HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE GOD'S WORD?

A Prince Who Dared to Be Different

The contents of the 119th Psalm harmonizes well with what we know of Hezekiah when he was still a young prince. Some Bible scholars suggest that Hezekiah was the writer of the psalm. While this is not certain, we do know that Hezekiah had great respect for God's Word. By this life course, he showed that he was in heart harmony with the words at Psalm 119:97. Of Hezekiah, the Bible states: " He kept sticking to Jehovah. he did not turn aside from following him, but he continued keeping his commandments that Jehovah had commanded Moses." -2 Kings 18:6.

By all accounts, Hezekiah did not grown up in a godly family. His father King Ahaz, was a faithless idolater who had at least one of his sons-Hezekiah's own brother-burned alive as a sacrifice to a false god! (2 Kings 16:3) Despite this bad example, Hezekiah was able to "cleanse his path" of pagan influences by getting acquainted with God's Word. -2 Chronicles 29:2.

As Hezekiah grew up, he saw firsthand how his idolatrous father handled affairs of State. Judah was surrounded by enemies. There was Rezin,m the king of Syria, who joined with King Pekah of Israel in besieging Jerusalem. (2 kings 16:5, 6) There were the Edomites and the Philistines, who made successful forays into Judah and even captured some Judean cities. (2 Chronicles 28:16-19) How did Ahaz deal with these crises? Instead of appealing to Jehovah for help against Syria, Ahaz turned to the king of Asyria, bribing him with gold and silver, including that from the temple treasury. But that did not bring lasting peace to Judah. - 2 Kings 16:6, 8.

Eventually, Ahaz died and Hezekiah became king at 25 years of age. (2 Chronicles 29:1) He was relatively young, but that did not prevent him from becoming a successful king. Rather than imitate the conduct of his unfaithful father, he stuck to Jehovah's Law. This included a special commandment for kings: "When [the king] takes his seat on the throne of his kingdom, he must write in a book for himself a copy of this law from that which is in the charge of the priests, the Levites. And it must continue with him, and he must read in it all the days of his life,in order that he may learn to fear Jehovah his God so as to keep all the word of this law." (Deuteronomy 17:18, 19) By reading God's Word daily, Hezekiah would learn to fear Jehovah and avoid repeating the mistakes of his ungodly father.

Not only were the kings of Israel encouraged to give constant thought to God's Word but all God-fearing Israelites were to do so. The first Psalm describes a truly happy man as one whose "delight is in the law of Jehovah, and in his law he reads in an undertone day and night." (Psalm 1:1, 2) Of such a man, the psalmist says: "Everything he does will succeed." (Psalm 1:3) In contrast, of the one lacking faith in Jehovah God, the Bible says: "He is an indecisive man, unsteady in all his ways." (James 1:8) All of us want to be happy and successful. Regular, meaningful Bible reading can contribute to our happiness.

Next time: God's Word Sustained Jesus

Watchtower, 1999