2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Readers,
I have long been fascinated by stories about King Hezekiah of Judah because of some very important events that took place in his reign. He was the son of Ahaz and ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years from the age of 25. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah, and his reign began in the third year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah of Israel. We can read about Hezekiah in 2 K18: 1-20 ,2 CH 29: 1-32: 33, & IS 36-39. 1K 18: 3-7, “Following the example of his ancestor King David, he did what was pleasing to the Lord. He destroyed the pagan places of worship, broke the stone pillars, and cut down the image of the goddess Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze snake that Moss had made, which was called Nehushtan [meaning literally “a bronze thing”]. Up to that time the people of Israel had burned incense in its honor [see NU 21: 4-9]. Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; Judah never had another king like him, either before or after his time. He was faithful to the Lord and never disobeyed Him, but carefully kept all the commands that the Lord had given Moses. So the Lord was with him, and he was successful in everything he did….” Any series of devotions on trusting the Lord would be incomplete without some mention of this most remarkable Judean king.
Idolatry is the sin God hates the most. We get a real view of the conflict between the spirit and the flesh that Paul spoke of in RO 7: 14-24 in the story of how Moses had instructed the Jews wandering in the desert to cast their eyes on this bronze snake that he constructed on a pole at God’s instruction. The point was to bring their attention to the spiritual healing that only God provides. Over the years, the Jews had given in to the fleshly temptation to burn incense in a sort of worship of this bronze thing, perverting the original purpose God had for Moses constructing it in the first place. It is significant that Hezekiah understood this problem and chose to destroy what had become an idol. It is also significant that as we read through Kings and Chronicles, we see good kings distinguished from evil ones by their willingness to destroy altars all over Israel that were constructed in mankind’s foolish attempts to amalgamate idolatry through Baal worship [Asherah was Baal’s wife] and Judaism. God made His attitude toward this practice very clear in EX 20: 5, “Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate Me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation.” The very fact that during Hezekiah’s time, Israel was divided into two kingdoms (Israel with its capital at Samaria in the north and Judea with its capital at Jerusalem in the south) was most certainly displeasing to God. It is a condition that eventually led to the Assyrian Captivity of Israel beginning in 722 BC and the Babylonian Captivity of Judah beginning in 586 BC, God’s way of punishing this disobedience of His chosen people.
King Hezekiah rebelled against the emperor of Assyria and refused to submit to him. At that point in time, Assyria had plans to invade from the north and take Judah. Hezekiah defeated the Philistines and raided their settlements, including Gaza (in the south). So, one can see that during his reign, he dealt with military activity from enemies in both directions. 2 K 18: 13, “In the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, Emperor Sennacherib of Assyria attacked the fortified cities of Judah and conquered them.” (17) “The Assyrian emperor sent a large army from Lachish to attack Hezekiah at Jerusalem…” As the enemy troops advanced, Sennacherib sent messenger officials to posture and frighten Hezekiah and the Jewish people. (31) “Do not listen to Hezekiah. The emperor of Assyria commands you to come out of the city and surrender…” I find it interesting here that these messengers speaking in Hebrew told Hezekiah’s representatives at the city wall in (25), “Do you think I have attacked your country and destroyed it without the Lord’s help? The Lord Himself told me to attack it and destroy it.” Hezekiah’s representatives replied in (26), “Speak Aramaic to us, sir. We understand it. Do not speak Hebrew; all the people on the wall are listening.” The response to this comment was a rude threat, but it delivers the message to us that King Hezekiah had the courage of his faith to give him some confidence.
In reality, Hezekiah wasn’t completely confident. That is why he felt the need to ask for the prophet, Isaiah’s, advice. He sent the same messengers who had received the threats at the wall and the senior priests to Isaiah son of Amoz. They were wearing sackcloth, a sign of their state of mind. Isaiah’s advice is found in 2 K19: 5-7, “When Isaiah received King Hezekiah’s message, he sent back this answer: ‘The Lord tells you not to let the Assyrians frighten you with their claims that He cannot save you. The Lord will cause the emperor to hear a rumor that will make him go back to his own country. And the Lord will have him killed there. ‘” Once Hezekiah received this message, he took it to the Temple and placed it in the presence of the Lord and prayed (14-15). What we see him doing is taking the same advice that the Lord has for us when we are in trouble. Seek Him out first and trust in Him. Without faith, Hezekiah would be too busy panicking to bow down before the Lord offering this prayer. Please read 2 K 19: 15-19 to appreciate King Hezekiah’s words of prayer here.
God’s response to this prayer is His acknowledgment that He knows the evil things that Emperor Sennacherib and the Assyrians are up to and how disrespectful to Him they have been. Through Isaiah, God delivered this message [2 K 19: 32-34], “And this is what the Lord has said about the Assyrian emperor: ‘He will not enter this city or shoot a single arrow against it. No soldiers with shields will come near the city, and no siege mounds will be built around it. He will go back by the same road he came, without entering this city. I, the Lord, have spoken. I will defend this city and protect it, for the sake of My own honor and because of the promise I made to My servant David.’ “ We must learn from this the oft-repeated message of the Scriptures that God keeps his promises. The one referred to here is the Davidic covenant of 2 SAM 7: 12-13 & PS 89: 2-4. 2 SAM 7: 12-13, “When you [David] die and are buried with your ancestors, I [God] will make one of your sons king and will keep his kingdom strong. He will be the one to build a temple for Me, and I will make sure that his dynasty continues forever.” This far-reaching promise is one in which we are asked to place our trust. When our faith is strong and real, we can take comfort in knowing that Jesus Christ will establish a permanent Kingdom, and we will be a part of it.
Forgive me for being long today, but I just don’t have the heart to leave you with the cliffhanger about what happened as a result of trusting God of Hezekiah and the Judeans in this situation. IS 37: 36-38, “An angel of the Lord went to the Assyrian camp and killed 185, 000 soldiers. At dawn the next day there they lay, all dead! Then the Asyrian emperor Sennacherib withdrew and returned to Nineveh. One day when he was worshipping in the temple of his god Nisroch, two of his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords, and then escaped to the land of Ararat. Another of his sons, Esarhaddon, succeeded him as emperor.” There are enough wonderful lessons about trusting God from Hezekiah’s example that I will have more to share about him tomorrow. For now, join me in this prayer:
PRAYER: O Lord, so often we find ourselves facing situations where we feel unequal to the task of meeting the challenges they present. We may not be facing impending attack as Hezekiah and the Judeans did, but we feel assailed by other challenges in our lives. You give us the example of Hezekiah to show us that that no matter what tests we face, we can always come to You in humble prayer asking for Your guidance. When we have the trust in You to take the advice You give, You see us through with faithfulness and love. Your answers to our prayers are not always what makes sense to us or what we expect. Yet, when we truly trust in You, we obey You. The apostle John [JN 14: 21] tells us that whoever accepts and obeys Your commands is the one who loves You and Your Son. We dedicate ourselves to doing that, so You can see the love that we have for you. It is our intention to improve the level of trust that we put in You as we face the challenges of our lives. To You belongs all the glory, adoration, worship, praise, and honor. You are a faithful and loving Abba Who loves His children. We offer up our lives in Your worship and service. In Christ’s name, amen.
God loves you and so do Peter and I.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn