Read an Excerpt
The Three Miraculous Prayers of King Hezekiah
A Good Man's Example for Our Own Troubled Times
By W. D. Crowder iUniverse LLC
Copyright © 2013 W. D. Crowder
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4917-0400-4
CHAPTER 1
Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures
Have you ever been desperate for help?
In these days in which we live, that is almost a redundant question. Maybe the real question we should all be asking is, "Have you ever found yourself at the point where you had nowhere else to turn?" Frankly put, have you ever found yourself desperate for God's help?
King Hezekiah was a man desperate for God's help in ways that we can all relate to today. Oh, you may not be a king with palaces, men at arms, subjects, a walled city, and enormously powerful, overwhelming enemies. Still, you probably have people to take care of who depend on you for guidance and protection. You likely face incredible opposition in your own daily life's struggles. In today's world, you may easily find yourself unemployed, seriously ill, alone against great adversity, or with all kinds of other troubles that seem way too big for you to handle on your own.
At the very least, you suffer (as do we all sometimes) from the grief, pain, and maybe even fear of the devastation that foreign born terrorist enemies can and do wreak in the midst of our cities, nations, and world. This book about the good Jewish King Hezekiah who lived, ruled, struggled, prayed, and saw incredible miracles 2,700 years ago is especially for you ...
But What Is So Important About King Hezekiah?
In the skeptical age that we live in today, it would be easy (and maybe even natural) for you to ask, "Who is King Hezekiah and why should it matter to me in the twenty-first century?" After all, you have plenty of your own modern day problems to manage. The Bible gives you a very good reason to pay careful attention to King Hezekiah of Judah's story. 2 Kings states intriguingly that "there was none like him before or after." This claim alone is sufficient justification for you to pay mind to the life, times, and prayers of King Hezekiah.
In the pages that follow, you are about to discover how a seemingly obscure Jewish King of the tiny southern Israeli Kingdom of Judah dealt with and miraculously overcame many of the same issues that personally impact you today. The example of this good man King Hezekiah will astonish you. It is not only a fascinating, true story supported by the Bible and other historical records. It is almost scary how relevant his problems (not to mention the miraculous answers that God showed to him) still are to us all in these troubling times of our own. In fact, you will soon see that our own days are more similar to those of the two ancient Kingdoms of Israel than you might think.
Can I Just Skip Ahead to "the Good Stuff?"
Incredible as it may be for some to believe, not everyone likes history. Some readers just never had the "right" history teacher in elementary school and high school. If you are in this camp, then it could be very tempting for you to simply skip ahead to parts two and three of the book ... to go on to the "good stuff."
While no one can stop you from doing so, it is hard to recommend this action for a very good reason. Sure, you might say that you came here to read about the three exciting, action packed, miraculous prayers of King Hezekiah himself. After all, this is exactly what the book promises. Part II delivers King Hezekiah's needs, prayers, and the miracles that he witnessed and experienced. Part III provides you with an entire section of the book dedicated to the modern day application of why the king's life and prayers found such favor with God, and how you can replicate his success in your own life and individual prayers.
Think back to your own life story for a moment, or to the story of someone contemporary to you whose life you admire greatly. Can you possibly imagine understanding the full meaning of that individual's life experience, if you did not first understand what had shaped his or her life?
It is exactly the same with a hero of the Bible's story. King Hezekiah prayed some simply incredible and desperate prayers. Some might say that they were presumptuous even. By the time you finish this little book, you will understand that King Hezekiah is actually a legend in the realm of faith. The truth is that no one will not stop you from skipping ahead to read on to these miraculous prayers. Yet if you do so, you will be missing out on the rest of the story ...
Why should the history matter, you may ask? I contend that you can only fully appreciate how King Hezekiah got to the point that he did if you first understand his background. Ask yourself a series of thought provoking questions. Who was this man from over 2,700 years ago anyway? Why would a king need anyone's help at all, even God's help? How could a mighty man who commanded armies and sat securely behind powerful city walls be desperate for supernatural aid in the first place? More to the point, when the Bible tells you that so many of the kings of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah were evil rulers, why was this particular King Hezekiah someone who sought God out with his whole heart?
Now you begin to understand why it is important to first have a significant section of the book on the life and times of good King Hezekiah. The answers to these critical questions above will help you to understand Hezekiah the man, his desperate prayer requests, and the mighty miracles that God showed him in response. Stick with Part I, and I promise that in the end you will not be sorry that you did. Remember that in your own life's story, whether you are famous or not, no one else can understand where you are coming from if they do not first comprehend what happened to bring you to the point where you finally arrived.
