Hezekiah came from a very long line of very bad kings. In fact, his lineage hailed from the ten tribes of northern Israel, where twenty bad kings ruled over the people in the territory, but His life and testament are proof that even if you come from a bad line of dudes, even if your heritage isn’t anything to write home about, you can, with God’s favor, turn your heritage on its ear and start afresh.
A study into Scripture doesn’t tell us much about how the son of wicked King Ahab became such a faithful believer. But at age twenty-five, after the death of his father Ahab, Hezekiah crossed the proverbial railroad tracks and left the gang mentality and family baggage behind to reign over Judah for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem, unlike any other king before or after him.
His life and testament are proof that even if you come from a bad line of dudes, even if your heritage isn’t anything to write home about, you can, with God’s favor, turn your heritage on its ear and start afresh.
“For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and have forsaken Him and turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord.” [2 Chronicles 29:6]
Hezekiah was on a mission to correct and destroy everything his wicked father had done. Hezekiah made a conscious decision to not walk in the way of the kings before him. He set out straight away to remove the pagan idols and places of worship established under his father’s rule, and he destroyed all false objects of worship.
In his first year, he reopened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. Hezekiah was on a mission. It was a mission to clean house, and to reform and restore temple worship. He brought all the priests and the Levites into an assembly in the square and laid out his plan to turn the kingdom around, to stand for something honorable.
“Listen to me, O Levites. Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out from the holy place.” [2 Chronicles 29:5]
And with that, the house cleaning had begun. The priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord and cleansed it.
With little insight into how Hezekiah became such a strong believer and advocate for the Lord, we can only speculate and exercise some creative interpretations in hopes of finding connections and deep insights that might help us today. Maybe his personal transformation, his obvious desire to be nothing like his wicked father, was all he needed to boast of in the Lord.
Maybe if we were able to read between the lines, or have a conversation with him, he would say, “If God can take me, the son of a very wicked man who went out of his way to displease God and make sport of everything holy, and if God can forgive my upbringing, overlook my dark and nasty lineage, and accept me afresh, even with my father’s name, then surely God will hear the prayers of any man.”
[Like what your reading? There’s more where this came from – deeper studies of scriptural stories in my book, Legacies of Valor – Traits of Character: The Noble & The Notable. Support this blog ministry by ordering a copy of Legacies of Valor today]
Friends, it’s great to get feedback and confirmation that I’m not just writing to a black hole – so please - before you leave – take a moment to “like” and “share” these posts with your social network. Together, we can encourage many – one post at a time.
His life and testament are proof that even if you come from a bad line of dudes, even if your heritage isn’t anything to write home about, you can, with God’s favor, turn your heritage on its ear and start afresh.
“For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and have forsaken Him and turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord.” [2 Chronicles 29:6]
Hezekiah was on a mission to correct and destroy everything his wicked father had done. Hezekiah made a conscious decision to not walk in the way of the kings before him. He set out straight away to remove the pagan idols and places of worship established under his father’s rule, and he destroyed all false objects of worship.
In his first year, he reopened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. Hezekiah was on a mission. It was a mission to clean house, and to reform and restore temple worship. He brought all the priests and the Levites into an assembly in the square and laid out his plan to turn the kingdom around, to stand for something honorable.
“Listen to me, O Levites. Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out from the holy place.” [2 Chronicles 29:5]
And with that, the house cleaning had begun. The priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord and cleansed it.
With little insight into how Hezekiah became such a strong believer and advocate for the Lord, we can only speculate and exercise some creative interpretations in hopes of finding connections and deep insights that might help us today. Maybe his personal transformation, his obvious desire to be nothing like his wicked father, was all he needed to boast of in the Lord.
Maybe if we were able to read between the lines, or have a conversation with him, he would say, “If God can take me, the son of a very wicked man who went out of his way to displease God and make sport of everything holy, and if God can forgive my upbringing, overlook my dark and nasty lineage, and accept me afresh, even with my father’s name, then surely God will hear the prayers of any man.”
[Like what your reading? There’s more where this came from – deeper studies of scriptural stories in my book, Legacies of Valor – Traits of Character: The Noble & The Notable. Support this blog ministry by ordering a copy of Legacies of Valor today]
Friends, it’s great to get feedback and confirmation that I’m not just writing to a black hole – so please - before you leave – take a moment to “like” and “share” these posts with your social network. Together, we can encourage many – one post at a time.
