Hezekiah Attempts Reconciliation

GOLDEN TEXT: “If ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.” —II Chronicles 30:9

II CHRONICLES 30:1, 6-13

HEZEKIAH began his reign in Judah at the age of twenty-five, succeeding the wicked king Ahaz. He was the best and most righteous of Judah’s kings. We read concerning him, “He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him; for he slave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses.”—II Kings 18:5,6

Hezekiah’s first act was to repair the temple and reopen it for use. It had been desecrated and closed by Ahaz. He also destroyed a “brazen” serpent, said to have been the one used by Moses in the miraculous healing of the Israelites in the wilderness. (II Kings 18:4) It had become an object of worship.—Numbers 21:9

The experience related in today’s lesson followed the taking of the ten-tribe segment of the nation into captivity in Assyria. Apparently there was a considerable remnant of the ten tribes who escaped the clutches of their captors, and Hezekiah made a noble effort to reunite these with the two tribes upon the basis of their returning to the worship of the true God, and with considerable success.

Letters were sent to “all Israel,” from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, urging the people to come to Jerusalem to renew their allegiance to Israel’s God. When Jeroboam led the rebellion of the ten tribes against Judah and set up a separate kingdom, he instituted the worship of false gods, and the successive kings over the ten tribes followed in his steps. King Ahaz of Judah, who immediately preceded Hezekiah, also established idol worship throughout Judah, so when Hezekiah came to the throne the whole nation was given over to serving false gods.

The Assyrians had already overthrown the ten-tribe kingdom, and taken many of the people into captivity; and now they were threatening Judah. But Hezekiah had great faith in the Lord, and, as in our Golden Text, admonished the people of all twelve tribes to “turn again unto the Lord,” assuring them that if there was this whole-hearted reform even those already taken captive would be restored to their own land; for, he said, “The Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.”

Hezekiah’s efforts were only partially successful. When receiving his letters of invitation, the people “laughed them [the messengers] to scorn, and mocked them.” (vs. 10) But this was not true of all. Many from the ten-tribe portion of the nation responded as well as from the two tribes, in all “a very great congregation.”—vs. 13

First they took away the altars of the false gods. Then they killed the passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were “ashamed,” and sanctified themselves. Then, realizing that many of the people would not have had an opportunity to make themselves ceremonially clean, the Levites were assigned the task of slaying the passover lambs for them, instead of each family slaying its own.—vss. 14-17

Verses 18 to 20 reveal the graciousness and understanding of Israel’s God—our Heavenly Father. Many from the ten tribes who came to Jerusalem to partake of the passover had not been properly cleansed, therefore were not worthy, ceremonially, to partake, yet they were joining in with the others. “But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.”—vss. 18,19

“And the Lord God hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.” (vs. 20) “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart,” God said to Samuel. (I Sam. 16:7) We see this exemplified in the publican who prayed, “Be merciful to me a sinner.” (Luke 18:13) This man “went down to his house justified.” So the repentant Israelites, while ceremonially unclean, and, from the standpoint of the Law, barred from any friendly relationship with God, were, nevertheless, seeking after him in their hearts, and he “healed” them.

Paul wrote that “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” (II Cor. 5:19) Repentance is the first step in being fully reconciled to God. When the heart repents and turns to God, he no longer imputes trespasses. In this age, when heart repentance is followed by the denials of self in full consecration to do God’s will, the merit of Christ is imputed resulting in “justification of life.”—Rom. 5:18

QUESTIONS

What were the conditions in Israel when Hezekiah came to the throne of Judah?

Name some of the things Hezekiah did in his effort to restore the worship of the true God.

How successful were Hezekiah’s efforts to reunite the ten tribes of Israel with the two tribes?

Upon what basis does God appraise those who manifest a desire to be in harmony with him?

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