רבשקה's Message

רבשקה, the messenger for Assyria, used psychological warfare to get the Jews to abandon G-d and therefore surrender to Assyria. They told them a number of things that made them question G-d and his abilities. He greatly offends חזקיהו because he makes an implication that חזקיהו is not the greatest king. He was great at psychological warfare because he made many statements that successfully questioned חזקיהו's faith. רבשקה started out by saying that חזקיהו put his faith in Egypt while Egypt was very weak. If G-d really was on their side, wouldn't Hashem make Egypt stronger? He also mentioned how he removed the במות and questioned his action. What if you got rid of something G-d created for a reason and wanted? He also mentioned שומרון. Hashem never saved שומרון from Assyria. Why will he save you? He also said that G-d sent Assyria to attack them. Hashem wanted this for you. 

רבשקה says this in Hebrew so everyone can understand. חזקיהו tells him to speak in a different language, so that everyone else doesn't hear what's going on. But רבשקה doesn't change the language he speaks in because his purpose was for everyone to hear, so that they would panic and surrender. This was a great method that he used. He made sure that the whole area would start panicking therefore forcing חזקיהו to surrender. But this didn't end up happening. חזקיהו kept the people peaceful enough. ישעיהו was sent to get a message from G-d telling them that He will not let Assyria attack ירושלים. 

If ישעיהו had not gotten reassurance from G-d, they may have given in to Assyria because their ideals were questioned, and they were scared because of the psychological warfare that scared everyone. 

Be Yourself :)

Chizkiyahu is sick, oh no! He is told that he will die so he goes into hyper-drive and prays for life. He is given a sign and recognizes a miracle. This is admirable because the people of Yisroel did not recognize G-d.
We learn from this that despite your surroundings  you can be a good Jew and person. It is never an excuse to blame the lack of good deeds you do on peer pressure - you are your own person! Do not let other peoples bad actions impact your life negligently. Either avoid those people or learn independence. Chizkiyahu stuck to his word and believed in G-d in this fatal time. It is always good to turn to G-d for support when you are in a desperate and hard time. G-d is always there, even if you do not see Him.

NO H8

Chizkiyahu did an amazing thing, he took away the altors, bamot. The bamot where preventing people from going to the Bait Hamikdash. He's doing a really good job. He got rid of the avodah zarah; the snake that Moshe used to save the Jews during the plagues in Egypt. The people believed the snake had medical benefits and powers. He was well known for his Bitachon, faith in G-d and he followed all the Mitzvot. In the first few years, Hashem was with him in all that he did - he was a faithful person who did mitzvot. He rebeled against the king of Ashur. He extended his boarders and took gold from the Bait Hamikdush to pay taxes to Assyria - this was a no no. Then he rebelled for 8 years.

Chizkiyahu made some mistakes in his life, we can all admit that. That is not what matters though, he did a lot of good! We shouldn't dwell on the negatives. We can learn from this to be optimistic and see the best in people, there is no point of looking at the bad things in people. Unless they're a crazy murderer or lunatic, there is no reason to hate! So, the next time someone does something wrong, thing of all the GOOD they have done! You'll feel better, promise.

silly Chezikiah!!

             So, Chezikiah became king at the age of 25. This was after his father, an Idol worshiper who was horrible for the Jews, died. At first Chezikiah was great and got the jews on track with Judaism and he was very faithful. But then Assyria commits psychological warfare and Chezikiah panics and loses faith in G-d and starts mourning.  He asks Yeshayahu to speak to hashem but Chezikiah doesn't even pray ! Yeshayahu talked to G-d and it ended up that G-d didn't let them attack but then Chezikiah got ill like at the same day!! This is when Chezikiah prays to G-d and then G-d gives him 15 more years! He recognizes G-d then but not when he saved the whole nation!
           Today we thank G-d for the personal things but we often don't think like, wow- hashem was part of that war ! We just think the people are doing it all on their own!

Ravshakeh

It says in Hezekiah Perek 36 that in part of his message to the people, Ravshakeh questions Hezekiah's faith in G-d. He also asks the people if they think G-d is happy with them for removing the Bamot. He ends by saying that G-d was the one who sent him to come and destroy the nation.

I am confused about this message. Why does Ravshakeh know what goes on with the nation religiously? He is Assyrian and obviously shouldn't believe in the one and only God, and should not be involved with the Jews' religious issues. You wouldn't find this part of the story in history books.  Also, shouldn't it seem odd to the Jews that this outsiders comes into the nation and has all of this knowledge of G-d and what he wants? If it were me listening to this message I couldn't help but be skeptical. It just doesn't add up.

Turning The Jewish People Around Part 2

In the beginning Hezkiah was a great leader, but after a while of trying to turn the Jewish people around he realized that he was only focused on Ben Adam LeMakom. People were still being haughty and rude towards each other. G-d was so angry with the people that he was going to send Assyria to attack them. After Hezkiah heard about this from Ravshakeh, a messenger from Assyria, he lost all of his faith in G-d. Instead of praying to G-d, Hezkiah ran to Yishayahu to seek out answers. G-d then became more upset and made Hezkiah sick until he would pray to G-d for help instead of running to Yishayahu every time he had a problem. He prayed and Hashem added 15 years to his life.
It is sad to hear that such a wonderful leader turned out to be not so good in the end. I mean he was good, he was religious and still had faith G-d was there. But when it came to the fact that Assyria was supposed to attack he just freaked out. He lost all faith, but what for?? He had no reason to do so, he didn't even try to pray to G-d and ask for help. Maybe next time he should think before he acts. But sadly there is no next time because.. well sadly he is dead.
RIP. :(

Peeps be bad

Chezkiahu was a conflicted guy. He was the greatest guy at one point and he was as unfaithful as can be years later. He started out by trying to make himself and all of the Jewish faithful to G-d. He removed the Bamot and refurbished the Beit HaMikdash. The problem was that the people were still treating each other disrespectfully and G-d began to hate them.

