A King unto Myself
Then Isaiah told Hezekiah: “I have a message for you from the Lord. One day everything you and your ancestors have stored up will be taken to Babylonia. The Lord has promised that nothing will be left. Some of your own sons will be taken to Babylonia, where they will be disgraced and made to serve in the king’s palace.” Hezekiah thought, “At least our nation will be at peace for a while.” So he told Isaiah, “The message you brought me from the Lord is good.” – 2 Kings 20:16-19 (CEV)
As far as kings go, Hezekiah was a goodun’. He was faithful to God, instituted religious reforms, and cared for the people. But this exchange with the prophet Isaiah shows Hezekiah operating on a whole other level.
Isaiah tells Hezekiah that his own wealth, his family’s wealth, and his family’s wellbeing are all going to be taken away. What kind of person can receive a message like that and say, “There will be peace, so this is a good message”?
Only someone who treasures the greater good as more dear than their own narrow good. Only someone who, though being sovereign, views others as their equal.
The moral standard that Hezekiah sets here is one that citizens of a democracy ought to aspire to:
Counting others as equal.
Holding the greater good dearer than the individual good.
Anything less feeds into an eternal clash of all against all. To be a citizen of a democracy is to be held to the moral standards of a king. And Hezekiah was a goodun’.
Prayer
God, we who would rule ourselves, give us courage.
Rev. John Edgerton is Senior Minister and CEO of Old South Church in Boston. He is the 21st Senior minister in the congregation’s over 350 year history.