Perrydox.com is devoted to the pursuit of truth, whether plain or paradoxical, whether simple or sublime, or simply absurd yet absolute.
2 Kings 19:1-7 – Praying through the Bible – Feeling Inadequate to Pray
Pinocchio is a beloved story, at least Disney’s version. I doubt many are familiar with the original; Pinocchio kills the nagging cricket with a hammer. Why do we love Disney’s version? It’s a tale of redemption. It is a whale of a tale. Wood I lie to you! Like that fictional morality tale, Jerusalem’s Deliverance is also a story; a historically true story of redemption. But along the way, we might be surprised, who needed also redeeming.
“Hezekiah trusted in the LORD God of Israel; not one of the kings of Judah was like him, either before him or after. He remained faithful to Yahweh and did not turn from following Him but kept the commands the LORD had commanded Moses” (2 Kings 18.5-6). I find this description comforting when I realize how imperfect Hezekiah’s faith is. Hezekiah imitates two mistakes of his unfaithful father, Ahaz.
First, Hezekiah’s government allies with a foreign power, Egypt. God says, “Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed” (Isa.20.5). God’s view of alliances is negative. It shows a lack of faith in God’s protection. Plus many foreign kings were considered gods making an alliance possibly idolatrous. Tirhakah is described as “The perfect god, Taharqa, living eternally” (Bonnet and Valbelle, The Nubian Pharaohs, Black Kings on the Nile, 92). Seeking out human help is an example of a false solution to a real problem. Egypt is the “splintered reed” which the Assyrian envoy says cannot be trusted to rescue (18.21). Yahweh agrees (Isa.30.1-3). Where is Hezekiah’s faith? Where is his trust in Yahweh?
Second, there is a recurring theme wherein the temple becomes the king’s personal bank account to bail him out of trouble. When threatened, Judean kings rob the temple to bribe or to buy protection from other nations (1 Kings.15:1; 2 Kings; 16.8; 18.15; 2 Chron.16.2-4; 28.21). Being threatened with annihilation, Hezekiah pleas to Sennacherib, “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me. Whatever you demand from me, I will pay” (18.14). Hezekiah gives him the silver found in the temple, strips the gold from the temple doors, and pays the pagan king with holy property (18.15-16). Another manmade solution failing. Where is Hezekiah’s faith? Where is his trust in Yahweh?
Such failures might explain Hezekiah’s message to Isaiah: “Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them. Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, who his master the king of Assyrian sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke him for the words that Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the surviving remnant” (19.3-4). Did Hezekiah feel inadequate to pray? Maybe Hezekiah felt he needed to be redeemed too.
Prayer Challenge: When feeling disconnected from God due to a lack of faith, find someone to pray for you. Don’t give up, your friends, including God, hasn’t.
Comments