"He Did That Which Was Right In The Sight Of The Lord"

2 Kings 18:3

Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign over Judah. He reigned for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. "And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD." I am interested in that! What did this servant of God do which the Holy Spirit declares was "right in the sight of the LORD?" He was an idol smasher! He not only insisted that the people under his influence worship the Lord God, this man insisted that they worship the Lord God alone and that they worship him in the way he prescribed.

"He removed the high places." The high places were temples and shrines built on the mountains for the wor- ship of idols. The children of Israel had mingled with and married among the heathen.The result then of such a mixture,as it is now and always must be,was compromise. To keep up their relationships with the ungodly, to maintain their unholy alliances, the children of Israel had to forsake the worship of God. They convinced them- selves that they retained the worship of Jehovah. They were only being conciliatory, trying to get along with others. But they had forsaken God. What a price to pay! In order to restore the worship of God in the land, Hezekiah knew that idolatry had to be rooted out com- pletely. So "he removed the high places, and brake the images,"the statues of pagan gods and idolatrous repre- sentations of God. Then this godly man "cut down the groves,"the wooded areas where men and women had erect- ed altars to their gods, altars that his own father had built. He also "brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made." The Jews had kept that brazen serpent from the days of Moses, burning incense to it, because they imagined that it would aid them in finding favor with God. Perhaps they had only kept it as a relic up to this time. But now they worshipped it! Religious relics always become objects of worship! Therefore, Hezekiah smashed to pieces that venerated brazen ser- pent,calling it "Nehushtan",a worthless piece of brass!

Why was this man so bent upon the destruction of idolatry in Israel? God tells us. He trusted that Lord, clave unto the Lord, followed the Lord and obeyed his word (vv.5-6). What was the result of his faithful ser- vice? "The LORD was with him;and he prospered." Men de- spised him; but God honored Hezekiah, the idol smasher.

Don Fortner