The Danger Of Showing To Strangers Our Material Treasures

           There is a remarkable story of King Hezekiah who became ill and was at the point of death. He has prayed fervently to the Lord to heal him, and God heard him, and had added to his life fifteen years. But he committed a colossal blunder which cost the captivity of his kingdom by a foreign power. The story as recorded in the canonized Bible is found in 2 Kings 20 and 24. It pertinently relates:

^“1In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

² Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, ³ “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the Word of the Lord came to him: ⁵ “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. ⁶ I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the King of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.”

⁷Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice (lump) of figs.” They did so and applied it to the boil, and he recovered.

⁸Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I will go up to the temple of the Lord on the third day from now?”

⁹Isaiah answered, “This is the Lord’s sign to you that the Lord will do what he has promised: Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?”

¹⁰“It is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps,” said Hezekiah. “Rather, have it go back ten steps.”

¹¹Then the prophet Isaiah called on the Lord, and the Lord made the shadow go back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.”

           The healing of King Hezekiah was so marvelous that it was published to the known world at the time, when Babylon was then the world power. The Bible further records:

^“12At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah’s illness. ¹³ Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in his storehouse—the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine olive oil—his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

¹⁴ Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, “What did those men say, and where did they come from?”

“From a distant land,” Hezekiah replied. “They came from Babylon.”

¹⁵The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?”

“They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

¹⁶Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the Word of the Lord: ¹⁷ The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. ¹⁸ And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” (2 Kings 20:12-18 NIV).

              The fulfillment of the Word of God given through the prophet Isaiah came to pass as recorded in 2 Kings 24:12-18:

“In the eight year of the reign of the king of Babylon, he took Jehoiachin prisoner. ¹³ As the Lord had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed the treasures from the temple of the Lord and from the royal palace, and cut up the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the Lord. ¹⁴ He carried all Jerusalem into exile: all the officers and fighting men, and all the skilled workers and artisans—a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left.

¹⁵Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. He also took from Jerusalem to Babylon the king’s mother, his wives, his officials and the prominent people of the land. ¹⁶ The king of Babylon also deported to Babylon the entire force of seven thousand fighting men, strong and fit for war, and a thousand skilled workers and artisans. ¹⁷ He made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.”

As aforementioned, God has raised King Hezekiah from a bed of death, giving him a new lease of life for fifteen years. The visit of the Envoys or Ambassadors of the Babylonian King to Hezekiah was a test of his humility, gratitude and devotion to our God Almighty. The Babylonians had heard of his wonderful recovery. The King of Babylon sent messengers to Hezekiah to express his amazement and awe at the miraculous and awesome power of his God and to congratulate him on his remarkable recovery. The visit of these Envoys gave him an opportunity to extol our God Almighty to high heaven. But instead of exalting the God of heaven for his wonderful healing, his pride and vanity took possession of his heart, and instead in his self-exaltation and boasting, he laid open to their covetous eyes all the treasures with which God had enriched His kingdom and his people… Consequently, the report of the Envoys to their King centered on Hezekiah’s kingdom riches instead of his miraculous healing, and the King and his advisers moved them to plan to rob the treasures of Hezekiah’s kingdom to enrich Babylon.

Had Hezekiah took the opportunity given him to extol and bear witness to the power, the goodness, and the compassion of the one true God in healing him, the report of the Envoys would have been only on his miraculous and wonderful healing. But he magnified himself above the Lord of hosts and failed to give God all the glory. Compounding his mistake, King Hezekiah volunteered to show to total strangers all the material treasures and riches of his kingdom which ignited the covetousness and envious ambition of the King of Babylon.

The situation is somewhat similar to what precipitated Japan to invade the Philippines during World War II in its desire to acquire dominion over it because President Manuel L. Quezon magnanimously allowed some Japanese officials to acquire the fertile lands in Mindanao which is flowing with milk and honey, so to speak, particularly in the Province of Davao, which the Japanese people envied beyond measure. But our God had other plans for the Philippines. He used the Americans through President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Gen. Douglas MacArthur to liberate the Philippines from Japanese imperialism. This and our national independence for which our national heroes fought so hard is our everlasting legacy from the Americans who equally sacrificed a lot in terms of the lost lives of their soldiers. To God be all the glory!

The Ministry of Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International is primarily to relate in humility our wonderful experience on how our God had miraculously healed us physically and marvelously prospered us materially, physically and spiritually and in our businesses and vocations, giving God thanksgiving and all glory and honor. In this way others especially the unbelievers, will be attracted to our God thereby paving their conversion to Christianity by the Holy Spirit, not by our own efforts. But how often those for whom God worked miraculously are like King Hezekiah—forgetful of the Giver of all their blessings and instead in their pride, exalt themselves above measure. Like in the case of King Hezekiah, his kingdom was robbed of its riches and treasures by those who do not fear God. God forbid. Let us cling to Him who is our all in all at all times.

(FGBMFI Davao City Chapter Bulletin November 20, 2012)