This is the Bible Book Club, the book of Second Chronicles.

Welcome to the club.

Last time in chapters 29 through 31 of Second Chronicles, the chronicler was able to tell the story of a good king.

That story was King Hezekiah, who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord just as his father David had done.

Hezekiah set all the wrongs of the kings before him right.

He restored the temple.

He restored temple worship.

He led Judah in the covenantal ceremony

to purify the temple and the priests. And he invited those left in Israel to come to Judah and

celebrate the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread. The impact on the people was inspiring.

The people responded by also doing what was right in God's eyes. They went from town to

town smashing idols in Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh. Hezekiah had started a revival.

All right. Remember that the chronicler's purpose is to tell the exiles the story of their past so they can

have hope for their future. Because this is his sole purpose, he is once again

going to change the focus of the next story from how it was first told. This particular story

of King Sinacrab of Assyria's attack on Judah is actually told three different times in the Old

Testament. We covered it in

2nd Kings 18 through 20 and we will discuss it again in Isaiah 36 through 37. Why would three

different authors feel the story was important enough to tell again? Because it underscored

God's faithfulness. It was proof that the people could trust God to protect them.

Now, at the time of this story, Israel had already fallen to Assyria.

So Judah was at serious risk.

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