CHAPTER 2
Hezekiah Learns from his Mighty Grandfather and Evil Father
King Hezekiah lived in a time with many striking similarities to our own world today. His country was threatened by powerful and sinister enemies from both within and without. He came into his own in a nation that faced political and financial crisis and even potential economic collapse. His Kingdom of Judah was a land that had lost its way both morally and spiritually. If that sounds uncomfortably familiar to you, then it should encourage you to know that what was true over 2,700 years ago is still the same today. One man can (and certainly did) make a difference.
The tremendously sad part for Hezekiah when he first became King of Judah must have been his immediate realization that his tiny nation had been in far better condition when he was a mere child. Hezekiah was born during the reign of his glorious grandfather King Jotham. He was nine years old when his illustrious grandfather finally died. This gave him enough time to see what kind of a man his grandfather truly was. It also allowed him a personal glimpse of how his future Kingdom of Judah might possibly look one day.
What kind of a man was King Hezekiah's grandfather? The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah give us a revealing picture of a larger than life figure who would have fired the young boy Hezekiah's imagination and admiration. We learn that King Jotham was a good king and a man who followed God. The Bible tells us Jotham became "mighty" because he "prepared his ways before the Lord his God" (2 Chronicles 27:6).
This was certainly a promising start for the person who captured the young Hezekiah's heart. King Jotham was not only a good and decent moral man though. He proved himself to be a tremendous architect and a great warrior king too. Second Chronicles recounts his building exploits in significant detail. He constructed walled cities throughout the high country of the Kingdom of Judah. He erected castles and towers throughout her forests. On Jerusalem, their (greatest ancestor King David's) ancient and beloved capital city of the Jewish people, King Jotham devoted a great deal of personal time and energy. He built up and developed much on top of the city wall of Ophel. In the temple of the Lord, sacred center of the worship of their one true God Jehovah, King Jotham constructed the high gate.
King Jotham carried the torch on from his building exploits to his active foreign policy. The warrior king defeated the neighboring Ammonites in battle (2 Chronicles 27:5). These people had plagued both the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel for centuries. His campaign against them was so successful that Jotham was able to make them a tributary state. For at least the next three years after King Jotham agreed to peace, he received substantial silver payments and agricultural goods in tribute (this included 3.4 metric tons of silver per year). This was a leader who clearly inspired his young and impressionable grandson Prince Hezekiah to the greatness that a man who followed God could achieve in life.
During the illustrious reign of his "mighty" grandfather King Jotham, young Prince Hezekiah must have surely grown up hearing the stories of his great and glorious ancestors King David and King Solomon. The Kings of Judah were directly descended from the House of David. They represented the unbroken line of both Kings David and Solomon. Their capital Jerusalem was already known as the "City of David" by this time. These two legendary founders of the dynasty were a tough act to follow by anyone's measure.
King David proved himself to be more than just the founder of the royal dynasty and unified kingdom of Israel headquartered in Jerusalem. He demonstrated the many noble characteristics of legendary warrior and fearless commander, accomplished musician, skilled poet and author, impressive builder, and great all around statesman. If he were alive today, you would say he was a Renaissance man. More than this, God called him the ultimate role model. As the original "man after God's own heart," King David was a tremendous personal leader and kingdom builder on whom the young Prince Hezekiah could model his life, his relationship with God, and his future reign.
King David's noble son Solomon also turned out to be a tremendous and inspiring example, but in a vastly different way. King Solomon had set out to follow his God at the very beginning of his celebrated reign. He went up into the mountains and camped out in the solitude of nature to seek God personally for himself. When he had a vision there where God asked Solomon what he wanted from Him, Solomon asked for wisdom to govern the still unified Kingdom of Israel. He chose this over great riches or immortal glory. God was so pleased with King Solomon's selfless request that He promised to give him all three things--wisdom, wealth, and glory. As told in 1 Kings 3:5-15, Solomon became the wisest man who ever lived. God also made him the richest and most glorious man on earth in his own day and age. His era was the only one of all the kings of Israel and Judah to be one of both general peace and abundant prosperity. The rest of his reign is history ... Hezekiah learned at a young age that you can do anything, if only you seek out and follow after God with your whole heart.
Sadly, the mini golden age of Hezekiah's grandfather King Jotham could not last forever (even Solomon's glorious reign had to come to an end eventually, after forty years). The "mighty" King Jotham passed away after an all too brief but accomplished sixteen year long reign. Prince Hezekiah and all the people of Judah no doubt mourned his passing.
