Hezekiah Reigns in Judah

                                                                        2 Kings 18:1-12

 

November 1, 2021

 

 

Hezekiah Reigns in Judah

In the third year of Hoshea, son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.   He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.   And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.   He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).   He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.   For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses.   And the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him.   He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it,  and at the end of three years, he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.   The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.

For most of the kings of Judah after King David, this statement was made;  And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.  Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and made offerings in high places.  And often, it would say but not as his father David had done.

 

But not so with King Hezekiah; “He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.”  Few men in the Scriptures that God has said such things about, but if we are to have any hope of being the people God calls His Church, we need men who have that heart for God.  Men who will hold fast to the Lord, men who seek first God's kingdom and righteousness, and not interested in the modern method of filling the church building.  Do you have that calling on your life, it is a choice, most of the kings of Judah were not willing to do all that God had commanded them?  You have to set your mind and heart on seeking first the kingdom of God and have a spirit of obedience, to a Father who loves you.

 

Do you see how different Israel Kings choose to do evil, to rebel against what God had commanded, and it not only cost them, their families but the people of Israel more than anyone could have imagined.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice