The Futility of Idols

On day 208 of the Bible in a Year podcast, Father Mike Schmitz reads from Isaiah 37 and 38, Baruch 5 and 6, and Proverbs 11:25–28. The episode's central thread is the confrontation between the living God and idols—whether the Assyrian king Sennacherib's taunts against Jerusalem, the literal gold-and-wood statues in Babylon, or the subtler temptations to superstition that believers face today.

Hezekiah's Prayer and God's Response

The reading from Isaiah tells the story of King Hezekiah, who receives a threatening letter from Sennacherib, king of Assyria. Sennacherib has already destroyed many nations and their gods, and he mocks Hezekiah's trust in the Lord. Rather than panicking or negotiating, Hezekiah takes the letter directly to the temple and spreads it before the Lord, praying: "O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth."

God answers through the prophet Isaiah. The Lord declares that Sennacherib's arrogance has reached his ears, and he will turn the Assyrian king back. That very night, the angel of the Lord kills 185,000 soldiers in the Assyrian camp. Sennacherib returns to Nineveh and is later assassinated by his own sons while worshiping in the temple of his god.