King Hezekiah: Episode Two
Old Testament stories like Hezekiah’s are given for the purpose of helping us understand God’s chosen people but at the same time ourselves. Lower stories give us facts but upper stories give us insight. King Hezekiah was righteous man in God’s eyes, in fact, the prophet Isaiah said there was ‘none like him among all the kings of Judah after him nor before him’ and yet we know he didn’t always make good decisions.
The setting of this story was a dismal time for the split kingdom of Israel in the north and Judah in the south. The most powerful empire, Assyria, had brought Israel to its knees and was now capturing many cities in the south as it marched toward Jerusalem: the epicenter of God’s people. The king of Assyria and his field commander, the Rabshakeh, were confident they could take it all showing there was no one more powerful than Assyria; the strategy was working. Little did they know that God was using them as His instruments to ultimately bring His people back to Him.
This king, Judah’s archenemy, made many promises to King Hezekiah and now that Israel was captured Judah’s king assumed they were next. Even though Hezekiah was righteous that didn’t mean he consistently made the right decisions. Yes, he had torn down places of idol worship and reinstituted the worship of Yahweh with celebrations, the priesthood, blood, thank, and peace offerings, however, that only made his enemy angrier; we can never forget Satan’s ultimate plan is to stop the Messiah (Gen. 3:15), the One who will crush his head. David’s bloodline goes through Hezekiah, therefore, he must have an heir. At this point no offspring means Satan still has a chance.
Hezekiah’s first mistake was to consider the king of Assyria’s promises out of fear. God had already given him victory over the Philistines but Assyria seemed too big, too powerful, and he compromised. He paid the required silver and gold obtained from the Temple to secure the promise of no invasion. Man’s ways are not God’s ways and that submission brought even more intense warfare to take Jerusalem: Satan is a liar.
Fear pressures us also to make compromises. “Well, just this once. No one will know.” “He promised me that promotion, that relationship, that extra money; I need it.”
Satan isn’t just out to destroy the promise of Messiah but he’s out to destroy the followers of Messiah as well: that’s the upper story. Jesus said the devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy but He came to give us abundant life. As Hezekiah’s story portrays compromise to the world’s ways, the lower story, we can learn to watch for those little places, those little lies, or those little sins which lead us into that slow walk of captivity. Satan is patient, not in a hurry, and he’ll give you ample reasons to comply. Thank God for the Holy Spirit who strengthens and empowers us to stand against compromise.
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