2 Kings 18:31-35
Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”
Truth: Sin attempts to inflate itself and deflate God's power.
In the above passage, King Hezekiah and the nation of Judah had been attacked by Assyria. The Assyrian commander came before the people to tempt them to give up on King Hezekiah's leadership and to surrender and follow him by to the land of Assyria. In his attempt to persuade them, he overstates the greatness of the place they are gong to be taken. He doesn't tell them they are going to be slaves. He doesn't tell them that they will be treated as slaves. He does try to tell them that their God, Jehovah, is a weak god and can't deliver them. He wants them to believe that what God is promising is bad and what he can promise and deliver is better - good. Does this trick sound familiar. Note the following:
Genesis 3:4-6
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Satan tempted Eve by telling her the same thing that this Assyrian commander was saying to the people of Judah. God is weak, I have "blessings" and if you follow me things will be great. Again, there is no mention that you will be a permanent slave!! In Proverbs 7 King Solomon tells us a similar story about the young and naive one who encounters Lady Folly. Note what she says to him to persuade him to leave his morals:
Proverbs 7:14-20
“I had to offer sacrifices,
and today I have paid my vows;
so now I have come out to meet you,
to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
I have spread my couch with coverings,
colored linens from Egyptian linen;
I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
aloes, and cinnamon.
Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;
let us delight ourselves with love.
For my husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey;
he took a bag of money with him;
at full moon he will come home.”
Lady Folly in Proverbs 7; Satan in Genesis 3; and, the Assyrian Commander in the above passage in 2 Kings, all tell us the same thing: Sin attempts to over-inflate what it can and will do for us and under-state the reality of God's power and God's love for us. Sin attempts to show us God's power is impotent and His love inadequate to satisfy us.
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