beloved Hezekiah - 12th king of Judah

After pages and pages of doom and destruction, what a relief to read about the new king of Judah: Hezekiah. II Kings 18 gives us some useful information about him. His father was Ahaz, his mother Abi (daughter of Zechariah). He reigned for 29 years, beginning at the age of 25. His reign (possibly 715 - 686 BC) was considered on a par with his ancestor David. Britannica's article about him says he "reigned at a time when the Assyrian empire was consolidating its control of Palestine and Syria" and the Living Bible explains: "He trusted very strongly in the Lord God if Israel ... he followed the Lord in everything, and carefully obeyed all of God's commands to Moses (II Kings 18: 5-6). 

It's at this point that the prophet Isaiah pops into the story. Thomas de France explains, in his article "Hezekiah", that the "three books where Hezekiah's story appears in the Hebrew Scriptures -- II Kings, II Chronicles, and Isaiah -- tell the story of Hezekiah's push for religious and political freedom" (The Christian Science Journal, November 2003).

This king did not always make the right decisions. In his desire to stave off the Assyrians, he handed over the ransom money they demanded, but they didn't let up, their ambassador throwing insults at him and his people. Hezekiah stood his ground, however, and turned to God with all his heart. The enemy was subdued, but Hezekiah soon had another challenge. He "became deathly sick" (II King 20: 1 Living Bible). It may be that at this point, Hezekiah learned humility and he soon recovered. 

Second Kings chapter 20 verse 8 gives an account of time going backward. Peter Henniker Heaton shared his thoughts on the spiritual significance of this event and Hezekiah's healing in his poem "The Healing of Hezekiah" (The Christian Science Journal, September 1933):   

The Healing of Hezekiah (Peter Henniker Heaton)

"Evil is a negation: it never started with time, and it cannot keep pace with eternity."—Miscellaneous Writings, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 107.

The king thanked God: beneath him in the court
The dial recorded sun-lit hours serene,
While in the antechambers of his thought
Death with that old, false witness, time, had been;
But far within gleamed light of happier days
And purer worship, idols vanquished all,
A secret shrine—with calm expectant gaze
He turned from earthly succors to the wall.

Swift, swift God's ever eager answer flew,
And at the gate of thought arose a stir,
And a great wind in all its chambers blew,
As through them passed the strong-winged messenger,
Truth ever present; in the royal ears
Hope's clarion stilled the chant of Ichabod,
Faith brushed aside the cobweb-dream of years
And once again God's servant walked with God.

And Hezekiah was whole; death backward reeled,
Its claim by Truth's eternity disproved,
While in the court a wonder was revealed—
The shadow on the dial backward moved.
And still, though dancing hours would lure our feet
From ways where shepherd-truth doth all provide.
We now can prove that waiting, watchful, fleet
Eternity moves changeless at our side. 

One other point to note about Hezekiah: in trying to fortify Jerusalem, he built the Siloam tunnel which conveyed water right into the city (II Kings 20: 20). 

After his passing, his twelve-year old son Manasseh became king. The question was always: will he be a good king or not?

Julie Swannell

Musings on II Kings 4: 42-44 -- Elisha feeds 100

An interesting interlude. II Kings 4:42-44 -- 

Elisha feeding 100 men with “twenty loaves of barley and full ears of corn in the husk thereof.” Actually, he didn’t feed the people directly. He said to the servant (Gehazi perhaps) who had produced the provision, “Give unto the people, that they may eat... They shall eat and leave thereof.”* 

(Remember, there was “a dearth in the land,” and Elisha had already purified meal for the prophets. The 100 were probably the membership of the prophetic college of Gilgal, not all of them local – the number possibly enlarged because Elisha was visiting.)

*They shall eat, and shall leave thereof.—Heb., eating and leaving! an exclamatory mode of speech, natural in hurried and vehement utterance (Elliott’s Commentary for English Readers).

(“Eat and run”?) (“Run and not be weary, walk and not faint”?) (Get on with God’s work?)

Joyce Voysey

Ed. Of course, we are reminded of Jesus, an exemplary student of the Hebrew Scriptures who would have learned this story and then put the spiritual lesson into practical use by feeding thousands on more than one occasion. I love how Elisha says: Go ahead, for the Lord says there will be plenty for all, and some even be left over!" (II Kings 4: 43). That's gratitude in advance. Likewise, Jesus gave thanks for what they had and subsequently Jesus' disciples gathered twelve baskets of leftovers (John 6: 1-13). 

Jesus' follower, Paul, was therefore able to instruct his fellow travellers to "Let love be your greatest aim" (The Living Bible I Corinthians 14:1). "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy). 

