Wednesday
20th December
The portrayal of Hezekiah in this passage is
not very flattering from a Christian perspective. He has been healed of
illness, and the King of Babylon’s son’s envoys come with a gift to recognise
the recovery. But no humility and thankfulness from Hezekiah! He takes the
envoys round to see the full extent of his wealth and influence instead. The
prophet Isaiah arrives on the scene and promptly issues a stark warning: a time
will come when all his wealth will be carted off to the self-same Babylon, and
his descendants will become subservient to this new power. But in his double
whammy of well-being (health and riches), he is complacent and dismissive. Ah
ha, this will not happen in my lifetime then......
Is this
what power does to people? Yes, apparently so, and we see it still today. It is
for others to take responsibility for their own thoughts and actions, but what
does the passage have to say to us/to me?
Isaiah
gets to the core of the issue of course. Riches and even good health are
ephemeral. We need to take a sober look at our own good fortune, and place it
in context. There are people poorer than us and there are people richer than
us. We are to be thankful for all that we do have, steward it wisely, and wait
patiently to be finally with God in heaven. We know this very well, but it is
good to be reminded - ultimate wealth lies beyond this world, and not in
Hezekiah’s.
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