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. 2 Kings 18:5, NIV

 

Many years ago, King Hezekiah caused me an embarrassing moment at a youth Bible quiz. Not being very well read in the Old Testament, I said in response to a question that Hezekiah was a book of the Bible – when, in fact, he is regarded as unrivalled among the kings of Judah. “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done.” (2 Kings 18:3)

 

During a period of illness, I was able to catch up on his reign, and discovered how faithful and righteous he was.

 

The writer of Kings tells us this was because “He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses.” (2 Kings 18:6) This was something Hezekiah took very seriously. His father, Ahaz, had rejected David’s legacy of righteousness, modelling his reign instead on the kings of Israel who embraced the idolatry of the Canaanite religions – hardly setting him a good example.

 

Hezekiah was certainly no ‘chip off the old block’. He got rid of everything idolatrous – the high places, the sacred stones, the Asherah poles – and broke into pieces the bronze snake that Moses had made in the desert. Once a reminder of who to worship, it had itself become an object of worship, and was even given a name: Nehushtan.

 

Hezekiah knew the commands God had given Moses, and understood that keeping them obediently meant nothing if they were not embraced and whole-heartedly performed – just as Jesus would later teach in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5), and as would Paul would later experience, and teach about, himself. The letter of the Law without the spirit of the Law is not righteousness. Fulfilment of God’s way was never just adherence to a set of laws devoid of love, understanding, or grace for others

 

We don’t need to look very far to see the idolatry of our time – it is rife. Idolatry is anything that absorbs our heart and time and holds first place in our lives above God – anything we devote ourselves to at any cost. We need only look at how we spend our time and money to assess who, or what, holds the greatest importance to us, and provides our core identity, security and worth.

 

Hezekiah's story challenges us to ask what our own "Nehushtans" might be — good things, even God-given things, that have quietly become substitutes for God himself. Like Hezekiah, may we have the courage to clear away whatever competes for first place in our hearts, and to hold fast to the Lord, not merely in outward observance, but in wholehearted devotion — trusting him above every false security this world offers.

 

Prayer: Father God, I trust in you alone. Help me always to do “what is right in your eyes” and to reject any Nehushtan of my own making. AAmen