What a breath of fresh air Hezekiah is, I always enjoy reading about him….he is one of my favorite kings.
There are several things that stand out to me today, I’m sure that you’ve picked them up just as quickly.
1. It took 16 days to clean all of the junk out of the Temple, and previously the doors had been locked. The priests were gone, no one was qualified to offer sacrifices and all the instruments and holy things were also gone. Ahab had thrown some of them away, but apparently they were rescued and returned.
2. Not all the priests returned at the same time. The Levites, who were responsible for the Temple returned first, then a few priests, and then after the initial sacrifice, many more. And, they didn’t stop coming for a long time.
3. David’s musical instruments were still in the Temple. I wonder what else was tucked away in there.
4. The first sacrifice was fairly modest, numbering in the single and double digits for animals.
5. This is really important: Every time the people humbled themselves and sacrificed they came away changed. Their fervor grew, their influence grew, and their dedication became even more deep. I notice that the people went home after the Passover and destroyed the pagan shrines in their hometowns. This is what should go on in every church service. People are motivated by contact with God to go home and make changes in their homes, their habits and their attitudes. Because we have come into contact with what is holy, we should be changed.
6. When the runners went from town to town to let the people know that the temple was open and they were invited to return, many laughed at them. People had become so corrupt and hardened that they simply didn’t care about God at all. It was all a big joke to them. I see a clear parallel to how people react to the Gospel today, and how they react to those who invite them to come.
I wonder, could I consider myself a “runner” for Jesus? Isn’t it simply my job as a Christian to go from place to place and let people know that they can return to Him? Whether they do or not doesn’t have much to do with my mission….my job is to let them know they can, and provide a means to respond. I don’t think the runners were making up their own pitch, they were simply telling people what the king told them to say, and they went with the kings authority. I wonder sometimes why we make such a big deal out of evangelism….it seems like it should be so simple. “Come and worship”.
7. In Chapter 30, verse 12 it says that God gave the people of Judah a heart to follow the righteous orders of the king. Hezekiah wasn’t successful because of his eloquence or his natural charisma…he was being obedient and God made that sufficient. I think the same was true of David. I see quite a few references to king David in this passage, it’s clear that the author wants us to understand that Hezekiah was completely devoted to God and worshipped with fervor.
How does such a righteous person grow up out of a pagan family? Ahab wasn’t a good influence…I wonder if Hezekiah’s mother was the force behind the throne. I decided to do some quick research and found something cool…
Hezekiah’s mother was Abijah. It is a popular belief that one “fulfillment” of the Messianic prophecies found in Isaiah 7 concerns her, and her son. At the time Isaiah offered this insight, which by the way, has both a current and future fulfillment, he could have been referring to Abijah as the young woman who would have a child…this would make Hezekiah the child who is weaned about the time the two other kingdoms fall…which is what happened. Okay, so I know what you are saying: “This passage says the virgin will be with child, and Abijah didn’t give birth as a virgin”. Yes, that’s one way of reading it, but the word used in Hebrew doesn’t mean “virgin birth” it means “a young girl who is a virgin and is of marrying age”. That was true of both Abijah and Mary, the mother of Jesus. In Mary’s case, the child born to her had to be sin free from birth, because He would be the sacrifice for all sins. In Hezekiah’s case, that wasn’t necessary. Although the word used to describe them is the same in both places, Abijah and Mary were similar only in the fact that they were both young women capable of producing children, who were virgins at the time. The virgin birth (Mary) still stands alone as a unique sign from God that the child born was from heaven, as well as earth.
One other quick thing (and then I have to get going)
Hezekiah’s first desire is to worship God, and allow others to worship as well. In his fervor, he changes the dates for Passover, and even allows people to offer sacrifices who shouldn’t have been allowed. If he had followed the letter of the law, then many would have been excluded, but instead he follows his heart, which is to call people back to repentance. At the same time, he prays to God for latitude, and God responds favorably. Hezekiah does something really remarkable here that cost other men their lives: He changes the rules and lives to tell the story.
I think God reveals something to us here. He is more interested in people coming to Him than He is in flawless keeping of the law. This has happened several times in the Bible. David entered the holy place and ate the bread from the table which should have been only eaten by the priests. Jesus healed on the Sabbath. And here, Hezekiah throws open the gates to the temple and allows people to respond, even though they aren’t perfect.
It should be said that he didn’t lower the standards, he just asked God for a “one time exception”. From this point forward the people would have to go back to keeping the law.
Faithfully,
PR