{"id":67009,"date":"2019-12-16T11:52:01","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T09:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=67009"},"modified":"2023-07-11T10:22:31","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T07:22:31","slug":"almost-the-messiah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/almost-the-messiah\/","title":{"rendered":"Almost The Messiah\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[948,898,500,423],"acf":{"old_id":"67009","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":46656,"related_cahpter":"373","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Hezekiah misses his chance","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following the miraculous defeat of the Assyrian invasion and King Hezekiah\u2019s own miraculous recovery from death\u2019s doorstep, Hezekiah expressed his gratitude to God, and recognition of His divine intervention with words like \u201cI will give up all my sleep (to praise Him) (38:15).\u201d\u00a0 Although some sages say this expression of gratitude fell short, being delivered in writing rather than in song, by all accounts, Hezekiah was poised on the precipice of becoming the Messiah and changing the course of history.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the beginning of chapter there are still political and military threats facing the Jewish nation. The king of Babylonia, having heard of the great miracles bestowed on Hezekiah\u2019s nation, sends a delegation ostensibly to congratulate Hezekiah but more likely to find out what really transpired and how. Seeing an opportunity to form an alliance with the enemy of his enemy, King Hezekiah doesn\u2019t just allow an audience for these representatives from Babylonia but \u201crejoiced with them (39:2)\u201d and proudly gave them the grand tour of his palace and treasure houses.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s an undeniable level of haughtiness in Hezekiah\u2019s actions, further evidenced when the Prophet Isaiah asks Hezekiah \u201cWho were those people and what did they see?\u201d, to which Hezekiah responds \u201cOh, they came from faraway lands and I showed them everything! (39:3-4).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The glaring omission in Hezekiah\u2019s response to the Babylonians is his negligence in praising God and acknowledging the source of the defeat of the Assyrian invasion, and his own return to health. For this, Hezekiah loses his position of Messiah-in-waiting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But in addition to neglecting praise for God, Hezekiah also seems to be ingratiating himself to the Babylonians by trying to convince them that he\u2019s a valuable ally and one they should want to form an alliance with. In his commentary on this episode, Dr. Shawn Zelig Aster (outorah.org) draws a distinction between tactical alliances \u2013 those that may be strategically necessary in a certain situation, and alliances that come from some need or desire for self-aggrandizement. Hezekiah\u2019s response to this opportunity with the Babylonian delegation seems to lean towards the latter. In other words, you might have to work with them, but you don\u2019t have to rejoice in it, and you shouldn\u2019t feel good about it \u2013 certainly a political reality that persists today. Ultimately, as Isaiah chastises Hezekiah, he forgot to mention that God is the ultimate ally, \u201cMaster of Legions,\u201d or \u201cLord of Hosts\u201d (39:5).<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":67011,"id":67011,"title":"is39-messiah","filename":"is39-messiah.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is39-messiah.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/almost-the-messiah\/is39-messiah\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is39-messiah","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":67009,"date":"2019-12-16 09:51:47","modified":"2022-08-18 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