The Law of Moses had been both a source of blessings and of
curses if it wasn’t obeyed. It was also the way to test the Israelite love of
God:
·
“You shall therefore love the Lord your God and
keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always…You shall
therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be
strong, and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to
possess… you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the rules that I am
setting before you today.” (Deuteronomy 11:1, 8, 32)
But what would happen when the Israelites overlooked a
command? They could offer a sacrifice to the Lord who would mercifully pass
over their sins.
However, what would happen if they purposely
disobeyed a command but with a right motive and heart. This happened during a
great revival of King Hezekiah who reigned in Jerusalem for 29 years.
It had been a time of great suffering for Judah under his
father, King Ahaz, who had led the nation into idolatry, remodeling the Temple
to serve Assyrian idols. Judah knew that they had sinned and had endured its
horrific consequences. They were ready to return to their God, and King
Hezekiah was the one to lead the revival. He rallied his broken nation for this
return.
They sought to reinstate the Passover and sent emissaries
throughout Judah and also into the now dispersed vassal state of Israel to
invite the remaining remnants of the Israelite tribes to attend:
·
So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah
with letters from the king and his princes, as the king had commanded, saying,
“O people of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,
that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of
the kings of Assyria.” (2 Chronicles 30:6)
However, the couriers to Israel were scorned and mocked.
Nevertheless, the hearts of some were touched, and they journeyed to celebrate
the Passover:
·
The hand of God was also on Judah to give them
one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the
Lord. (2 Chronicles 30:12)
Meanwhile, they were busy cleansing Jerusalem for this great
return. However, they had a problem it was already too late to celebrate the
Passover, which had been designated for the first month of the year, but it was
now the second month and there weren’t enough priests to officiate. Besides,
they and the other Levites didn’t have time enough to purify themselves. Nor
did the returnees have the time to cleanse themselves. Therefore, Hezekiah
prayed:
·
…“May the good Lord pardon everyone who sets his
heart to seek God, the Lord, the God of his fathers, even though not according
to the sanctuary’s rules of cleanness.” And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed
the people. And the people of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the
Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness, and the Levites and
the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with all their might to the
Lord. (2 Chronicles 30:18-21)
What should this teach us? Proper priorities! It reminds me
of the Pharisees who had criticized Jesus disciples for eating the standing
grain in the field on the Sabbath:
·
[Jesus] said to them, “Have you not read what
David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the
house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him
to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you
not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath
and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.”
(Matthew 12:3-6)
Perhaps something greater than the specific specifications
for Passover worship was here too - something that would have made the angels
rejoice.
Right afterwards, they entered a synagogue where Jesus
healed a man with a shriveled hand. Again, the leaders sought accuse Him of
working on the Sabbath:
·
He said to them, “Which one of you who has a
sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift
it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do
good on the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:11-12)
Some things are more important than others. But which things
should head our priority list? Certainly not those things that had been the shadows
or representations of the reality that was to come:
·
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in
questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a
Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to
Christ. (Colossians 2:16–17)
How then can we distinguish the shadows from the substance?
Jesus gave us the ultimate rule:
·
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This
is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love
your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the
Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37–40)
For King Hezekiah and the people of Judah, the answer had
become clear. They had to remove all pagan worship and replace it with the God
of Israel. Under King Ahaz, Judah had taken the wrong turn, and now they had to
backtrack.
Fortunately, many Christians are awakening to the fact that
we too have taken the wrong turn into compromise and must reassess what it
means to love God with all our being. This can prove costly. Judah had to pay
dearly for revolting against Assyria. However, eventually the Lord delivered
them when He, by His own hand, struck down 200,000 Assyrian soldiers, ending
their siege of Jerusalem.
