Sudden Atonement

There so much that can be said about Hezekiah . . . what an amazing man he was! Of all the kings before him he strikes me as the most like David in the way he loved and respected the things of God. I have to say the first thing which impresses me as I read the account of his life again in this chapter is the contrast between him and his evil father (Ahaz). It is really stunning. First notice he begins his reign at exactly the same time in his life as his father did -- at the age of 20 years (II Chronicles 28:1, 29:1). It is incredible how different these 2 men were in their youth right from the start. The first recorded acts of Ahaz are of radical idolatry and paganism. Hezehiah by contrast starts right away cleaning up the mess began by his father.

He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them. -- II Chronicles 29:3

Both wasted no time acting on the desires of their hearts. This indicates for me a preoccupation during their childhoods and adolescent years with the powerful influences which would go on to shape their early adult lives. How else did Ahaz know about pagan worship and have such disdain for the things of God -- he was obviously drawn to this during his youth. How else did Hezekiah know so much about the Levitical priesthood and proper method of cleaning the temple as he so thoroughly did as soon as he became king -- clearly he was drawn to this as a child.

Aside from the contrast between Ahaz and Hezekiah, 2 other things jump out at me. First the speed with which Judah cleans up its act and second, the extend of the cleansing.

It happened so fast!! Remember Ahaz spent 16 years taking Judah to the gutter. I found it interesting that the priest spent 16 days cleansing the temple. One day of cleansing for each year of filth -- coincident? Imagine what it must have been like for the people of Judah to have this sudden shift from 16 years of paganism to back to worshipping the true God. All of the children 16 and under didn't have a clue what to make of it. I don't think we can fully appreciate what it took for Hezekiah to turn this whole kingdom around to fast. The scripture uses the word "suddenly."

And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly. -- II Chronicles 29:36

The other impression I take away from this reading is the extent of the cleansing. We get the sense that this was a massive job!

And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple... -- II Chronicles 29:16

What was this uncleanness they found in the temple? How filthy had Judah been during Ahaz' 16 years as king? It must have been ridiculously bad! Just look at the sheer volume of sacrifices made to atone for their sins (hundreds of oxen, rams, and bullocks . . . thousands of sheep). This was big time cleansing!

A final thought from this chapter . . . notice the shortage of good priest. The sacrifices made during this atonement was so massive that the priest had to employ the services of the non-priest Levites to assist with the offerings. Many more priest could have assisted, but they were not spiritually prepared to do so.

...for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests. -- II Chronicles 29:34

This tells us so much about the moral state of Judah at this time.

16 Years of Abysmal Moral Decay

How could the son of a relatively good man (Jotham) and also the father of a really good man (Hezekiah) be so terribly bad! A verse from the previous chapter gives us a clue (regarding Ahaz' father Jotham) . . .

"And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, . . . And the people did yet corruptly." -- 2 Chronicles 27:2

Although Jotham was a good man he did not really have any influence over the people of Judah and likely none over his son Ahaz. The atmosphere was wipe to produce yet another immoral king -- Ahaz.

It's amazing how low Ahaz sank. He wasn't just an idol worshiper he was fanatical! He went on a massive idol building campaign, sacrificed his own children, and even shut up the doors of the temple after raiding it several time to finance his own evil projects. He seems to me to be regarded as a real loser. Even after the great expansion of Judah and success enjoyed by his father and grandfather (Uzziah) he does nothing of the sort. The only thing we discover he has built are the countless alters to various pagan gods. He is constantly losing land to his enemies, has to pay tribute and bribe money to keep from being attacked by the Assyrians, and loses hundreds of his own citizens to capture and outright slaughter by Israel in the north. What a bleak and pathetic 16 years was this man's reign! How Low judah Sank!

Preparing for God

This is really a short little summary of king Jotham. Did you notice that we are told both
1. how old Jotham was when he became king (25 years) and
2. how long he reigned (16 years)
exactly twice at the beginning and end of this chapter. Why is that? There has to be a reason (this much I have learned over the years), but what that reason is I don't know yet.

What strikes me most as I read it is verse 6:

"So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God."

Yet another reminder of how God blesses those who seek him and make room in their lives to do his will. I interpret "prepared his ways" to mean made room for God. In other words he planned his daily life around God and lived as in the presence of God. When you prepare for God you tend to think clearly and make wise choices. This is good living and a good life always follows.