 

 

The object, therefore, in communicating this account is not to relate another miracle of Elisha, but to show how the Lord cared for His servants, and assigned to them that which had been appropriated in the law to the Levitical priests, who were to receive, according to Deuteronomy 18:4-5, and Numbers 18:13, the first-fruits of corn, new wine, and oil. This account therefore furnishes fresh evidence that the godly men in Israel did not regard the worship introduced by Jeroboam (his state-church) as legitimate worship, but sought and found in the schools of the prophets a substitute for the lawful worship of God (vid., Hengstenberg, Beitrr. ii. S. 136f.).

Keil and Deitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

 

And how was it with Jesus who no doubt knew this story intimately? He also didn’t feed the people directly. He gave to the disciples and they did the distributing in an orderly fashion.

And they all ate and left thereof. Left, to a degree, the material sense of substance.

Elijah's meteoric career

If getting God to let fire from heaven consume people signifies getting rid of error, Elijah did a mighty job in II Kings, Chapter 1 verse 10: “If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee, and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.” And another fifty, and another fifty.

And yet, was Elijah “putting on a show” to hide his fears? For in verse 15 we find: “And the angel of the Lord said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king.” Remember back in I Kings where there was reiteration of Elijah’s doubts, “And he said, I have been jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away” (Chapter 19:10 and 14). And this after the episode of the earthquake, wind, and fire.

Joyce Voysey

Ed. I like that, despite his occasional doubts, Elijah gets back up again. Those angel messages kept coming and he did respond to them. The pagan gods demanded attention and were thought to govern every aspect of life. So Elijah's God was presenting a whole different concept of power. 

Thomas Leishman speaks eloquently of Elijah, whom he considers superior to his pupil Elisha. He writes ("The Prophets of the Ninth Century BC" in the July 1939 issue of The Christian Science Journal, available from your local Reading Room, or by subscription at JSH-online.com):

"At times Elijah was faced with discouragement, as when he asserted that the people had forsaken God's covenant, and slain his prophets, and concluded, "I, even I only, am left" (19:10); yet, when the "still small voice" (verse 12) informed him that there was yet much work for him to do, and that he was not alone in his loyalty, he went forward with renewed resolve (verses 15-19). Not only did he fearlessly denounce Ahab's judicial murder of Naboth (I Kings 21:22-24), but also censured Ahab's successor Ahaziah for failing to turn to God in time of sickness (II Kings 1:1-4). It is surely typical of Elijah's meteoric career that when his work was complete he should have ascended "by a whirlwind into heaven" (2:11)."

I like the description of Elijah given in the Living Bible II Kings 1: 8-9: "He was a hairy man, " they [King Ahaziah's messengers] replied, "with a wide leather belt." "It was Elijah the prophet!" the king exclaimed.  

Elijah must have distinguished himself in many ways, including the way he dressed.

Taking note.

After a little hiatus, I need to remind myself:

Jeroboam is king of the northern kingdom of Israel. He's a bit of a bad egg.

Rehoboam is the son of Solomon and he is king of the southern kingdom of Judah and he is not much better.

The time is around 931 - 910 BC and during this period Jerusalem is attacked by the King of Egypt and the treasures of the temple looted. Additionally, there was rivalry between the two kingdoms and they mostly seem to have forgotten about the one God.

A couple of generations later King Asa rules Judah for 38 years and King Ahab takes over in Israel for 22 years, in the meantime marrying Jezebel. 

Finally, in I Kings chapter 17 we meet up with the mighty prophet Elijah. His story is like a shiny light in the midst of so much gloom. Of course, not all is rosy for Elijah. His advice about the pending drought is not well received at the royal court so he clears out in fear for his life. However, his life's work is just beginning and soon we see him helping out a local family in Zarephath. 

As we know, his disciple or pupil Elisha soon appears on the scene. He must have been an excellent student, paying attention to all that Elijah practiced. In the meantime, Jehoshaphat, son of Asa, moves into the palace in Judah and the Syrians are giving them grief, including the death of Ahab.

And that pretty well takes us to the end of I Kings.

It's interesting that Jewish boys like Jesus would have read all these stories too. And taken note.

Julie Swannell

  

New light on Jezebel's demise

When I first read the Bible from the beginning, I noted that it seemed to be very important who the Bible characters married. Most notable, as I see it, were Rebecca and Rachel (See Gen.24 and Gen. 28, 29,30). But on reading I Kings, Jezebel stands out as an example of wives being an evil influence: possibly the overriding influence with Ahab. The manner of her demise was outlined by the Lord – “The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.” I Kings 21:23. One has to wait for II Kings to read of the fulfilment of that prophesy – II Kings 9:30-37 to be precise.

But I just turned to something in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy which seems to be relevant to Jezebel’s fate: “Passion, depraved appetites, dishonesty, envy, hatred, revenge ripen into action, only to pass from shame and woe to their final punishment” (188:8).

And so it is with all sin. One thinks of the Tenets of Christian Science, especially the third tenet: “We acknowledge God’s forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts.” (Science and Health 497:9)

Joyce Voysey

Ed: Friends, we will be continuing with I Kings and then get on to II Kings for the month of February.