Reading: 2 Chronicles 28-31, Psalm 78

We are nearing the closing chapters of the Hebrew Scriptures, and I hope that those of you who have read this far are beginning to see the pattern of events that the Story is built around. Humans choose to define good and bad for themselves, declaring independence from God, and in so doing they cause division, suffering, and pain. God chooses, rather than destroy humanity and start over, to call the humans back into relationship with him in a bunch of ways. The big one for the family of Israel is the Tabernacle or Temple: a building that indicates that there is a different kind of world, one where God and humans can coexist. The problem is it is extremely dangerous for humans as they are now. A priesthood is established to entire the Holy place and interact with God on the people’s behalf. They fail miserably. A human king is raised up from Israel to both be their champion and keep the priesthood in line. Though there are some bright spots, they too fail miserably. By the end of the kingdom era in Israel’s history, the people are beginning to see that they need a new kind of human- a priest-king-servant- who can bring about God’s promise of a new creation, one where humans and God can live together and fulfill their design as bearers of God’s image.

The Chronicler is sort of the last recorder of these ideas. He uses the history of Israel and the kingdom of Judah to argue that a new kind of King is needed, who is both greater than and different from all the kings who came before. He wraps up his narrative history with long descriptions of the lives of two kings, Hezekiah and Josiah, who were looked on by the returned exiles as the best of the best- as close as the family of David ever got to being what they were supposed to be since their ancestor died.

In both cases the good king is preceded by one of the worst kings in the history of the nation. Ahaz, who begins our reading today, is as monstrous as the worst kings of the northern tribes. He sacrifices his sons, he adopts the worship of foreign gods, he ignores the warnings of prophets, he locks up the Temple so even those who want to be faithful cannot. It is an era of defeat and destruction for Judah- just about as low as they go. His son, though, is a different type. Hezekiah immediately opens up the Temple, and then embarked on the most complete overhaul of the nation’s life that has ever happened. He restores Temple worship, destroys the foreign altars, and brings the people together in Jerusalem for a national celebration of the Passover, which apparently had not been done for generations. The destructive and wicked reign of king Ahaz gives way to the restorative reign of king Hezekiah. This is another theme of the Chronicler: the wicked give way before the righteous. Hezekiah offers an enormous sacrifice at the restored Temple, just as Solomon did when it was new, in atonement for the people and the actions of his fathers. The Chronicler again makes the point that the king’s sacrifice stands for the people. When there is a righteous king, there is a righteous nation.

But it doesn’t last. Tomorrow we will read of Hezekiah’s great triumph over his enemies and his great failure to trust in the God of Israel. We will learn that the only king of Judah worse than Hezekiah’s father is Hezekiah’s son. The Story once again proves the point that there is a need for a new kind of human. Even the best humans, in the best positions, have the human problem. Hezekiah and Josiah, as righteous as they were, had a deep flaw in choosing to define good and bad for themselves. The Chronicler is issuing a warning to trust as Messiah only the one who wholly follows the will of God, accepting only his definition of good and bad, surrendered wholly to what God directs. The only Messiah that will do is one without the problem.