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2 Kings 20:12-21:26 The Good the Bad and the Worse

by fol CHURCH on October 28, 2020

I confess I have a slight soft spot for Hezekiah. There appears to be a degree of simple innocence in his actions and thinking. As you read his story you get the sense that he really wanted to his best for God and for the Kingdom he ruled. But there were times when his innocence got the better of him and he slipped over the borders of naivety into the murky land of pride. His encounter with the envoys from Babylon did just that as he showed off his great wealth and treasure exposing Israel to attack from a greedy oppressor. You can imagine the report to Marduk Baladan back in Babylon filled with stories of how vulnerable these Israelites were and how much there was to gain from attacking them. It took the ever-wise Isaiah to show him the folly of his ways by which time it was all just a little too late because the envoys had gone and the damage was done. We have a proverb that says, “Pride comes before a fall” and Hezekiah had just set the Kingdom up for one of the worst falls in its history.

The account shows that in comparison to those who succeeded him he did much better. His son Manasseh and his grandson Amon did appalling things, setting up Asherah poles, worshipping false gods and sacrificing their own children as they did so. In the account of Manasseh’s reign, we learn that so much blood was spilled that it covered Jerusalem from one end to the other. God was angry at the “detestable” (see 21:10-11) things Manasseh had done and promised disaster.

It has been said that, “The best way to gain wisdom is by applying God’s word to your life.” (Dr James Dobson). It’s a reminder that our wisdom can only be based on our experience of life and the things we’ve learned in the course of it and that God’s wisdom is much greater and therefore to be sought after. Hezekiah was driven by his experience of life and less so by his knowledge of God. His decision making, therefore, was flawed because it was based on earthly wisdom and not on heavenly knowledge.

As we go through life most of us are unlikely to find ourselves having to make decisions about the direction our nation goes in or about how much our international partners should know about us but we will need to make wise decisions and God is always the best person to consult.

 

 

 

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Father God, bless us all with a supernatural ability to hear Your voice in all we do. Amen.

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