While struggling to read through Isaiah before the year ends (don’t think I’ll make it), I have come to one of its historical sections that painfully reminds me of the dissonance in my own heart and life. In Chapters 37-39, we find something in Hezekiah that we see in ourselves all too well: a prideful self-righteousness that keeps us from fully pleasing the God of the heavens.
In Chapter 38, we find Hezekiah’s claim that he has walked faithfully before the Lord throughout his life:
Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,
and said, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
(Isaiah 38:2-3 ESV)
This was a valid claim, because in the next verse God Himself restores Hezekiah’s health (he had been sick and told he was on his deathbed), granting him 15 additional years of life. Clearly, God had been pleased with Hezekiah and changed His plans on account of Hezekiah’s faithfulness and adherence to righteousness.
Unfortunately for the nation of Judah, Hezekiah’s heart was two-faced. In Chapter 39, Hezekiah receives some visitors from Babylon:
At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.
(Isaiah 39:1-2 ESV)
This must have been quite close to his healing, because the passage indicates that the king of Babylon sent messengers to celebrate Hezekiah’s recovery. Hezekiah proceeds to show them all in his kingdom. Note, however, that the passage neither does indicates Hezekiah showed the envoys the temple, nor attribute his wealth to the favor of God. Hezekiah is chastened sharply for this presumptuous gesture:
Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
(Isaiah 39:5-6 ESV)
Hezekiah’s actions demonstrated a smug self-reliance in his own efforts, and an indulgent pride in his acquisitions. In addition, Hezekiah put his nation at risk by revealing to visiting emissaries the storehouses and repositories of wealth in the kingdom. Not only was this a matter of national security, but this was an act of brazen pride in the face of the Lord. Isaiah delivers God’s verdict to Hezekiah, and a naive reader might expect the Hezekiah of Chapter 38 to repent before the Lord of His actions, and ask forgiveness. He might also ask that God’s wrath not fall on the house of Judah after his passing, but that God might relent from his anger. Instead, the reader is shocked by Hezekiah’s comparatively wicked response:
And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.”
(Isaiah 39:7-8 ESV)
Is this not what we do? When it is the consequences of sin or hardship affecting us our our own sphere of influence, we fervently seek God’s mercy. But if we find ourselves separated from the punishment, we find that acceptable. Even more astonishing in this passage is the fact that this verdict falls on Hezekiah’s own family–and Hezekiah indicates, at best, indifference to the disgraceful plight of his own sons. Hezekiah was, in fact, one of the kings of Judah who walked in the ways of his father David, though clearly not wholly. While Hezekiah did what was right, his heart was not fully converted. Does Hezekiah not show us ourselves: our focus on salvation in the next world indifferent to the disgraceful verdict falling on our neighbors. Sometimes, we even claim membership in God’s family on account of a confession of faith when things are bad, but we distance ourselves from our responsibilities to others–especially when those responsibilities happen as a result of our own wrongdoing. We also see Hezekiah in ourselves when we celebrate God in our local communities of belief while ignoring the cultural, ideological, and economic systems which devastate our fellow men.
Let us ask God for courage to confront our divided hearts when the moment of truth comes. As the New Year approaches, ask God to help us search our hearts and pursue His ways.
Good discussion, thanks for sharing. This passage has always struck me as well. I too have the divided heart like Hezekiah.