Last Thursday our navi class began to examine חזקיהו in a deeper manner. We asked if he was a good king/person, or a bad one. How does one decide such a thing?
ספר ישעיהו stresses the lack of צדק ומשפט, and how the people had a problem with hubris. A religious revival would include the restoration of צדק ומשפט and the self removal of hubris. However, when we read about the religious revival in חזקיהו's time, we do not see that. We see that he got rid of the במות so that people would go to the בית ימקדש. We said that perhaps חזקיהו has a bit of arrogance in his personality, and is a double sided personality. He has a religious side and then an everything else side, and he only goes to ישעיהו for religious help. Then later when Hashem saves them from אשור, he does not thank Hashem.
We split into two groups; each would read a perek that would show a different bad aspect of חזקיהו. My group consisted of Racheli, Orly, and Myself. We had to do Perek לט. In this perek we saw that after the sick king, חזקיהו , was saved by Hashem [who added 15 years to his life, perhaps someone in the group who did perek לח wants to write about that/ the perek in general?], the king of Babylonia heard that he had recovered and sent him a gift. And then חזקיהו showed them every single treasure of his house- his silver, gold, spices, oil, and treasures. That doesn't seem like something a modest guy would do. Somebody comes to give you a "yay you're alive present", and you show off how wealthy you are. It's not the best thing to do.
ישעיהו asks חזקיהו what he showed the Babylonian messengers, and he tells him that he showed them everything. Then ישעיהו tells him that Hashem said: One day all of your riches will go to Babylonia, and your sons will work in his palace. And in response חזקיהו says, "Good is what Hashem has said, because there will be peace and truth in my days." We didn't get up to discussing this perek yet, but we wonder what this means. There is a punishment, so obviously what he did was worse than it seems at face value, which is still pretty obnoxious. And his response is odd too.
So what trait does this show? We haven't gone over it in class, but I guess that from here we can kind of see that he liked to show off his things [whether or not it was in a bragging, I have more than you way, I can't say] and was proud of how rich he was in all aspects.
--Also, I know someone might write about the previous perek, but I just thought this was interesting so I wanted to add it on. Why did חזקיהו get sick in the first place? There are some opinions that say it was because he refused to have children. Why? There was a prophecy that said he would have an evil child who would cause the destruction of the בית המקדש. Therefore he was afraid and didn't have children because he didn't want that to happen. I understand- as did the class- this feeling. If i knew my child were evil I would not have a child. However, Mrs. Perl pointed out that it was like he was defying G-d and saying he could decide whether or not this would happen. if Gd wants him to have an evil child then he will. But we all said that we wouldn't have children too. So it's difficult to think that he was punished for not having children, because we understand where he is coming from. And why does Hashem thinks it's bad for him to not want an evil child who will destroy the בית המקדש? It shows his dedication and love of Hashem.... any thoughts?
ספר ישעיהו stresses the lack of צדק ומשפט, and how the people had a problem with hubris. A religious revival would include the restoration of צדק ומשפט and the self removal of hubris. However, when we read about the religious revival in חזקיהו's time, we do not see that. We see that he got rid of the במות so that people would go to the בית ימקדש. We said that perhaps חזקיהו has a bit of arrogance in his personality, and is a double sided personality. He has a religious side and then an everything else side, and he only goes to ישעיהו for religious help. Then later when Hashem saves them from אשור, he does not thank Hashem.
We split into two groups; each would read a perek that would show a different bad aspect of חזקיהו. My group consisted of Racheli, Orly, and Myself. We had to do Perek לט. In this perek we saw that after the sick king, חזקיהו , was saved by Hashem [who added 15 years to his life, perhaps someone in the group who did perek לח wants to write about that/ the perek in general?], the king of Babylonia heard that he had recovered and sent him a gift. And then חזקיהו showed them every single treasure of his house- his silver, gold, spices, oil, and treasures. That doesn't seem like something a modest guy would do. Somebody comes to give you a "yay you're alive present", and you show off how wealthy you are. It's not the best thing to do.
ישעיהו asks חזקיהו what he showed the Babylonian messengers, and he tells him that he showed them everything. Then ישעיהו tells him that Hashem said: One day all of your riches will go to Babylonia, and your sons will work in his palace. And in response חזקיהו says, "Good is what Hashem has said, because there will be peace and truth in my days." We didn't get up to discussing this perek yet, but we wonder what this means. There is a punishment, so obviously what he did was worse than it seems at face value, which is still pretty obnoxious. And his response is odd too.
So what trait does this show? We haven't gone over it in class, but I guess that from here we can kind of see that he liked to show off his things [whether or not it was in a bragging, I have more than you way, I can't say] and was proud of how rich he was in all aspects.
--Also, I know someone might write about the previous perek, but I just thought this was interesting so I wanted to add it on. Why did חזקיהו get sick in the first place? There are some opinions that say it was because he refused to have children. Why? There was a prophecy that said he would have an evil child who would cause the destruction of the בית המקדש. Therefore he was afraid and didn't have children because he didn't want that to happen. I understand- as did the class- this feeling. If i knew my child were evil I would not have a child. However, Mrs. Perl pointed out that it was like he was defying G-d and saying he could decide whether or not this would happen. if Gd wants him to have an evil child then he will. But we all said that we wouldn't have children too. So it's difficult to think that he was punished for not having children, because we understand where he is coming from. And why does Hashem thinks it's bad for him to not want an evil child who will destroy the בית המקדש? It shows his dedication and love of Hashem.... any thoughts?
Here I am, posting on my own fabulous post again. But I am really intrigued by the idea that perhaps he was deserving of punishment because he did not want a baby. Something I just though of. We were talking about how Chezkiyahu is a little two-faced, and how he only incorporates G-d into his life in some aspects. Things like wealth and economy and ruling the kingdom would lack G-d. However, his child, while destroying the Beit Hamikdash is something religious most definitely concerning G-d, would be something he perhaps may or may not think about G-d with. But here he is...
ReplyDeleteIt's rather interesting to think about that...
Additionally, the whole idea about how he had the potential to be mashiach.... There are plenty of people nowadays who are really righteous in all aspects but they don't have a chance of being mashiach. Says something about us perhaps? We're so stubborn that we don't repent... hmmm... anyways, yeah....
I think this is very interesting. It is really hard to say though that one will not have a child if they knew it would be evil. In my opinion we are all too young to judge that since were not in that "wanting to have kids" stage(at least I know I am not), but is it possible that he maybe hoped that the child would end up not being evil?
ReplyDeletewell he had a prophet who told him that his child would be evil. would you honestly have a child if you knew without a doubt he'd be evil?
ReplyDeleteand he was in the end. minasheh...
zahava- actually, I learned once that there is a person in every generation, even today, that has the potential to be Mashiach. We just have to be ready for him for him to come. I have a random thought on that though. . . we always say that mashiach is male. what if mashiach is really female? That would be really sexist to say that it's only the men in Bnai Yisrael who have the potential to be Mashiach. I don't know. maybe I'm just prejudiced from going to our school.
ReplyDeleteGosh Mirel! Don't blow my cover!!!! ;)
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe when they say he they mean the universal HE.