“He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses.”
– 2 Kings 18:6
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you at times feel like no matter what you do that you just cannot get out of an untenable circumstance that you had nothing to do with creating? Do you at times feel like no matter what you do that you just cannot overcome what a kid – or a guy or gal, has done that is making life extremely difficult for you? Do you at times feel like no matter what you do that you just cannot stop an already bad situation from becoming even worse? What would you do if you had a dad who thought that worshipping God was total nonsense? What would you do if you had a dad who made an agreement to pay money every year to another guy to keep the guy from doing something to hurt him? What would you do if you had a dad who thought that living the kinds of nefarious, wicked ways that his neighbors are living is the right way to live? Your grandpaa is very grateful that the dad who God assigned to planet Earth to be an example to your grandpaa biased your grandpaa on how to live his life to sense being unconditionally loved and personally disciplined by God – as God the Father, to understand the redemptive act of God – as God the Son, and to accept the sanctifying regeneration that is being prompted by God – as God the Spirit, biased your grandpaa on how to handles his finances which is to pay cash for what he buys and biased your grandpaa to have a strong, calm demeanor that exuded integrity. Your grandpaa is very thankful that the dad who God assigned to planet Earth to be a model for him influenced your grandpaa through being as long as your grandpaa can remember proactively involved of first being an usher, then a deacon and then an elder in the Christian Reformed Church that is located in Volga, South Dakota, influenced your grandpaa through his sacrificial money investment in a Christian School in Volga where your grandpaa and his siblings could go to and influenced your grandpaa through his genuine care for his neighbors.
Hezekiah’s dad was a self-righteous, self-centered coward who acquiesced to making the worship of manmade inanimate idol gods his people group’s norm, who paid extortion money to retain his perceived prestigious position of being a king and who thought nothing of robbing the temple of God that was the city of Jerusalem of the gold and silver that was in the temple to pay for maintaining an alliance with an enemy people group king who had already done a number on his compatriots who had lived on the land that was north of the land area where he was the king who ruled over the guys and gals who lived in the land area. Hezekiah was five years old when his dad – whose name was Ahaz, began reigning as king over God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land area of Judah – which included the city of Jerusalem. At some point during Ahaz’s 20 year tenure as king, Ahaz closed the temple of God that was located in the city of Jerusalem, he took the bronze snake out of the temple of God that God had Moses make when . . . so that guys and gals could burn incense to it, he was responsible for Israelite people group’s guys and gals who were living in the land area of Judah – which included the city of Jerusalem, becoming vassals or serfs to King Tiglath-Peleser and his Assyrian people group and he allowed the Philistine people group army to capture the hill country and Negev cities that were being lived in by Judah tribal clan guys, gals and kids.
When Hezekiah replaced his dad as king over God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land area of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem, Hezekiah – per 2 Kings 18, intentionally and systematically began to over the 29 years that he reigned as king reverse the deviant, dependent, dumbing down track that his dad had been on for 20 years. Verse 6 recounts this about Hezekiah, “He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses.” Hezekiah had the high places removed, sacred stones smashed, Asherah poles cut down and the bronze snake that God had Moses make when . . . broken into pieces. Hezekiah stood up to an Assyrian king – who was King Sennacherib, by not paying the yearly tribute that his dad had been giving to Assyrian kings. Hezekiah took on the Philistine people group of guys and gals resulting in the Israelite people group’s army capturing Philistine occupied cities as far away as the city of Gaza. After Hezekiah ruled as king for about six years over God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land area of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem, God – because His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land area of Samaria or Israel – which was the Israelite people group’s northern kingdom, were persistently violating the covenant that He made with them and were stubbornly refusing to listen to His commands, permitted the Assyrian people group’s army to overrun the land area of Samaria and to deport God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in this land area to the city of Halah in Assyria and to the towns of the Medes to be enslaved. Your grandpaa thinks that Hezekiah had a God assigned mentor – who was Isaiah, who influenced him to make the ‘right’ decisions. What your grandpaa is having trouble getting his arms around is that God allowed King Sennacherib and his Assyrian army – after all the ‘right’ things that Hezekiah did in God’s ‘eyes’, to capture fourteen years later fortified cities that were located in the land area of Judah, force Hezekiah to pay a tribute to him and sarcastically taunt Hezekiah.
2 Kings 18 (1182)