The Un-Series: Week 8 Day 1

2 Kings 18:1-5 (ESV)

18 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. 2 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. 3 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. 4 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.)

5 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.

This week we meet one of the greatest kings in Israel's history: Hezekiah. Hezekiah was just 25 years old when he began his reign and, from the beginning, he made a name for himself as a great reformer “just as his father David had done” (2 Kings 18:3). David was not his direct father, but in Israel David was the standard for greatness and it was appropriate for the scribes to compare all kings to King David. 

Notice that one of the things Hezekiah did was to break into pieces the bronze snake that God commanded Moses to make in Numbers 21:4-9. Hezekiah was not afraid to destroy this important piece of history because he found that some of the people were worshiping it as an idol. I wonder, would have I, at age 25, been courageous enough to “tear down” something that had become an idol to those around me? Maybe not literally “tear it down,” but would I have spoken up and exposed something so offensive to God? Would I today?

Sometimes we make something God approved of into an idol, but the Lord alone should be the object of our worship.