Mark Van DykeDr. Craig Broyles of Trinity Western University will be this month’s lecturer in the ongoing Lecture Series. On Monday, April 28 Dr. Broyles will be presenting a lecture titled “Discerning God’s Intervention in Tragedy and in Triumph: The Case of Sennacherib’s Invasion of Judah in the Bible and Archaeology.” As usual, the event will be held at the Mount Baker Theatre in Bellingham, Washington.
How can we identify God’s activity amidst the events that befall us? If things go in our favor, do they indicate God’s favor? If life brings us hardships, do they indicate his judgment or discipline? Or, should we trace these circumstances to human choices? God’s revelation in the Bible, being mostly narrative and poetry, does not give us pat answers. Instead, this canonical anthology reflects a complexity of perspectives on divine intervention, from which we begin to appreciate God’s panoramic perspective.
The invasion of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, into Hezekiah’s Judah in 701 BCE serves as a wonderful illustration of this web of perspectives. This crisis is one of the best documented events in the Bible and in archaeology. We can hear from Sennacherib himself and see his wall reliefs of the invasion (the lecture is illustrated). The archaeology of Jerusalem and Lachish, a fortified city of Judah, tell a story. The Greek historian, Herodotus, presents us with a third-party account from Egyptian sources. The writer of 2 Kings 18-20 provides his own spin on the events, as do Isaiah, whose city of Jerusalem is delivered, and Micah, whose hometown in the countryside is not. The stories surrounding Hezekiah’s rebellion against the Assyrian Empire and Sennacherib’s invasion testify powerfully to the consequences of ignoring Yahweh’s prophetic word, on the one hand, and to Yahweh’s faithfulness at the eleventh hour, on the other.
Event Details
- Discerning God’s Intervention in Tragedy and in Triumph: The Case of Sennacherib’s Invasion of Judah in the Bible and Archaeology
- Dr. Craig Broyles
- April 28, 2008
- 7:00 PM
- Mount Baker Theatre
- Free and open to the public
Logos Staff
Vik Rajagopal
Leah Parker