2 Chronicles 32 - Summary

After Hezekiah's faithful reforms, Sennacherib king of Assyria invaded Judah and besieged the fortified cities, prompting Hezekiah to block the springs outside Jerusalem, build up the broken walls, erect towers, and encourage the people that the Lord their God was greater than the arm of flesh with the Assyrians. Sennacherib sent servants with letters and verbal taunts to demoralize Jerusalem, comparing the Lord to the powerless gods of other nations and ridiculing Hezekiah's reforms that had centralized worship; but Hezekiah and Isaiah the prophet prayed, and the Lord sent an angel who destroyed the Assyrian army, sending Sennacherib home in shame where his own sons murdered him in his god's temple. Hezekiah became ill to the point of death but prayed and received God's sign and healing, yet his heart became proud after ambassadors from Babylon visited to inquire about the sign; he later humbled himself so that God's wrath did not come in his days; the chapter summarizes his prosperity, his construction projects including the water tunnel, and his burial with honor, succeeded by his son Manasseh.