Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you on this manner, neither yet believe him: for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of my hand?
deceive
2 Kings 18:29 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand:
2 Kings 19:10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
persuade
2 Chronicles 32:11 Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give over yourselves to die by famine and by thirst, saying, The LORD our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
1 Kings 22:22 And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.
Isaiah 36:18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
much less
Exodus 5:2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.
Daniel 3:15 Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?
John 19:10,11 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? …
Sennacherib’s envoys sought to separate Judah from the king who had called the nation back to covenant faithfulness and reliance on the Lord.
2Ki 18:29 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you;…
Isa 36:14 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you,…
and do not let him mislead you like this.
Assyria portrayed Hezekiah’s confidence in God as dangerous deception, even though Hezekiah had removed idolatry and centralized worship at the temple in Jerusalem according to God’s command.
Isa 36:18 Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says,…
Isa 36:15 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD…
2Ki 18:30 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD…
Do not believe him,
The demand for unbelief was a calculated assault on Judah’s trust in the Lord, intended to make the people surrender through fear before Assyria needed to conquer the city.
2Ki 18:31 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king…
Isa 36:16 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king…
for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers.
Assyria’s victories over surrounding nations fed its arrogance, but the gods of those nations were powerless idols. Sennacherib wrongly treated the living God of Israel as though He were one more defeated local deity.
2Ki 19:12 Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers…
Isa 37:12 Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers…
Dan 3:15 Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither,…
How much less will your God deliver you from my hand!”
The king’s boast became a direct challenge to the Lord’s power and faithfulness. God answered by sending an angel against the Assyrian army, proving that Jerusalem’s deliverance depended not on military strength but on the sovereign God whom Sennacherib had despised.
2Ki 19:19 And now, O LORD our God, please save us from his hand,…
Isa 37:20 And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand…
Dan 3:17 If the God whom we serve exists, then He is able to deliver…
• Sennacherib’s field commander begins with a direct assault on confidence in Judah’s godly king.
• Hezekiah had just called the people to “be strong and courageous” because “with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles” (2 Chron 32:7-8).
• The enemy labels that godly encouragement as “deception,” echoing earlier tactics against righteous leaders (2 Kings 18:29; Isaiah 36:14).
• Behind the voice of Assyria stands the father of lies, always accusing and undermining trust in those who point people to the LORD (John 8:44; Revelation 12:10).
• Repetition drives home the threat: “Do not let him mislead you.”
• Satan used the same strategy in Eden—“Did God really say…?” (Genesis 3:1)—planting doubt about God’s word and His appointed leadership.
• Believers are told, “Do not be deceived” (James 1:16) and to “put on the full armor of God” against schemes of the devil (Ephesians 6:11).
• The enemy’s aim is to sever the link between God’s promises and God’s people.
• Faith stands or falls on who is believed. The Assyrian demands: “Stop believing your king; believe me instead.”
• Hezekiah had placed the battle squarely in the LORD’s hands; the invader insists that reliance is worthless.
• Scripture consistently sets this choice before us: “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
• David once confessed, “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD” (Psalm 27:13). Judah must decide whose report to believe.
• The boast moves from attacking Hezekiah to belittling every deity defeated by Assyria’s expansion.
• History is recast to prove a theological point: “If the gods of Hamath, Arpad, and Sepharvaim fell (2 Kings 18:33-35), why imagine yours is different?”
• The claim ignores the uniqueness of Israel’s God: “I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 46:9).
• Idols are powerless (Psalm 115:2-3), yet the living God sovereignly rules over nations (Daniel 2:21).
• Human victories never revise divine reality; they only set the stage for God to reveal Himself.
• The taunt peaks in open blasphemy: your God is weaker still.
• Similar arrogance marked Pharaoh (Exodus 5:2) and later Nebuchadnezzar (“What god will be able to rescue you from my hand?” Daniel 3:15).
• God answers such challenges decisively. “Whom have you insulted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice? Against the Holy One of Israel!” (Isaiah 37:23-24).
• That very night, “the LORD sent an angel, who annihilated all the fighting men and commanders” (2 Chron 32:21).
• The king who mocked God’s power limped home in defeat, proving that no human arm can prevail against the Almighty (Psalm 46:6-11).
2 Chronicles 32:15 captures a three-fold strategy of the enemy: discredit godly leadership, sow doubt in God’s promises, and exalt human strength above divine power. Sennacherib’s boast that no god could rescue Judah became the canvas on which the LORD painted His supremacy. The verse warns believers not to let intimidating voices erode faith, and it assures that the living God, unlike powerless idols, still delivers those who trust Him.
(15) Neither yet believe him.—And believe him not.How much less . . . deliver you.—Rather, much less will your gods deliver you; or, much more will your gods not deliver you. (Comp. Isaiah 37:10-11.) According to ancient conceptions the gods of strong nations were strong gods. Now the Assyrians had vanquished stronger nations than Judah, and therefore, as they ignorantly supposed, stronger deities than the God of Judah. (Some Hebrew MSS. and all the versions have the verb in the singular, which gives the sense, “much less will your god deliver you.”)
Verse 15. - The urgency of Sennacherib's appeal to the people was of course his way of trying to save work of actual siege, fighting, etc., to himself and his army. The how much less of the message of Sennacherib probably meant that his estimate of the your God i.e. the God of Israel, was measured partly by the comparative smallness and unwarlike character of the nation of Judah, when set side by side with the great heathen nations, and partly by the spiritual and invisible character and being of God, little intelligible to such a one as Sennacherib.2 Chronicles 32:15 NIV
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OT History: 2 Chronicles 32:15 Now therefore don't let Hezekiah deceive you (2 Chron. 2Ch iiCh ii ch 2 chr 2chr)