2 Kings 18 – Hezekiah (715-686 BC), begins his
reign in Judah. He is 25. His mother was Abijah, daughter of Zechariah. He did
what was right in the sight of the Lord. He
removes the high places (finally), breaks down the sacred pillars and cuts down
the sacred poles. He breaks the bronze serpent Moses was said to have made in
the desert (it was called Nehushtan or “thing of brass”); it had become an idol
over the years. It is interesting to ponder the
thought that even in Moses’ mind, there might have been “minor gods” – it seems
pretty scandalous for MOSES to have made a bronze figure to use as a cure for
snakebites.
Hezekiah
trusts in God. He rebels against the king of Assyria and attacks the
Philistines as far away as Gaza. It is
during his reign that Israel is captured by the Assyrians. In his 14th
year, King Sennacherib of Assyria (705-681 BC) comes against Judah.
Hezekiah sends a submissive letter: “’I have done wrong [in rebelling? not
paying tribute?]; withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me, I will bear’”(18:14).
The Assyrian emperor demands ten tons of silver and one ton of gold; and Hezekiah
strips all the gold and silver he can find from the Temple and the palace
treasury.
Despite
sending all this, the king of Assyria sends emissaries to Hezekiah to find out
why this king (Hezekiah) seems so confident that he will be able to resist Assyrian
might.
Three of
Hezekiah’s chief officials go out to meet the Assyrian commander. The commander
– speaking in Hebrew so that everyone in hearing distance can understand him -
ask them what it is that makes the king of Judah so confident that he can
resist the Assyrians. “Do you think that words can take the place of military
skill and might? Who do you think will help you rebel against Assyria? You are
expecting Egypt to help you, but that is like using a reed as a walking stick –
it will break and job your hand. . . Or will you tell me that you are relying
on the Lord your God? It was the Lord’s shrines and altars that Hezekiah
destroyed when he told the people of Judah and Jerusalem to worship only at the
altar in Jerusalem” (18:20-22). He is assuming that
the local “high places” and other places of idol worship that Hezekiah
[faithfully] took down were really dedicated to YHWH. Scholars are still
debating this one.
Hezekiah’s
officials want the Assyrian emissary to speak Aramaic so he doesn’t foment discord
among the people standing around, who might form a separate view of how to
respond to the threat. The commander
refuses to do this and calls out even louder to the people, “Do not let
Hezekiah make you rely on the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely deliver us,
and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. . .the
king of Assyria [says] make your peace with me and come out to me; then every
one of you will eat from your own vine and your own fig tree, and drink water
from your own cistern” (18:31). He reminds them of the disaster and defeat that
has fallen all around in other nations.
The people are silent though; they do not take the bait. Hezekiah’s
officials report back to him,
tearing “their clothes in grief” (18:37).
2 Kings 19 – Hezekiah tears his clothes in grief
too when he hears what the king of Assyria’s emissaries have said. He
sends his three officials to consult with the prophet Isaiah – this is his
first appearance in the story. Isaiah tells the officials to return and say
to Hezekiah not to fear, that the king of Assyria will hear a rumor that will
cause him to return to his own land, and there the Lord will have him die by
the sword.
The next
paragraph is a little unclear. Apparently the rumor the king of Assyria hears
is that the king of Cush (an Ethiopian king—Tirhakah who is now Pharaoh) has
attacked him at Libnah, so he goes there to meet him. He sends a threatening
message to Hezekiah repeating much of what he said—that his armies are invincible,
that they have beaten numerous kings and the gods who have defended those
kings.
Hezekiah
receives this message and reads it; he takes it up to the Temple and spreads it
out before the Lord, saying: “O Lord the God of Israel, who are enthroned above
the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you
have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes,
O Lord, and see; hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the
living God” (19:16). And he begs
the Lord for help: “So now, O Lord our God, save us, I pray you, from his hand,
so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone”
(19:19).
Isaiah sends Hezekiah
a message that is God’s response to Hezekiah’s prayer. It’s a rather lengthy
and personal snub of Assyria’s pride. Bottom line is Sennacherib will not come into Jerusalem, for
the Lord will defend it “for the sake of my own honor and because of the
promise I made to my servant David” (19:34).
That night a
plague hits the Assyrian camp and 185,000 are struck down (19:35). Sennacherib
goes home and is killed by two of his sons; another son, Esar-haddon, succeeds him.
Luke 14 – Jesus is eating a
Sabbath meal at the home of one of the leading Pharisees and there are a number
of Pharisees there with them – SURPRISING! A poor man with swollen arms and
legs comes up to Jesus and everyone watches to see what he will do. Will he do
another miracle? He asks again about what the teaching should be about healing
people on the Sabbath. “If any one of you had a child or an ox that happened to
fall into a well on a Sabbath, would you not pull it out at once?” (14:5)
Jesus
notices that people [still at the Pharisee Sabbath dinner?] are gravitating
toward the places of honor. He
tells a parable about a wedding banquet—how one should not take seats of honor
there because the host might embarrass you by making you give your place up to
someone of higher rank. It is better to take the seat of less honor and then be
asked to move up when the host arrives. “For all who exalt themselves will be
humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (14:11). And to his
host, Jesus says he ought not to invite friends and relatives to a lunch or a
dinner—they will repay you in kind.
“When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the
blind; and you will be blessed, because they are not able to pay you back. God will
repay you on the day the good people rise from death” (14:13-14).
One
of the guests responds by saying, “How happy are those who will sit down at the
feast in the Kingdom of God!” (14:15) Jesus tells him another story about a
banquet, how when everything was ready the master sent for the guests he was
inviting, and they started to make excuses for why they couldn’t come. The
master gets angry at this and says to his servant, “’Go out at once into the
streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind,
and the lame.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you ordered has been done, and
there is still room.’ Then the master said. . .’Go out into the roads and
lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell
you, none of those who were invited
will taste my dinner’” (14:21-24).
Crowds
follow him, but Jesus is very demanding about who can call themselves disciples
of his. “Those who come to me cannot be my disciples unless they love me more
than they love father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and
themselves as well” (14:26). Also,
whoever does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (14:25-27).
Giving
up possessions is essential too; it is one of the costs of completing the work
that needs to be done.
And
his disciples also must not lose the distinctive identity that they must have.
Like salt, like the yeast that makes bread rise, if they lose their distinctive
character, they will be useless.
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