HEBREW WORD STUDY – (GOD) STEPPING BACK FROM YOU – ‘AZAVU עזבו 

lI Chronicles 32:31: “Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in His heart.”

The man that God left was Hezekiah who was a king in Judah. He was the son of Ahaz who was a Godly king. King Ahaz destroyed all the idolatry he could get his hands on and even destroyed the bronzed serpent fashioned by Moses because people were actually beginning to worship the serpent, thinking there was some power in the serpent and they turned it into an idol. 

Now here’s the rub, despite all these Godly acts, Judah went through some of it most trying times to date. The Assyrian army, led by their king Sennacherib, invaded both Israel and Judah and took control of the Northern Kingdom and almost succeeded in taking Judah. According to the clay tablets penned by King Sennacherib, the old boy himself, which now housed at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, just fifteen minutes from where I live, we learn that Sennacherib called his great defeat a  victory and said he conquered 46 cities. He also said that he forced King Hezekiah to pay him tribute. This is all true but he does not mention that in one night, according to verse 21 in II Chronicles 32, an angel brought a plague on Sennacherib’s army.  History tells us they came down with the trots. Nonetheless, 185,000 soldiers died and Sennacherib was forced to return home in disgrace. Two years later his brothers killed him as he was leaving a pagan temple.

Now the political climate at this time put Babylon as the trophy for Assyria and they were having a hard time fighting off the Assyria army as was Hezekiah and Egypt. So, in an attempt to form a alliance Babylon sent envoys to meet with Hezekiah under the guise of   congratulating him on his great healing (II Kings 20:1) and the supernatural deliverance of Jerusalem (II Kings 19:35).  Also they were intrigued by the miracle of the sun dial (II Kings 20:1-11) which God sent to confirm that Hezekiah would not die from his illness.   This greatly interested the Babylonians who were astronomers and watched the skies and such an event made an impression on them. Yet, the real purpose of this envoy was to encourage Hezekiah to join in an alliance with them and Egypt against Assyria.  

Now this was a great evangelistic opportunity that God just dropped in Hezekiah’s lap. An opportunity to declare that it was God Jehovah who did all these marvelous things like moving he sundial, healing him from a life threatening illness and chasing away the Assyrians.  But what does Hezekiah do?  He goes and shows off all the wealth and military might that they had and never once mentioned God in any of this. There is no doubt that this betrayal on the part of Hezekiah to boost his own ego broke God’s heart. 

This brings is this background to our study verse today where we learn that when these ambassadors arrived, God left. God wanted to “try” him so He could know his heart.  The word left in Hebrew is ‘azavu which is in a Qal form.  More telling this has a perfect infliction and in an active voice.   In other words, God had already put Hezekiah’s heart to the test.  He knew what Hezekiah intended to do and God could not be a part of this great of act of disobedience, yes even betrayal, in trying to impress the arm of the flesh.  God had already left. Note, He didn’t forsake him, He just left him. His presence could not abide near this betrayal. As this is in a Qal form translators do not go as far as saying God forsook him that would be expressed in the Piel.  Hence this has the idea of withdrawing as some translations say others say to leave him alone. It is a sort of just stepping back. 

The reason for this stepping back is found within the spelling of the word ‘azayu. It is spelled Ayin which in its shadow form means blindness, Vav which shows a  co-dependency, and Beth which represents the heart. Hezekiah was blinded to the fact that his heart was set upon the arm of the flesh and not God. Babylon was the very nation that in a few years would take Judah captive, yet here was Hezekiah leaning to these people to help him rather than using the great miracles that God performed to encourage these pagan rulers to put their trust in Jehovah. Actually, by showing them the treasures of Judah it only encouraged the Babylonians to conquer Judah once they had the power.   

The syntax is pretty rough here, no doubt the pronouns point to Hezekiah, but the last pronoun points to God. In other words God left Hezekiah to try him. Now this word for try is a Piel infinitive from the root word nasah. This word does mean to tempt or to try.  However, it also means to write an essay. I believe the context indicates we are to use that definition.  His heart is a reference to God’s heart. Again, the syntax is rough so I will not be offended if someone disagrees with me on this. But from personal experience I feel right about this. God was stepping back from Hezekiah, withdrawing His presence so that Hezekiah could read God’s heart. 

There is a picture here, it is of a lover who has faithfully given and cared for his beloved only for her to take all his gifts to adorn herself to impress another lover. God is the forsaken lover, who steps back and lets His unfaithful beloved pursue another lover, hoping that in the process she will understand how she has broken His heart. You know, you get used to God. He answers your prayers and provides for you and before long you tend to take Him for granted.  

You see, Judah was just a small insignificant nation which should, but for the grace of God, been swallowed up by Assyria but managed to catch the attention of the second and third most powerful nations in the world Babylon and Egypt. They wanted to know how such a little nation was able to defeat the most powerful nation Assyria. But rather than give God the glory, Hezekiah choose to elevate himself and literally declare, “You just underestimate us little guys.” 

Chaim Bentorah Ministries is just a small, very small operation. Yet, when confronted with a larger ministry I found myself bragging how I spend many hours a day studying the Word of God in the original languages, studying Jewish sources and all the latest information in Archeology and linguistics. “And that is how I arrive as some of my deep insights. Yet, the truth is, I may do all these things, but the real knowledge of understanding comes from the Spirit of God. I know that because when I leave him out of the matrix God says: “Oh yeah, see what happens when I ‘azavu (step back from you).” Suddenly I find that I can sit for hours and not one inspirational thought will come to my mind. 

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