Isaiah 38-39 “The Complexity of Humans”

READ: Isaiah 38-39  

Verses chosen for meditation: Isaiah 39:5-8

⁵ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: ⁶ Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. ⁷ And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” ⁸ Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.”

REFLECT

I wrote a devotion on the parallel account of this passage in 2 Kings 20 (https://agapedevotional.blogspot.com/2023/08/2-kings-19-20-ending-race-well.html), about how Hezekiah, as good a king as he was, tainted his legacy by not ending his final years well.

Rebuked by Isaiah over his folly of parading his riches to the envoys from Babylon and receiving a prophecy of doom, Hezekiah's response confuses many in v8. Many scholars are divided over the meaning of Hezekiah’s words. Did he say the word of the Lord is good, because the word is indeed good, stating it for what it is? Or was it selfish contentment, that though disaster would come, it would not affect him?

Due to this, would he be remembered as the righteous king who led many good policies and resisted idolatrous worship, or the bad king whose pride ushered in the total plunder of his own nation? Is he a good king, or a bad king?

RELATE

There’s a counsellor who visits schools to share about his work, usually bringing an ex-convict along. In a discussion one day, someone asked the ex-convict what his hopes and advice were for his son, who’s approaching his teens. Fighting back tears, he answered, “I hope he wouldn’t be like me.” The questioner, after some thought, replied, “You’re a gentle, caring and wise person. You should want your son to be like you.”

Our perceptions of ourselves and others are often skewed. Like the ex-convict, there are those more honourable than they think they are. We may judge such people to be bad too, when there’s much goodness in them, and instead think ourselves better than we really are. It’s hard to evaluate ourselves and others because that’s how complex we are. We have both honourable and dishonourable features.

The book of Isaiah portrays Hezekiah as one such complex person. In Chapter 38, when God told Hezekiah about his inevitable death, he bargained and pleaded for healing. His reason: walking before God in faithfulness with the right heart (which he did). The irony was that if he was as he described at that moment, wouldn’t he be at peace and trust God, instead of getting bitter over this news? Facing death revealed surges of unfulfilled earthly desires. It’s not difficult to empathise with Hezekiah. In the prime of his life, he worked righteously to where he was. Yet to bear a son (probably one of his desires), he thought he had many years of continuing God’s good work left in him. Why would God, of all times, take him away now?

God in his grace granted his wishes and prolonged his life, but he squandered his extra time by flaunting his riches in front of his people’s future destroyers. He did bear a son during this time, but his son became one of the most wicked kings, undoing all his good work. Finally, what do we make of Hezekiah’s reaction in Isaiah 39:8?

This ambiguity in Hezekiah is seen in many Biblical characters: Joseph, Moses, David. The point is not to determine whether they are good or bad, but to use the ambiguity in these accounts to reflect on the ambiguity of own being. This ambiguity makes us realise that evaluating people is not as simple we often make it to be. That’s why we tend to be wrongfully judgemental.

These accounts also show the fallibility of humans. Isaiah has shown even the best kings in the line of David are not good enough. However, this also shows that the Messiah is essential. In Jesus, we finally have a king who’s good enough to walk perfectly before God our Father, and he came to save.

REST

Dear Jesus, we find security only in you, as you will never fail us. Help us recognise our tendency to fall, so we could turn our dependence towards you. Help us to see others differently, not only acknowledging one another’s complexity, but that each one is precious in your eyes, loved by you. Amen.

Chris Chong