Variety: 2 Kings 19v15-19

¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: ‘Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁶ Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God. ¹⁷ ‘It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. ¹⁸ They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. ¹⁹ Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.’ (2 Kings 19) 

Jewish teachers once translated Hebrew texts into Aramaic, substituting identities to interpret their context and find wisdom to move forward (Ezra 4:7; Nehemiah 8:8). It’s a practice that can help us – help me – today.

Since the war in Ukraine began, I’ve circled around 2 Kings 18–19, praying that like King Sennacherib of Assyria in 701 BCE (a sabre-rattling, old-yet-resurgent empire), God would hook Vladimir Putin like a pufferfish and reel him back to his own pond (19:28).

Judah’s King Hezekiah rightly feared this proud tyrant, rebuilding Mother Assyria. Ten years earlier – like Crimea in 2014 – people on the country’s margins were taken captive. Slowing the advance, they leant on another great and more recent power, Egypt – as Ukraine leans on resources of other powers for its own defence.

But the Egyptians withdrew to Make Egypt Great Again – and Sennacherib pressed in to take the spoils of war.

Is a similar thing happening today? Both the US and Russia stand to benefit by Ukraine capitulating, so they gaslight Zelensky to believe he holds no cards (while maintaining that he is ‘gambling with World War Three’). Historic enemies posture together: make a deal with Russia ‘or we’re out’.

Hezekiah has nowhere left to look but up. His people quake and fast.

Making our modern targum from 2 Kings 19:15–19, replete with risky substitutions, can help us to pray. So, let’s petition the Lamb on the throne, raising our voices with Zelensky on behalf of the Ukrainian people:

Lord God … you alone are God over all earth’s kingdoms. Turn your ear this way and hear! … Listen to Putin’s words. He sent them to insult the living God! It’s true, the Kremlin’s powers have destroyed many nations and lands. The military burned the gods of those nations with fire because they aren’t real gods. … So now, Lord our God, save us from Putin’s power! Then all the earth’s kingdoms will know that you, Lord, are the only true God.

May the Lord answer President Zelensky as he did Hezekiah.

And may God help us all.

Dave Benson, London Institute for Contemporary Christianity