May 28 Daily Devotional

2 Kings 18–20; 2 Chron. 29–31

At the time when the kingdom of Israel was led to Assyria, king Hezekiah sat on the throne in the kingdom of Judah. He did what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord. And this was important and necessary. For Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, had, as we have seen, done the opposite. He had made brazen images, he had even sacrificed his sons, and the doors of the temple of the Lord had been closed. But Hezekiah opened the doors of the temple. He gathered the priests and Levites, and said to them, “Sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers … For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord … They have shut up the doors of the porch, put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel. Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was come upon Judah and Jerusalem … for lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.” And they sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord.

And Hezekiah sent runners throughout Judah and Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, saying, “Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings in Assyria … Be ye not stiff necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary … and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you … for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.” The people were invited to come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover unto the Lord God of Israel.

And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation. And they kept the feast seven days with great gladness. And Hezekiah broke the images in pieces and cut down the groves where the altars had been erected. The serpent of brass, made by Moses in the wilderness, had been brought to Jerusalem. When Hezekiah noticed that the people worshipped it, he commanded that it should be broken. It was his sincere desire to wipe out all idolatry. He clave to the Lord and departed not from following him. And the Lord was with him, whithersoever he went forth he prospered.