For the king .. had taken counsel to keep the passover in the second month.
–2 Chronicles 30:2
Everybody’s heard of King David, but how many remember King Hezekiah? He ruled over Judah, the southern part of what had been a united kingdom under David. After David’s son Solomon died, the northern part of the kingdom, Israel, broke away. Its rulers set up their own dynasties, while David’s descendants, including Hezekiah, ruled over the southern part.
What makes Hezekiah so interesting is that he was a good king. None of the kings of Israel, and few of the kings of Judah, were good kings. But of Hezekiah we read: “there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah after him, or among those who were before him.” (2 Kings 18:5)
Hezekiah a better king than David or Solomon? How’s that?
It wasn’t because Hezekiah was perfect. He made mistakes, or as we would say today, foreign policy blunders. When Judah was threatened by a neighboring empire, Hezekiah sought help from Egypt, though the prophet Isaiah opposed him. Eventually Hezekiah realized his error, and through Isaiah, the Lord assured him that the threat would go away on its own, which it soon did.
The Old Testament describes Hezekiah as a great king not because of his foreign policy but his domestic program — namely, his restoration of proper worship in Jerusalem.
Previous kings had set up idols and encouraged worship of pagan deities, but Hezekiah overturned their innovations and restored the worship of God.
Yet, if we look closely at what Hezekiah did, we see that he too violated the requirements for worship set down in the Jewish Law. What made Hezekiah different was which parts of the Law he ignored, and why. He pushed out the celebration of Passover by a month. (Imagine us moving Christmas to the end of January, or pushing the Fourth of July into August!) He moved Passover because the priests needed more time to purify themselves, and people needed more time to travel to Jerusalem.
And he wasn’t finished. Many people who came to the (late) Passover were refugees from Israel. They’d been part of the idolatrous system of worship established by the rebellious rulers of the breakaway northern kingdom. Despite that, Hezekiah allowed them to celebrate the Passover, praying, “The good Lord pardon all who set their hearts to seek God … even though not in accordance with the sanctuary’s rule of cleanness.” (2 Chronicles 30:18)
That’s what made Hezekiah great. He knew that God wanted proper worship, and worked toward that goal. But he also realized, hundreds of years before Christ, that what God wanted more than letter-perfect worship was compassion. For that goal, anything was negotiable, even the date of Passover –specified in the very pages of Scripture. The only thing that mattered was allowing more of God’s people to worship their Savior by celebrating their deliverance from bondage in Egypt?
Are we like Hezekiah? Or are there parts of Scripture we put before the great commandment? (Mark 12:28-31) Are there rituals and traditions we cling to that prevent us from welcoming refugees from idolatry? I’d like to hear your thoughts about how we can be more like Israel’s greatest King.
“But he also realized, hundreds of years before Christ, that what God wanted more than letter-perfect worship was compassion.”
Yes, and he was not alone in the OT to call for compassion and justice. The message of practical love Christ preached was already old and, for me, finding that thread in the OT brings that text to life.
— Hank