Who's your Mommy?
For the next few weeks we're going to be getting "Hints from Hezekiah." Hezekiah has the distinction of being singled out as a king who was faithful to the Lord: "There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him"We're going to walk through the passages about him in Kings, Chronicles and Isaiah and learn what we can from this remarkable man.
| In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan. ) Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses. And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory. (2Kings18:1-8) |
It needs to be said that Hezekiah lived in tumultuous times. Israel had split into Northern and Southern Kingdoms and the Northern Kingdom was godless, rebellious and crumbling morally, spiritually and politically. The Assyrian empire was on their doorstep and would soon invade and destroy them.
The Southern Kingdom, Judah (with Jerusalem as its capital) was not doing much better. While their kings were all from the royal line of Judah, many of them were corrupt and unfaithful to God and their people. Hezekiah's dad, Ahaz, was such a king. Amongst many evil things, he erected a copy of the Assyrian altars in the temple. His reign was so evil that Chronicles tells us that when he died, "he was not placed in the tombs of the kings of Israel..." (2Chron28:27)
So with such an evil dad, how did Hezekiah become such a good king?
One of the interesting features in Kings and Chronicles is that the authors start recording the names of the mothers of the kings. This is unusual in the very patriarchal culture of the day and, at times we are told when a mother is a good or a bad influence. In the case of Hezekiah, we are not told anything about his mother except her name: Abijah.
Abijah is a name used for men and women and means "God is my Father".
With no other strong influences being named in Hezekiah's life, I think it is safe to assume that Abijah must have been a good influence in her son's life.
Have you had a good and Godly mother? That is something to give thanks for!
Are you a mother or grandmother? Don't underestimate the power your influence you can have.
It looks like Hezekiah was a good king because he had a faithful mom...
