2 Kings 18:23, commentary and pictures

The verse belongs to the history of the remaining kingdom of Judah after the ten tribes had been swept away. It stands within the account of Sennacherib's invasion of Palestine and siege of Jerusalem, an event also described on Sennacherib's cylinder. That invasion account is to be studied together with 2 Kings 19, 2 Chronicles 32, and Isaiah 37.

The words are a boastful taunt by the Assyrian spokesman exposing Judah's apparent weakness, offering two thousand horses while challenging whether Judah could supply enough riders to use them. The offer was meant to intimidate the people, undermine their confidence and trust in God, and press them to surrender. The surrounding story of Hezekiah shows that God is a friend to His people when they are in trouble and miraculously delivers those who trust Him. Human military power cannot prevent Him from saving His people.

Those who examined the invasion alongside 2 Kings 19, 2 Chronicles 32, and Isaiah 37 held that the Assyrian army was with the king at Libnah, not near Jerusalem, when the angel struck down 185,000 men. The king afterward returned to his own land and died there, so that destruction is not the fulfillment of the judgment on the king in Isaiah 30:33. As Hezekiah when threatened spread the enemy letter before the Lord and prayed, troubles and letters may be spread before God and told to Him in prayer. Learning the faith, self-denial, and trust in God shown here now prepares children to meet the coming time of trouble and be ready for it.