"Do you know the next part of the ritual, Your Majesty?"
"Yes, Rabbi."
"Then why don"t you recite the words?"
Hezekiah cleared his throat. "G.o.d"s promise of deliverance has been the hope of our ancestors and of ourselves. For not only one nation, but many have risen up against us in every generation to annihilate us. But the Most Holy G.o.d, blessed be He, always delivered us out of their hands-"
He stopped, unable to finish, and Isaiah continued for him: "Just as He brought us forth from Egypt, with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror, and with signs and wonders."
Hezekiah bowed his head, reciting the next part of the liturgy from memory as Isaiah and his wife echoed the response: "If G.o.d had merely rescued us from Egypt, but had not slain their firstborn ..."
"It would have been enough."
"If He had merely slain their firstborn, but had not parted the sea for us ..."
"It would have been enough."
"If He had merely parted the sea, but had not fed us with manna ..."
"It would have been enough."
"And if He had merely fed us with manna, but had not brought us to this land ..."
"It would have been enough."
"Yes, Rabbi, it would have been more than enough."
"But we know that Yahweh has done so much more. Someday, Your Majesty, on this very mountain the Lord Almighty will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever."
"G.o.d will swallow up death, Rabbi?" Hezekiah thought of Molech"s gaping mouth, swallowing his victims in death. "How is that possible?"
Isaiah set the Pa.s.sover lamb on the table in front of him for the next part of the ritual, then held up the shank bone. "This is the Pa.s.sover lamb our forefathers ate, because the Holy One, blessed be He, spared the houses of our ancestors from death. Even so will the Messiah-the Lamb of G.o.d-destroy the power that death holds over us."
"Has Yahweh shown you the Messiah, Rabbi?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Can you tell me what you saw?"
"He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
"Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by G.o.d, smitten by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
"He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth... . Yet it was the Lord"s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
"Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
A tear glistened in Isaiah"s eye as he finished. Hezekiah stared at the Pa.s.sover lamb on the table in front of him and murmured, "But that can"t be-I"m not worthy of such a sacrifice.Why would Yahweh do that for me?"
"Because He is your Father. Unlike your earthly father, who sacrificed his children to save himself, your heavenly Father will sacrifice himself to save His children."
"I can"t comprehend such love, Rabbi."
"None of us can. If we could, what different lives we would live!" He raised the cup, reciting, "Therefore, we praise Him who performed all these miracles for us. He brought us from slavery to freedom, from sorrow to joy, from mourning to dancing, from servitude to redemption. Let us therefore sing a new song in His presence. Hallelujah!"
They sang the traditional Pa.s.sover psalms together, but as Hezekiah pondered what Isaiah had told him, he knew that the words had never meant so much to him before. Then, as he sang the last verse of the hymn: "He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children," Hezekiah suddenly thought of Hephzibah, and he felt the pain of her betrayal shudder through him. He scarcely heard the rabbi recite the blessing on the unleavened bread and bitter herbs as he stared down at the table, thinking of Hephzibah. When he finally looked up, Isaiah"s wife had taken the pots with the Pa.s.sover supper from the hearth and laid the meal on the table in front of him. He began to eat, as his hosts were doing, but he barely tasted the food.
"What are you thinking about?" Isaiah asked gently.
Hezekiah was ashamed to confess that he still thought about Hephzibah, an idolatress. "I was thinking of the words we just sang: "Who is like the Lord our G.o.d?"" he said instead.
"Yes, our G.o.d is a G.o.d of miracles-the slaying of Egypt"s firstborn, the parting of the Red Sea, the manna in the wilderness-G.o.d intervenes in the affairs of His people precisely when He"s needed. No other G.o.d does that."
"I know. I"ve experienced Yahweh"s miracles in my own life, Rabbi. He saved me from Molech when I was a child, He healed me when I nearly died, and now He has saved Jerusalem from a.s.syria."
