Before we move on to II Kings 18:10, let’s take a look at the last words in verse nine?
II Kings 18: 9 “In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it”.
The word for besieged in Hebrew is pronounced as “sur” and appears 38 times in the Old Testament. It is also translated as harass, close in, tied up, attack, afflict hem in, enclose, and bind. Mostly though, it is translated into the English word siege or besiege.
If we go back to II Kings 15:30, we see that Hoshea came to power through conspiracy and murder. Later on, in II Kings 17:2, we hear that he (Hoshea) did evil in God’s sight. He became indebted to Assyria and had to pay them dues regularly. Hoshea could not help himself now as he tried to conspire with Egypt to cause friction between Egypt and Assyria.
The outcome was Hoshea in prison, the land captured by the Assyrians, and all the people displaced to another land forcibly.
God had repeatedly warned Hoshea and the people of Israel through his prophets, to turn away from their idols in high places and their sin-filled lives.
Sin in my life or your life today has the same sort of outworking really. We know what we are doing is not right. God’s word bring conviction and His kindness offers the opportunity to change.
If we refuse to do that we end up trying to negotiate with powers beyond our means. Eventually, sin besieges our life and we can see no way out. Finally, instead of us controlling the sin, the sin controls us and we live in a strange place.
Wow, so much is at stake! Our little decisions can have big outworking’s. What if Hoshea right at the beginning had not been willing to make compromises to gain power and influence, what sort of different life might he and the whole nation of Israel have experienced?
My prayer for us today is that we make time to be alone with God, to hear his plans and to understand and walk in his ways for us and ours. It is never too late to have a fresh start with God – how beautiful is that!
That our life would be full of blessing not besieging.
Blessings
Allan
Principle 13 – It’s never too late to have a fresh start with God.
Strength – Restorative: People exceptionally talented in the Restorative theme are adept at dealing with problems. They are good at figuring out what is wrong and resolving it.