Tag: Ahaz

• Isaiah 39: Peace and Truth

  
  

  Isaiah 39: Peace and Truth

  Wednesday, January 7, 2026

  

  This chapter brings to a close the first portion of Isaiah’s prophecy and prepares us to hear what the prophet has to say in the rest of his prophecy. We witness Hezekiah’s hospitality and hear the conversation he has with the prophet, Isaiah; and we want to know more about this man who becomes king at age 25, and who reforms his government and his people while reigning successfully for 29 years. Today we also witness a harbinger of events to come, the invasion of Judah and the deportation of her people. Hezekiah does not allow ominous omens to diminish his faith. He does not waver from his belief that Yahweh saves. And he makes certain to foster peace and truth in all that he proclaims and does. To examine the story of Hezekiah more closely, we return to a reflection we shared entitled Desperation. 

  We have taken a look at Hezekiah, son of idolatrous Ahaz, a half-dozen times since we began our Noontime reflections; and each time we pause with him, I am always impressed by his fidelity and perseverance. Having Ahaz as a father, Isaiah as a prophet, and Sennacherib as an adversary, Hezekiah seems doomed to a story of failure. Yet he is not. To read more about him, turn to Chronicles or go to these sites http://www.varchive.org/tac/hezekiah.htm http://www.aboutbibleprophecy.com/p82.htm and http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article_hezekiah.html. Discover how the people build an amazing tunnel under his guidance to bring water to the besieged city. Read about how he consults with the prophet Isaiah who speaks plainly about their dire straits. Read about the odds that confront this man and this nation. And be amazed. Through many trials Hezekiah is accompanied by the God who accompanies us.

  We may want to review Chapter 18 of 2 Kings to understand where we are in the story.

  • Verse 3: Thus says Hezekiah: “This is a day of distress, of rebuke and of disgrace”.
  • Verse 4: So send up a prayer for the remnant that is here.
  • Verse 5: Thus says the Lord: “Do not be frightened by the words you have heard”.
  • Verses 15 – 19: Hezekiah prays in the Lord’s presence: “O Lord . . . incline your ear . . . and listen!  Open your eyes, O Lord and see!  . . . Save us . . . that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God”. 

    

  God hears the prayer and answers Hezekiah. In Chapter 20, Hezekiah falls ill and God rescues him. This ruler is destined to serve God and through perseverance he does so, and he does so quite well. We can reflect on the life of this servant to compare it to our own. When the Assyrians in our lives are at the gates, will we go immediately to the Lord God to ask God for help or will we rely on our own resources? And when the Lord God has answered our prayers – no matter the response – do we give thanks and continue to trust in God?

  We find ourselves in distress and disgrace . . . God hears our prayer and answers us. Do not be frightened by the words you have heard.

  We send up our prayer to God who accompanies Hezekiah and all the faithful . . . God hears our prayer and answers us. Do not be frightened by the words you have heard.

  We are desperate and tempted to turn to our own resources . . . but let us instead go up to the Temple of the Lord and enter the Holy of Holies . . . to lay our petition on the altar of the Lord our God . . . and let us say. . .

  Save us . . . that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God.  Amen. 

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  A re-post from January 16, 2012.

  Images from: http://www.hellotravel.com/israel/walking-through-hezekiahs-tunnel and http://www.wildolive.co.uk/baptism.htm

  For more information on the excavation of Hezekiah’s tunnel, see: http://www.bibleplaces.com/heztunnel.htm  and http://www.hellotravel.com/israel/walking-through-hezekiahs-tunnel

  For other Noontime reflections on Hezekiah, see The Book of Micah: https://thenoontimes.com/the-book-of-our-life/micah-doom-and-hope-constancy/  or enter the words False Idols into the blog search bar and explore.

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  January 7, 2026

  2 Kings 18-19, Ahaz, constancy, fidelity, Hezekiah, Hezekiah’s Tunnel, perseverance, trust God

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• Ezekiel 43: God’s Glory Returns

  
  

  Ezekiel 43: God’s Glory Returns

  

  Friday, May 24, 2024

  As a counterbalance to the description of the downfall of Tyre on which we have reflected before, today we have a description of the temple in the New Jerusalem. What we see described here is God living with all of the Israelites forever. The man leading the prophet through this beautiful scenario says: Describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider the plan, and if they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the temple – its arrangements, its exits and entrances – its whole design and all its regulations and laws. Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations. This portion of Ezekiel’s prophecy is full of detailed descriptions of the place and the people who make up this new city where God dwells forever with his people. It was meant to both instruct and to bring comfort to those who lived in exile with this prophet. The footnotes in the NAB point out that in the new Israel the temple is free, even physically, from civil jurisdiction – moving away from the habit of corrupt kings like Ahaz and Manasseh who treated it as a private chapel for pagan rites.

  

  When Jesus arrived on the scene hundreds of years later as the true Messiah, he upset much of this separatist and purist thinking. It was for his openness and universality that he was hunted down, condemned and put to death. Because his new Law of Love fulfilled and superseded the old Law of Moses, he and his apostles were hounded out of towns and executed. Even in the early Christian church we see the struggle with this idea of openness and universality with the first Council which convened in Jerusalem to determine the importance of circumcision as a requirement for church membership. After discussion, and when the dust settles, we read in Acts that circumcision was not determined necessary. God’s church is open to Gentile and Jew, slave or free, woman or man – to all those who will be faithful to the Covenant first established with Adam and Eve.

  This is how we see the New Temple and the New Jerusalem as revealed by Ezekiel millennia ago. This place of worship where God dwells is where we live even today, if we might only choose to open our eyes and ears to it. This prophet was painting a picture of radiance for his exiled people, and they must have taken heart at the memories these words stirred of how it is to gather together as Yahweh’s faithful to repent, to petition, to give thanks, to worship.

  As Easter people who believe in the Resurrected Jesus, we too, can relax into these images and make them our own. We can carry them into the world with us each day as we encounter and then counter the darkness that wishes to prevail. We can arm ourselves with these pictures of the universal gathering of all of God’s People, the Faithful to the Covenant, the Hopeful in all things hopeless, the Truthful in all relationships, the Struggling with the cares of this world, the Freed who have escaped the chains of doubt and anxiety. For we are Easter people who live the Resurrection even now. For God’s Glory has returned in us in our willingness to serve, our willingness to be vulnerable, our willingness to witness, our willingness to be Christ and Light and Truth to a world struggling to be free of the darkness.

  This is God’s Plan. This is God’s Design. This is God’s Law.

  Amen.  Alleluia!

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  A Favorite from April 13, 2008.

  For a Noontime reflection on Tyre, enter the word in the blog search bar and explore. 

  For more National Geographic images of Lebanon, click on the image above or visit: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/lebanon-photos#/archway-roman-ruins-tyre-lebanon

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  May 24, 2024

  Ahaz, covenant, darkness versus light, Easter People, God’s plan, hope, Law of Love, Manasseh, New Temple, resurrected Christ, The Temple, truth, Tyre

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