah heard about this as well. He made sure that Jerusalem was secure. Before this time, the Gihon spring, which watered Jerusalem, was outside the city wall and the water was diverted into the city. Hezekiah commanded his men to dig a tunnel into the city and cover the top of the spring so that there would be water inside the city and none outside.They also rebuilt the city walls that had been broken down in earlier battles with other nations. Hezekiah told his people that they should be strong and courageous because they could trust the Lord. The Lord is more powerful than any other force or power on earth. This also referred back to an earlier time when Elisha said the same thing about another enemy in another city. (see 2 Kings 6:16, “And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.”)
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