Read 2
Kings 20-22 & John
6:45-71
To discover:
As you read consider why God
promises destruction now on Judah.
To ponder:
Considering how Hezekiah has been
commended and the lack of rebuke in Isaiah’s words, we can assume his illness
was not due to sin. It reminds us that faithfulness doesn’t exempt us from
suffering. Nevertheless, it does mean we can pray as Hezekiah does, looking to
Christ just as he faced the temple. He reminds God of his faithful service and
God immediately sends word that he would be healed. By stating he is the God “of
David,” the LORD affirms he is the God of such faithful kings.
It
seems Hezekiah’s sickness was incapacitating as God promises in three days he
will be able to go to the temple himself and live fifteen years more. He also
promises to defend and deliver the city for David’s sake. The “poultice of
figs” Hezekiah was told to apply to the boil that was the cause of his illness
was probably just a tangible token of God’s healing, as when Jesus put mud on people’s
eyes. The sign the king asked for was something to immediately reassure him
that God would heal him (and no doubt fulfil everything else promised). By
whatever means, God performed the astonishing miracle of having the shadow on a
stairway recede as if time was in reverse. Hezekiah’s choice of this was
because it was difficult. So it proves to us too, that absolutely nothing is
beyond God’s power.
Whether
through foolishness or pride, later Hezekiah showed the envoys of Babylonia,
the upcoming superpower, everything he had. God then revealed that it would all
one day be carried to Babylon, and
some of Hezekiah’s descendents would go too, becoming eunuchs to serve the
Babylonian king. Hezekiah’s response that this was “good” may not be selfish,
but display a king’s gratitude that his kingdom would at least enjoy “peace and
security” in his lifetime.
Hezekiah’s
son Manasseh was, however, clearly and supremely “evil,” doing violence against
the innocent (21v16), and following and exceeding the practices of the Canaanites
by restoring idol worship, sacrificing his son, consulting mediums, and raising
idolatrous altars and an Asherah pole in the temple – the place of God’s name
and so of his presence and authority. He also led the people astray, causing
them not to listen to God’s law. God’s response was to declare he would measure
Jerusalem with the same plumb-line
with which he measured Samaria, the
capital of the northern kingdom. A plumb-line is a weight on a line that hangs
down to determine whether something is truly vertical. The point is that God
was measuring how far from upright the people were. In anger he therefore
promised “such destruction” as would make people’s ears “tingle.” However, he
stressed this was for the culmination of sin ever since the Exodus (21v15). We
can be sure that the final judgement will also be exact.
Mannesseh’s
son Amon did “evil” as he did, forsaking God, before being assassinated – a
sign of the south following the same trajectory as the north. But his son
Josiah was very different indeed. He did “right” not just like some of his
forefathers, but like David. He repaired the temple in a similar way to Joash
(2 Kgs 12), at which point the book of the law (always referring to Deuteronomy
in the Pentateuch) was found. On hearing it read, Josiah tore his robes in
mourning and immediately enquired of God because of how great his anger must be
at the people’s disobedience to the book. Through the prophetess Huldah God
confirmed just this, clarifying that the destruction he was bringing was
according to the book itself (see Deut 28, 31v14-29). Making this point was
surely why God had the book found, and reminds us how critical it is we accept
and hold to the Bible’s teaching as understood through Christ. God also
promised that because Josiah humbled himself, he would saved by death from
witnessing the destruction, just as we are if we mourn our sin.
Praying it home:
Praise God for his willingness to
hear our prayers through Christ. Pray for a return to the Bible throughout
God’s church and by both ministers and congregations.
Thinking further:
None today.
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