These pasukim really emphasize the importance of Mitzvot Bein Adam LiChaveiro. The people gave korbanot and were faithful to G-d and did the Mitzvot Bein Adam LiMakom; however, they didn't keep the Mitzvot Bein Adam LiChaveiro and G-d hated them. People today still need to realize how important the Mitzvot Bein Adam LiChaveiro are. I recently read an article about a Jewish rabbi who was extremely religious who completely embarrassed a young girl for not dressing appropriately at a Bat Mitzvah. That's the kind of person that G-d doesn't like.

 

Meshiach is swagggin up

                    In Perek Yud Aleph it says that if they change their ways then Mashiach will come! They must become an Ideal society and have Ben adam lamacom and also have ben adam lechavero! The Mashiach will be a descendant of Yeshai and have the spirit of Hashem which means that he is wisdom, understanding, heroism  and knowledge!
                   In today's society I think that Mashiach will have the exact characteristics! I know that we won't know what he will look like so this means that you should always be nice to your neighbor because you could be speaking to mashiach!! that covers the Ben adam lechavera part and we should always pray to G-d to ask for Mashiach to come soon! That covers the Ben adam Lamacom part! Yay for Ideal society!

Stupid people do stupid things.

In Perek Yud Aleph, Yishayahu receives a vision. His vision is about the ideal Jewish society. The first part of his vision is regarding the ideal leader. The leader should have the spirit of Hashem rest upon him and have these characteristics: Wisdom, understanding, heroism, knowledge, and fear of G-d. He needs to act with צדק ומשפט. He also should be known for this righteousness and faith in G-d. As for the people as a whole: They should have world peace and the whole world should be filled with knowledge of G-d.

This ideal vision is describing Masiach. The Jewish society is still lacking all of these qualities today, and has been for thousands of years. At that point when he received the nevuah, and where we still are today, the judges are corrupted and lacking in their בין אדם לחבירו. The Jewish people are lacking in their knowledge of G-d and still are lacking in their faith that G-d is in control.

חזקיהו the Great

חזקיהו was a powerful king who ruled the people of יהודה. He was the very last king. As you can see in the title חזקיהו was a great leader for יהודה. He did many great things including refurbishing the בית המקדש and cleansing it of עבודה זרה from his father אחז.  He did what he thought was right in the eyes of Hashem. He was a very G-d fearing and G-d loving leader. He would do everything he could to make Hashem happy, and he followed all the מצוות and Torah with all his heart. 

Although he was a great ruler and did many great things, he also made some mistakes that didn't make Hashem so happy. חזקיהו focused on teaching his people about מצוות בין אדם למקום and not מצוות בין אדם לחברו. He did not intend for the people to stop treating each other fairly and well, but without showing them how to create bonds between each other they did not have special relationships. 

We learn that מצוות בין אדם למקום is essential to having a good relationship with Hashem. In ישעיהו we learn that this is an important part of being Jewish. Many מצוות in the Torah are to be nice to each other and to have good relationships. We are told to visit the sick, do kindness, give charity, and much much more. We need to have a balance between מצוות בין אדם לחברו and מצוות בין אדם למקום or our relationship with G-d will not be perfect. 

#dumbpeople

In Perek Yud, The Jewish people of Yehudah were sinning. They were corrupted and lacked צדק ומשפט. They were supposed to realize that if that didn't stop, they'd be exiled like the people of Shomron. Yishayahu decided to use the events of the exile of Shomron to teach the people of Yehudah a lesson. They needed to know that G-d meant business and He wasn't going to take their foolishness any longer. God was going to use Assyria as a pawn to attack Yehudah. However, the Assyrians believed that it was only their power that caused them to be so great, not Hashem helping them. For that thought, they would also be punished.

Two lessons can be learned from these Pasukim. The first is that if you're told to fix yourself, you really need to do so, or G-d will exile you. Obviously that doesn't completely apply today, but people should still understand that if they're actually doing something wrong, they need to fix themselves. For example, if you're sitting next to Jamie Levy in class and you start to chew, you better stop as soon as she yells at you because serious consequences will quickly follow. The second lesson is that you need to see the hand of God in your life at all times. The Assyrians took complete credit for the military power, and for that they were also punished.

Turning The Jewish People Around

Unlike his father Achaz, Hezkiah was a great king for the Jewish people. They say he is a lot like David Hamelech. He believed in G-d and that he could turn the Jewish people around. Hekiah got rid of all of the Bamot throughout the nation and cleaned out the Beit Hamikdash. He got it up and running except for the Korbanot. He did what was good in the eyes of Hashem, the people started to do the mitzvot and follow the torah. But he only emphasized the mitzvot of Ben Adam LeMakom.

It was great learning about Hezkiah after hearing all of the bad things in the previous praakim. I think he did a great job on turning the Jewish people around, but of course I think he should have also worked on Ben Adam Lechavero.