Opening your treasure to the enemy
Isaiah 39:2”Hezekiah was pleased, and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious oil and his whole armory and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.”
INTRO: Children are so excited when you visit them, they would bring their whole bag of new and old toys and drop in front of you, next they would demonstrate it and look at your face for the same excitement that they have. Little kids are adorable, I would say ‘ah and ooo’ and pretend to be thrilled with their toys. King Hezekiah is no better than these innocent kids, he took the men sent from the king of Babylon and showed everything, the Bible says “there was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.” What Hezekiah? The good, wise and godly man did that? I uttered these words loudly as I read this portion…..because I was shocked. My conundrum is how could good people do such crazy stuff??
Please stay with me as I explain this to you with historical explanation, don’t skip, read this portion carefully, this lesson is very essential for each one of us. In the two last chapters 37 and 38, we see great mighty miracles happen in the life of king Hezekiah.
DESTRUCTION OF ASSYRIANS AND KING SENNACHERIB:
King Hezekiah wept and cried to God when the army of Assyria ambushed his country, God heard his prayer and the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were dead. Sennacherib was also killed by his own sons while he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god. (Isaiah 37: 36-38) Great victory!
Very next chapter we read about his sickness and again Hezekiah prayed hard, God sent His prophet Isaiah to say that God was not only healing Hezekiah but also adding 15 years to his life. When Hezekiah asked a sign for his healing, God obliged and said ‘ Listen carefully, I will turn the shadow on the stairway [denoting the time of day] ten steps backward, the shadow on the stairway ([a]sundial) of Ahaz.” And the sunlight went ten steps backward on the stairway where it had [previously] gone down. Wow! God wanted to demonstrate that He was “turning back the clock” for Hezekiah – giving him 15 years he would have lost. King Hezekiah received healing, bonus of 15 years added and not enough he saw the demonstration of God’s supernatural power by turning back the clock for the sake of his son Hezekiah. (Read Isaiah 38:8-11) King Hezekiah was totally pampered by God and the wise king turned into a spoilt brat. Sometimes success hits our head and we rashly do things that are contrary to our character. Anybody listening? We need a pinch of failure, pain and humiliation in order to keep us grounded in God and His ways. Agree?
GIFTS FROM KING OF BABYLON:The sun was the Babylonians’ god; and when they understood that it was with a respect to Hezekiah that the sun, to their great surprise, went back ten degrees, on such a day, they thought themselves obliged to do Hezekiah all the honour they could. So the king of Babylon sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. Did not Apostle Paul say: “But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3)
2 Corinthians 2:11 says this: “in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.”
HIDDEN AGENDA BEHIND THE GIFTS: Joining the enemy camp: The king of Babylon was an enemy to the king of Assyria, and therefore he was fond of Hezekiah, because when someone hates your enemy then you join hands with them. The Assyrians were much weakened by the power of God Jehovah and also the king of Babylon was nice to Hezekiah because of his power and prosperity too. Naively and foolishly Hezekiah opens his treasure to the enemies. The visit was an attempt to bring the kingdom of Judah on to the side of the Babylonians against the Assyrians. Caveat! Be cautious of the plans of the enemy! Don’t fall for perks, gifts and bouquets, there is hidden agenda behind the gifts.
We run a free school for the poor and underprivileged kids of our community, sometimes children pester their parents and bring gifts to teachers and expect ‘goodwill’ and ‘favor’. I strictly announced that nothing should be given or taken. Be cautious!
LEADERS CANNOT AFFORD TO BE UNWISE:
A Leader cannot afford to be unwise, hasty and foolish, the punishment would be heavy. God expects responsibility, read:
Deuteronomy 17:
14 "When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, 'I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,'
15 you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman.
16 "Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, 'You shall never again return that way.'
17 "He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.
18 "Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.
19 "It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes,
20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.
Psalm 2:10-12
Now therefore, O kings, show discernment;
Take warning, O judges of the earth.
Worship the Lord with reverence
And rejoice with trembling.
Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way,
Without consulting the Lord or prophet Isaiah, King Hezekiah showed them his vast treasures, his abundant supplies of food, and his military weapons.
Apostle Paul reprimanded joining with wrong crowd: 1 Corinthians 15: 33 Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."
34 Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.
Proverbs 9:6 "Forsake your folly and live, And proceed in the way of understanding."
FOLLY OF KING HEZEKIAH AND THE REPURCUSSIONS OF IT:
PRICE FOR STUPIDITY/PUNISHMENT:
5-7) The word of the LORD to Hezekiah through Isaiah.
Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the LORD. ‘And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”
This was fulfilled in 2 Kings 24:10-13 and 2 Kings 25:11-17, under the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. It took more than a hundred years before Babylon carried away the royal treasures of Judah, but they did come, just as Isaiah prophesied.
SAMSON COMMITTED THE SAME FOLLY: Delilah asked Samson three times the source of his strength, and he gave her three wrong answers. She then “pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death,” as the King James Version Bible puts it. He told her that shaving his head would make him weak.
She kept on asking him, day after day. He got so sick and tired of her nagging him about it that he finally told her the truth. “My hair has never been cut,” he said. “I have been dedicated to God as a Nazirite from the time I was born. If my hair were cut, I would lose my strength and be as weak as anybody else.” When Delilah realized that he had told her the truth, she sent a message to the Philistine kings and said, “Come back just once more. He has told me the truth.” Then they came and brought the money with them. Delilah lulled Samson to sleep in her lap and then called a man, who cut off Samson's seven locks of hair. Then she began to torment him, for he had lost his strength. Then she shouted, “Samson! The Philistines are coming!” He woke up and thought, “I'll get loose and go free, as always.” He did not know that the LORD had left him.”(Judges 16:6-20)
Samson had to pay a very high price for opening the treasure to the enemy.
We need to be very careful of the Sunday School teacher that we recruit, the Associate Pastor, Worship Leader and the Gospel singers. One wrong person can create havoc in the House of God. Bringing everybody inside our home for the sake of ministry also is very wrong, the lesson which I learnt after severe kicks that I received. As a mom of two grown up adult children who are also in the ministry, now I put my foot down as to who should visit our home. When they know too much then they talk too much. NONE can be trusted. We need to keep emotions aside and walk strictly according to the Spirit. Anybody listening? People in the ministry would know what I am talking about.
ALLOWING WRONG PEOPLE INTO YOUR HOME: MOST HURTING: And they shall take away some of your sons…and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon: Worse than taking the material riches of the kings of Judah, the king of Babylon would take the sons of the king of Judah – the pillars of the country. One man makes a foolish mistake and thus a generation of youth suffer! This is no small error in allowing the wrong people into your home.
I would like to narrate a horrific incident that happened in Hyderabad in the city that we stay. Both husband and wife were young software Engineers working in reputed organization with a cute son. When the husband is away the wife would invite a male colleague into her home and thus they developed an affair. After a while this woman got bored so she started dating another man in her officer and brought him home. While she was with the second guy in the living room, her son playing in his room, the first boy friend knocked her door, knowing fully well that the second guy was inside. The woman hid the second boy friend inside the room where her boy was playing and opened the door. The blood hounding first boy friend went frantically looking for the second guy and found him in the son’s room. He took a knife and instead of cutting the throat of the boyfriend, he cut the throat of the little boy and killed him instantly and left. He knew how he could hurt her. While this news was spreading the town like wild fire, the husband unable to bear the pain of his wife’s betrayal and horrible death of his son, fell in front of a moving train and killed himself. When we do not safeguard our home and keep it holy this is what would happen.
