Hezekiah

Hezekiah became king after his father who had been very wicked and the caused the people of the land to be wicked, also. Hezekiah returned to the ways of the Lord and destroyed "the high places" which must be where people would worship the false gods, etc. He also reinstated the Levites and the priests and all the law of Moses. It was very cool. When he was done, he held Passover which hadn't been done for ages and -- even more impressive -- he invited all of Israel to come and return to the ways of the Lord and celebrate Passover with Judah. Most of Israel mocked him, but several did come and returned to the ways of the Lord. Sometimes, all that is needed is someone sure enough of himself to issue an invitation and bear testimony of his surety! 2 Chr. 30

Then the king of the Assyrians comes and sieges Judah and her cities. Hezekiah prepares his people and then tells them that the Lord will protect them. The Assyrian king, though, yells to the people on the walls that no god can protect them and uses as proof all the other lands he has defeated and their gods didn't protect them! It may seem like just a barage of words, but here is where the real war was waged. Could the people of Judah continue to believe in their God even with such force arrayed before them and with the absolute reality that this army had lain to waste many lands before them? If they could believe they would win. If they doubted or feared, they would lose. It may seem that the real battle would be one of might. But, in reality, God waited to reward the battle of the heart. They did win. In fact, they didn't even have to fight. God sent an angel to kill the leaders and the rest of the Assyrians went home in shame. But I am sure every Jew had to fight with himself and I am also confident that they must have won!