Proverbs 16:18

New Living Translation

Pride goes before destruction,

    and haughtiness before a fall.

For Meditation 

I have heard it before – the boastful utterances of a world leader who has launched a frontal attack on another nation without provocation. 

Assyria was a world power, and its arrogant leader was Sennacherib. Judah was the besieged nation Sennacherib desired to conquer for himself. The Assyrians had destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel and taken them into captivity, bringing other nationals to occupy Israel. Now, he turned his eyes on Judah, the Southern State, with the Holy City of Jerusalem. 

Does it ring a bell in what is happening, in what has set the world on edge today?

Sennacherib boasted and called himself the great king of Assyria (2 Kings 18:19). He mocked the confidence of Hezekiah, king of Judah, in his strategy and military strength. No other nation, he said, could deliver Judah from his military might (21). Listen to his arrogance in these words:

“Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim and Hena and Ivah? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?” 

As Solomon says, 

Pride goes before a destruction, a haughtiness before a fall (Proverbs 16:8).

Judah felt helpless before the massive army of Assyria. Their firepower overwhelmed Judah and the boastful words of Sennacherib. King Hezekiah did everything possible to stop Assyria from breaking through their defenses. He turned to the Lord and prayed, acknowledging Jehovah as the only God who rules over all the kingdoms of the earth—including Assyria. Sennacherib’s boastful words, therefore, were against the Him. Though Sennacherib’s claim of military dominance was accurate, Jehovah is the only Supreme and Sovereign God—mighty in battle and strong in deliverance. Hezekiah, therefore, appealed for His intervention (19:14-19). 

“Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord God, You alone” (19).

The prophet Isaiah spoke. Sennacherib would not enter Jerusalem or shoot an arrow there. By the way, he came, the King of Assyria will return without entering the Holy City. God will defend Jerusalem for His own sake and that of David, His servant (34).

That night, the angel of the Lord smote eighty-five thousand soldiers in the Assyrian camp, and they fled before Judah. Later, two of Sennacherib’s sons assassinated him in the temple Nisroch, his god (37). What a mighty God we serve!

Sennacherib’s boastful words, military might, and god proved powerless. Only the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel is all of those, and much more.

So, let any world leader pent their nose against God in defiance of everything peaceful, because they have military might and strategy. We will trust our Sovereign Lord who delivers the oppressed. 

Jesus is still on His throne, my friend. Read Psalm two and rest in Him, lifting a prayer for the assailed people of the world.