King Hezekiah and Disfunctional Families

King Hezekiah, clothed in sackcloth, spreads open the letter before the Lord. 1873, unknown

 

What Bible stories do you remember about King Hezekiah? My quickest one is that he was one of the good kings, but his son lost Jerusalem to Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar II. He came to mind this week as I was listening to Isaiah beling read. I had forgotten Isaiah was the prophet during a portion of Hezekiah's reign. Doing a quick search in the KJV version on e-Sword came back with 117 verses with Hezekiah in them, sometimes twice.

That covered II Kings, both of the Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemia, Proverbs, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. For someone to be mentioned across several verses in eight books of the Bible, it might be a good idea to take a look at this man's life. The earliest mention is a verse that is repeated often in both Kings and Chronicles, giving the name of the just deceased king along with the name of the new king:

And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead. (2 Kings 16:20)

This can get confusing because the kingdom David and Solomon built as Israel ended up being divided into the northern (Israel) and the southern (Judah) as the tribes split not only politically, but religiously. Judah held Jerusalem - the center of Judaism, the location of the Temple David was not allowed to build, and Solomon was.

Both men eventually followed their wives into divisive religions. Not that they themselves ceased to worship the great I AM, but they allowed their politically added wives to bring their own religions into the country. Kept a bit of peace in their disfunctional households, but destroyed their nations.

Might I take a moment to remind us what Jesus said about marriage - which goes back to God's creation of Adam and Eve. Pharisees  - prients of Judaism at the time - approached Jesus with a "Gotcha!" question. As usual, Jesus went to the very core of the question, and back to scriptures:

The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. (Matthew 19:3-6)

Just as usual, the Pharisees reverted to tradition. Yes, the Mosaic Laws allowed divorce. Jesus knew that - because He was there when Moses took the law from God:

They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. (Matthew 19:7-8)

Take a look at the Strong's for the Greek word translated here as "suffered" - it does not mean "endured pain":

ἐπιτρέπω epitrepō ep-ee-trep'-o

From G1909 and the base of G5157; to turn over (transfer), that is, allow: - give leave (liberty, license), let, permit, suffer.

That should read: "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to put away your wives. That is not what God created."

Problems that arise in a family often come from what some people say are "disfunctional actions." We've all read about disfunctional families. The vast majority of us come from families with huge disfunction. May I make a small suggestion here and define most of the "disfunction" can really be described as sinfulness?

Ooops - I do believe I've stepped on a few toes. I know mine felt some pressure from my own words. There have been disfunctions in my family, too. Some of the actions that were painful for my children can be traced to actions and attitudes that were in our home while they were children and teens.

How about your home - no, I am not asking that you answer any of them here - were there actions and/or attitudes in your own home that could be considered sin if measured by biblical standards?

Not my standards, biblical standards. Think for a few moments. Becasuse of the next few days I will be looking at what the Bible standards are. And they may not match your own. You may decide to call me on some of what I say - please do not hesitate to e-mail me if adding a Comment below is too public.

However, we do need to discuss sin - or people cannot understand why we say people are sinners in need of a Savior, and why we believe Jesus Christ is that very salvation. Alone. Without churches. And then we are going to discuss what a church is. Stick around for a few days.