Readings 1 Samuel 1, Luke 8

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,

39:1-2  You can be sure that the Babylonians were interested in Jerusalem at this time.  They had watched amazing feats take place.  First they had warded off the Assyrians, then Jerusalem had fended them off as well.  This was enough to cause them to take a second look at Jerusalem, it was a wonder to them that such a small nation could fight off such an enemy.  Hezekiah made a mistake in this passage by revealing the kingdom treasures to the Babylonians.  The third thing that was probably very interesting to the Babylonians was the recession of the sundial by ten steps.  It was possible that they were aware of the source of the occurrence and sent a delegate to check out the phenomena as it related to Hezekiah. 

Hezekiah showed all the treasures of the kingdom, they had the grand tour.  I wonder if he felt that he was in a position to ally with this nation, since God had defeated the Assyrians.  In other words, the war was over, the sickness healed, and Hezekiah was becoming confident in his political position, once again taking full charge of the nation.  In other words, he was not focused on God in control, rather viewed himself as king of the land.  The Babylonians were relatively new to the show, and although they were mostly defeated by the Assyrians, they dogged the Assyrians, drawing them out into battle.  By making an alliance with them, he was assured that they would be going after the Assyrians, and not against Israel. 

In 2 Chronicles 32:31 it is noted that God was testing his heart to see what his answer would be.  God had given Hezekiah favor in the land following the sickness, 2 Chronicles 32:23, 27-29.  It seemed that everything that he did was blessed.  In the end, God was testing him to see who he would glorify, the possessions, or God, the giver of the possessions.  Apparently the possessions won out.  It was an easy trap to fall into, where as before Israel had reached out to Egypt for an unholy alliance, now other nations were reaching out to Israel.  Either way the alliance was not condoned by God.

39:3-6  Isaiah almost sounds like he was astounded at the error of the king.  He prophesied that as a result of Hezekiah's actions, he would loose everything.  I believe that if he had given God the glory for what had happened, the outcome would have been different.  Why would you show all your cards to your enemies, or potential enemies in this case, unless you were confident that you had the ability to maintain your superiority?  This prophecy specifically stated that Judah would be carried away into Babylon, with nothing left.  This prophecy was fulfilled exactly.  2 Kings 24:10-16; 25:1-21.

Another interesting thing in this set of verses is that the first question was never answered.  Hezekiah answered the second question, but ignored the first.  The point of these Babylonians that he entertained is also interesting.  They were of a rebel force out of Babylon, and had been defeated numerously according to the records of the times.  Babylon was not the controlling force at that time, Assyria was, so the prophecy that Israel would be carried off into Babylon was hard to believe.  It took 120 years for the prophecy to take place.

39:7-8  Isaiah prophesied that Hezekiah's sons would be taken away and become officials in Babylon, this happened with Daniel.  Also it is interesting that as a result of his failing to consider the Lord in his kingly decisions, his son Manasseh was an evil king, he drew the people back into idolatry.  He rebuilt the altars to false gods and raised the poles once again, sacrificed his own sons, practiced witchcraft, sorcery, etc. 2 Chronicles 33:1-9.  Hezekiah was right, for his days there would be peace in the land, but not for the following generations. 

In a practical application to today, we as parents sow the seeds for our children's futures.  As we follow the Lord and are committed to Him, our children are watching our every move.  When someone lives under the illusion that they can play church and then expect their kids to be devoted to the Lord, they are deluding themselves.  Although Hezekiah did walk with the Lord, he also did things his own way, not truly submitting to the will of God.  This sent a message to his Manasseh that it wasn't to be taken seriously.  When we live our lives with a double standard, we are sending the very same message to our kids.  We send them the message that church is merely a social club where we pay our dues in the form of a tithe, and go merely for the association of other men.  In reality, the double message sends the message that God is not to be taken seriously, in effect, we pay our dues, appease God and live our lives as we wish.  The double standard is when we are guilty of treating God lightly.  We live our lives as if God does not exist through the week, and on Sundays, Wednesdays, and other designated religious days we drag out our Bibles and put on our Christian faces.  Interesting thought.

Father, hold us true to Your word, fix our minds on You 24/7, every single day of the week.  I pray that we will live our lives totally committed to you, and praise You for the example that we have with Hezekiah.

In Him,