This Article: (7 Pages)
- 1. Solomon's Prayer; A guide For All... Ages
- 2. Examples of Prayer Towards Jerusalem
- 3. Hezekiah in Strength and Weakness ... (2 Chron 29)
- 4. Prayer and the New Testament
- 5. Prayer in the New Testament
- 6. The Psalmist
- 7. A Final Word
3) Hezekiah in Strength and Weakness (2 Chron 29)
In the first year of his reign, Hezekiah opened the doors of the house of Yahweh and gathered the Levites and commanded them to sanctify themselves. He told them that “our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of Yahweh our God, and have forsaken him.” (2 Chron 29:6)
Note the next statement in this verse very carefully.
“They have turned away their faces from the habitation of Yahweh, and TURNED THEIR BACKS.”
Not only had they neglected the worship of Yahweh, they had figuratively and literally turned their backs to the temple, to Jerusalem.
When the Levites and the people were prepared for the re-establishment of the appropriate worship and the house of Yahweh had been cleansed, “and when they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves, and worshipped.” (2 Chron 29:29) In this verse the word used for ‘bowed’ is ‘to bend the knee’ (Strong 3766)
Here again we see the same reverential attitude of Hezekiah and the people.
Another interesting observation about Hezekiah occurs in Isaiah 38:2. Isaiah had told Hezekiah that he was about to die and to set his house in order. “Then Hezekiah turned his face towards the wall, and prayed unto the Yahweh.” Why does Isaiah mention this fact? Why does Hezekiah turn to face the wall? This could be something for us to meditate on. Had Hezekiah indeed turned towards the temple? Consider Ezekiel 43:8 where Ezekiel records Israel’s sins against Yahweh. “In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their posts by my posts, and THE WALL between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name, by their abominations that they have committed.” It would appear that Hezekiah turned towards the temple wall, the temple being next door to the king’s house.
Backs TO Temple
Hezekiah is not the only one who refers to Israel turning their backs to Yahweh.
Jeremiah 2:27 states, “they have turned their back unto me and not their face.” This is again repeated in Jeremiah 32:33. “They have turned unto me the back and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.”
Ezekiel also makes this observation. Ezekiel was shown the abominations in Jerusalem. “And he brought me into the inner court of Yahweh’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of Yahweh, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs towards the temple of Yahweh, and their faces towards the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east”, (Ezekiel 8 :16)
These examples seem to equate faithlessness both figuratively and literally as turning their backs to the temple and Jerusalem, and thus dishonouring their creator and rejecting the promises to Israel.
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