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Hezekiah: Reform, Regret & Repentance
During its history as an independent kingdom Judah experienced multiple spiritual peaks and troughs. Much like their sister kingdom Israel, Judah was led by her kings who sometimes walked in the ways of God and sometimes didn’t. The general spiritual tone of the kingdom was often set by her king and his counsellors and there were instances when the spiritual tone of the Kingdom of Judah was very bleak.
Hezekiah, however, was a king who raised the spiritual standard within the kingdom. When he ascended the throne he worked hard to bring about spiritual reform within the kingdom and his reign marked a period of spiritual growth within the realm.
He began with a concerted effort to revive the temple services that had long been neglected. To do this he gathered together a group of faithful priests who could help him not only to restore the temple service but to also educate the people. The temple was cleansed and repaired and then Hezekiah led the people in a time of national repentance, pleading with God for forgiveness for the sins of the people.
Hezekiah also reinstated the passover as a national convocation. For years this institution, which lay at the heart of the sanctuary service, an important reminder of God’s deliverance of and love for his people had been neglected. Since the division of the kingdom it had been harder to gather all the people for the solemn occasion. Hezekiah re-established the festival and invited the men from all across both kingdoms to travel to Jerusalem to celebrate the sacred service. It was a solemn and grand occasion spanning the course of a week and brought about a significant and unprecedented revival.
In fact the revival and reformation was so significant that when the worshippers returned home they immediately tore down the altars and idols that they had erected throughout the kingdom. It was a bit like cleaning the house. The kingdom turned back to the worship of the true God with a true and sincere heart.
Hezekiah’s reign was a tremendous success but in the midst of his faithfulness and piety he still experienced hardship. He was stricken with an illness, so severe that the Bible says that he was sick unto death. Devastated by grief Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall and wept bitterly. He was not ready to die and he begged God to spare his life.
His prayer was so earnest, so deeply heartfelt that God had compassion on him and sent Isaiah to speak to him. Isaiah comforted him and assured him that God had heard his prayers and answered them. He told him that God would spare his life and that he would live and not die. Not only would God heal him but he would also lengthen his life by fifteen years.
Wrapped up in his grief Hezekiah pleaded for a sign from God that would give him a tangible assurance of God’s promises. Isaiah responded to this request by saying :this shall be the sign toi you from the Lord, that the Lord will perform the word that he has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?” to which Hezekiah replied “it is easy for the shadow to decline ten steps; no but have the shadow turn backward ten steps”
Isaiah prayed to the Lord and God heard Hezekiah’s request and the shadow on the sundial moved back ten paced.
After Hezekiah’s recovery, Merodach-Baladan, who was King of Babylon sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah to wish him well on his recovery. The gifts and letters were sent via a delegation of ambassadors. The Babylonian king’s well wishes were not merely driven by a desire to wish Hezekiah well. Babylonian astronomers had noted the strange movement of the sundial and had heard through the international grape vine that the King of Judah was attributing the movement to the hand of his God and his own recovery from a deadly illness.
The Babylonian ambassadors came because they wanted to know exactly what happened. Unfortunately, instead of sharing his incredible testimony with them, Hezekiah, dazzled by their pomp, decided that he would show off the prowess of his own kingdom. He took them on a tour of his temple and his treasury. He displayed to them the wealth of all his kingdom. The ambassadors in turn assessed the wealth before them with a shrewd eye and went back to report to their master that the treasuries of Judah were full. There was no mention of the incredible intervention and mercy of Hezekiah’s God.
When the ambassadors had left Isaiah came in to see Hezekiah and immediately asked him why the Babylonians had come. “What have they seen in your house?’ Isaiah asked and Hezekiah said “they have seen everything that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasuries that I have not shown them”
To this Isaiah calmly replied “hear the word of the Lord, behold the days are coming when everything that is in your house and what your fathers have stored up to this day, will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left says the Lord and some of your sons who will come from you, whom you will father, will be taken away and they will become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon
So myopic was Hezekiah that he replied “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good” because all that he could think was “is it not good that there will be peace and security in my days?”
Ultimately Hezekiah failed to give God the glory when he was presented with an opportunity to do so. He was so blinded by the urbanity and worldly sheen of the Babylonian ambassadors that his first instinct was to compete with them instead of showing them something he had that they didn’t; an experience with the true and living God.
It is easy sometimes for us to fall prey to the same sentiments. To showcase our best abilities and talents to the world so that they can see that we are as good as they are but the truth is, we have something that they don’t, something that they desperately need and it would serve us well to remember that a knowledge of God is the most valuable thing that we have to offer the world. It is the only thing they lack that we can supply at no cost.
