No Heroes Here - What She Said Part 14 - Week 2 Day 5

TODAY'S TREASURE

They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

Ps. 14:3 and 53:3

Transcript

No Heroes Here

Marlys Roos, Guest Writer

Today’s Treasure

They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

Ps. 14:3 and 53:3

Did David know that he was describing his royal descendants in these psalms? When Israel was split after Solomon’s reign, the kings of Israel (Northern Kingdom), for the most part, “did what was evil in the sight of the LORD” (1 Kings 15:26). 

In Judah (Southern Kingdom), there was a mix of “good kings” and “bad kings.” The first few verses of the introduction to a new king tell whether he did or did not do right in the sight of the LORD. Yet even with those who did right, there was more to the story. A few verses later, we usually find there’s a “but”—that the high places (built as convenient places of worship) weren’t taken away. So, they ruled well until a character flaw or a misstep brought severe consequences.

For Asa, it was trusting in man more than God. Even as he became ill in the last two years of his reign, he called on physicians rather than on the LORD. His son, Jehoshaphat, another “good” king, led the people in worship and demonstrated confidence in the LORD in battle until he aligned himself with the wicked kings of Israel and “acted wickedly in so doing” (2 Chron. 20:35 NASB).

Pride was the downfall of the following “good” kings: Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham, and even the last two, Hezekiah and Josiah. Although they both “held fast” to the LORD, tore down the high places, cleansed the Temple, and reinstituted Passover, they were not perfect.

More was written about Hezekiah than the other kings who succeeded Solomon. He reigned twenty-nine years during the time of the prophet Isaiah, who instructed and rebuked him. In the account of Hezekiah in 2 Kings, it seems Judah finally had a king who would save them from God’s wrath. He did the things his predecessors had not, and when the Assyrian army invaded, he did not rely upon his own strength but sent for Isaiah that they might pray to the LORD God to save Judah. 

However, soon after the LORD miraculously delivered Judah, Hezekiah’s pride first appeared. He had become mortally ill and cried out to the LORD for healing. Though God answered his prayer, he became proud and had to repent (2 Chron. 32:25-26). Not long afterward, envoys from Babylon came to Jerusalem, and he proudly showed them all Judah’s treasures. When Isaiah rebuked him and prophesied Babylon’s future seizure of Judah and those treasures, Hezekiah accepted the prophecy with relief that the fall of Judah would not occur during his reign.

Perhaps such disregard for future generations bred contempt within his young son, Manasseh, who led the people of Judah “astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel” (2 Kings 21:9). Yet, in 2 Chronicles 33:12-13, we learn that eventually Manasseh humbled himself, repented and “knew that the LORD was God.” He spent the rest of his life trying to rectify the evil he had done.

After two years of Manasseh’s son’s evil reign, the last “good” king began to reign. Josiah was eight years old and had already begun to seek the LORD, staying on the path of righteousness all his tragically short life. His downfall came by not heeding God’s warnings against facing Pharaoh in battle; almost immediately, Josiah was killed. After Josiah, only weak kings-in-name-only reigned until Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and carried off those of the royal household.

LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT

The history of Judah’s kings is not encouraging at first glance, but it is a reminder that this is not their story, nor are they the heroes of it. Their history reminds us that there is only one Hero whose grace and love abound to those who repent and call upon His name for salvation—even to someone like Manasseh.

PRAYER

Father God, You alone are good. There is none like You. Our hope is not in ourselves or others but in You. You alone can save. You are the only true Hero who will never fail. Amen.