A Man After God’s Heart

2 Kings 18:1-16
    1 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.  3 And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done.

    4 He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan. 5 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. 6 For he held fast to the LORD; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the LORD had commanded Moses. 7 The LORD was with him; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. 8 He subdued the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.
    9 Now it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. 10 And at the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. 11 Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 12 because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed His covenant and all that Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded; and they would neither hear nor do them.
    13 And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 14 Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, "I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay." And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house. 16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Hezekiah, the new king of Judah, meaning “Jehovah is my strength,” came to power and brought righteousness to the throne.  He followed the example of his ancestor king David in that he set his heart to to right according to the word of the LORD as He saw right, not rationalizing or excusing any misrepresentation of God’s commandments for any other purpose than God’s stated ones as it was written and as the prophets confirmed.  This meant that he not only did what was right before the LORD as others before him, but he went further to take down the offensive things, the high places of “hidden” pagan worship and altars (pillars) located away on mountain tops from public view.  It is interesting that the word for high places, בָּמָה ḇâmâ, mainly meant altars of pagan worship on mountains, but also had a meaning of a funeral mound (see Joshua 7:26), which hinted at the dead pursuit of false and empty worship on these high elevations of cultic practices.  They were dead ends.  Hezekiah tore these down, taking the additional step which his predecessors stopped short of in pursuit of being a God-pleaser like David, the man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22).  Hezekiah was a good and godly ruler over Judah as his name described him, for he relied on the LORD Jehovah to enable his rule and judgment.  We can learn much in imitating such an example of a God-pleaser, just as we can be edified by studying the life and Psalms of David to direct our hearts toward the LORD by the compass of His word to guide our steps along life’s paths where He leads us.  When opposition came from the king of Assyria who had taken Samaria of Israel and then came against Judah, Hezekiah paid him off with the treasury of the houses of the LORD and the king.  Even the gold covering the temple doors was taken off and handed over for a tribute payment as was done before with Syrian and Assyrian oppressors (1 Kings 15:18-19, 2 Kings 12:18, 16:8).  He bought time for God’s people by giving away earthly treasure.  We can learn a parallel to this in focusing our hearts on treasures of eternal value in God’s people and gospel work of deliverance and disciple making.  What is the government’s is made by them and for them, and we can freely hand that over as is due (Mark 12:16-17).  Our lives should be wholeheartedly handed over to our Lord daily as we reflect on our death to self in co-crucifixion with Christ (Galatians 2:20, Luke 9:23).