The Wrecked Nation King Hezekiah Inherited from his Evil Father
When "mighty" King Jotham who "prepared his ways before the Lord his God" died, he left the Kingdom of Judah in probably its best state since the days of King Solomon. Now his nine year old grandson Prince Hezekiah had another family legacy to observe closely. The new King of Judah turned out to be none other than Hezekiah's own father, King Ahaz. This is where the life and times of King Hezekiah becomes really interesting.
You would expect that Prince Hezekiah's father King Ahaz would conduct himself something like his own father and grandfather before him. Both of these men were good kings who served God and kept the faith of their countrymen. In fact, if you take a look at the list of the Kings of Judah at the end of this book, you will see that not only King Ahaz's father King Jotham and his grandfather King Uzziah were good kings of Judah. King Ahaz's great grandfather King Amaziah and even his great-great grandfather King Joash were also good kings. Take a calculator and add up the combined reigns of all four of the Godly Kings of Judah who came before Hezekiah's father King Ahaz (as shown in the Kings of Judah list at the book's end). It might surprise you to see that for 137 consecutive years, the Kingdom of Judah had enjoyed the reigns of good, God fearing kings who kept their little ship of state "steady as she goes."
Here comes a shocking revelation. Good King Hezekiah's very own father King Ahaz was the most evil and degenerate sort of individual and king imaginable! The list of this man's heinous crimes against his people, his kingdom, and his God are so extensive, it is almost hard to know where to begin. Fortunately, 2 Chronicles again comes to the rescue with the evidence and storyline to help you make sense of it all.
Chronicles tells us that Hezekiah's father King Ahaz burnt his own children in the fires as sacrifices to detestable and inhuman gods like Baal (2 Chronicles 28:3)! If Ahaz were alive today and running any country in the world in this way, you can bet the United Nations would be immediately convening the crimes against humanity court and putting him on trial. It is no exaggeration to say the fact that Prince Hezekiah lived long enough to become the next King of Judah at all was the first miracle in his astonishing life marked by miracles.
Not content with simply murdering members of his own immediate family, Hezekiah's father King Ahaz broke with almost 140 years of family and national leadership tradition of serving the God of his fathers. He burnt incense in pagan shrines and made offerings to pagan gods in the high places of Judah and "under every spreading tree" (2 Chronicles 28:4). Naturally, this offended the God of Israel and Judah to the point that His wrath burned fiercely against King Ahaz and the once God fearing little kingdom of Judah.
It should not come as much of a surprise to you what happened next. Chronicles makes it pretty clear that the subsequent events that unfolded in Judah stunned King Ahaz (and undoubtedly made an indelible impression on the young Prince Hezekiah). The evil king and his son watched over the next sixteen years as every calamity imaginable befell the once prosperous and proud little Kingdom of Judah. Judgment day began with an unholy alliance between the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Syria. Though neither of these kings was God fearing or honoring men, He used these two northern rulers to begin to tear Judah to shreds.
King Ahaz "was delivered to the kings of Syria and Israel for his sins" (2 Chronicles 28:5). First the Syrian king defeated Judah's armies and carried off to Damascus numerous captives as slaves who were never seen or heard from again. Then King Pekah of the northern Kingdom of Israel worked his still worse destruction on the Kingdom of Judah. In what was surely a national disaster of epic proportions for such a tiny kingdom, Judah lost 120,000 of its mightiest and most valiant fighting men in a single day in the battle against the Northern Kingdom of Israel (2 Chronicles 28:6). The loss was so complete and utterly devastating for the Kingdom of Judah that the Northern Israelites were next able to seize 200,000 of the remaining women, son, and daughter survivors of Judah as prisoners! In fact, 2 Chronicles tells us that it was only because of the intervention of a prophet of God that this plurality of the survivors of the entire Kingdom of Judah were set free and sent back to Jericho along the border of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah (see the map of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah at the back of the book). The shaken remnant of the youth Prince Hezekiah's shattered people slowly made their way back home to a now broken nation.
You might think at this horribly low point in the reign of Prince Hezekiah's father King Ahaz that he would come to his senses and turn back to the God of his fathers. Clearly nothing else had worked for him so far. Ahaz followed the detestable human sacrifice practicing gods of the neighboring countries without positive results. He served the gods of the Syrians after his crushing military defeat, reasoning that their deities must be stronger since they had triumphed over him. Instead of seeking divine forgiveness and pursuing a national form of penitence that would have been in keeping with his four noble ancestors before him, Prince Hezekiah's father King Ahaz did the worst thing both imaginable and possible.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Three Miraculous Prayers of King Hezekiah by W. D. Crowder. Copyright © 2013 W. D. Crowder. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse LLC.
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