King Hezekiah: A Godly Mother's Hope

People of Hope Part 8 - King Hezekiah
Monday devotions 11 May 2020

Hezekiah grew up as a prince. In the courts of his father, Ahaz, who was the King of Judah. Certainly, this was a very privileged position to grow up in. He was born with the proverbial golden spoon in the mouth - or at least that would be our perception of his upbringing. Only, he had one of the most evil kings of Judah as a father. In 2 Chron 28 we read that Ahaz committed great atrocities, to name but a few, he worshiped the gods of the armies that defeated him at war, he committed adultery, he closed the doors of the temple of God, put out the lamps and stripped the treasures thereof to pay tribute to kings who would not help him at war, but worst of all he sacrificed his children by throwing them alive into the fire as a sacrifice to the fire-god. Hezekiah grew up in this environment. He was never sure if he was going to be alive by tomorrow morning or was he going to be sacrificed next? Imagine what it must have been like for Hezekiah to have to grow up with fear for his own life and for those of his siblings. Imagine having to deal with that kind of psycho-social-emotional trauma daily. Never being sure if you can trust your own father, never sure of a father’s love and of his provision and protection. Surely this kind of upbringing leaves deep scars.

To the contrary Ahaz’s father Jotham was described as a good and righteous king, that pioneered several building projects in the land. He became mighty “because He prepared his ways before the Lord” 2 Chron 27:6. Ahaz thus had quite a different kind of upbringing, yet he reigned through terror and destruction. In many ways we could thus expect that Hezekiah with this kind of broken and destructive upbringing was a disastrous king in the making.

Hezekiah’s mother was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah. Can you imagine what it must have been like for her being married to Ahaz? Seems to me like a marriage from hell itself. Her dreams shattered and cruelly disillusioned. However, Abijah must have been a God-fearing woman, no doubt God must have sustained her through this difficult situation. Her name means “Yahweh is my Father” and her father was none other than Zechariah who was the man that had understanding in the visions of God and from which Hezekiah’s great-grandfather Uzziah sought godly instruction (2 Chron 26:5). Uzziah heed the instructions of Zechariah and God prospered him. Thus, despite an extremely evil father, Hezekiah had a godly great-grandfather (Uzziah), grandfather (Jotham), and mother (Abijah) who undoubtedly shaped his values, impacted his character, introduced him to “Yahweh my Father” and imparted the spirit of God to him. It surely was this influence that steered Hezekiah into a different direction than his father.

Within the first month after he became king he repaired and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He gathered the priests and Levites and gave them instruction to sanctify themselves and clean out the rubbish from the holy place. He acknowledged and repented of the sins of his father’s house and purposed in his heart to return to the covenant of the God of Israel. Then the Levites and some of the priests cleansed the temple and sanctified themselves, however they could not get this done in time to celebrate the Passover. Then Hezekiah gathered the leaders and together with the priests and a great assembly and they worshiped with song and musical instruments. Hezekiah and his leadership remembered that in Numbers 9 God made provision for a second Passover time in the event of someone not being able to be sanctified in time for the Passover due to e.g. death in the family or being on a journey and therefore decided to call all the people of Judah to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, even though it was a whole month later than it usually is.  While celebrating the Passover the whole assembly agreed to celebrate it for an additional 7 days! This is the only time in history that we read that the Passover was corporately celebrated not in its usual time frame. Such was the celebration in the land, and such was the people’s relief and need to come into right standing with God again that they just could not stop celebrating this momentous occasion.

Hezekiah went on to become one of the best kings Judah ever had. Many a war God simply won supernaturally for him. He relayed the Gihon spring through a tunnel to the inside of the city when they were besieged and restored the walls of Jerusalem. When He got sick, he petitioned God for his life and God added to his life 15 years. He did have his moments of struggle with pride and showed off his riches to the princes of Babylon glorifying in himself and his wealth – consequently he had to humble himself before God again etc. However, in 2 Chron. 31:21 we read that in every work he began in the service of the house of God he sought God and did it with all his heart, thus God prospered him.

While we celebrate Mother’s Day on 10 May 2020, let us never underestimate the influence of a godly mother (or grandmother) that hold on to her “Yahweh my Father” like Abijah did. In Hezekiah’s life it no doubt gave him hope for a future and it resulted in hope and restoration for the whole nation, changing the course of history not only for an individual but for a whole nation.

Let us therefore heed this example, keep our eyes focused on Jesus and our hearts set on the covenant with “Yahweh our Father” no matter what kind of upbringing we had He can surely bring us into our God-given destiny and He can bring South-Africa as a nation into its God-given destiny too.

© 2020 Copyright All rights reserved HG Venter gerda.venter@telkomsa.net

Lets praise and worship Yahweh our God with Hezekiah Walker: Every Praise