April 19, 2020: Day 78 – II Kings 20

So I think Hezekiah is probably one of my favorite kings of the people of Israel.  I want to start at the end of this chapter.  Every time that I take a group of people to Israel I make sure that people have the opportunity to walk through Hezekiah’s tunnel so that they can experience what he did and the incredible feat that it was to bring water into the city of Jerusalem.  It is a wet tunnel and you have have to walk most of it hunched over with water up past your knees, but it is well worth it.  It is a tunnel that runs outside of the city walls and runs into the city and served as the source of water for Israel especially when it was under siege.  We read in vs.20 about how he brought the water into the city through a conduit.  Kind of surreal to think that this conduit is still present and that you can walk through it to this day.

The beginning of the chapter is also powerful because we read about the faithfulness of Hezekiah even when he was sick to the point of death.  Isaiah, his prophet, came to him and warned him to put his house in order because he was about to die.  So, this is where we get that idea that when you come to the end of your life you have to put your house in order.  This was commanded to the king of Judah by the prophet Isaiah.  

But he prays to God and God spares him for another 15 years.  Much of the change in mind had to do with the righteousness of Hezekiah and how he had been faithful to God all of his life.  Then we get the harbinger of bad things to come, which don’t really bother or concern Hezekiah because,as Scripture says: “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?”  Who cares what happens to my kids as long as I’m happy and prosperous.  Sounds like our approach to climate change…