Alrighty, so we come to the next King of Judah, following the wicked Ahaz.
It was Hezekiah, Ahaz’s son.
And as I said yesterday, fortunately, the apple fell far from the tree in his case.
Hezekiah reversed his father’s syncretism and reopened and purified the Temple.
He also removed the high places, smashed the sacred pillars, and notably destroyed the bronze serpent Moses had made (Nehushtan), because people had started burning incense to it.
That’s a striking detail if you think about it.
Even a legit Mosaic relic gets destroyed once it becomes an idol.
He also held a massive Passover, inviting the remnant of the northern tribes after Israel’s fall in 722 BC.
This was a deliberate move to position Jerusalem as the center for all of Israel.
Now, here’s an important point that flies over a lot of folks’ heads.
Hezekiah became king of Judah around 725 B.C.
What a lot of homies overlook is that this was the same period when the northern tribes (Ephraim-Israel) were getting crushed by Assyria.
Don’t let this fact casually fly over your head.
This is key to understanding everything that happens next in the Bible.
Including prophecies yet to be fulfilled.
Assyria was the monster empire of its day.
They were already strangling the northern kingdom with a siege.
That’s why Hezekiah’s father, Ahaz, was so accommodating toward Assyria.
Ahaz concluded, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”
So instead of fighting Assyria, he cut a deal with their king, Tiglath-Pileser that basically turned Judah into a servant nation.
Sure, Ahaz kept his throne.
But what did it matter?
His kowtowing to Assyria led Judah straight into idolatrous hell.
Who knows what would’ve happened if his son Hezekiah hadn’t stepped in to reverse things.
There are two takeaways here.
One is one I’ve broached already.
When Ahaz invited Assyria as protection against the north (when Ephraim and Aram were attacking him), his decision was guided by fear, not faith.
He let Assyria’s overwhelming power shape his calculations, and he shouldn’t have.
That’s why the prophets (Isaiah 7 especially) treat his move as such faithlessness.
Heck, even when Isaiah stood in front of him and told him to trust God (the famous virgin birth prophecy), Ahaz refused.
So that’s your first lesson.
Don’t let outside circumstances dictate your decisions in life.
If your decision isn’t based on faith, it’s a wrong decision, period.
Second, Hezekiah is proof that even if your family is wicked and godless as all hell, you can still break away from them.
You don’t have to follow in their idolatrous footsteps.
It was like that for me.
My father has always mocked my faith.
And my mother was steeped in tarot card-New Age BS idolatry.
She also fornicated with other married men that she’d bring to our apartment.
Not to mention, leaving explicit Playgirl magazines lying around the living room.
Definitely not the healthiest environment for a young kid to grow up in.
But thank God, by the Lord’s grace, I broke away.
This was the most important thing that happened to me.
So while a bad upbringing and faithless fathers and fornicating mothers can affect you…
They don’t have to have the last word.
You can break away.
And you can break away big time.
Hezekiah is proof of that.
Alrighty, that does it for today.
See ya next time.
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