Return to God and His House
The two most wicked kings in Judah were Hezekiah's father, Manasseh, and Hezekiah's son, Ahaz. One cannot help wondering how a king so bad could have a son so good, and how a king so good could have a son so bad. Hezekiah and Josiah were the two godliest descendants of David to sit on his throne. Hezekiah was truly an 'emergency man' of God, for Judah was at the point of dissolution. God used him for a recovery that gave Judah a fresh start in testimony, and enabled Judah to stay in the Land for almost a century and a half after the dissolution of the Northern Kingdom.
Worshipping God was very important to the chronicler, so he recorded in 2 Chronicles 29 that the temple was cleansed and rededicated in order that both the Passover and regular worship could be reinstated. The first step that Hezekiah took to turn Judah back to God was to open and repair the doors which had been shut by his father (28.24). Repairing them included overlaying them with gold (2 Kgs 18.16). This is the beginning of the longest account of any revival in Biblical history, and it began both at the right time and in the right place. The revival began at the right time, that is, immediately: "in the first year of his reign, in the first month" (2 Chr 29.3). Verse 17 adds "on the first day of the first month"! It is easier to take the right stand at the beginning than it is to shift to it later. To give up bad habits by degrees is not promising of success. Any Christian troubled by the bad habit of smoking does not get the victory by giving it up gradually, but rather by giving it up decisively. There should be no hesitation when conscience is clear and has no doubts, and the Word of God is clear. The principle is in Psalm 119.60; "I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments."
As a wise king, Hezekiah assembled the priests and the Levites for the work of cleansing the temple, work that only they could do according to the instructions in God's Word. Hezekiah not only began at the right time, but in the right place. Judah was paying tribute to the Assyrians. Hezekiah knew that before dealing with the Assyrians, the most important thing was a right relationship with God. He followed the priority that the Lord Jesus would later emphasise in Matthew 6.33; "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness …". This revival began in the heart of Hezekiah, for we read his words "Now it is in mine heart …" (2 Chr 29.10). God's interests so gripped his heart that, by God using him, he was able to affect the hearts of all the people. "Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the Lord" (30.12). The shepherd heart of the king led him to command that the sin offering should be made for "all Israel" (29.24), an expression emphasised by its repetition in the verse. This prepared the way for Hezekiah to invite all Israel, including the ten northern tribes, to the Passover (30.1). Ultimately, what gave those sacrifices value was that they all pointed forward to the perfect sacrifice of Christ (1 Pet 3.18).
Return to the Word of God
There was a return to the Word of God in the cleansing of the temple at the very beginning of Hezekiah's reign. Everything for the cleansing was done "according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the Lord" (2 Chr 29.15). In three chapters (29, 30, 31), God's Word is referred to, in different ways, at least ten times (29.15, 25; 30.5, 12, 16, 18; 31.3, 4, 20, 21). Examples are "the words of the Lord", "the word of the Lord", "the commandment of the Lord" and "as it is written". While Hezekiah's wicked father Ahaz was on the throne, Isaiah wrote "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isa 8.20). Ahaz did not respond well but, in great contrast to him, Hezekiah responded wonderfully! May the Lord encourage every one of us to respond well to the Word of God, all our lives long.
Wilbur M Smith wrote well,
As soon as Hezekiah announced his purpose to cleanse the city of Jerusalem from its abominations, we read that the Levites and others "gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord" (2 Chr 29.15). Later, when the temple had been cleansed, and Hezekiah had begun to restore its neglected services, we are told that the king "set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad, the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet, for so was the commandment of the Lord by His prophets" (v 25).¹
How wonderful to read the last two verses about Hezekiah:
And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered (2 Chr 31.20-21).
We read about the Passover kept in the first year of his reign, "So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem" (30.26). Of the Passover in Josiah's reign, we read "And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet" (35.18). Nehemiah 8.17 tells us that Israel had not kept the feast of tabernacles since the days of Joshua. Each of these three references goes further back in the nation's history to find days when God's people had been closer to the Word of God.
Return to Blood Sacrifice
We read in Leviticus 17.11 "… it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul". The focus on the blood speaks of the precious blood of Christ (1 Pet 1.18-19). The blood is emphasised in 2 Chronicles 29.22-24 by being mentioned four times. The priests also sprinkled blood in 2 Chronicles 30.16. In a survey of 45 writers, only Wilbur M Smith draws attention to there being no record in Scripture of 'blood' as a part of any sacrifice offered by the Israelites since the time of the exodus, a period of 765 years. The only oblique reference is when wicked king Ahaz made an offering on the altar that he had copied from one he saw in Damascus (2 Kgs 16.13). Of course, blood was actually shed during that time in connection with sacrifice. For example, when Solomon was dedicating the temple many animals were slain and their blood shed, but there is no specific mention in the Scriptures of the word 'blood'. There is mention of the "blood of war", "the blood of the slain", "the shedding of innocent blood" and "the blood of Naboth", but no mention of blood in connection with a sacrifice acceptable to God. However, 'blood' is mentioned often in Hezekiah's reign. Any true revival among God's people will include a real appreciation of the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ and His cleansing blood (1 Jn 1.7). The blood in the New Testament is always closely associated with the Person of Christ. How fitting that is, for the infinite value of Christ gave infinite value to His sacrifice. Any preaching that tries to add to, or subtract from, the value of the sacrifice of Christ should never be tolerated.
(To be continued …)
¹ Wilbur M Smith, The Glorious Revival under King Hezekiah.
