Anyone who has read the Bible knows that God inspires the poets, in fact, the best poets in history!
Heaven is the homeland of music, and there are poems from Genesis to Revelation. But the poem in 2 Kings 19 is special. God authors it Himself. We might have a hard time defining poetry, but it’s easier recognizing it. Poetry takes prose and rearranges it for greater effect. Often filled with metaphors, in an economy of words it seeks to deliver truth straight to the heart. Here the Lord portrays Jerusalem as a virgin, never violated by Gentile troops since David claimed it for the Lord—and He won’t let Assyria do it now! The scorn Sennacherib’s men have heaped on the city will be returned as the Assyrians head home in defeat. “The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head behind your back!” (v 21). Then the Lord lets Hezekiah listen in on His rebuke of the Assyrian king. I heard what you said, Sennacherib, when “you raised your voice, and lifted up your eyes on high” (v 22). Your mockery wasn’t directed at My people but at Me, “the Holy One of Israel.” You thought you were tough when you cut down trees and “dried up all the brooks of defense” (v 24)? You can mess things with your big army, but “Did you not hear long ago how I made it” (v 25)? And I’m not only the Creator but the Sustainer of everything. “I know…your going out and your coming in” (v 27), every move you make. Nothing escapes Me, nor will you. It’s back to Assyria for you, “by the way which you came” (v 28). Now the poem shifts to Hezekiah. The Lord promises him volunteer crops for two years until peace is restored. But it won’t just be agricultural growth; there will be spiritual growth as well: “the remnant…shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward” (v 30). Oh for more prayers offered in our day and answered in this way.