God’s Word for You
2 Chronicles 32:6-8 The prince and the people
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Monday, June 2, 2025
6 He appointed military officers over the people and gathered them together before him in the square at the city gate and encouraged them with these words: 7 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the noisy horde with him, for the one with us is greater than what is with him. 8 With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people gained confidence from the words of Hezekiah the king of Judah.
King Hezekiah quotes from Moses to encourage his people. What Moses said was just before his death, to Joshua and to the whole Israelite nation: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you, and he will never leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6). That’s the core of Hezekiah’s message. The king uses an interesting word, hamon, which means either “roaring noise” or “crowd.” I have translated it “noisy horde” to try to keep both ideas at once. The noisy, crowded, mysterious and terrifying Assyrian mob was facing something this day that they did not come into contact with when they attacked Urartu in the far north, or Aram and the fields around Damascus, or Galilee when it was defended by Hoshea, the last of the unbelieving kings of the northern Israelite kingdom—and the same went for their precious Samaria, Jezreel, Ephraim, or Manasseh. Now the Assyrians were going to fight against God’s own people, people who worshiped him correctly and according to his own commands in his one temple. They were people who put their trust in God to atone for their sins—yes, their many sins.
Sennacherib’s power was in his own arm, but his arm was “only the arm of flesh.” Judah’s power was to rely on the LORD God and no other. Oh, some defenses had been built up, towers had been built, walls repaired, the springs of water were blocked up. Hezekiah did these things more to put a stumbling block in Sennacherib’s way than to try to win a victory. The victory would come from the hand of God.
Yes, he had sharpened some swords and straightened some shields, but this was to give his people something to do instead of worry. David had said: “He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me” (Psalm 144:2).
Hezekiah’s words, “with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles,” are also an echo of something that was spoken to the prophet Samuel. Israel asked Samuel for a king—their first king—and what they wanted was a king “to go out before us and fight our battles” (1 Samuel 8:20). Now Hezekiah reverses that dangerous wish by throwing all of his trust back upon the Lord.
Israel’s wish for a king had been sinful. Samuel made that clear to them. But once they had a king, the government had changed, and they would remain under the power of kings from then on. But that didn’t mean that a king could not lead them well and in a godly way. This was David’s goal, and several kings of Judah followed David’s path. Hezekiah, for all his faults, did this, too. When a kingdom is godly, then its kings or princes “should have regard for the interests of the church and to see to it that errors are removed and consciences are healed [this is not that they are rulers as rulers, but that such rulers are “the chief members of the church”]. God expressly exhorts kings, ‘Now, therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth’ (Psalm 2:10). For the first care of kings should be to advance the glory of God. Wherefore it would be most shameful for them to use their authority and power for the support of idolatry and countless other crimes and for the murder of saints” (Luther).
When a nation is not unified under one faith or within one doctrinal fellowship, and when some or many of those in power are avowed atheists or not Christians, then it is the role of ordinary citizens to pray for the country, for its leaders to make wise decisions that will help its people, that God will prosper the work of the church whether it is faced by persecution, by ridicule, or by apathy. And it is also the role of ordinary Christians to pray for those in government, that they will be brought to shame over their sins, to terror for their eternal souls, and to faith through the preaching of the Gospel. For it is only through the proclamation of Law and Gospel that such repentance is possible. And for this we pray. Preserve us, and bring us only what is good and right in your sight, Lord God! For “the Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him” (Nahum 1:7).
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.