Isaiah nodded. "The G.o.ds of the nations around us must be bribed to perform, with sacrifices and rituals and offerings. The people try to earn the attention of their G.o.ds through their own good works. They try to bend the G.o.ds" wills to conform to theirs. But our G.o.d can"t be coerced by good works. We can"t earn His favor."
Hezekiah thought back to when he first became king and how he had renewed Judah"s covenant with G.o.d in order to earn His blessing on his nation. "Is that what I"ve tried to do?" he asked.
Isaiah pierced him with his gaze. "You tried to earn peace and prosperity for your nation with your reforms, but you should have made those reforms out of love for G.o.d, not because of what He would give you in return."
Hezekiah stared in surprise at the prophet"s frankness, but he knew he deserved the rebuke.
"You tried to earn an heir by following every letter of the Law," Isaiah continued, "marrying only one wife; then you became angry with G.o.d when He didn"t reward your faithfulness."
"But ... I thought ..."
"When you begged for your life, you reminded G.o.d of all your good works, as if you could bribe Him to change His mind."
"Rabbi-"
"You"ve been trying to earn G.o.d"s favor and blessing all your life, Your Majesty, and you"ve used the Law and the sacrifices the same way your father used idols to get what he wanted. But you can never do enough or try hard enough to win G.o.d"s love. No one can keep the Law perfectly. We all fail. As Solomon has written, "There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins." "
"Then how-?"
"Yahweh"s forgiveness and blessings are free. You already have His love, and you always did. He saved you from Molech long before you did one good work for Him, because He loves you. Not because of anything you did to deserve it, but because you"re His child."
"I know I"ve sinned, Rabbi-I know I have. I never should have put my trust in the alliance. I should have trusted G.o.d."
"You made Yahweh your G.o.d a long time ago-now you must let Him be the sovereign Lord of your life."
They finished the meal, and Isaiah"s wife quietly cleared away their plates. Then Isaiah bowed his head. "Let us say the blessing for our food. "Blessed be He of whose bounty we have eaten and through whose goodness we live. Amen." " He filled their cups a third time and lifted his up. "This is the cup of redemption, G.o.d"s promise to redeem us with His outstretched arm. Just as He purchased Israel"s firstborn by the blood of the Pa.s.sover lamb, even so will the Messiah buy us back, redeeming us from sin with His blood."
Hezekiah drank the wine, aware of his sin and disobedience, aware that he was unworthy of such a sacrifice. As soon as he set his cup down, Isaiah filled it for the fourth time.
"The final cup is the cup of praise, for Yahweh has promised, "I will take you as my own people, and I will be your G.o.d." How, then, can we keep silent? How can we fail to praise Him for such amazing love as this?"
Isaiah began to sing the final Pa.s.sover psalms of praise, and as Hezekiah joined him, the words seemed to tell the story of his own life, his own redemption, and he relived each memory as he sang: Not to us, O Lord, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.
Hezekiah remembered how he had accepted the Babylonians" praise for himself instead of rightfully praising G.o.d, and he felt ashamed.
Why do the nations say,
"Where is their G.o.d?"
Our G.o.d is in heaven;
he does whatever pleases him.
But their idols are silver and gold,
made by the hands of men.
The psalm reminded Hezekiah of the a.s.syrian Rabshekah"s taunting words. But Yahweh was the only G.o.d, a G.o.d of miracles, a G.o.d of love.
O house of Israel, trust in the Lord-
he is their help and shield.
Again, Hezekiah wondered why he had put his trust in other nations instead of in G.o.d. He vowed never to do it again.
The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came upon me... .
Then I called on the name of the Lord:
"O Lord, save me!"
Three times Hezekiah had almost died, first in Molech"s flames, then by Uriah"s hand, and finally during his illness after the fire. But each time he had cried out to Yahweh, and G.o.d had given him back his life.
How can I repay the Lord
for all his goodness to me?