Today’s Devotion
Topic: Hezekiah’s Heart Towards God (Part 3)
(Self Assessment 195)
Background:
After Hezekiah’s miraculous recovery from a sickness that should have taken his life, “Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of his illness and recovery.” (Isaiah 39: 1). Let us get into today’s study and ascertain what happened afterwards, and the lessons to be learnt from them.
Text: Isaiah 39: 2- 8
2 Hezekiah received the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses— the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine olive oil—his entire armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.
3 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?” “From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came to me from Babylon.”
4 The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?” “They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”
5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord Almighty: 6 The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. 7 And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
8 “The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my lifetime.” Amen
Questions:
1. Do you think it was a great move for Hezekiah, one who knew the Lord so well, to have opened up the entire treasury of his nation to total strangers who had only brought him solidarity and goodwill messages?
2. Although the Bible did not categorically say, what do you think are some of the likely reasons why Hezekiah would do something like this?
3. The questions prophet Isaiah posed to king Hezekiah in verses 3 and 4 suggest that the king did not consult atleast one of his trusted prophets (ie. Isaiah) before going all out to do what he did. He did not even know about these people except they were from a “distant land”. What do you think it is that makes us want to hurriedly show everyone who we are and what we have without consulting or considering those our actions might affect later?
4. When Isaiah asked what they saw in the palace, Hezekiah said, “They saw everything in my palace. There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.” What can you say about this justaposed with Isaiah’s prophecy in verse 5-7? What is the correlation?
5. Kindly read verse 8 again:
a) What can you say about Hezekiah’s attitude and reaction towards the prophecy that came regarding his earlier action and its consequence to come?
b) Could there be something better he could have done? Especially since he was the same person who had earlier prayed for God to change a prophecy regarding his sickness.
6. Several years after, the king of Babylon invaded the land of Judah and carried off all its treasures and able citizens to slavery. Just as the prophecy declared. What can you say about how we fail to recognize, as a people or a nation, that most of our careless decisions and actions can have serious repercussions for generations after us?
7. What have you learnt from today’s Bible study?
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