Hi all,
In our study of the Lord weaving our lives together to accomplish His will, we now come to our last example.
It is about not feeling compelled to press Him to get every single detail of our heart fulfilled, of knowing when to say ‘enough’. There are times we pray and press and grunt and groan because we want God to get everything exactly perfect, with the results often being less than what he had expected.
King Hezekiah is just such a case
He was a good and very remarkable king of Judah, so brilliant and yet so flawed. He seems to be a person trying to do what is right, believing the best in people, which got him into trouble a few times – just like you and me! Not satisfied with the Lord’s work in his life, he pressed for more, and many suffered as a result. If only he had been able to rest in the Lord and let things be. But no, he had to press forward, press God for more.
A little background information
Hezekiah is king of Judah and the prophets Hosea, Micah and Isaiah are active in the land. He was born in roughly 741 BC, became king at 25 and lived at total of 54 years, dying in about 687 BC. His reign is well documented in the archaeological record, for he made the pool of Siloam (John 9) which in our day is being made open to public tours.
It was against Judah and Hezekiah the Assyrian king, Sennacherib assembled his thousands. The Lord sent a single angel we are told in Isaiah 37:36, who killed 185,000 of the enemy army. Humiliated and defeated, Sennacherib returned home.
You just can’t make this stuff up
After the defeat of the Assyrians, Isaiah 38 records Hezekiah became sick to the point of death. The Talmud, which is a collection of oral law (Mishnah) and history/commentary (Gemara), gives the back story.
It reveals Isaiah told Hezekiah he was sick because he had failed to marry and have children according to the divine order of things biologically and as king to produce an heir. So God allowed a sickness that would result in his death.
But when Hezekiah prayed and repented fervently, the Lord changed His mind before Isaiah had even left the palace grounds. (An example of a prophetic word not coming to pass because God changed His mind in response to prayer) Isaiah 38:5 records the Lord telling Isaiah He had answered his prayer and given him 15 more years (to produce an heir).
These 15 additional years are what our story is about.
Hezekiah recovers, and according to the Talmud, married Isaiah’s daughter, Hephzibah, which means ‘the Lord delights in her’ (II Kings 21:1). Do we have the picture? Isaiah prophesies the king will die of a sickness, allowed upon him because he had not fulfilled the royal and biological duty of having children. When he repents and is given 15 years to be able to fulfill that duty, he marries Isaiah’s daughter, making Isaiah their son’s grandfather.
What happened in those 15 extra years?
Isaiah 39 tells us one of the things that happened is Babylon sent ‘princes’ or ambassadors to Hezekiah to congratulate him on his restored health.
Believing the best in people, and rationalizing that Babylon was a far distance, Hezekiah showed the princes of Babylon the whole of the royal treasury. All the temple treasures, all the national storehouses of gold and silver, even to the royal storehouse of spices and food. It gave Babylon an exact estimation of Judah’s strength. Isaiah told him he was foolish to reveal that to a potential enemy, and the nation would later suffer for it. Isaiah 39: 3-7
What else happened in those 15 years?
Hezekiah and Hephzibah had a son: Manasseh, making Isaiah Manasseh’s grandfather. II Chronicles 32: 33 and 33:1 tells us Hezekiah died when his son was 12 years old, making Manasseh king at age 12.
II Chronicles 33: 1-10 tell us young Manasseh did evil, bringing back all the gods of the pagans, even setting up pagan altars in the temple of the Lord. Verse 10 says the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. I feel sorry for his mother Hephzibah, for she had been wife to one of the most godly kings ever recorded, and mother to one of the worst kings in the history of the nation.
Verses 11-16 tell us Manasseh was captured and sent to Babylon, where he truly repented, coming to know the Lord. He was also returned to rule the land. In his repentance, he undid the evil he had earlier done, tearing down all the pagan altars and restoring the temple and altar of the Lord. He commanded all Judah to worship the God of Israel.
But…
In between the time he took the throne at age 12, and the time he came to know the Lord, he did a horrible thing. He hated Isaiah his grandfather. Why, we don’t know. He would have certainly known he was the product of those 15 years where his father was expected to produce and heir – perhaps in his eyes he thought he really wasn’t wanted, wasn’t really loved, just used to keep the family line going.
If so, we can understand his anger at first his father and then his grandfather. It was after all, Isaiah who told his dad he was going to die if he didn’t that a son. Whatever the reason, his hatred came full force upon his grandfather.
This is what happened
Not only in the Talmud, but referenced in the New Testament: Isaiah fled from Manasseh into a hollow in a cedar tree, but was discovered. Manasseh ordered the tree cut down with trapped Isaiah inside, sawing Isaiah in half. Hebrews 11: 37 makes a reference to this in the ‘hall of faith’, saying of various unnamed faithful who had suffered for their faith: “They were stoned, they were cut in two, they were killed by swords…”
This great man Isaiah, grandfather to the king, friend of his father, died a martyr. What heartache his mother must have felt to see her son murder her father! Manasseh did later repent and that is good, but the nation suffered horribly before Manasseh repented.
What if Hezekiah had just said ‘okay’ when he was told he was about to die?
Be careful what you pray for. The Lord was still able to weave His way in those 15 years, though with heart ache for all. We repent vertically and God forgives us, but the injury we cause or is inflicted upon us is on this earth, horizontally. Being of the earth, it must be walked out, experienced, dealt with. Yet in all these things the Lord is still at work, still moving forward in the lives of all who desire Him. Ever the One who weaves His will into the fabric of our lives.
Are there areas we have insisted on having our way with the Lord? Have we at times pressed and demanded until finally we see the Lord has answered, only to discover things didn’t work out the way we thought? And then we often wonder why God allowed it to happen, forgetting we were the ones who insisted He give us what we want.
Consider the possibility that some of the things you are going through now are to prepare you for what you prayed for.
Take the big picture approach to life, we are already in eternity, which means there will be as the Bible says, ages to come. Look for Him weaving together everything, our victories and defeats, moments of wisdom and foolishness, and you will see grace. Lots and lots of grace.
New subject next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
