“O Come, Let Us Worship And Bow Down:…!”(II Chron.29:25-30).
“Like father, like son” is not true always. It was not true of king Hezekiah. He was not like his father, king Ahaz whom he succeeded as king of Judah.
“Ahaz reigned in Jerusalem for sixteen years. Unlike David…he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD…”
Ahaz set up places of worship for Baal. Ahaz also took away the furnishings from the temple of God. He shut the doors of the LORD’s temple and set up alters at every street corner in Jerusalem. Ahaz did things that “provoked the LORD, the God of his fathers, to anger”(II Chron.28).
It is evident that Hezekiah his son watched his father’s actions with sadness. Just in the first month as king, Hezekiah set in motion the reversal of his father’s actions. “He opened the doors of the temple of the LORD and repaired them. He brought in the priests and Levites and charged them to consecrate themselves, consecrate the temple and to remove all defilement from the sanctuary. Etc!(II Chron.29:1-5f).
Today’s text is a continuation of Hezekiahs’ reforms and the purification of the temple.
Hezekiah brought back the worship and praise of the LORD in line with what King David had laid down. The songs of praise composed by David and Asaph were once more sung during the time of the sacrifice of burnt offering until it was completed.
“When the offerings were finished, the king and everyone present with him knelt down and worshipped.” The king “and his officials ordered the Levites to praise the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed their heads and worshipped.”
Some take home points:
- “Like father, like son” should not apply if father was a wicked person.
- Important spiritual reforms are important in the early days of ascendancy to leadership positions.
- It may be important to go back to the days when there was no outright dichotomy between Church and State, such that a king could lock the temple doors and a king could open the temple doors and rally the priests to once again commence their work in God’s house.
- “O come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker” should be for real, and the worshipping, the bowing down and the kneeling being internally conditioned.
Lastly, songs of praise to the Triune God must be sung with gladness!
Prayer: Holy Spirit help us to be part of the reforms that reinstate the worship and praise of God. Amen!
Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.