Strong in Heart, but Weak in Spirit

Two things -- first, 52 years is a long time to rule as king and second, leprosy for the rest of his life . . . yikes! This kings of Judah each bring us important lessons about God. Uzziah teaches us what can happen when we get to comfortable with the things of God and really just forget who He is and how respectful we should be of him and his laws. So Uzziah turns out to be a great king of Judah. Not just good, but great. He really establishes Judah as a powerful presence in the land. His army is expanded and he builds incredible structures throughout the region. He gains serious respect from the surrounding countries and makes a name for himself and for Judah. He seeks after God we read "in the days of Zechariah" and clearly, God blesses him "as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. (2 Chronicles 26:5)"

So what went so terribly wrong that God curses him with Leprosy for the rest of his life. Of course we know the "actions" of Uzziah which are recorded in verses 16-19 and we can only imagine the arrogance and feeling on entitlement Uzziah must have exhibited as he insisted on burning incense in the temple. Perhaps it was the thing to do in his day by foreign rulers. Perhaps the kings of the land had every right to waltz right into their respective places of worship and make whatever ceremonial gesture they felt was appropriate. Perhaps the people considered it an honor to have the king himself show up and perform religious rites. Perhaps this was not only acceptable, but highly desirable.

Not so with God. Here comes the lesson to us -- it is dangerous to forget our place and to take the things of God so lightly. It doesn't matter what we have accomplished we can never even pretend to think we know better than God. It wasn't so much his actions in the temple which displeased God so much, but his "actions" in his heart . . .

"But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense." -- 2 Chronicles 26:16

When he was "strong" Uzziah was weak. Yes, that's the crux of it. We have to be very careful with this sinful nature to keep it in check when we are really strong. The temptation to forget who God is can slip up on us and how quickly we can fall spiritually.

Blinding Ambition

How could Amaziah do it? How in the world could he make such a ridiculously poor choice to bring back the gods of a people he just conquered (in lop-sided fashion) and decide to worship those gods? It just doesn't make sense! As I read it I'm shouting on the inside "don't do it Amaziah! Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind?" This shows the power of ambition to blind and deceive even to the point of causing someone to do something counterproductive and self defeating. This is an important lesson in the frailty of the human ego. Left unchecked it can send a person into on-coming traffic for a sudden collision with destruction without warning. There are so many examples of this in the scripture.

This is also a glimpse into the culture of deity worship. How prevalent must this have been? I'm thinking the whole idea of idolatry must have been a lot like Hollywood and the powerful grip of the media today. The popularity of the practise must have been through the roof! So many gods to choose from! So many representations of those gods. So many cool and enticing places of worship which must have included fun, pleasures, and ego-enticing activities. It is really really AMAZING how many examples of this we find in the history of Israel. I think being so far removed from this culture, we tend to not fully understand the draw.

I suspect we have things in our lives and in the world around us which serve the same purpose. They appeal to the ego and enjoy such popular in our modern culture that we fail to question them see or them for what they are with the sober eyes of the Spirit.

The Goodness of Joash Was Only Skin Deep

In this chapter I'm struck by how shallow the character of Joash was. Even though Joash ruled over Judah for 40 years it was really Jehoiada the priest (his adoptive father) who was king by proxy. Jehoiada's influence over Joash was so great that after the death of Jehoiada remarkably Joash takes a 180 degree turn and what started out as a goodly and noble reign turns into more of the same evil which was spawned by his famously wicked mother. It makes you wonder about the power of "bad seed." Could it be that Joash was only being propped up spiritually by Jehoiada?

Several clues are given in this chapter which show the extent of Jehoiada's influence of Judah.

1. First, we see that any good in Joash came from the daily influence of Jehoiada.
   
   

   And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest. -- 2 Chronicles 24:2



2. Next we see Joash give a direct command to the priests and the Levites in verse 5 and they basically completely disregard his directive. Howbeit the Levites hastened it not (2 Ch. 24:5). It's not until Jehoiada gets involved that the Levites get moving to gather the offering of goods from the land to repair the temple as Joash had commanded.



3. The people's regard for Joash is clearly low. We see that upon his death Jehoiada is given a king's burial
   

   And they buried him in the city of David among the kings -- 2 Chronicles 24:16

Yet Joash was not treated so royally at his death.

and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings. -- 2 Chronicles 24:25

It turns out that Joash is morally bankrupt at the end of his life and soon after his great mentor Jehoiada is gone the princes of Judah, who were clearly very wicked, had no trouble twisting his will. He readily agrees to unspeakable evil which Jehoiada would have surely condemned had he still been alive and well.

It brings up an intriguing thought. What kind of moral backbones would we have if suddenly our entire spiritual framework was stripped away? What if there were no more godly parents, church elders, christian friends, etc. left to influence our lives? How quickly would we corrode into moral decay? Could we find strength from within to sustain a godly life? It's an important matter to consider because in the end the condition of our spiritual health is really just a matter between us and God.