Day 200.
The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the Lord. (2 Chronicles 30:12 ESV)
This description comes during a time of great distress. Assyria has already taken Samaria, the Capitol of the Northern kingdom, and is now in position to take Judah. And yet, the Lord has granted unity in the midst of battle to the people. That astounds me. Unity is such a hard thing to hold onto. Everyone has an opinion on the way things ought to be done and when their way is not pursued, they begin to pass negative judgment. Then, in their eyes, everything becomes wrong. Its as if they look at things through a filter that only shows them evidence to support their judgment. So reading about unity in such a trying time stands out. The passage below illustrates what I mean. When Rabshakeh begins to speak to the people, he seeks to break their and cast doubt in the minds of the people toward their king. It is hard to imagine this speech not working to accomplish just that. And yet, the people stay unified and do not answer a word according to the command of the king.
Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine?”…
But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” (2 Kings 18:26, 27, 36 ESV)
As I consider it, I suppose that ultimately it was a matter of trusting God. The believed God could deliver them even though they faced imminent disaster. That trust in God was exercised by trusting God’s provision of leaders.
