Monday, January 16, 2012

Year 2, Day 16: 2 Kings 18

Righteousness

2 Kings 18 brings about a fresh perspective to Israel.  I hope that by now your eyes have been trained to pay very close attention to the verse under each king that says “_____ did right/evil in the sight of the Lord as did ______.”  In this case, we have Hezekiah doing right in the eyes of the Lord as David did.  After years of kings who did right – but not completely right – we finally get another king who followed after God with a heart like David.  That doesn’t mean Hezekiah was perfect; certainly we know that David wasn’t!  But it does mean that in those times where Hezekiah wasn’t perfect he was at least humble and repentant.  We have some good stories to which we can look forward!

As I read through this passage (especially the early parts) I was fascinated by the list of Hezekiah’s righteous acts.  He did not depart from God.  He tore down the places of the Canaanite gods.  He beat back against the Philistines.  And he rebelled against Assyria and would not serve them.  {Remember that Assyria was God’s tool against Israel, not Judah.}  Here is a king that is open to being God’s servant rather than serving his own agenda and state popularity.

Hezekiah In the Face of Assyrian Conquest

As we move to the second half of this chapter, it is easy to get confused.  So I will endeavor to retell the story in such a way as to make sure that all the details are presented.  Earlier we heard of Hezekiah’s refusal to serve Assyria.  This brings the Assyrian army into Judah in an attempt to subdue them and convince them to pay a tribute.  Here Hezekiah has a moment of wavering.  He fears the army coming into the land and he capitulates.  He robs the land – even the temple! – of the gold and silver to try and buy relief from the Assyrians.  The Assyrians take the money, but come to invade Judah anyway!  The Assyrian king even sends some leaders to Jerusalem to taunt and threaten the people.

With this, let’s also understand that there were three “political” parties in the land at this time.  The first party believed that in order to survive they needed to capitulate to Assyria and pay them off.  A second party believed that if they sent money to Egypt that the king of Egypt would send troops up to protect them from the Assyrians.  The third group – led primarily by the prophet Isaiah – believed that if they trusted in God that God could deliver them.  As we see, Hezekiah is wavering between these groups.  He wants to believe Isaiah, but he has a hard time pushing aside the group that believes they can buy off Assyria’s wrath.

From this story today I learn that spiritual leaders have a tough time.  It is difficult to always trust in the Lord.  That doesn’t mean that the Lord doesn’t provide; of course He does!  But it is difficult to push aside the cares, concerns, and worries of the world.  Complicating the issue is that often leaders have people under them that fall into various camps who believe things should be done a particular way.  When the leaders feel the need to keep these people happy, it can be quite a difficult task indeed.

As a result, Hezekiah wavers.  He has a moment where he makes a bad decision.  He tries to buy off the Assyrians rather than putting his full trust in God.  He falters; but Hezekiah does not break.  As I said earlier, Hezekiah is not perfect.  But when his imperfections show up, he is humble and falls back into repentance before the Lord.  This we will save for tomorrow.  It is good enough today to be reminded that it is difficult to live spiritually in the world without making mistakes.  And it is good enough to be reminded that we serve a loving and merciful God who genuinely desires a repentant and contrite heart.


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