30: Come to the House of the Lord

Reading Assignment for Sunday, August 10, 2014

Class Member Study Guide:  Lesson 29

Ensign Article about King Hezekiah's Strengths and Weaknesses:  Hezekiah's Tunnel Vision.  (I think the pun was intended)

2 Chronicles 29     2 Chronicles 30     

2 Chronicles 32     2 Chronicles 34


Kings from Saul Until the Fall of the Northern and Southern Kingdom

This week's lesson focuses on King Hezekiah and his Great Grandson's Josiah's desire to turn the hearts of the people to the temple and the scriptures.  The last lesson I taught focused on the prophet Elijah.  Elijah was a prophet almost 100 years earlier.  

Now King Hezekiah throws open the doors of a neglected temple and sends the priest in to clean the holy sanctuary.  He defends Judah against the Assyrians turning to the Lord for assistance in times of trial.  He staves off an Assyrian siege in part by the construction of an underground waterway to provide a permanent, secret water source for the city.   

Find Elijah on the chart below.  Count down 8 kings to find Hezekiah.   Isaiah and Mich are prophets in the southern kingdom during this time. 

Saul
David
Solomon
Kings of Judah	Divided Kingdom	Kings of Israel	Divided Kingdom	Prophets
Rehoboam Shayshek (Eygpt-- took Lord’s treasure buried in Jerusalem)	930–913 B.C. Reigned 17 Years Started at 41 in Jerusalem
War all their days		Jeroboam I	930–909 B.C.
Abijam--Fell sick	913–910 B.C.
Asa	910–869 B.C.
		Nadab (Son of Jeroboam)	909–908 B.C.
		Baasha	908–886 B.C.
		Elah	886–885 B.C.
		Zimri	885 B.C.
		Tibni	885–880 B.C.
		Omri	885–874 B.C.
		Ahab	874–853 B.C.	Micaiah
Jehoshaphat*/Elijah	872–848 B.C.
		Ahaziah	853–852 B.C.	Elijah
		Joram/Jehoram	852–841 B.C.	Elisha
Jehoram*	853–841 B.C.
Ahaziah	841 B.C.
		Jehu	841–814 B.C.
Athaliah	841–835 B.C.
Joash/Jehoash	835–796 B.C.
		Jehoahaz	814–798 B.C.
		Jehoash	798–782 B.C.
Amaziah	796–767 B.C.
		Jeroboam II	793–753 B.C.
Azariah/Uzziah*	792–740 B.C.
		Zachariah	753 B.C.
		Shallum	751 B.C.
		Menahem	752–742 B.C.
		Pekahiah	742–740 B.C.
		Pekah	752–740 B.C.
Jotham*	750–732 B.C.
Ahaz*	735–715 B.C.
		Hoshea	732–722 B.C.
Hezekiah/Isiah Prophet, Micah Prophet	715–686 B.C.	Proverbs compiled during the time of Hezekiah
Manasseh*	697–642 B.C.
Amon	642–640 B.C.
Josiah/Jeremiah Prophet Habbakkuk Prophesized Zephaniah Prophesized	640–609 B.C.
Jehoahaz	609 B.C.
Jehoiakim/Eliakim	609–598 B.C.
Jehoiachin	598–597 B.C.
Zedekiah/Mattaniah	597–586 B.C.

Pictures, Maps and Commentary of Hezekiah's Great Waterway

"An elaborate engineering scheme extending about 1770 feet through limestone rock, bringing the waters of Gihon spring inside the walls of Jerusalem to the pool of Siloam. 

The tunnel was built in the days of Hezekiah, about 701 B.C., as a defense against possible attack from the Assyrian army under Sennacherib (2 Kgs. 20:20; 2 Chr. 32:4, 30). 

Workmen dug from both ends, in a zig-zag course, until they met.

A dramatic account of the meeting of the workmen is told by an inscription carved in stone near the Siloam end of the tunnel. 

It reads: “The boring through is completed. Now this is the story of the boring through. While the workmen were still lifting pick to pick, each toward his neighbor, and while three cubits remained to be cut through, each heard the voice of the other who called his neighbor, since there was a crevice in the rock on the right side. And on the day of the boring through the stonecutters struck, each to meet his fellow, pick to pick, and there flowed the waters to the pool for a thousand and two hundred cubits, and a hundred cubits was the height of the rock above the heads of the stonecutters.”

The inscription has been removed from its original location and is now kept in the Turkish Archaeological Museum at Istanbul. The tunnel is still in use today" (from LDS Bible Dictionary).

Water Comes from the Gihon Spring and Moves to the Pool of Siloam--See Above.  The Map Below Illustrates the Downhill Course of the Water Flowing through Jerusalem

  

 Tunnel with Water Flow. 

Gihon Spring Above and Pool of Shiloam Below

Assyrian Leader Who Laid Siege to Jerusalem under King Hezekiah's Rule

The Message of the Gospel is Living Water to Us Today

Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained that living water is

“the words of eternal life, the message of salvation, the truths about God and his kingdom; it is the doctrines of the gospel” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1966–73], 1:151).

 
How Can We Make Temple Worthiness and Attendance a Priority?

President Howard W. Hunter encouraged:

“Let us be a temple-attending people. Attend the temple as frequently as personal circumstances allow. Keep a picture of a temple in your home that your children may see it. Teach them about the purposes of the house of the Lord. Have them plan from their earliest years to go there and to remain worthy of that blessing.

“If proximity to a temple does not allow frequent attendance, gather in the history of your family and prepare the names for the sacred ordinances performed only in the temple. This family research is essential to the work of the temples, and blessings surely will come to those who do that work” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1994, 8; or Ensign, Nov. 1994, 8).

How Do We Become Like the Kingdom's of Judah and Israel When We Neglect the Scriptures?
 

President Ezra Taft Benson described the dangers of neglecting one of our books of scripture, the Book of Mormon:

“In 1829, the Lord warned the Saints that they are not to trifle with sacred things (see D&C 6:12). Surely the Book of Mormon is a sacred thing, and yet many trifle with it, or in other words, take it lightly, treat it as though it is of little importance.

“In 1832, as some early missionaries returned from their fields of labor, the Lord reproved them for treating the Book of Mormon lightly. As a result of that attitude, he said, their minds had been darkened. Not only had treating this sacred book lightly brought a loss of light to themselves, it had also brought the whole Church under condemnation, even all the children of Zion. And then the Lord said, ‘And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon’ (D&C 84:54–57). …

“If the early Saints were rebuked for treating the Book of Mormon lightly, are we under any less condemnation if we do the same?” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1986, 3–4; or Ensign, Nov. 1986, 4–5).

President Spencer W. Kimball said: 

“The Lord is not trifling with us when he gives us these things, for ‘unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.’ (Luke 12:48.) Access to these things means responsibility for them. We must study the scriptures according to the Lord’s commandment (see 3 Nephi 23:1–5); and we must let them govern our lives” (“How Rare a Possession—the Scriptures!” Ensign, Sept. 1976, 5).

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