What a stud!

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I've commented on this to a couple of friends after reading about this in my quiet time lately, but perhaps it may be a good deal for the blogosphere too.  If you've followed, you know I've been reading the history of the Kings of Israel and Judah (1 and 2 Kings) and came across the story of King Hezekiah.  After reading his story, I had to say "what a stud!" because he was.  

A lot of people who have hung in church before have heard of him, almost to the extent that we think that there's a book in the Bible named after him, but there isn't (so, don't buy it if anyone tells you to turn to Hezekiah 2 anytime soon), but his story is sandwiched between some things that we find more interesting in evangelical world that we may not know much about.  But after reading it, I think it's worth a good visit :-).

Hezekiah was a stud!

Now, he wasn't all that accomplished, though.  You see, a lot of cards were stacked against the man when he came into power at 25.  Judah's political power was a fraction of what it once was, six years into his reign his sister country to the north was conquered by the mighty Assyrian empire, and the nation was lukewarm at best in their devotion to Yahweh.  

Sometimes it's not about accomplishments, it's more about heart.  

The writer said of Hezekiah:  "There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him."  That's quite a statement.  His faith was compared to King David's... and what was said about David was that he was a "man after God's own heart." 

He did accomplish something though... he (at least for his reign) managed to rid Judah of all of the idol temples, high places, and perversion... even the stuff that wasn't seen as "really all that bad."  Him and Judah would live out their purpose to be the shining light on a hill, and he went to great extents to that end.  

He also did something else... he refused to pay tribute to the King of Assyria.  Politically, you would say that this was not a wise move.  Judah wasn't exactly a big player in the world scene, and Assyria wasn't exactly a country you wanted to upset.  There was no way they could win... it'd be like 50 guys from paintball going up against the 101'st Airborne Division.  Game over.  Jerusalem was very fortified, but seriously... you can't beat those odds.  

I don't know if he knew it at the time, but I believe that God was asking Hezekiah to trust him... and the crazy thing was that Hezekiah did!  Looking at it from a pragmatic point of view, we would say that he foolishly trusted God.  To this end....

King Sennacherib lays siege to Jerusalem with 185,000 troops... that's more troops than the U.S. had in Iraq at the peak of the surge... this guy was out for blood.  And he's mocking the name of Yahweh at it... I mean, He didn't spare Israel... why would he spare insignificant Judah?

And what does King Hezekiah do?  

  • Prepare his will?
  • Beg for his life?
  • Find an escape route from Jerusalem?
  • Take 300 guys out shirtless in loincloths charging King Shecky doing the whole "SPARTA!/Leonidas" thing?

None of the above.  He stays in the city with his people.  And... he mourns and prays for deliverance from God.... and asks his people to do the same.  He clings fast to God and doesn't let go.  He knew that if they were to come out of this, God would have to intervene.  

Wow - what a stud!

At the end of the day, God does come through for Judah.  What Hezekiah probably didn't realize at the time but did after the fact was that God wanted to show off... to show His people how big and strong and in their corner that He really is.  The text says that the angel of the Lord struck down all of the sieging army and King Shecky looks at all of the dead troops and "broke camp and withdrew" (probably an understatement).  

And for one shining moment (okay, I have been watching a lot of basketball... lol), Judah clung to Yahweh... no idols, no pretenses, and they saw what He could do.  All because even though the cards were all stacked against them and their king, they trusted the one that holds all of the cards.  

What a stud.  

Comments

Mike Tiemann said…
Cool post! We should do this story in UpStreet sometime. :)
7:08 PM
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