Daily Discovery 5th June 2020 Devotional – Tools of Propaganda
TODAY’S TOPIC: TOOLS OF PROPAGANDA
Opening Prayer: God of Truth, I choose to open my eyes to Your truth today.
Read 2 Kings 18:17–37 – Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem
17 The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field. 18 They called for the king; and Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them.
19 The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:
“‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? 20 You say you have the counsel and the might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me?
21 Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. 22 But if you say to me, “We are depending on the Lord our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem”?
Daily Discovery 5th June 2020 Devotional
23 “‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them! 24 How can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen[a]? 25 Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord? The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’”
26 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”
27 But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”
28 Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! 29 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. 30 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
31 “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, 32 until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life and not death!
“Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ 33 Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? 35 Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
36 But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”
37 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said.
Footnotes:
a 2 Kings 18:24 Or charioteers
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect: Daily Discovery 5th June 2020 Devotional
Have you ever been bullied and had to listen to someone’s lies about you?
Political posturing and propaganda is nothing new! If the Assyrian king had had Twitter at his disposal, he would have made full use of it to disturb and deceive his enemies.
Sennacherib’s delegation of chiefs use a range of tactics to bully Judah. Bullying (whether in the playground, the workplace or between nations) relies on isolating the target from any support (21), belittling (20,22), mocking (23), and twisting the truth (25). These are all tactics that go back to the serpent in the Garden of Eden!
The Assyrian propaganda machine aimed to undermine Hezekiah’s authority by sowing seeds of terror and distrust among his people (26,27). Deceit runs through every statement, culminating in the fake offer of peace (31) with a sting in its tail (32).
These are all tactics that the enemy uses to undermine our trust in God. In the face of lies, we don’t have to attack, we just have to remain steadfast in the truth (36; Eph. 6:10–13).
Apply: Read Philippians 4:8. What can you choose to fix your mind on today? When you are tempted to worry or mistrust God, fix your mind on Jesus.
Closing Prayer: God, help us to remain fixed on You, rooted in Your truth, so that we might stand firm against the enemy’s lies.
THROUGH THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 2 Kings 19,20 / 2 Corinthians 7
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